Whew, what a summer!

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since May! The summer has been quite full and now that school is back in session, I have a little (very little) more time to breathe.

June was very full. We went to Texas first and spent 10 days with my family. This gave the kids time to know their Texas cousins and spend time with Opa and Oma. The cousins all got along well to together and we had a great time. The trip also helped Papa and Gideon bond a little more since Papa was always around all the time. It was so good to be with my family and I felt the knot of tension and fatigue I had been carrying since December begin to loosen a little.

Four days after returning from Texas, we drove to Jacksonville, FL for my graduation for my doctorate. It was a fast but wonderful trip. There were a few temper tantrums from both kids but that is to be expected. Being back with my school friends and in that environment was a wonderful balm for me as well.

Four days after returning from Florida, Nina went with the youth from our church on a mission trip to Mississippi to help with the continuing clean up efforts. She had a great time, although she was very nervous about going. We had one tearful phone call but other than that she had a great time and loved helping. When she returned we took a deep breath before July began.

July meant music camp for me at church. Nina helped with that and the week was a great success. At the end of that week, Bruce's brother and his family returned from Japan and came to see the family in Kentucky. The kids all got along well and now we have met all of the immediate extended family! Hopefully this will make family gatherings easier from now on.

In the middle of July, Nina also started working at a local resturant as a cook. She is a great cook already and knows how to work hard. (Can you tell how proud I am of her?) Her bosses love her! She continues to work on Saturdays and will also be helping with the Wednesday night dinners at church. School started last week for her, and she is doing well. She comes home and does her homework without being told. Last year she wanted us to sit down with her and help her do it. This year, she might ask us to check it for her, but that is about all. She has so much more confidence and is really stepping up to the plate.

Gideon has really "settled down" this summer. He is much more in control of himself and his ability to sit and play or color for a longer period of time continues to grow. He continued in the mother's day out program through the summer (When we were here). We are now doing battle with the local school system to get him the help he needs. They refused to evaluate him last spring. They implied that I was too dumb to realize that my son was speaking Russian rather than English and nothing I said could persuade them that HE CANNOT TALK! I think the real reason was that it was too close to the end of school for them to want to do the paperwork. We have been doing speech therapy through a private agency and that has helped. After a summer of work we now have FIVE clear English words! Seems small but when we got him he had a clear vocabulary of about 10 total words. His total vocabulary is up to about 50-60 words and he can put 2 word sentences together. He has now been evaluated by the public schools for speech and we have the meeting Aug 28 at 9:30 EDT to decide what will be done for him. We are also hoping to get them to evaluate him for possible physical and occupational therapy as well as sensory integration disorder. There are no big signs of problems in those areas, but if we can catch some small problems now, that will be a big help later.

In the meantime, we will go back to the Mother's Day Out program while we WAIT on the school system. My work schedule continues to be on hold while we try to sort all this out.

Pray that we will get the school system to give Gideon all of the help he needs without too much hassle.

Pray that Nina will continue to do well at school

Pray for Bruce and I as we continue to make choices about careers. Pray that God will open up the right opportunities for us to increase our income. Pray for my venture into the music publishing business.

Peace of Christ to You all,
Lori