Many of you may be wondering how old the girls are now and what's been going on with us this year. Well, Emma is now 6 1/2 yrs. old, and Olivia turned 3 yrs. old in May. Unbelievably, Emma will be going into 1st grade this fall, and we may do 2 half days of K-3 for Olivia. We are not sure what my teaching schedule will be yet, so we'll see. I have no great desire to send Olivia to school, even preschool, yet.
This was a big year for us with Emma going to school every day for the first time. We did only do the 1/2 day Kindergarten. She did very well, and has a desire for learning that I hope doesn't stop! We just got her K-5 SAT scores in the mail last week, and we were so proud of her. Her overall grade equivelant was into 2nd grade with her scores! The lowest ones were in the late part of 1st grade, and the highest was in the late part of 3rd grade. I am not saying she should be in a gifted program, but it's exciting to see her do well. :-) Hopefully it will continue. My mom says that I was ahead in Kindergarten and on course for the gifted program, but look what happened to me. Ha ha It will be hard at first to have Emma gone all day this year. I think Olivia will be in mourning. She loves having Emma around, and they play well together. Last year school hours for us were 8:30--11:30 in the morning. This year it will be 8:15 AM to 3:20 PM.
Miss Olivia is coming along well in many areas. She doesn't have many problems anymore in the lower digestive area--praise the Lord! We still have to give her something in juice, every other day now, to keep things working well in her little body. She is talking so much better now. We understand pretty much everything she is telling us. Some other people still look at us or Emma for interpretation, but not often any more. :-) She wasn't nearly like our Emma, who was saying full sentences and carrying on intelligent conversations by the time she was two. Most people, us included, were in shock over that. Olivia loves to dress up, paint, color, play on the new swingset and ride her tricycle (which she just recently got figured out well). Those are her things. She could take or leave TV (no complaints here), and she has not been into books as much as I would like. She has surprised us this week with being able to do some games on the computer. It is upstairs right now and has been appealing to her.
That leads me into what has recently gone on with me. The computer is
upstairs 'cause I am not allowed to
do stairs right now. I had surgery almost 2 weeks ago. I had a rectocele repair, not fun but necessary, a tubal (very difficult emotionally for me to come to, but after praying and thinking about another pregancy involving bedrest, I agreed it was best), D and C, and had endometriosis removed. I have a 4 to 6 week recovery. I am glad to be at 2 weeks tomorrow! The surgery went well, but I have developed an infection and am on a couple new meds for that. Thankfully it was caught only 6 days after surgery.
Kris is busy being dad, mom, pastor, etc. right now, so pray for him. We have lots of people helping us with meals and babysitting the girls here and sometimes taking them for a day. What a blessing it has been to have the help! Kris is finally tackling his summer goals list he said and is planning already for this upcoming school year. He even asked me last night what my opinion was on music for the choir/drama tour they take in the fall. We feel like we are finally getting the hang of things here in the new ministry and place that we live. It is hard to believe that it will be two years in the middle of Sept. since we moved to Midland. Kris is so excited for the opportunities to be teaching and preaching again. That has come in the last several months with Sunday School opportunities and helping with parenting classes on Wed. nights this last year. He loves to study God's Word and teach it! It has been weird for me to see him just as a music pastor in our new church after his being an asst. pastor in youth, music, and doing other things at Grace for so long. Don't get me wrong, being "just a music pastor" is not second rate or so easy or anything. We have a huge ministry here that demands much time and effort to be what it should be. I just have missed seeing the pastoral/teaching side of him until recently. He is really in his element, as it were, in that role.
Well, that is the general update on us. I feel like I just did a Christmas letter. Ha ha So many of you haven't known much about what is going on with us though, so I was hoping to hit on questions you might have had.
