Beautiful Mess

Here I am...Back with reliable internet and a house full of suitcases, bags, and other random holders of our stuff from the summer.

Wil and I drove from the lake today in our cars, Wiley and I had quite an adventure with him screaming for about 20 minutes straight. I just tried to ignore it, knowing he was exhausted and would fall asleep soon. Wil and I both gave one another a pumped fist as we pulled into the driveway!

We are so glad to be back, but it is also really hitting me that this is going to be a really different, but great, year. I immediately looked for my friend Michal's car in the parking lot, forgetting that she doesn't live here anymore, and then I realized too that there are new people and new cars here and I don't really like change. And then I realized that we are seniors, that the next time that we are moving such a large load of stuff out of the apartment will be for good--and that there will be a moving truck with movers to lift instead of Wil and me (I hope). And that we would know where our next stop in life will be. And that is really exciting, but weird to me.

So for right now, I am going to continue to pray about the future and for God's plan to be done and not mine. I'm going to just enjoy this year, this month, this week, this day and all that comes with each of those.

And on this day I will enjoy unpacking gobs of stuff that we have accumulated...and keep Wiley out of the cabinets that he has rediscovered.

PS: Anyone interested in our orange chair? I'm ready to simplify and sell that thing. I'll post pics later.

Welcome August!

I can't believe that it is already August! And that I haven't posted in SO long! Here are a few brief updates to get everyone back to where we are on August 3.

- Wiley has hit the terrible twos. Bad. Don't be surprised if you ask how Wiley is and I reply "awful."

- The trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming was amazing. So beautiful. It is so different out west when there is not snow on the ground. Not to mention that we saw buffalo/bison really close (maybe a little too close for comfort)(and see first picture, look behind Brooke and me, there's a buffalo!), sadly no bears or moose or elk. We did see prong-horned antelope and mule deer. Brooke and I had fun getting to know Lucy's fellow staff members too. We saw Old Faithful at Yellowstone, had a picnic there, a la Yogi Bear, rode horses, fly fished (I caught a great big spruce), and rested.

- Wiley may or may not have strep throat again. THis would be a recurrence of the strep that we discovered after we were called to pick him up from school because he had a 102 degree fever, a mere hour or so before we needed to leave for the airport, for Jackson Hole. Luckily, Dr. Bill made an emergency house call, confirmed strep, sent Wiley and T to the office and me (sobbing all the way) to the airport. W got a penicillin shot that failed to take effect, and was later called in antibiotics. It took him a good four days to get over it. So currently, perhaps I can blame the awful behavior on a possible sore throat? We'll check tomorrow and see if our low dose antibiotic is working.

- Wiley has finished school at Canterbury. I was so sad. They gave him a sweet card with all the classmates' handprints on it with their name. The teachers also wrote him sweet notes on the inside. It meant so much to me, and Wiley thinks it is pretty cool too. We put our name on the waiting list for Fall 2009 just in case we were to end up in B'ham...you just never know and if we are I want him back with Canterbury.

-I have finished my work at flower magazine, BCC teaching tennis, and Table-Matters. I am excited about the upcoming week to spend with Wiley just hanging out. I have a few things to do before leaving B'ham, including moving out of the apartment we've been in all summer.

-I will be student teaching at Clemmons Elementary in the 2nd grade! I am excited, and can't believe that student teaching is finally here! I will meet the parents at Open House on 8/20.

-Wil is currently in Bermuda, doing a mini-internship/following people around where they work. I joke with him about coming back with a job, and not just a tan. :-)

-On Friday, we will begin our trek back to Winston-Salem. We'll start out the trip with a great roadtrip with "Miss Emmy and Mr. Heaf" where we will pick up Wil in ATL. The final destination is Bald Head Island, which according to local legend is a little bit of heaven...not to mention that Cole, Raymond, and Digger the Dog will be there! After BHI, the Coopers will go to Lake Cherokee, drop Wiley off with Baba and Big Dean, and head off to Los Angeles...the land of fruits and nuts...Am I allowed to say that? We'll see a taping of 24 (Jack Bauer, please don't get any DUIs b/w now and then), explore LA/stalk movie stars. I plan on getting on a tour of famous people's homes. Then, back to ATL, back to Lake Cherokee, get child, drive to W-S. All with car loaded down like a gypsy.

-Did I mention that our DVD player in the car doesn't work, and the drive to BHI is about 9 hours?

That's all for now. That was ridiculously long.