Christmas 2009
Time marches on. It’s that time of year, again. A lot has changed in the past year. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Andrew entered his terrible twos. Along with the terrible, he has also demonstrated his ability to help. He is the most willing helper in the house. Andrew had therapy to correct his delayed speech, but with only minimal help, he was able to overcome some of the problem. He progressed so much by the time of his first evaluation that he no longer qualified for state sponsored services. He is still a little difficult to understand at times, but that is a big improvement over his previous limited vocabulary. He is now frequently using 5-6 (or more) word sentences! Now, when Collin’s therapist asks a question, Andrew will sometimes answer for Collin.
Collin graduated from his special education pre-school, and started Kindergarten in 2009. In the summer, he took Mommy & Me swimming lessons. His reaction to the swimming class was surprising, since he likes to play with water. His instructors gave him an award for being the most vocal swimming student. It was a well-earned award(he was quite the screamer). Collin learned to ride a bike without training wheels last summer. The amazing thing was that he required no instructions. I just pumped up the tires in his bike, and that allowed him to more easily build up his momentum. It only took a few times of him pushing with his feet while sitting on the bike before he decided to start pedaling. Collin taught himself to ride a bike about a week after Ivy learned to ride.
Ivy took 8 weeks of swimming lessons in the summer. She is making slow, but steady progress. She is now in the 3rd level of the swimming classes. Her biggest difficulty is coordinating her arms with her leg movements, while putting her head in the water. Ivy started 1st grade, this year. Her school day got longer, as a result, but Ivy has taken it in stride. She has no problem making friends. She has no problems with academics. Her favorite subject appears to be math, but she still finds time to make artwork to decorate Tom’s office. Ivy’s favorite recess activity is to traverse the monkey bars. Her blistered hands are testament to her zest for the monkey bars.
Mindy is the quiet warrior behind the scenes. It’s not a glorious job, but she deserves the credit for the supporting the success of all the other family members. She’s kind of like the rabbit in a 1-mile run. The pace setter (rabbit) is tasked with leading the way, and encouraging the others to run at a competitive pace. The pace setter only runs for a half mile, and just drops out early, receiving little recognition for helping the others to perform their best. Her job was harder for the first half of this year, being that she was basically a single parent. (Tom was away until July.) In her precious little spare time, Mindy found time to participate in a card stamping club, where she made greeting cards.
Mindy is carrying our 4th child. The gender won’t be known until February, and the due date is the end of June. This one will be our last. Mindy and Baby appear to be doing well, but an unintended consequence of the pregnancy is that Mindy lost weight. At the end of the first trimester, she weighs the same as she did before she was pregnant.
Tom spent half of this year in the desert. It was a meager, but safe existence. Most American servicemen in Kuwait are not allowed to leave their bases, except when on official duty. It didn’t take long to exhaust the local supply of movies, and there was little else to do for leisure time activities. This wasn’t entirely a bad thing, though. It was encouragement for Tom to work on his Coast Guard career, and also to keep in touch with the family. Thanks to modern technology, Tom was able to communicate, almost daily, by video conferencing. Tom got his first promotion while in Kuwait. Also while in Kuwait, Tom completed a number of steps to achieve his next promotion. The job that Tom performed is basically guard duty, but on the water. So, there was plenty of time to work on other activities, and to train. Tom completed most of his requirements for becoming a qualified boat driver.
Due to travel restrictions, and work requirements, church attendance was difficult. You had to really want to go in order to actually get there. This is not an experience that Tom wants to repeat, but it was in a way, a testimony building experience. It taught Tom not to take church for granted. There were usually never more than 30 people at church, so there were many opportunities to bare testimony and participate in church services, there. The highlight of all the church services was when Elder Gerald Causse and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to visit. It was an amazing experience to have two general authorities visit our little congregation of 65.
Thanks to our many friends & family who offered us support this year, whether on the phone or watching the kids for Mindy to get a break. Hope you all have a wonderful 2010!
