And we are on the countdown...

My last year in Germany is here. We are on our final 11 months. My last September is here. So, what am I going to do? I'm going to embrace this last year and see and do as much as I can. This weekend's plan is the Viking Festival and a Bread and Wine Festival. I'll post pics up as soon as I return.

Other happenings in our world: Ryan's arm is finally out of a cast. Rollerblades are officially banned from the Chandler household. Olivia is three and learning some letters and lots of attitude. Ally is about to begin ballet and hip hop dance. I have joined the homeschooling group here, and jumped in with both feet. This is pretty hard for me, since I am a like a puzzle piece that never quite fits in homeschooling groups. The ladies are nice enough, but well, I'm me, so that pretty much makes it hard to fit. There aren't a lot of places for an Orthodox Christian, Libertarian-leaning, homeschooler. Throw in the fact that I'm a closet environmentalist, abhor the tea party, and homeschool mostly because it just feels right and I'm pretty much an oddity. However, it's nice to meet other folks that enjoy the company of their kids (most of the time) and who in many places find themselves strangers in this world...so we will give it a go.

On the home front, I miss my husband something terrible. Deployments are just. plain. hard. I try to make out some kind of schedule for me to stay on task, but the reality is, is that is like making a plan of how I can swim across an ocean when all I can really manage right now is keeping afloat. I'm trying to remind myself to be a bit more gentle and take it a bit more slowly. Because truthfully, all I REALLY need to do right now is stay afloat. There will be a time to cross the ocean later. So, while treading water, I'm branching out a bit...trying the homeschool group, trying to see as much as I can, and trying to not count down the days til Tony returns.