Project 365, Week 33

August 11

No picture, but I got to have a leisurely breakfast with my dear friend, visiting from CO.  I was sad to not see her kids, but without hers or mine we had precious, uninterrupted conversation.  :)

She's the kind of friend that you can show up to your date wearing your church staff t-shirt that you had on the night before because none of your clothes have been moved yet.

I'm so grateful for our times together, it just always leaves me wishing we had more!

August 12

After still not hearing back from the interested would-be renters, we put our house on the MLS, so I took a couple extra pictures.  Home sweet home, for the last 15 years.

 August 13
Since it was Thomas' last day working, the boys had their promised Risk game.

August 14

My monthly training this month was fairly disturbing.  It was all about transexual kids.  What was disturbing was how young some of them were.  We watched a video that interviewed families with children as young as 5 and 7.  The 5 year-old was born a girl, but (at 5!) insisted to her parents that she felt like a boy inside.  They buzzed her hair, bought boy clothes, redecorated her room and changed her name.  They now refer to her as him and have joined a support group, etc.

The 7 year-old was the same basic story, just a boy turned girl.  At seven.

 We're trying to squeeze in a couple more "Z things" before he leaves this Friday.  One was making use of the fire pit he and R built in the backyard.

With the knowledge that R is a seasoned Boy Scout, Shaun let the two of them do the fire themselves while he supervised from afar.  We tried to sit next to it, but it was SO smokey, so Shaun eventually stepped in to fix it and explain what went wrong.

We cooked cheeseburgers and hotdogs and the kids roasted strawberries.

And....Amanda lost her FIRST tooth!!  She's so excited to finally be joining the ranks with her sister, cousins and friends.

August 15

R is going to be a Junior in highschool this year.  We were hoping to transfer him to a tech school, but they don't really take kids that old because they've missed too much of the program.

So we were left with two choices...a daily commute of two hours round trip to the school he's attended the last two year (state paid and operated) or transfer to our walking distance highschool, which I know of as having a questionable reputation.

While making his decision, I thought it might be helpful for him to at least see our HS, so he and I walked over.  As it turned out, the doors were open, so we actually ended up sitting down with the principal and being able to hear about the programs and get our questions answered.

We left with our heads spinning, but armed with information.  I actually left feeling like I would at least consider sending Avery there, something I wasn't willing to do before our visit there.

R has decided to attend our HS and will be part of the STEM Academy.  AND....Shaun and I have committed to keeping him as a permanent placement, to see him through these next two years of HS and beyond.  We are excited about the potential we see in him and being the forever family he's been so long without.

Surreal to be at HS with my kid?  Uh, yeah.

 August 16
Love these pictures that Kiki sent me.  Amanda and Aiden helped with the service at the assisted living place....doing "the Lord's work".  :)

 August 17
And the next day, after a bike ride they stopped for some singing and praising the Lord.  :)