Jackson

Last week was quite a wonderful week!! Piper had a follow-up appointment with the Infectious Disease team last Tuesday and they were extremely pleased with her healing. That is, NO MORE DOCTORS!! Woo Hoo! It's hard to believe it's been over a month since we were terrified for our little girl, camped out in the hospital and going on zero sleep. God has remained faithful and shown His great works in Piper, for sure.

Two weeks ago in school, Layla showed up and started writing words. Amazing! She wrote "Hi" and "Tall." We haven't taught her to spell/write words yet and neither have her teachers - she just figured it out by herself - so COOL! She's also been excelling with patterns - in amazing ways. We are so proud of her and are working to make sure she's in the right place academically. Every night when we read books we pick a couple words and teach her to sound them out. She's acing it!

Piper showed off in school last week herself - turns out she knows her colors! They were picking up at the end of the day and the teacher decided to ask her to put the green block away and she did! Then it was blue and yellow and she nailed them first try each time :)

We are so proud of our girls!

I took yesterday to have some 1:1 time with Layla while Piper napped. We went to the mall to pick up a couple things we needed and it just happened that Santa was there. She wanted to talk to him and while she won't tell us what she talked to him about, we have a feeling it involves princesses (fortunately, Santa is a "loud talker"). I'll post a pic of her with Santa later tonight (hopefully). We all went out for dinner last night and Piper's meal was mostly chips and a big bowl of salsa. We kept waiting for her to feel the hot and start crying, but that never happened and she kept going back for more!

In the middle of all this wonderful and fun stuff - perhaps the most exciting news is the addition of a pet chinchilla to our family!! Layla is the proud "mama" and named him "Jackson." He's four years old and very sweet. Layla is, of course, the foremost expert on all things chinchilla and Jackson now, so if anyone has any questions, she will be offering advice.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. We will be staying in Nashville this year - had hoped to make it back to Iowa; but, we'll have to make that trip later :(

This year we are especially thankful for our health and the health of our children. God continues to remind me how faithful He is and how His plan shows itself. It's so easy to get caught up in our own plans and solutions; but, when it comes down to it, God is right there all the time and I need to just let go of all else.

Love,
KB