Well, it's been about six weeks, so I'll very briefly mention some highlights.
We flew out of state to my husband's (military) retirement ceremony. Jordan flew with her daddy, and I flew with our other daughter so as to increase the chances we'd all arrive (going standby) in time. One thing which Jordan likes about traveling is she loves staying in hotels (so far she's not caught on to the bedbug outbreak - which is good). Finding food that she'll like is always a challenge, however. But this trip, Jordan actually did very well during the Marine ceremony as well as at the reception, and we returned home within two days.
Oh wait -- I forgot. At the retirement party that evening, Jordan perked up out of her slight boredom when one of the pilots in my husband's squadron took the stage. It was this guy's job to recognize what the group was sure to miss about Paul in the weeks ahead, by telling some classic anecdotes about him, using humor and props along the way. I wish I would have had the time that evening to blog about what happened because it's an area which deserves to stand on its own...I'd say maybe ⅔ of the way into this guy's speech, Jordan chimed in something to the effect that "My dad has a lot of gas." Oh - my - gosh, I wanted a trap door to immediately open under my baby's chair and stop her from saying anything further. Of course, the Marines thought this child was brilliantly funny, which only fed her desire to say more. No horrified glares or threatening whispers were going to stop her now - and on she went through the rest of his speech. But again, all things considered, Jordan was quiet and respectful at the ceremony itself, making this a pretty successful trip.
Heading back to school that Monday, we learned that one of Jordan's teachers was not returning. An e-mail from the school stated that the teacher resigned, but every cell in my body lead me to feel otherwise. Now many weeks later, all of my instincts still tell me that this teacher was fired. What bothers me most about this can be laid out in two parts. For starters, parents had no part in this decision. Especially having a child who does not acclimate quickly to change, one who has grown to not like school at all, I've been very disappointed that parents were not informed nor asked to share our concerns before any decisions were made. Secondly, I feel that I've had to lie to Jordan about why her teacher is no longer at her school. This whole thing has been a setback to what began as a great year. Jordan is not happy about school again and she's had to become acclimated to a new teacher, who in return, has had to learn all about Jordan. In this regard, it's been a fairly difficult month.
The next big thing to occur was Jordan's class trip, of which I was one of the chaperones. Our group traveled to a summer camp, about a two and a half hour drive from our school, where we stayed for three days to learn about science in the wilderness. Again, Jordan's main struggle was food, but one of the kitchen staff (who told me she herself had been a picky eater as a child) took a special interest in Jordan and cooked her bacon (crispy but not overdone) for two of her meals. To Jordan, this rates high up there with the invention of the television, so Jordan's energy level and her outlook for the rest of the camp experience improved to the highest levels! So thank you Kim - you were her guardian angel!
And so that's what's kept me extremely busy. All of this plus my other daughter's volleyball schedule, having my husband move back home again after 7 years away (for the most part), Homecoming week & Halloween.
It's all good. My child is wonderfully made. :)
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 NIV
