Sophie's World

6:45 PM (Central time): Not much to report here, but I figure it's been a few days, so I ought to report something! This past weekend, I traveled to Washington DC for a work trip. It takes all day to fly across the country, and the 90-minute meeting was in the middle of the day on Friday, so I was actually away from home for 3 days. It's nice having some time to myself, eating good food and staying in a nice hotel, but I sure did miss my family and friends.

Sophie lost her front tooth while I was gone--she looks so different without it. We haven't taken a picture of it yet, but when we do, we'll try to post it. She also got her report card on Friday, and she made all E's and E+'s (usually she has more than a few S's). I was so proud of her! The little sheet that summarizes all the things she can do is really amazing. Elisabeth (who says "hello"--reading over my shoulder as I type) has not yet brought her report card home yet (although she says she got all A's). She can't get it until she pays an overdue library book fine. That girl is a voracious reader. She's just consuming the Lemony Snicket series (she's on the 12th book), and she's reading at nearly a 7th grade level. I'm so glad she loves to read. Sophie has really taken off with reading too and is able to sound out words and read basic books by herself. It's amazing when that light bulb goes off.

Randall leaves tomorrow for a pastor's group meeting in western New Mexico. He's actually going to fly into Tucson and stay with our friend Greg (Elisabeth's godfather) and drive over the meetings in Lordsburg each day. Meanwhile, on Thursday, I leave for my Walk to Emmaus. Randall went on his walk two weeks ago, and I can't wait to go on mine. Who is taking care of the girls--you might be wondering? They'll be staying with our friends Glen and Freda until Randall gets home on Saturday (I get home Sunday night).

In other news, I got e-mail from a visitor to this blog who was searching for pictures of kids undergoing cancer treatment (how they look on steroids, in particular). After spending several days reading our whole blog, she e-mailed me to share information about her niece who is six weeks into treatment. They just today got news that her leukemia is more complicated than they originally thought, and it looks like the treatment will last a lot longer than normal. This is beyond anything we had to face, and our hearts ache for the family. Please keep this little girl and her family in your thoughts and prayers.