Just to fill you in

I have learned that this blogging thing is similar to exercising - once you get out of the routine, even for just a couple of days, it's really hard to get started again.

Our vacation was really great this fall because we didn't stress ourselves out about trying to pack in a lot of things on our days off. The first several days we spent time around the house. We voted early, went to a matinee movie, ran errands, and laid on the couch watching TV. I will tell you - this was a dream come true.

Kendal maintained her Speech Therapy on Monday and Wednesday. We talked with Suzanne (Speech Pathologist) about whether Kendal will need a communication device since she is doing so well with sign language. She did state that Kendal will still need a communication system (in case she doesn't start talking, of course!) because even though the signing is great, it will not be enough to function out in the world. If she is in school, she needs to be able to communicate with the teachers and fellow students and not everyone that she comes into contact with will know signs. I had never really thought of it that way. I guess I just assumed that I will always be by her side. I want Kendal to be a strong independent woman and so as we journey through this course we will determine her needs as we see fit.

Last Thursday, we headed up to Crawfordsville, Indiana to visit my sister Katie, her husband Mike, and their two beautiful daughters Marilyn and Olivia. Thursday night we had a great dinner at The Beef House. Friday, we had the opportunity to pal around with Katie and meet some great people, including her boss David and some friends at the local coffee shop. James headed back to the house for a nap while me and Katie attended Olivia's Halloween Party at school. That was really fun!

Before we knew it, it was time to get the costumes on for trick-or-treating Friday night. We went out for just a little bit with Kendal and the girls before heading back to the house to hand out candy. Now Katie had tried to prepare me for what was to come, but NEVER and I mean NEVER had I seen or could have imagined so many trick-or-treaters. I think everyone in Crawfordsville drops their children off on Main Street (where Katie lives). People were lined up single-file in 2 separate lines up her walk-way. You would have thought we were handing our crack to a bunch of addicts. It was totally crazy but very fun. Me, James, and Kendal are not used to all the running around so we were happy to head up to bed that night due to our exhaustion.

We came back to TN on Saturday and even though our trip was very short to Indiana, we were so happy we could go visit them. On the way back through Bowling Green, KY we stopped off to see James, Debra, and Destiny (James' father, mother, and niece). It was really good to see them too although the visit was under an hour. It was getting dark and we wanted to be home so bad. Luckily with James' family now living in Kentucky we will get to see them more often.

This week has been a major adjustment trying to get back in the swing of things. Work has been especially busy and I am trying to get caught back up on the different things going on with Kendal (will post an update on that later this week). With everything going on in the world, we were truly blessed to have a week to ourselves. God is so good to us!