GOOD NEWS!

Mark is home! We picked him up at the airport on the 16th. Karina was elated. Mark took her to school to meet her teacher and Karina is so proud! Mark is in the middle of getting his house ready and he'll move in by early October. He has to put in some new floors, get his furniture moved from Las Vegas and some other things. As I said that night, "It's good to have the family together."

Also - Luke won his election. You may now call him, "Mr. Secretary." He ran against three girls (which split the female vote). I tried to offer the Vice Principal a twenty to "keep it fair", but she wouldn't take it.

To retire Luke's campaign debt to me, please send you tax non-deductible donation to:

Luke owes Dad $48

Carlsbad, CA 92009

VOTE FOR LUKE!

Luke ran up to my office and told me the news. He ran for Student Council Secretary and was one of the top four candidates, so he is in the finals. I asked him why he wanted to be Secretary and he didn't answer me till getting ready for bed that night. "Dad, everyone wants to be President or Vice President. Lots of kids like money so they want to be Treasurer. Not many kids want to be Secretary." Nice pre-race strategy. So now he must make one poster, submit a speech and stand for election.

Sooooooooooo, we used to have a great family live with us for a while and the father is a graphic artist. One phone call and Bill Kozak was at the house after dinner, with his Apple laptop, Photoshop and our ideas. Within 45 minutes, we had the poster ready and we sent it to Kinko's. Two hours later we had it printed. three hours later I still couldn't fall asleep because I was still laughing.

Karina's 5th Birthday Party

Pinata - Teaching children that if you hit something with a bat long enough, candy comes out.



This was a major event for our house. Karina has been talking, planning and probably dreaming about this since July. With all that has happened to her, I'm glad she has something that she looked so forward to. We staged it at our community pool. Karina's sister Malishka and her husband came from Vegas, along with Mark's friend's Jake, Cassandra and their children Brooklyn and Brielle. Karina's brother Markie came also with a few guys from out Monday night pizza crew. Pool, party and a pinata.

The next day Karina went to the San Diego zoo with Malishka and Malcom. By Sunday night we had a very tired little girl, but still extremely happy because she shared it with her dad.

And we got to share it with her also.

1st Day of School - Hannah 5th - Luke 4th - Karina Kindergarten

This is the same thing all around America, the first day of school. Except to us. We now have Karina in our family. Mark won't be home till mid-September so we got Karina ready for school, a little young, a little small, but ready. When we found out she was going to be staying with us, Darcy immediately signed her up for Kindergarten. She goes in the afternoon during the same time Darcy teaches. Great timing.

So Luke goes to school by bike and Hannah either gets a ride with a neighbor or Darcy rides her. Now to Karina's first day. We wanted to take lots of pictures for Mark. Karina got out her back pack. It was so big that it went down to her knees! As Darcy and I started to argue about it, I saw that it had princesses on it. Karina would carry a lead box, filled with water if it had a Princess on it.

So off to school she went to Mrs. Fishers class. No crying, no sadness, just another adventure for one of the most amazing children we've ever known.