Recap on the summer that's almost over

Well, we've had an extremely busy summer. It began great, with the birth of baby Reid, but then became sour, when I had foot surgery the very next day. My foot is healing well, but I still have to wear athletic shoes until I get the ok from my doctor to transition into other shoes. I was part-time teaching with the Upward Bound Program this summer, but the workload made it feel like a full-time job. Upward Bound is a college-prep program that provides math and science courses to high school students to prepare them for the courses they'll be taking the following year in school. I taught research writing last year, and decided, for some odd reason, to teach Chemistry this year. Needless to say, it kicked my butt. I spent so much time preparing for class, sometimes up to 5 hours a night! All of that on top of running my research project, which turned out to be a full-time job as well. It was a busy summer, but I still enjoy working with the Upward Bound students. The Upward Bound Program ended last Friday, August 4th, so I'll be spending time these next few weeks.

When I wasn't working, I was in the garden or organizing things for Sunday School. As the heat of summer sets in, my flowers are beginning to die or stop flowering...I hate that. Soon I'll be shopping for mums to keep some color in the yard.

We are still working hard to be debt free, apart from our mortgage. This has been more of a challenge for me than for Anthony, especially during the spring and summer when I want to buy plants. We agreed that part of my extra salary from teaching this summer would be put towards flowers and mulch, which was great. We have been very disciplined with our budget, and we have been faithful in giving, and I know the Lord is pleased because He keeps throwing financial blessings our way. We are set to be debt free by December, which is a blessing. The only thing we're paying off now is the line of credit on our house. Next stop, a villa in the Caribbean! Yeah right...maybe one day though!

That's about all that we've been up to this summer. I'm looking forward to a few non-academic days this summer...I'll probably paint the living room! Oh yeah, you'll probably notice from the pictures that I cut all my locks off. I did it last week Thursday when I came home to find a bug and dirt stuck in my hair that I never even felt! I'm back to wash-and-go!

Lori