i'm not sure i 'll ever have time to update this thing regularly or not!!! i thought i would update you a little. we have had a great end to our summer. we played a lot and mostly just enjoyed being together. it was great! we have had such a leisure summer and i know it is one that we will remember forever!

monday July 28th will go down in the books as an important day in the life of summer morris. i officially learned how to swim above and below water in shallow and deep (8-10ft). i woke up on the the first day of my last week of summer break and decided it was going to be THE day. as bret and i lay in bed waking up, i told him, "before this day is over, i want to jump off the diving board!" he really didn't believe i was serious, i don't think, because he's never even seen me go under water without holding my nose for more than five seconds in the shallow end (and not very often, at that!). but, with his gentle teaching, i went from gliding across the pool underwater in the shallow end to jumping off the diving board at least 10 times and even diving in head first three times and ending it all with treading in the middle of deep end while i was the only person in the pool!! after the first long, emotional deliberation, i jumped in with bret promising to take hold of me once i bobbled up. he did, and i cried and laughed all at the same time with the emotion of 30 years of phobia pouring out. i actually enjoyed it all so much and understood why my children never want to leave the pool when they are learning something new. you just want to keep doing it over and over because its like you have a new super power or trick and you can't get enough of it! so, yay me!! i just hope the next time i get in the pool it will come back to me without so much emotion!

in other great news, i think our house is sold. we still have not received the contract back from them, so it is not completely official, but we have agreed to let them rent it for 6 months and then purchase it in february. they are a really great couple who want to plant a church in the rockwall/royse city area in the next couple of years, so i am honored that God will continue using our house for kingdom purposes! we actually sold our house through facebook of all things! please continue praying for us. there is a lot of water to go under the bridge over the next six months!

i also got a job. not just any job, but a great and promising job. a month ago (before our house had sold) it was extremely necessary that i find a job before sept. 1st. we had figured out how to cover both house payments and utility payments through the august payments, but after that, we would be completely drained of ALL reserves. as long as i had a job before then we would make it. i couldn't really start working until the kids started school, so i was looking to start something around aug. 11. i had been offered a mother's day out job with our church, but even with an extra childcare job on the side, i was still going to be short about $250 a month. God, gave me the opportunity to work at ACA as a permanent guest teacher. i interviewed, and though i know i couldn't have been the most qualified person to do so, (having only 104 hours toward a elementary ed/bible degree) i received the offer. i basically get up every morning and go to school whether there is a need for a sub or not. if a sub is needed, i work for that teacher. if not, then i help out in the office, guidance counselor, or spiritual formations office. it is a great opportunity for me to "test the waters" to see if i want to finish my degree in education once our house is completely sold or if i should try something else. i started tuesday and have been at work everyday this week for in service. i have to be honest, though. i have been very overwhelmed at all the information i have processed over the last three and half days. it is a bit intimidating to be doing this without a degree, especially since i am reminded of it often. bret has taken my overwhelmed adjustment state this week as negativity. for those of you who don't know my husband well, let's just say his glass is always half full! he can't stand it when i see it otherwise. thankfully, i rarely do. but for now, i am adjusting and overwhelmed. it doesn't mean that i don't fully realize how blessed i am to have this job. the thing is i wasn't ready to leave my baby, yet. i have looked forward for the last three years to this time when it would be just the two of us during the day, and now i won't be able to do that. i am also a bit concerned for her because this will be the first time that she will be away from all of us. she's never been completely away from every member of our family. now don't get me wrong. i know she is strong and resilient and will thrive, but i can't help but think about it. but God must have some reason for having me work at ACA this year because we found out only hours after i signed my year contract that our house was, in fact, sold. we are not quite as desperate for the money now that they will be renting it, though it will help us rebuild our reserves back up for a future down payment on a new house (if we're brave enough to try owning a house again). there is even the possibility that i will have to sub for a teacher on the first day and i am already schedule to teach two weeks of 7 and 8th grade science while one teacher is gone to china for the para olympics in september! i will be responsible during that time for teaching the students information and then testing them on it during that time!!!!!

finally, today was micah and anna's open house at school and we got to meet each of their teachers and see their new classrooms and deliver all their supplies. they were so cute. i did so much better this time than i did when i took micah to school for the first time. i was an idiot the first time i took micah, i'll admit it. but i tried very hard not to be today with anna. she was so big and so cute. i really expected her to make a superman pose and fly in the room when we got there becasue she's barely kept her two feet on the floor at home with anticipation. but she actually grabbed hold of bret's leg at first. once we were in, she did manage to let go and in anna-fashion, introduce herself to her teacher. she sat at her table and drew a picture while we filled out forms and put all of her supplies away. i am very confident in her teacher selection because from what i can tell, anna and ms. ray are two peas in a pod!
after getting all of anna's stuff squared away, we proceeded on to micah's new classroom with ms. roy. from my preliminary judgement, i think the nail was hit on the head with her as well. his room and its contents were so big (too big actually!!) to be My baby's classroom. 2nd grade!!! its just crazy how fast they are growing up.

that's it for now. i'll post pictures soon!