Gosh, so now I know why most everyone's blogs sound like they are so absolutely awesome all the time. When things aren't great, ya don't feel like sharing. Kinda like Christmas letters. I am "okay," getting by, putting one foot in front of the other. I will say I appreciate it so much more now when people say they are praying for me. It is just hard, the letdown after the holidays. We enjoyed sharing Christmas with Hope, maybe her first ever. That made it actually fun at times. Anyway, just thankful I have understanding and supportive friends and family. I know this will get better! Not the most uplifting post, just checking in for anyone who is checking in and trying to dispel the perfect blog myth. Come on everyone, share the depressing stuff too. It will make me feel better at least!

Kids are doing great at school and all 4 of them went today!

Here is Christmas cookie making:

So, if you didn't get a Christmas card from us this year, don't feel left out...no one did! If I had sent one, it would have looked like this:


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I finally got a picture of the kids together! They are with my aunt and uncle's dogs, just so you know I haven't gone completely insane and gotten 2 dogs.
Quickest update EVER--you may be asking how I have time to update the blog, including header and background...the answer is because 3/4 of my kids are at school today! Yes, Jake and Landon are no longer homeschooling. They are now going to our church's wonderful Charlotte Mason-guided school. I miss them but sanity sometimes rules. More later!

I only have time for a short post but I thought I would say that we are doing pretty well over here, all things considered. I can only credit that to praying friends and a gracious God! I just finished reading this book for a second time:
Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle. It is the story of her life with her husband and focuses on his dying from cancer. I love this quote:
"I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when the good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly."

Here is a link to a slideshow Mark put together for my mom's memorial sevice--warning, it has music, so if you're at work, turn it down :-)
http://home.comcast.net/~mtubesing/page_video.html

My mom went to be with the Lord at 3:30 this morning. I am very sad and I know I will be even sadder in the days, weeks, months and years to come, but I am also relieved that she has left her exhausted body and that I will see her again one day.

Jake made my mom this sign when she came home from the hospital for a few days last week and it means even more now. She is finally home.


From my dad:
Page's memorial service will be at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 25, at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, 1548 Mt. Vernon Rd., Dunwoody, GA 30338. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, you can make a donation to Friends of Refugees, Attn: Page Walden Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 548, Clarkston, GA 30021, OR to any charity of your choice.

.........

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

My dad posted an update on my mom this morning. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/pagewalden/journal
She is breathing more slowly now.
It is really hard to just let someone die. It seems so wrong, and I wonder if that is because when God first created people, we weren't meant to die, or to be separated from God...and our whole lives we are wanting to get back to that state of eternal union with God.
"The sense that in this universe we
are treated as strangers, the longing to be
acknowledged, to meet with some
response, to bridge some chasm that yawns
between us and reality, is part of our
inconsolable secret. And surely, from this
point of view, the promise of glory, in the
sense described, becomes highly relevant to
our deep desire. For glory meant good
report with God, acceptance by God,
response, acknowledgment, and welcome
into the heart of things. The door on
which we have been knocking all our lives
will open at last."
from The Weight of Glory, an essay by CS Lewis.
I used to really love this essay but now that I have 4 kids I honestly can't concentrate enough to read the things I used to be able to read. But I recommend it for thoughts on existence and heaven.


Here we are on the Great Wall in China in 2005.

My mom is still resting comfortably at Hospice Atlanta (a wonderful place, as much as it can be...) She is basically in a coma, sleeping soundly all the time because of her liver toxicity and likely the brain mets. It is such a kindness that she is quiet and pain free. I did ask the boys last night if they wanted to visit her and they said no. They already told her "I love you" and "goodbye" when she was still home this past weekend. Landon said he doesn't like to see Mimi that way. I agree! I have never seen my mom so still in her whole life. I visited my dad there this morning and then brought the girls back later today. They like to rub mom's feet and Hope always gives her a kiss. Hope was insistent to see the doctor today, I think to see who is taking care of Mimi. As I think on it, Hope only saw my mom maybe 10 times or less but my mom already made a big impression on her.

I think some people must have been praying for peace for us because we have it (okay, at least a lot of the time). In some ways it feels like a calm before a storm but it is so nice to be able to rest in Him, at least some every day.

And, I have such good friends!!! Thank you for all the emails, comments, Facebook comments and phone calls. It is truly great to know you are there standing alongside us. Food is coming in :-)

I feel like this verse shows something about my mom:

From 1 Timothy 6:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

also not to get preachy but just have to say what "the life" is and why mom will not truly die, it's my blog anyway, right :-) ?,
from John 11
Jesus said..."I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies"

I hardly cried today (for once!!) until I started looking at some old pictures and thinking how much my mom (and dad) has served me and my family over the years.

Here we are at the 2 day breast cancer walk in 2006

My mom was moved to Hospice today and is now completely unresponsive. I visited for a bit tonight with my mom's good friends and my dad and it was actually a very nice time together. I can't believe that in one week I have gone from thinking my mom might make it to her 63rd birthday in March to knowing that her time on Earth can likely be counted in days. But she is a person who can honestly leave this place with no regrets--there is nothing she wishes she had done (because she has done it all!), no person she wishes she had spent time with (because that's what she does with her time) and no sale she wishes she had gone to :-). She is definitely a light in this world. I am so glad that this is happening quickly and painlessly for her. It is still hard. But I know that she knows the Lord and that makes all the difference.


This is from June 2004 when she carried the Olympic torch for part of the Atlanta stretch.

Just a quick update--I went to see my mom yesterday at their house and today Mark and I took all the kids. She is pretty much sleeping all the time. Today she opened her eyes a bit and did recognize me, but the rest of the time we were trying to get her to talk to the kids she was not even really focusing her eyes when she would open them. I am glad the kids got to see her. I do think she can hear us because every now and then we get an appropriate nod or hand squeeze and she told her friend "bye" and said "hi Katy". Today her friend asked if she wanted to listen to Bruce Springsteen and she got a BIG hand squeeze so that was put on pretty loud for her!

Hope was so amazing. I was kind of worried since we still can't talk much about abstact stuff and I didn't know if she would understand. She was the least afraid and the most interested in my mom. She gave her a kiss (so did Lilla) and brought her a special toy and left it on her bed. At one point me, dad, Mark and all the kids were standing around Mom's bed talking and Hope said "Pray Mimi?" and did her praying hands. We asked if she wanted to pray for Mimi and she said yes. So I said okay, good idea. She got a little shy and hid behind me but she prayed in her special way "God, thank you Mimi, Mimi feel better, granddaddy, daddy, mommy, Jake, Landon, Lilla, Hope SongYi Amen." It was so sweet and special and brought tears to our eyes.

Please continue to pray for wisdom regarding my mom's care and her comfort.

You Never Let Go
by Matt Redman

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You


I have been listening to this song about 5 times a day and I find it very reassuring.
So, my mom came home from the hospital yesterday and my brother and I and Jake helped get her settled. As you may have read on the CaringBridge page, she is VERY weak and my dad will definitely be looking at getting extra care for her.

Thank you for all the emails and offers of help. We currently have the added complication of sick kids, but I will email out when we have a definite need for childcare or anything. We have had a few meals delivered and offered and I accepted, so that has been really nice.
It is honestly just very humbling to be in this place, but I am currently trying to embrace the words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 12:
But he (God) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Just please keep praying for my mom to be free from pain and perhaps have some clarity of thought come back to her.


This picture is from December 2008 when mom and I took Lilla to see the Nutcracker.

This one was taken in September--my kids with my mom and dad.


I will just say it...unfortunately, the test results show that my mom now has tumors in her brain. I can't remember if I have told about her history, but she first had breast cancer in 1990, pretty aggressive. But after completing treatment, she was perfectly healthy! She had 11 years with no signs of cancer. In 2001, she found out that she had metastatic breast cancer in her liver. She survived MANY treatments and even had a kidney removed at one point (not cancer) and she had many months, even years where she felt great and for awhile the doctors saw no cancer in her liver at all. So for over 8 years she has beaten it back and even when she didn't feel great, never let cancer stop her from living. On October 4 of this year she walked 10 miles in a breast cancer walk! All that to say, I am very sad about this news but if anyone defies statistics, it is my mom. I am posting more details on her Caring Bridge page, which is the best place to check for updates. Thanks for praying.


...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
From Romans 8:

Update on Mom

Hi all-
I just posted an update on my mom at her CaringBridge site. She has been admitted to the hospital after not feeling well at all for a few weeks. Prayers appreciated:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/pagewalden

Here is a picture of her with the boys in St. Simon's taken in August while we were in China.

More pictures

Hope and Lilla always play outside when it rains!



Jake's baseball season is over.



Hope and Lilla in and on the playset



Halloween-we had a scientist, a cockroach, a princess and a flapper!

Oh gosh, slacking again!

Jake and Landon had a piano recital last night. They did great! I can't believe they have been playing just 3 years (J) and 1 year (L). Believe me, it does not come from me! Hope and Lilla stayed with a friend, first time for that for Hope and it was great, I am guessing because of my skilled friend and her sweet girls. I had taken H to visit their house last week and she loved it, so drop off yesterday was very smooth. But when I came to pick them up, she was out the door like a flash, running to our car, just for insurance, I am guessing. Like, whew you came back that was fun let's get out of here!

Hope is talking so much. Let me try to think of some of her phrases (she still adds Wo--I-- and --Wo bu-- I don't, to a lot of her words)...
-Mommy hand cold!
-noodle yummy
-Wo I do it!
-what is it? (thank goodness--I am so tired of hearing "jiga?" her word for what's this?)
-more please
thank you
-sorry, Lilla (used a lot!)
-wo yao school! (I want school!)
-Hello Kitty shoes, where are you? (they are always lost)
-I don't know
-hmmm, let's see (done with a very cute, hammed-up hand on chin)
-that mine!
-Lilla be quiet!
-wo bu tired!
-daddy working
-mommy rest time?
-no more fishy (he died, and wow, try to explain THAT to someone who doesn't know about death and doesn't speak much English)
-trick or treat!

and she knows LOTS of words--
socks, apple, water, cracker, candy, hungry, car, driving, timer, later, tomorrow, not now (ha ha we are into delayed gratification), bath, soap, toothbrush, Stripes (our guinea pig), paper, cut, bandaid, stinky, jacket, pants, hair, brush teeth, toothpaste, floss (she loves floss), piano, loud, unbuckle, cold, hot, yucky, window, open, sit down, go away, stand up, book, TV, movie, flower, wait, clean up, mommy's room, and many more!

Mark and I take turns putting the girls to bed and a few nights ago I had Hope. She can REALLY drag out bedtime and make one book take about a year to read, so by the time we got to the song, I was TIRED. She wanted me to sing first, so I sang the ABC song. She was really wiggling and trying to get away from me, when usually that is a cuddly time. So finally I just let her go. So she sat beside me and told me to sing it "one more time" and it was easier to comply than argue (wow, that happens a lot these days) so I sang it again and she danced and clapped and joined in like crazy. It was So funny. Then she said "my turn" and she jumped up and stood in front of me and sang "A, B Chee! A, B, Chee! A, B, Chee!!!!!" and then she motioned for ME to dance (so again, easier to comply...) and she pretended she was holding a microphone and I danced and she sang "A, B Chee" over and over. I was laughing so hard!

So, generally things are going well, and Lilla is mostly rising to the very difficult task of being a big sister. She has grown up a lot these past few weeks. Mostly. She is doing really well at school and enjoying her class of 10 (with 2 teachers!) She probably gets more one on one time at school than home these days.

My mom is not feeling well at all. She will have a new PET scan November 10 and she and her doctor will make a decision about a possible new chemo. I know she is so sicka nd tired of being sick and tired (off and on). She is amazing and really makes and effort to keep on having fun and making life enjoyable for others. Please pray for her.

Well, I guess a short update is better than none, right? Let me go see if I can find some pictures.


out to eat with cousin Riley


Mark took Jake and Landon to the GA State Fair




Mark also took Jake and Landon camping with the Cub Scouts

Well, I think my friend Amy calls it "slogging" when you're slackin' on the blogging. That would be me. But please know I have not been sitting around getting manicures and such. No, just hiding in the bathroom crying. Okay, not all the time, but sometimes. This is HARD. Especially when it is raining! I told someone this weekend, I think we are right where we belong and God brought us here and that this promise is for me:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

However, he didn't say I know the easy, carefree relaxing plans I have for you. (Darn)

I do know though that being brought to the end of myself is pretty much the only way I see my need for Him, so I have hope (and Hope!).

Factual updates: Hope's titers show she got quality vaccines on schedule in China and only needs the 4 boosters and 5 year old would get. Yea!

We saw the ocularist (the doctor who makes eye prosthetics) and she said with a good bit of work and persistence we should be able to have her ready for a prosthesis in a year or two. That sounds long, but she showed me pictures of her patients over the past 20 years and it is amazing what she can do! So right now I am stretching her eyelids on that side (Hope loves it--not!!) and in 2 weeks we will get our first expander thingy that looks like a marble sized clear teardrop. We will put larger and larger pieces in as the weeks go by and eventually put a clear shell in there. When both sides are mostly of equal size, she will make the handpainted prosthesis, which is worn 24 hours a day!

It was cute at the ocularist's office, it dawned on Hope which office we were in and she said "Oh, TWO eyes!" and I said yes, she will make it so you have two eyes! And she was very interested in the photos of former patients. But now that we are eyelids stretching she says she doesn't want two eyes anymore, nevermind. But I told her when she is big she will be happy to have the two eyes. She is just too perceptive.

Hope's specialty now is praying. She lists everyone at the table (although she always asks which is Jake and which is Landon) and she often will pray about what we did that day: "daddy working, Lilla school, mommy driving..." very sweet. She now calls herself Hope SongYi when she prays instead of Bao SongYi.

Lilla is doing well at school and now wears her new glasses every day. She and I went to the mall together this weekend and it was nice to be with her. She seems very grown up now to me.

Landon is happily playing with a friend today and has enjoyed taking drum lessons recently. He now wants a drum set, what have I done??! The teacher says he actually has a pretty good aptitude for it. Well, we can test that one out when our house grows a soundproof basement.

Jake is just getting back from a friend's house. With all the craziness here they have not been able to have friends over and although they get along well, they have missed not being with other boys as much as they used to.

I know this will end up being a formative time in their lives--I keep telling them they are learning a lot about what it means to be a parent! Although the homeschooling is not as interactive right now as I envisioned it (aka, I write down ther work and they do it alone) it has been great to have them home to be a part of this crazy transition. And I think they are absolutely the most patient, understanding, 8 and 10 year old boys I know. I am so proud of them.

Please do pray for my mom. She has not been feeling well, she said nauseous mostly and she has had some fluid come back to her abdomen.

Here are some pictures....


The girls in their glasses



Lilla and Hope pretending to sleep.



Jake doing schoolwork and his little shadow Hope joining in.



Mark and granddaddy took Jake and Landon to the Petit LeMans race at Road Atlanta. they had fun but it was a HOT day.

Okay, be sure to scroll below for more pictures--I can only post about 5 at a time so I had to split them.

Well, sorry to leave everyone hanging!! Can I say that 4 kids is a lot of kids??? Maybe you knew that! I can usually get Lilla and Hope Song Yi to stay in their room/our room (we split them for rest time) for about an hour each day. Unfortunately I spend that hour making appointments! I think that will get better as time goes on. Right now I have about 24 minutes until the timer is up so I will be fast!

Things have been going well, definitely a two steps forward, one step back feeling. We have had 2 more of the irrational-I've-lost-my-mind tantrums (not me, Hope) and I have noticed they definitely come late in the day when she is hungry and/or tired. One was when she said she did NOT want a bath, so I said okay, but if you don't come now, no bath. And I know she understood and she said, okay, no bath. Lots of acting and hand motions. Well, right as Lilla's water is draining, here she comes wanting a bath. I felt I had to stick to what I said so I didn't let her take a bath. The next 30 minutes were very pitiful, and included a toothbrush and PJ standoff. I "won"--I decided if I said brush your teeth, it has to happen. I go into like a...well, I would say zen, but I think it is the holy spirit...type place and I just feel like I can wait and wait and wait until we can get through what we need to do. The trouble comes if I need to be somewhere on time! Finally she opened up and I brushed for about 3 seconds just to say I did it. followed by 20 minutes of wailing. But I just held her again like before and she finally calmed down and the sun came out.

It is definitely a battle of wills. Thankfully though she is pretty willing to choose from what we offer and go where we need to go (orange or apple? walk or ride in the stroller? mommy buckles you or Landon? I never thought Love and Logic would come in so handy!!) but it is when she refuses to move or doesn't want what is there and we have to choose for her that we have troubles. She can be STUBBORN and if looks could kill, well, our house would be pretty empty because we have all been on the receiving end of her glares.

BUT she is so loving and open and trusting that we just WANT to help her get through whatever it is. Jake has been awesome and she loves when he lifts her out of the car or helps her do something. And if Landon pulls her hand and says "Let's Go!" she comes. Today we went to the pet store and Jake and Landon had fun showing her all the animals and Landon shared his chicken nuggets with her today when she didn't like what I ordered her. So sweet.

She is speaking English more and more and the hybrids are funny. Yesterday we were doing these little dress up bears and she kept saying "Wo (I) I like it!" and we also hear lots of "Wo yao (I want) go outside!!" Yesterday she said "wo xihuan shee-pool!" And for those who don't speak Hope, that means "*I* like school!" I think she is tired of watching Lilla go to that fun place every day and she has to stay in the car. Lilla's favorite game in the car is to say "Song Yi, say--" and she gets her to repeat word after word, and her sis is a very willing partcipant. They are playing together pretty well, but definitely are like two monkeys at bedtime, keeping each other awake.

So, the doctor...opthomologist Monday. He wasn't really interested in her eye. Well, he checked her "good" eye pretty thoroughly and prescribed glasses to protect her eye. It is very healthy and her vision is good. Great news! I think next month is when we will find out more. We will see an ocularist, which is a very interesting doctor who specializes in treating people who are missing eyes, whether by birth, disease or accident. They are artists as well because they create and hand paint the prosthetic eye. The opthomologist was very hopeful that Hope Song Yi would one day look very balanced, but it will be quite a bit of work and a long journey because she has been so long without an eye that gradually they will need to use expanders to create space in her socket. Also he said her eye opening is quite small on that side and will likely require surgery. She is SUCH a good patient. We were there 2 hours and had to move from room to room for different equipment, eye drops etc and she did great.

In other eye news, lilla went to the optometrist yesterday and we found out she needs glasses. She is near sighted. So both girls picked out frames yesterday and will have their glasses in about 2 weeks. Lilla picked spiffy red frames and Hope picked pink with flowers on the side. they look quite cute!

The pediatrician visit for Hope was uneventful (by the way we are now calling her Hope Song Yi to her face and Hope amongst ourselves)and tomorrow we will get blood work done to check her titers (to see what vaccines she got that actually gave her immunity) and other stuff, including the juvenile arthritis screening (because of her toes). We are supposed to take a stool sample too :-(. When I explained that to her and acted it all out so she would understand (so help me if someone puts me on Candid Camera or something) she was NOT happy about that. We'll see.

Oh, and thankfully, we had no real water damage from the flooding, just water in the crawl space but it seems Mark was able to catch it in time and is airing it out with fans each day. Time's up!!!

Here's a picture of the kids during the storm--they played outside during the worst of it!!


The newest member of our Rock Band...


This girl can have FUN with a box!!


The best surprise yesterday--Jake and Landon cleaned and vacuumed the playroom when I was gone with the girls getting glasses!

Some photos--do you think she feels at home yet? :-)

Today we went to church for the first time since we have been home. It was so nice to be among friends! I started crying practically as soon as I sat down. I had Song Yi in my lap and I was just thinking of all the YEARS that I prayed that we would be able to adopt again and here she was, proof of God's faithfulness and care. We have so much to be thankful for! I was making a mental list of the good, right after having a not so good lunch where I can't even remember what I ate I was up and down from the table so much trying to use my ESP to see what Little Miss Bu yao wanted. Between me getting up, she kept getting her hands dirty on purpose and insisting I wipe them. And refusing food she ate a few days ago, only to eat a ton of it about 10 minutes later, after she put all hers on my plate. I want to know how to say "Girl, we know you like tater tots" in Chinese.

I emailed my group that is for adopting older kids to see what they think about continuing the babyish behaviors like wanting to be carried, wanting me to wipe her hands, put her shoes on, help her go potty, get her dressed, all things I know she can do but she wants me to do for her. So far I am just doing it, thinking maybe it is her wanting to subconsciously re-live some stuff we didn't do together. I am annoyed by too much psychology but when you're talking about a little soul that has been through a lot, can't hurt to think it through. It is all good until Lilla wants the same treatment and then I just can't take it. How people live with 2 year old twins i will never know.

So thankful that Song Yi is sleeping, looking us in the eye, smiling, giving hugs, trying out her English, laughing, playing, listening to stories, playing Play Dough and sleeping!!! I can't believe we have only known her for 3 weeks.

I have to get Mark to put up video of all the kids running around like maniacs last night right before bed. It was FUNNY. but when it was time for bed, Song Yi wanted to take all her dress up stuff she was wearing and put it in her personal drawer. I call her (in my head) "the confiscator" because if she wants it, she tries to take it for her own. Thankfully she listens to reason and I was able to show her that dress up clothes are community property.

Tomorrow she goes for her check up. I will take an Oglethorpe student with us who is from Shanghai in case we need translating, since there will be much poking and prodding. We met her last week and she was awesome. But as soon as Song Yi saw her and the girl spoke Chinese to her, she froze. Her eyes got teary and she was clinging on to me for dear life. She wouldn't get down, wouldn't talk to the girl. We explained in English and Chinese that this was a friend, Song Yi was staying with mommy, we were just chatting...she didn't want a thing to do with it. She only relaxed her death grip and looked happy when we said goodbye! I wonder what she was thinking. I remember when I was in France studying and living with a French family, I was so relieved to speak English from time to time, so relaxing not to have to concentrate so hard to communicate. Well, not the same for kids in this situation I guess. I had heard of kids having this reaction but really wasn't expecting it.

Mark starts slowly back to work tomorrow...I am terrified! How will I do this?? Thankfully he works from home and can help out as needed as I get the hang of this mom to 4 life.

Here's a photo post. Who knew you could have so much fun with 2 buckets and a hose?