One of the things that makes me sad is when I go to one of my favorite blogs and find that it hasn't been updated in a few days. Of course, I have no right to let this make me sad, since I am awful at keeping my blog updated. I just looked at my own blog and noticed that my last post was dated August 30, so I hadn't posted during the month of September at all. I can't let the month go by without any recognition, though.

Bear and Ladybug went back to school smoothly. This is Ladybug's last year in elementary school, and her teacher seems wonderful. She is really buckling down and working hard on her schoolwork so far this fall. Last year she had some problems focusing on schoolwork, so it's good to see her taking it seriously this year. She's really proud of the hard work she's been doing, and so are we. Bear started middle school this fall, in the middle school portion of the International Baccalaureate program. He seems to be settling into his routine of changing classes (and having different classes every other day), using a locker, and changing into a gym suit for PE. He doesn't seem to have made any real friends at his new school yet, though, which is sad. Bear is very introverted, and would rather have his nose in a book or on his computer than be out with friends, but I can tell that he misses his best friend from last year, who is going to the local middle school for the gifted this year. Bear eats lunch with a couple of kids who went to his elementary school last year, but it doesn't sound like they're very close. We try to encourage him to take the risk of talking to some of the other kids in his classes, but we can't be there to push him into uncomfortable situations. He seems to really be enjoying his orchestra class this year. I had been telling Bear and Ladybug since they started that beginning strings classes in elementary school might not be a lot of fun, but that once they got to middle school, they would have a lot more fun in orchestra. I know they didn't really believe me then, not until Bear got a taste of it by getting into All City Strings last spring. He practices at least 20 minutes every night now, and is really working hard on his music. Since I've played flute for 25 years, this makes me tremendously proud. Music is awesome.

I'm about to have my first midterm exam of the semester next week in my class on decision support systems. I'm not expecting it to be very difficult, but I suspect the professor is going to put in some tricky questions. It will be true/false and multiple choice questions in an online format, so I'll have to be careful to pay close attention to the questions and not rush through them like it's a survey or game. This is not "Which Harry Potter character are you?" If I don't get an A or B in the class, my employer won't pay for it. I'm a bit worried about my organizational behavior class. I heard from a classmate Tuesday night some things that she had heard from people she had met during the program that he is rather capricious about the questions he puts on the test, picking out obscure details from the video cases he shows us during class or asking questions from chapters of the textbook that we haven't covered yet. I hadn't been taking copious notes during the video cases, thinking it was more important to pay close attention to them and really soak them up rather than to spend the whole time writing about them. But I may have to reconsider that attitude. I'll definitely have to spend time carefully studying the material we've read in the textbook before that exam, which is three weeks away.

Today it finally feels like autumn outside. The temperature right now is hovering around 70F, after being in the 80s for the whole month. It's supposed to creep back up to 80 over the next few days, but it's nice to finally have a taste of fall. It brings back all those memories of marching band practice, Friday night football games, and settling into a new school year with old friends and new ones. I remember how different college was for me, since I went to a college of about 1200 students after a high school of 1600 students. The fall didn't center around marching band any more, and I had more time to devote to work. I also remember my first fall after I graduated from college, and how strange it felt not to have any homework to do in the evenings. Once the weather turned cool, it was unsettling to have no new school classes, no marching band practice, no football games, no homework. I didn't know what to do with myself. The next fall I was pregnant and preparing for Bear to come, so I had plenty to do then.

Panda wants me to cut back on my commitments at church so that I can spend more time at home with him on the weekends. I serve as a lector (reading the lessons), intercessor (leading the prayers of the people), chalicer (serving the wine at Communion), and lay healer (laying on hands and praying for healing). I tend to be scheduled two or three Sundays out of the month for one of these ministries, and he resents having to plan around church when he wants to go to an early movie or take a road trip. I haven't explained to him that I would want to go to church even if I wasn't scheduled for one of those ministries. I enjoy those mornings when I get to go to church and simply worship, and there don't seem to be many of them. Panda has trouble believing that God would want to be worshipped. After all, what does our worship do for God? I try to explain that worship is for us, because we need to believe and we need to come together and worship, but he doesn't buy that argument. He doesn't think he needs to believe or that he needs communal worship. So it's sad.

Peace be with you today!