Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas 2006! We are enjoying Christmas Eve down in Florida with Susan's brother & his family, her parents, and her aunt & uncle. Dan was blessed to be able to spend some time with his family last week but we will miss them at Christmas time. Last year, we were able to spend Christmas with both Dan's parents and Susan's parents, which was really special. Right now, everyone is watching "It's a Wonderful Life" is on TV and relaxing. We went to church this morning and had a fun day of cooking and swimming. We finished dinner a few hours ago, the kids just finished decorating cookies and a gingerbread house, and everybody is excited about tomorrow morning. It has been nice to relax with family during this special time.

Amanda is a bit crabby today because of the storm front coming through is causing barometric changes (which she is not fond of) but she has been doing really well overall. Yesterday, she swam in the pool for a couple of hours and loved it. Her big news is that she got the flu shot last month and had no major problems! Praise God! She is scheduled to resume all vaccinations starting in February. She will get single dose, split vaccines (i.e. she will get the measles shot alone -- not with mumps and rubella included) at the rate of one per month until she is caught up. Once that happens, she will be able to be out and about more, which will be really nice.

She continues to make nice progress with her therapies. She is showing a lot of improvement in gross motor skills with her right arm. Her therapists have been quite happy with her progress. We have signed her up for a constraint therapy for summer of 2008 (we are on the wait list for an earlier date) where they will cast her good arm and perform occupational therapy on her affected side for 6 hours per day for a month. Her friend underwent this same therapy and learned to crawl, grasp with her right hand, and grab at toys etc during the therapy.

Katie is also doing really well. She is a good helper and an excellent student. She is currently reading at the end of the third grade level even though she is in second grade. She loves school and really excels at reading and math. She is the student council representative for her class, a job which she takes very seriously. We are so proud of the wonderful young lady she has become. She also enjoys gymnastics and horseback riding. She has made amazing progress at riding.

Everyone else is doing well also. We hope this posting finds you healthy, happy, and joyful during this Christmas season. We are so blessed by all the wonderful support we receive from family, friends, therapists, doctors, etc. We sincerely appreciate all of your love, prayers, and support. We especially thank God for the undescribable gift he gave each of us in His Son Jesus. We also thank Him for the amazing work He continually does with Amanda. May God Bless You and Your Families. Merry Christmas!

Love,
Susan