Update

Hello All, Well, I haven't written much since my 'sermon' about my kids. I hope you all were gracious to me in your thoughts!! :-) Not much exciting has happened here - but a lot of the routine so I'll fill you in. I DID pass my driver's test the day before Thanksgiving!! I am still waiting to receive the actual provisional license - mine will take longer than the usual because I am trying to NOT get a learner license - which means I would need to drive around for a year with a big 'L' in the back window of my car AND pay higher insurance. No thank you. So they have to look at my paperwork and I have to prove by said paperwork that I am not a learner!! So I am still waiting. I have been trying to figure out where I want to go the first time I can drive!! I have thought about Ikea or the mall but I'll probably just settle for going to the grocery store by myself!! :-) We had Thanksgiving here - I cooked most of the stuff - which is fine with me cuz I like how I make all the stuff. So do my kids. :-) There are certain foods at the holidays that my kids tell me 'DON'T let anyone else make'!! Which makes me feel good. :-) Olivia spend Thanksgiving on campus but then went to another MK's home in Indiana. Then headed back to Trinity to catch up on some homework! Troyer went to a friend's house for the weekend who lives in the Chicago area. Apparently their plans are to spend at least a few days in Ohio with my family over Christmas. We put up the tree yesterday - put the lights on but no ornaments yet. Will probably do that tonight. We have to rearrange the living room to put the tree in and then we have to figure out what to take out and where to put it~! We will be going to Zaragoza this weekend. It is a long holiday weekend - no school on Thursday OR Friday so Jonathan is going with some friends (and a parent) for a few days' hike on the Camino de Santiago. For those of you who don't know what that is, here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James They will be hiking and staying at hostels. It will be cold and maybe snowing or raining. They will be in the mountains. David will be staying with some friends in a town close by here - since he isn't really close friends with anyone anymore in Zaragoza and it makes for a looooong, booooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnngggggg weekend hanging out with Mom and Dad and all the people they are visiting with. In some ways, I feel like I am abandoning him for the weekend but I know he'll have a much more enjoyable weekend doing what he's going to be doing than with us. We don't have many other plans for the holidays. We usually try to have people over who don't have family nearby. So I'll be checking with the teachers, etc, here to see if there is anyone who is not leaving who would like to spend Christmas with us. Our teammate, Katie, is going to the States for Christmas. She spent Christmas with us last year with her friend Colleen. That was a fun time!! I need to figure out a gift to get for Troyer and then mail them ASAP so they get to Ohio in time. Olivia already told us what she would like but Troyer just keeps telling me '$5000' or 'a car'. All of which are not options. :-) Sooo, I do have deeper things running thru my mind these days but I still have lots of sorting to do. But then again, I don't think THAT will ever end. I guess it's not SUPPOSED to, is it??!! I hope to write more soon - hopefully with the notice that I am tootling around Spain in the driver's seat!! Hugs from here!! Jill