Almost done at Andover

I thought it might be nice to update all of you on our current life status:) Jason is working full-time at ACR Homes, where he is the Resident Assistant Supervisor...he has loved sharing life with the boys...they have been such a blessing (and challenge) for him, and I know he is thankful for the years of experience they have given him before he makes the transition to teaching Special Education in the near future. He is currently a grad student at Bethel, and he just finished his first class!! Yay! So much hard work, and I even get to edit all of his papers!! I can't get away...as soon as people find out you like to edit, it will haunt you forever:) He is also excitedly anticipating Baby Boy and tells me often how he wishes he would quick grow up so they could start playing games (building legos, tromping around outside on some new adventure:) Our son is lucky to have a dad that never quite grew up:) It will make childhood all the more enjoyable for him, but he will have to learn to share his toys with daddy pretty quickly:)

Baby Boy Olson is growing fast....I am nearing 31 weeks, so he is kicking and squirming all day long, reminding of the wonderful energy that little boys have:) He is healthy, and we are so grateful for the blessing he has been in our lives already. Jason loves to talk to him and watch him kick...for awhile I don't think he believed me, but now that he can feel it (and see it), it has been amazing!

I am currently nearing the end of my first placement for student teaching and also enjoying the end of my grad experience at Bethel. I am so excited for spring!! Daffodils, sunshine, tennis, and after May 19 (or so) some backpacking...with a baby in the backpack!! Sadly, I only have two more days at Andover High School where I have been spending my days teaching wonderful high-school juniors to learn to love literature!!! We have come so far...now they are skilled poetry critics (and lovers, hopefully) who have successfully annotated all 18 stanzas of "The Raven" and read countless other poems by Whitman and Dickinson:) It has been such a blessing to work with Joyce, my cooperating teacher, from whom I have learned so much over these last few months. She has encouraged me and shared wisdom from her 30+ years of teaching. I will miss her and all of the crazy kids...from all three of my classes. I have really enjoyed the most recent unit I have been teaching on The Romantic Poets. The students have loved learning about their lives and their writing. I am excited for tomorrow as they complete their final poetry presentations. I will also have 60 poetry analysis papers to grade:) I even had them memorize and stanza or more from "The Raven" so that will be fun to hear. (Many of them are too shy to say it in front of the whole class, so I gave them the option to say it just to me-- ooops!) After tomorrow, I will have heard 60+ stanzas!! Yippeee!!! I love teaching and look forward to the new challenges awaiting me at Centennial Middle School starting Monday:)