Sophie's World

It's been a busy time (a busy year!) for the Brumbaugh/Partin family. With Randall being a pastor and all the special events this time of year in the church, we felt pretty good about getting the tree up and decorations out early enough this year to actually enjoy them. The Christmas cards haven't happened yet. No gifts wrapped to put under the tree. More shopping still to do. Sigh.

But having mom living with us has been really wonderful. She is such a pleasant person to be around, and she helps out in whatever ways she can.The girls love having her here, and I think it's great that they get to spend so much time with her. One of my grandmothers lived with us sx months out of the year, and I liked having one grandma to live with and another to visit.

Mom stayed by herself for a few days while the rest of us traveled to Tennessee to visit with Randall's family and also to see Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God at the the Ryman Auditorium. It was our second time seeing the show (Elisabeth's first, and Sophie stayed home with Oma), and we really enjoyed it. Mom did fine our own, which is good, because the Monday after Christmas, we head to Disney World for over a week. But I know church members will check on her, and we will make sure she has plenty of Diet Dr. Pepper!

Sophie is doing well in school and seems happy. She was due to go to the oncologist this month for her checkup (now every six months), but the clinic in Albuquerque requires a referral from a local pediatrician, and that process has taken longer than we thought.

Elisabeth is doing really well and has had a string of good things happen. She was tested for the gifted program and got in (she was identified as gifted in North Carolina, but the standards are different here). She also tried ut of All-City Band and got in. (We're not sure what kind of commitment that entails, so we don't know whether to truly be excited about that one or not.) And while we were in Tennessee, we found out that she won a new bicycle in her school's bike rally. (We were initially annoyed that she decided to buy 30 tickets, but I guess that was a pretty good return on a $10 investment.)

Things are going well with the new church (University UMC in Las Cruces, NM). Worship attendance has been up (not that that's the end-all be-all, but it does feel good). Everyone is preparing for Christmas Eve services. This church has three services at 3:00, 6:00, and 8:00, with a cookie reception between the last two services. They expect about 600 people to attend. Happy Birthday, Randall!

If anyone is still reading this blog, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and an amazing 2011!

--Susan