Not Much to Report

Not much new to report, other than the fact that we'll be getting both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off this year, which means a lovely four-day weekend! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, I'll be spending it running back and forth between Destiny's birthday party (she's four tomorrow, but the party isn't until Sunday afternoon), Dad's house, Rachel's family's dinner, etc. Still, it will be nice to spend time with family - whether biological or not.

Jamie missed school yesterday due to a slight cold, but he was better today and able to go back to class. I also read to Jamie's class this morning. I absolutely love reading to the kids, though I noticed today that 4th graders aren't as easily entertained as 2nd graders. I suppose their getting to the age where having an adult read to them isn't "cool" anymore.

Speaking of school, Jamie is currently failing his reading subject, but has A's and B's in most everything else. Looks like a big chunk of my school money in January will be going toward getting Jamie a private tutor at Sylvan Learning Center. He goes to tutoring at school, but only for writing. The school only lets each kid do tutoring in so many subjects. Plus, he's already in remedial reading anyway. There isn't much more that they can (or will) do for him, other than make him repeat fourth grade.

So, between his soccer, Sylvan, AWANA at church, etc., looks like I'm going to wind up more tired than ever next semester. He's worth it, but it's very frustrating to me. I know he's smart, he's got a vocabulary akin to most high schoolers, for pete's sake! Why is reading so difficult for him? Why is it so hard for him to sit down and read a passage, then figure out the stinkin' main idea? He brought home a reading passage assignment the other day - he'd gotten a 55 on it. I'm ready to tear my hair out! And I'm tempted to ground him until he's 18, but I know that won't solve whatever the problem is. Hopefully, the teachers at Sylvan are as good as they claim to be. I suspect they're going to have to start all over with him and start at the very basics of reading. Something isn't computing. The hardest thing for me right now is understanding WHY he has so much trouble with it. I'm trying very hard to understand, but I'm finding it difficult. I have to keep reminding myself that he isn't me, and I'm good at things he isn't (reading) and he's good at things I'm not (math). I just ask that everybody pray for us, send good kharma our way, etc. while we try to figure out what's going on, and how to make him a better reader.

Updates on School, Jamie, etc.

Concerning Jamie - Still no new news to report. He goes back to the specialist on January 2, where they will most likely run more tests. For those of you who don't know, Jamie has been having severe stomach pain, vomiting, reflux, and all sorts of other gastrointestinal types of distress. The school nurse suggested I get him checked for an ulcer. So I took him to his pediatrician, who said he would rather have Jamie see a pediatric GI specialist. So, I tried to get him to see one in San Antonio, but they are all booked up through the end of the summer, and aren't even taking appointments anymore. So then I looked for one in Austin - same story. So, then I called one at the Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, and they were able to see him on December 10. So we went, they took a lot of blood, asked a lot of questions, then asked us to come back in 3 weeks for blood results and to run more tests. What ever it takes to get my boy well.


In other news, school is finished! Yay! Here is a tally of the final papers and their results -

GOV 4903.50 (E-government)
Paper Topic: "Delivery of Services: How the Digital Divide is Undermining E-Government's Efficacy"
Pages: 12 - written in 3.5 hours, started writing 5 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

SOCI 4903.50 (Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism)
Paper Topic: "Women and Capitalism"
Pages: 5 - written in 1.5 hours, started writing 4 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

SOCI 3523.50 (Sociology of Cyberspace)
Paper Topic: "Sociological Impact of Cell Phones"
Pages: 5 - written in 2 hours, started writing 6 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

Okay, I'm done bragging now. It's time for us to go start putting up the Christmas tree.

This is Finals Week

That is why you haven't heard from me much in the past couple weeks - getting final papers done, finishing up huge assignments, and readying for finals week. You won't see much of me until after Thursday. Have a good week, y'all (and pray that I don't go insane from too much work and schooling!).

Also, pray for Jamie. He's having some medical issues. Today was spent driving 307 miles round trip to a specialist, only to be told to come back in three weeks for tests and the like. Today they took blood. He was so brave! No tears, no nothing (this is the first time he's had blood drawn - 5 vials!!! - and not cried!) Anyway. Pray for my little guy.

Love you all.

More NYC Pics

More Central Park Pictures:

Jamie playing at FAO Schwartz:

Shades of Tom Hanks a la "Big"

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid, life-sized and made out of Legos!

R2D2 and C3-PO