Update:
Uh... Okay, here's a quick and dirty update: James is burned out with school and this will be the last semester he takes classes before we move back to TX (260 days). Work for him is still unstimulating and will consist of sitting in an uncomfortable chair, updating databases for the next 8-ish months. Sounds like torture? It is. Nothing an attitude adjustment wont' fix, right? So that's what he did. It's still no fun, but he smiles a lot more. He's been working out A LOT and will be on the May cover of Men's Health magazine. Ok, that's a lie...sorry about that. He still plans on doing the nursing thing, and may get a real estate license before he gets back to the Lone Star State. Kaite and Lee may be the "Moguls of Marcos" but we'll be the "Sultans of Seguin". Yeah, that's pretty dumb. We hope to learn a thing or twenty from them.
Plan on lots of dinner parties when we return. James has been honing his culinary skills and since Martha Stewart will now be giving cell decorating tips to husband batterers in Attica, someone has to take over as entertaining executive of upper Seguin. Be warned.
Tracy is watching kids in the house now. James thinks this would be an ideal job, for kids are probably much better behaved than his coworkers, and THEY'LL listen if you yell at them. She actually will make more money than James if she can ever get her quota of kids in the house (only a couple more). James, personally, doesn't like most other people's kids, so he admires Tracy for her sacrifice and appreciates what she does to help the family out (sweet, isn't it?) Other than that, she's reading a bunch of quilting magazines and anyday now will probably bust out with a Van Gogh patchwork quilt that will be much admired. Just need to get that sewing machine fixed...
The kids are doing very well. Claire has been selected to study piano at Julliard in the spring, and Jackson will be playing middle linebacker for UT this fall. My, they grow up fast, don't they?
Well, they do grow up fast, but really Jackson just took his first official step today, and IS as big as a dump truck. He has deep green eyes, just like Mom, and the best personality; he'll smile on a dime and loves to be serenaded.
Claire is amazing. I think one of the most sobering things about being a parent is when your kids start to speak in complete sentences, and explore their feelings and environment with words. The things she says sometimes absolutely blow me away. We'll be driving in the car (kind of unrelated) and she'll start singing songs she heard from a tape or a movie, word for word. I don't even know these songs, and she's belting them out in the back seat like she's at the Met. Her hair now reaches the lowest part of her back, she's got a chipped tooth, scabbed knees, midnight eyes, and the most amazing skin. Both of the kids have Dad's sense of humor (thank goodness), but Mom's good looks (thank goodness).
We are all very happy. God truly blesses us not only with the things he gives us day to day, but with what he has waiting for us back in the greatest republic in the country, and that most definitely includes every one of you.
Can't wait to see ya'll,
James, Teresa, Claire, and Jackson
