January 2013

Happy Birthday Grant David Douglas!  How did that happen?  Did that year fly by for anyone else???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from the Falcons losing in the playoff game, it was a perfect, small family birthday.  Grant even got a five second attempt to open his only gift, before brother and sister swooped in, luckily he didn’t mind…Man do we love this kid.

Speaking of birthdays, in response to daily family prayers and monthly fasts, Dianna and David had a beautiful (truly gorgeous), healthy baby girl:  Rebekah Eden Burk!  And I got the privilege of being the first one in the family to meet her!  I went to Chicago for a long weekend to help out—I remember how overwhelming it was when Jackson was born.  I helped organize, clean, and gave tips for bathing/diapering Rebekah.  It was fun being seen as the baby guru!  Dianna and David are devoted parents, Rebekah doesn’t know how lucky she is!  Look at that sweet face!  She is long and lean like her mama!

The biggest news of the month as that we decided to pull Jackson out of public school and homeschool him.  I know it sounds crazy, but I just couldn’t take the fact anymore that he was gone 8 hours a day and literally learning nothing.  So we are doing an experiment for the 2nd half of kindergarten (we figure this is a low risk time).  We have been at it for a month.  Hard parts:  Grant gets very little attention (Tay is at school); the house is less clean/neat (which does bug me).  Best parts:  Jackson is learning! he has a lot more time for chess (check out the hardware), piano, and sports; and our evenings are stress free (since we don’t have to pack everything in).  So overall it is a clear win.  I do worry about Jackson getting enough friend time, so I work extra hard at arranging play dates. Plus he is playing 2 sports, is still on his school’s chess team, and has friend time at church.  So I don’t think he is getting too weird yet!   We’ll keep you posted!!And Jackson is not the only one taking piano!  Though not very dedicated, Taylor LOVES the attention from her teacher, so we get her to practice a couple of times a week.  Check out our ballet studio below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Scotty is still keeping his crazy hours.  Here is what I see every morning when I walk down the stairs at 4am – he of course turns the heat off at night downstairs so it’s freezing down there!  He and the team finished with the local Atlanta project, so now he is enjoying a week or two ‘on the beach’ (in between cases).  His next case will be his first as a Project Leader, and apparently a lot rides on it, so we are fasting tomorrow for a successful first case!  Is Scott nervous/stressed/concerned?  Ask yourself, has Scott ever been stressed?  Staying relaxed is something the Douglases have perfected. :)

I on the other hand am sweating bullets every Tuesday night because, in an effort to reduce my public speaking anxieties, I joined the Brookhaven Toastmasters.  I for one, thought that this club was for people who wanted to improve their beginning public speaking skills.  No, no, this is a place where high profile people who are already very good at public speaking, go to become powerful/influential/perfect public speakers.  It is an intimidating crowd!  The most terrifying thing we do is called “Table topics,”  Basically somebody is in charge of calling each person up and asking them a random question         “Would you rather win a Nobel peace prize or have the $1.2 million that goes with it?”  “What is something you did as a child that you would never do as an adult?”  So not only do you have to think on the spot, you have to answer coherently!  And these people are GOOD at this!  They have a beginning, middle, conclusion, and even manage to be witty and use the word of the day!  I was trying to think of excuses not to go back to my second meeting when the president emailed and asked if I’d be the “Toastmaster” (basically conduct the meeting) for the evening.  I could hardly believe my finger were typing “Sure!” and send on my iPhone.  I was uninspiring, unfunny, and BRIEF, but I did it!!!  And everyone was so supportive; lots and lots of clapping—I am starting to see how public speaking can become addicting :).  At some point in Feb I’ll give my icebreaker speech, so that should be fun.

Headed to Disney tomorrow so we can go to the “Magical Kingdom” as Tay says…Another benefit of homeschool, who needs spring break???

Love,

TFK