Changing Seasons

This is the last week of cross country. Bk is ranked fourth in the district at this point, which is just amazing to me. Our team was invited to the district meet, even though we are a small private Christian school. Bk is the only girl on the team this year, but we think we have recruited enough to actually have a girl's team next year. I am really pleased that she chose a sport she liked, and found that she is good at it. She has been dedicated, and God has blessed her in it. Her sister played volleyball this year, and we have two weeks left of that season. I don't have any pictures, because me, my camera, and my subjects are not on the same shutter speed. Let's just say they are learning a lot, and serving is very important at the middle school level. I'm hoping we can get her to switch to cross country next year. For a large family cross country makes a lot of sense. It is something we can all participate in, can all watch without little ones getting bored, and all of the kids can compete together. Sports have a tendency to spread families out and compete with family time, we are working at trying to find sports that we all enjoy and can participate in together. It's a process, and we are still learning, but I think cross country is the ticket for us for fall. My younger kids are also doing well in their mile times so we might actually be decent runners too. I still have to ride my bike if I want to keep up with them, but that is just fine.

Our weather this year went from 90's to 40's in the space of a week. I'm glad we were outside to enjoy it, but it has been sort of a shock. Our meet on Saturday was north and the temperature at race time was 24 degrees. Fortunately our kids seem to run well in the cold, but I am thankful that this is the last week. I guess we will have to start dancing in the living room to stay in shape over the winter.

Our adoption case has been submitted to the courts in Ethiopia. Since the courts are still not open, I am imagining that this means our case is on a mountain of paperwork that will have to be sorted out in the coming year. I fully expect that this process will take a while, so while I am glad that things are moving forward I am not making travel plans any time soon. We have been blessed with some very generous gifts from friends lately, for which I am very very thankful. Some of those gifts are pictures of our daughter, which are so precious to me. I have a photo album that I have been putting all of her pictures in. Last time I just kept them all on the computer and would scroll through them, but this time I have the album so that the kids can thumb through her pictures as well.

Nes is warming up to the idea of another sister. He wasn't very excited at first. I wasn't sure if he would be upset about a new child or if that would be okay. He just wanted another brother, not another sister. We really felt like a daughter would fit in our family more readily than a son at this point, so here we are. Now he prays for her, and looks at her pictures, and I really think realizes that she needs a home too. He is a very compassionate little boy, which is just a joy to me. God continues to work in his heart and grow it to encompass all of his family.

I think we have ridden out the flu season. It was a bummer, but we managed and made it through. I am hoping the regular flu season will not show its face for another month or so. It has made keeping up with school work challenging. I am having trouble remembering who is behind it what. It generally all shakes out in the end, so I will keep on keepin' on. I will miss the fall colors this year, but thankfully I painted some of them on my walls. I think I will go whip up some ginger cookies for the next meet.