Aunt Vickie Spent the Day with Bailey

Aunt Vickie spent the day with Bailey today while I went home to get a few things done (laundry). It was good to see the girls - Tom worked. I haven't seen Marissa all week since Josie and I were at camp most of the time. We spent the day cleaning up the house a bit, and the girls helped me do laundry.

Bailey helped celebrate her nurse Leslie's birthday today. She got to meet Leslie's parents and sister. Also, she called me at home so excited because the youth group from our church in Shelbyville brought a puppet show to Bailey and other kids on the Heart Center to enjoy. I'm so sorry I missed it! Thank you, Beth and kids, for helping pick Bailey's spirits up. She was so excited that you came all the way out here to cheer her up. Thank you so much - you made her feel very special!

Bailey and Josie had a good time tonight. Josie was telling Bailey all about camp, and Bailey was reminiscing about her camp we attended three years ago. It was so nice to see them having fun together again. I was so proud of Bailey for making an extra effort to work on their relationship. It felt like our family again.

Marissa is spending the night with us tonight and the day tomorrow. She is getting pretty clingy and emotional - I think she's missing Bailey and me quite a lot and wants us to come home. So, I think we'll try to get her to spend a couple nights a week here with us. I'm hoping that will make her feel better. Last week when we were at camp, she was just an emotional wreck. I talked to her a few times and all she did was cry and ask us to come home. I think she thought we were going to be there for 3 months . . . just like we've been here for 3 months. I feel like we, as a family, are handling this situation (being separated) incredibly well, but it does take a toll on everyone involved. It's interesting to see our individual stress points. God has worked it out so that when one of us is weak, the other is strong and can pick the other up. We'll make it. We'll be home soon and a family again.

Only four more weeks of school left. We received Bailey's mid-term grades in the mail over the weekend and she's got A's and B's in everything except math which is "incomplete". I assume that's just because we're running about a chapter behind the other kids. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up and come out with flying colors. She's done a great job keeping up with school. I'm very proud of her.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and hope you enjoyed the pictures.

See you tomorrow!
Love, Angie