All over the place!

Wow! Ever since school ended, things have been pretty crazy, hence the lack of blog postings. I (Kristin) have traveled to VA the previous 3 weekends for various reasons. It feels great to finally be able to hang-out at home with Mark this weekend. My sister Erin is coming into "Dirty Durham" today and I am most definitely looking forward to hanging out with her. Mark, however, is a little worried about Erin's visit, as last time us girls went on a major shopping spree at the awesome mall up the street. I've assured Mark that this visit will not be long enough to entail the same "damage". I don't know if he's fully convinced though. ;-) In other news, Mark and I are gearing up for the month of July and the start of our family vacations. My family will be vacationing at our usual timeshare in VA Beach, while Mark's family is renting a pretty sweet house in Emerald Isle, NC. The house is called "Blue Sapphire" and here's the link to some pics: http://www.bluewatergmac.com/bluesapph_pics. Well, I'd better get moving, as Erin arrives in a few hours. I will most definitely post some pics from the visit soon! 'Til then, enjoy some of these pictures from the LoPresti archive. :-)




Since July 4th is right around the corner, here is a pic from our "family outing" to watch fireworks in Raleigh last year!





This is a typical shot of how Candy spends her day....must be nice!





Hopefully, this year's VA Beach vacation will be a little more exciting for Caleb than last year's trip!

Summertime....and the livin's easy!

I am officially on summer vacation! Our last student day was June 7th, and it sure couldn't have come soon enough! So, what are our plans for the summer you ask? Well, there are a few family vacations and weddings coming up, nothing too unusual. I will be continuing my search for a teaching job in the fall, hopefully at a school a little closer to home. Currently, I am pursuing a position in middle education, as I want to try teaching only one subject. In both of my previous teaching positions, I have taught all of the academic subjects, and boy is that intense for lesson-planning! One last event for the summer, Mark and I will begin looking at houses in the area. We've really enjoyed where we are in the Southeast part of Durham, so we'll hopefully find a house we like somewhere nearby. Please pray for us, as the whole house-buying process is completely foreign to us. The plan is to be out of our apartment and into a house by the end of October.....which will be here before we know it!

I've included some pictures from my trip home to VA the weekend of June 2nd---Mark wasn't able to join me b/c of work. Nevertheless, having all of my mom's side of the family in Newport News to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday, was quite entertaining! Enjoy the pics!

FINALLY!!!

I had to write about a huge praise that happened today. As some of you already know, I have had quite a struggle finishing the requirements for my VA teaching license. Over the past few years I have taught using a provisional license, which definitely made things more complicated when looking for jobs. However, this past November I took and passed the final required Praxis 2 exam and figured I was well on my way to being finished with everything required. Recently, I learned of potential additional Praxis 2 tests I might have had to take, but luckily it was a false rumor. I checked the VA Education website today and searched for my name in the teaching license database, and up popped my information, stating that I have finally been issued a full teaching license for VA, to teach grades 4-8. I still need to get them to change my maiden name and spell my middle name correctly, but that's nothing compared to what I've been through! After all these years, my license is finished and I am good to teach until renewal in June 2011! Praise God for giving Mark and me the patience and diligence to finish things up! My next hurdle is to apply for my reciprocal NC license this summer and end up with a NC teaching license for grades K-9. Please pray for my continued motivation to finish everything up and patience for stuff to be processed. The end is most definitely in sight! :-)

P.S.--> I've included some pics of our oldest nephews Jacob (first pic) and Isaac (2nd pic). Don't want them to think their favorite Aunt and Uncle forgot about them in their blog!

We are officially cool! :-)

Ok, so in an attempt to keep people updated better on what's going on in our lives, Mark and I (Kristin) decided to join the ever-growing world of blogging. Married life has kept us pretty busy! Well, summer is right around the corner, and I am very much anticipating the end of a very crazy school year. It will be nice to finally relax in the evenings, knowing that I don't have any paperwork to complete or lessons to plan. We just finished our statewide standardized testing this week and both the students and teachers are quite happy to see them done! Mark is keeping busy with Apple and Biogen, and very much enjoying meeting up with new friends for pick-up basketball games and other things. Candy, our 4-year-old black lab is very much spoiled, but still very sweet and full of love. So yeah, for right now, not too much excitement going on with us, but I guess this is the calm before the storm of weddings, family get-togthers, and vacations of summer! I figured I'd attach a couple recent photos just to make our first post more interesting....enjoy! :-)




Mark and I cheezin it up for the camera at Beth and Tyler's wedding.








"The Beast" aka Candy











Our nephew Caleb with his Monkey. :-)













Caleb's twin sister Bekah looking oh-so-girly for the camera!