The school year has once again begun and I am again starting over. I took a job as a special education resource teacher for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. I thought a great deal about leaving the educational system this year and finding something new, different, and exciting, but it was not meant to be. Having a 2 year old and a baby girl on the way, I just realized that you can’t beat the hours that a teacher works or the time off. I was offered a job that I turned down in which I would have 5 holidays the entire year and no vacation. Turning that one down was a no brainer and I’m sure that most jobs are not that unreasonable. However, it did get me to put some perspective on things. Watching Graham grow and change is so incredibly exciting right now and I don’t want to miss out on that. So, I am now considering other paths within the educational system such as being a guidance counselor. I’m still not sure yet what I want to do with the rest of my life which is kind of frightening at times. I’m keeping my eyes and my options open though and something is sure to come along. Let me know if you think of anything!
Snapping Turtle
August 8, 2006 at 7:12 pm (Uncategorized)
My dad saw a snapping turtle strolling along Clemson Blvd in Anderson yesterday. All the cars were stopped but no one knew what to do. My dad stopped the car and bravely scooped that beast up and threw him in his van! The crowd cheered and he escorted him to turtle safety in the Hartwell Lake. Ofcourse, now I am going to feel even more nervous about swimming in the lake after seeing the size of this guy. Yikes! 
Out of Review
August 4, 2006 at 5:52 pm (Adoption)
We just received word today from our adoption agency that November dossiers are officially out of the review room. There are many stages the dossier goes through once it reaches China.
- Logging it in
- Translation
- Review of the Dossier
- The Referral!
So, we are on our way to step 4. We will be in the batch of people known as “Pending Referral” along with 1/2 of July, August, September, and October. Nevertheless, it is one step closer and that is a good thing!
Still Waiting
August 3, 2006 at 5:26 pm (Adoption)
We’re still just waiting is always the response I give people when they ask about our adoption. It doesn’t seem to satisfy as an answer though and I understand because it doesn’t satisfy me either. People want to know if we’ve heard anything at all. The answer is really no. We know that people who had a log in date at the beginning to middle of July of 2005 just got referrals. However, besides that, it is really hard to guess when we might get our baby girl. Our documents were logged in on November 22, 2005. At that point, we thought we would have a baby within 6-7 months. Now they are telling us it could be as much as 2 years from our log in date! We are hoping that is not the case. I am still holding out hope that we will have a Christmas baby. That would be the most amazing gift ever.
Graham’s Swollen Cheeks
August 2, 2006 at 3:34 pm (Graham)
Our normally cautious boy took a huge fall a couple of weeks ago. He was running at the pool (a huge mistake and lesson to be learned) and went head first into a chair. His mouth filled with blood and he howled. Poor guy! His poppy gave us a ride in his truck to safety. We had to have his first dentist trip under such terrible conditions. He may loose a couple teeth, but that remains to be seen. We have to wait it out and see if his teeth make it. My tough little man!
FloydFest
August 1, 2006 at 1:24 pm (Vacations)
Michael and I took some time off for ourselves and went to Floyd Fest this past weekend. This is a music festival nestled in the mountains of Virginia right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We arrived into Floyd around 1 and had some lunch in the surprisingly artsy little town of Floyd. Although it has only one stoplight, it seemed to have a lot more culture than much bigger cities. After lunch, we went on a wine tour at the Chateau Morrisette. The chateau was amazing and we were shocked at how much wine was being produced in the middle of the mountains of Virginia. They put out about a million bottles of wine a year. We brought home a few bottles of red ourselves.
We then went on to the festival where we set up camp in a great location close to the music stages, showers, and cool neighbors. The weather was amazing when we arrived and remained so all weekend. It felt like fall with clouds intermingling with sun and a great breeze.
The music all weekend was fantastic. Highlights were the Akoya African Band and Toubab Krewe also with African influence. Gabi La-La was one of Michael’s highlights as she is so unexplainabley odd and fascinating.
Graham had a great time staying with his Pop-Pop. They went to the movies to see Cars, saw horses at my mom’s cousin Ann’s farm, and fed Bo-Bo too many fruit loops. Graham loves his Pop-Pop very much!
A Day in the Life 
