January News

Okay, so baby ben is rolling everywhere he needs to go. Saying, mama, dada, buhbye. Blowing spit bubbles. Leaning forward and returning to sitting position. Starting to push up on hands and knees. So rocking back and forth will come next. He has been introduced to bananas and avocado. Bananas caused a weird rash. ??? He is sleeping all night still. Taking 2 long and 1 short nap during the day. Had an ear infection last month. We are working on not throwing baby fits and lap training. Otherwise, he is perfect and healthy and pure joy. And my favorite thing that he does right now is at nap time. He lays his head on my shoulder, sucks his thumb, and sticks his free hand in my hair to play with it. So precious and it feels good. His favorite toys right now are little rubber bath toys. Teething... obviously!

Abby just finished her speech evaluation. The therapist said that she is right on track with kids her age. So our only challenge now is accommodating her dyslexia. She is making great advances this week. She has learned the difference between long and short vowels and can mark them! It's amazing. I am so proud of her. She is reading 3 and 4 letter words. She really enjoys her Explode the Code phonics book and loves addition. She is working very hard to be pleasant when obeying. A real dying to self kind of thing. Her walk with God is growing much stronger. I am so proud of her effort. She started developmental gymnastics and loves the challenge. Although, she is having fear about a handstand on the beam. She just got her backhand spring on the wedge! Yeah!

Avery is chugging right along in 3rd grade. She is learning multiplication and division. She is working on memorizing those facts. We ordered Abeka dvd's and she is using them for reading and language. That is really helping me to spend more time with Abby. Her work is still one on one. Avery has committed to spending quiet time in the morning and she is doing pretty good. It's more often than not. She is working on attitude. Attitude of the heart. I can see her really struggle to obey sometimes with a happy heart. And I feel her pain. Obedience is fighting with our flesh. But she buckles quickly and discovers daily that with obedience comes great joy. Avery is doing so well in gym. She works SO HARD! She just got her front hip circle and handstand dismount on the beam. Wow! Both really difficult things. Her Sunday School teacher just commented to me the other day, that Avery was her little outreach girl at church, always looking for the new kids and lonely kids. I am so thankful that she is serving others.

Scot is back to work full time from Christmas vacation. He has some big changes coming at his office. He was recently sick, but is better now. He is still working out and looks awesome. He has had to buy all new things. I am so proud of him. He leads us in family devotions every week and prays for us everyday. He helps me so much and encourages me so much. I am so blessed to have him.

I am pretty tired. Due to some outside stress in my life, my fibromyalgia has been flaring a lot. The things I normally do to feel better don't seem to be working right now. Winter weather isn't good for me. The cold makes me hurt worse. I am taking more supplements than usual. I have a dr's appt soon. I think I need another IV. I am feeling very relieved about school though. The things we have begun to implement are really working and our schedule is coming together. God continually gives me just enough for each day. Enough patience, enough energy, enough endurance. And I am grateful to Him for just enough. I am still doing my ladies bible study once a week and just started a new book study, The Burning Heart Contract, which is AWESOME. So God is working in big and mighty ways.