Klepper checking in...

Hey Cats! Ness, I love the name for Kiser #3! Liz, congrats (on being 30...I'm soon to follow...and on McAllister #3)!!! Fulton, I am alive...just a crappy Facebooker! Bets, glad all is well with the new baby! Byrd, so proud of you and Daniel and how you are so eager to follow the Lord's will. I am amazed at all the good work you guys are doing.

So...school's out for the summer!!! Had volleyball camp at school this past week, and the week before that my whole family met up in Colorado Springs for Daniel's graduation from the Air Force Academy -I'll post some pics soon (and maybe some video if I can get it to work right). We went up Pike's Peak, met all Dan's sponsor famillies and friends, had Joe Biden as the guest speaker, and the Thunderbirds flew over the stadium at the end of the grad ceremony and then did a show - it was awesome!! Listening to 'God Bless America' by Celine Dion while sitting in a stadium on the side of the Rockies while viewing all of Colorado, and seeing the Thunderbirds perform was definitely an amazing experience and really a chance to see how God has blessed this nation. Now what we're doing with all those blessings is definitely another matter... It was also a great time in the fact that the entire family was together for a whole week on like a real family 'trip' - that's definitely a rare experience for the Kleppers!

The week before that school was done...only to be back in session August 3rd. But I am grateful for a break. One great thing about education is that we are constantly striving towards goals, getting to the deadline, evaluating, and starting over again...it's never monotonous work. We had a big scare there in February when the county made massive cuts and (Our school had to cut eight positions and I am still two away from getting cut) but it's looking up at this point. I had to take another praxis in case I needed to be moved to seventh or eighth grade; also we didn't know if I was going to be switched to the other sixth grade team or not...right now it looks like I'm staying in sixth on my team and - the best part - only teaching one subject (reading) instead of two (myself and two other teachers were the only ones in the building having to do that for the past two years). It'll be great if that is what happens for next year! Also, since we lost so many positions and our entire special ed department was relocated, we have an entire unused room with carpet, kitchen, bathroom, etc. that was approved to be used for an in-house child care facility. Of course I am not pregnant at the moment nor do I plan to be anytime soon, but that definitely presents a WAY better option than just dumping my kid at any old day care...I really need a good 'situation' if I were even to consider still working for a while if/when we had a baby. Hmmmm... :)

On that note about school, the county is flying me and the whole reading department plus principal up to New York City for a week in July to attend some training at Columbia University - and they're paying for all expenses - sweetness!! NYC is somewhere I"ll probably never go on my own so this will be fun. Evenings are our own so we've gotten tickets to see the musical 'Wicked' on Broadway - it's the prequel to Wizard of Oz and getting rave reviews. It was expensive but I figured that since it's a free trip I could splurge to not miss my one opportunity to see a show on Broadway!! I wasn't going to spend the money, but my colleagues talked some sense into me.

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but Eric decided to stay another year at Lee instead of half year. He's going to just go ahead and get the rest of the Health licensure and then student teach in the spring instead of student teaching this fall and finishing up the health in the evenings. He really needs to have both PE and Health licensures anyway plus it'll make a lot of transitional things easier by him graduating in May instead of December. On the down side, though, that's still yet one more year of Eric in school and Jenney being the provider. But I feel we're walking in obedience, so all I can do is trust and be patient. This too shall pass!!! I still think Eric is a better student than I ever was - I can't believe how much work he puts into everything he does!

Now I'm heading to Ohio for a big 'ole three week stint with the family. Molly's doing college 'online' and working at the YMCA; plus she's got a boyfriend 'Joe' who is cool and fits in with family really well. My dad had him dig a ditch in the yard a while back so we figure he's 'in' with dad. :)

OK, I just had about 15 minutes to write but I've been thinking about you all today so I figured I should post. Love you, Cats!
- Klep

p.s. Byrd, I am way impressed about the green thumb!!