A little update on things

It’s been too long since my last update and I will try not to let it happen again. So, the last I left you with I think was Joey’s mom passed on. As you can imagine 2007 has been a very tough year for Jo and we sent it out with a funeral pyre of sorts. We burned a calendar on New Years Eve. It seems though that 2007 was to have one last laugh. The calendar was coated in a film of some sort that made it smell pretty acrid when we burned it. We are sure that it was toxic and expect to all grow third arms in the next year because of it. Maybe that will help my golf game……
I’m traveling on one of my favorite modes of transportation right now which is Amtrak. I picked up the train in Holland MI and am heading to Chicago to get a flight to Burlington VT. We were home for the weekend so that Jo could go thru her parent’s house with her brother and sister. There is a mountain of stuff to go thru as any of you who have had to do this already know. Things are going well though probably not as fast as they would like. Jo is staying at least thru Wednesday and depending on how much is left may stay longer. Which means I might be doing this trip in reverse next weekend to help her drive back to VT. She and the boys are off this whole week for mid-winter break which for some reason is a whole week. Very odd!
I’ll try and catch you up with our life which as with many people kind of stagnates a little bit in January and February. It is because of this that we looked at moving to Vermont. It has definitely worked! We have done something every weekend since we’ve been home. First and foremost we’ve skied a lot! It’s been very fun and I am truly amazed at the progress the boys and Jo have made. I’m getting close to my peak abilities that I once had when in high school but I tell you what, I’ve had to re-learn a bunch because I am essentially 50 lbs heavier now than in high school and it’s just not as easy for me to throw my weight around like I used to. I mean I can throw my weight one way for turning but when it’s time to throw it the other to turn again it just wants to keep going straight! So I’ve definitely had to re-learn some things. I also (We interrupt this blog to say we just stopped in Bangor MI. BANGOR! Who ever came up with the plan to stop in Bangor! Why not stop in South Haven, a city people have at least heard of before. The conductor actually referred to it as beautiful downtown Bangor. For those of you who have been there you know what I’m saying, for those of you who haven’t, don’t bother, it’s a crossroads, nothing more, I think the houses there just got electricity! Back to the blog, I was talking about skiing.) have come to the realization that the boots I have are pretty bad because when I turn my feet my skis go straight because I have so much slop in my boots for my feet to move. I know, I know, just tighten the buckles. No can do, if I do that it causes my arches to cramp. Major ouchage! Time for new boots I think. We should be hitting end of year sales soon so I’ll try and snag some. Skiing is awesome in Vermont and we love the family atmosphere at Smuggs. Having every other Friday off helps me get to the slopes a lot too. Beyond skiing we have also been active in the area. We have some good friends out there that we do stuff with pretty regularly on the weekends and it’s been great. It has reminded me of how our parents and their friends have always done things on the weekends and it’s been great to get into that mode. Our town of North Hero has also started a winter festival this year that has spanned three weekends. The first weekend was a youth fishing derby among other events. All three boys caught perch and Zack got a 10.5 incher. Sean caught 5, BJ I think got 2 and Zack got 3. (Just stopped in St. Joseph and are running along the Lake Michigan shore. Quite pretty.) So the fishing derby was great and we may go get some fishing gear and do it out the front door on our bay. The ice is so thick (because it’s frickin’ freezing there Mr. Bigglesworth) that not only do people drive there cars and trucks out there but they bring there campers out there too. Ice fishing is big on the islands and north part of the lake. It’s very cool. Two weeks after the fishing derby they had a golf tournament on the ice. Oh yes, I played. It was tough because there was a foot of snow on the ice but they plowed a 10 ft wide ‘fairway’ for each hole and you could move your ball to that path if you found it in the snow. It was about 21 degrees with high winds putting the wind chill well below zero but Zack caddied for me(He really just played in the snow and snow banks most of the time and had a blast) and we were well covered up. I’ll include a link to the news stories here so you can watch the video from the fishing derby and the golf tournament. They both made the Burlington news. So we really have been busy and are having fun.
We have some decisions to make coming up about where we are going to live and much of that depends on the house selling in Michigan. We have continually dropped the price and are getting some activity again with an offer/counteroffer that may be accepted. We see about a 30% chance we may be back in Michigan but don’t know for sure. Our financial position is changing with all that’s happened this past year and we should be able to make the GH house sell now and that will free up our decisions a bit. My job is going well and I really enjoy it. Jo is getting more comfortable in hers as well. We’ll see what life brings us this next year but we’ve proven to ourselves that we can survive away from our comfort zone of Grand Haven. I’m not sure if that’s all that was behind this crazy idea of moving to Vermont but I have no doubt it was part of it. Regardless I am encouraging jo to realize that we can live anywhere in the world and if opportunities should arise we should grab them, even if it’s in Switzerland……especially if it’s in Switzerland!!! J. I am continually amazed at the ability of children to adapt to whatever their circumstance is and ours continue to do so. None of this really phases them and they make due with whatever we throw at them. They have pat answers for nearly every question and unfortunately the answer is usually ‘it’s in storage’. It’s actually quite funny. With everything in storage we have also proven we can make do with far less than we have. In some ways it forces us out more often which is great. Jo and the boys have started ice skating too. Ice rinks are far more prevalent in our area than in Michigan and it’s great to see them get out there. As is usual BJ does it spastically but because of that he learns quickly. Zack is more methodical like skiing and works over and over at something. Sean gets on the ice for 5 minutes then has had enough. I don’t have skates yet but am looking to get some so I can join them and they also have beginner hockey leagues which I would like to join. We actually do our skating in Rouses Point NY because it’s closest. I’m going to wrap this up now (Just arrived in New Buffalo) as I gotta pee so I’ll try and do better with the frequency of updates. Hope all is well with everyone and we’ll chat soon.
Further update…..We actually arrived in Chicago ahead of schedule and I hopped the blue line out to O’Hare and am chilling out watching planes take off. A few 747’s have gone off and it made me think of what we’ll fly to China when we eventually go. The wait is still unsure and I’m guessing still a few years out. Hopefully we’ll get an idea if things are speeding up with the March referrals. One good side effect of the wait is that many some families are opening themselves up to Children of Promise adoptions witch is children with special needs. So selfishly it helps us shorten our wait when someone does this but it also is helping more of the special needs kids get adopted. It’s not something I believe I could do but I applaud those that can. I just glanced out the window which I have been doing every 3 or 4 minutes as I write this but this time it was snowing. Just let me get out of here tonight. It’s 1:15 Central and my flight is out at 4:27 so I can’t imagine the snow will be a problem.

Link to ice golf news clip:
Once at the page click on the video feed shown right below the article title. I am the one in a yellow and grey jacket with a plaid traditional golfer’s hat. The little guy with me is Zack.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7886714&nav=4QcS

Link to Fishing Derby clip:
Once at the page click on the video feed shown right below the article title. Jo is in the light blue jacket and BJ is in the orange and grey jacket with matching hat. They are also in the background skating when the guy is talking about the miniature zambonie.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?s=7813357