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.

Tis The Season

 Parents of neurodivergent kids know the holidays are hard, so we try to be proactive.

9th Grade Service Project

Since our 9th graders are too young to vote, we used election day 2025 to focus on other civic responsibilities by assembling care bags for unhoused members of our community. We will be able to give away some of them every Saturday on our way to ballet class as we encounter and engage with unhoused persons with some frequency on this route.

This project was part of our home school social studies curriculum and allowed us to practice specific skills - individualized to each student - such as reading and reading comprehension, following written or spoken instructions, fine motor skills, and perseverance.

MOJ Bulgaria Referral Results Sessions 636 to 648

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 636 which was held on April 11, 2025:

1) US dossier from February 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 637 which was held on April 17, 2025:

1) Spanish dossier from July 2021 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from February 2022 referred a female child aged 11

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

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

5) US dossier from April 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 638 which was held on April 25, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from November 2018 referred sisters aged 6 years and 7 months & 4 years and 9 months

2) Italian dossier from November 2022 referred sisters aged  5 years and 3 months & 7 years and 8 months

3) US dossier from December 2023 referred a male child aged 2 years with features in health and developmental status

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

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 639 which was held on May 16, 2025:

1) Dutch dossier from October 2021 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

2) Dutch dossier from October 2021 referred a male child aged 4 years and 2 months with features in health and developmental status

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

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

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 640 which was held on May 23, 2025:

1) Spanish dossier from May 2018 referred a male child aged 2 years and 2 months with features in developmental status

2) Italian dossier from January 2023 referred a female child aged 3 years and 4 months with features in developmental status and a family history

3) Italian dossier from August 2023 referred a male child aged 10 years

4) US dossier from October 2023 referred a female child aged 9 years and 3 months

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 641 which was held on May 30, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from November 2022 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months with features in developmental status

2) Italian dossier from April 2023 referred a male child aged 11 years and 11 months

3) Maltese dossier from April 2023 referred a brother and sister aged 4 years and 8 months & 6 years and 4 months with a family history

4) US dossier from September 2023 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 642 which was held on June 13, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from March 2024 referred a male child aged 3 years and 1 month with features in health and developmental status and a family history

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

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 643 which was held on June 20, 2025:

1) Canadian dossier from February 2022 referred brothers aged 7 years and 9 months & 6 years and 7 months

2) US dossier from November 2022 referred an identified waiting child

3) Italian dossier from January 2025 referred a female child aged 11 years and 2 months

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 644 which was held on June 27, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from November 2019 referred a female child aged 12 years and 9 months

2) French dossier from July 2022 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status and a family history

3) Italian dossier from February 2023 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health and developmental status

4) US dossier from July 2024 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 645 which was held on July 16, 2025:

1) US dossier from June 2023 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 months with features in health status and a family history

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

3) US dossier from December 2024 referred an identified waiting child

4) Italian dossier from April 2025 referred a female child aged 12 years and 7 months with a family history

5) US dossier from June 2025 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from June 2025 referred an identified waiting child

7) Canadian dossier from July 2025 referred an identified waiting child

8) US dossier from July 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 646 which was held on July 31, 2025:

1) Spanish dossier from October 2020 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status

2) Canadian dossier from February 2023 referred a female child aged 10 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

3) US dossier from May 2025 referred a female child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status

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

5) US dossier from July 2025 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from July 2025 referred an identified waiting child

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 647 which was held on August 14, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from October 2020 referred a female child aged 12 years

2) US dossier from March 2024 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history

3) US dossier from March 2025 referred a female child aged 11 years and 8 months with features in health and developmental status and a family history

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 648 which was held on August 22, 2025:

1) Italian dossier from April 2023 referred a brother and sister aged 7 years and 5 months &  9 years and 8 months with features in health and developmental status and a family history

2) Italian dossier from August 2025 referred an identified waiting child

Annual Fall Getaway 2025

Another great weekend with our friends in the beautiful Deep Creek Lake area of Western Maryland is on the books.  Here are the highlights.

Waking up to this view:

Leisurely breakfasts:

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Hikes in autumnal woods:

Friendship:

Also golfing, standing up for what we value and love, a Ginny and Georgia binge-a-thon, hot tubbing, and campfires.  Remember, it's s'more o'clock somewhere!