Anyway, kids first:
Deborah -- Doing well this year. School is getting increasingly more challenging, which is a good thing, and she seems to be handling that quite well. She's been involved in all kinds of outside events, including Math Field Day, the Social Studies Fair & the Spelling Bee. Not as successful in moving on in those as she would have liked, but it was still an honor to participate in them. She had a great time doing it. The other big news is that she is still "dating" (apparently that's what they call it these days -- for those of us who are older, it would be more like "going together/going steady") her little boyfriend. They've been together 6 months and have gone on one date to McDonald's, supervised by me and his grandparents. It's all very cute. He treats his grandparents very well and he's been nothing but sweet to my daughter, so all is well on that front! She is also involved in the church youth group, called dv8 and is preparing to participate in the 30 Hour Famine. She started it last week, but the weather got bad, so they postponed the weekend. I'm sure it's going to be an amazing event for her to be a part of.
James -- Has also had a good year. School is going well for him, though we did have to be a little more diligent on watching that all assignments are completed after an incomplete assignment in the first quarter dropped one of his grades way below where it otherwise should have been. But aside from that, he's been doing well. We're starting to prepare for the Westest here in a couple of months, though I won't see results on that until the beginning of next year, I believe. He's deeply into Pokemon at the moment and any time he gets a little extra money from something, he ends up spending it on new Pokemon cards. It's hard for me to imagine that those things are still around, but they are, and he's becoming the expert on them!
Faith -- Has been somewhat ambivalent about this year. She really likes a number of her classmates, but had a hard time warming up to her teacher. That seems to be better now, but it was a bit of a rough start. Academically, she's doing very well, but she's tremendously shy, so her teacher suggested maybe waiting another year or two before testing for the gifted program. Her concern is that her shyness will keep her from answering questions to her full potential, so we're just putting that on the back-burner for now. With both of her older siblings in that program, I'm sure that's a bit of motivation for her as well, so we just try to keep her talking, which isn't always easy. One thing she does love to talk about is the Rainbow Magic books by "Daisy Meadows." She absolutely loves them and has been collecting them like crazy. I get to hear lots about fairies and goblins from her and her active imagination!
Christopher -- First grade has been a bit of an adjustment from kindergarten, but overall he seems to be doing well. His handwriting still needs a lot of work, but it has definitely improved from the beginning of the year. The biggest thing that we need to watch with him is that he pays closer attention. If we're practicing spelling words verbally, he can rattle them off without a thought, but when he gets writing them, he tends to leave out letters and ends up getting them wrong. I think when we practice we just need to do it the way that he will do it on the test. Socially he's doing well, but he still says that James is his "best brother -- he's my best friend AND my brother!" It's unbelievably sweet. He also loves Pokemon and loves trading cards with James. It's very fun.
Jason -- At the mid-point in his first semester back to school and is doing VERY well. I'm so proud of him! He has done better on nearly all of the exams and papers than he expected, and even in his most difficult class, he's doing well. He is on the night shift at work now and works from 9:30pm to 6am. It's not ideal, but honestly, he's a night guy anyway, so it seems to be working out for him. It definitely requires us to be much more intentional about spending time together when we can between homework, sleep, school & work, but for the most part I think we're making it work for our family. It will be a tough 2 years, but given how long he has wanted to finish his degree, I think this is the best thing that we can do.
Me -- Busy, busy, busy. And loving it. I started a new short-term project at the end of last year for work, and got picked up for the long-term project with the same company and I really enjoy it. My hours are all in the morning, M-F and it's just really good. I'm still terrible at sales, but I love actually helping people, and this job offers me opportunity to do that. I'm also still playing at church, which is great. I've had some really encouraging conversations there that have done wonders to heal old wounds not just from our prior church experience, but also some old, old, old stuff that I hadn't realized was still festering around. It's been incredibly positive. Additionally, I'm really involved in our cover band Under Shelter. We've done a bit of a marketing blitz and have started booking a number of gigs for this year. My summer weekends are quickly filling up with weddings in the tri-state area. It's very exciting and a bit surreal to be doing this now, considering I was never much for the performance side of music!
I think that little overview should get you a bit more up to date on what's new with our family. As always, feel free to drop me a line or shoot me a message on facebook!
