Hello to all from the Sunshine State. We hope that all is well with you and that you are enjoying the season. Everytime I sit at the computer and type out our blog I find myself reflecting on things we have done so I can give an update on our family; and, as I sit here this time reflecting I also find myself wondering. I am reflecting on the year 2010 and everything that has happened, not just to our family but to our friends and loved ones, and I cannot help but wonder what 2011 has in store. I can honestly say that 2010 has not been boring. :>






Let us start with our newest addition. Little Miss Allie Jane Donnell was born on Monday December 13, 2010 at 6:35 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 1/2 inches. It's kind of ironic. Michael was scheduled to preach at church on Sunday the 12th. I has asked him that week what we would do if I went into labor during his sermon. He told me just to stand up and say it's time to go and he would tell everyone 'to be continued' and we would leave. Well, Saturday and Sunday morning I thought I was leaking fluid but I did NOT dare say anything to Michael. I was talking with a lady at church who was ready after Sunday School to take me to get checked. I told her Michael would never stay and church and be able to focus so if I felt the need we would go after church. We ended up leaving right after service. I was not in active labor when we went but my doctor wanted to keep me overnight because Dylon's labor was so fast. Let's just say I am glad they kept me. My water officially broke sometime between 5:30 and 6:00. By 6:20'ish' my contractions were so strong that I knew Allie was coming. My poor doctor didn't even make it to the delivery. I pushed maybe 10 minutes and Allie was born into the world. The nurse said she came out with shoulders shaking, she was already crying and I joked that she was crying and praying, "Dear Lord, why this family!?!?!" Everyone laughed. Dylon is a great big brother. The hardest thing for him right now is learning what being gentle with his little sister means. We were all home Tuesday afternoon on the 14th. Dylon was ready that night with a story to read to Allie. He read a page and then he told her to read the next page. We tried to explain that she couldn't read and that he was going to have to teach her when she got older. He continued with the book until she started to stir in which he informed her that if she cried he would have to put the book away! :> Everyday the first week home, Dylon would walk into the condo and say, "We're home...where's Allie?" We have done well since being home and are trying to just get schedules and routines down. This is kind of hard to accomplish with Dylon being out of school right now but it gives us a good preview of what the summer will hold for us! Our two week check up has gone well. Allie has gained one pound and one ounce in a week and has grown 1/2 an inch. Posted below are three pictures. One is of Michael as an infant, one is of Dylon, and one if of Allie (not in that order). There is a poll at the bottom of this blog to see if you can tell who is who. Choose the one you think is the correct order of Michael, Dylon, and Allie. This is just to show everyone how much my kids look like their daddy. :> This will probably be an easy poll but you get the point!






Dylon has had a great first semester here at Moody Elementary. I am proud to report that when he goes back to school in January he will be a full time Kindergarten student. We loved his VE teacher and are sad we are losing her but this is a great achievement for him to accomplish. This past semester he had his re-evaluation done from the school. This is something that will be done every three years. His speech evaluation came back telling us that he still has a pretty moderate expressive language delay and a mild receptive language delay. Dylon is very verbal and expresses wants and needs to us pretty well. He has difficulty with sequencing, answering "wh" questions, answering questions logically, using regular and irregular past tense and telling about remote events. He also had academic testing done. Math held his lowest score but it is his best subject in school. He tested at age range of 4 years 1 month in broad math. The lady told us that the math test advances very quickly so he had a few questions concerning shapes and number/number sequencing then it went straight into one digit addtion and subtraction which they have not started yet in class. When math problems involving simple joining and separation situations were read aloud Dylon was able to answer the problem easily. Reading was a very high score, which should not shock those of you who know Dylon! He tested at 7 years and 3 months in broad reading. All in all his academic tests told us he is progressing well academically and with the exception of math he tested around the age range of 6 years and a few months. This is a strong suit of Dylon's. The team was telling us that is very unusal for a child to have a great academic test and a moderate expressive language delay. Normally children who have the language delay show signs of that in academics. His Occupational Therapy results came back and we have lots of work to do there (strengthening exercises of the fine motor abilities, etc.).




Dylon really enjoyed Christmas this year and the excitment that brings. Although, he did expect Santa to be here when he woke up on Christmas morning. We had to explain that Santa doesn't stay he just brings goodies and leaves them. He was like a child in sugar shock from eating too many sweets except his was induced by gift overload. At one point he was playing on his Smart Cycle Bike and playing a hand held Leapster game at the same time.

Michael and I are both well. I am still looking for a part time job but I am now in no hurry since our newest addition. Michael is gearing up for Winterfest, I believe that is the youth's next big trip. He still plans little get togethers like movie nights and what not. Some of the youth have been trying to persuade him to do a lock in for the New Year but that is just not going to happen right now. :> We will hopefully be headed to Nashville in March for Dylon's spring break. It seems crazy that we have been here 5 months already. Time flies and we are constantly reminding ourselves that we have only been here a short time. We still have things to do between now and then. We of course, ask for prayers as we continue our mission here in Florida and at 43rd Street. We ask that God uses our ablities to glorify Him in all we do and uses us for His mission (whatever that may be or look like) here in Florida. We continue to ask for prayers for us as parents. God has blessed us with two children now. We ask for wisdom and knowledge as we help cultivate their precious lives. May you all be filled with grace and peace in this new year. Love to all!!! Please feel free to continue to leave comments and leave prayer request/praise.

Dylon is making great strides in school. We have already had a nine weeks time span past and had a conference with his teacher about his progress. They are going to try him spending the morning portion of school with the regular kindergarten class and then after lunch go to the VE class. This morning, which will be his first real morning trying this, he was upset because he did not want to go to the regular class room. This will definitely be a huge transition for him and a break in his routine. Yesterday the regular kindergarten teacher saw us and said that when he came into her class that he was upset so she gave him a sticker with a smiley face on it and said that is what she wanted him to be...happy and smiley. Today on our way into school he said he did not want to be smiley in which Michael and I laughed. You never know what he truly remembers and what sticks with him. In this case it was just funny that he remembered the sticker and did not feel like being that today! Dylon is improving on all of his goals in his IEP. We are still needing to work on comprehension questions about stories that he reads or that are read aloud to him. He is above his grade level in reading we just need to work on comprehension. As far as writing is concerned. He is doing a better job with the willingness to write. Michael and I have noticed that he will sit at his desk at the house and copy pages from a short story. A goal we are needing to work on with him is getting his ideas on paper in sentences. I think this is something they work on in Kindergarten all year. His teacher told us that math is a strong subject for him. He knows his numbers from 0-100 and he can tell you what number is missing in a sequence. It's kind of funny but he can tell you how many sides and vertices a shape has and yes, you can use the word vertices with him! He is growing up so much! During our conference with his teacher she told us that one day the music teacher came all the way to her class room, which is across the school in another building, to tell her about Dylon. The music teacher had been teaching the kids a song "Get On Board" and after they had learned it she gave the kids a chance to come up and sing the song in front of the class. Well, this is Kindergarten and she was talking about how some kids got up and were on the wrong pitch, had the wrong rhythm, some had both problems, and then there are those that are too shy to volunteer. She said that Dylon volunteered and was on pitch and rhythm. Michael and I told the teacher that he has always loved music so it really didn't surprise us. They also do something at this school that I find very encouraging. They have what they call the effort award. This is for those kids that put great effort towards their work but don't necessarily make the grades. They had a little ceremony on Monday November 1st. Dylon was one of the kids who got an award. A little disclaimer, he doesn't get graded A, B, C but Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, etc. This is Dylon and his teacher after the award ceremony. They had cookies and lemonade for the kids to enjoy. If you look at Dylon's shirt you will see the smiley face sticker!




We are all well, a little on the tired side but well. Michael has settled into his routine at work well. We just finished a fall festival/VBS that was held on October 30th. We really wanted to reach out to the community and we definitely had more children from the community than our church. For our first time doing something like this I say we did pretty well. We had tons of help the day of the event and that was a blessing. As for me. I am tired which is to be expected. I cannot believe that I am 34 weeks along in this pregnancy. Allie Jane is very active and making her presence known regularly.



I can say that I have missed the colors of fall in Nashville. Then I get reminded with a beautiful sunset like the picture above and get to see another canvas in which God has painted a beautiful scene for us to enjoy. The most amazing part is that the sun rises and sets everyday but the scene of the rising and setting is never the same. Nor is it the same all over the world. Echoing my husbands words from a few weeks ago when he preached "God Is Faithful All The Time". I encourage everyone to stop and enjoy the view. What is constant in our lives (like the sun) but ever changing (like the view) that goes unnoticed for the most part?




Once again, I would like to use the comments part of this blog to encourage people to share prayer request or even thanksgiving. Our minister one day said that thanksgiving is an attitude not a season/ holiday. So, if you will please comment. I am hoping this will help me keep in touch with what is going on in the lives of those that we don't always see. You can be as specific or vague as you would like. God knows! Have a great and blessed day.

School Has Started

Little Man has started school...he is a Kindergartner to be exact!!! It wasn't bad today taking him to school. It does help that we have been doing this for...three years in November. Dylon is not exactly in a Kindergarten class. His IEP (Individualized Education Plan), which are goals we write each year for him to meet, was written in April for him to attend a regular Kindergarten class with an aide to help him get into a routine for the first 9 weeks. Since we have moved to Florida, we met with the school and they said they could not provide this due to county budgets.....The program that Dylon is in is called their VE program. I believe VE stands for Varying Exceptionality. We think this will be good for him. This teacher has children ranging from Kindergarten to 2nd grade. What will happen is they will start out by allowing Dylon to go to Specials (music, PE, art, etc) with a kindergarten class. He will then go back to this VE class to do academic work. As he adjust to going to Specials with this Kindergarten class they will increase his time there (e.g. sending him to centers, then reading,and on and on). We are hoping that he will be mainstreamed soon. This is something new to all of us so we will keep you posted as we go along through this. I just left to go pick up Dylon and his teacher said he had a great day and cried because it was time to come home!!! I will take this as a good sign! We had a great summer. We are settling fine here in our new home. We are excited about getting into a routine! Dylon has been a little fearful of the dark here but we are hoping to overcome that and show him we are safe. Dylon has kept us in stitches with some of the phrases he has picked up on. When we tell him no or his time is up watching TV he sometimes gets upset and sends himself into time out. Why he sends himself into time out I have no idea but his time out spot is funny. We have a linen closet right outside of our bedroom and he has chosen a shelf where he goes and lays down and closes the door. You can see the picture below where I put a little pillow for his head! I was also in the kitchen the one day and I heard Dylon saying, "Help! Help! Help!" It wasn't a distress call so I walked toward his bathroom and I thought he would be in his stand up shower so I looked and couldn't find him. If I can get my computer to work then I will post the video because it is so cute. Pretty much he was hiding the cabinet under his sink.It was pretty funny! Michael is settled into his office and is learning his routine there. We are still adjusting to the time change here. It's only an hour but consider the time you go to bed and up that an hour. It's just kind of funny. We hope that all is well with all of you. I would like to try something new for this blog. I would like to dedicate the comments on this blog to prayer request. You can be as specific as you would like or you can be as vague as you would like. I would like to be able to help in prayer and this could be an easy avenue. I would ask that you sign the end of the comments with your name so if you are vague I know who it came from so it helps me to be a little more specific. Also post blessings for encouragement for all of us. Just start your comment with Blessings:/ Prayer Request: This doesn't have to be for you personally, it could be friends, co workers, etc. I love this picture! It reminds me of the excitement we should have everyday. I would like to post a challenge for every reader, to look at this picture and allow it to be your motivation for the day. Be excited and go out into the world! As most of you know, Dylon has so much energy and I only wish that I had a fraction of it. If I could have that much zeal to go into the world and be Christ to those around me what a difference it would make not only in those people to whom I come into contact but also in my own life! This is our challenge, to do just that. Take the challenge, you don't have to jump like this into a swimming pool but jump into the world excited! God Bless to all!