I made a commitment to my blog that I didn't keep; but for good reason. ALL summer we were living out of suitcases like vagrants. And vagrants don't have computers of their own. We made the decision to stay in Corinth, living with William, Heather, and soon-to-be-born Lilly, until further notice. So since we are staying, we moved up stairs and out of Lilly's room, and set up shop. We don't have enough space for our clothes, so we aren't completely out of suitcases...but it's better than it was!

I'm driving daily to Arlington to work. Without traffic, it's about 50 minutes...with traffic, it's about 1.5 hours. I have done pretty well with leaving early enough as to avoid traffic, but it physically pains me to leave the house in the dark. It pains Katie too. She has started going to daycare in Arlington, so she makes the commute with me. This is only a temporary thing. As soon as she is 18 months old (Nov.19th!) we will be moving her to somewhere closer to home. Neither of us enjoy being in the car together for a minimum of 2 hours daily. It's just not fair to ask her to be strapped to her carseat for that amount of time; however, Denton/Lewisville are lacking when it comes to childcare options for those under 18 months old.

The job is a job. This is my first year teaching that I've ever felt that way. The school is a charter school, and in theory, is great! They work on an accelerated curriculum...not so great for the special ed kids! The teachers are great teachers for accelerated kids...but they don't like to be bothered with my kids. Each day feels like I'm fighting a battle that only I know about, much less does anyone else care about it. I'm trying to keep my mind open and my goal in place (teach my kids the most possible in the shortest amount of time) and know that the application process starts again shortly after Christmas for the 2011/12 school year! I know God put me here for a reason, so I start each day fresh...but man, I haven't dreaded Monday's like this since I worked for MHMR!

Even when moving where you really wanta be—moving STINKS! This is the first time I’ve ever done it myself—well, I didn’t *actually* move it myself—but Vic and I didn’t hire anyone to pack/move for us. It has been pretty terrible. The fact that we are still married, haven’t had any ER visits, AND have 90% of our stuff already in storage in Lewisville is a little amazing to me. The biggest issue has been that Vic’s mother and 80 year old grandmother (from NY) came for about 10 days to help us pack. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the effort—but having a garage sale while I’m at work and selling random things that were my Mom’s doesn’t do much for strengthening our relationship….it’s just stuff though—at least that’s what I keep telling myself every time I get mad all over again! Another speed bump in our process was my A/C going out in my car on the drive to DFW on Sunday--car loaded to the max, including a smelly poodle and a little Katie that doesn’t like to be harnessed to her car seat! We drove the last 3.5 hours with the windows down. Katie and I had matching ‘fros by the time we arrived. Anyway, it’s a fitting way to top off our 2 year layover in Pampa. I’m SO glad that in only 72 hours we will head the road and head back to DFW for the final time. Home, Sweet Home!

I've decided to start blogging again on a more consistent basis. I've chronicled our lives since 2002 and we FINALLY have the baby we've dreamed of and I suddenly go mute? Not acceptable. So I'm back. Gonna aim for at least 2-3 times a month.

Since last time, Katie is growing faster than I'd like. Seems like she just completed our family a month or so ago, but really it was 9 months ago and now she's almost a year (next week!). But she is the most precious baby--I can't imagine a better daughter. She is seriously the happiest person I've ever met!

Moving home is just around the corner! We sold our house (Praise GOD!) and I've been interviewing for jobs in DFW. Vic completed his first online class in seminary with a 98% and starts on campus (Southwestern Baptist in Ft. Worth) on June 1st. We will be living with William & Heather at the house in Corinth. We will be adding another person late October because they are expecting! Can't wait for baby Matthews!

12 more days of school and I've pretty much checked out. After TAKS testing pretty much everyone is spent. Seems extra bad this year because I am dreading packing my classroom so I'm just procrastinating....

Feels good to be back in the blogosphere....encourage me to keep it up! Love.