Wow! I cannot believe it has been so long! The summer flew by and we are in the midst of the Fall. August was a blur, as I was in an exercise for over half the month. School started on the 25th, so three of the four kids are now out of the house regularly.

Joey took a bit to get used to not having a permanent playmate, but has since substituted Chip for Chris!

Chris is in 1st Grade. He is continuing to receive speech therapy and the school thinks he needs reading assistance as well. I wonder if his not wishing to speak out loud is affecting how he communicates his reading aloud...but I will leave that for the experts to figure out.

Teri is in 5th Grade. She is doing well, as usual, though she continues to downplay her abilities. Girl Scouts hasn't started yet, but Teri plans on participating when it does.

Nate is in 8th Grade. About a week into school, he came home and stated that he would like to join the cross country team. So now he is running every day after school and learning the proper techniques. I will be able to learn from him now! Nate also continues with Boy Scouts.

Chip and I are enjoying what family time we can have. My current job has been keeping me in the office throughout the week for quite some time. Our new brigade commander believes we should make a contract with our families, i.e. so many dinners with the family, so we are working the technical piece out so I can do some of this work at home after the kids are asleep. Given that I won't be at home for over a year next year, I need to keep this tour as family oriented as I can. So this weekend, our unit Chaplain is hosting a retreat at a Korean resort and the entire family is going. Chip and I will have classes Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, leaving the bulk of Saturday to enjoy the area with the kids.

Hope all is well in the States. I will post pictures soon. Love y'all! Mona