Another month in another year has past. We have fully entered 2017. We celebrated Anthony’s first birthday this month! We made a pre-birthday trip down to Carlsbad to celebrate with Grandparents Powers. Tim also did a half marathon while in Carlsbad. We are settling back into no more traveling for a while and starting to re-establish a weekly routine.
Cordelia is full of personality and is blooming into quite a little lady. She often says, “I’m almost three” when people ask how old she is. Grandparents Powers gave her an early birthday present by getting her a LEGOLAND membership for the year. It was a historic moment in the Powers family – a new generation of LEGOLAND members. Cordelia loves wearing dresses and spinning around. One of her favorite activities is putting on a necklace and taking it off, tossing it across the room. “Just like Elsa does in Frozen movie. ‘Let it go’.” She is a very loving big sister and most of the time tries to take good care of Anthony. She wants to help and often puts her arms out and tells Alicia, “I can take care of him” or “I can hold him.” “I’m a really great person.” She still has lots of stubborn and willful moments. Less emotional breakdowns and more intentional rebellion, which requires greater tact for discipline and instruction. Overall she has a very loving heart that cares for others. Like all of us, she working on smoothing those rough edges.
Anthony is officially one at the end of the month! He walks all over and has even tried some quick walk/run around the house quotchasingquot Corrie. While he is basically unintelligible, that certainly is not stopping him from trying to talk and tell us how things are. He is loud and wants to make sure his voice is heard in the family. Getting him to eat is a continual challenge since he generally refuses the firsts bites of anything. Alicia often falls to the quotsafety netquot foods of quesadilla and bacon. He also is doing well with yogurt and oatmeal and is officially on whole cows milk rather than formula. Hopefully his weight will be satisfactory at his 1yr check-up. Fortunately outside of meal times and from the safety of Mommy’s arms he is a happy smiling guy. He is very social and loves attention.
Alicia enjoyed the week with her parents down in Carlsbad. Her mom was able to get several of the days off work, so Alicia got extra help with the kids. Alicia also enjoyed a dinner out with her friend from high school. Back in San Jose, Alicia is focusing on her quotmommy dutiesquot and searching out new activities to do with the kids. Finding more playmates is always a challenge. Additionally, there have been frequent trips to the house we own in town now that the renters have moved out and kitchen construction has started. So things have been much more active lately and almost every day has some activity lined up. Alicia is also joining a new women’s’ study, which includes childcare. She also continues to be involved in the local MOPS club.
Tim was very successful at his half marathon. He beat his target pace and finished with a sub 8min mile. Tim’s project at work passed a major milestone in the development phase at the end of the month. His work continues to be valued and he is being pushed to expand his technical skills and work beyond project focused activities. Tim has also put a lot of time into the house. He installed a new ceiling fan the week Alicia and the kids were out of town. He also put in a lot of weekend hours cleaning up the yard and laying new mulch.
We decided to return to our former church, Park Victoria, after realizing our lack of community. The church community there is very welcoming and is certainly a place to connected and serve.
During this time we are praying for God’s direction on our housing situation and where we should live during this year. We continue to pray for relationships and community. We appreciate all of your support.
