Update

So apparently I am an awful blogger. I mean, it has been August since I last posted. In the words of Charlie Brown, "Good grief."Since my last post, school has started, and I've been so busy running here and there to keep up. Last year, Heather and I decided to apply to be Learning Coaches for the Arkansas Leadership Academy's Teacher Institute. We went through the program as participants last year and loved it so much. In September, I made the trek up to Petit Jean Mountain (spec the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute) for a half-week of coaching teachers. It has been such a joy to my life. If I could do this for a living, I would. I know it's not ideal since it takes me away from home so often, but I love helping teachers discover what good teaching looks like.My group of teachers are precious. They are so eager to learn and they wholeheartedly adhere to the process of the academy. They are my reason for returning. Who knew that the field of teaching would go from being so independent to being so collaborative. (Of course, it certainly has taken awhile to get there.)

Moving on so as not to bore those of you reading this (I could talk about teaching forever), I have a new job this year. I'm working half of my days in the library. So far that has meant a million hours of back-breaking work for yours truly. First, I decided to reshelve all of our fiction section because I was tired of having to explain it to students. I mean, the fiction section of all things should be user friendly. Then, I decided to paint....the whole library....by myself. Yikes. Thankfully I have had helpful students who have assisted me, otherwise, I'd be in there until next November. We hope to have a mural on the walls by the end of the year and I am SO

excited about it. You know how sometimes you can have this great vision in your head but no one else can see it? Well, I have that vision of what the finished product will look like, but I don't think anyone else sees it yet. I just pray it turns out like I think it will.

On the home front, I am right now seated beside the two most precious pups in the world. They just ate breakfast awhile ago so Remus is burping periodically then looking at me

apologetically. He's such a lover, all he ever wants to do is snuggle (mostly with David, not me). Darsee is napping too. She's my smart one who figured out how to get some Chick-fil-a Saturday out of the trash bag. I can't say I blame her, we love Chick-fil-a that much in this family.

It's Thanksgiving week! Tomorrow we leave for Tyler!!! I can't even say how very excited I am about this. This is our first year to spend Thanksgiving with my family since we've been married. And to top it all off...this afternoon I am going to see "New Moon" with Brittany. Emery thanked me for going so that he doesn't have to...hehe. David actually offered to go see it with me, but I think that's just cruel. So we're having a girls' afternoon. I NEED ONE!

In honor of Thanksgiving, I would like to raise my thanks to God for the following things:

my family (Mom, Dad, Allison, Ash, JB, Rita, Jones, Sarah, Dan, and Janna), my precious pups who make me smile all the time, my three classes of 11th grade students - they bring light to my life, all of my friends who live in other places (see previous post), all of my friends who live here, and most importantly, my best friend who loves me unconditionally (and even watched "The Proposal" with me last night") - David

Give thanks with a grateful heart. I know I do.

Audra