I'm Back

It's been over a month since my last post.  After Christmas, I promised to help Mike with a writing project and I promised myself that I wouldn't blog anymore until I filled that commitment. 

What was I thinking?  I love blogging.  It's easy.  I can do it at night after the kids are in bed or in the wee hours of the morning before they get up.  Mike's project required hours of concentrated effort and I didn't find those hours until yesterday.  I worked all day while he ran interference with the kids.

So I'm back.  And I hope to post to this blog every day this week.

Lots has happened in my absence.

 Wenxin celebrated his eighth birthday.  This photo was taken the day after his party.  Although we just invited two neighborhood friends over for hot dogs and cake, it was still somewhat overwhelming for him and he didn't really want to pose for photos.

More excitement this month when  Mike took out the trash early one Friday morning and noticed a seven foot alligator under his car.  Here it is after the "gator hunter" shot it and pulled it out onto the street.  Only in Florida!  That would've made a great blog post all by itself. 

 Wenxin's been home four months and what a difference four months can make.  Mike and I are amazed at how well he's doing.  It seems like he's been a part of our family much longer than four months.

Still, I want to be careful about celebrating prematurely.  Do you remember the news coverage of George W. Bush standing on the aircraft carrier declaring victory in the Iraq War?  Afterwards he was ridiculed because the actual fighting continued for years.  So while we're enjoying a degree of normalcy in our family life once again, we want to remember that it's only been four months.  Just four months.

Tomorrow I'll blog again:  "What's Working for Us #3"