Well, its been WAY too long since we posted anything to this blog. The “new normal” is becomming just normal. That is a good thing, but limits you on things that are new or interesting to post on a blog. See anything new in the picture above? Her name is Ye Rin (Kim) Kim. She is a Korean student that is attending Round Rock Christian with Victoria and Emma. Her host situation deteriorated lately and Nancy felt compelled to take her in. I thought she was crazy, kinda like when she said she believed God was calling us to adopt two boys! Needless to say, Nancy was right and Kim has been a blessing to our family.
The boys are doing great. Levi has adjusted to 4th grade and is doing mostly mainstream work in his classroom and scoring well. He continue to be behind in some areas, but he has only been here for 18 months! Asher is doing fantastic in his pre-k class at Round Rock Christian. The teachers love him and he loves school. He only goes 3 days a week and is sad on Tues and Thurs! Both the boys are speaking incredible english. It is hard now to remember a time when they weren’t a part of the family.
Victoria was selected for the Varsity volleyball team as a freshmen and we are very proud of her. They won bi-district and missed winning area in the 5th game 17 to 15! It was a great season. She currently has Mono and is about 4 weeks into the 6 to 8 that it will take her to get over the virus. She has been very tired, but seems to be on the mend. She is doing well in school and has experienced the huge jump from 8th to 9th grade. She made all B’s the first 9 weeks.
Emma is doing well in 6th grade and has healed from her knee dislocation 3 months ago. She was released from physical therapy and will begin club volleyball in a couple of weeks. She is very excited to be getting to play a sport. It has been one year at Thanksgiving since she had her first foot surgery and it has been a long year for her. She is doing well in school and has many friends. We are very proud of her as well.
Nancy and I continue to try to give each other the time we need in the midst of trying to meet the needs of 5 kids. It is tough, with commitments almost every night and morning - oh and that dang day job! Anyway, we are loving every minute of it, but there are times I think it would be nice if there was absolutely nothing going on. Not in the Redding Rodeo.
David
I can’t believe that the kids start school in two weeks. This summer has flown by. Victoria had a great time with being on a team for our Back Yard Bible clubs from church. She actually had the incredible privilege of leading a little girl to Christ. She witnessed some amazing things in East Austin, which is our rough side of town. She will be in 9th grade this year. I can’t believe that I will have a high schooler. Then, she made the varsity volleyball team at school. She has been practicing everyday since August 1st. For her, summer is gone! We are very proud of her. I don’t look forward to taking her to school every morning at 6:00 for practice before school for 6 weeks. I will be sure and remind her of this in the future.
Emma started off the summer doing great. She finally got to have her birthday swim party with her friends at the Marriott hotel. Then, she and Victoria and I spent the night in one of the rooms. It was a fun girl evening. Then, in July, we were bowling and she somehow managed to dislocate her left knee. I have never seen a knee do that before. Praise God, David was there with me. The good news is that we have already met our deductible because of her last surgery, so the bill was very small. She is back in a brace, and this time cannot bend her knee at all for 6 weeks. Once again, she has been a trooper. She told me that other day that God may be preparing her to be a nurse someday. She would be able to relate and sympathize with patients. I think that is a fabulous idea. She is excited about starting middle school. She goes to the doctor the day before school starts and we are praying she will be able to play volleyball. She is getting contacts in a couple of weeks and is looking forward to that.
Levi has really enjoyed the summer. He wants to go swimming everyday. He was tutored by a teacher at the girls’ school and has really improved from where he was at the end of the school year. He is excited about 4th grade and his birthday in September, when he will turn 10. There’s something magical about double digits! He had his one year check-up this week and has grown 4 inches and gained 20 pounds in a year. The doctor was very impressed with his muscle tone compared to last year. He does do push-ups everyday! He played soccer this summer and is a natural. Dude has some serious skills. We signed him up to play in the fall, too.
Asher grew 3 1/2 inches and gained 10 pounds in a year. His vocabulary is above average. He starts preschool this year at the girls’ school and will attend MWF. I will have some alone time, again! Yeahhhhhh! He is so ready to be in a class. He is most excited about his new backpack. He had his birthday on July 25th and turned 4. He got a remote control car, legos and a Wolverine costume, that he will wear for Halloween. He wears it everyday, and even to the store. He also played soccer this summer and sometimes did great and other times did not realize there was a game going on. HE will sit out the fall and perhaps play again in the Spring.
The highlight of our summer was bringing our dear friend, T (Tilahun) to Texas. He used to work for our agency and was our translator and guide when we were in Ethiopia. Actually, his first week of work was with our group. After talking about it, we only spent about 10 hours total with him. But, we have stayed in close contact with him and God put it on our hearts to bring him here instead of us going on a family vacation. It was the best vacation we have ever had. He got to shoot a gun, learn to drive, go to the beach, try new foods (calamari), go to a drive-through, ride a rollercoaster, watch a 3-D movie, and attend a party that we threw for him. The party consisted of other families from our agency that have adopted kids from Ethiopia and spent their week with him while getting their children. These families were all from Texas. He was over whelmed! His favorite thing about America was the free refills of coke at restaurants and the 440z. at 7-eleven. It was so hard to watch him leave, but we did not say good-bye, we just told him we would see him later. It may be several years, but we know we will see him again. He is the most godly 22 year old I know. His heart for God is contagious, and worshipping with him is an honor. He became part of our family. He even got to witness some of the rodeo because he was with us when Emma dislocated her knee. Anyway, extremely long post, but alot to say. We are truly blessed!
Nancy
we have always wanted to give one of our children a real mohawk. The girls never wanted do, but Levi was willing to try it.
This is Levi’s summer hairdo. We thought it would help intimidate the other soccer teams.
I think we told you all that Levi was a little older than the 6 1/2 that the Ethiopian Government had put on his birth certificate, but we had no idea until he started growing this over the summer break! Amazing……
