Saying Goodbye

So how does one say Goodbye to something like a beach house? I knew it would happen one day, but I guess I still find it hard to believe that there are people out there with that kind of disposable income. My dad never intended to keep the house forever. It has always been his little nest egg for his retirement. Thankfully he was able to finally sell it after 3 or 4 years on the market. And what this means for our little family is that we will no longer be traveling to Florida for the entire summer. My dad still has a home on the river in Ft. Myers, but you can't swim in the river, and we don't have a boat for sailing. We could always drive to Ft. Myers beach, but it's not the same. There are so many memories in my dad's beach house.

My lil' Anni at the beach for sunset..

 It's the one place where I felt like a super mom. It's where I am in relaxed mode and can be the mother I wish I could be all year..Because we stay outside most of the time, there are no giant messes to clean, and because we don't take many toys, there aren't heaps of things to do each night, so we just visit. Sometimes we sit and read together. Sometimes we all get on our phones and /or computers and just surf and play games together. But mostly we are just together. Physically close. We started calling it "3 Time"..That time when we do something just the 3 of us..Walking on the beach at night, swimming in the dark, going to WallyMart, and this year, visiting the pound every few days.
Part of me is devastated. Part of me is joyous. This summer I prayed constantly about 2 things, me getting a transfer and my dad selling the beach house. By the end of the summer I had sort of made a deal with God,
"Help Dad sell his house, and I will give up on a job transfer!"  Well thank you to the man upstairs for hearing me and making it happen..

Allie, J, and Anna washing their feet at the beach...

I am not sure I can put into words the love that is in that house. It's the first place that Anna and I went to after coming home from Russia. It's also the first place that August flew to as well..It's where Aunt Lee met my girlz for the first time. It's where so many happy things have happened. I have NEVER liked any of the homes that I have lived in since becoming a mom, but the beach house..I have always loved it.

But there will be other summer memories. That I am sure of. It's just one tradition that I am sad to let go of..Our Thanksgiving tradition of going to NYC with my mom is living on..This will be my 10th year of going. We landed a great hotel on Mulberry Street, down-town of course with a garage on the same street. So we are all set for that week..

Dad and Anna at the beach..

Anna swimming with her wings!

And my dad left for Beirut, Lebanon yesterday. I am thrilled for him to be living his dream of work and travel. He deserves it. I can't wait to hear the details of the apple farmers in the mountains! We drove him to the airport at Dulles and I got the sickest envious feeling. It seems to be worse than ever when I travel to Dulles. I guess because that is the airport that houses Aeroflot and it's signage can be seen from the road..I feel the strangest pit in my stomach. A feeling of jealousy and of irritation. Funny I am still irritated at the really large private international school in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Knowing that they hire people with much less experience simply because they happened to be married to someone with less experience... And each time I leave Dulles, I immediately come home looking for jobs in Russia. Knowing that it pretty much a closed door..And then I am irritated again..When Dad comes home, I am making my sister go get him..I don't want to look at that sign any time soon..

AugustRose's little toes in the sand for the 1st time..

AugustRose and Anni and I when Auggie had just turned 2!

Beautiful Baby turned 2 at the beach..

School is just meh...I am having a lot of issues with a coworker. And it really colors the way I feel as I go to work each day. I have to imagine that each day will be better, even if it hasn't gotten better. And the drive into work still SUX..But what am I to do? So I just go with it, and bust my ass everyday to teach the children..And give my own children the part of me that is left over..But this year, I secretly save a little of me..My girlz deserve it.



So Paka to the beach house..You have been good to us, and we will miss you! Thank you for giving us a beautiful set of summer memories!

Sprinkles

Today the weather turned. It happens every year. And I can always pinpoint when it happens. It's a day at the end of the summer when there is a crisp edge to the morning. I can usually smell someone cooking something and although it is not cold, it's enough of a change to make me take notice.. And when it happens, I usually wax sentimental about my life..You see, there is no fall in Florida where I grew up. The leaves don't change color. And there is no chance of snow..

I adore the fall..So many happy memories. Both adoptions were finalized during this time of year, so naturally those memories come flooding back when I notice the weather changes. I can't quite explain the feeling of joy that comes along with knowing that you about to travel around the world to have a baby. I am sure anyone who adopts understands..

And that comes to what I wanted to share. How long have you felt grateful to Russia about an international adoption?

 

I have said this before, but I chose to adopt internationally so that I wouldn't have to deal with any chance of a birth mother changing her mind.  I also didn't want everyone to know that I adopted. But I end up talking and sharing every detail of my adoptions anyway. Of coarse I realize gratitude for our children is forever, but how long does adoption stay the focus of who our children are?

Through my attempts to work in Russia, I realized that my girlz don't really care much about Russia. They aren't really one way or the other about it.. The girlz don't really identify with being Russian..As much as I have tried to sprinkle our lives with Russian  touches, it ends up that sprinkles are all that the girlz really require..Because they just want to be little girlz who go to ballet and dance, play in the yard, act silly, and never clean their messes..

 

I have always wanted to "give back" and pay my respect to good ole Mother Russia but at close to 9 years on, I feel like there is not a lot left to give. So I ask any adoptive families, do you still sprinkle your lives with Russian Appreciation or are you over it?



Gypsy Comes Naturally To Me

My dad is going to Lebanon next week. He went last year to work on a short term assignment with some government department..It is the same as before. He will go to work with farmers on implementing food safety standards so that they can move forward with trade. Right now, Lebanon is stuck with apples it cannot sell because larger countries in the area cannot legally trade with them due to their lack of standards. My dad is sort of an expert on food farm safety. Kind of funny that farming is international!

I know it's not the best time for him to travel to the middle east, but he is not going near large city centers so I am okay with it. Remember this is the man who traveled for 7 straight days without a bed when I was adopting Anna from the Russian Far East.

Ahhh, that week was a good one. Let's review for those who missed it..
Day 1: Fly to Moscow, sit in the airport for 8 hours.
Day 2 Fly 9 hours to Khabarovsk.
Day 3: Take a train to Komsomolsk to visit Anna prior to court.
Day 4 Take the train Back to Khabarovks and go STRAIGHT to court.
Day 5 Take the train to pick up Anna in Komsomolsk.
Day 6 Take the train back to Khabarovsk to spend the month...

*Because of the time differences, it was 7 days of continuous travel!!

It didn't really matter that we never stopped moving. It was pure bliss. I cut out the world while in Khabarovsk and lived in my little adoption bubble. And my dad was in the hotel room right beside Anna and I giving us space when we needed it, getting us pizza when we were sick, and spoiling Anna with scrambled eggs when I wasn't looking.

So a flight to the country side of Lebanon isn't so scary for me. My dad is living his dream and I won't burden him or myself with worry. Neither of us deserve that.

That brings me to my gypsy story. I have settled into school and my situation with the commute is no better, but I can't change it, so I have decided to just go with it..I have 22 years of teaching, but only 19 in my county/state. So the plan is to finish this year, and next year. If I left then my retirement would be terribly low, so obviously I would only leave it the PERFECT situation came along. Private/International schools are out of the question, and with the budget cuts of the DODea, it's out too. So I am back into graduate school as my big option. There are two areas I consider, history..which won't help me career wise, and ESOL which may help..
Right now, I am too busy with everything to focus on "what's out there" so I am just focusing on school and my girlz.

Locked Out...

So what do you do when you have a giant safe with all of your documents inside and there is no key...

Hmmm. We are trying to renew our passports but everything is in the safe. One suggestion was to drop the safe on a corner. Yeah, but it weighs about a million pounds.
Any ideas?


Reasons for the passport? A few, but for now I won't jinx it.

Dog Smiles

So this is what happens when Anni bugs the everlovin' crap out of the dog..He isn't smiling..He just growls at her! She thinks it is so cute..Yes I have told her to put him down when he does this. But she can't help herself~ 
I see the emergency room in our future.

A Candy Coating....

August never picked out how to decorate her room..It started out with her favorite color and then we went with that..

But this summer while in Florida, my sister and I took the girlz to a movie...And yes, as a group the choice was Katy Perry's movie..The girlz love her songs and I knew that it would be mostly concerts so we went..Turns out, it was pretty amazing. Many of the themes went over the girlz heads and they focused on the songs and staging of her concerts..And from there, AugustRose started talking about having a candy room. This summer I started looking through Pinterest, (find me there if you are on) and started picking up odds and ends to start Auggie's candy room...

Starlight Theatres are amazing. You order food and drink and take it in with you..Giant leather seats and a perfect view of the screen no matter where you sit..And it ain't cheap. Something like 12.00 for each child, and this was during the day..Yep, we spoil ourselves in the summer. For the record, this was the SECOND movie I have ever taken the girlz to see. We saw the Smurfs last summer..(My sister has taken them to a couple of movies..AugustRose slept through them so....)


OK, so onto Auggie's room...
I have been finding little things here and there and this is what I have so far..

I found these adorable little cupcake lights at Claires..They were on clearance for $5.99! I tied random ribbon around the cord so it isn't as ugly..(I used ribbon from AugustRose's birthday presents..Hint, always keep the gift bags and ribbons.. You will always find a craft for them!!)

These are the Popsicle..They are sort of hard to see when they are lit up..But they are cute!!!

I painted and put lots of ribbons and Christmas gumdrops all over this little guy!

Here is the spot above the bed. One side is cupcakes, the other side is Popsicle lights..Again, Claire's has great deals on just about everything!

I used Anna's old comforter cover which is sort of solid hot pink..We have candy pillows from Anna's dance recital, and Anna was such a darling and gave it to AR for her room..Sometimes Anna can be such a lamb! (YES, there are many times I wanna scream at her!!)



Oh, about the dog. The damn dog.
He has gotten really territorial about me and my bed and barks anytime the girlz walk into my room. There must be something in his history that causes him to be fearful. The girlz handle it well, since he is awesome unless I am around. He is pretty good otherwise.
But just like Aunt Lee said, "I gotta dog..Not my girlz!!"
Damn it!

My student started last week. Oh Lordy, am I tired. The first week is usually the hardest. We have very large classes for a Title 1 school, but it is what it is..My students are mostly English speakers and bright, and funny, and tiny! I forget every year how little they are.  One child goes by his middle name and when I wrote his firs name on everything he told me, "That's not my name." So I asked him what his name was and he told me...."Guess!!!"  I had to laugh..He is the littlest nugget and I kind of want to squeeze his little cheeks.


I am still feeling the ease of living without "other burdens" and know now more than ever that sometimes you have to remove yourself from situations you can't control. Friendships are about honesty and when someone simply wants to please them self and doesn't consider the collateral damage, you just have to move away from it. Forever.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDrcVOQ3KJE
This is how my life was...  And I am Jacqueline in this little demo!!
(The first 8 minutes are pretty much how I have felt)
But, at the end of the day, it will be Teresa who WONT own up to her wrong doing and will blame everyone around her..Instead of saying, I shouldn't have trusted, she should say, I was wrong and it was my fault.

another catch up post..

So I am back at school. I didn't get a transfer so my drive is still a nightmare, but the beauty is, I know what I am doing and have lots of support in my building.
We have a lot of new procedures, forms, requirements etc. so it is good that I am at my familiar school. I would hate to have to learn all of this at a new school where I am learning the basics of that building.
..
We got back from Florida a little over a week ago. And when we arrived, we arrived with a brand new dog! He is a pound puppy and awesome. He is a cross between a yorkie and a mini schnauzer. So he is very light, but with very long legs! We are adjusting to our life with him but thankfully he is four years old so he doesn't have the 'puppy' needs. His name is Marty.
It took me over 2 years to decide about the dog, and I am certain we made a good decision.

I have been happier than ever at school. We were given 2 days to set up our rooms and plan. These days are in addition to the week prior to school starting. Oh and these were PAID days . My main boss is basically awesome and spent this money to give us a jump start! Afterall, 40% of our evaluations will be based on our students' successes so she wanted us ready to go by the time school started. I have been at school til 8 or 9 each night this week. Luckily my boss is awesome as I said and many of us would get our own children in the afternoon and bring them to school. This way we could stay til the school closed for the night without having to make our sitters keep them all day..There are loads of little ones so my girlz LOVED being there!
After being in Florida and with me all day, this gave the girlz a chance to ease into life without Momma by their side all day.

Summer was relaxing and wonderful. No extra toys to keep up with, no extra "stuff" to deal with, just time with  my girlies. and my dad!

I was able to visit my BFF from Florida on our way home. She and her hubs took us on a 'mudding' run through her equestrian neighborhood. Acres and Acres of nothing but beautiful homes and paddocks of horses. They have a jeep that has been refitted with very tall back seats and Anna and i rode up there..My phone died on the ride so no pics..boooooo!!! Lee's area is about the only place in Florida I would like to live. If it snowed there, I would honestly consider moving..Lee's daughter turned 16 yesterday. and that is one I can hardly believe. I remember the day she was born. I was up here, living in DC at the time.
This rockin' lil 16 year old is a really down to earth cross between a country girl and city girl. She is a "yes maam" kind of girl who is more stunning than is humanly possible. She is doing well in school and is a joy to her parents. She is a great big sister! 

I love you Mary Allison M!!

 

We had such fun catching up while at Lee's house. The girlz loved being there since we got to go on the boat one day and fish. Out of all of us, AugustRose was the only one to catch a fish..And she caught 2!!  But before and after that, she spent the better part of the day screaming at all of us to "Sit DOWN, we are going to TIP OVER!"  She was so thrilled to ride the boat, then once on it, not so much. And I giggled at her all day. She can be bitter beyond words.. and it made for some laughter on my part!



So life is good. And I am ready to start another year.
I hope your summer gave you the "re-charge" you needed to begin the cycle again.