Hello, world!: Good-bye November!

Hello family and friends!
I can’t believe that December is here! We have had a great fall!
Owen is loving school. He received his first report card back in November and he is doing very well. He is reading now, doing math and learning more and more about God every day. We are very blessed to be able to send him to his school. In October we celebrated Grandparent’s day at his school. We gathered in the sanctuary of the church where the kids sang songs and the pastor gave a brief sermon. After that, the Grandparents followed Owen back to his classroom to see how his typical day goes. It was great fun. Owen’s grandparents came back to our house afterwards for a longer visit. We always love having family at our house! Owen even lost his first tooth last month! He’s growing up too quickly!!
Jase is such a big boy. He speaks very well and loves to do puzzles. He is only two and a half but can do 50 piece puzzles! It’s really impressive to watch him, if I do say so myself! He and Owen are really getting along well now and it’s such a joy to watch them play together. Jase is still enjoying his preschool class. His teachers say that he is a “character” and that he always makes them laugh. When Jase is not in school, he and I go to the library or just play around the house. He really likes it when I make blanket forts. He especially likes it when we have a picnic lunch in the fort…he actually eats all of his food!
Greg is very busy with his school responsibilities. He just finished up his tenure dossier (an almost 900 page document!) which he handed in to the chair of his department. This is a big year for us, so please pray that we see fruit from all of his labor over the past 5 years and that they extend tenure to him at Loyola!
I am busy with the kids, karate and church. We had a karate tournament in November and Greg and I both did well in our respective events. I have been teaching the kids’ karate class on Monday nights at our dojo. It has been quite a learning experience for me. I have never taught kids regularly until now. They certainly have a limited attention span and “special interests” so I have to be pretty creative to keep them busy. Jase and I have been attending MOPS group (mothers of preschoolers) at our church. We meet every other Monday for breakfast, fellowship and a bible lesson. It has been nice to meet with other moms and share stories about life, kids and how God is working in our lives. While
us moms chat, the little kids are in classrooms divided by age getting their own version of a bible lesson and play time. It’s really a great program. For the past 8 weeks I have been doing a couple of digital bible studies. The studies are provided through an app on my phone called IF: Gathering. The app provides daily readings as well as a short 2-3 minute video based on the readings. For one of the studies I am with a group of ladies from MOPS and we text each other daily with our thoughts and feelings from the daily readings. It’s a great compromise for a bible study since most of the time my kids are with me and it’s difficult to find or afford childcare. It’s a nice way to stay connected when everyone’s lives are so busy. Check it out! I love the app!
That’s all for now! I’ll check in after the holidays! Enjoy the pictures :)