School is in session. Although I'm happy to be working again and doing the things I do every fall, what I'm most excited about is the upcoming adoption information meeting later this month. I'm very eager to get started with the adoption process. I still have to send in the reservation post card, but I'm planning to do that within the next week.

A mother and former school teacher asked me on Sunday at church if I was excited about school starting. I told her I wasn't. Maybe it sounded strange to her, but right now being a mother sounds much more exciting. I've taught for seven years now; I'm ready for something new.

School has been in session for three and a half days now. I'm feeling a little better than I was before school started. It hasn't been too bad. I'm actually trying to make my work as easy as possible this year. I can basically copy lesson plans I have used in the past, so there isn't much planning involved.

Sometimes I spend a lot of time planning new units or lessons, just because I think it's fun. This year my goal will be to teach well, but to do my work as efficiently as possible. That means I'll take as little homework home as possible. I still have a passion for teaching, but I want to be even more passionate about becoming an adoptive mother. My homework is going to be for Motherhood 101.

Work has been wonderful for me as it has been a great way to keep me occupied and prevent me from thinking too much about my sorrows. I've been talking to my principal/friend like I'm planning to teach next year. It's better to think that way than to plan on quitting when I'm not sure if I will. It may not be a good idea for me to quit working when I have no child in my home to care for.

I have many penpals that I write, and they often make comments about how busy I seem. I really don't feel like I am that busy. It seems to me like mothers are so much more busier than me.

The funny thing is that even though I feel that way, I got so annoyed when my sister-in-law gave both my husband and me belated birthday cards this year. It wasn't that the cards were late, it was what she said when she gave them to us. She told us she forgot because of her kids messing up her mind. She even wrote in my birthday card, "So sorry I didn't tell you Happy Birthday. (My brain has been divided between my two kids.) Hope you had a good day." So even my birthday card has a reminder that she has two kids and I have none. I'm sure she doesn't realize how hurtful it is for me to see that written in my birthday card. It does hurt though. It hurts a lot.