Update 13 November 2011

Dear famlings and friendlings,

This week was pretty pleasant and calm (calm=pleasant) for our family.

Carlos has a new favorite book, David Gets in Trouble, by David Shannon. He checked it out from the school’s library and asks us to read it daily. Carlos’s AYSO game was cancelled yesterday due to rain, but his LILA team still played. He is such a natural soccer player—it’s just amazing! Today, Carlos discovered that one of his AYSO teammates attends our ward from time to time; I told Carlos this was an excellent friendshipping opportunity, and he was like, “Blah, blah, blah.” (LILA plays its matches at the YMCA, thus the jerseys. Carlos is #17.)

Arianna read books one and two of the Spiderwick Chronicles. We also finished book 7 of the Charlie Bone series (I read it to Arie). She is also into making crafts and writing stories. I wish I could say that I smile on these activities, but it’s hard for me to deal with the amount of mess that they generate. (Case and point, Kirk just caught her doing watercolor painting directly on the coffee table.)

One of our big concerns for Arie right now is that she is not eating well. She even turns up her nose to kids’ classics like Mac-n-Cheese. In August, we learned that this sort of obstinate anorexia has caused Arie to “fall off” her growth curve: she used to be around 98% for height and is now around 30%; most troubling, her weight is at 5%. She is visibly shrinking compared to her peers. The disturbing part of this is that she takes pride in being exceptionally skinny.

In high school, I finished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with the juniors; next week, they will start The Great Gatsby. The freshmen began To Kill a Mockingbird last week. Nothing dramatic happened this week, but I am beginning to feel melancholy: this coming week is my last. I really love many of the students and know that leaving them will feel like a high school romance break up.  :-} 

On Friday, I learned that I passed my Teaching Performance Assessments; I was the only individual in my single-subject cohort to pass with 100% accuracy! Thank you to everyone who sent blessings my way; I could not have done it alone. So, the next step is to apply to the districts and private schools for a job. Until something comes along, I suppose I will have no choice but to sub.  :-P

Kirk had a good week at work. Yesterday, he did the unthinkable and played church basketball. I was proud of him for the effort (basketball is not one of his interests, and I can honestly say that I’m probably better at it than he is). Unfortunately, he jammed/sprained a finger badly. Ah, the casualties of church ball!

We have no further news about Grandma Monson, and I am proud of her for hanging on another week. We are especially impressed by the excellent care that her children and hospice workers give her. We’re glad that she can at least be comfortable during these final days.

Last week, I mentioned my nephew’s terrible brain injury. It was a scary and tentative week as we waited to see if he would survive. Although he is recovering, an MRI scan shows that his right parietal lobe died and his occipital and right temporal lobes suffered damage. We may not know the full effects of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) for years to come. However, Noah is responding in ways that seem to contradict the MRI scan: he can still recognize people, grasp objects, and move both sides of his body. Already, his continued life is a miracle, but we all hope and pray for further miracles on his behalf. Every baby seems to have a “spill” story; this one simply was the one-in-a-million fluke tragedy. We have to trust that God has a purpose and plan for little Noah, despite this lifelong hardship.

Noah is home now with his parents Andrew and Kristen and big brother Asher. Asher, who turns 2 this week, has a Baby Noah doll from the hospital. Nurses taught Asher about how to touch Baby Noah now that he has some new scars and challenges. The doll looks just like the real Baby Noah—Darth Vader scars and stiches included! Happy birthday, Asher, and prayers and kisses to Baby Noah!

Lots of love,
Lauren and family