Sad News

I thought that I had it made by choosing a career that is needed no matter how the economy looks: teaching. There are always going to be kids who need to know about the things I teach (especially sex, drugs, and obesity). Apparently I thought wrong. The school I teach (or taught) at decided to cut the health department by half. Sadly, I was the half that got cut. I believe this is because the other half was tenured and I was not. They have assured me that it has nothing to do with my teaching. Either way, as of last Friday, I am unemployed. Because of this unfortunate turn of events we won't be buying a house anytime soon. Our dreams of home ownership are on the back burner. There is exactly one health teaching opening in the area that I am applying for. If I get the job, we will stay in Auburn indefinitely. If I don't get the job, we will move back west and live with my very generous in-laws in Coeur d' Alene. Both options have their pros and cons, but we're optimistic that we will end up in the right place for us. God hasn't let us down yet, and we're sure He won't do so now.

I had my birthday last week and Adam and Amora took me to a steakhouse. It was nice going out as a family. It wasn't my favorite restaurant, but we still had fun.


On another note, I have a really cute child. She's now five months. I swear she gets cuter and more perfect everyday. Everything is worth it because of her and my awesome husband.

I normally don't take pictures of her sleeping because I enjoy being productive during that time, but she was so cute I had to test my luck.

Amora tried rice cereal for the first time last week. She's a woman who likes to be in charge. She takes her spoon and tries to feed herself.

She also is getting really good at sitting up by herself. This is one of my favorites. It's like she's saying "Ta Da!"

And I love her focused face. There could be a huge storm in the background and she wouldn't even notice. I think she may have her daddy's selective hearing.

Cindy's wedding and more

Last weekend we had a lot of fun seeing all of the family for Cindy's wedding. Amora did okay on the plane and for the trip, but she was a little fussy with her nap schedule off. The wedding and reception were beautiful. Cindy looked great. They went to Mexico on their honeymoon and (as far as we know) didn't get Swine Flu. All in all, it was a success.

Here's my beautiful sister coming out of the temple with her new husband. They are so cute together!

Us waiting outside the temple for pictures. Amora was ready for a nap by then.

Amora met her cousin Billy for the first time. They were instant friends. We didn't even pose them.

The Loumeau's joined us and we hung out the day after the wedding. They sure do love little Amora.

Another cute thing: Amora is really starting to like books. She likes to talk to the books. Maybe she thinks they'll talk back.

Even though it's hard leaving my little girl so I can go to work, I've found it to be very rewarding. Our last unit was on human sexuality. For their unit project, I have my students write a paper about their goals for sex and what they learned over the unit. I love reading these papers because some of them have changed their goals after the unit. It makes me feel like I'm fulfilling one of my callings in life. Also, I had the sweetest student last semester who came and visited me with a Mother's Day cake because it's my first Mother's Day. Isn't that nice?

But the weather's warming up and I am itching to go outside and play with my family. Two more weeks until summer vacation! We don't have too much planned except Amora and I will take a trip to Oregon next month. I'm also determined to take a trip to the beach. I'm normally too cheap to take vacations (hotel, food, gas: it adds up). But hopefully we can save a bit and have a nice weekend trip later in the summer.

So much to look forward to. Update on the house: nothing. We are hoping to close the 29th of this month and put our notice for our apartment to move out on the 31st, but we're not sure if it'll work out on that timetable. Anyone willing to house a homeless family? We'll just have to wait and see how this all unfolds.