my girls

i've got sunshine on a cloudy day
when it's cold outside, i've got the month of may
i guess you'd say
what can make me feel this way?
my girls

some of you have been asking how b and n are faring in the pnw. the short answer is that they're doing fine, though the adjustments to life here have not always been pleasant or easy. challenges abound.

early on, they were just happy to be back in the u.s., but they pretty quickly discovered that life here would be different than what they had grown used to in montreal. a key difference they face every day is that public transit here just isn't very good. that means a lot of waiting around to be ferried from place to place by mom and dad -- and sometimes, getting trapped at home. in montreal, that monthly bus/metro pass meant almost unlimited freedom for them; they could get to anywhere on the island without us. the loss of independence has been painful.

they've also found that friendships develop slowly in a new location, especially at their age and stage, and perhaps because of the accumulation of these difficult situations, i sometimes wonder if they are a bit more withdrawn and less willing to take risks in meeting new people.

n's first couple of weeks at kentridge high have been pretty lonely and sad. the experience was not helped by a couple of mistakes that the school made -- assigning her to the wrong bus (resulting in a missed bus and a 2.5 mile walk home on day one) and putting the wrong lunch period on her schedule (which led to her being late to french twice on that same day!). academically, she is in a wait-and-see mode; she ended up in the honors pod, but she doesn't know if she really likes it yet. there are lots of assignments, but i don't know that she finds many of them interesting or challenging. they're just a lot of work. she is still trying to find friends in class, and seems to get along better with the students who are a year or two older. on friday of this past week, she finally met a lunch buddy, which made all of us happy.

b has not yet started classes at bellevue community college, but there has been a lot of anxiety about registering for classes (she had to register last, leaving her with few options and creating the need to 'crash' some classes she wants) and about transportation. bcc is about 30 minutes from our house without traffic (more like 45-60 minutes during most times of the day), and public transit is a cumbersome option (3-4 bus transfers and a 90-120 minute trip each way). the plan is that i will drive her, then head to the office (conveniently in bellevue). between classes, she'll study, complete assignments, and maybe volunteer at jubilee reach, a christian non-profit aimed at empowering the 'underserved' communities in bellevue. i think it'll work, but it's going to make for some long days for both of us. hopefully, she'll be learning to drive soon. in the meantime, she's working on university applications and studying for her sat subject tests.

lest all of the news seem hard and negative, b and n have been finding some new joys here. one of the more surprising and delightful to me is that they've become really wonderful babysitters. they genuinely enjoy small children, and i think that's part of the reason that so many of the little ones love to spend time with them. it's fun to watch them care for and entertain their small friends -- and it's hard not to be proud of them.

i've got so much honey the bees envy me
i've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees
well, i guess you'd say
what can make me feel this way?
my girls

they've also found plenty of new interests since we got here, including, but not limited to:

• facebook (along with everyone else in the world, it seems)
• the temptations (spurred on by the excellent television mini-series, now in our dvd library)
• dreamgirls (and i am telling you, i'm not going...)
• living single (tight like glue)
• the steve harvey show (big daddy is still funny)

there's more, but that's enough to give you the flavor of their lives these days. i pray for them often, and would appreciate if you did the same.

i don't need no money, fortune, or fame
i've got all the riches baby one man can claim
i guess you'd say
what can make me feel this way?
my girls