One year ago today I married my best friend. Happy anniversary, Amy! I love you.

(I told her in person, too.)

Last week Amy and I joined Dad and Mom Sutter (and Emily) for a week at Canaanland Camp in NC. On a hike, Dad saw this snake, which was later identified as a Timber Rattler (you can see the rattle if you look closely). Mom and Emily were taking a different path (the creek, actually), so only Amy and I were with Dad for the excitement. Fortunately, we had Mom’s camera because of the path she’d chosen.

In other news, Amy started her first block course this week (Differential Statistics). It’s pretty busy, so she probably won’t be posting here (or answering many emails) for a while.

Last night we had our friend, Yi Ling, over for dinner. Yi Ling is from Taiwan and has been attending our church since the fall. We’ve enjoyed getting to know her. After dinner we played Jenga and Uno.

I’ve been planning to blog about Josh’s birthday for a while, but teaching and studying have delayed my blogging plans.  For Josh’s birthday I took him on a surprise adventure to a special hamburger restaurant. I was so pleased with myself for planning the surprise trip…of course, I wasn’t so pleased with myself when my Google Map directions took us to the middle of a development, instead of to the restaurant. (Josh thought I was planning him a surprise birthday party and was just trying to throw him off track.) We enjoyed the restaurant (once we got there) and the hamburgers were a success!

Since Josh’s birthday was right before my comprehensive exam, we decided to wait until after the exam to celebrate with his traditional strawberry cake. Mom J. sent the recipe and it turned out great! And in case you’re wondering what I gave Josh for his birthday…..click here to see…

Two reasons for the title:

1. Apparently my sister-in-law Emily has decided to become a farmer when she grows up.
2. I just finished up a ministry website for my good friend Jeremy Farmer. Jeremy and his family are headed to Cambodia when they’ve finished raising their support (they started today with a service in Rockford, Illinois). Jeremy’s first visit to Cambodia was in 2002 as part of a threesome that included me. Once Jeremy’s there, I’ll be the only one still getting ready to go. (Brian Kane was the third, and his family has been in Cambodia for a couple years now.) Here’s the Farmers’ site:

Nancy Jane Cochran Elementary School is officially out for the summer! My last day of teaching was Wednesday, and there was a faculty work-day on Thursday to close out the year. On Thursday, I packed my room up, stored all my valuable instruments in the main building, enjoyed our end of the year luncheon, and drove off for the summer. I really enjoyed my first year of teaching. Being a music teacher is the world’s greatest (paying) job! I learned more each week and by the end of the school year I felt like I was finally getting the hang of things. I’m looking forward to next year!

To celebrate the end of the school year, Josh and I went out to eat at Olive Garden and then went for a walk at a park. It’s nice to have a break from the pressures of teaching and lesson-plan writing! In two weeks, I’ll be starting six weeks of summer courses – fun – fun! But for now … I’m going to enjoy being off from school and I’ll be studying for my oral comprehensive exam which will take place some time during summer school.

(Oh, and we had a lovely 11-month anniversary a week ago. Almost 1 year!)