January was a busy month for us, starting off 2020. We had a couple of big changes this month; primarily we all bid a tearful farewell to Valéria, who had been with us since January of 2019. The whole family has been sick as well, fighting off a cold that Tim and Lydia lovingly shared with the rest of us. We celebrated Anthony’s birthday weekend with a visit from Mimi and Papa. We have found a church that we like (good kids program, good music and good messages), and are working now to get ourselves involved with a small group there. We enjoyed a few extra days of quality family time at the beginning of the month with the holidays, and we’re continuing to make that a priority this year.
Cordelia is continuing to excel at school. We had our very first parent-teacher conference with her teachers — they said that quotCordelia is an incredible young lady!quot They said that she’s very strong in reading and addition, and that she is also a very kind quotbig sisterquot to the other students in the class — especially the younger ones who are sad; she is always there to comfort and encourage them. It is truly a blessing to see how she is blossoming into a kind and loving young lady. She also continues to do well at AWANA; she is well on her way to completing her extra book and she takes pride in her accomplishments.
Anthony turned four this month! He had a big birthday weekend planned, but unfortunately the family illness took its turn with him at exactly the wrong time. We went to Legoland for his birthday with the whole extended family, and he spent most of the day relaxing in the stroller, just getting out for rides. He had a fever the day of his party, though, so we had to postpone that until February. He also fell into a chair and cut his eye, and then got a double-ear infection, so he had a rough end of the month. He is doing well aside from that, though. He got his room back when Valeria left, and he’s continuing to do well with AWANA. He is starting to ask about when he can go to school; we may enroll him after summer vacation.
Lydia continues to grow and develop. She is working on eight (8!) teeth this month; so she’s been a bit less patient than usual. Her language skills continue to develop; she is practicing talking at every opportunity (just the typical baby babble, although I’m sure she thinks she’s saying something!). She’s also working on learning to use a spoon, and she’s started to show some interest in the potty. She has also begun engaging a lot more with her siblings and playing with them, rather than playing by herself in the same room. This is both good and bad — sometimes the older two don’t appreciate the company, but for the most part they all get along well and enjoy each other.
Alicia is continuing to excel at work. She continues to perform her administrative tasks; in fact, under her leadership her organization was the first ever to achieve 100% compliance with the process she manages! She has also met success with the technical tasks that have been on her plate, but of course success is rewarded with more work, so she stays busy. Her role as AWANA Sparks director has continued, with Alicia implementing a new incentive program for her Sparks, which was well-received. She is currently working on some motivation and discipline issues with her volunteer workers, so that is a source of stress. She’s enjoying the quality time that we get together on the evenings and weekends.
Tim’s work took a bit of a hit this month, with his programs not receiving funding for 2020. He and some of his coworkers are in the process of changing groups to a different side of the company that will have more work available; unfortunately that will probably be another month or two before it’s finalized. He’s making good progress on the house, though; he built a storage shelf and a mobile wood storage rack for the garage, and a large compost bin for the garden in the back yard. He’s getting ready for planting season! We are looking forward to another year of more vegetables than we can reasonably eat. He has also been working out more; he shifted back into weight lifting towards the end of the month and is enjoying it.
It was a large blessing to have Valéria overlap with Julieta. In addition to having someone to show Julieta the ins and outs of what daily life looks like with the kids, Valeria also introduced Julieta to all of her friends and favorite places and activities, which jump-started Julieta’s social life. The girls also went up to Pasadena for New Year’s Eve and camped out at the side of the road in anticipation of the 2020 Rose Parade! They got great seats and the full front-row experience. Julieta also began taking English classes this month. In February we will pretty much continue with our routine. Tim will be (hopefully) busy at work with transitioning to his new job. We pray especially for health for our family and for deeper relationships with the people we know down here. Plus making new connects at the new church that we hope will continue to be a good fit.
