Good Run on the Report cards

Also another run in tonight, feels GREAT!!!

Ok for the girl's 2nd Q/1st Sem report cards:

Tuki
Meets expectations in all areas
Comment from teacher is: Tuki loves to play and learn! I enjoy teaching her!

Ve
Mostly meets expectations with a few improving in areas
BUT alot of Needs Attention in the Math department
Comment from Teacher:
Ve is a delight to have in class! She is progressing nicely in reading, but I am noticing some difficulty in math (me too). We will continue to work with her on her math skills to help her grow in this area. Ve is also very helpful and kind to her classmates.

From her Music teacher:
Ve seems to enjoy all the activities in music class. On occasion, she is distracted and gets off track, but easily recovers. She is a sweet girl (Huge improvement from last year's music teacher's comments)

Mim
Read 180 A
Art 7B A
Math C
Chorus A
Social Studies B-
Phy Ed A
Science B

cooperative and courteous, makes good use of time in class and good effort on difficult work

Proud of my girls!!

So far so good

I am taking a break from the diet for 3 weeks in which I am going to attempt to run 3 -4 times each week for 3 weeks. Then I will return to the diet for another 3 weeks. This way my body will be taxed for a total of 9 weeks. My hope was by removing the excess weight, it will allow me to run more consistently and still allow my recovering feet to recover. Last night I ran with the 25 lbs off, and what a difference it made, and my feet feel well today and I plan to run again tonight. I kept saying my extra weight has caused me all sort of health issues, and as the weight came off my issues have started to disappear. It's a Miracle!!

Bullet Points

. on a diet since Jan 4 and have lost 25 lbs. I want to lose at least that much more.
. have a horrendous cold
. requested Ve to get tested for learning disabilities, her lack of processing/problem solving and memory is becoming more pronounced with the increase of homework and the difficulty of the homework
. Tuki's stubbornness wears me out at times, I sure hope I can teach her to find other ways to handle situations
. I am taking a class one night a week at my church, just for me, no kids, Mim is old enough to babysit for a few hours
. Mim's school BB started, alot less intense than HOOPs, she loves it and she plays a WHOLE lot more!!
. I am writing a 10,000 grant proposal for school, it is alot of work, hopefully it will be funded
. this weekend I am presenting a short session on advising an active Environmental club, but sometimes it is not so active. LOL
. February is just around the corner, and that means March is just around two corners, which means it will be warming up soon!!

that's all I have

I am in love, and we need prayers

I have been checking this place out since last July. After seeing it, I even went so far as to go thru the place with a realtor, then I proceeded to talk with my loan officer. Problem was I didn't have enough equity in our current home to sell and have a down payment. The farm, 26 acres of this beauty is still for sale and I now hope (10 months later) to have enough into our place to sell (refinanced last summer) and still have a down payment. But, there is a bottom dollar I can accept for my current home, and with this market I am not so sure we will get it. Today the girls and I went out there after church and prayed a family prayer over the farm, and the circumstance to move in our favor if purchasing this little beauty was the direction for our family. If you are the praying kind, please pray with us for all things to line up for the purchase or shut down tight so we know that we are not to take this move.

The view from the north side

View from the south side

view from the home looking southeast toward the road

the garage

the home--not great but can be worked with and lived with for a time

the chicken coop/storage shed

the barn - in mint condition

southwest view

west view - about 10 acres are woods, 10 acres field and 6 acres around the buildings

I know it looks cold now, but when we were standing out in the yard last July, feeling the warm breeze and watching the sun go down, it was truly glorious

One Year later

I thought of it on and off all day, I even mentioned it in one of my classes. Mim and I watched a show depicting the current life in Haiti. She said she wants to visit but has no intention of ever living there again. Haiti, a country so beautiful and yet so deplorable. I love the country that birthed two of my daughters, but I hate the circumstances all the living are required to live in.

Will things ever change, I sure hope so. I keep asking my church to start sending mission trips as they do to other countries. I have had no takers as of yet, since most people are too afraid to go there, and yet the need is so great and the love of the people is so huge. Haiti -- the bipolar country.

Observations

We are back to the grind stone, busy, tired and yet seem to be functioning smoothly. Ve's O (I call them this) behaviors have all but gone dormant. Her change for the positive makes me more aware of the time off of school as to the cause of her insecurity that brings out her old behaviors.

Tuki has been working hard at not being crabby and naughty because she is tired. The fact that she is cognitive of this negative behavior and attempting to control it herself is a huge step. She also is enjoying being her friends, yet is struggling with missing me.

Mim is happier back at school as well since she is able to spend time with her friends and less couped up time with me and her sisters. A true teenager!

Considering all these behaviors that I noticed in my girls, I will have to really think thru our summer plans, no more cocooning with just us. My girls need more.

I hate to say this;

BUT, we need school tomorrow. The we I am talking about is, me and Mim. She is becoming a full blown teenager, yes she was one before, but wowzer...we are really entering into a rough patch. She still needs me to navigate in many areas of her new life, but boy does she hate having to ask and look like she needs help. Typical teenager; Right!?, but her circumstances aren't typical. I probably wouldn't worry so much during the conflictual times if she had been home longer than 14 months. She is really challenging me right now, and I am not necessarily so sure our bond is strong enough to take it. If she had been here since a wee one, I could relax more, but lately OMG....I guess it is good that school is tomorrow EVEN tho we need to get up 3 hours earlier than we have been!!!

Ve's birthday celebration

Ve's very busy birthday cake, yet all the wee ones seemed to have loved it.

Singing Happy Birthday - the little 5 year old boy is J, my nephew's son.
Ve has a very hard time with all this attention directed right at her

Opening presents with many helping hands


I have noticed some behavior issues with Ve whenever we are on break from school, i.e lacking structure. My wonderment is; does this always happen but I am too busy to notice when we are running all over the place, or does the lack of structure make her feel unsafe and her old habits come rushing back at her with a vengeance.

I also noticed that Tuki is wonderful to be around again....that is when she gets her daily nap, so I will for sure be switching her 4K class to the morning next semester (She totally is all about this change, she says she wants to make new friends). She spent the night at Grandma's last night, her first sleepover that has nothing to do with me leaving town and picking up one or the other of her sisters.

Ve wants to sleep over someday but right now she would be too afraid to do it without Tuki. She says not, but Ve just about had a crying meltdown last night when she found out that she would be sleeping in her own bedroom without Tuki. She did fine by the way, but she was sure all life as she knew would end.

We start back to school and the hectic routine on Tuesday.