I want a cat reunion!!

Hey, it's Klep here. Holy cow, if ya'll don't stop having children for just a small interval, we'll never be able to get together!! No, really, V, I"m so excited for you! And Bets, I"m praying for you these final days! Oh, and Fulton, I've shared your throwing up story with about five people who also cannot believe it is for real. :)

So...is a cat weekend possible once Bets has a newborn and V is in early pregnancy? I say lets do it. March or April-ish?

Our holiday season was busy but grand. I took 1/2 day personal day the Friday before break and Eric and I headed to Charleston, SC for our three-year anniversary trip. Eric found a sweet deal through a time-share company to listen to the spiel but get three days/two nights plus some extras for only $75! It was great...except for when we saw the crappy hotel they had put us up in and Eric killed a GIANT roach right next to his head that night. So...we saved the roach in a bag and went in and told them this wasn't going to work for us so we would get our own place. Of course, they apologized profusely ...and then put us up in a 5 star resort hotel and let me tell you, it was plush. I kept saying, "Thank you, God, for the roach!" It was great fun and romantic. We went on a haunted prison tour ( the jail there is 200 years old) and the guide was literally trying to call up the spirits. I just kept saying "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" over and over again, so I think that's why none of them showed up. :)

Welp, then we headed to Knoxville for Christmas Eve, then up to Ohio that night. All my brothers were in and it was wonderful. We got to stay for a week and a half. Eric helped Dad finish building his garage outside and loved every moment of it. It was so great to chill out with family. If you think of it, you can pray for our little Molly. OK, she's 18, but she's decided to withdraw from college (she was going to one nearby and living at home) because 'she hates class'. She's planning to take all online classes to get her degree...but we're nervous she may chuck college altogether, which isn't the end of the world but when FOUR people in Eric's family lost their jobs in this past month because of the economy and they have no other options and no skills, no degrees, nothing but high school diplomas, the future doesn't look real bright for them. I just really hope she gets the importanc eof just having that piece of paper that says 'degree' in her hand or her future is seriously limited.

School is good - we got our first day off last week for flooding. Then we got yesterday off because of 'extreme cold' - (9 degrees). So now I've got a four day weekend including MLK Day Monday. Yippee!! Volleyball season is up and going so this past week I was at school until at least 7, sometimes 8. Then, even though I teach sixth grade, they pulled all Language Arts teachers in the building to teach 8th graders in an intensive writing workshop (um, yeah, I've never taught writing either) for 3 hours. So I had 13 eigth graders and I was SO nervous...cause, um, I just don't really like 8th graders! :) I prefer the little baby 6th graders. But, it went really well and I feel good after overcoming a challenge.

Eric will graduate next December if all goes well. So we actually have to start thinking about what to do next. We haven't had to do that our entire married life! I'll be honest, cats, I am sometimes sad that I am nearly 30 and have no children. I mean, you all have at least two, some have three. And nearly all our friends here just had a baby. I find myself worrying over what to do if/when we are blessed with a child. We have so much school debt, and I"m really enjoying teaching and I don't know that I want to leave it anytime soon right when I'm getting good at it. But I"ve always said I wanted to stay home with my kids. Any job Eric gets will be significantly less than what I"m making. ?? I know it's senseless to worry about any of that because God always lets me know what to do right when I need to know and not a moment earlier. Bottom line is: If we both worked for jsut one year, that would pay off massive amounts of debt. But then that pushes off babies even longer...and I'm nearly 30. So, that's just the kind of stuff I find myself thinking about a lot recently. Especially when I get around our parents and realize that they're not getting any younger and I sure want them to know their grandchildren.

I'll try to dig up a picture or two to attach. I'm so thankful for all of you and thankful that we can keep in touch this way. I love hearing about everyone's blessings and struggles, moments of joy and of sadness as well. meow, cats!
- klep