September 11, 2006

It’s been a full week and a half but things are settling down a little bit now. I think the beginning of a new school year is always a little crazy. I might as well get used to it!

Our friend, Julie Justus, who studied at IBTS in Prague with us, came to visit for a week. All of us enjoyed her immensely. We crammed a lot into our precious time together so I hope she returned without feeling too exhausted. We drove up to Fresno over the Labor Day Weekend and spent time with Kevin, Rhonda and their kids. One of those days we drove up to Kings Canyon National Park to see the giant Sequoia trees and to enjoy the scenic vistas.

The cousins loved playing together again after not seeing each other all summer. Brendan cried and cried when it was time to leave. Tuesday was the free day at the La Brea Tar Pits so we learned all about saber tooth cats (not tigers) and what it would feel like to be stuck in tar. Wednesday was Brendan’s first soccer practice and Peter’s first day as coach of Brendan’s team. The most exciting thing for Brendan is the uniform. He wears it every day, complete with shin guards and cleats. Jason was very sad that he didn’t get a uniform so Julie had the idea of making him a “junior soccer coach” T-shirt. We bought puffy paint and transformed an ordinary black T-shirt into a cool uniform. It has a big number one on the back which Jason thinks is fabulous. I dug around and was able to come up with special shorts and long navy blue socks. Thankfully, he uses his imagination and calls his tennis shoes cleats. He wears his uniform every day as well. Jason would really love to play with the team but he is too young this year. The little guy is probably better than half the kids out there but he will have to be content with his position of junior coach this year.

Thursday was Brendan’s first day of Kindergarten. On Wednesday evening, right before soccer practice, we went to an open house at his school and were able to meet his teacher and see his classroom. That really helped him feel more comfortable on the first day. One of my prayers was that he would get to go to school with someone from his soccer team. That prayer was answered! One of his teammates is also in his class and they hung out that first morning at school. I don’t know if this will be a long term friendship for the boys but it helped the transition. Brendan made the adjustment to kindergarten really well. The second morning he was a little bit sad when I left but recovered quickly. He is getting affirmed for his good behavior and he is finding that he can do the work the teacher gives him which builds confidence. I was a little worried that he would resist school this morning, Monday morning after a weekend, but after having a little trouble waking up, he did just fine. His school starts at 7:40 a.m. making for an early morning but we are getting into the routine.


While Brendan is at school, Julie and I have been hanging out, doing things with Jason, and SHOPPING. We’ve been joking all week that every woman needs a wife to do all the things that wives usually do for their husbands. So Julie has been my wife this week, helping with dishes, staying with Jason while I helped Brendan adjust to school, and being my fashion consultant. Julie helped me find some great deals to expand my wardrobe plus made me try on all my clothes in different combinations to show what worked well together. She is my hero! I have loved hanging out with her and having someone to share this crazy first week of school and soccer.

Saturday morning was Brendan’s first soccer game. Once again I was glad to have Julie as my wife since Peter is the coach and it was my turn to bring snacks for halftime and after the game. Of course, Jason had to go the bathroom while I was trying to serve snacks so Julie took over serving and I went in search of a bathroom with Jason. The game was very fun to watch and I think I can survive a whole season. Brendan’s team, the Blue Dragons, were hilarious to watch with some chasing the ball and others taking a trip to la-la land. In Brendan’s league, boys under age 6, there is no goalie and no score is kept. They all just run around in a pack and try to kick the ball. Peter ran around with them on the field, shouting encouragement and making sure each kid got a chance to do free kicks and corner kicks. Brendan’s team is wonderfully diverse with kids from different ethnic backgrounds. I look forward to hanging out with the other parents during the practices and games.




Jason is making the adjustment to Brendan being gone a lot. There sure is a lot less fighting during the day now! There are three major areas of growth for Jason which it seems like I am constantly trying to teach. One is keeping his hands out of his pants. The second is not eating his boogers. And the third is not using his angry voice. He is currently experimenting with this loud guttural voice which I’m sure he thinks is fun. The other night he prayed before dinner and included, “Thank you God for my angry voice.” There were giggles all around the table. Jason also likes to change clothes and put on costumes plus he also takes off all his clothes when he goes to the bathroom. One day, Julie documented Jason being naked 11 times, all before dinner. Much of my day is spent helping him with his clothes!

Peter met his self-imposed deadline of finishing a dissertation chapter at the end of August. Last week was spent beginning the job search and downloading applications. This week the hard drive on his computer crashed so his days have been consumed with retrieving as much as he can off the computer and installing a new hard drive. Thankfully, he is very good about doing back up so not much was lost.

My parents are still out of town on their month long trip. They just completed a week in Thailand and a week in India and now they are in China for two weeks. We have the run of the house during this time which is nice but also lonely. We are eager for them to return and the boys talk about them a lot. I am taking advantage of their absence to spread my scrapbooking all over the dining room table and leaving it out all week so I can work on it continuously for a week. Since I didn’t scrapbook over the last two years, except a bit last summer, I am pretty far behind and have a lot to do to catch up.

Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006

I have neglected all else this week and only did one thing. Yes, Brendan got to school on time and I never left him there, Jason made it to the library for story time and the bike park, nobody starved all week but that was about it. The rest of the time I worked on getting my photo albums up to date. I made my goal of completing our whole first year in Prague. Now I have to go back to the computer and sort pictures for the second year. I still have a lot of journaling to do which is quite overwhelming to think about, especially since it means journaling for 66 pages! I think everybody, including me, is ready for a little break and for things to return to normal for a little while.