A WAY long overdue update!

Happy Fall, Y'all! It has been quite a full and fun few months since I last posted any photos or really updated the blog and what we've been up to!

Fall weather has finally arrived on Florida's central coast, with today a lovely, clear blue sky, 72-degree day. SO happy to hot muggy weather (hopefully) has left us for a few months! Especially since we are just a few short weeks away from Thanksgiving!

Jared's cross-country season has wrapped up, Anna's soccer season has entered the season-finale tournament ("Go Red Dragons!"), and the first 9-weeks of school has concluded. Anna is busy with her violin, attending orchestra two mornings a week before school and taking lessons one afternoon a week; Jared is auditioning for the All-County Band in a few weeks...he better keep practicing that trombone! Winter sports will begin soon--Jared is trying out for the school soccer team, and Anna might go back to the pool...we'll see! The big kids, I have to say, are doing a great job of staying (mostly) on top of all the many things they have to do and are being a great big brother and sister to Lilly. They have full weeks and it amazes me how fast the days just fly by. Juggling their schedules keeps me on my toes, and I have to say I am a firm believer in CARPOOLING! Now I know why my mom was so happy when I got my driver's license way back when.

Lilly has been doing really well. She mostly enjoys her days at school, even though the initial separation can still be a little hard for her. Once she's there, however, she does great and her teachers report that she interacts approrpriately, seems to understand everything that is going on, and is really self-sufficient despite her petite frame. She did not, however, enjoy the class field trip to the Fire Station next door--too big, loud, and scary all around. She got to experience her first Halloween ever last weekend, dressed as a ladybug. At first she was a bit bewildered by the whole experience, but once she realized that candy was the end result of walking up to each house (yes, she learned to say "trick or treat" really quickly), she was eager to not miss a single house in the neighborhood!

We are excited to be spending Thanksgiving in Disney with our niece, Tanya, and are even more excited to be traveling home for Christmas several weeks later. It will be fun for Lilly to meet the rest of her extended family! And it's been several years since we were in NJ or PA for Christmas.

Tom is keeping himself out of trouble (mostly!) by spending lots and lots of time working hard each day. His job is truly an incredibly complex set of roles and responsibilities, and it makes my head swim to hear him talk of the many times each day he has to shift gears. He does it well, does it without seeking recognition, and still manages to come home at night to the kids and me with a smile on his face ready to take on whatever our evenings hold.

As for me, I had marathon-training withdrawal when I didn't run this year's Marine Corps Marathon (took place the next to last week in October), so I have decided to enter the Tallahassee 2010 Marathon (to be run on 7 February) and will do two local half marathons--one in November and one in March. A marathon sandwich of sorts. I am excited to be, once again, running my marathon as a fund raiser, this time for an organization called "Henan Kids International," which is a charity arm of our adoption agency, Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI). If you would like to sponsor me as I run, following are the instructions on how to do so:

There are two ways to go about this:

1) Go through the Henan Kids International's website. That way you can learn more about the organization and what they are doing for the children in China. You can click on the link pasted here: http://www.henankids.org/sponsor/sponsor.aspx which will take you to the Henan Kids International website. When you click on "make a donation," it will direct you to the CCAI website donation page, where you will designate a one-time gift, a yearly gift, or a monthly gift. In the space provided to designate your funds to a specific project, type in "Amy Cantilina Marathon Fund." This will earmark all of the funds for Lilly's orphanage, the Anyang Social Welfare Institute.

OR

2) You can go directly to the CCAI website's donation page via this link: http://chinesechildren.org/Charity/DonationForm.aspx You would then designate your gift as "one time," "monthly," or "yearly," and then designate the funds for the "Amy Cantilina Marathon Fund" in the space provided for a specific project.

I am excited to think that my running this year can directly benefit Lilly's friends back in China. Any donation can go such a long way for these children waiting for families! Feel free to send me any questions about how to do this, or if you'd rather just mail a check to Henan Kids International.