Well, we have been busy since I last posted. So, I will try to just summarize!
August - We were in full swing into VBS for a whole work week. As in the past few years, I was in charge of the music station. This should really be called the "Scream/Sing your heart out while looking crazy as you try to motivate and teach children how to do simple choreographed routines". As typical, I was exhausted each day and took a few days in the end to recover my aching calves and shins from the jumping for two hours each day. Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of fun, but I do get tired. I was also trying to get in a deep cleaning before schooling and other things took over.
Shortly after VBS, we started our schooling year. Yes, it was a few weeks earlier than our public school counterparts, but they are not going to take a month off when new siblings arrive from another country. I will give a later post on the specifics of our school year plan for 2012-2013.
A week later, we hosted Lian, a member of the ICAB board from the Philippines. She stayed with us from Tuesday evening till Thursday evening. Lian was the escort for the orphan children who were coming to the US for a one month Summer Program where they are treated similar to foreign exchange students but only for one month. Having Lian in our home was at first scary but later such a blessing. She got to see our family structure and how we run our home. We all asked lots of questions and quickly found her company very easy. She kept apologising for us playing tour guide, but I explained how it was good for us to visit these places again since the children had not seen them for a couple years and at this age, their perspective changes rapidly. We were sad to see her go but she was anxious to return home to see her family and friends.
Right after Lian's visit, it was my turn to host my Bunco group. Bunco is a dice game to give us ladies something to do while we snack and chat about whatever. Usually I have a theme, but I was so swamped with schooling and Lian's visit, I just went simple. I did make some traditional Filippino Foods like Calderetta (a tomato, beef, and pork stew), rice, and Bibingka (sweet rice and coconut custard like cake). The kiddos helped me pick out snacks for the tables. I told them to pick what they like to eat because they would be eating the left overs.
Soccer - I went to the Boy's team's draft and tried to make it as smoothly as I could. One of the coaches and our team do not get along. Mostly this is from years of competition, in addition to heavily different coaching styles. The boys go from 12 to 16/18 team mates. We had some new picks we had been dying to get, a returner we were not expecting, and some welcome surprises to add to our returning 10 players. It will be a learning year as the boys are mostly 12 in the new age group of U14. However, they look great and remember all their passing drills from before. Bella's team is mostly new too and unfortunately my schedule has not enabled me to be at all her practices.
Sept. - Soccer games started and the remaining tomatoes are being harvested and processed. Karl took Bella to Minnesota for almost a week to visit with his family. Bella had a great time! She got to go to the American Girl Doll store in the Mall of America twice! Her grandparents showered her with a few gifts from the store. She was sad she did not bring Molly, but at her luncheon the store had loaner dolls to accompany them during the meal. She also got to go to the zoo and pet exotic animals. Karl spent some much needed time with his family. With our location far away, he can not be there to keep up with all the changes happening to the family as Karl's dad changes treatments for his cancer.
CCD has begun. Karl and I "team teach" seventh grade students who are also in their first year of the Confirmation program at our church. This year we actually know more than 1/2 of our students as they are the same age as Anton. So between scouts, soccer, and Altar Serving, we know quite a few of them. Yes, Anton is in our class. This created mixed feelings as he gets our views all the time but he really did want to be in our class.
Latin Mass - last weekend, our church held a High Latin Mass, something that has not happened for quite some time. I was asked to sing in the choir. I was nervous but attended the rehearsal only to find out I was the only Soprano. Yes, since discovering my undiagnosed food allergies that had caused all my other issues, I have actually went up a full octave in my range putting steadily in the Soprano range. With only one practice we did the best we could. It was a special mass as it was celebrating the Victory of the Cross with a piece of the actual cross shown after mass for everyone to get a close up look.
Adoption Updates - We are waiting on baited breath for documents to arrive from the Philippines. Since the birth certificates have not arrived yet, we are being told we might not fly out to get the girls until 2013. So all our preparations for arrival between Thanksgiving and Christmas might be a bit early. One of the things we have had to accept is that we do not have control over the time tables of things. We are also dealing with a cultural difference. In America we are "Go, Go, Go!" with lots of "Should have had it yesterday!" impulses. In the Philippines, things are much more laid back, their saying "Wait Lang" is suppose to be similar to our American expression, "In a minute" only the "lang" is pronounced "long" and feels like that to our instantaneous culture. So prayers for quick delivery of paperwork on both ends would be appreciated. So it is time for us to "wait lang", time to practice those patience skills.
