Well, we're all settled in to Jacksonville, and Atlanta Institute was very eye-opening. They break you in quickly by planting you in Atlanta. It's so nice to be home! I am learning to love Jacksonville so much each day. It is really a beautiful city that's not on anyone's radar. Aaron and I have been spending a lot of time just getting to know the town and getting the apartment to really feel like home. Some of the beaches we've been to are Hannah Park, Jax Beach, Neptune Beach, and Ponte Vedra. I think the consensus is that Ponte Vedra is the most beautiful, but it's also the farthest away. I've officially eaten at 10 local restaurants (6 in Riverside, 4 at the beaches), and I certainly have nothing to complain about. So far my only complaint has been the ridiculous DMV system they have in place, in which we had to visit 3 DMV's before we got all of the paperwork necessary, and we paid $100 just to tag our cars for the first time in FL, which doesn't include the cost of the licenses. Someone forgot to remind me how expensive moving really is! But we're making it.

Now for the good stuff...I found out this week that I'll be teaching 4th grade Language Arts at Lake Forest Elementary, which is a "visual and performing arts" charter school. This is very exciting, as I've always been involved in the Arts and love to see children really involved in it as well. I think this will be very challenging for me though. While I will only be teaching one subject, the school earned a grade of "D" by FL's state standards, which translates just like school grades. In other words, they're in trouble! To put that into perspective, only about 40% of students in 3rd grade and higher passed the state standardized test. That's a big problem. FL as a state passed with about 60%, and Duval Co. (the county Jacksonville is in) passed with about 45%. None of those numbers are where the FL Dept of Education think they need to be, and that's one of the big reasons Teach for America is in Jacksonville now. That means that as the Language Arts teacher for 4th grade, I'm responsible for these kids learning to read and pass this test. That's a HUGE responsibility, but I'm not doing it alone. Not only will I have the support of other teachers in this big endeavor, but I have a divine presence in my classroom that is even more on these students' side than I am. I am ready to defy some statistics placed on these kids' heads. While I am only one person and only one teacher, I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me! So send me in Jacksonville! Here I come...