Time Flies By . . .

It has been a while - please pardon the long absence.  We had a great Christmas with the kids on our annual trip to Nebraska to spend the holidays with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bryce.  We even had a chance to visit friends and relatives.  The roads were good, but the absence of snow left the kids a little bewildered.  One night we had a little freezing rain, so the next morning the kids had great fun sledding on the slick grass.

Thank you to all who helped provide a very nice Christmas for the kids.

It is already the end of the semester at school. 

Chip is doing better in Kindergarten.  He has the same teacher that Charlie had, and she loves Chip.  He is learning to follow rules and is realizing that being good at school gets him rewards.

Charlie is doing better than we expected this year.  His teachers are working really hard for him.  The lowest grade on his report card was an 87.  He is doing his homework without throwing a temper tantrum.  Each Friday in assembly students receive awards for having the best week in their class.  This week Charlie got the award!!! 

Annie is doing better, and her grades are improving.  We think an issue with some bullying in her class was affecting her grades.  Now that we have resolved that, she seems much more relaxed.  She is on the honor roll for the semester.

Marquel keeps her grades up, and is now on the volleyball team.  We don't see much of her now.  At 13 she prefers to spend weekends with her friends.  We miss her, and we hope she is making wise decisions.

We have to remind ourselves that as the kids get older, they will begin making their own choices.  We hope that we have been able to provide them with a good foundation.  We try to keep in mind that 5 days a week they live in a very different world than we do, and it is probably difficult for them to switch gears for 2 days a week to live in our world.

The simple fact that these kids have the opportunity to go to school, have a bed to sleep in, and enough food and clothes, is a far cry from where they could be.  Mr. Thornton told me again yesterday how he first found these kids, visiting their mom in the projects where she had an apartment with a box spring mattress on the floor, an old coat as a blanket, and the kids running around with little or no clothes.  Marquel would have been about 5 years old when he took them in, certainly old enough to remember these conditions. 

Because Mr. Thornton loves these kids so much that he is willing to do his best to raise them, and because all of you care enough to help him do that, these kids have a chance "not only to survive, but to thrive" in the words of our very wise Pastor Schulte.

Until next time . . .
Stephanie