Family Update

I haven’t written a formal family update in awhile, so here goes.

Billy spent last week in New Orleans doing his last Doctoral workshop with NOBTS. We missed him and he missed us. He said it was desolate beyond belief. There is a Church’s Chicken open across the street from the seminary, and other than that you have to drive 30 minutes before you find a place to eat or shop. That has to be an unbelievable feeling in a city known for culture and food. There’s no more Bakery with incredible shrimp po’boys or Italian Pie that delivered a large pizza, the best I’ve ever had, for $10. Of course everything else is gone too. The seminary is one of the few places in that part of town that has electricity, and only about every twentieth house is occupied. The seminary hotel was open, but there were no televisions or internet access. Fortunately we could stay in touch by cell phone. Billy is working now to finish his doctoral project, so that will be a consuming endeavor over the next months. I’m so proud of him and all his hard work!

While he was gone, I spent the week decluttering and cleaning. There was so much I wanted to get done that didn’t happen, but I still made good progress. I usually don’t cook much when Billy isn’t home, so we ate a lot of cereal and sandwiches and spent the extra time working on the house.

Elizabeth’s last t-ball game is tonight, and I’m a little relieved that it’s over. She enjoys it so much and we all have fun watching her play and getting to know other people in our community, but it’s hard to be gone so many evenings each week. Elizabeth has been working hard in school to finish up her kindergarten year. She’s progressing well in her reading and math, and she loves science. We got her a book of simple experiments that we’ll be using this summer and next school year, and she is always wanting to know about plants and animals. I’m getting ready to order first grade curriculum which will be quite a bit more intensive than this year, but I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be out for the summer in a week, but we are going to work on reading and writing through the summer. She has met most of the goals I set for her, but there are a few things I’d like her to improve on a little more before we start first grade. The main thing is that I’d like for her to be more comfortable with reading, which I know will come with more practice and lots of reading aloud.

Silas’s new favorite hero is Walker, Texas Ranger. He called Billy on the phone the other day and said, “Hi Dad, this is Walker.” That was fine until he tried to roundhouse kick his baby sister. Then we had to talk about only kicking bad guys—pretend ones. No problem for Silas. He just picked up his gun and said, “I’m Trivette.” He is such a fun and cuddly three year old. He is always wanting to sit in my lap, give hugs and kisses, and snuggle. I’m always saying to the kids, “Hi, my lovin’ baby.” This morning he greeted both his sisters with “Hi, Lovin’.”

Sarah has gone from being a baby to being a toddler in just a few weeks. She is climbing, saying words, feeding herself, and generally communicating in ways she wasn’t capable of just a short time ago. He hair is getting long enough that I have to keep it in a barrette to keep it out of her eyes, and I’m already going to have to go through my hand-me-downs again because she’s outgrowing all her baby clothes. She is a snuggler too, and such a Daddy’s girl. The other day she was jabbering for Billy, “Dada! Dada!” I said, “Daddy is at work. Did Daddy go bye-bye?” She chirped, “Yes!” Not sure if she knew what I meant, I said, “Bye bye Daddy.” She stuck her little lip out and said, “Wuuuuhhhh!” her famous complaining sound. When I asked, “Do you want to see Daddy? Do you love your Daddy?” She broke into a big smile and nodded her head yes. Awwwww…Too adorable! She is also obsessed with putting things inside things right now. Cabinets, cups, shoes, nothing is safe. I have to be careful to keep important items like keys and cell phone out of her reach or they might disappear inside something not to be found for years!

Other than that, we have been busy doing normal things at church and home. You know, the things that are wonderful but neverending. That’s all folks!