Where have we been?

Wow, this is the longest I've gone without updating the blog.  You would think I would have plenty of time since the kids are back in school.  But honestly I just have not had the time to sit and write.

The girls have been with us for 14 months now.  Wow!  14 months.  Time is really going by fast now.  They are doing great!  They LOVE school.  We have some challenges. Homework is one.  The girls are in Civics and, well honestly, I don't know why.  But they are doing their best and actually learning how to research a text for their answers.  Hope is doing amazing with reading. She has found the library at school and checks a few books out every week.  The very first time she checked out a book, she told me that it's due back in 2 weeks.  I told her that if she finishes the book before then, she can return it and get a new book. Her eyes lit up. She was so excited. I think she finished the book in 1 day.

The girls only have 3 classes together.  This is a good thing.  They need their space from each other.  They are making their own friends.  They do eat lunch together which I'm glad about.

Maggie is getting more comfortable with trying.  She has told us a few times how the math teacher will ask for volunteers to go up to the board to answer a math question. She gladly raises her hand.  She also told us in PE that the teacher asked for a volunteer to get up in front of the class to help with the stretching. And she volunteered for that too.

We had a conference with most of their teachers last week.  Bill & I needed to just discuss what their expectations are from the girls. The teachers who arrived were great. They love the girls. They reminded us that the girls have come a long way in a year.  And that we need to look at how far they've come, vs how far they have to go.  Their work is being modified so they won't get overwhelmed.

We were thrilled when the school finally hired an ELL teacher aid.  Her first day was the day of our meeting with the teachers.  She spent the whole day with Hope.  She planned to spend the whole next day with Maggie.  We met her and she seemed nice.  Well, the next day the girls said she was not at school.  On Wednesday they said she quit.  After 1 day the lady quit. She told the school it was more work than she could handle.  The school was VERY upset.  She quit in an email.  The school told me to make sure the girls know that this had nothing to do with them. That this lady was not the right person for the job.  But what really is interesting, is that Hope & Maggie would have been her ONLY students.  This is not the norm for ELL teachers.  So, she most definitely was not the right teacher for our girls.  Now we wait for a new teacher.

Maggie was having nose bleeds last week at school.  They suggested we take her to the doctor. So we did.  They wanted to do some blood work.  While we were doing that, I asked if we could do more blood work because we never did some basic things on the girls.  They agreed to do the same for Hope.  So we took them to the lab first thing in the morning. They had to fast.  So when we left they were hungry.  We took them to McD's.  They could NOT believe you could have breakfast at McD's.  They LOVED it.  :-)  We still don't know what caused the nose bleeds.  We go back next week to get the results from the blood work.

This past weekend we went to Magic Kingdom.  The girls were brave.  Maggie tried Thunder Mountain. LOVED IT.  Hope tried Splash Mountain. LOVED IT.  Then they both tried Space Mountain.  And LOVED IT.  :-)

We stayed for the 3 PM parade.  Hope & Maggie were so excited. They waved at every character.  Maggie had her hand out to give "high 5's".  The smiles on their faces were priceless.  Maggie asked for me to take a picture of Belle.  She is her favorite princess.

This weekend they are going to their first birthday slumber party.  This is one of Maggie's friends and they invited Hope too. They are excited.

The girls have to dress out for PE.  Maggie has had her PE uniform for a month now.  Hope just got hers yesterday (they were waiting on a size small).  She asked me to take her picture.  :-) She's so cute.

OH, and probably the most important thing that has happened.  Maggie prayed and asked Jesus into her heart.  We still need to explain it more to her. But she is starting to understand.  She loves to pray to Jesus and Jadyn is reading her bible stories.  It's so amazing to witness.

So this has basically been what is going on.  Lots of things to keep us busy.  :-)  Thanks for checking in on us. Thanks for praying for us.

Debbie