Well, September turned out to be a bumpy one! Started off the month with Lydia’s first “camp grandma” and a trip to the mountains for Tim, Alicia, and the older kids with Mimi and Papa. Unfortunately the trip to the mountains contained a lot of smoke, as large portions of the Sierras caught on fire over Labor day weekend. Back home we tried to settle back into a routine but it was not an easy transition! Kids all cried during school drop off after a week break. Alicia’s time was focused on Sparks and getting things prepared for the beginning of the club year. Tim had several grueling workouts to leave him exhausted along with extra dad duties to cover for Alicia. The Evil One was certainly throwing his fiery darts and things were spiraling down. Then we went to a small group with our church for the first time in over 6 months. And read “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Just the reminder we needed! So, Alicia started praying more and worrying less; started focusing on being faithful to God’s calling and letting God take care of the results. We are told to Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” vs. 16 “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” And as we tell the kids faithful means “when you say something you do it.” So when we are obedient to the call of God, He will make us able to stand.
Cordelia is transitioning to being in elementary school, including having homework. The days can be long and she has been getting tired earlier than before. She is doing well in school though and has an enjoyable time. She also continues in gymnastics and swimming. She’s getting enthusiastic about gymnastics, trying to do handstands and cartwheels. She is also improving at swimming; working on the “crawl” stroke and side breathing. She also started back at AWANA in her second year as a Sparky. It’s a little different having the club meetings online but we’ll get used to it.
Anthony is enjoying his time at school. He has many of the same kids in his class and continues to make friends and have a fun time. He’s also going gymnastics and swimming. He’s been continuing to improve in gymnastics and is pretty strong. At swim class he continues to gain confidence and swim further by himself. Anthony also started back at AWANA in his second year as a Cubbie. His club time is a bit different than Cordelia’s and he seems to be doing ok with the video calls.
Lydia is a whirlwind of 2 year old! She talks all the time and wants to make sure she is part of the conversation. She swings between being gentle, cute, and snuggly to a giant terror of yelling, screaming, and hitting. It’s been a challenging month trying to deal with her and figure out how to discipline her. Especially since she’s such a large kid for her age, she’s harder to handle and has more substance. We try to hold on to the cute moments and work through the hard ones.
Alicia has been under a lot of pressure this month with AWANA club starting back up and duties as Sparks director returning into full swing. Fortunately her pressures at work have lessened some and she’s not under as much stress there. She enjoyed the trip up to the mountains and the opportunity to get away from it all and have some simple days. After the trip, things were grinding into top gear and Alicia had a hard time getting re-settled with all the things of life.
Tim has had a fairly interesting month. He has gotten involved on some other projects at work, so things are picking up. He is also completing final handoff to the customer of the program he’s been working on that has had him traveling, so it will be good to have that finished. At home, he has been busy as well with maintaining the house and yard. He did the finish work in the bathroom, installing the sinks and mirrors – it’s great to have our own bathroom again! He’s also been working on pickling some of the vegetables from the garden – mainly hot peppers, to keep us (him) warm through the winter! He has kept on working out, and is starting to feel like he’s able to do the workouts without feeling quite as exhausted by the end of it, although he still has a long way to go.
This next month promises to have its share of challenges as well. Please pray for Alicia as she guides the Sparks program through its online growth pains and works to make it successful, and for the kids as they continue to get accustomed to school full time. For all of us, we need to work on living in harmony with each other and having patience with each other as we are getting used to the new routine with AWANA, school, and a family that is tired more often than not.
