Family Update

To Our Family...


I haven't posted in some time about family happenings, so here goes.......

Greg is as wonderful as ever. He's still with the Lackland Fire Dept and recently finished an EMT class. He'll be taking the BIG exam very soon to finally be certified as an EMT. It's a long story as to why he's not already certified, so I'll spare you the details. At his last pacemaker check up, they discovered a rapidly malfunctioning lead wire going into the upper chamber of his heart. Fortunately, it's the "least necessary" lead so he can afford to just let it be until his battery change surgery. We expect that to happen in a year or so. Other than that, he's just being the great husband and father we know and LOVE!

Not much new with me. We're slowly winding down our school year and looking forward to our vacation in May. I'm still counseling at the Agape Pregnancy Help Center and also serve on the board. Right now, we are working diligently on our annual fundraising banquet.

Cheyenne is growing up so fast! She's fourteen and finishing her 8th grade year. She has finished all of her subjects except for Algebra 1 and Grammar and Composition II. Since she's done well this year and has been diligent in her work, we allowed her to take on a part time position at our friend's resale shop for children. She is SO excited to have this job and being able to earn some extra money. She also enjoys working with her friends. She's still playing the piano. Her former piano teacher moved away (we miss you Kim), but the Lord provided another teacher for her very quickly. Her good friend, Shelley, is teaching her. They happen to be the same age. Cheyenne was glad that Shelley was willing to teach her and it's working out well.

Celeste (11) is as sweet as ever. She's my little helper bee and is always willing to serve the family. She's also had a good schooling year, but still has most of her subjects to finish up. Her strong subject is Math. She's advancing fairly quickly through it and next year will be taking Algebra 1 as a 7th grader. The girl loves numbers and absolutes like her dad! She pitches in with schooling Seth in his math at times. She's also discovered a passion for cooking and baking this year and wants to attend culinary school when she's older. Isn't she already attending culinary school? ;-)

Sethman (5): He's great! His interests include anything Star Wars and sword fights with the Russell boys. He's done a wonderful job with Kindergarten this year. He's reading well and jammin' right through math. Another math junkie so far. He flew through his Kinder math book and is about half way through the first grade math book. We'll just keep him going in it through the summer. He's also a VERY helpful little boy. One day, while he was supposed to be in bed for rest time, he went to Sophia's room, where she also was supposed to be having rest time, and decided to help her out of a bind. She got a round brush all tangled up in her hair, so, he thought he'd help her out by CUTTING the brush out of her hair!!!! Yeah.....talk about busted! In the meantime, we're having fun trying to come up with creative hair styles to cover the missing chunks in Sophia's hair. We love him so.......

Sophia (4), is a pretty neat kid. She LOVES to play dress up and is convinced that she is a real princess. She is doing pre-K stuff this year. We just started her in Phonics Pathways and is enjoying it. Our goal is to speed her up some so that in the next year or so, she and Seth can do much of the same work. Subjects like History, Science and Logic. She also recently learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She is SO excited about that.....can't keep her off the bike when we're outside.

Chloe is 2 1/2 now. We're thinking about potty training her and thinking about taking her binky away from her. Yes....just thinking about these things! Some day we'll decide, but for now, I'm comfortable with the thinking phase. Other than that, she enjoys hanging out with her siblings, pretending to "do school" with the big kids and talks about her friend Abby all the time.

Little Man Ethan is 9 1/2 months. He's taking several steps and will be walking fully any day now. He doesn't like food much and will probably nurse until he's five, but he's a big, healthy boy! He's a joy to our family and we look forward to seeing him grow into a young man!

So, I think that covers everyone. Just remind me if I've missed a kid. ;-)