Thursday, May 31, 2007

"We are family, I've got all my sisters with me!"

The three Parnham sisters are thick as thieves, they were just meant to be sisters. In less than 5 months there is such a bond of love between the three of them that it brings tears to my eyes just to write it. Anna and Katie are gentle, kind and patient. Jia worships the ground that both of them walk on, although she loves to tell on them and get them in "big trouble".

Jia has completely recovered from her spine surgery. She is racing around the house and "cooking" for everyone in her little kitchen. She loves to wrestle with her Daddy and playing with her dogs.

We decided to put Jia in a new school. It is called The Learning Center for Children and we are so happy with it. They place a much greater emphasis on academics. She is now with kids in her own age group and her teacher says she participates in all of their activities with great enthusiasm. When we drive up in the morning she yells SCHOOL!!!!!! and jumps up and down.

Jia's language and comprehension skills have really taken off. She understands EVERYTHING you say to her, and loves to watch Dora and Boots. Some of her favorite words right now are backpack, Daddy, Momma, more, Katie, Ah-Ah (Anna), yeah, dog(with barking), cat (with meowing),shoes, socks and dress. Her two favorite words are NO and Mine. We think her verbal skills are still behind for her age but she is picking up quickly and trying really hard.

Meanwhile, today is the last day of school and those two big sisters finished out their academic year with perfect 4.00 averages on the Advanced team (I also want to remind you that they are a year ahead of their age while I am bragging). They had such a terrific 7th grade year that they didn't want it to end . Their latest news is that they received the second (Anna) and third (Katie) place academic awards for their team in Science. This is a HUGE thing as only about 12 students on each team of around 110 students receive an academic honor.

Along with that my kindhearted girls threw me a Mothers Day breakfast, stayed home to nurse Jia through a bout of pink eye, attended soccer practice, Art Club, and volunteered at school Science and Social Studies events for the National Junior Honor Society. I cannot say enough about these astounding young women that the Lord has blessed us with.

I got last minute big and exciting news this week. I have been offered a position teaching the Gifted Geography classes at our school and have accepted the job. I will have to take 5 classes to completely certify and I have already started the first one this week. I am so grateful to have this opportunity but I leave Gina and Randy with a very heavy heart.

Jia has been cleared for her hip surgery which will take place this coming Tuesday June 5th at Joe Di Maggio Childrens Hospital. This is the tough one. Dr. Storer says that it is an extremely painful surgery and she will be in the hospital around 4 days. Then she will be in a full body cast for five weeks. Jia is such a brave little soul, but she has been through so much! It breaks our hearts that she has to go through one more thing, but this should be the last. We will surround her with much love and prayers and be with her every step of the way. Please say yet another prayer for our little survivor and those of you that have us in your prayer circles please give Jia an extra big boost this week. (special thanks to Jenny and Rita).

I am going to update this website next week-I am aiming for Wednesday, so I can let everyone know how the surgery went.

I would like to dedicate this posting to two amazing groups of individuals: the first group is Mary Alt, Ali Cabrera, Mary Ellen Gray, Dan Gray, Simone Navamuel and Randy Larson. These were Anna and Katie's amazing teachers and inspiration this year. To say you taught them is not enough, our girls raced to get to school and whole heartedly love each and everyone of you. For all you have done, Drew and I are truly grateful. What a gift you have given to our precious children!