Fall

Fall is here.

The girls have started school and are still getting adjusted, Mia in particular. Lily is enjoying her class and is adjusting to the more rigorous expectations. Mia is having a bit of a time adjusting to the rigorous expectations. They basically have a 1st grade curriculum in Kindergarten. We are having a difficult time determining what to do. Should we send her back to Jr. K where she will actually get a Kindergarten education but accepting she might be screwed up her whole life because we essentially held her back? Should we leave her "as is" in her class, knowing she will struggle all year? Or should we move her (or them both) to another school?

Knowing what to do in this situation is impossible. The hours we've spent wondering what to do. We might just jump and hope something catches on the way down.

We lost our sweet labrador, Patton, in September. He had been sick for a while with cushings and just getting older in general (11.5) so it was a blessing when he finally told us he was ready. He was my husband's baby though so he has taken it particularly hard.  He was my "step-child" and a rascal of a dog. He jumped up on people, stole food, ate bags of frozen raw chicken, pans of brownies, chewed everything, would groan when we wanted people to be quiet, and would make sure he got in bed first to steal my spot. He was the best "big brother" though. From the moment the girls were born he was protective and totally docile towards them. He will be missed. Molly was very sad for a few weeks but has now seemed to grow accustomed to being the only family pet. She seems quite content in fact.

We have had several visitors so far. My dad visited and we went to Mount Vernon, as well as several of the Smithsonian museums. Garry's mom also visited. My brother and sis-in-law will be visiting the Annapolis area next weekend so we plan to spend the day there with them. My dad will be back at the end of the month and Garry's mom in November.


I'm almost done with my first of two classes this semester. I will graduate in December after 10 years of grad school.

Garry is in the middle of mid-terms this week and next. His plate is very full.

We've made good friends and love the area. We hope to make this our permanent home eventually. Some good friends of ours have asked us to their family Thanksgiving. We've very excited to spend the holiday with new friends :)

Adoption update: We have been registered for 30 months with BG as of the 15th of this month. We are praying something comes before Christmas but won't be holding our breathe. Our HS expires in June so we will have to make some hard decisions if we have nothing by Christmas, as we will not be renewing our home study.

We pray that is not the case but have accepted that sometimes what we think is God's will is just our desires disguised in religious ornament. It is hard to know the difference.