Hello Again, Hello

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I last wrote. I must say I've missed being here. I have had so many thoughts that I've written in my mind - they never made it to the page. At the moment, I should be grading papers and doing lesson plans... but I was drawn back here to a place I long to return to . So many things have happened..

• We lost our 10 yr. old Golden Retriever, Buddy,  in May and our 1 1/2 yr old German, in deep mourning, became an indoor dog... She's a terrific indoor dog, but absolutely terrified of loud noises and thunder storms! We spend many nights sleeping on the couch - she's not the snugly type!
• Honey and I celebrated 19 years of marriage with a trip away that Honey planned on his own... a cabin in the Ozarks!
• Oldest traveled to Belize for an intense 10 day trip to help a friend with his Eagle Scout Project - it was amazing to hear about all they accomplished to build a church.
• We joined the texting community... how can a teen text so much and say so little?????
• I was released from the Pulmonologist after a 1 1/2 year journey that cleared me of cancer we initially thought I had.
• In August, we began a journey that frightened us as we witnessed Oldest journey though sorrow and question life as he knew it. Two separate students each lost a parent and one student took his life. Through much prayer and our youth minister, Oldest worked through this and we are thrilled to have him back. Just this morning, our youth minister told me he received a text say "Caleb is back!" from his best friend. We are so thankful to have our loving, goofy, and fun-loving son back!
• Youngest has joined the Boy Scouts - what an exciting journey this will be!
• We are continuing to home school our youngest two, now in 6th grade and 10th grade, and Oldest is at our local high school in 11th grade. I'm feeling a sense of time spinning quickly away... band, college classes, play practice, boy scouts, church, family, I think ya'll are right there with me on this one.

• The baby I started watching back in February is almost one - Princess Izzy we fondly call her. God has provided this little one at a time when I'm really missing having a small one around.
• I continue to tutor/teach another child. This year has been so much better as we continue to discover new ways to help him be successful in school in life. We still have a long journey ahead as he continues OT, PT, and speech therapy and hopefully will get a formal diagnosis - we suspect Aspergers.
• Only and I are attempting to make it through Beth Moore's Bible Study on Ester. I honestly don't have the brain cells for this like I used to!

I've missed ya'll so much and can't promise that I will be able to make it here like I did before... but I'll try my best!