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Back by popular demand :)

sorry it's been a month since I've written anything. I have been struggling with my "issues". Trying to work on them, so we'll see what happens... I'm OK, so no need to worry, just a bit brainless, and really lethargic.

OK, lot's going on around here, especially in Cheyenne's mouth! She has had oral surgery and had 8 teeth removed including her 4 wisdom. Two weeks later she got her braces on. I'll put a pic on here, but know that she is going to kill me.

Adriahna is never home. She is either with her friends or at work.

They both won "excellence in academic" awards, where poor Cheyenne towered over the other girls in her class. I realized that my girls and Kristy are the only blonds in the school, and Jessy is the only red head. The diversity of their school is awesome. There are girls from all over the world "literally". Adriahna and I had to go to a school meeting about year 12. We sat there and mocked the guest speaker the whole time. He is a uni student with all these helpful hints. Unfortunately we had already heard it all last year as prep for year 11. So we just mocked his hair, which I think had birds nesting in it as he spoke. Adriahna has chosen her classes for next year and is perusing a nursing career. Cheyenne just brought home a math test yesterday where she received a score of 100%. She loves liner equations, and I don't even know what they are :)

John is on new meds and can't sleep, but seems to be more sensitive, and I think they are working!

I have been working... and some more working... next week I will work some more... my hands are cracked and bloodied from grouting massive mosaic panels. There are 23 that will need to be done, and with multiple colors. It is great to contribute to things that will be there for ever...Pretty soon I will be able to take you around the western suburbs and show you so many projects I worked on! Pretty cool, pretty hard on the back and hands. Not to mention my right arm is out of proportion in muscle to my left.

Spring is coming and we have had some amazing days! Missing a month of winter kicks ass!

John, I mean I! am opening a jiu jitsu studio at the cave, which is the church we work with and are in the process of turning into a community center, it’s coming along well. There are already drop in days, movie nights, open mic nights and game nights. In the near future there will be dance classes offered, jiu jitsu classes and an art studio. The girls and I still tutor the Sudanese family who lives in the house there. I'm also trying to learn arabic... not so easy! For example... "where" in English is when or "wen" in Arabic... me and Nadia took half an hour to figure that one out... it was like the who's on first of lost in translation... she doesn't speak English and I don't speak Arabic... it's a lot of fun. That sounded sarcastic, but it's not!

Cricket season is coming... John got his new bat for his birthday and is swinging it all around the house. The pre season training is starting now.

We will spend this weekend at the surrender conference, in the middle of no where. If you're interested you can read about it at www.unoh.org We will be volunteering there, I will be making coffees and John will be doing all kinds of odd jobs... the girls will sell stuff. John and I are on some of the panel discussions. It's such an amazing opportunity for the girls. They get so inspired; I think the last two conferences are why they want to go to Mexico and the Philippines.

Oh and Winston is fine... he's as beautiful as ever. He did get his butt kicked by a girl, but remained submissive the whole time! What a good Ozzy boy. He almost had a girlfriend for a year (while her parents went to China), but she wasn't in to the whole desperate male thing... he is only 14! what did she expect! Bitch :) I should put pic of him on here; I know you all love him more than us... I know I do ;)

If you are a praying kind of person, please pray for wisdom on what to do with my meds. Should I go up in dosage or just eat more fiber? You know what I mean....

Too much Love,
Raquel

pictures will follow, or actually the way this thing works they will precede