Hi everyone,
Well, the big news for this week is an update on our New Year's Resolution. For those of you who didn't know, Jason and I want to do a triathlon this year. So...yesterday we registered for our first one on May 10th. This first one is called the Rookie Triathlon, so it is shorter, designed for either beginners or pros using it as a warm up for their season. We will swim 300m, bike 12 miles and run 2 miles. If all goes well, we will then race in one in August and then the big Austin Triathlon over Labor Day. The last two races are longer, swimming 700m, biking ____ miles and running a 5k. All are Sprint Triathlons which are shorter than Olympic Triathlons. We found a place for me to rent a road bike for the first race to make sure I like it and then there are several options for gear after that.
Jason and I went on a bike ride this afternoon, as it is 72 degrees here. It is really nice to have so many options of active things to do here in Austin.
School is going really well. I have a new student starting Tuesday when we get back. That will give me 12 kiddos with special needs and five typically developing kiddos for a total of 17. This is my first new kid to get this year. Last year at this time I already had about 5. I love my job and those I work with. My story for the week is about a little boy that I suspect is on the autism spectrum. He does talk, but a majority of his talking is 'TV talk' which means that he hears a word in his environment around him that triggers a memory of something he has seen on TV and that starts him reciting the show from beginning to end with little hope of anyone stopping that until he is at the end. So...it is hard to engage him at all in any kind of conversation. We really only get words to us when we give him a choice between two objects and he tells us what he wants. So, the other day I was playing with him and I started reciting 'Hickory Dickory Dock' occasionally stopping to see if he would fill in the blank. He did, so I kept going. Eventually I ended up singing songs to him and stopping to see what he would do. Not only did he fill in the blank, but he sang the word instead of just saying it. He would even sing several words in a row with me occasionally. We did this for about three songs worth. At one point, I just started laughing because my only other choice was to cry. He looked right at me, wrinkled his nose, and started laughing with me. It was a precious moment and a reminder of why I do what I do; for little moments of breakthrough like that.
We have been visiting a new church lately. It is called Fellowship Bible Church. We started going there because one of our good friends from small group started doing some substitue worship leading there. Well, it looks like he may get a full time job offer and even if he doesn't, we really like the church and are considering making it our home. We will keep you posted. We have prayed and prayed about church because we never really felt settled at our current church. It is currently meeting in a movie theater, but have building plans and are supposed to break ground in June of this year. I think it will be exciting to be in on the ground level of opening a church. We wanted so badly for Life Church to come our way, but maybe this is God's answer to our church prayers. We'll see.
Jason continues to stay busy at work and is currently in the process of landing some pretty big jobs. We are feeling extremely blessed considering the current state of the economy. God is good! Have a good week everyone!
