Just a quick update...

Deidra is enjoying 4th grade. She hates the homework, but she seems to be doing pretty well grade wise. She switches classes 4 times this year so that is something new for her as they only switched once the past few years. She is totally infatuated with Justin Bieber. She wants to do her room in Justin Bieber. lol. She's been making up dance moves to all of his songs and performing them for us at night. She has been surprising me with what she's been coming up with. She also is going to join Ladies First at school. It's a club for 4th and 5th graders that teaches them about respect for themselves, self-esteem, camaderie (sp?), and community service. High grades are expected from them as well as good character marks.

Emily is enjoying kindergarten. She started out the year having a lot of problems adjusting to the rules and what was expected of her there. We got her meds changed around and she seems to be doing quite a bit better. I'm proud of her! She is fascinated with Hannah Montana and loves to sing and dance to her on tv. I see her in choir in a couple more years. She loves to sing and is really quite good at it.

Josiah is enjoying Pre-K. He is starting to come out of his honeymoon phase there, but overall he's doing wonderfully. He's very smart and knows most of the material that they teach him anyway, but socially I think it's good for him to learn rules and behaviors and how to interact in that setting. He's been having some agression issues at school, but we talk about how he could change the behavior differently next time and how he needs to use his words or tell the teacher about what's going on and we're just seeing how he copes with it next time the situations arise. For the most part, he's really surprising me. He's acting so much better than I thought he would and is even able to carry that back at home too. His behavior is really improving lately and I'm proud of him.

Tracie is going to Mother's Day Out twice a week and really seems to enjoy going. She's a bit confused on why she can't go into her old teacher's classroom but we keep telling her that she's getting bigger so she had to change rooms as she's a big girl now. She struggles with so much sometimes with learning, but yet she's come such a long way and she tries SO hard. I'm so proud of her. She is such a little sweetheart and my sensitive one. She seems to know when everyone needs that extra hug and she nurtures everybody. She's also the one to get her feelings hurt the easiest. She reminds me of myself in some ways. She tells me all of the time "Mommy, I love you and I just love my family." So sweet! She's got a bit of a stubborn streak going on lately, but we are working on that with having to listen and follow directions. She'll get there. :-)

Melina is a true joy to all of us. That little baby girl is definitely a gift from above. She makes us all smile and laugh just being around her. I got to thinking the other day...when I fell in love with that name I was looking up meanings of her name. It means a lot of different things in different countries, but one country relates her name to "miracle." Her middle name is Catherine which means "pure." If we talk in Spanish they put their adjectives after the nouns so like we would say "red shirt" they say "shirt red" but obviously in Spanish. So, if we were to say the meanings of her name the way they do she would be "pure miracle." I thought that was fitting as she really was a miracle to us after all that time thinking that it just wasn't going to happen again. She is such a beautiful baby girl and just loves on all of us and we all just love on her. She is a true joy and a blessing to all of us.

I am so grateful for my children, Abba. Thank you SO much for making me their mother. I love my children with all of my heart. They are all blessings from above. They teach me things daily and I just pray that I will guide them and shape them the best way that I can to know You, love You, and serve You. Please help Andy and I to be the best parents that we can be to our children. Amen.