King of the Playground

Hello to all!! as many of you may have heard, Dutch loves to survey his kingdom from atop the playground. He of course, uses the drawbridge to get to the top and then the slide to get down - as any king would do. From this position, he can see all of the other neighbors' yards (as well as the squirrels and birds that occupy them)

So that really wasn't the reason I posted a blog, i just thought i should include a picture of something and we haven't taken many lately. Things are busy down here (which is why there has been a dry spell of blogging from Florida - well, from me at least). The majority of my time lately has been towards studying for the 5 (yes 5) classes that i am taking this summer. My fifth class is an accelerated class and starts next thursday so I haven't even felt the worst of it yet :( but so far being so busy has paid off as i have gotten a 102 and a 98 on my first two exams. It seems that the busier i am that the more wisely i use my time. Interesting... Work is still going well. They have a great (wonderful, superb, fabulous!) program in the summer. on fridays, we close at 12 and if you normally work past 12, you get paid for the hours you normally work! this is free money and i am not looking forward to summer being over. Next week I am going to orange beach (about 45 minutes away and right by great outlet shopping) for a training class. In the accounting world, in order for your office to remain qualified for certain things (such as auditing) each employee must earn CPE (continuing professional education) credits. This training will count as some and then there a few other classes that i will take throughout the year. CPAs though, are required to have a lot more credits than just employees of CPAs so i'll have to do this for the rest of my life. FOREVER, for-ev-er, for-ev-er (a little sandlot for you all :) which means i'll basically never be completely done with school. Speaking of school, good news! i was looking at the requirements to become a CPA in Idaho and they are a lot less stringent than the requirements in FL so I may be able to sit for the exam next summer (yikes!) .
You all are probably curious about how derek is doing with the state farm stuff. He will go down for the official interview next wednesday - back to winter haven again. We have briefly kicked around what plan B will be (if he was to not get approved) and we have come up with some positive ideas but we sure would appreciate some extra prayers for this stressful time for him! It's hard to ask God for His will to be done when you are not positive that it is your will also.... But He has the best plan for us so I guess pray that He continues to keep His hand over us!
We have started counting down the days until our trip to Idaho (right now the counting is mainly done because it means i will be done with summer school) but needless to say we are very excited to visit for a WHOLE WEEK!
Some exciting birthdays coming. One of which is golden.... (yay jo!) and one of which is a first ever! (yay henry!) the other birthdays are still special, just not quite as monumental :)
that is it for me - back to studying!!
love you all
sharon