'Those' Weeks...

This week was one of 'those' weeks...we barely got by on the school work and were uber busy with life...

A 'low'-light was hearing Claire had a test result pointing to the the 'Celiac Disease' result; we are still waiting for another result before we can schedule with a specialist to confirm the result(s). It is good to have answers, but hard to stomach the totality of it all....

My (Nia's) blood pressure is under evaluation by my doctor and if the results of 4 weeks of monitoring is questionable I will be prescribed medication and referred to a cardiologist. For those who don't know, all the women on my side of the fam have notoriously low blood pressure until the magic age of 35, when it flies off the charts. I noticed swelling of my hands in the a.m. and heart palpitations during the day beginning in May of this year, and after 2 unrelated doctor visits when my b.p. was crazy high I made the connection and sought medical help. I now have remorse for my presumption that since I don't drink heavily or smoke, and since I am active physically, I wouldn't have b.p. problems like the rest of the fam. Genetics are a funny thing....

Ella enjoyed her youth retreat, and has been working on her faith statement for her Confirmation on the 31st while progressing nicely under her new mathematics curriculum, Life of Fred. Natalie is breezing through her violin studies, and had a chance last week in Sunday school to wow her teachers and fellow students with her knowledge of Greek, for which I am grateful. Thus far, (sadly), we've really only used our Greek to decipher the names of various fraternities and sororities advertised in decals on the back of vehicles around SA. Grace is really 'blooming' in her art studies and her sight word list is growing at a remarkable rate now that I have the tools I need to teach her in a way she understands...LOVE homeschooling! David alternately loves and hates 'school' depending on if he knows it's school or if he thinks I'm giving him busy or just for fun work sheets. A lot of his success has to do with whether he feels really physical or more mellow. I have stopped forcing a schedule on him and have learned to grow with him and teach when he's ready to learn. That is truly the hardest lesson for me to learn...that the kids are more open to learning when they are 'ready' for it, and not necessarily between the hours I have set aside for their 'scheduled' learning time.

Craig continues to juggle his many jobs with school, and is maintaining his 'A' average...awesome!

Please continue to pray for our family....we will make it through the trials before us and emerge stronger than before, I/we know this, it's just living through it!

Love Much,

The Meissler 7