Finally an Update

Hello all! It has been quite some time since I have posted. I will try to give you a quick rundown of the past month and a half. :)

I am healing well from my surgery although it seems to be taking much longer than I remember, but the doctor assures me I am doing well. Barnabas and I are going on our first ever vacation- and its kid free too! We are celebrating 8 years of marriage and the fact that I am on my way to well. This morning I woke up with a 101.7 temp along with a migraine and it hurt like crazy to swallow, I was convinced I had mono and it was going to ruin the vacation (we leave Thursday). But thankfully it is just strep and I have antibiotics and should be feeling great by Thursday!

Grace just had her second set of conferences. Her teacher told us that "something has clicked for Grace" and she is doing incredibly well with Chinese language and is in the top of her class for math! (Im trying not to brag too much) ;). She loves her school and is also doing wonderfully in her violin classes! She was the first in her class to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Asa is getting very excited to go to Yinghua next year. He and Grace will be going to Chinese summer camp this summer. It will be very helpful for him to transition into school and it will be great for Grace to stay on top of the language. Asa has been a pretty emotional guy as of late. He is currently on the porch pouting because its too cold in the house. I have no idea how the porch is warmer than the house, but he is 5 and has it all figured out....sigh.

Zeke is...well Zeke. Barb tells me that Zeke's demeanor is very reminiscent of Jed's. Zeke has been picking up words here and there but prefers to not use them. He is a very sweet boy and incredibly funny. He rarely speaks with out being spoken to, but this past Sunday he was enjoying his easter basket and he looked up at me and said with a mouth full of jelly beans "I wike it!!" and gave me an emphatic thumbs up. I laughed hard at that one, so did he. Grace has had a killer stuffy nose as of late. We have been working with her and blowing her nose. "Blow harder Grace, you can do it." Today while Barnabas was taking the boys to go pick up Grace there was silence in the car (Asa had fallen asleep). And he heard Zeke say "Blow...harder....nose. Eyes...ears...mouth...head...hair."

Barnabas is still working at Reuters and loving it, he is very challenged and having a great time learning so much. He has been walking to work these days. We look forward to getting back to "normal" life here soon. As of April 3rd I will be able to lift things over 10 pounds! We have been blessed by our parents. They have been staying with us to help out with the kids, its been wonderful!

Alright that is the nutshell. We will be posting photos of our vacation for the kids (they will be staying with the grandparents while we are gone) so to help them not be home sick we will be doing photos for them on the blog, check back...