Week 3 done~

Ok so here I am thinking all the kids being in school that I will have all this free time on my hands right? WRONG! I think I have become more busy...nope pretty sure I have. I have been busy with little project around the house such as going through stored clothes and preparing for winter...gosh never had to do that in Florida...those were the days! LOL!!! Been doing some counseling and helping some other women work through some things. Sometimes it just takes another person's perspective to help us see things different. But the biggest changes have been this week. We launched or will have launched 3 new ministries this week. I am no in charge of not only Children's Church and the Children's ministries but on Tuesday we started a NEW Women's Bible Study...YAY! This past Tuesday we had 9 women including myself and I expect that it will grow. It was so much fun, we laughed and joked and teased one another. So much fun!
Then Wednesday we launched our new Kids Club we are calling, All Star Explorer's. We had 7 kids come out. Which may seem like a small number but for a church of our size that is huge! We believe that it is going to grow! Again I am in charge of this as well. The third ministry that is being launched Sunday afternoon is the Youth Group. Which will have a name as soon as we all figure one out. I am so excited! I know of at least 4/5 teens who are planning to do be there. YAY! Again this is huge for our church, we haven't had a youth group in our church in over 8 years so this is a big step. Yes I am in charge of this too. So as you can see I am and have been super busy preparing and getting things worked out.
Besides this I have been busy with daily family stuff and working on a variety of other projects. I haven't spent much time writing on this blog or my other blog. I do plan on getting back to doing more writing. Specially now that I am preparing the women's Bible study. We are studying the women of the Bible so I know I will post some of the highlights on Broken Potterie.
The kids are doing great! Jaron has started band this year. He has chosen to play the sax! YAY! I love the sax. I played it in school and loved it. He has been practicing daily and seems to really enjoy it. He starts lessons next week with his band teacher and will also be practicing with the 4/5th grade band and once a week will also play with the 4-8th grade band. SO COOL! So proud of him! He is doing great and so far he is enjoying 4th grade.
I have to say that this year has been a huge success so far. Yes it's only been 3 weeks but I have to say compared to last year, this year is the mountain top so far! Kris has adjusted so well that last year seems like a mear dream. He is working hard and that is so cool! I got a great report last week from his OT....

Hi Melissa,
Kris seems to be doing great. I talked to his teacher and she seemed real positive. She has not had any issues yet. She feels that he is doing good. I also talked with new principal Mr. Shelby. He worked at Lincoln in Marion and was great with kids of all kinds. He enjoys the kids. I told some of Kris' querks and how we deal with him. I told him about sensory processing and what Kris needs. He was very open to the ideas just seemed unfamiliar with sensory. He got the year book out and looked at Kris so he would know what he looked like. Kris was quiet with me but it was the first thing in the morning. He was just trying to get his stuff put away. Thanks,
Jennifer

YAY! I am so thankful that he is doing well. I tend to worry more about our Kristofer than I do the others. Don't mean to but I think it's normal when you have a special needs child. Then today I got this note.

Hi Melissa,
I just wanted to let you know that Kristofer's Special Ed teacher emailed me and said that on the days that Kris gets OT she can see a huge difference in his work in resource (special ed room). She wants to be retaught the techniques and she wants to carry them out on days I am not there!!!!!! I think last year it was hit and miss with staff carrying out sensory stuff – not because they are bad staff – just not understanding, tuning in or seeing the results it creates. You have to believe in something for it to work and when you don’t truly understand it you can’t believe in it.

THIS IS HUGE! Kris receives a lot of support at the school but it always helps when the one person other than Mrs Vanhorn (2nd grade teacher) who spends quite a bit of time with him finally "gets it" and wants to make a difference! YAY! What an answer to prayer! I am so encouraged about this!
Sara and Eli are doing great as well. The kindergarten teacher, Ms Robertson, is a great teacher. They have a very small class this year a total of 13 children. Each year she does Star Student days and show cases one child. Monday it was Eli, he gets a picture taken, a special crown and star pendant, plus a few other things, gets to share his story about himself, is the line leader and a few other great things. He was so proud and excited!! : ) Sara was very sad all week and I kept reassuring her that she would be chosen soon. Well today she came in screaming..."Mommy I was the Star Student today!" All giddy and happy! YAY! They are loving school and I am so glad I put them in preK last year. This year half the class are friends from preK and I think that has helped a LOT! It makes me smile to think of Sara having girl friends. She tells me she has two best friends and is so excited to tell me how much she loves school! YAY!
It's late and I am beat. If you think about it keep me in prayer, I have had to go off my medication for arthritis and this affects my knees. I re injured the knee that needs a TKR and had an MRI last week. Was suppose to see the ortho. doc next week but my appointment has had to be changed till Sept 39th...ugh! Anyway the meds can cause ulcers and I have had terrible stomach pain and heartburn so I am off of it for a while and I can already tell a difference. Wow didn't realize just how much my body hurts from arthritis. Thanks for the prayers!