Avery told us this morning that he is going to another teacher’s room to take some tests. This is the testing for the WINGS program that we nominated him for. I’m glad to hear they are starting the testing and they didn’t tell him what it was for. He said the book is 90 pages long! Also he said it was challenging which I’m pretty sure he enjoys. Some kids get so nervous and anxious about it but it doesn’t seem to make A that way. The WINGS program is a talented and gifted program in our school district for 2nd-5th grade.
Kim has been working with Jaelyn on letter sounds. She sometimes doesn’t recognize some letters and certainly has no grip on sounds yet. Maybe preschool could have worked with her on that had she actually gone to a program but hopefully in the next 6 months before she’s off to kindergarten, she’ll get better at it. It’s not like she has to know how to read the first day of school anyways. She’s loves to draw. I have to actually limit how many pieces of paper she can use in a day because she steals my printer paper and leaves pictures and “books” that she’s made all over the house. It’s cute to help her put one of her “books” together with the stapler and hear what story she has come up with in her head. She’s definitely creative.
Braden is Braden. He’s so funny. I can’t believe how a baby can have a sense of humor at this age but he does. Out of the blue he’ll say, “Mommy, knock knock.” Then I say, “who’s there.” Then he says, “poop” and laughs his head off. I don’t get where he got that from but somewhere along the lines, he thought it was funny and now says it all the time. He’s curious about everything. Likes to figure out how things work.
We got another letter from the little girl and her mom that we sponsor in Zimbabwe. The mom sent us a very nice letter saying how thankful she was the Bridget got sponsored so quickly. It’s been good for our kids to hear the letters and understand why it is we give to World Vision in the first place. It’s been fun for them to know they have a “sister in Christ” out there all the way across the world.
I have this coming weekend off. 4 days in a row to be exact! I only have 3 weeks before my sister flies into town. I’m so excited to have her here for a while. We have lots of catching up to do. I can’t believe tomorrow is the first day of March either. We’ve been Texas residents now for almost 8 months.
For some reason, Erik and I had a conversation last night about where we wanted to be buried if one of us dies. We never did really come to a conclusion. He said he wouldn’t care because he’d be dead. I told him I’ll cremate him and put him on the mantel. We joke now but someday we may have to face that decision and I’d like to sort of know what our plans/wishes are. He thinks he’d stay in Texas with the kids, mostly because his mom is here and she could help with the kids. Plus he loves his job. I think I’d move to Marshall and live with my parents with the kids until I figured out what to do. But where would we want the service to be? I’d want to maybe have it in Des Moines. If you have to fly a dead body back on an airplane does it cost the same as a ticket? I guess this is morbid to talk about but one nevers knows when their last moment on earth could be so it’s good to be prepared and discuss this stuff with your loved ones. I took care of a lady with end stage liver failure this weekend. She was only 56 and her daughter was in her 20’s. I saw how unprepared this girl was as she was starring death in the face and was having to deal with insurance companies, nursing homes for her mom. It wasn’t like she didn’t know it was going to happen soon, it was that she wasn’t prepared. But can anyone really be prepared for the loss of a parent or anyone they love? Then down the hall, another mom is also towards the end but her daughter is at peace with it. It was just eye opening for me. Most times we are scared to talk about death, even Christians. I think death is a part of life. I think you can find peace in it if you know Christ. Death can be peaceful and a beautiful thing. It’s sad for those left behind too soon, or unexpectedly. But in some cases it’s an end to suffering, like in these 2 cases this weekend. Since we are on the topic, I highly suggest that people get their end of life wishes written down and handed out to family that may someday be faced with difficult decisions. We had another case this last month where the patient had a living will and because she was in a confused state, the family had the decision making authority. They decided that they wanted everything done for their mom because they didn’t want to have that guilt for not trying everything possible. The mom specifically had written that she didn’t want anything done. But somewhere in that document she drew up years ago it stated, “if I’m deemed mentally unable to make decisions for myself, I will leave it up to my family.” So it was sort of a touchy thing. She didn’t want to be kept alive. That was her wishes when she was alert and able to decide that. I don’t feel it was fair for them to take that away from her in her dying days. All I;m saying is have your ducks in a row today because God may come for you tomorrow.
