Photo by Sarah Stucky Photography

Friday, September 17, 2010

Back to School!

William and Joshua have been in school now for 2 weeks, and are both doing fantastic!  William is in 2nd grade, and thinks that it's "Even better than first grade!"  Joshua is LOVING  being a big boy and going to school every day.  His teacher told me that he is a "very happy boy and very well behaved." So far, so good! :) 



We walk to school at least once a day.. if not every time.. And Mama has been bailing me by staying with the kids often so I don't have to take everyone on our 3 times a day trek to and from school. 


Kathryn and Matthew are doing well, too!  Although it's a bit of adjustment to not have their brothers around!  Kathryn was a little bit sad that first day.. especially since cousins Nathan and Ellen started school too... But now she gets more focused time from me, and she gets to make the choices of what she wants to do, so I think she's doing just fine! :)

Last night was Back to School night at their school, and we had a wonderful time!  They did something really special this year; instead of having the Principal introduce all of the teachers, they selected one student from each room to be a special "Student Leader" and introduce their teacher.  We were honored and {SO EXCITED!} that William was selected to be the representative of his class.  He had to dress up: 

And he did a fantastic job saying the following:  "Good evening. My name is William Lennertz and I am a second grade student leader at Janson School.  My teacher is Mrs. Harrington, room 17, second grade. "  He spoke in a clear, unwavering voice, and even motioned to his teacher as he introduced her.  I was so proud of him that I cried.  Especially after he noticed me and had to point me out to his teacher.  How precious to see my baby all grown up and doing so well! It was a moment I will always treasure. 

It was great to see their classrooms and meet the teachers again.  (I have worked in the district and even substitute taught for the Kindergarten teacher. )
William with his teacher and the Principal

Joshua and his teacher
Joshua and teacher #2 (teacher's aide)

Some other pictures of the night:




















Well... I guess not all can be happy.  Our sweet baby suffered a burn. :(  I plugged in the iron in our bedroom, walked out to get some water for it, shutting the door behind me.  In the 30 second time I was doing that, Matthew opened the door, walked into our bedroom, pulled down the iron... somehow grabbing it with his right hand.  A large blister formed and he was in a whole lot of pain :(   We went to see the doctor and she gave us a prescription for an antibiotic and a cream.  We are to keep the cream on and change the dressing twice a day.  Praying that it will heal quickly!  So happy it wasn't worse, but SO SAD that such a thing could happen to our sweetie.  He has been acting fine, and not in any pain today.  The dressing bugs him sometimes, but he's actually doing pretty well. 




  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  ~
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Thursday, September 9, 2010

LA County Fair!

On Labor Day we went to the fair and had such a great time! Along came my parents:

(The wheelchair came along to rest in.  I remember bringing it when Johnny and I were younger and we would take turns pushing each other around just for fun)

Also, Johnny and Sarah were there:


Along with their kids, Nathan and Ellen (great buddies with our 3):


And Esther came along too, helping out so much with the kids :)


We got to pet goats and llama's:




















The kids got to ride on a (pretend) horse and make rope in the Western area:


We got a chance to see robotic MOVING dinosaurs:


























And Joshua got to be a volunteer in the Fossil presentation with a real Paleontologist.  Joshua told him that he was going to be a Paleontologist too, and the presenter shook his hand and told him to keep looking for Dinosaur bones.  Joshua was SO VERY excited :)


We also saw an amazing show with Acrobats. The girls got a picture with one of them:

And then Uncle Johnny practiced doing acrobat moves with the kids:

We found a Rapunzel tower photo spot, and had a blast: 
You take a picture like this: 

And then turn the picture to view it like this: 




The girls had a blast playing in the Princess house:



The boys got their turn trying on Knight and King outfits in the Medieval area:  

Friday, September 3, 2010

Psalm 23 Paraphrase

God is my Shepherd
And I am his little lamb 

He feeds me 
He guides me 
He looks after me. 
I have everything I need.

Inside, my heart is very quiet
As quiet as lying still in soft green grass
In a meadow
By a little stream. 

Even when I walk through 
the dark, scary, lonely places
I won't be afraid
Because my Shepherd knows where I am. 

He is here with me
He keeps me safe
He rescues me 

He makes me strong 
And brave.

He is getting wonderful things ready for me 
Especially for me
Everything I ever dreamed of! 

He fills my heart so full of happiness
I can't hold it all inside.

Wherever I go I know 
God's Never Stopping 
Never Giving Up 
Unbreaking
Always and Forever
Love
Will go, too!



--from The Jesus Storybook Bible (Every story whispers His name), by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Kid Update :)

God is so very kind to us.  He has given us 4 beautiful kids, and it is such a blessing to be a family.  It is such a privilege to have the amazing responsibility to love, teach and pray for these kids.  So many have stood with us in prayers, especially with regard to our Matthew's health.  And it is with joy that I realize  that it has been a while since i have updated and begged for prayer for him!  God has been faithful in caring for him... loving in His care for our whole family!  Here's the update on our sweeties!

William.  He will be 7 in October, and he is starting  2nd grade on the 7th of September.  He is a smart, competitive boy.  He loves reading and math.  He works hard and works fast and loves school and being with his friends.  He is reading through the Narnia series right now.He has been diligent in completing chores this summer,  and he helped Uncle Johnny build a new tree house this summer.  They all love helping, playing outside.  William loves games of all types, and is really good at them.  They also love building Lego models.  It's neat to see the big boy William is growing up to be.

Joshua is our sweet 5 year old.  He is absolutely, completely excited about starting Kindergarten next week!  He has watched William go to school for 2 years now and is MORE than ready :)  He has a love for learning too, and has learned to read, and his writing is good too.  I had been working with him on little school books, and doing journals, and showing him how to sound out letters that you hear when writing, and one day I decided to test him to see how much he knew.  I showed him page after page and he read it all. So very cool :)  He still adores his dinosaurs, and can identify so many of them by their appropriate names... He also helped with the tree house, loves being outside, is great at puzzles and lego models.  It's great to see Joshua grow and learn and be such an individual, even though he does a lot of what William does, he is completely his own person :)

And this is our Kathryn.  She is such a girl in the midst of her brothers! She loves wearing dresses and jewelery, she loves Princesses and pink and purple.  She loves it when people tell her she looks pretty... But she also loves being outside and doing things the boys do.  I think she maintains a good balance!  She is learning to write her letters, knows the alphabet and numbers to 20 (at least).   She loves singing and talking... her kitty... playing with Ellen.  She's also a great big sister to Matthew.  She can be very sweet to him and will spend time chasing and playing with him (when he doesn't steal her things, of course! ) It is so funny how different she is than the boys... but I love it, and love being able to do girl things with her :)


And our Matthew.  What a joy it is to see how good this boy is doing.  Take a look at him... can you imagine anything health-wise was ever wrong with him???? Man.  Well, life without the large intestine is turning out to be... just fine.  After the last visit in the hospital (the week spent because of dehydration), I remember saying to Wes,  "Did we do the right thing to have this surgery?? It's been just so hard!".  And now... wow, I am so thankful.  He had an ostomy bag for a year.   Now, it's just him... I can see that cute little tummy! He fills his diaper a lot, but it is significantly less than it was right after surgery.  He is  gaining the weight back that he lost, and is a big, happy boy The rash comes and goes.... but I have the products needed to keep it under control.  I'm a bit more cautious with him, he drinks Pedialyte regularly on these hot days.  He's on a low residue fiber diet, so there are some things we don't give him, or just give in very small portions.  We'll adjust as we need. And for  Matthew... he won't know any different so this will be his normal.  How grateful I am to the Lord for His mercy and healing shown to our boy. 

Lets see.. he's saying a couple of "words".  Lots of noises! He loves growling and making animal noises. He is a little rascal sometimes and will hit the kids for their attention.  He climbs like you can't believe too, onto the tables, furniture (despite our pleas for him not to, he's really fast!).. all over us, (especially when I'm trying to do sit ups or just anyone laying on the floor where we are oh-so-accessible.)  He's also a sweetie and will hug and kiss, pat and give fives.  He tries to sing with us and will sway back and forth to the music.  He loves animals, dinosaurs, his brothers and sister, getting into everything. 


How come we are so very blessed???

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.! 1 Chronicles 29:13