Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

It's Snowing!

Pre-show with Friar Tuck

Adele has been practicing for several months and this weekend she performed as the main evil woman (Lady Merle) in Robin Hood. She rocked! She projected wonderfully and was totally evil. She had a ball and is basking in the glow of it still. The director of the program made a special effort to tell her she hoped she will come back for future performances and Adele is practicing her Academy award acceptance speech. Can you tell I am proud?

In the funny hat

Taking their bows

Big Marble Run

Up and Away

baloon ride

Here are Adele and Clem waiting for the hot air baloon to be blown up. My real estate agent and his wife have taken me under their wing a little and call to clue us in to happenings around town. Their office's baloon was giving tethered rides and the kids and Brian were the first in line.

Butterfly Mama

Pizza before trick or treating

Cleopatra and Red Ranger

Adele at her soccer awards

Frogs and Fish in bathtub

Sunny as filmed by Clem

Adele Catching Minnows

Eat Pray Love

Ok, so now I am doing book reviews. A woman from San Francisco recommended the above book to me at the childbirth conference and she was right on. This is the telling of a year the author spent abroad after her messy divorce. Four months in Italy eating amazing food and learning Italian. Four months in an Ashram in India meditating and four months in Indonesia learning from a traditional medicine man.

The first few pages I felt like she was whiny and self absorbed but then I totally began to feel like I was her (maybe I was relating to the whiny and self absorbed part) but I felt like I was on a journey looking for .....wait for it.....the meaning of life.

It is a great book, hard to put down and may I say, life affirming if not a little life changing.

Employment!

Hurray! As of Friday I am employed, and better than that, I am excited about the job. It is working (1) part time for the (2)Wellness program at the (3)University doing smoking cessation (4) trainings. I have numbered the above to detail why this is the perfect thing.

1. I have worried about the strain of full time work on the kids and me at this time of huge changes. Luckily this part time pays double what the full time Edward Jones paid so I will be making the same with them at 20 as I would have been for 40! Miraculous!

2. I love health education!

3. The University if possibly the best employer in town and everybody says once you are in you can move around and up fairly easily.

4. I love teaching and I will get a chance to work with every department on campus (rather than shuffling papers by myself.)

Thank you for all your good wishes, I feel like I am riding on the energy of friends and family and it is wonderful.

so here we are

I went to Chicago last month for a childbirth educator conference. My good friend Sylvia met me there and we had a great time. I have not laughed so much in forever and it felt good to know I could.

I realized that I love birth, birth education etc and that I shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. In my rush to get a "job" job, I was turning my back on something I enjoy and am good at. While I was there I did their new certification to train trainers. In other words, teach others to be child birth educators. With that I can set up my own trainings anywhere I want, charge what I can etc. I am hopeful that this will be a way to keep my foot in the birth world and have a good supplement to my income.

I had an interview that went very well with an Edward Jones office to be an assistant to the financial advisor. It really doesn't seem like me, though I know I could do the job. I will take it happily if nothing else appears but working alone with papers doesn't really seem to be using my talents. Beggars can't be... you know the rest, but I really am planning on not being a beggar much longer.

D day

Today is the day I have dreaded for many months. Divorce is like pregnancy, it takes way too long. Divorce is not like pregnancy in that it doesn't end with such a happy bundle.

Today was perhaps the hardest day of my life thus far and I have had some pretty tough ones in the past few months. Adele and Clem had a golden weekend. I believe due to all of your prayers and well wishes. We went to a lovely harvest dinner at the Unitarian Church, her director for Robin Hood called her fantastic, she was named best offensive player for soccer and Clem just chubbed along happily. Then today we broke the news. She was crying before Brian got the first sentence out. She said she wanted to kill herself, go lay down in the grass, she literally ran around the house screaming. Then after Brian began to tell her the details of her every day life she got creepily perky. Smiling about how fun sleep overs would be. I don't really know which was scarier for me to watch.

Its done and now I live in a new land and now we get on with it. I know they will be fine. I hope they will be fine. I know they will be fine.

First day of School

Harvesting the Corn with cousin Billy

View from the Cabin

By the Cabin

Off the Dock

Driving the Boat

Boating Adele

Clem on the Pontoon Boat

Anna and Adele after Cinderella

Thanks for the buggy ride

My Great Uncle Charles died this week and with him an era. He was the last of my grandmother's many siblings who all farmed, lived and raised their families together in Southeast Missouri. He was one of those people who always seems to be about to laugh as if life is just so delicious they are always on the verge of cracking up. There is actually a lot of that in my family. If you were lucky enough to be around Uncle Charles at a family dinner, you would probably get to hear a story. It would be about someone in the family and probably one you had heard before but without fail it would have you rolling on the floor anyway.

He was 87 and up until a month ago he was driving himself around, fishing and living at home with my Aunt Merle. Two weeks ago they told him that he needed a multiple bypass. He went into the hospital and the night before his surgery his whole family wife, kids, grandkids and great grand kids were in his hospital room. They didn't need to fly in...they all lived within a 10 mile radius and he saw them all weekly if not daily. In his usual style before they all left he said "thanks for the buggy ride." He didn't really come out of the surgery.

I have to say that recent events have made me think a lot about what makes for a successful life and happiness. When I was a child I wanted to live in Southeast Missouri with all my cousins and doting aunts and uncles. Now I am happy my kids will have more family in their lives and I hope that I will be as lucky as Uncle Charles.

Back to School Night

Tonight was back to school night, which seems real popular around here. This is very foreign to me... first you get a list of school supplies off the web page and then you take said list to Walmart where they have everything needed in two aisles including things like Kleenex (for the classroom noses) and ziploc bags (not sure why but teacher took and put in closet) and then you take it all to school a few days before classes start and get the desks organized, meet teacher, fill out paper work etc.

The shopping was a first. Adele is in 3rd grade and I have never so much as purchased a pencil. In Palo Alto all school supplies are....well, supplied. I never realized how unusual this is. I really liked that the kid's see their classroom and meet teacher before the first day of class. Adele's teacher is named Miss Guillory. Another first..the first teacher she has not called by her first name. Once she had a music teacher who wanted to be called Mrs. Porter but the kids finally raised their hands and said, "What is your real name?"

Miss Guillory is sweet, enthusiastic and clearly knows what she is doing. Which is good because she has 27 kids in a portable with no aide!!!! I am not so thrilled about that. But back to Miss Guillory, I really liked her as did Adele but she was one of those women who is so well put together that it makes me want to stand up straigter and check the mirror to see if I have something in my teeth.

Sorry for the ramble, I just drove 5 hours with the kids to my folks for a few day visit and though I can't sleep I also am having problems with focus. signing off...

updates

Sorry it has been a few days, our computer is down once again at home so I am sitting in the nicely air-conditioned Kinkos trying to take care of business. The kids and I went with a couple other moms and offspring cabin camping over night last week. It was fabulous! We rented a pontoon boat and cruised around the lake (everyone got a chance to steer) and then tied up to different docks for swims. After dinner the kids watched the disney channel and I sat outside with the other moms watching the heat lightening. It is amazing, sort of like the aurora borealis.

My friend Barbara was here this weekend and we have put an offer in on a duplex in town. It is very exciting and we are on our way to being real estate moguls!

I feel more and more desperate to get a job these days but I try to remind myself that I have only lived here a month and that it will come. I appreciate as many prayers, well wishes and good mojo as can be offered. We miss you all.

Not to sound to sorry for myself or anything but my 10 year wedding anniversary is this Thursday. For those of you who were there I think back to what a nice day it was with much gratitude to all.

I will post photos when I can download to our computer

Adele in the office

Here is my little peace lover with her drama camp name tag on. About two days after we moved here, the neighbor down the street asked if Adele wanted to go with them to the camp. It was full but they decided to take her and she got a big speaking part as the Grand Duchess. They had two fabulous performances this weekend and my mom came up for the show. She had a great time and thus I was thrilled. Adele wants to say, "Drama rules"!