Time Goes By Too Fast

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a month since I wrote on this blog. I have so much to say I don't know where to begin, so I will just have to jump in and see how it goes.
Christmas Vacation: Christmas was absolutely wonderful. We spent a lot of the time just hanging out with our family and enjoying each other. It was so great to see Joseph enjoying himself - he was so sick last year and this year he had so much energy and is feeling so great. Between this and the fact that Kent will be gone next Christmas, I just wanted to savor every moment and make it last forever.
Josh: In January, our nephew, Josh Talbert moved in with us. It has been good to have him with us. All the kids have enjoyed having him around. He was able to get a job quickly and will be busy working full time. Josh will only be living with us for a short time while he saves up money to get himself into an apartment. For this I am grateful, because while I am happy to help Josh out, I am looking forward to separating Joseph and Nathaniel into separate bedrooms and dejunking the mess that they currently have.
Kent: Kent will be leaving for the MTC and Jamaica in just about two weeks and it seems like time is just flying. We have finished most of the shopping and he will be speaking this Sunday. He is so excited to be 0n his way. One of the highlights of getting ready for a mission is when they go through the temple. Kent took out his endowments about a week ago and it was so wonderful. It is probably the very best thing I have ever watched one of my children do - it was just so perfect and is truly the real step to being grown up.
New Job: My new job is wonderful. The flex program is a program where students receive a progress report every day and during a 30 minute time set aside for this program, students with an F or an I report to their teachers and try to get caught up. If they have passing grades then they get to go to other activities, including a movie, video, computer, or board games, scrapbooking, sports in the gym, etc. I am so excited about this program. There are so many students that need to feel the success that comes from passing their classes and if they use this time it can accomplish this. I spent my first week of work going to other schools that have this program already in place and observing. I was especially impressed with the increase in students passing their classes. It has had a real impact and I know from subbing in the junior high that this is exactly what Orem Jr. needs. My job includes running reports and creating progress reports for each student every day. These reports are small, you can fit 10 on a page, and I have to cut them so that each of the 839 students receive a report every day. The students then use these as their tickets to activities or remediation. I am loving being out of the house and busy. So far the kids have adjusted really well. Nathaniel is able to go to and from school with Austen and his mom and that is a big relief to not have to worry about him. All in all things with the new job couldn't be better.
Joseph: Joseph just had his annual biopsy and things looked great. He is having no rejection and shouldn't have to have another biopsy until next January. Hooray!!