Ohhhh, it's been an embarrassingly long time ...

Well, life has been busy. That's my answer for everything lately. But how to make it less so? That is the question for the ages. My ages, at least.
Brianna, Marissa, and Cami started school at the beginning of August. Brianna is attending a private Catholic school in the area because the city's middle school is absolutely out of the question for her to attend. It would take far too long for me to write about the whole schooling situation in this city, so suffice it to say it's a huge issue here in this area, and as much as I want to support the public schools (which I do), I simply cannot subject Brianna to the city system's middle school. Thus, the private school. In brief, though, she loves it. She feels absolutely comfortable there and is having a great time. She's just been trying to adjust to the changes that sixth grade has brought. She has a locker, switches classes, etc.
Marissa and Cami are going to the elementary school that's closest to us. It's not as nice as the school that M and B were going to the past few years but we were forced to put them over at the other school because of zoning and Cami just getting into the system. Long story, trust me. Looooonnnnggg. It gave me fits for some weeks. At any rate, they are loved by the staff and they are enjoying school, whatever the situation. But in the long run, they will end up either in the private school (ouch! $) or we will move. And Marissa's needing extra services complicates that. So it's an interesting dynamic. I have been involved in the system pretty heavily this year trying to see what I can do from the top down to make things better. One hurrah is that the school board finally fired the superintendent I was not at all pleased with and put in an interim who has been excellent. So that's a step in the right direction. And we wonder why I'm busy... I'm crusading mommy. I can't stand by and watch something happen if I can do something to help change it.
SOOOO, I had hoped things would calm down when it was just Charlotte and me at home. They did not. It's taken two months for it to slow down a bit for me to "catch up." I'm getting there.
The other big thing has been the adoption situation with Charlotte. All along, I have been dogged by huge frustrations with the system and our lawyer here, in particular. I will not recommend her to anyone else. However, she's really the only lawyer here in town who handles adoptions. I'm thinking out of town.... She has given me fits too. But just when we thought we could just sit back and wait for our court date, which had been set for Sept. 4, our 14th anniversary, the rug got pulled out. Just a few days beforehand, the lawyer emailed me and told me the judge had decided since the birth father had sent back a denial of paternity, that we should publish. Now that the birth father was legally "unknown," she wanted to publish a legal notice in the paper notifying any possible fathers about the adoption. What that means is the notice has to run for four weeks and then there must be 30 days before the adoption hearing so any father can respond. What's hilarious is since we live here in Alabama, we publish here. Charlotte's birth father is undoubtedly in North Carolina. The law. What can I say? So our hearing is now set for December 9.
That affected our trip to California. We wanted to have Charlotte sealed to us in the Oakland temple, where we were married. But we had planned our trip for this coming week, during the girls' fall break. So as it happens now, we'll just go to California, visit, introduce her to Marce's family and friends there, and have her sealed to us in Birmingham. It was disappointing, but at that point, whatever fight is in me can do nothing about it. But at the same time, a whole lot of friends from here can be with us in the temple. So that will be delightful.
Those have been the big issues in my life. At the same time, we've actually had a baby and three older daughters to raise, do our callings in church, live, breathe, eat, shop for food and clothing, pay bills, etc. No wonder I've got a few extra pounds on me. Arrrgggggh.
But good things are happening too. We do get to go to California on Tuesday, and we plan to do some fun things. Going to take the girls to Marine World, eat great food, see old friends, enjoy San Francisco, and go to the OPERA! Marce and I are going to see Mozart's The Magic Flute on opening night at the SF opera house. Can't wait! It should be an amazing experience.
I've also helped a friend edit and submit a terrific novel for publication; he just secured an agent this week who loves the book and thinks it has bestselling potential, which I've thought all along. I'm just thrilled to have been a part of this. It's very exciting. Now we'll see what kind of publishing offers he might get.
With that, I hope to start writing on my own again. I'm still busy with home life and my part-time work at the newspaper, which is terrific. I love my job! Fun at the paper and lots of great free books. Best job ever! But I do long to do some writing. I've got a number of books in me that could have potential.
That's the long and the short of it. I'm trying to keep our SmugMug photo site updated with pictures of Charlotte, who is now 5 months old and still an absolute doll and wonderful baby. She really is a delight and I love her to pieces. We all do. She's so happy and fun and easygoing. Anyway, I've got pictures of her on the site and try to put new ones on every week or every other week. The link is
http://limfamily.smugmug.com/
So, I do hope to update more often now. (sure, I SAY that now....) I've also got to get caught up in journaling. Ha! Have a wonderful week and hope to see or talk to you all or email, etc.