Life Changes

Wow!  16 months without a blog post.  Life has been busy and full of change in our home.  Since my last blog post, we have completed our journey of home education with the graduation of our youngest, Rachel, in April 2012.  Her senior year was busy with schooling, ballet, college visits and auditions.  We traveled to colleges and ballet programs across the country trying to find the new direction for her life.  Those travels were fun times together with some definite adventures to go along with them!  I think the craziest weekend was a trip to Jackson, MS where she finished her audition at 6:00 on Friday evening, we got in the car and drove as far as Longview, TX to stop for the night.  The next morning found us back on the road early in the morning headed for a 2:00 audition in Norman, OK.  We made lots of good memories in our travels!  Rachel has ultimately ended up in Syracuse, NY dancing as a trainee with Light of the World Ballet.  It has been a great fit for her and I will likely try to give that story it's own post soon.  

Allan gave OTR trucking a try, but decided that was not the best career for him.  He traveled to all corners of the country while he was trucking!  He is now working at a local Hampton Inn as a desk clerk and likes the work and contact with many different people.  He is still living at home, but is not home much, lol!!  I love spending time with my son - he is such a joy to be around!  I will miss him when he is on his own.

Work keeps Robert busy as always.  He is still volunteering as a Boy Scout leader, but has moved on to help a smaller troop grow.  He loves the interaction with the other dads and being a positive influence in the lives of boys, as well as all the camping and hiking!

The end of our homeschooling and Rachel moving to Syracuse has meant big changes for me!  I am adjusting fairly well and try not to dwell on my sweet girl being so far away.  Life has definitely slowed down as we stepped down from serving on our home school association board of directors after 8 years and I also stepped down from serving on the board of the ballet.  It is very quiet at home now, but I am learning to embrace the quietness and slower pace.  I will likely go to work at some point, but for now, I am taking care of my health.  In my last post, I talked about the BRCA 1 genetic mutation I have for breast cancer.  I had a bilateral mastectomy in October and am still healing from the surgery and post-surgery pleurisy.  I finally started driving this past week and have gotten out several times.  It feels good to be back out a bit, but I am still very weak and have to be careful about not overdoing.  I find myself napping a lot!!  Reconstruction will be an ongoing process through the winter.  I will go back to Dallas this week for follow ups with both of my surgeons there.  I will get a quick visit with my mom, brother and family, and a lunch with a long-time friend who lives in Frisco.  I am so thankful for my guys who have taken great care of me during my recovery - taking care of things around the house that I can't do (and we know that drives a mom crazy), cooking, cleaning, laundry....  It is great to now be able to do much of that myself again!!  

Now that I have figured out how to blog again, I hope to be back soon with a post about Syracuse and who knows what else!