Memphis in May

May has been one busy month for Randy and I here in Memphis!

He finished his first year of dental school pretty early, and the first picture is of him and his friend Josh.  Josh is a D1 too who happens to live in the Estates and whose wife happens to be a Shelby County teacher...needless to say, they have become good friends.  I have had a rollercoaster ride this month with my job as a teacher.  First of all I didn't know what next year would hold and had to go through transfer applications and interviews.  I am still not out of options completely, but it looks as though I will be doing the same thing next year (that is, traveling between two different middle schools each week).  It took a LOT of patience, trust, and faith in God that His will would be done for my job.  I might not be happy with the outcome, but at least I know that it was prayed about and that it is where I am meant to be.  For those of you who don't know, I interviewed for a full time position at the one school that I have had trouble with this year.  All through the interview I wondered if I even wanted or could handle the job, but hearing that it was given to someone else was a hard thing to hear.  No one ever likes to fail at something, regardless if it is the "best" thing or not.  Now that it is over I can honestly say that it was an answer to my prayers.  I am still waiting to hear if a full-time position opens up at Arlington, the school that I would love to be at (and who would love to have a job available for me).  Until now, it's all about faith...

Well, May has apparently always been a damp and soggy month, and this year has been no exception.  The Music Festival was at the beginning of the month and my sister and brother-in-law came in town for the long line-up of bands.  Unfortunately, it rained non-stop Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  It was still great to see family and spend time with them, and the rain was actually kind of fun...except for the fact that Sunday was not only rainy but cold.  Until this year, I do not think I have ever drunk hot chocolate in May.  With all the rain came a flooded Mississippi, which most of the pictures show above.  Randy and I live on Mud "Island" which is technically not an island but along the Mighty Mississippi River.  In the pictures, look at the trees in the water because those trees are normally way up on shore with benches underneath the shade of the tree.  Randy got curious about the depth and strength of the river and waded out one afternoon...thankfully, he didn't get washed down the Gulf.

This past weekend, Randy went to Cincinnati for a friend's wedding (and of course Reds games) and then also got to help his brother and sister-in-law move into their new home in Louisville.  To keep me company, my bestest friend and big sister came to Memphis.  We had so much fun just sitting around and talking..and eating.  On Saturday we took a fancy picnic to the Sunset Symphony, which unfortunately was also soggy.  It never rained during the show (a plus) but the ground was wet and it kinda smelled.  Still, it was a very neat experience to sit on the river and listen to a symphony...and we also heard the oldies band Three Dog Night ("Joooy to the world, all the boys and girls, Joy to the fishies in the deep blue sea, Joy to you and Me").  The night was perfectly topped off with fireworks, and Joda and I went and got the best cheesecake ever to take home.  On Sunday she came to church with me, we did the usual Central meal, and then went shopping.  The weekend could not have been any better...it was exactly what I needed.

Randy came home on Monday night and helped me clean out my classroom the next day when he found several brown recluse spiders.  Tomorrow is my last official day of my first year teaching!! All I have is inservice and then I will take much advantage of summer BREAK!

Oh, and I also took a "Senior Portrait" photo session today with the PE teacher at Bon Lin who is working on building her portfolio to pursue photography.  So if any of you stumble across pictures of just me on Facebook, there's the explanation.  And just remember that I had a FULL day of school before taking those pictures.  They're not the best (of me that is) but I was happy to help out a friend.