News from the White House: Loving life

How has it been 10 weeks since I've posted? I've thought about it many times but to be honest always find something else to do. Clearly my enthusiasm for blogging is waning. But I do want to keep this up as my digital scrapbook of sorts.

John and I have settled on a church. We are happy and healthy at Upward Church Pensacola. I did not think we would be at a "trendy" church, but this one is relevant while still being conservative and biblically sound. quite a combination really. Sophia loves her preschool class. We both volunteer periodically, John with media and me with nursery. At first I was off-put by watching sermons via simulcast but the content is so rich that I do not mind at all now. Our pastor is a great teacher who is well-rounded. This is not an "I'm ok, you're ok, let's all be better people" preacher. This is not a "hell-fire and brimstone" preacher. He is a wonderful middle ground. We are working on getting more in fellowship with the other members. We have been attending the marriage small group that meets twice a month and have made some casual friends this way.

John is soon finishing his last general studies course and will begin the radiography program in late June. The summer is only one class so it should be fairly convenient for our family and his work schedule. I'm ready for his 2 years to start so that it can be finished!

I am still working my same job and still content there. I find my work meaningful even though at times it can be stressful. Nothing is particularly difficult except managing to fit all the necessary tasks into the day. As with all jobs, as time passes we are expected to do more tasks with the same amount of time. It is just about prioritization and learning that pretty much never will everything be done.

Sophia can hold conversations as well as any 4 or 5 year old. She is fairly brave at trying new things. Recently I have been taking her to an open play session at a gymnastics facility and she LOVES it. She loves the bars, trampolines and rope zipline. It really is a kid's dream. She has started spontaneously telling us she loves us and giving hugs and kisses. Before it was in response but now she initiates it. I will often feel little arms squeezing my legs. Heart melting.

Things we will be working on hopefully this summer are a big girl bed, potty training and ditching the pacifier. We are already down to sleep times only with the latter. Potty training is a miserable failure at this point. Sophia had some pretty significant bowel issues and she now associates the potty as a negative painful place. Poor baby, it was really awful. She is now also denying when her diaper needs changing and crying about diaper changes. She has potty PTSD, lol. I have resorted to bribery with small chocolate candies in hopes that might entice her to at least sit on the potty! I have to remind myself that potty training is not a moral issue. I feel the social pressure for her to be potty trained and paci free. But who cares what strangers think! She is advanced in a lot of other ways so I feel bad for thinking I need to rush in these areas. Everyone says there's no point in trying training until they're ready. It seems at least among my circle of friends that potty training later and later is becoming more common. I certainly know some 3 year olds who are not fully or maybe not even at all trained.

The other big fun in our life is that for our five year anniversary, John and I visited Peru! We stayed with and visited a 3-generation missionary family there. They have been friends with John's parents since before he was born. We were away from Sophia (14 hours away!) for 8 days! She actually did just fine. She was with her great-grandma who watches her several times a week and she did not even cry for us. We did talk with her on the phone multiples times while we were away.

But- that trip deserves its own post with lots of photos, so I will save it for another day.

Hope ya'll had a great Easter!