last week

Okay... SO we got home Monday evening, and then Tuesday morning (no, not the gift store) we started a new adventure.

Bob is going to retire in January. The military offers a 3-day class called Transition Assistance something - TAP. "Spouses are strongly encouraged to attend." So we had made arrangements for a friend to watch the 6 older children while Bob, Elijah, and I went to the TAP class. We started off on the wrong foot, as I *knew* it started at 8:30, but when Bob called at 7:55 to ask about uniform or civilian clothing, they told him it started at 8:00. So as soon as the friend got here, we took off running. William came downstairs in time to look out the window and cry. :-(
We ran in before they'd got started good, so it wasn't a HUGE deal. Elijah slept a while, then I fed him and he sat up and smiled at the instructor. He almost fussed once, so I took him out to change his diaper. Anyway, at the 10am break the instructor told me that somebody wanted to talk to me. ?? It was the "facility manager" and he took me in his office, sat me down and explained that babies weren't normally allowed in the classrooms, but since we were here we could stay. Except, I should take him out to the WIC lounge (downstairs on the other side of the building) whenever I wanted to breastfeed him, because that might bother somebody. Well, I was expecting trouble when we got there, because they'd had problems with me bringing young William to my driving class when we first got here, so I just said, "Okay," and left. After a feeding I stood in the hall until the lunch break, and then Bob brought me home. I visited with my friend a while before relieving her of her duties, and life went on.

So the next 2 1/2 days Bob went to TAP by himself, and I starting taking control of my home life. My friend was appalled at our children's table manners, and the clutter in my house. :-( So she encouraged and helped me to get things moving. Thanks, Misty, for being bold enough to do what was needed. Things are already a lot better.

Friday was a VA benefits briefing, about how to get as much back from the government as possible, since they took everything they could for the last 20 years.

Sunday was Taryn's birthday party. One week late, but that was when we got a room at the community center. She had 8 girls (including herself) for games and an American "high tea" - hot chocolate, lemonade, and sandwiches, with chocolate swirl cheesecake for dessert. Misty loaned us her china tea set and gold forks, and everything was lovely and dainty. One of the friends there flew out the next day, so it was bittersweet. (We did go to church that morning, and it was a great worship service followed by good-byes to another American Air Force family. Lots of leaving at overseas bases.)

Oh, Tuesday last was also the first day of the college semester, and Bob is taking a Math class. Yay. The thing is, he wants me to help him with his homework, and Math was the one class I refused to take in high school. hmmm. Well, with the help of his notes from class, and the book, and some free tutorials online, he managed to get a C on his first test. :-) He has 2 classes each week for 7 weeks, and part of every Tuesday class is a test. THen there's the final exam, which counts for 60% of the grade. So he's a little nervous about that. As long as he passes it's free, but if he fails we have to pay for the class.

Okay, I think we are mostly caught up! Bob has today off in exchange for Superbowl Monday, because he isn't going to stay up all night to watch a ball game (but most of his coworkers are). Happy Friday.