Another Busy Week

I've been away from the computer this week - can you imagine that? - and have been very busy with the first week of school! I have two really great classes and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year!

Saturday, August 4, the boys and I participated in promotional testing at Taekwondo. I was promoted to brown belt. I will have this belt for two testing cycles, so that I can learn patience. The boys both tested for their black stripes on their current belts, so Shelby is a green belt decided and Jeremy is a blue belt decided. Mr. Boyd wanted to slow them down a little to work on strengthening their techniques, plus Shelby hasn't had the best attitude lately. Jeremy is already showing initiative by practicing the segments we learned in class this week. My mom also did a wonderful job at her promotional testing! I was so proud of her! She is 60 now, and the oldest student at our school....her techniques are getting better and better!

I also had the chance to represent my profession as a Gold Star Teacher Consultant for Crayola on Saturday. I worked in the Walmart back to school area and answered parents' questions about education and school supplies. It was great fun and maybe when I retire I will go there and work part-time! (Although Walmart, in my opinion, has labor issues that maybe I'll discuss in another post).

I've been shuttling puppies back and forth to David's store this week. We've found homes for all but one puppy - a little girl we're calling Little Bit. The puppies were all so cute learning how to eat dog food out of the bowl...they would just lay in the bowl and eat until their little tummies were round and full! I hope that the pups bring their new families much joy and happiness. All told, there we ended up with six living puppies!

As we really don't need any more puppies in the world, Mixers will be making a trip to the vet very soon to be spayed. This is an important responsibility of pet ownership!

I took the boys to go see "Underdog!" at the movies last night. This is a very cute movie and has some important themes such as the importance of family and not giving up on yourself. Disney did a great job, and even though the film is rated "PG" I did not notice any curse words. If you ever watched Seinfield, Elaine's goofy boyfriend David played the role of bumbling villian sidekick and he was just hilarious! Jim Bolushi played the father figure in "Underdog!" and it was terrific to see him in another dog film (remember K-9...I love that movie!). You should really get out and see this film if you get a chance!

There is another movie that I want to go see this fall called "Martian Child." I just noticed it on the previews last night. A single father adopts a special needs child, and as an adoptive parent I can't wait to see how the media addresses this. It looked like it would be a heart-warming film and I thought that, just from seeing the previews, that it looked like the kind of film that we might see win some awards.

The best thing about being so busy is that I've managed to get my mind off, at least for a little while, the wait to Kaelie. She's always there, in my thoughts and dreams, but I haven't had much time to really focus on how much my heart is longing to go to China and bring her home. Rumors on RQ, well, discussion actually, have March '06 families speculating they might start seeing their referrals in May '08, which would put our referral sooner, maybe in March or April 2008. I think that this is a definite possibility and I just can't wait to see Kaelie's face and begin to make travel plans. A referral in this time frame would also bode well for us not having to redo our immigration paperwork again, though our homestudy will have to be updated one more time. Sigh...it's always something and even though I've always dreamed of having 4 kids (I know I'm crazy...I can barely keep up with the two I have now!) I just don't think I can emotionally go through another adoption, at least not one this long!

Speaking of the boys...they both have been a big help with the housework these days. I've been making a chore list on Saturdays, and they have to help. I've tied it in to treats like going to the movies, and so far Shelby and Jeremy have both been very compliant about helping. I'm really proud of them!

Shelby and Jeremy both had a good first week at school, by the way. Shelby started fourth grade and has to change classes one time (like my third graders do!). Jeremy's school has a new principal, and his teacher is super, super nice! I hope they both have a great year!