Lydia's Third Quarter Choir Concert Videos

Lydia's 3rd Quarter Choir Concert was tonight.  I'll share some photos later, but I wanted to go ahead and share the videos.  

The kids did a fabulous job.  They were practicing for the District Choir Competition that takes place next Tuesday.  

They sang by grade, and then all three grades together.  Here are the sixth grade pieces.  In the sixth grade pieces, Lydia is on the front row, a few kids from the right.

Bright Morning Stars

A Choral Flourish

Elijah Rock

Here are the songs from the entire choir.  On these songs, Lydia is on the second row, on the very end.
Ubuntu

When You Believe

They did a great job!

Snow Videos

Here are some videos of the girls sledding:

Sleet! No Ice! Then Snow! Then Ice!

 We have had quite the eventful week as far as weather is concerned.  They forecast up to six inches of SNOW!  Everyone was so excited.  But then, because of the dang snow-dome that prevents our area from getting any ACTUAL snow, we got sleet instead.  Lots of it.

Yes!  All that white you see?  It's sleet! 

 Lydia really wanted to go out and play in it.  She grabbed Cassidy and they set to work on a mini snowman. 

 Bekah stayed tucked away inside and enjoyed a Dr. Who marathon. 

 

On day two of our crazy winter weather, everything melted just enough to freeze back over in a solid layer of ice.  So everything looked just as pretty, but you definitely couldn't play in it.  

(Plus, with Lydia's recent concussion, I didn't want to chance her slipping and hitting her head.)

The girls stayed in and worked on art projects.  

Lydia tried her hand at pastels.

And Rebekah finished up a Quotable Quotes project she had to do for school.

Day three, we got more snow!! 

 This time, it was great snow and the girls had a fun time playing in it.  The Nieveses broke out their "sled" (aka laundry basket) and the girls had a grand time sliding down their little hill. 

 

We got the obligatory picture in front of the tree out back.  You can totally see the girls grow up in front of this tree.  

 One day four, everyone stayed in again...but then day 5, it REALLY started coming down!

 Thankfully, I was off work the first three days of madness, and we all had a great time of rest and family time.  The last two days I got to work from home.  So thankful I wasn't driving out in this mess!

Such a fun week of making memories.

Vision Therapy

So Bekah's back in vision therapy, after a four year break.   It started with this: "So, Mom, I was doing my test corrections on my Social Studies test, and I realized that for five questions I had marked the wrong answer on the Scantron.  I knew the answer, but I marked the wrong one.

Hmmm.

Then, about a week later, it was the same story with a Science test.  She had bubble in the wrong answer on two questions - even though she knew the correct answer.  

Time to head to the eye doctor!  The doctor confirmed that she's having trouble keeping her eyes in focus and we were promptly referred to a vision therapist.  The specialist did the exam at the end of the day.  She did some exercises to tire out Bekah's eyes and then tracked how she did on tracking letters and numbers across the page.  

So, it was as I suspected...the closer Bekah gets to the end of the day, the more tired her eyes are and the harder it is for her to focus.  Remember her ACT Explore test?  David and I were scratching our heads at her Science score (49%).  We knew something must have been going on...because her TCAP score in Science last year was a 97%! 

 

So, Bekah's back at it with the Brock string, worksheets, and eventually with flippers and a computer program.  

  

Here's to getting those eye muscles in top working condition!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rebekah and some girlfriends got together for a little Valentine's Day goody bag making party.

 Each girl brought a fun item to put in a goody bags for each other (nail polish, lip balm, candy, etc.). They got together, enjoyed some snacks, and spent some great time together.

I'm so glad that Bekah has great friends to spend time with and that they have such fun things to do!

Rebekah's Interview with Heritage Helpers

Rebekah is part of a mentor group called Heritage Helpers.  Each weekday, the middle school students walk to the elementary school and have study sessions with the kindergarten class.


Rebekah has really enjoyed participating in this this year...and she was interviewed for the County Newsletter!!  (http://www.wcs.edu/infocus/2015/02/10/middle-schoolers-mentor-elementary-students/)



Check out her interview here:

Priceless

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today's the day!  We celebrated 19 years of a beautiful marriage today. I took most of the day off work and we headed to our favorite Thai restaurant for a little soup and pad thai.

During lunch, David gave me these lovely anniversary gifts: new earrings and necklace.

 

And then we headed to the theater to watch The Imitation Game. It's a historical movie about code-crackers during WWII.

 

Apparently, we really like to celebrate our anniversary by eating Asian food and watching movies about history.  =)

It was too cold to get our picture at the restaurant, and there were no movie posters at the theater, so our "anniversary picture" is this one that we took at home.  

Then, after the kids went to bed, we watched Fools Rush In on Netflix.  It's been forever since we watched this movie, but I remember it was one we watched right before we decided to start a family!!

 

So we had a nice, relaxing anniversary.  Looking forward to the next 19 years together.

A Little (Well-Deserved Recognition)

David's job involves quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work.  It always has - whether it's planning a tour or mapping out a missions trip.  The behind-the-scenes guys don't always get recognition.  David knows this.  It comes with the territory.

So when something comes along that does offer some recognition - an email, a letter, a thank-you - it is really appreciated.  The letter below was sent to our pastor, Darren, and to David, and it was really appreciated by both of them. 

At the bottom of the letter, Pastor John Snow (who went with the January team to Haiti), addressed the following to David:

"You are really good at what you do.  Thank you for all your efforts in making my first trip to Haiti a tremendous experience.  Your gracious demeanor in handling various situations on our trip shows how gifted you are in this calling.  I certainly enjoyed getting to know you and your heart for other people.  I can see why directing missions fits so well with your gifting.  After sharing at Peytonsville about my experience in Jacmel, I believe you will eventually have some more folks anticipating their first mission trip.  I cannot imagine all the time and planning it took for you to organize our itinerary.  Thank you again for your tremendous efforts!"

Isn't that the nicest thing?

Our Young Entrepreneur

Rebekah is preparing for a mission trip to Guatemala this summer.  Never one to slack, she has already started on her fundraising.  And in getting started on her fundraising, she has become quite the entrepreneur.

 

Over Christmas, Rebekah and I learned to arm knit.  We learned through an online video and the scarves we made turned out really cute. Mom suggested that Rebekah sell them to raise money for her trip.

Bekah took that idea and ran with it.  

 She's been making scarves like a mad woman ever since. She makes some in fun colors that she likes, and some are special ordered.  

 

As of right now, she has sold 29 scarves and made $405 toward her goal of $1,500.  

She also has delivered three others and is awaiting payment.

And on top of that, she has orders for 13 more that she's trying to fill right now. 

 

 So I think we'll be buried in yarn for a bit longer.  But that's okay!  Here's to my daughter, and her successful fundraising venture!

An Exciting Night

 Last night, we had a bit of a scare.  David called to Lydia while she was in the bathroom.  Then he heard a tumble and then nothing.  He called to her again and she didn't respond, so he opened the door to find her face down in the floor and not moving.

He told her to get up (thinking she was being dramatic) and she didn't move or respond.  When she didn't respond a second time, he bent down to shake her and she jolted awake and started crying.

She had a huge mark across the bridge of her nose and we're not sure if she fell and hit the toilet, the bathtub, or just the floor, but she hit hard, right where her glasses sit.  

Not long afterward, she was sleepy.  Then she vomited.

Next up, a trip to the ER to get our sweet girl checked for a concussion.

 They confirmed the concussion and ruled out a broken nose.  Here's our little patient after a few hours in the ER.  The redness across bridge of her nose had already significantly gone down. 

 

The ER nurse and practitioner both said they believed her fall was related to a vagal episode.  The last thing Lydia remembers is hitting her elbow on the counter really hard and trying to push through the pain.  They think that the intense pain triggered the vagal episode, lowering her heart rate and causing her to faint.  This isn't usually a problem, unless you hit your head when you faint (which is what Lydia did).

So today, Lydia is on cognitive rest: no computer, no iPod, no reading.

Yes, no reading!!

So we've had lots of rest, went to the store, and out to lunch.  Her stomach still hurts, and her head, too (understandably).  She also has some sensitivity to sound and her eyes hurt if she has to focus on anything for very long.  They said these symptoms could last for a couple of weeks.

That's okay.  We can handle it.  It could have been a lot worse.  So thankful our girl is okay.