So my Mom, Noah and I leave early in the morning to fly to Texas for Noah’s “camp week” at the Halo Clinic.

Noah will have two sessions a day Monday through Thursday.  We fly home Thursday evening.

We’re planning on doing some sightseeing while we are there.  We have a list of things we wanted to see last summer, but just didn’t get to them.  This time we’ll visit the Texas Capitol, the Lady Bird Wildflower Center and the Natural Bridge Caverns outside of San Antonio.  If there is time, I would like to go to the LBJ Presidential Library.  The weather forecast is perfect…much cooler than the 105 degree days we had while we were there last July.

Noah is so excited about our trip.  I hope that he remembers that he’s got some work to do while we are there.

Please pray that Noah’s sessions will go well and that he will have even greater breakthroughs than he had last time.

In other “catch up” news…

2 weeks on the market.  6 showings.  0 offers.

Next subject…

The surgeon in Atlanta called me back and told me to send him my records.  (This is a different practice than the one I originally contacted last year.  After I sent my records to the first practice, I discovered that the pioneer of the surgery that I want to have…a Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy…is right there in Atlanta as well and he actually trained the surgeon that I originally sent my records to.  Hmmm….I said to myself…Why go to Obi Wan when I can just as easily go to Yoda? )  I’m hoping to hear something back next week.

Isaac loves to make Miis on the Wii.  He’s made all of his family and friends and some really random folks as well.

He’s made me 6 times.

Should I be offended that every single one of those Mommy Miis has a great deal of junk in her trunk?

Well, I’ve got an early morning ahead of me, so I’d better head for bed.

Ya’ll have a wonderful week and thank you for praying for our Noah…

So this is what Doug wanted for his birthday…

Yep.  That would be MarioKart.

This is one of the many reasons that I married this man.

46 years old and still loves to play.

Happy Birthday to my forever young man.

I love you…

So this past week, I’ve been knocking on some doors.

Some have remained shut.

Some have cracked open…just a wee bit.

Not one of the doors has swung open wide, screaming to me, “come on in!”…

…so I keep knocking.

We’re trying…once again…to sell our house.  We are using a fabulous real estate broker and have priced our house to compete head on with the foreclosures in our area.  Since going on the market 10 days ago, we’ve had 4 showings.  Feedback is positive…everyone “loves” our house…but so far, no offers.  While I’m quite pleased that they’re lovin’ on us, somebody needs to show us the money.  I’m just sayin’.

I keep waiting.  And knocking.  And thanking God every day for my beautiful Bissell steam mop which makes keeping my house clean and shiny ever so much easier.

I knocked on a door of possibility for Noah on Monday morning.  I visited a private autism school, looking to see if it would be a possible placement for Noah for next year.  While I was really impressed with the school’s director, the size of the facility (way too small for a school) and the lack of inclusion opportunities quickly told me that it would not be appropriate for Noah’s educational needs.

So I keep knocking.  And waiting.

On Tuesday, Doug and I began to knock on a door of possibility for Isaac’s schooling for next year.  We visited a private Christian school in the Mt. Dora area and absolutely fell in love with the school’s principal.  Her heart for the children and vision for the school is amazing and we instantly felt at home there.  So that door cracked open for us, and we will continue to knock and together pursue what God wants for Isaac for next year.

After a miserable weekend (and week) on the endometriosis front, I’ve again started knocking on the door of the marvelous possibility of getting all of that messed up junk…most importantly, my uterus…RIPPED OUT OF MY BODY.  I called the specialist’s office in Atlanta that is now (praise God) covered by my brand spanking new insurance policy and asked what I need to do to get on up there and get this thing done.  They gave me the email address of the surgeon and told me to contact him directly.  I sent that email out yesterday afternoon and I’m waiting for a response.

I hope that that door opens quickly.  I’m beyond over it.

I’ve got other doors before me…some big…some small.  I’m knocking on those too.  More on all of that later.

So that’s what’s going on around here.

Oh, before I forget…in the interest of recording some comments from the Isaac gallery…

On Sunday, I taught Isaac’s class at church.  The lesson was about the prophet Elisha, and included discussion about angels and how they are all around us…protecting us…even though we can’t see them.

While the children’s comments and questions swirled around me (one of them wanted to go “hug” the angels in the room), Isaac raised his hand with this little observation about angels, confidently stating that,

“When you lose a tooth, they bring you money.”

oh. my.

pastor’s kid.

Ya’ll have a great weekend…

…and other miscellaneous updates…

So Noah’s teacher talked a hair stylist friend of hers to come in to the school this week to attempt to cut some of her students’ hair.

Since Noah and I have a long history of nightmare hair cutting sessions and their disastrous results, I couldn’t get my child signed up fast enough.

The temporary beauty parlor was set up in Noah’s classroom on Wednesday.

Noah’s teacher and staff reported that he sat there like a perfect little gentleman…like nothing at all unusual was happening.  No struggling…no crying…no fussing.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

anywho…

Here’s his new ‘do…which he is quite proud of, by the way…

I have officially retired from my hair cutting career.  Thank God.

In other news and miscellany…

Our house went back on the market Wednesday morning.  We had a showing last night, and another request for a showing came in this morning.  I’m hoping that it’s a good sign that we’re getting such a quick response to our listing.

I volunteered at Noah’s school yesterday.  This was an unusual assignment…I was a proctor for a class of fourth graders who were taking the FCAT.  It was a hoot to watch the kids take the test.  I sat in the back corner of the room, where I could scan everyone constantly, but do so without distracting the little busy bees while they worked.  It was fun to watch the different test-taking styles.  There were the studious little girls who answered each question with intensity…the confident math-wizard boys who believed that they were in a race against the clock to finish…and my favorite…the Christmas Tree King…who I watched randomly bubble his answers in over a period of about 5 minutes.  (so. not. kidding.)  For the first time in a long time I missed being in the classroom.  It’s fun to see a group of students at work.

How much does this season of “24″ rot?

I have an appointment on Monday to check out a private autism school.  I have no idea what to expect, but I’m going with an open mind…hoping to get a sense of direction for Noah for next year.  I’ll keep you posted…

Well…I’m out.

I hope that you all have a great weekend…

…that you spent so much time consumed in busyness that you forgot to take a shower?

I know.

gross.

anywho…

Here’s a random rundown of our lives over the past few weeks, sprinkled with a little bit of crazy…

• We signed listing paperwork with our new realtor today.  We go back on the market first thing Monday morning.  We have sliced our price, allowing us to compete head on with the local foreclosures.  We finally had a “normal” sale in our neighborhood close last month…one that was on the market at the same time that we were…and it’s a good comp for us.  Based on the sale price of that one, our new asking price should be right on it.  We think.  And hope.
• I’ve had a lot of catching up to do for our Children’s Ministry.  Our leadership team and their families (including ours) managed to go down for the count (over a period of three weeks (!) ) with the puke bug and some type A flu thrown in for good measure.  All this occurred as we were adding first service classes to our schedule.  It all came out in the wash anyway, and the transition has been surprisingly smooth.  We are still a good three weeks behind on our goal to complete our new classroom addition, but stand a good chance of bringing the thing to the point of functionality within the next week or so.
• I bought one of those steam mop thingies…a Bissel.  I love it.  It is my new best-est, best-est friend.  I want to hug him and squeeze him and call him George.
• It’s that time of year again where I find myself begging the question…Where should Noah go to school next year?  The answer is, of course, complicated by the fact that we really don’t know where we will be living.  We hope that we will finally be up in the Triangle, but that’s what I thought last year, so there’s that.  I’m exceedingly happy with Noah’s current placement…he’s got an outstanding teacher that he’s been with for four years now.  Thankfully, Florida law would allow us to transfer Noah straight back to his current placement…even if we live in Lake County.  I just don’t know how the 80-90 minutes of driving every day would play out in our family.  We do have the option of pulling Noah out of public school and placing him in a private school, thanks to Florida’s McKay Scholarship.  (The state would take his current funding level…which is somewhere between $18-20,000 per year…and allow us to use the money as a scholarship for a private school of our choosing.  Pretty sweet, huh?)  I’m actually thinking about looking at one of the private autism schools here in Orlando…just in case.  I figure that we’ll be driving anyway…why not explore all options?
• I really want a pair of those pajama jeans.  Whoever thought of such a wondrous thing is a freaking genius.

Well…that’s all for now.

I hope that you all are doing well and have a fabulous weekend…