Please, pardon my bragging.

I am just so immeasurably proud of my three kids today!

Hannah and Genna are speaking to each other in German. Hannah can pretty much say anything I need her to say for me when we are out. Her pronunciation is so good! Today she talked to the lady at the swimming pool and told her what we needed, etc. Last Saturday, she went into the bakery, ordered, and paid all by herself while Brian waited outside. Genna is definitely behind her, partly because Hannah tends to answer for her. But Genna is still surprising me with all she knows too. When the German movie started the other day, she repeated back to me with great pronunciation what they said and then told me what it meant. I think this interruption in their learning German is one of our biggest sorrows in leaving this country.

On top of that, my girls are swimming so well too! Hannah can do the back stroke now and Genna is trying to so hard, but her coordination is not quite there yet. Genna is hilarious to watch swim. She is flailing all over the place and her bottom is going up and down all the while. I am sad to leave their excellent swim teacher too.

Plus, we had a small victory. Genna has trouble with loosing her temper when she gets hot simply because she is hot and no one is fixing it fast enough. This mostly happens when entering a warm or hot car. She looses control. The last few days have been pretty warm here and she has done an amazing job using her words calmly, controlling her temper, and patiently waiting for the air conditioning. We have been praying about this a lot and I am so thankful that she is doing better. We'll see how she does in the Texas heat!

Then there is my little man who is talking up a storm and trying desperately to keep up with his sisters. He copies everything they do or say. His latest thing is saying, "Watch this, Mom" and doing some little silly thing, like spinning or doing a little dance. He did it today in the store. It is just so cute! Then Isaac said, "Yes, Ma'am" to me all day today instead of "Yeah" or "Otay" and he corrected himself when whining for a drink and said, "Please." (Isaac has more trouble with losing it when he is hungry or thirsty.) Also he does the cutest things in Mass. He yells, "Body of Christ!" and points to his wide open mouth and then says, "Eat it!" We are working on a quieter voice , but it still makes me smile. He does have a problem with diving for the body and blood of Christ when I am holding him during Communion though. Then on Sunday and Monday of this week he started pretending to give me the body of Christ in my hand after we sat down, copying the priest. Then Genna holds out her hand and he does it again for her. Too precious!

A few days ago, I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed with moving, the ants, and everything else going on, but today I just feel blessed to be the mom to these three little precious souls! Thanks be to God!