Time flies . . .

And how. But I'm here now, so I won't dwell on how long it's been since my last entry.

Good news: Summer break!!!!!!!

Already, just two weeks into summer break, I have (#1) almost finished another song, (#2) scheduled two concerts and contacted about 6-8 other pastors about possible concerts or other music ministry opportunities, (#3) taken all my lesson plans from the past year and organized them in binders to help me start preparing for next year, (#4) loaded all the PowerPoints for our Algebra I and Geometry textbooks into my laptop, and (#5) read three books.

Actually I read almost all of Showdown by Ted Dekker (300-400 pages, I think) last night. I had already read less than 100 pages, and last night about 9 or so, I intended to read 3 chapters or so and then go to bed. Well, I stayed up till 2:30 and finished the whole book. It was a page-turner! Obviously.

So anyway, I am very excited to be out of school for the summer. I have goals of spending some serious time on songwriting, practicing music, other music ministry pursuits (like booking and getting published), exercising (I've been saying that all my life, but I'm really gonna do it this time!), reading, and journaling. Of course I'm also going to do some traveling to see family and friends from Texas to Michigan, I expect. And maybe farther.

I'm also looking for a new church. Another one of my goals for the summer (and beyond) is to invest more time in developing deeper friendships with other believers. It's very easy for me to isolate myself from others, especially since I live alone and tend to keep busy with my own activities. It's also very easy to keep my friendships on a surface level, which is fine for many friendships, but I think it's important to have at least a couple friendships that go deeper. So that's one thing I'm looking to find as I search for a new church home.

I guess I should mention that the school year ended well for me. They're letting me come back next year, so that's always a good thing. I finished my KPA on time-- it's a stupid 25-page paper (Trust me, you don't care about the details of the kinds of things you have to write-- just take my word that it's a lot of research and work and a real pain. As if teachers don't have enough to do!) you have to write for the state of Kansas to get a normal 5-year teaching license. Initially they give you a 2-year provisional license until you do your KPA. So anyway, it was kind of down to the wire, and I didn't know if I was really going to get it finished on time, but with the help of some other teachers in my district who were working on theirs, too, and our "leader," it all came together.

And out of both my Geometry classes, only one student didn't pass! That was a big improvement over first semester, and over last year. Unfortunately my failure rate in my Algebra I classes was not nearly so impressive. But that gives me something to improve next year!

So the bottom line is, this is a very happy time for me. I hope it's happy for all of you, too. God bless each of you.