New Beginnings

Wow, it's been a long time since I have blogged!!! My sister reminded me the other morning about my blog by asking me which one I used & made me think maybe I should start it back up. Please forgive me as I try to start again on this. Darein is now in her 2nd week of college and doing well though she is really having to work hard and because she works at a slower pace than most it takes her a little longer to complete the tasks required of her. That being said, she is doing homework every day and getting it done before her next class period and learned to email her teacher about questions today. She may be making friends with tutors soon but is holding her own for now. She is attending 9 hrs this semester which isn't full time but is a pace she can handle this semester considering one of her classes is a block class & only lasts until October and then she picks up another block class that goes from October until December. On top of starting college she has decided to help a single mom out by babysitting her 2 yr. old and her 8 yr old after he gets out of school for a reduced rate. This allows Darein to learn to be more assertive and to learn to take care of others needs which are life lessons I can't teach her but she can learn through this experience and she gets to help someone out at the same time. This is a lot for her to handle but so far she is doing great with it! I am very pleased that she has people in her life outside of her family teaching her to push herself as much as she can :) She has started golf once a week with her Champion Athletes group & this is one of her favorite sports so she is enjoying it! Darein got new hearing aids and is liking them very much! These are the first hearing aids that she has had that go inside of her ear instead of having a mold that is molded to her ear and she likes them much better. Her hearing is normal in her right ear and still declined in her left ear but the prosthesis has fallen so we will go back in 6 months and check her hearing again. If it's the same then we will discuss surgery to get a new prostheses placed which we are hoping will make her left ear hearing normal as well. Darein had jaw surgery to pull her top jaw forward, a nose surgery to build her a bridge to her nose and is doing well after each of those surgeries. She is now in her retainer and will have it for a year or two I think and is doing well with it. She goes back next October for a recheck on her scoliosis so we have over a year to wait on that which is a nice break. Damein has started back to his college at MU for his senior year! He has a full schedule of 17 hrs as well as a paid internship where he visits a gentleman who is on home health and he goes in & cooks him lunch and cleans for him. He also is involved in an unpaid internship where she works on the psychology unit at MU Therapy visiting with a mentally ill patient. He told his dad today that he got beat in ping pong by his patient! Lol He also has to sign up to volunteer to work with animals for one of his classes this semester. I know he will do well and I love the caring heart he has and the determination he has to graduate in May & to achieve his life dreams helping others!! Now that my children are grown and pursuing their life's dreams I am thankful that we were able to lead a life showing compassion for others and the importance of dedicating your life to helping others so that now my children know the importance of this and are following in those footsteps no matter the path life may lead them!!!