Happy New Year! Ok so I am a little late but at least it is still January (barely!)
Things have been crazy, exciting and new. I am not sure where to even start. I guess I will start with the biggest change we have made this new year and that is going to Church. We have talked about it for a long time but finally made the decision to start going the 1st of the year. Some of this was brought on by going to a Christmas Eve service with Lavon and remembering how much I LOVED going to church. Thanks Lavon!
We started attending Rolling Hills Christian Church on the 1st and it has been wonderful to say the least. I feel so much more connected to God and know that I am learning and going down the right path. The church feels right for us at this point. It has an awesome rock band that I truly enjoy. I have already downloaded 3 of the songs from the services because I love them so much and they speak to me. The pastor is great and we got to talk with him a little more last night at a Membership meeting. We are considering becoming members at this church.
Richard and I am both participating in small groups on different days of the weeks which is nice for us to get some time with other people in the community. It has only been one week but we are both enjoying the small groups. I am looking forward to reading more scripture and learning more about what God wants from me and my life. It is a journey I am excited to take and am glad Richard is taking with me.
The girls also go to Children's Ministries and they are loving it. The first week was hard at the drop off but now they walk in and are excited to learn new things. They are not in the same class which I was worried about but they are great and enjoying learning versus.
Now I will break it down by person and the happenings of each of us.
Evelyn: Growing like a weed and learning more every day. She is trying new foods which is great. We are so proud of her. Evelyn has this compassion about her that I treasure and wish I had more of. She is an amazing person and is so aware of the things happening around her. She is all about pretend play and playing mommy and daddy with Camille. It is adorable. She dresses in crazy outfits that fit her to a "t". People ask if I let her dress herself and I said yes because 1 it is not worth the fight and 2. I want her to express herself. She is most excited about turning 5 this year because then she will be in Kindergarten and be going to Silva Valley.
Camille: My sweet Camille is doing good and growing like a weed as well. We started this year off with some assessments for a speech referral and had her initial meeting last Wednesday. We were concerned with her ability to produce speech. We knew she could understand everything we said because she can follow directions but she doesn't seem to be able to articulate and express herself.
At the meeting, our observations were confirmed. Camille's receptive language (what she understands) is Superior at about a 4 year old level. She does great at following directions and understanding directions. Her expressive language is moderately delayed. She is below the 10% for other children her age. Her articulation and the letter sounds that she can produce is less than 1%. Needless to say, she qualifies for speech services and now has an IEP. She will be going once a week on Wednesday's with Richard. I expect to see great growth and hopefully it will lessen the frustration that she has in expressing herself.
There are a couple of other things we are concerned about and will look into further but are focused on this at the moment.
Richard: Has almost completed the bathroom. Has trim left and a couple of other little things and then we will be done. He has worked so hard and it makes it harder because now we go to church on Sunday mornings so he loses time to work on it there. Saturdays are busy watching the girls while I am out (I'll explain more in my section). He is doing an amazing job and we will both be happy to enjoy the finished product. He has also started exploring his own personal relationship with God and I am excited to see where that will take him. He has taken the first step and I am proud of him for that.
Mandy: My biggest adventure (other than going back to Church) is I joined a running club with a co-worker of mine. Every Saturday I run with the club and my group so Richard is at home with the girls. I am loving it. I ran 4.6 miles on Saturday which is something I never thought I would do and I have done it and am excited to keep going. My goal is a half marathon in April and to run it under 3 hours and 30 minutes since I walked it in that 2 years ago.
Exciting things are happening and we are excited to following them and see what the Lord has in store for us. For now we are going to Church and enjoying the teachings each Sunday.
I will post pictures soon.
