"Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true!"

Needless to say, the Ivesons are extremely well and happy! Life has never been better.

Matthew maintains his job at Virginia Baptist Hospital. Come September he should be up for a promotion and a pay raise. He has been learning so much while working in the mental health ward as a counselor. He leads group therapy on the weekends which has given him a lot of experience with a variety of situations that often arise at the hospital. He often has sad or amusing stories to tell about the patients. Mental health is something we often take for granted. We both have been blessed with healthy mental functioning and both graduated early from college with honors. We enjoy having meaningful conversations about everything in life, which would be awfully hard if one of us had a mental defect. So many of the patients at the hospital are normal people in everyday life but they have their bad days- which is much worse for them than a typical bad day would be for you or me. It is so sad. That is why people like Matt are so important. They help these patients learn how to work through the trying times. They learn how to work with others who are different than they and are in different situations. Working as a team or simply being part of a team often brings out the best in people. Matthew is so hard working and has been a wonderful backbone to our family. He works to provide us with a place to live, enough food to eat, and so many extra comforts we don't really need but which are the perks of living in America in the 21st century.

Becca is so excited to begin work at St. Johns Day School. She is a little nervous about being in such a prominent position in these children's lives. At such a young age, the students take in everything around them. Every experience they have is a learning experience and their lives are shaped by who they are surrounded by- especially their parents and teachers. Becca hopes she will be a shining example for the little ones placed in her care. She hopes she will impart wisdom to their young minds and teach them not only the basics of life but also of the love of their Savior and Father in heaven. A classroom full of 4-year-olds is great grounds for nurturing new and young believers. Each and every one of the children under her care for the next year will be shown the grace and love of Christ and will hopefully come to a better knowledge of Himself. Becca never expected to be a teacher. She never thought she had the patience for teaching and for spending every day surrounded by eager little faces and sticky hands all around. But now that she is put in that position, she can hardly wait for class to begin! It is a blessing to be entrusted with these little minds and hearts. For at least one school year she will have access to their lives that no one else will have. She will be able to give them love in a way no one else can. She will be there for them every single day and b open with them and hopefully will be able to help them as they grow up before her eyes and set off to start elementary school the following year. Now that she thinks about it, early childhood education is where she thrives. She has loved the two families she has regularly babysat for during her college years and was hoping to find a full time nanny position in the area for this year. This preschool position is better than a nanny! Instead of being able to shape one young life, she will have a whole classroom of sweethearts to play with for a whole year. What a blessing.

We have been thoroughly enjoying our fish, Simon. He is so much fun to watch. He has such a little personality which is unique in a fish. We do hope to be able to get a puppy or kitten sometime soon though. We're not sure if we're allowed pets in our apartment, but maybe next year when we move we'll get a more snuggly pet.

Tonight we're going to watch some movie rentals. Both old action movies, Time Machine and The Triangle. We have such an eclectic taste in movies. Last night I watched MIB as I exercised in our living room. Before that was Becoming Jane. We like pretty much any genre of movie and can appreciate most attempts even if they aren't award winning. We'll probably only watch one movie during and after dinner. Matthew has a raid on WoW tonight... as usual. Which means another night of reading for Becca.

We hope your life has been as blessed as ours! God is good. God is very very good. We continue to hope and grow in Him alone. He is our strength and our cornerstone. And most importantly, we love Him because He first loved us. It's as simple as that.

Blessings,
The Ivesons