I made it into the program! I received my acceptance letter on Saturday - four days after I mailed my application in. (I'm wondering if they even read my essay....) In any case, I'm on the path to a new career! Orientation is mid-January and I'll be off and running then with online courses and periodic Saturday sessions as well.
We're nearly ready for Christmas here in the Case home... The tree has been accumulating gifts underneath and there are more to come! What isn't so merry is that Kiff is scheduled for a tonsilectomy on Thursday! We had to schedule it over the Christmas break so she wouldn't miss classes. Poor thing will be recovering in bed for two weeks, they say. Not sure how Christmas morning will go! We'll probably get her set up downstairs somehow. She's a tough cookie, though, and usually rebounds pretty quickly from things like this, so we're not too worried.
My back is still in quite a bit of pain, and it's difficult dealing with the limitations that brings me. I'm going to physical therapy twice a week, and my therapist says I'm progressing. I guess backs take a long time to heal. Lord help me...
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
I passed!!
My Praxis test results came today (online), and I passed!! That's the standardized test for teachers that proves I know math well enough to teach it at the middle school level. I got 184 out of 200... and passing for Virginia is 163. That's the last thing I needed to submit my application to the Career Switchers program, which I'm doing today!
Woo hoo!
Woo hoo!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Images of the Season
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| The stockings were hung on the new mantle with care... |
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| Celebrating Jeff's birthday on the 8th with a romantic candlelit dinner at home |
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| What I get to enjoy every single day!! :) (This adorable little girl is, at the moment, upstairs, throwing a temper tantrum for Leah.... but Leah is handling it very well, I must say!) |
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| Christmas tree in the foyer this year ~ went up yesterday! |
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving Crowds
Our Thanksgiving tables were abundantly full this year - with food AND people!
in the back: Sarah, Dan, Leah (unfortunately, Kallie was napping when we took this picture), Phil, Kiff, Emma, Scott, Autumn, Grace, Nomie, Maggie, Lucy, Mom, Dad, Grant, Grandmom, Jeff, Sylvie
seated: Gray, Rob, Mary, Peter (Rob's brother)
We had overnight guests Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, so we had two full days of family family family! Good times and good memories! :)
That is, except for the fact that the whole time I have had severe back pain! I'm still feeling like an invalid today. At the moment I'm set up on a heating pad on the couch by the fire... Sounds nice, but boy is it awful. But I'm SO grateful for my family who pitched right in and helped with cleaning up and dishes and even laundry. Mom and Grandmom especially were invaluable, and I'm so grateful how they jumped right in without my even asking. It's unfortunate timing with the holiday and all, but, like Dad said, it's good for my sanctification -- to let go of my need to have a house in perfect order and be the perfect hostess!
*sigh*
Also unfortunate was that little Kallie has had a pretty bad fever - so bad that Leah took her to the ER on Thanksgiving night! There was nothing majorly wrong; it was just a virus. But the poor little thing was so uncomfortable and pathetic! :(
Also unfortunate was that little Kallie has had a pretty bad fever - so bad that Leah took her to the ER on Thanksgiving night! There was nothing majorly wrong; it was just a virus. But the poor little thing was so uncomfortable and pathetic! :(
Anyway, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
And now we enter the Christmas season ~ yay!!!
:)
And now we enter the Christmas season ~ yay!!!
:)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Changes
So... guess who's going back to school....... :)
I never thought I would ever go back to school after I got married. I thought that what I wanted was to have a husband and a home and kids, and never to work (outside the home) again. I love being married, and I love having my own home - so much!! But so far, God hasn't had kids in the cards for us. We have been married for over two years, but so far I haven't had even a hint of a pregnancy. We began working with a fertility clinic to find out if something was wrong; and nothing was wrong. I went on Clomid (a drug that causes more than one egg to be released), hoping to increase my chances. Still nothing.
But, believe it or not, I started to doubt whether or not I wanted to have my own kids. I know that might sound crazy to some of you, but I'm 35 and Jeff is almost 56; we're not spring chickens. I get tired and stressed easily, and... I'm not sure I can picture myself with a newborn, day in and day out... and then a toddler... and so on. (Although I know that if God does give us a child, we'll both have enough strength to get through those young years.) So, we've put a stop to fertility procedures. We don't want to force anything. If God wants us to have a kid, great! If not, great! It's up to Him. And I can say that genuinely!
After all, God knows what we want better than even we do!
By the way, Jeff and I have talked about adoption; what is on our hearts more than anything else is to adopt an older child (age 10-ish) from the States - a kid who just needs a family and a good home. But we don't think now is the right time for that. We really feel the need to have a couple years to ourselves once all Jeff's kids are out of the house. We never had those alone years in the beginning... and we feel the need for it.
So... that said... I am going back to school to be a middle school math teacher! There is a shortage of teachers for math (and a few other subjects) in this area. Virginia has a program called "Career Switchers" which makes it easy for those who have at least five years of work experience, any bachelor's degree, and course content knowledge in the subject area they want to teach, to become certified and to be placed in the classroom after only one semester of teaching courses!
Teaching is the one thing I have kept going back to all these years, but I never followed through with getting certified. The thing is, I feel like I have a lot to offer; and yet right now I'm sitting at home most of the time. It feels wasteful. I want to make use of what God has gifted me with - and I want to contribute something to the world around me. I love teaching kids (especially middle school and high school age), and middle school math is the one area I feel confident enough in to teach. I took the Praxis II test in Middle School Math last Saturday, and I'll find out how I did in another week or so. But I thought I did pretty well, and I anticipate passing it with no problem!
I'll be applying to the Career Switchers program in December, and hopefully begin in the spring... which puts me in the classroom by next fall! That is, if I can find a position. But... middle school math is a shortage area not only in Virginia as a whole, but also specifically in Loudoun County; so I don't anticipate any problem finding a position.
I am pretty excited! And Jeff is too. He is 100% supporting me in this.
I love how you never know where God is going to take you. :)
I never thought I would ever go back to school after I got married. I thought that what I wanted was to have a husband and a home and kids, and never to work (outside the home) again. I love being married, and I love having my own home - so much!! But so far, God hasn't had kids in the cards for us. We have been married for over two years, but so far I haven't had even a hint of a pregnancy. We began working with a fertility clinic to find out if something was wrong; and nothing was wrong. I went on Clomid (a drug that causes more than one egg to be released), hoping to increase my chances. Still nothing.
But, believe it or not, I started to doubt whether or not I wanted to have my own kids. I know that might sound crazy to some of you, but I'm 35 and Jeff is almost 56; we're not spring chickens. I get tired and stressed easily, and... I'm not sure I can picture myself with a newborn, day in and day out... and then a toddler... and so on. (Although I know that if God does give us a child, we'll both have enough strength to get through those young years.) So, we've put a stop to fertility procedures. We don't want to force anything. If God wants us to have a kid, great! If not, great! It's up to Him. And I can say that genuinely!
After all, God knows what we want better than even we do!
By the way, Jeff and I have talked about adoption; what is on our hearts more than anything else is to adopt an older child (age 10-ish) from the States - a kid who just needs a family and a good home. But we don't think now is the right time for that. We really feel the need to have a couple years to ourselves once all Jeff's kids are out of the house. We never had those alone years in the beginning... and we feel the need for it.
So... that said... I am going back to school to be a middle school math teacher! There is a shortage of teachers for math (and a few other subjects) in this area. Virginia has a program called "Career Switchers" which makes it easy for those who have at least five years of work experience, any bachelor's degree, and course content knowledge in the subject area they want to teach, to become certified and to be placed in the classroom after only one semester of teaching courses!
Teaching is the one thing I have kept going back to all these years, but I never followed through with getting certified. The thing is, I feel like I have a lot to offer; and yet right now I'm sitting at home most of the time. It feels wasteful. I want to make use of what God has gifted me with - and I want to contribute something to the world around me. I love teaching kids (especially middle school and high school age), and middle school math is the one area I feel confident enough in to teach. I took the Praxis II test in Middle School Math last Saturday, and I'll find out how I did in another week or so. But I thought I did pretty well, and I anticipate passing it with no problem!
I'll be applying to the Career Switchers program in December, and hopefully begin in the spring... which puts me in the classroom by next fall! That is, if I can find a position. But... middle school math is a shortage area not only in Virginia as a whole, but also specifically in Loudoun County; so I don't anticipate any problem finding a position.
I am pretty excited! And Jeff is too. He is 100% supporting me in this.
I love how you never know where God is going to take you. :)
Friday, November 4, 2011
Little Stinker
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| Is anything more fun than pulling everything out of a kitchen cabinet? |
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| Look, Aunt Sylvie! New toys! |
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| Excuse me while I just get some more... |
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| Let's see... that one, and that one, and that one... |
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| Oooh! And this one... |
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| Making her get-away through the dining room... |
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| Hmm... I wonder who did this... |
Friday, October 28, 2011
Bookshelves!!!
It only took nine months!
(An appropriate time length, we think.)
What a labor of love! :)
Here's a pictorial overview...
And the end result (minus the leaf border above the fireplace and the doors on the two inside lower sections)...
I had soooo much fun putting all the books and things on the shelves. :)
WE LOVE IT!!!
WE LOVE IT!!!
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