In which I bridge the 4+ month gap

Current Tunes: Jars of Clay, kickin' it old school.
Current Plans: get school things gathered, have lunch, go to class.
Current Excitement: going to sleep tonight.

So since April, I have been to Ukraine, gained a new nephew, sung in a wedding, got a nanny job, lived in MN for three months, went on a mini-vacation to Duluth, packed up and moved back to KC, moved to a new house with several other girls, and started my sophomore year of FMA. And there you have it. My life in a sentence.

Unfortunately I know that's not enough juicy information for you (MOTHER), so I'll break it down.

Firstly, when I last wrote, I was anticipating my trip to Ukraine to help my sister adopt her son, Charles Gabriel Andreev. The trip was some of the most exhausting, exciting, fascinating, emotional, joyful, worrisome few days of my young life. I loooooved Kiev, and I would love to go back. The architecture, the people, the history-- excellent. But of course, other than taking an overnight train, meeting Charlie for the first time was a memory I'll always treasure. We went to the orphanage, got him, and he was ours (well, my sister's. But really ours). The poor little guy was so tiny all his bones were showing, and he was quite sickly during the trip. Rachel was a champion mama and spent a couple sleepless nights with him trying to keep his fever down.

In the four months since we brought Charlie home, he's grown in size, personality, love, and skill. He's blessed to have an amazing family, and we're more than blessed to be able to love him. He's headed for a serious heart surgery in about a week (Aug 30th), so all of your prayers for his good health are appreciated. I know it's killing me not to be there.

My summer in MN was a quiet, mostly uneventful one. It was nice to be home for a solid chunk of time and watch my nephews grow and learn.

About two weeks ago, it was time to move back to KC. So here I am, in a new house with 3 other young ladies and an older woman who owns the house. It's a nice set-up, as I have my own room and bathroom. It's a new experience having roommates, and although there's some necessary attitude adjustments, I'm really starting to love it. My roommates are all gorgeous, talented ladies and I feel blessed to get to live with them.

Yesterday was my first day of school. It was great to be back with my old FMA friends and see what the year would be like. I'm lucky enough to have one of my close friends and former team members on my team again this year. And one of my old worship leaders is our coach for the first part of the semester! I'm excited to get to know the rest of my team. My schedule is pretty busy and I've got all kinds of things going on, but I've managed to figure out a sufficient work schedule and we even have breaks for meals this year! That's a bonus. So now I just have to start settling in and find a good rhythm to carry me through the semester. I especially need to establish a sleeping schedule, as waking up at 7AM is definitely not part of my natural sleep cycle. And this girl needs A LOT of sleep.

So now you're all caught up.