Brandon's birthday fell on Father's Day this year, so we celebrated his day a week later, with a cookout here at the house this past Sunday. He's 18!
Ken's dad and step-mom, my Granmama, my sister, a few cousins, Brandon's girlfriend, and some close family friends all came to help celebrate. "Anne" and Brandon met the previous weekend, and he thought it was cool that she was here for his party. She met quite a few more members of our family, and survived our goofy crew. Ken bravely grilled out, despite the sweltering temperatures, and after supper, we cooled off with ice cream cake! I always like to make a from-scratch birthday cake, but it was too doggone hot to turn the oven on for that long, so I promised Brandon an un-birthday cake of his choosing when the weather is a bit cooler.
After our guests left, we took our first family photo with all the kids. Brandon and his girlfriend Diane stayed a while and we all played charades til Kathryn had to go to bed. Brandon, Diane, and Anne all chatted about movies and amusement parks, and all manner of teenager things. It did my heart good to see them all getting along so well. I think she is beginning to feel like part of the family. It really is an odd sort of limbo we're in right now; since she hasn't moved in yet, it feels sort of like she's a guest... but then again, we'll soon be her parents, so we're all sort of figuring out how to do this. It was wonderful to spend more time with Diane, too; she could someday be our daughter-in-law, so we'd like to get to know her as well as possible!
Anne is here all week, through the coming weekend, and she says she is ready to move in! We're just waiting for some paperwork to come back from what her caseworker calls The Big Tall Building In Atlanta and then we can sign the Intent to Adopt papers so she can officially move in. It will still be probably six months or so after that before she's legally adopted, but when a friend asked (via text message) what she was doing today, she replied, "Just chillin' with my mom and dad."
Brandon is officially registered for his freshman year of college, and just found out that he got the job he wanted working at the new food center at the university. He won't have to drive to and fro as much, he'll make better wages, and this will be great experience for him. Every day, Monday through Friday, his classes start at 8AM, and our house is much closer to the university than his mom's house, so he'll likely be staying here much more often than he has in the past. He'll also be volunteering as an assistant to the band director at a local middle school, which is fabulous experience since he wants to be a high school band director. He's going to have a very busy year, but I think he's pretty excited about it all.
God is good, and we are blessed.
Ken's dad and step-mom, my Granmama, my sister, a few cousins, Brandon's girlfriend, and some close family friends all came to help celebrate. "Anne" and Brandon met the previous weekend, and he thought it was cool that she was here for his party. She met quite a few more members of our family, and survived our goofy crew. Ken bravely grilled out, despite the sweltering temperatures, and after supper, we cooled off with ice cream cake! I always like to make a from-scratch birthday cake, but it was too doggone hot to turn the oven on for that long, so I promised Brandon an un-birthday cake of his choosing when the weather is a bit cooler.
After our guests left, we took our first family photo with all the kids. Brandon and his girlfriend Diane stayed a while and we all played charades til Kathryn had to go to bed. Brandon, Diane, and Anne all chatted about movies and amusement parks, and all manner of teenager things. It did my heart good to see them all getting along so well. I think she is beginning to feel like part of the family. It really is an odd sort of limbo we're in right now; since she hasn't moved in yet, it feels sort of like she's a guest... but then again, we'll soon be her parents, so we're all sort of figuring out how to do this. It was wonderful to spend more time with Diane, too; she could someday be our daughter-in-law, so we'd like to get to know her as well as possible!Anne is here all week, through the coming weekend, and she says she is ready to move in! We're just waiting for some paperwork to come back from what her caseworker calls The Big Tall Building In Atlanta and then we can sign the Intent to Adopt papers so she can officially move in. It will still be probably six months or so after that before she's legally adopted, but when a friend asked (via text message) what she was doing today, she replied, "Just chillin' with my mom and dad."
Brandon is officially registered for his freshman year of college, and just found out that he got the job he wanted working at the new food center at the university. He won't have to drive to and fro as much, he'll make better wages, and this will be great experience for him. Every day, Monday through Friday, his classes start at 8AM, and our house is much closer to the university than his mom's house, so he'll likely be staying here much more often than he has in the past. He'll also be volunteering as an assistant to the band director at a local middle school, which is fabulous experience since he wants to be a high school band director. He's going to have a very busy year, but I think he's pretty excited about it all.
God is good, and we are blessed.
4 nifty note(s):
Such changes happening in your lives! These are exciting times!
Anne sounds like such a sweet, sweet girl and a wonderful addition to your family. Wish Brandon Happy Birthday from a stranger. ;-)
Your life is just so incredibly exciting at the mo! I love living it vicariously...
Happy birthday from this stranger as well.
Congratulations on your son's birthday and your new daughter!
My I've missed a lot due to our new summer schedule!
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