Life in Arkansas

Hi family and friends,

At the suggestion of my friend Trina, I am trying this new communication tool to stay in touch with all of you more effectively and efficiently.

Life in AR, is fabulous. We are so happy here. Mike stays extremely busy at Hendrix, but he loves his job. Hendrix is in the middle of a $100 million capital campaign so he's making lots of calls on folks to give to the campaign. He is obviously doing some traveling with this, but that's no different than previous jobs.

I am staying home for the first time in my life and I am loving it. I really struggled with the idea of being a stay at home mommy, but the girls and I have found that to be wonderful. We joined First United Methodist Church here in Conway, a couple of weeks prior to Thanksgiving and are enjoying making it our new church home. I have joined the choir and am really enjoying it. The choir sings very traditional/English cathedral music which is right up my alley. The music speaks to the core of my soul. The choir director hails from Bristol, England, and she and I have a lot in common regarding music. I'm also going to begin attending a Bible study known as BSF. Several ladies in my church and neighborhood are members of this group and have invited me so I'm looking forward to my first study this week.

The girls attend pre-school twice a week at First Presbyterian Church here in Conway and are having a nice time there. They love their teachers and come home with neat things to share about what they are learning. Most recently, they have performed for many family members their "Turkey Song" and their "Indian Song". Both came with adoreable motions (Hannah refers to them as options) and sound effects. The girls just celebrated their 4th birthday on Nov. 28. Mike and I are in awe of how far they've come and how much they've grown both physically and intellectually. Their verbal skills amaze me daily. They use words like familiar and actually with great regularity. A parent begins to learn their own lingo through the words they hear from their children.........even the not so nice words, from time to time. My favorite thing though, is how they now come up to us and say "Mommy, I love you." It is apparent that they understand what that means and can now express it in a way that melts me to the core. At that very moment, they can do no wrong in my world. It makes all of the struggle worth it.

God has truly blessed us in so many ways. This move has taught us to slow down and enjoy our family in a much more intentional way. The time we have together here is quality time. We realize that we did not have that much of the time before.

Thank you for loving us and supporting us in this time of change and transition. Although we are separated by miles, our hearts are with you always.

Love,

Monica, Mike, Maggie and Hannah