I had a few minutes, so I thought I'd use them to quickly update my blog.

Since starting my job at Trinity, things have been very busy for our family. It seems like all we do is work/school...come home fix dinner, eat, clean up from dinner, fold laundry and head to bed again to do it all again the next day. Just not much margin in my life right now, so I'll take a bit of time to update on life in general...and maybe I'll get back to blogging more regularly, but in this stage of life, I can't promise you anything.

I still enjoy my job. I really like the people I work with and the families that we serve. It feels very much like a ministry to me. I'm living right in my purpose of valuing people with this job and I like it. I know these parents are counting on me to take care of their babies like they would...and to encourage them to grow and learn new things and I take this job very seriously. I also enjoy connecting with parents at drop off and pick up. I really want them to know that we are on the same team.

Stuff at church is going well. Club W(K-5th grade ministry) is running well. I've got a great team of volunteers to serve with me each Sunday and they really make things happen. I couldn't be prouder of my team. The Club W kids are sponsoring a child in Uganda which is pretty cool. We love teaching the kids about the value of others all over the world. Allen's been working hard to better systems and processes in the children's ministry as well as in other areas of the church. It's great to see him living in his purpose, too.

The kids are doing really well. Everybody's in ESTEM now and that's made life much easier. I feel better as a mom having all my kids in the same place...not more than 15 blocks away from where I work. If they need me, I can be there quickly. Susannah's in first grade. Alex is in third grade. Emmaleigh's in sixth grade. They all seem to be doing well at school. Emmaleigh even got a higher grade in math than in English this quarter! This is the girl who used to tell me how much she hated math. She's got a great teacher this year, though.

The kids are involved in several activities. Alex is doing Upward Basketball and Cub Scouts. The girls are involved in gymnastics. We've simplified our lives quite a bit having the girls at the same school and in gymnastics at the same time. Now we're only busy 2 nights a week...instead of 4. Whew!

On December 5th, we added a new dog to our household. Her name is Charlotte and she's a 3 year old Aussie Shepherd. Charlotte was rescued from the pound. Her brother was put to sleep, but they said that when they were walking her to the room for her euthanization, the dr. said to put her back. She needed another chance at life. So she was rescued and six months later, we found her online and adopted her. We love her very much already...even Susannah who had been afraid of bigger dogs. She seems like a beast compared to Lenny, but we're told she weighs 50 lbs. She's a super sweet dog and very smart...eager to learn. We'd like to get her into some obedience/agility classes this spring and see what she can really do.

Well, I think that's about it for now. It was good talking to you all.
Hope to talk again soon.
Debbie

Alex started running a fever on Sunday night...also threw up a few times.
We didn't take him to the dr. Didn't want him sicker than he already was.
When you and your spouse both work, how do you figure out who takes time off?
I told Allen that I get paid by the hour and he gets paid whether he's in the office or not, so he should stay home with him. He did for day 1, but couldn't miss core hours today in the office, so I worked a 1/2 day and came home in time for him to do that. Alex hasn't had a fever since this morning, so I'm hoping this will all be over soon.

Susannah's been complaining about a headache and tummy ache for the past couple of days. Hasn't thrown up...or felt warm really, but I took her temp tonight just to be sure. It was 99. something. Not enough to really worry about but I'm not sure what to do with it along with the other symptoms. She's been at school all week...if her temp isn't any higher than that, I'll probably send her to school tomorrow, too.

I am pretty amazed and very thankful that this stuff hasn't caught the rest of us yet. I mean, I had a cold last week, but it wasn't like what Alex is dealing with. I have had some interesting headaches...that feel like an awful cold is coming on, but after ibuprofen, things are better, so I don't know what to do with that except thank God for my health. It's just not a good time to be sick...starting a new job and all.

The job is going well. I like the people I work with and I like the babies, too. I need to remember to listen well and speak little when it comes to my opinions on other people's lives. I bit my tongue today over a couple of things I heard and God graciously allowed me to leave it alone.

We only had 3 kids in our class today. One of our seven was at grandma's...and at least 2 were out sick. The other, I'm not sure about, but I know he had the beginning of a cold yesterday. We've enjoyed a couple of easy days, but I really do like my job...even when they're all there! It's still a great job for our family.

I got my first paycheck on Friday. It was one full week's pay. Got me excited for that snowball to start rolling! And we found out that it will be rolling even faster than we'd thought because Emmaleigh got into Estem after only 2 weeks at Southwest Christian! She'll start after fall break on 10/5. Two down, one more to go. Keep praying for Susannah to get in...

That's all for now...
Debbie