Living The Good Life

I meant to post this much, much earlier in the week but time has slipped away from me. This has been a pretty intense week with school ending, visa applications being due, and trying to get our house ready to rent. Good thing D and I were able to have a fun, productive, and somewhat relaxing weekend before the craziness ensued! Friday night, Dave and I met our good friends Becca and Kelly at Donnie Mac's Trailer Cuisine to hear some live music played by one of D's coworkers. It was so much fun to sit outside, listen to the music (D especially enjoyed the harmonica player) and catch up with old friends. Becca is headed off to get her graduate degree in North Carolina the same time we leave for Ecuador, so we are trying to squeeze in as much play time as possible. The next weekend adventure was the Tamarack Resort in McCall. We headed up there for the beginning of their mountain biking season. We had such a great time. Their meadow trails are perfect for me, just the right amount...

My time at Middleton Middle School is quickly drawing to a close. With only three days of the school year left, I am beginning to get quite nostalgic. Here are some of the people and memories that keep running through my head: * Rebecca getting her arm caught in the Coke machine outside of the building. The jaws of life had to help cut her out. * Gage asking me if I remembered where I was when Kurt Cobain died. Does he remember? * Ryan and Mike changing the settings on my laptop so that the start button said Mike , and the runner across the top said Ryan Rules . * Having Jace tell me, while he was in tears, that it was the worst day of his entire life because Wess stole his twinkie. Remember when that really was the worst thing that ever happened? * When Burkley and Jared tried to explain that they threw a stink bomb into my room because, and I quote, "But Mrs. Richert, you're the only teacher who can take a joke!" I didn't take it that well. * Having Tyler start cryi...

There is much to be happy about during this month of May. First off, the big move is becoming more and more of a reality. D and I were told that our plane tickets have been purchased and we are flying out at the end of July. Next, my passport finally arrived!! That has been the biggest stress for me so far. Without the passport, there was no visa. Now, D and I have sent all our paperwork to Guayaquil and we just await the legal stamp of approval. Of course, we also have to plan a trip to the Ecuadorian Consulor, but that won't be until July. And finally, it is full-fledged biking season. We broke out the cruisers, we've been mountain biking, and we enjoyed the fun of Boise Bike Week. Life is good.

This month is May in Motion, the time dedicated to using alternate forms of transportation to help reduce emissions, travel costs, and increase general health. All month long, people have been making a greater effort to bike, walk, ride the bus, or carpool. D's company, BOB Gear , is even having a friendly competition to see who can earn the most biking/carpooling points. It has been tons of fun, especially since it has been a great reason for me to get out on my bike more this month. D and I have taken the bikes with us everywhere, even when we visited Twin last weekend. We did a beautiful ride through the countryside outside of Kimberly. It was beautiful to ride through all the farms, we almost made it to the south hills! The Boise area has also decided to celebrate May in Motion with the annual Boise Bike Week . It has been so much fun to see so many people biking all over town, not to mention the great events that were organized for the week. Dave was able to hit more events th...

High: Having a student who I had previously been led to believe absolutely hated me tell me that she loved my class. Low: Having the cap on my front tooth fall out in the middle of second period on Friday (oh beware of laffy taffy) High: Having the cap on my front tooth fall out in the middle of second period on Friday (man, that was funny. The kids faces when they realized my tooth was gone...priceless) Low: Realizing that I did not get the right translation done for our marriage certificate, and that I paid way too much for said wrong translation. High: Going to the horse races with D and my parents in order to watch the Kentucky Derby. People watching extravaganza! That is a whole other culture that I never even knew existed! Low: Losing money because I have no clue about horse racing. So you don't just bet on a horse because of the cool name (Scat Daddy) or color (the gray one is pretty)? High: Being able to hear my mom tell me that everything is going to be okay, and believing...

Every since I began teaching, my grandmother has sent me a Bible verse, via e-mail, every Monday. It is one of the things that gets my week started off right and I use the e-mail as a little pick-me-up throughout the week. I can't even begin to tell you how many times my grandmother has seemed to know exactly what verse I needed to hear, read, and become aware of in order to refocus on what is important, or just in order to gain back a sense of peace and trust. It seems like the moments of the most intense stress is when I receive a Bible verse from Grandma Damon that just calms, comforts, and supports. This week the verse we found in our mailbox was Isaiah 30:7, "Their strength is to sit still." Her message included this as well: And if thy plans are thwarted, Quietly stand thou still: Listen for God’s direction Patiently wait for His Will Lately, it seems like each step of progress D and I make towards getting everything in order for Ecuador, we come up against a roadb...