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| Graham and my Mom at the piano -- both happy as larks! |
I was honored to learn that the author of a blog called Serbia's Ambassador to the World posted my final Belgrade blog post on his blog today. Apparently, Karl liked what I had to say about the things that we would miss in Serbia, and the things that we were looking forward to in the U.S. One reader to his blog pointed out that my assertion that there were no drive-thrus in Belgrade was wrong; she is right -- there were 2 McDonald's drive-thrus on the other side of town, neither of which I ever really even came close to. But, my bad for misrepresenting the state of things in Belgrade!! Here is a link to the blog on which my post is posted today:
http://www.ambassador-serbia.com/2010/08/15/things-an-american-family-will-and-wont-miss-about-serbia/comment-page-1/#comment-10870
As for us, we're, I would say, hanging in there (barely). This has been a very difficult week, starting with the move-from-you-know-where that I wrote about earlier this week, and continuing with myriad other challenging tasks throughout the week. Topping the list were: Graham's IEP meeting (the meeting at which the school personnel and I figure out what his school program will be like for the year), spending time with Graham's new Educational Assistant this week, continuing to get things settled at the rental house (our air shipment from Serbia arrives tomorrow!), getting through the first day of school for Graham and Virginia, going to the orientation at Wes' new school, getting all of the proper documentation (medical, etc) needed to register the children in their schools, trying to deal with Graham's unease and frustration during what has been a chaotic transition, having the washing machine at our rental house stop working mid-cycle on Friday afternoon, and getting all of the supplies and clothes that the kids need for school. Remind me never to move in the summer and during the first week of school. Bad, bad idea.
There have been some high points, though. Not to sound too materialistic or anything, but I had to buy a car last weekend (still waiting for the Odyssey to get back from Serbia, and we sold Eli's car before we left), and I found a great little 2007 VW Jetta last Saturday at CarMax that I've really enjoyed jetting around town in. That's been fun. Spending time with my parents has been lots of fun, too, and God bless those wonderful people for all of the support they've given us in so many ways over the past few weeks (not to mention throughout my entire life!). And, while the first day of school on Thursday for two of the kids had its stressful moments, I must say that seeing them both delighted to be back in school with their old friends was a real gift. A big thanks, too, to the staff at the kids' school for the warm welcome they gave me at the IEP meeting on Wednesday, and Graham when he returned on Thursday.
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| In her element -- singing while Mimi plays the piano! |
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| 1st day of 2nd Grade!! |
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| Reunited with her best friend from Kindergarten, Isabella |
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| Wes jumping off a very high rock at a wonderful swimming hole in NC |
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| Virginia, Graham and me at the swimming hole |
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| The great lover of life taking the big plunge! |
Karl just let me know about your post. I do hope that my comment didn't come out wrong, I was brief because I often respond on multiple places at once. Now I looked at that sentence and I felt bad.
ReplyDeletePlace you went swimming to looks like paradise and the last photo is super. I admire people who aren't scaredy-kitties like me, so kudos to having thought your girl to be the way she is. :)