Augusta Update

Stephanie and I have about 20 more teaching days and we are very excited to be so near the end of the school year. It has been a good school year but we are getting weary–which seems pretty typical for this time of year 🙁 . But we are praying that we will not be weary in well-doing and we would appreciate your prayers for endurance.

Recently we have been trying out a web service called Quia.com that offers a very powerful testing and quizzing software online for a very reasonable yearly subscription. So far, it looks like it would significantly reduce grading time, not take any longer in terms of preparation, and help students be better prepared for the National Spanish Exam they take every year. It gives us hope that we could leave more of school at school and take less of it home with us 😀

For a long while it was hard to find friends here in August with whom both Stephanie and I could connect, with whom we could have good and deep fellowship in the Lord and enjoy a good time, too! We had some friends like that, but it seemed they were getting too busy. Recently the Lord answered our prayers for that kind of friendship through another young couple (actually, he’s the son of one of my college professors at Covenant :D). We have gotten along very well, have enjoyed great fellowshiping with them about every other week. It has been very refreshing.

This summer, I have the privilege and opportunity to help grade the AP Spanish Language exams. It’s a position one can apply for (after having taught the class for at least three years–which I have) and is something I have wanted to do since I started teaching AP Spanish. This year I applied, and though I was late in doing so, I  received an invitation to help grade! This means that I will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, for seven days in mid-June. If you’re wondering why I would want to grade tests for seven days straight in the summer, the reason is that it is excellent professional development, I get to connect with other AP Spanish teachers, and I also get paid 😀 ! While I am grading, Stephanie is looking into the possibility of helping out at a summer camp she has done for a number of years before.

If you think of it, we would appreciate prayer for direction in a number of areas:

(1) My future career. I would very much like to have a job that I don’t have to take home with me and that would provide a better salary. I’m not exactly sure what field I would go into, but I’m considering translation, training, technology, graphic design, or maybe some kind of trade.

(2) Church membership. We have been attending a church since September and were considering joining, but we have hesitated because the preaching has not been particularly nourishing or pointing to Christ (but it hasn’t been bad preaching either). There is another church that has just called a pastor that does preach really well, but we have some reservations about that church, too. We very much feel the need to be active members in a church, and would appreciate prayer for wisdom as we seek the Lord’s leading.

(3) We have been considering buying a home since it is currently a buyer’s market. We have been looking at a lot of homes, we have seen a couple of home that we liked, but we aren’t sure what would be wise right now (especially considering a possible career change, which could take us out of Augusta).

Anyway, that’s a summary of how we’re doing down here in Augusta!

Micah and Stephanie