"A Gentlemanly Agreement"

Matthew, Emily, and I made a deal on Skype today that I had to update my blog if they did. They have a very nice post about their first Cambridge touristy day with lots of cute pictures and witty commentary. You should check it out! Totally.

Teaching is going pretty well! It's altogether a much more difficult job than I anticipated and I'm looking forward to starting over next year with a clean slate. I'm also planning on spending a lot of time over the summer thinking of better lesson plans that will be more "engaging" (key educational term) for the kids. As Mrs. Maletic and my coworkers keep telling me, I just need to survive the rest of the year! :) Only 6 weeks left!

My biggest problem now is finding friends here and finding a church. A solution to both may have been found today!

I visited First Baptist Irving, which is literally 2 minutes from the Maletic's house. John Durham (Pastor Ron's son) preaches there, and I remembered him as an excellent teacher from a couple of youth camps. I attended their single's Bible study and was pleasantly surprised to meet a couple of new teachers, a bunch of grad students, and a good handful of seminary students. Two of the girls also live in my apartment complex. Even better, this group actually gets along and has a lot of personality! I got a great impression that they don't meet up every Sunday just to meet up, but actually have developed wonderful relationships! They were extremely welcoming and made sure I sat with them during the service and invited me to lunch afterward. The service was excellent. John's preaching was straight from Jeremiah (not just a typical topical sermon) and the worship was short, sweet, and genuine. The church's atmosphere is wonderful. The sermon was challenging, the people seemed receptive, and welcomed people with open arms. There were at least 5 people who joined today! Needless to say, I'm going back next Sunday. I'm aching to put down some roots here, and so far, this seems to be the perfect place!

In other news, I'm almost finished painting up a dresser that the Maletic's found for me. Hopefully, I'll have time to finish it this week and pictures will soon follow!

**Update**
One of the girls who lives in my complex (from FBC Irving) invited me to a surprise part tonight for the other! I strolled over about half an hour late, since I didn't know when the official surprise was happening. The door opened as I walked up and I was greeted with "SURPRISE!" from a dozen people and a shower of multi-colored balloons. Don't worry- the birthday girl had already arrived, they just thought it'd be funny. :) Anyway, I spent a mirthful hour decorating cupcakes and listening to hilarious stories from their undergraduate days. Most of the group went to DBU together, so it was a lot like hanging out with my own dear group of Baylor folk. Yay for new friends!