At Rest

Dossiers
At the beginning of this school year, our family was working on putting not one, but two dossiers together - one for Kazakhstan and one for Scott's tenure. Who would have thought we would be putting together a dossier for anything. I wonder how many times I said this word the last few months . . . a word that was formerly reserved for spy movies and government reports. It is strange how a stack of papers can morph into a sweet child or job security - it is alchemy actually.

And, Then Life
Along the way, we have also taught classes and taken care of Saskia's brother. School. Luca thinks school is the nexus of the universe. Too bad we can't convince our students of that. When I was in school, I made some ridiculous assumptions about my professors - mainly that they knew EVERYTHING and they didn't have to do anything. They walked into class and their knowledge magically sprang forth. HA! I guess I still work under that assumption for myself - that I should know everything (impossible!). Teaching is hard work! I really found that out this past semester. My classes weren't filled with eager graduate students who did all the work, but with undergraduates with whom I had to struggle to spark the slighest bit of interest in the material (and work!).

Hiatus
Now, the school year is over . . . the grades are turned in and the defiant emails I received from one particular student are a distant memory. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming (they are really blooming - this has been an amazing spring) - life is good!

Congratulations!
Life is good for a lot of other people right now too! It seems like a lot of families are headed for Kazakhstan this month - Regina & Frank, Kelly & Sne and some others. Shannon is now officially full-time mom to Alexa! Suz and Matt have a little more than 2 weeks left until they return HOME with their two children. Karen and Glenn had a successful court appearance and now they are between trips. Welcome back & congratulations!

I have added a few links - one of the families (R&T) received their LOI. Michelle and Jeff made it to the MFA.

Diana & Bob finished their dossier (and what a process THAT was) and so did Ben & Suzette.

It really seems like things were stalled for a while. From what I can tell from unscientific observations (following blogs for 9+ months), people go in waves - fall, after the winter holidays (February-March), then late spring.

We are in the midst of the late spring rush :).

P.S. I read Catalina's post after I wrote this update. She is home for good with her two children as well! Congratulations to all of you!