Random thoughts

I have been reading over and over again the book of Ecclesiastes.  I do not feel like I can move on yet.  I have been getting some surprisingly good stuff out of it.  Usually, I skim through this book or just pick out the "good" verses, since the little black cloud that follows me doesn't need anymore fuel to the "woe is me" fire.

Austin is not doing that great in school.  His spelling is atrocious and his handwriting leaves much to be desired.  I am SO glad we got the Reading Detective comprehension material; until this past week, he was failing every one of the assignments.  He over thinks everything, and his brain is certainly not wired like mine. He has been struggling in grammar as well.  The comma splice, fragments, and fused sentences were throwing us both for a loop.  I still don't really understand when to use ; (this) rather than , (that). ugh!  We are having a good time though, and I am not really concerned with his performance.  I will whip him into shape soon.

He is having the most wonderful opportunities to go to Nate's shop and help out with the motorcycle business.  He and Nate took apart his first bike last week.  He received $35 as his share in the process.  He gets to hang around a bunch of really nice young men, and with the 12 or so motorcycles in the shop right now, the testosterone is really flowing.  I even caught some of it the other day and jumped on an orange crotch rocket and sped off past the airport.  When I thought that I was really flying, I looked down to see that I was going all of 43mph.  Nathan was ahead of me.  I should actually say that he was a small black speck on the horizon, and when we arrived at the shop, he stated that I could hardly have been going any slower. Oh well!  I guess I have no future as a leather ed up street racer.

I just got home from driving a couple in our church to the Atl airport.  They are on their way to Bulgaria to pick up their new 4 year old son.  I am so excited!  I felt like I participated in a moment of eternity.

I am excited about the young married women in our church.  I have a couple of them that I am particularly vested in.  I find great fulfillment in these mentoring type relationships.

A citizen, an anniversary, and the good stuff

Dania got her citizenship on Friday without a hitch.  She asked me in the directors office: "now can I stay with you forever?"  We took her to the mall to eat lunch while our van was having some scheduled maintenance, and that was a brand new experience for her.  Sometimes I forget that she hasn't done certain things or seen things that I take for granted.  She had never seen a food court, an escalator, or the merry-go-round.  She was scared to death to step on the escalator, but I forced her to do it a dozen times while Nate sat on a comfy sofa and watched the spectacle.  She got to pick what kind of food she wanted to eat, and while I choose county fair, she choose pizza and spaghetti. (she is getting the hang of what American kids eat)

My paper chase and her citizenship quest all ended on our 16th wedding anniversary.  I have now known Nate half of my life, since we dated for 4 years.  I am so grateful for the good, bad and ugly that has been our journey of marriage.  I couldn't be happier, and I don't say that very often.  Saturday my parents took the kids to Blue Grass, so that I could have a casual dinner party with friends at our house.  The weather was perfect, the food good, and the company delightful.  Sunday, Nates folks picked up the kids so that we could go on a nice long motorcycle ride in the fallish weather.  The evening ended with pizza and cake at their house.  Today, I laid around in my pj's and read outside on the deck.  The only work I did was, load the dishwasher and make the bed.  It was a perfect long weekend.

My oldest baby. My littlest baby.

Austin is headed out in a few hours to spend the night with a friend, and then leave at 5am to go to Minnesota for a youth conference.  He is headed way up north for the first time, and this will be the first he flies in an airplane.  Yikes!  Believe or not! (believe it) I am nervous for him, but rest assured, I have said nothing to him about it.  I am acting like any other normal mother would in preparation for a trip.  I refuse to even give a hint of my anxiety to him, lest he befall into the pit his mother has occupied for so long.  Nathan has assured and reassured me that he will be fine and that I am utterly weird and bordering on lunacy. (nothing you or I didn't already know)

My littlest baby (Dania) has her citizenship appt. early Friday morning in Atlanta.  This will be the end of the paper chase for us.  She may walk out with her paperwork or it will be mailed to us.  In the event that something is askew with her paperwork, it should not be to hard to resolve it from this point out.  I have been nervous about this as well, trying to get everything in order, run all over the city of Atlanta getting physicals and paperwork.  I also had to get stuff translated and forms filled out. She is the first one in the group that works with my agent to go through the process, so we are the guinea pigs.  I pray everything is in order and this chapter can be closed.
I will still have to readopt her in the state of Ga, but that is not a necessity.  I do want her to have a US birth certificate and not have any hang ups in the future with drivers licenses, marriage cert. etc, so we will proceed with stateside adoption.  She will be a full fledged American citizen on Friday.