Busyness

Everyone thinks that teachers and professors have it made because we get our summers "off". That is either wrong, or there is something wrong with me that keeps me from understanding how to vacation.

Martin and I have been busy trying to update the landscaping at our house, rebuilding our rickety deck (it is BEAUTIFUL AND STURDY NOW!), and updating our master suite. You know he was gone for 2 weeks to Asia. I was also gone for about a week to Kentucky to read for the AP Psychology exams. Along with about 360 high school and college psychology teachers, we read over 100,000 students essay questions at an overly air-conditioned convention hall. We had time in the evenings for social functions, some structured/required and most not. I got to see the races at Churchhill Downs, see "The Lion King" (did anyone else cry during the amazing opening scene?), and eat at the unforgettable Paradise Cafe.

Just this week I completed a grad course I took online through the University of New Hampshire. The end product was a new course I'll be proposing to the MMCC Curriculum Committee called "Human Relations". The class was called "Preparing to Teach a Psychology Course", having been teaching now for many years it wasn't a difficult course, but I'm a bit of a workaholic perfectionist so I did put plenty of hours into it. I glowed for hours with my professor's feedback "Another Outstanding Assignment". I've also been teaching a course on-line for Mid, it runs for a few more weeks.

We have had some fun too! After finishing the deck, we had 2 parties in one weekend. One was to celebrate the deck and watch the Clare Summerfest fireworks, the other was for my birthday (though the "boys" mainly used the deck to play Axis and Allies on the new table while the "girls" scrapbooked - how stereotyped is that?). The next weekend, we had guests for the weekend as we said goodbye to Janell and Jason Neuman (tears are springing to my eyes!). Martin has had other game nights with his buddies (I think Martin's love language is strategy gaming). I went to a music festival with Chris. We went camping for 3 nights this last weekend at beautiful Gleason's Landing. We may go to some of the "Mountain Rock Festival" concerts in Farwell. We leave next week to visit my family in Washington State. And of course, the summer blockbuster movies (none have blown me away yet!).

Mainly, I wanted to record for memory what has been happening. I haven't posted a blog for so long that it took me 4 tries to remember my password! For those of you who read this for adoption updates - we did finish the State training required for foster adoption called "PRIDE". Now, we need to find an agency to conduct our family assessment. The agency we want to work with has a long waiting list, and other agencies prefer families who want older children. We understand that older children need homes too - but we also want more than just a few years with kids in our house and I don't imagine we will keep adopting a cycle of kids through over the years!

Hope you are enjoying your summers!
Kelley (and Martin and the fur kids)