Results from Regionals!

This past weekend was Olivia's Regional Competition. It started Thursday afternoon and ran through last night. What a weekend! Luckily, Liv's group wasn't scheduled to dance until Saturday morning (early!).

Funk was came first that morning. It received an Elite Top First, a Special Judges Award of Funky Fresh (I think...), and came in first over all. They won $150!

Then, that evening was the large group dances. Angels Among Us received a Top First award, a Special Judges Award of "Little Angels", and got 3rd over all. Wild Babies received an Elite Top First, a Special Judges Award of "Wild Award", and came in second overall for 8& under. Wild Babies also received the choreography award for all of the large groups--what an honor! Then, 5678 also received an Elite Top First, and got first over all for 8 & under. They received $175!

Sunday morning was Olivia and Kenny's duet, Love Shack. They had their new costumes and they looked AWESOME on stage. Ms. Jamie said they had an advantage b/c the judges would remember them from the last night. When it came time for awards, Love Shack received a Special Judges Award of Cutest Couple, got an Elite Top First, and came in first for the intermediate division ages 12 & under!!! They received a check for $25. Then, they also came in second place for all 7&8 duets and trios in the advanced category.







It was a FANTASTIC weekend... Makes us look so forward to Nationals this summer!

Putting my hope in Him.

By now I know so many of you have heard of our situation with Isabella that we've been dealing with the past few weeks. Just a little recap in case you aren't aware... Bella has had so many issues at her daycare. Honestly, part of it is her with her sensory/behavior and part of it is them and the lack of consistency and structure/routine. Well, we got a letter that gave us a reason to get out of dodge and find a new daycare--now. They had given up and would not follow her modifications on her IEP. So...I took off work one day to find her a daycare that she could begin the following week and spoke to her speech teacher for advice on the best placement for her the following school year. We visited and decided on a daycare for now and later a Montessori school.

With all of our struggles with her, I have been having an extremely hard time. We had been 'in the gray area' as far as testing goes--not severe enough for actual HELP on issues, but enough of a problem that it was causing a problem... We were frustrated and pretty desperate, actually.

Well, once again, in church we were singing and the next slide started with the line, "I put my hope in You..." and I about lost it. It is no coincidence to me that Bella's middle name is Hope. All of the sudden, my HUGE problem seemed so small as I realized that God was in control of Belle. Not that I didn't know that before, but it was as if the concept slapped me in the face. It was then I had realized I had been praying for guidance for her (even putting it on my prayer card each week in my ladies' bible study) and knew that the awful note, the search for a new (and better) place for her was all part of His GUIDANCE. Not what I had expected as an answer, but I had no doubt. Maybe there were signs before and this was our final 'shake you up' kind of thing to GET HER OUT...?? Who knows. But I do feel so much better about our situation knowing that this is exactly what needs to happen right now.

And now that she is in her new daycare until the fall, things are going marvelously well. Her new teacher LOVES her and keeps trying to convice me that she is not 'bad'. She said Bella just needed some structure and honestly, she does. The fact that the teacher is firm, but loving, helps a ton as well. Ms. Judy tells me how advanced Bella is and how much she enjoys her. I come to work every day practically in tears because I am so happy... It is a nice change. :)

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. We still have a way to go, but we are definitely on the right path.

Easter

Easter weekend was so much fun. We started out the day on Saturday going to the egg hunt at our church. We always enjoy that. Then, it was to Emily's house. She had come up with several crafts for the children to do for the decorations on the lunch table the next day. In addition to decorating eggs, she had them create window cling stickers, made little bird nests, and egg-holding place markers.









Unlike the day before, Sunday proved to be a cold and rainy day... No egg hunting outdoors. But, the decorations looked great, the food was oh so YUMMY, and the company was great! Not only did Nathan and Dorothy come this year, but so did Ashley. The girls wore their flower girl dresses that they actually didn't wear in the wedding and looked so beautiful!