It is almost November!

Well, let's see. Mido is doing great in his new home. They have renamed him Mr. Bean. They love him very much. I am happy he has a good home.

I am officially 16 weeks along now. I only have about 5 1/2 months to go. It will be sometime before April 19th. I should have an ultrasound around the end of November. Please pray that everything looks good. We might even be able to find out if it is boy #4 or girl #2. I am still feeling kind of like it is a dream. I am still wearing my own jeans - no maternity pants .... yet. I don't think it will be long though. My pants are starting to get snug. I think about having a baby in the house again, and I can't wait. I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this will be the last baby for us. We have talked about adoption. So, that may be our next endeavor - a little later of course.

I should update on Justin. He is 16 now. We aren't looking at anymore surgeries in the near future. He is doing good and getting stronger every day. He is pretty much walking full time now. He is finally out of the wheelchair for awhile. He has decided to wait until he is 18 to get his license. We gave our kids the option that if they wanted to take drivers ed and get their license earlier than 18 then they would have to pay for it themselves. As far as I know, all 3 boys have chosen to wait. I think it will help ensure a little more maturity as well.

We did testing this year to kind of see where everyone is with homeschool.Justin did exceptionally well. His average tested at the end of 11th grade. He is technically the beginning of 11th grade right now. I told him that if he wanted to change his course of study to the GED, then he could do that now and possibly take the GED yet this year in the spring and be done with high school. He is thinking about it. (I am being a little selfish - it would be nice to have one less to homeschool with a new baby coming.) Marcus and Alec tested a little behind. With Marcus, I think he knows the stuff - he is just not good at taking tests. He sits there telling himself he can't do it. The two tests that he said that the most on was the two he did worst on. I started catching on and when it came to the science portion - he started saying that, and I stopped him. I told him that science was based on the power of deductive reasoning and we all have that skill. I told him that 'I knew' he could do it. He did better on that test than all of the rest. So, I think that he defeats himself when taking tests. But I have always known that he is a hands on learner, and that tests are tough for him. Alec, I was a little more dissappointed in. I know he could do better if he tried. He really didn't have motivation or try very hard. We talked about it and hopefully he will start to try a little harder. I didn't have Saira tested this year because her reading isn't real strong yet. Because of her speech issues, I have not pushed reading at all. Her speech has been steadily improving and along with that so has her reading. I think she went from about beginning kindergarten level to near end of second grade level just this year alone, already. She is motivated and eager to learn. That is so refreshing after dealing with boys attitudes the last couple of years.

I think that is about it as far as updates for us. We are currently down to one vehicle. That is hard. I am stuck at home a lot more. I have been getting a lot more in depth cleaning done. But I can't wait until we get another vehicle, hopefully a mini-van.

Take care and God Bless,
Kathi