New Year New Floor

 And home school life/job skills training to boot for our Big Girl.

MOJ IAC Sessions 649-658

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 649 which was held on September 4, 2025:

1) Spanish dossier from April 2022 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from August 2025 referred a female child aged 12 years and 6 months

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 650 which was held on September 12, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from April  2023 referred a male child aged 3 years and 8 months with features in health and development and a family history

2) US dossier from September 2025 referred an identified waiting child

3) US dossier from September 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 651 which was held on September 18, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from May 2017 referred a female child aged 5 years

2) US dossier from July 2024 referred a female child aged 5 years and 7 months with features in health and development

3) US dossier from December 2024 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health and development and a family history

4) US dossier from February 2025 referred a male child aged 12 years and 8 months

5) US dossier from May 2025 referred a male child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status

6) Italian dossier from August 2025 referred a male child aged 11 years and 11 months with features in health and development and a family history

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 652 which was held on October 3, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from December 2023 referred a brother and sister aged 7 years and 7 months & 9 years and 10 months with features in health status and a family history

2) US dossier from September 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 653 which was held on October 16, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from April 2023 referred brothers aged 8 years and 1 month & 6 year and 1 month with features in health status

2) US dossier from July 2024 referred a male child aged 3 years and 5 months with features in health and development and a family history

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 654 which was held on October 24, 2025:

1) Spanish dossier from March 2016 referred a male child aged 6 years and 9 months

2) Swiss dossier from December 2016 referred a female child aged 9 years and 5 months

3) Spanish dossier from April 2017 referred a female child aged 2 years and 9 months with a family history

4) Canadian dossier from October 2024 referred siblings aged 8 years (female), 12 years (female) and 9 years and 8 months (male)

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 655 which was held on November 6, 2025:

1) Canadian dossier from August 2025 referred siblings aged 9 years and 4 months (female), 8 years and 3 months (female) and 10 years and 10 months (male) with features in development

2) US dossier from October 2025 referred an identified waiting child

3) US dossier from October 2025 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from October 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 656 which was held on November 13, 2025:

1) US/German dossier from October 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 657 which was held on November 20, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from July 2023 referred a female child aged 12 years and 3 months

2) US dossier from May 2024 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 658 which was held on November 28, 2025:

1) US dossier from January 2020 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

2) French dossier from December 2022 referred a female child aged 6 years and 11 months with features in health and development and a family history

3) Italian dossier from April 2024 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from December 2024 referred a male child aged 6 years and 3 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from March 2025 referred a female child aged 5 years and 9 months with features in health status

6) Canadian dossier from September 2025 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status

7) US dossier from November 2025 referred an identified waiting child

Brand Ambassador

Aside from her longstanding babysitting gig, this week Big Girl started her first legitimate job as a brand ambassador. We're very proud of how she moved herself through the process of getting employment and pushed another step closer to independent living.

The Bonus Lives Of Our Christmas Tree

Little One always has a hard time when the holiday season comes to a close and the decorations are put away. So this year, she and I turned our Christmas tree into a temporary bird feeding tree in the front yard, so she can enjoy it a little bit longer from her own favorite perch on our indoor swing.

Little One knows that come spring, the tree's last and final life will be as part of a backyard campfire that will probably involve S'mores and hotdogs.

Ending On A High Note

It's been a year of big and sometimes hard changes for our Middle Kiddo, but I'm so happy that he gets to finish 2025 on a high note with a volunteer shift at Habitat for Humanity. More good things to come in 2026.

2025 Reading

2025 has been a great year of reading, mixing fiction and non-fiction, serious and light. Far from the Tree is so long and dense in parts that it took me five or six e-loans from the library before I made it through, but I conquered it. On the other end of the spectrum, Perfection was perhaps the shortest read of the year and one that I would recommend for those of us whose lives straddle the before/after internet/social media eras. I'm not sure if there was an above and beyond favorite for 2025, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be Beheld.

Home School Executive Functioning Practice

We're still home schooling all three of our children and still using some creative, individualized strategies to build their skills.  Today's assignment for Little One: Propose three different ways to crush ten Oreos for Oreo cookie balls.  Test out your methods and decide which one works best.  Make and enjoy Oreo balls.