Kung fu

Samuel figures he's safely too far ahead of me in kung fu for me to catch up with him before he graduates, so I started this spring. I found that I had too much on my plate and skipped April, but was ready to test for my yellow sash in June. This is me doing my form at testing.

Samuel looks much better doing his forms, but he should. His final test (of 6!) to earn his black sash (after four & a half years) will be the 26th of this month. I love watching him! He moves with such grace and style.

Miriam!

Finally, here's a picture from Miriam's dancing at the school Russian Night.

Kids and kin

Samuel (and two friends) started testing for his black belt in kung fu in February. At Jing Ying, testing to Black is a 6-12 months long process. Besides demonstrating excellence in the forms, including multiple weapons forms, the students also take responsibility for teaching others. It’s wonderful to see how much Samuel has enjoyed and accomplished over the last four+ years that he’s been studying here. I really appreciate the family feel of the school.

I tried to start kung fu last month, but reality intervened this month, and I’ve postponed that adventure until next month- when I’ll have more time during the summer (yeah, right!) to get into the groove there. Samuel had figured he’s far enough ahead of me that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with him. . . James just wondered when/how I was going to fit it into my schedule. (You can say “I told you so” now, darling.)

Miriam has been busy with learning Russian dances for a performance this weekend. I’ll try to get a picture of that posted, but you’ll be more likely to see it on James’s blog first!

Kyle called James on St. Patrick’s Day, just before he headed out for a band trip to Florida, and then was going to be heading to Ohio Valley University this month for a Bible Bowl event.

Liza was out for a quick visit last month, and it was wonderful to see her! She’s taking a photography class at the local community college, and busy with plans for next Fall.

Tori’s working and taking classes and dancing and still finding time to travel to dance weekends and drop everything to come down and be here for her little sister when Miriam needed her.

That’s one of my biggest joys. I enjoy the relationships I have with my kids, and treasure the time we spend together, but I am still the parent. There are times when I have to push or set a boundary, and there’s an imbalance in our relationship because of our role differences. It makes my heart sing to see how close the kids are to each other. I love my sibs, and am so glad to have them in my life. I’m thrilled to see my own kids growing into strong relationships also.

Last Friday James and I drove down to Alexandria to watch Aria’s theatrical debut. She was a spider in her elementary school production of Sleeping Beauty-the Enchanted story of Princess Briar Rose. It was a fabulous production, put on at the high school!, with live music and incredible performances. Aria was spectacular! She takes after her Aunt Becky in her delight at being in the spotlight (but I’m her favorite aunty because I was there!).

I’m so glad we live close enough to Rob & Lisa to enjoy watching their kids grow up! We were down last month for our annual Epilepsy Walk adventure, this time representing SeizureTracker.com! James and I were brochure distributors extraordinaire (“Have you heard about SeizureTracker.com yet?”). I’m so proud of what Rob and Lisa have done with that project! They’re fabulous parents, especially with all that they have going on with keeping their brilliant kids challenged while managing Evan’s medical needs. And somehow they’ve created time to develop this site and provide this service for others.

What's up around here???

For those of you who don't follow James's blog, here's what we've been up to lately:

James has been building things for the house, like beehives (which will require a trip to GA in the spring to pick up the special organic bees!). . .

a sign with our house number from scrap wood scavenged from a flooring company on his way to work. . .





and a cat tree and shelves for Kit. . . but she's not so sure about this whole thing.





He's also really gotten into orchids, and displaced my seed starting shelves to set up adjustable shelves for his orchids. He took all four of my seedlings' grow lights to light his orchids. He's bought hundreds of containers . . . because they were only sold in units of one gross (12 dozen!) to hold the clay pellets he bought to grow the orchids semi-hydroponically. And then bought a few clay pots- to tie the orchids to the outside! I do tease him, but I get to enjoy having something blooming almost constantly, and I did pick out four at the orchid show and bring one home from a neighbor's house, so I can't complain too much. I don't complain at all, except for the teasing. He needs something to keep him busy while I'm playing in my PhD program, or he'll build something else huge to fit in the living room!

Tori spent September and October working at the Renaissance Festival, and we got to see her every weekend, since we live closer than she does! With the aggravations of her office job increasing, she's considering a switch. . . buying a pick-up truck and traveling the faire circuit, working a faire on the weekends and either freelancing or working temp during the week. My vagabond daughter!

Tori and Liza are saving money to take a month or so this summer and go vagabond in Europe together. I'm so glad they enjoy each other's company!

Liza's doing some general education courses and nannying for her aunt, while her uncle is in Kuwait. It has its advantages. . . for her-income to buy a computer and soon a quality SLR digital camera, for me-appreciation of what was involved in getting her to 18, or even 8, alive. That was one unexpected phone call!

James went to see one of Kyle's band competitions, but Kyle was too busy to even have a conversation. They've had a couple of phone calls, but it's really hard to feel the distance increasing, and he just turned 16 this week. He's looking ahead to college- Ohio Valley U, unless he's changed his mind. We may see him for a Christmas trip to C'burg to visit the grandparents.

Samuel is keeping busy, and learning to balance/juggle numerous demands. High school academics are a bit more intense, but the pressure is off now that he earned his laptop. He's still keeping busy with Scouts and kung fu, and I'm being the mean mom and not letting him add tennis team until he wraps those up. He starts testing for his black sash in kung fu in January!

Miriam is also enjoying many aspects of high school- if only it didn't include algebra! She was working as a page at the public library, but cut that out to focus on academics and school-based activities like Model UN and Interact (the high school version of Rotary International). She is growing up so fast! My baby went to homecoming this year!

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to encourage the twins to have a party next weekend, the first that they've been here and not had some school or church function on Saturday night. They took a bit of prodding to start the guest list, but then momentum got going and I got nervous! I finally cut them off and gave them a limit of 40 on the guest list! (Here's hoping they don't all show up. . . but I heard a few whispers of "___ will bring ___ anyway, so we don't have to include him in the count". At least the invitations will include a note prohibiting drugs and alcohol- "because the parents call the cops", so we won't have the whole school showing up!)

Me? I'm just trying to juggle ten hours of class each week, twenty hours each for homework and TA responsibilities, a few hours of meetings of one sort or another, commuting to DC, and having interesting conversations with my colleagues and family, and maybe sleeping occasionally. I picked up my crochet hook to start the last panel of our curtains for the first time last weekend during a visit to James's parents' house- something that's just been sitting around since I blogged the last one!

A special thanks-giving. . . my nephew, Evan, completed three brain surgeries this month, and has come through fabulously! His seizures seem to have stopped, and he's walking and talking-two things that are always a concern when you go into the brain. He charmed the nurses most of the time he was there, but will be glad to get out of the hospital and home.

Kid pics

Here are the twins-barely tolerating Mom's insistence on pictures before their first day of high school.




















And here's Tori in her newest outfit for working at the Renn Fest.








This time it's Liza's turn to dodge the pictures, but I'll get her again before she leaves.

Marvelous Miriam

. . .has a new job, too!

Miriam did so well last year as a summer teen volunteer at the library that they were waiting for her to turn fourteen so they could hire her as a page. There was one opening earlier in the year, just after her birthday, but that didn't pan out. The librarian in charge of pages did ask Miriam to keep her application on file, and they called her back a couple of weeks later to ask about an opening that was coming available in July.

Okay, so what they meant was that they would start the hiring process in July, and we spent several hours one day the last week she was here running back and forth between the high school and the library: pick up the work permit from the school, take it to the library to get the work section completed, back to the high school to get the counselor's signature/permission to work, stop by the bank to open an account for direct depositing her paychecks, return to the library to turn in all the paperwork, . . .and then wait for the central office to give their okay to add Miriam to the payroll and start orientation. With the traveling she's been doing (NC & Boston, MA) with Shannon and her sibs, orientation has been scheduled for this week.

I am delighted that, in spite of the energy I may expend at times getting the kids to do their chores around the house, they have picked up a work ethic that has them in demand in the world at large. Miri-chan, I'm glad you're my girl!

BTW-I looked for a picture to post with this note, and I think Miriam is more camera-shy than Samuel. She's just quiet about it, so we don't realize that she's dodging the spotlight! But then she came in to get Liza for church, and I was able to grab a quick picture. Isn't she turning into a real beauty?!

Powerfully creative---Tori

Tori starts a new job this week.

Before we left for the reunion in Florida, we were talking about how she'd like to rearrange her schedule. She wanted to cut back on her hours at Premier Windows a bit, and let go of the call center support work so that she could pick up more hours at the restaurant during their busy summer months, and get weekends freed up so she could work at the Renaissance Festival. . .but that all meant getting out of the job for which she was originally hired at Premier!

When she got back to work upon our return, they had hired a new employee "downstairs", and he was going to bump Tori to fourth in line for the computer-making it almost impossible for her to do the call center support work she didn't like anyway. They didn't want to lose her, since she is such a marvelous worker, and were a bit nervous about how she'd react. Not only did she get to adjust her schedule to exactly what she'd told me she wanted, Tori got to make it look like she was doing them a favor by not being upset at the change!

The Renn Fest starts next weekend, and runs through late October- eight (?) weekends of dress-up fun!

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate and admire the way Tori is growing up and learning to be responsible? Even more, I'm impressed at how well she is doing figuring out who she is and what matters to her, and living her life by those values. Not knowing exactly what she wants to do/be/study can be a disconcerting space to be in. I think it's easier to take on external standards, and follow the culturally-acceptable path (ie. go to college), than it is to step off that path and admit that there's nothing drawing her into the classroom at this point. Yes, she enjoys learning, and she's good at the academic game, but she's also good at other things. Traveling is definitely much easier before kids and mortgage complicate the scheduling and financial picture.

I appreciate Tori's work ethic. Everywhere she has worked, the supervisors are ready to take on her siblings-just because they're her sibs. One of the restaurant managers she worked for last year is eagerly looking forward to the twins turning 16 so he can hire them! He even wanted Liza for just the few weeks that she's here before she heads out to Washington, but logistics intervened.

The balance in Tori's life is pretty tilted toward work these days, but she's also doing well maintaining relationships and fitting in some fun. Keep up the good work, Tori, that's a lifelong challenge! I'm glad I get to be your mom!

And, oh yeah, the picture . . . a friend did Tori's hair in braids, and my wonderful daughter let mommy play- and I got to weave the braids into a visor. (Something I always wanted to do to mine when my hair was long, but it's hard to do to your own hair!) We laughed and joked while I was weaving-reminiscing about the time we cut iris leaves and wove a basket that fell apart as it dried. Good times, good memories!

She's wonderful!

And she's home!!!!!

If you're noticing that Liza's getting most of the focus these days, that would be because she's been gone so long, I'm delighting in having her here, . . . and it's summer so the twins have been spending much of the time with their dad. (I had my big block of time with them at the beginning of the summer for our Florida reunion.) They'll be back tonight and I start orientations for school this week, so I'm trying to get caught up on my blogging before things get busy again.

This picture is from Liza's homecoming presentation to the Parole Rotary club-her sponsors for her Hungarian adventure. When she made her farewell presentation at this time last year, I was so impressed at how she had grown through the process of getting ready for the trip.

I was in tears of delight that morning (as I am again now) at the young woman she is now! Liza did a fantastic job with her presentation! She put together a PowerPoint presentation with slides from some of her adventures, and used that as the basis of her talk.

She was so poised! The audience was with her the whole time, and she spontaneously included humor that had everyone chuckling, or laughing out loud.

She was real. We all felt her love for the country, the experiences, and most especially the people. Liza let us all see and feel how much her families there mean to her. It takes courage to stand up in front of a good-sized audience of any age. When they're all older than you are, and you're talking about things that evoke strong emotions, the courage required is even more. And to let them see your tears?!?, and then keep speaking. . . Tremendous!

Other parents have asked me how I could let Liza go so far away. How could I not? This was something she wanted and worked to make happen. Yes, I missed her. Yes, it was hard to hear about her challenges. Yes, I've felt her homesickness-for Hungary!, and wished there was something I could do to make it better. But all of this is part of life, and Liza's doing so well with it!

Liza, your mom is proud of you, and loves you very, very, very much!

Kid news at the end of the school year

Alphabetically this time. . .

What we hear of Kyle is focused on music. . . He had a solo at last month's school band concert and word is that he did well. He's thinking about organizing a youth praise group (songs & scripture study) in his area, but they may travel to revivals in a larger area. Go for it, Kyle! He finishes school for the year tomorrow, and has a busy summer of travel with school & family and lots of camps (Scouts, church, and band) planned.

Liza (pronounced Leeza by all her Hungarian friends and "family") is resisting the creeping of the calendar. Her language skills have really clicked, and she loves the country, the culture, and most of all the people! Besides her travel around Hungary, she's trying to fit in a quick run to Salzburg before she comes home next month.




Miriam is glad to be finishing up her school year also, and has done very well. She will be receiving at least one award next week-but they won't tell us what it is until the assembly! She's done well academically, making honor roll all year. She's really growing up. Besides having pulled that trick of turning into a young woman over night, she's really become a dependable contributor to our household. She baked me a cake for my birthday Monday, and gave me one of the pieces she'd painted in Art this year. I am certainly blessed to have such creative daughters!


We've attended our last middle school concert for our children! Here's Samuel too busy playing to hide from the camera. . .

Samuel's also receiving an award at school, but he couldn't get one in the same assembly as Miriam is. Nope, James will be late to work TWO mornings next week so that he can come help me embarrass the kids (oops, I mean cheer them on!).
Besides family adventures and church camp, Samuel will be busy this summer working on Scouting projects with a week at Conservation camp earning badges toward his Hornaday Award and making his Eagle project happen.

Tori came by yesterday for a visit to celebrate my birthday. Have I mentioned that I really enjoy and appreciate spending time with her? She had a fun time visiting London and Hungary with Liza. (She's the one who provided the Liza pic I used above!) Tori's finished another semester of college, and highly recommends against taking accounting in an online format. (Of course, I never tackled the second semester of accounting at all. I did well my first semester, but couldn't face the idea of three more semesters and changed my major away from business! Guess she's not exactly like her mom.) With the semester over, and a summer without classes, Tori has time to read for FUN, and joined us on our library trip last night. It was delightful having her cue us on appropriate songs on the way home.

I know not everyone breaks into song spontaneously throughout the day, but that's one of the things Liza has commented about missing this year. I love that piece of family culture, and the jokes and laughter from my smart-aleky family. It is a joy and a delight to spend time with these people! One night last month we were sitting at the table and went from discussing school to an old Bugs Bunny cartoon to the Road Runner, then on to planning our "talent" show contribution for the reunion, to quoting and debating the location of various Shakespearean scenes! Wacky!

"Kid" update

Can I still call them kids when their shoes are all bigger than mine are?

Anyway, we'll start with the youngest this time. . .
Miriam brought home another Honor Roll report card. Great job, Miri!
She's been having some trouble with her TMJ issues, and had to drop Honors Chorus because some days singing is painful. The worst of that discomfort was handled by having her bite guard (that she wears at night) adjusted slightly, but we won't be able to do anything significant to "fix" the issue until she stops growing.
The good news, and compliment to who she is in the world, came Monday during one of our frequent trips to the library. The library has an paid opening for a page, to shelve the books and otherwise assist the librarians. Because of the excellent work she did last summer as a teen volunteer in the summer reading program, one of the librarians actually came up to her and asked her to apply! (They tried to get her on staff last fall, but she wasn't old enough at that point. They've been waiting until an opening came up after her birthday!)

Samuel has interviews scheduled for this weekend to finish up the last of the merit badges he needs to complete his Eagle Scout award. All that he'll have left after this is his project and the paperwork.
He continues to enjoy his kung fu workouts three nights each week, and has some wonderful friends in that community. But that's not enough of a physical outlet, so he's taking up tennis as well. Samuel hopes to make it onto the high school tennis team in the spring, in the midst of testing for his black sash in kung fu (a 6-12 month process!).
And all this, while bringing home his third straight-A report card in a row! You go, Son! Samuel is determined to earn his own computer, and if four straight straight-A report cards is what it takes, then that's what he's going to do.

Kyle is keeping busy with Scouts, band, and other high school activities. Last month he took a trip to Ohio, I think it was, to participate in Bible Bowl with the team from his church. As he finishes up his sophomore year, Kyle's starting to look toward college, and right now plans to attend Ohio Valley University and become a school music teacher. That's a compliment to his current teacher and mentor. Thank you, Mr. L!

Liza is really getting the Hungarian language down. I really enjoyed traveling with her, especially in Hungary where she made a wonderful tour guide and translator. She has really connected with the people and the culture, and isn't ready to come back to the States. I hope another 2 1/2 months will be enough for this trip, Liza. We love you and miss you, and do want you back-at least for a little while!
Since so many people have asked what Liza's planning to do when she returns. . . It looks at this point like she'll be heading out to Washington to help her aunt with her cousins while Uncle Reuben is in Kuwait. Since she's also looking forward to a degree in International Relations in route to a career in the Foreign Service, Liza'll be knocking out general education requirements through independent study and coursework at the local community college-including a course in color photography. (She has really missed her "real" camera this year, but didn't have access to a darkroom in Hungary, so she didn't have me take it to her.)

Tori has quite the summer of travel planned-Hungary to visit Liza (with a detour through London on the way! Did I mention my girls like cities???), Florida in June for a family reunion, New England somewhere in July for a dance weekend, and then another one in August if I've got that straight. And somewhere in there, she and Liza are planning a bit of visiting as a sisters only trip. And she's paying for all of this herself! She's not working much at the restaurant, at least until the semester finishes, but that doesn't mean she has much spare time. She has two other jobs at a home improvement company. Did I tell you they gave her a raise??? They recognize what a hard worker she is, and not only accommodate all this travel she wants to do, they give her money to do it so she'll come back and work some more for them!

One of the great things about my children growing up is my changing role in their lives. I am no longer responsible for the decisions they make as young adults. I get to be a counselor-if (and only if!) asked. And most of the time I get to stand back and admire their creativity and determination as they resolve the situations that arise. I really am blessed with a fine bunch of people to share my family!!!