Another Week Winding Down...

As I feared, the opening assembly did not go well at AWANA last week. Jonathan heard Tony's (Mr. T's) voice even before we walked into the room. I said, "Look, here's your class. Let's stand with them until it's time to go to your room." Jonathan screamed, "No! I don't want to!" His voice got even louder than Mr. T's! Needless to say, his Grammy and I stood outside the door with him until it was time for everyone to march out. Seeing that reaction, I was nervous about how game time would go. One of Jonathan's teachers (Miss Joni) came and got me while my class was having handbook time and told me to come peek my head out. He was in the fellowship hall with Mr. T and the rest of his class, running and playing ball and giving Mr. T a fist bump every now and then. When I picked him up after class, he showed me his fruit snacks and a bracelet they'd made. I asked if he had a good time and if he wanted to come back next week, and he said yes to both! :) Yesterday we started working on a very simple verse that he has to memorize for next week. When John came home for lunch, he asked Jonathan what his memory verse was and Jonathan answered, "Fhurst John" (as in, "First John"). John looked at me and I said I thought that was the reference, but I didn't teach that part to him. Sure enough, the reference is 1 John 4:8! I think he may have heard the verse in Sunday School or something; that's the only explanation I can come up with. It's amazing though to hear his little voice say his memory verse. He said it back to me last night before he went to bed, and again to John this morning. It's so much fun to watch him learning! We think he's going to do great in AWANA this year! :)

If you haven't heard already, John did not pass the last section of his exam that he took. (I think this was sometime in July or August. The dates are starting to run together on me.) He did some research on some study material that is supposed to be really good. A lot of his coworkers have either used this material in the past or are using it now and have been having pretty good success with it. He decided to give it a shot himself. He ordered textbooks for all the sections and also registered to take online study courses. We're hoping the combination of the textbooks and classes will help him get those couple of extra points he needs to pass. John's first study course starts on Sept. 21, and I think he's going to try and sit for another section of the exam sometime in October. He's trying to get in as much as he can before tax season starts up again. I think he'll still have one more section to take sometime during tax season, though. He has until next November to get the other three sections passed before he starts losing credit again. Please keep him in your prayers. I'll post updates on his exam as they come in.

Jacob is cutting teeth yet again. His molars finally all came through, and now it looks like he's cutting the ones in front of those. (I hate teething. I'm afraid I've got about another year of it to go, though.) I've been concerned about him over this last week because he's been vomiting when he has a bowel movement. He's been spitting up with his bms for a while now, and I mentioned it to his pediatrician. She said it happens sometimes, but as long as he's not spitting up excessively it's nothing to worry about. This weekend, however, he threw up a couple of times--just while straining during a bm--enough to get on both him and me. That seemed a little excessive to me, so I called the doctor's office and talked to his nurse. She told me to try and get his stools softer to begin with. I think maybe I haven't been giving him enough juice. I took her advice and he had a bm yesterday without vomiting! Between him and Jonathan (eating habits), it has been one stressful week!

I've started doing Jazzercise with my friend, Taira. I decided I needed something to boost my energy levels a bit. I find it hard to keep up with some of the moves--just when I get one down the instructor moves to something else--but it is a lot of fun, and what a workout!

We're looking forward to a great Labor Day weekend! Saturday night, John and I are going to find out what it's like to have four kids. We and our very good friends the Hannas came up with an arrangement: each month we take turns keeping each others' kids to ensure that we get at least one date night a month. This Saturday the Hanna twins are coming to our house! Our boys just love the Hanna girls, and all four of them get along really well. We're looking forward to having them for a little while! I also have family coming up this weekend. My mom's brother and sister and their families will be in town. It's gonna be a good weekend! :)