Fall 2011...

Once again, the time has passed relatively quickly between these posts. The Michigan Southerns are staying busy as usual....here's the rundown.

Emma is in 3rd grade this year at Sequoyah Elementary. As we all know, 3rd grade is a tough transitional year for most kids. This is the year that they go from "learning to read" to "reading to learn". So far, so good. Parent conferences were a week ago and the report from Mrs. Fleming was outstanding. Em has mostly all A's with a sprinkle or two of B's. (This is also the first year with letter grades!) She's having to learn how to study this year. Mom used to tell me to study when I was younger and my standard answer was "Sure, I looked it over." I understand now, why should we get so upset with me when I gave her that answer. To Emma's credit, it took one test for her to understand the importance of studying days in advance of a test.

Carter is just motoring along in 1st grade.

His teacher, Mrs. Woodruff, reports that he is doing fantastic We need to work on his hand writing a little, but other than that, he's doing great. His reading is awesome! It really makes me proud to hear him read each night. He doesn't shy away from words he doesn't know. He'll give it his best attempt by using strategies he's learned at school. We didn't accomplish the bike riding objective this summer. While I want him to do it, I'm not going to traumatize him in the process. I guess we'll give that another try this spring. That and swimming.

And Caraline is just growing and growing and growing. Her little motor doesn't stop. In the past month alone she has gone from an army crawl to a hand and knee crawl. In the last two weeks she's getting more and more adventurous with the walking attempts. She'll stand up on her own by pulling on a chair or pushing against a wall. In the last week she's advanced to pushing the laundry basket or chairs around the kitchen. All bets are that she'll have it together sometime between Christmas and New Year's and will be walking on her own.

Kate and are doing well. We put the house up for sale right before Halloween. The plan is to find a place a bit farther out in the country - hopefully something on some acreage that will give us the freedom to be out in the yard much more for years and year to come. Time will tell....

Catching up!

Well, Kate's working on scrapbooks, so whenever she breaks those out, that usually means its time for me to get back on here and blog! I really need to get better about this...

The last 6 months have passed in the blink of an eye. In January, we were welcoming home Caraline. In July, we're celebrating the kids completing another grade in school and me graduating and having a job.. Three years ago, who'd have thought that things would turn out the way they have? I'm certainly living the life of a million blessings.

Here's a rundown of the last 6 months for everyone....

Emma just finished 2nd grade. She did an outstanding job all year improving her reading and

writing each and every marking period. About half way through the year, she really began to start liking football. It started with wanting to watch football with me every now and

then, and over time she began to want

to get football trading cards. Now, she has a little collection of them started and trades with the boys at school. Hopefully, this next school year will allow her to participate in some more activities outside of school like soccer or basketball. She's a good little athlete. We kick the soccer ball around in the yard and she's actually quite good. With school for Kate and I finally settled down, the sky is the limit for what she wants to do.

Carter finished kindergarten. He attended a full-day version by going to his regular teacher in the morning and then spending the afternoon in "kindergarten plus". I think it will certainly ease the transition to first grade and actually having to pay attention all day to what you are supposed to be learning. It was interesting to watch his interactions with his peers as well. The two years at Merrill Palmer at WSU definitely set him up for success both academically and socially. He seemed so at ease from the very beginning. His interests are as variable as ever. Some days its his Matchbox cars, the next day its his Nerf guns, while another its football. One thing he LOVES to do is help Kate give Caraline a bath. She does the bathing, but he helps her get prepared and get the lotions and towels ready. It's like he's her little helper. On the flip side, one thing that he HATES to do is ride his bike. Last time I got him on it, he screamed as loud as police siren while I ran down the street with him...while he was steadied by training wheels. That's my middle of the summer project for him...to get him to not be so terrified of the bike.

Caraline is GROWING! Kate took her in for her check-up a few weeks ago and she's up to 26.5

inches and 16.8lbs. She's babbling like crazy too. One of my favorite things to do with her is to sit her on my bed when we all get home from work/school and ask her about her day. She obviously has no idea yet what I'm asking, but she just jabbers, and jabbers and jabbers to me. The more I vary my pitch and inflections, the more animated she gets. It is quite entertaining. The big event of the last 6 months for her was her baptism in February. Nana 'Pock and Aunt Jenny came up to Michigan with Mom and Dad to spend the weekend with us and share in the celebration of marking her as one of God's own.

Kate is still going strong at Children's Hospital. She has such a cool job. Not to knock the SLP's in schools, but she gets to see the really interesting stuff at her place. Her days are long (10hrs), but the 3 day weekends are nice. I know that she really enjoys it - even on days when her caseload is slammed and reports need to get done...yesterday. It's cool to watch her come home and know that she is exactly where she needs to be in her career. It fits her personality, intellect and beliefs perfectly. I'm proud of what she does and how she does it...in addition to being Mom of the Year everyday to all three kids. I'm darned lucky.

I finally finished up grad school at Wayne State in May. For the Winter term, I did my clinical internship at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, working primarily in inpatient care. It was a very good experience and I learned a TREMENDOUS amount from my supervisors and CFY's who I had the opportunity to work with. Two weeks prior to graduation, I accepted a Speech-Language Pathologist

position with Encore! Rehabilitation Services working at the Martha T. Berry Medical Care Facility in Mt. Clemens Michigan. I graduated on a Thursday and started work the next Monday. I gotta scream this to everyone who will listen: I love my job. This is exactly the reason that I went back to school. I view my job like this: Everyone has a story to tell. In some cases, their ability to tell that story becomes impaired because of an event that they didn't ask for (i.e., stroke, TBI, etc.). My job is to help them reclaim that ability and go on telling their story. To have the opportunity to do that everyday...I'm living the dream.

The last bit of news....I got a new truck!!! Actually, I just got it this past Thursday. Kate says that I've been smiling like the Cheshire Cat for 3 days. I can't help it.

Another beginning...

Our family recently welcomed home a new addition...Miss Caraline Marie Southern. She arrived on December 18th, 2010 at 8:06pm at Troy Beaumont Hospital. She weighed 6lbs 4oz and measured in at a petite little 18.25 inches.

Its been fun trying to pick out features in each of us that we see in her. She has my eyes, Kate's mouth and we think a mix of our noses. Its yet to be determined if she's going to have "Southern Ears". Emma and Carter do the same. They each see parts of them in her.

The kids have been transitioning well so far. This Christmas, Emma got an American Girl doll that looks just like her. Its been interesting to watch. She's found a renewed interest in an older American Girl baby and tends to her more now than she has at any point in the past. It is almost as if she's learning how to deal with another baby in the house, by playing with "her" baby again. Watching her play activity has been insightful. This is not to say that she doesn't do anything with Caraline. She's is quite the helper with changing diapers and such. We haven't quite let her do anything on her own yet, because Caraline was so little (she actually went down to 5lbs 10oz in the week after she was born), but she has such a sincere interest in her. Emma is going to continue to be an outstanding big sister.

Carter is, well, Carter. He's been a non-stop quote machine. Some of his best are: "Does she have a robot brain?" "Does she have teeth and can she talk?" "Her head is like a peach...its soft and fuzzy." He wants to kiss her on the head literally every chance that he gets. I wondered how he would be with her as he's seemed to relish the role of "the youngest". He's been a little gentleman about her.

Kate and I are doing well too. She will be home though the first week of February. One of my favorite things to catch her doing now is taking a nap with Caraline. The little one is quite the snuggler and is always the most content when held as close as possible to her Mama. Kate is quite simply, the happiest I've ever seen her.

Caraline has been out and about a little more this past week than in the first two weeks. We've

been to church a couple of time and made a few quick shopping trips. Yesterday, she even indulged her Mama and Daddy by letting us take her to the movies with us to see "The King's Speech." She enjoyed it by sleeping almost the entire way through!

I start my internship at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield in about a week. I'm really looking forward to it and can't believe that I'm almost done with Grad School completely. Now I just have to find a job!

In summary, this has been an exciting month. The Michigan Southerns have their newest addition and things couldn't be any better than what they are. We're happy. An old and wonderful friend of mine told me in a message today that we just fit together as a family. I think that is a great description. It's easy to fit together when you truly belong together.

This is a happy moment

All it took was a simple two word sentence for our lives to once again leap another milestone forward. A little over 3 months ago, after Kate had woken and I was still laying in bed trying to wearily sort out my schedule for the day, she walked back to bed and told me something that I'll never, ever forget.

"I'm pregnant."

Now, in the grand scheme of all of the memory of events in one lifetime, how many times do you get to hear that from your wife?

I looked up, smiled, and held her close. Her heart was beating faster than I've ever felt it beat. She was trembling. I held her as close to me as possible and whispered to her the only thing that I was feeling.

"This is a happy moment."

The day was May 5. One day before Kate graduated from Wayne State. The same week that she began working full-time as a SLP at a contract job. I was just finishing my 1st semester back in school and was about to begin my 2nd. We knew the next 12 months were going to be tight and that any number of unplanned for events could disrupt what we perceived as a solid plan to stability.

But in that moment, and in every moment since she told me the good news, a peace has lived within both of us. Now, that's not to say that some aspects of the news weren't stressful. I'd be lying if I said that. In the following weeks, another set of job interviews came and passed and some questions about how a new job would handle her were always floating around our minds. How would we tell our parents without sending them into endless worry? How would we tell our families as a whole? What about Emma and Carter?

Yet, at the same time, there was always a feeling that we shared spiritually. God isn't going to put us in a situation that we can't handle. He has a way of giving us just enough.

I think some of that comes with how we choose to view His plan. The news of expecting a child IS happy news. Its God's greatest miracle to parents. God knew that this is something that wouldn't shake our foundation because he knew that our foundation is strong. He knows we've found our foundation in Him. That our family, Emma, Carter, Kate and myself, believe that is is only through Jesus's love that our truest happiness exists.

Kate was blessed with the new job at Children's Hospital of Michigan. She loves it and they are accepting of the pregnancy. I just finished my school term. Our families and friends now know. We just shared the news with the kids at the beginning of this week.

So, I look forward, more excited than I can possibly put in words, to not only the remaining 5 months of the pregnancy, but the lifetime of shared moments in our family that will now include another gift from God.
Mark 9:35-36
And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them. Whom when he had embraced, he saith to them: Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Family Focus

Kate and I have a calendar in our bathroom. Its the flip kind that isn't year specific. Everyday there is either a Bible passage, a prayer, or a thought for the day. I like it. Most days, Kate wakes up about 10 minutes before I do and will flip the calendar by the time that I make it in there to brush my teeth and get my day started.

A few of them in the last few weeks have struck me as particularly powerful.

May 17: When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. -Ecclesiastes 7:14

May 19: Love is good above all others, which alone maketh every burden light. - Thomas A Kempis

May 26: It is our duty, as parents, to be teachers. We are not doing right by our children unless we teach them how to live in a godly manner. Instead of lectures, though, we should strive to give our children constant, positive examples. It is through our own lives that we must teach them Christian values.

may 29: The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

And now, todays...June 6: Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live. - Robert Southey

I'm probably beginning to sound like a broken record in this blog, but I view everything so differently now than I did in the past. My day doesn't start with a coffee and a donut anymore without seeing my kids and giving them a hug. It doesn't start with a cursory kiss to my wife as I worry more about my political ineptness at work than the spritual and emotional well being of my family. Those days are in the past.

Every day now has a clear focus. Whether it is a school day for me or a weekend day with everyone, the focus is on the family. Kate is such an amazing mother. She is also an amazing wife and companion. She helps keep me centered. Without her in my life, or for that matter, the kids' lives, we'd be lost. She has helped remind me that there is meaning beyond what lies outside my home's door.

She helps me find a little bit more of myself and my children every single day. Some people are born to be mothers. Kate is one of them.

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The school year is almost done for Emma and Carter! They are so excited. Its kind of bittersweet with Carter. For the last two school years, Kate and I have been taking him down to school with us. The preschool at Merrill Palmer has literally been a 5 minute walk to the Rackham Building where our department is located. I'm going to miss our rides to and from school everyday. He may not be the most talkative kid on the planet, but just being around him makes me happy. I'm going to miss peeking at him every few minutes in the rear-view mirror and seeing him sing along to whatever we're listening to on the way in.

At the same time, though, he'll be going to school with Emma in the fall. She's such a little mother hen at times. She may pick on him from time to time at home, but when we're out and about, she protects him. She's going to look out for her little buddy next year. They'll go to latchkey together in the morning. She'll help him find new friends. When she went to Kindergarten two years ago, I was nervous for her. With Carter though, he has Emma. He'll be ok.

I am a friend of God

The Spring is upon us. And as the cliche goes, so comes renewal.

The better part of the last 4 months have been very fast paced. Kate is in her internship in Bloomfield Hills and I'm at school full-time. Emma's getting near the end of her 1st grade year and Carter is ending his time in preschool. I wonder how many families can say that all four members are in school, all at various levels, all at the same time?

Carter and I listen to a variety of things either on the radio or on CD on the may in to school each day. Since Christmas we've been listening to a CD that Kate made for us: Immanuel Praise Music. It is a compilation of songs that our church, Immanuel Lutheran in Macomb, uses throughout the year. The little man and I have our own favorites. He loves the song "I am a friend of God". Mine is "God of Wonders". We sing them together on the way in and the way from school. Its fulfilling to see him and hear him - whether he knows it or not- with Jesus at his side and in his heart.

This past week, we received our copy of The Lutheran Witness. It is a publication that is sent out by The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (the governing body that our church belongs to). A prominent article this time is called "Faith, Culture and Youth". I encourage you all to read it. This paragraph in particular stood out to me as troubling: "Postmodernism has, in many ways, led youth, while wanting to keep up religious appearances, to think about God and religion in a unique and ambivalent way. Survey responses indicate they largely see God as a distant being. They may acknowledge that He created the universe in one way or another. He can intervene in human affairs, and even be reached through prayer. Yet, He mostly remains aloof and disinterested. Also, according to this worldview, the highest goal in life for humans is happiness. This, along with being nice and kind, is what defines a moral person. And since morality is found in all religions, this view puts most if not all religions on an equal footing."

Kate and I have made every effort we can possibly make within the past year, to keep our family focused on Jesus. In the not-to-distant past, Emma and Carter fit into this post-modern role that is described above. God was distant. Jesus was an idea. They knew the words, but didn't - our couldn't - grasp what He is. But what has transpired over the last 13 months is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes.

Emma brings her Bible to church every single week. When we find the readings for the week in our Bible, we immediately help her find it in hers. She reads along with us. When Pastors Mike or Greg are delivering their message, she listens intently. When we get home, she asks questions. When we put them to bed each night, they thank Jesus for all that has happened during the day.

Jesus isn't so distant anymore. He's becoming a friend that they can talk to. It goes without saying that the last 2 years have been tough for them. They've had to deal with a lot of anger and frustration. But they are learning to know that there is someone far greater and more powerful than any fear that they can devise. They know that Jesus is there for them. That He walks with them throughout the day. That he comforts their minds and fills their hearts when they need him.

I just finished reading Max Lucado's latest book, Fearless. I highly recommend it. Kate's reading it now. While I am fearful of many things for Emma and Carter as they grow up, the one thing I am not fearful of is that they will lose Jesus in their life. They have found Him.

Follow this link to The Lutheran Witness:
http://www.lcms.org/pages/wPagex.asp?ContentID=746&IssueID=43

Puppy, Christmas and a New Year

Well, I had no intention of not posting for almost 6 months. The time that has passed has been a whirlwind!

The biggest news of the last 6 months has been that we now have an addition to the family. Her name is Lucy, our new (and growing) black lab puppy! For about 4 months between the late summer and Thanksgiving, Emma and Carter worked their way to earning a puppy by filling up a "puppy chart" that Kate and I created. The idea was simple. We put pictures on a 24x36 foam board that showed different supplies that a family needs for a puppy during the first year: crate, food, leash, biscuits, collar, shampoo, etc. Each supply was attained by earning a puppy icon to place over the top of the supply picture. To earn the puppy icon, they had to fill up what we had been using, a smiley chart, with 7 smilies. (These smilies were usually earned for a full day of good behavior.) In all, there were 25 puppies that had to be earned in order to get a puppy.

In mid-October, we learned through a friend of Kate's who lives out of state, that she knew of a family that was selling black lab puppies. She checked it out for us and after a few phone conversations with the owner, we reserved a little girl for us. So for about a little over a month, Kate and I kept it secret from the kids that we already had the puppy picked out. On Thanksgiving weekend, Kate and I took a little road trip and picked up Lucy! (We didn't officially decide her name until about an hour after we got her.)

So far, she is doing very well. The house training is going great. Instead of an accident every 30 minutes, its an accident every other week or so now. Most of those are our fault now anyways for not paying enough attention to her "signs". The kids love her. About a month ago, she moved from a tiny puppy travel kennel to a large crate that Emma has in her room. Emma has found a best friend in her puppy. Its funny to listen to her talk to her in her room when she doesn't think that we are listening. Lots of secrets apparently! Carter, who less than 3 months ago was absolutely terrified of dogs, is doing phenomenal around her. He even chases her around the great room and giggle hysterically about it...of course he seems to like it more when I do it....maybe its just the sight of me acting like an idiot that he's giggling at.

For Christmas, Mom and Dad flew up here from North Carolina from the 21-25th. I can't ever remember them being up here before Christmas. It was great to have them. Its weird how when you're young and you can't wait to get out of the house and away from them, but then as you get older and start having children of your own that you really look forward to the moments that you get to spend with your own parents. Maybe sometime in the future we'll figure out away for our families to not have to be so long distance.

In other news, Kate finished the academic side of the SLP program in December and passed both the WSU departmental exam and the national Praxis exam in January. Right now she is doing her 4 month internship in Bloomfield Hills at an elementary school. In less than 3 months, she will be a Clinical Fellow!

I returned to school in January. I'm working as a Graduate Assistant for Dr. Derek Daniels. He's doing some very interesting research in stuttering perception and I am having a great time working with someone like Dr. D. He has also agreed to be an advisor to me as I work on my own research (more to come on that later.) I am also starting to work on a project with Dr. Susan Bowyer and Jennifer Peacock at Henry Ford Hospital in downtown Detroit. Jennifer and Dr. Bowyer are looking at what happens neurologically when a person uses the SpeechEasy fluency device. Specifically, what effect on "timing" neurologically, does the device have. We're talking literally milliseconds here, but in a process like speech, that timing is critical. The beauty of working on this project is that I get to learn about the critical aspects of neuroimaging that I have to know as a basis for my own project with the device. Plus, its just wicked cool to be a user of the device, look at your own brain scans and see just what the heck is happening up there.

Also in January, we celebrated Emma's 7th birthday with a big party at the house. Lots of our friends from around metro Detroit (and some from Up-North!) came to celebrate. Happy Birthday Emma!

The two big things coming up are Ashley's wedding in April and then Kate's graduation in May.

I think that catches everyone up to speed. I promise...no more 6 month layoffs from this! Afterall, with these two huge events happening, I'll be in the doghouse forever if I don't keep people updated!

Take care everyone!