Update on Us

It's been a while since I've done an update, so here it is! We are all doing good. Mark and I are doing a bible study at church called "Experiencing God" and it is really good. We are hoping that this study helps us get closer to God and helps us to meet some people at our church since we are still pretty new to this church. I've also been pretty consistant with doing a bible study with the kids. They love it! And it's helping me learn a lot myself. Like for instance, I never knew that in Genesis when God was giving the serpent his punishment for deceiving Eve, God gave the first prophecy of Christ. That was so cool to realize that! We've painted a chalk board on our dining room wall, so the kids can sit at the dining room table while I do the bible study with them. I write their weekly memory verse on there, and they recite it everyday and usually by Thursday they are suppose to memorize it. Markie is pretty good at memorizing it, but Ricky has difficulties memorizing it. I think it has something to do with his learning disability, but I also think part of it is laziness on his part. He can watch TV and repeat commericals and cartoon scripts, but can't remember a 1 or 2 sentence memory verse? So we've limited TV, so that he can concentrate on the more important things. He gets too absorbed by that TV.

The kids are all doing good. Ben is pretty much potty trained, but he seems to go through spurts where he'll pee and poo his pants all day, then not for days. Hopefully he'll overcome that SOON! Markie just finished the Reading Recovery program at school. They feel she has learned to read sufficiently enough on her own to not need that program anymore. She has improved a lot in her reading, I hardly have to help her anymore (except for the big words, of course). Ricky is learning a lot in school. He still has some set backs, but is doing great considering his learning disability. He can add double digit numbers, which he couldn't even add when we got him, so that is a major accomplishment for him. He just has a problem staying focused. He'll do great when he begins his math homework, but after the first 10 problems you can tell his focus declines. We are going to send him to a counselor to see what we can do to help him in that area. Charlotte is tooting along like a big girl. She is learning so much from the older kids, it's making her grow up way to fast for mama! The kids love playing hide and seek and I seen Charlotte standing with her face against the wall, trying to count like the big kids, it was so cute! I have a work out video that Markie likes to play once in a while and do the workout moves and Charlotte sometimes does them too. It's so funny to watch. Ricky has taught her how to say "Thank You", but she doesn't actually say it, she just kind of hums it. She's not going to be a baby for much longer!

I get to go back to work on Monday after a 2-1/2 month layoff. I am happy about it, but at the same time, I enjoyed being at home. But according to Mark, people at work are really missing me answering the phones so they don't have to, lol. And the toner needed replaced in the copier and they told him I was the only one who knew how to change it, lol. Which is true, that thing is a pain in the butt to change (and messy) so everyone avoids learning how to do it. So now that I am going back to work, Mark is laid-off. Go figure! I think it will only be for a week though (I hope). It will be nice to have him home though when I get home from work. Usually it's just me and the kids. So it will be nice to have some help in the evenings (for a week at least).

We are currently remodeling our living room, since the foster care agency says we have to. It's been unfinished for about 7 years now, so I am glad to finally get it going again. The only real problem the foster care agency had with it was the 2 wall that were alreay re-drywalled had a 4" gap by the floor where we were going to put trim up. The lady said she didn't want anyone getting their toes caught in it. OOOOKKKKKAAAYYYY, that isn't really possible, but whatever. The state will pay for $500 of it, so that will help a lot. I am so glad to finally get to decorate my living room. In the 7 years we've lived here, I haven't been able to do much with the living room since it needed to be remodeled, so it's just been kind of blah. Now I get to pick out colors for it, carpet, and I'm starting to buy wall decor here and there so when it's finished I can start hanging stuff up. I can't wait!

Anyway, that's what's been going on with us! Thanks for reading!!