October
…And finally, the period of procrastination has ended:
October, the month of candy! This month, we got to meet with the missions
pastor at our church, Elmbrook, and discussed possible avenues to pursue in our
end goal of becoming missionaries. He suggested that I get a PhD in something
so that I could have some sort of safety net in entering foreign countries. I
have a passion for teaching, and this would be a sure way of getting a good job
at a university. We’re considering this option, but not sure if it coincides
with our end goals.
Moving on, Tannin was able to have his first Canadian
Thanksgiving! We met at one of the professor’s houses and shared the evening
with him, his family, and all the other Canadians, half-Canadians, and
tag-alongs that happened to somehow be connected to a Canadian in some vague
way. On the 18th, NTBI had their somewhat-annual Fall Festival! One of our friends from our small group came and spent the evening with Olivia and Tannin while I went with a friend to enjoy watching Walking with Dinosaurs, an animatronic theatrical presentation. I came home to find that they had won 3 goldfish at the ping pong toss…they’re still alive.
Finally, on the 26th, I worked my last day at The
Elegant Farmer. While we were liking the supplementary income, we were really
glad to get our weekends back! I think I’ve been appled out.
Then on the 30th, while the entire school was
away for the bi-annual Tribal Cup competition with the other NTBI in Michigan,
Olivia’s father came up with his wife, Melissa, to visit us and see their
grandson. We had a great time with them, getting to catch up a bit and letting
them enjoy Tannin. We had a great meal at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant. I
love going there as much as we can J
Then they joined us (the Batman family) trick or treating as we went to a few
different houses before we all ran back inside to the warmth of our friend’s
home. We enjoyed a fun evening with our small group from church hanging out and
eating candy. On the 1st of November, we said our goodbyes and they
headed back to the Heart of Dixie. We love you guys!
As for Tannin, he’s growing stronger and smarter each day!
On the 16th, he climbed out of his highchair and almost successfully
jumped to the ground, but lost his balance when his feet hit the ground. Then,
on the 17th, he started kicking a soccer ball around, not by
accident, on purpose! His last major milestone was on the 20th, when
we gave him his first haircut. We’d trimmed his hair before, but never done a
full haircut. His hair had grown to 3”, and we cut 2 of them off. He looks a
lot different…I think for the better. When we first cut it off, Olivia looked
at me and said, “Are you sure we did the right thing?” I laughed and told her, “Ya,
he needed it. Even if we didn’t, it’ll grow back soon enough.”
As for my class, I’ve started making progress. Olivia helped
me organize my scatterbrained efforts, and now I’m beginning to make headway. I
was able to ask a bunch of the professors how they prepared for a topical class
and how to organize their topic headings and got a lot of wisdom from that.
Apparently they told me exactly what Olivia had been trying to tell me all
along, but I guess I needed an outside source to get it, lol.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I was the Batman bus
driver! The last day before school was out for Halloween, I dressed up as
Batman and had a great time making a growling voice, especially because I had a
bit of a cold, so it came naturally. The time was perfect too! It was before
the time change, so it was pretty dark out, only making me look more
intimidating. Every time I came to a stop and opened the door, the kids would
walk up the stairs and I would say in my gruff, Batman voice, “Good morning!” I
scared at least 3 kids…hehehehe (evil laugh)…. One guy was late for his stop,
so once he came to the bus and I said good morning, he froze in terror, and
then the whole bus erupted in laughter. I even made a mom nervous. I pulled up
to the stop and after letting the girl on and saying good morning, the mom
laughed nervously and asked me who I was. “I’m Batman!” I roared back in a good
natured Batman voice. She laughed nervously again, “No really, who are you?”
So, I had to pull my mask up and show her that I really was just me. She
laughed pretty hard before she said, “You shouldn’t be going around dressed
like Batman. You might scare some children!” …hehehehe. All in all, a great
day! When I yelled at the students to sit down in my Batman voice, everyone
obeyed immediately. It was great…all that power! J
Well, that’s all folks. Thanks for stopping in for another
episode of the Reim Times. See you next month…which is really soon, lol. Sorry!
