I too have been meaning to write for months. I keep thinking I'll have time tomorrow and the months are rolling by. Life is very busy and I am squeezing in a quick letter while Cole finishes his bath, before I finish the dishes, renew my business license iron Cole's clothes for picture day and prepare a lesson for student. This year has been busy and at times overwhelming but I feel like life is good and we are doing well as a family.
Stephen is applying to medical school and the military to pay for it. Luckily since his grades are so high and his MCAT is high all three branches want him and we are trying to decide which would give him the most opportunities. It is nice to have our pick. Luckily I was released from the primary presidency and now only teach gospel doctrine, I am still tutoring and I am watching a friends children a few days a week and I have been asked to be the Director of Training for The One Less Foundation. Through my tutoring business, and loud opinions on education, I have been asked to give a few talks around the city on how to prepare you kids for college and how to support them, even if it is not financially or you were not able to go yourself. The One Less Foundation was started by a woman in another ward who is a financial consultant and helps individual families to build a financial plan and find opportunities, her approach is great, she helps one family until they can do it on their own, which honestly sometimes takes years and years. I won't bore everyone with all of the insurmountable problems in Philadelphia, but I am encouraged and excited by her approach and loving attitude. Right now my job is to teach courses that the city of Philadelphia wants implemented and help families prepare their children for college or technically school. Again without going into to much detail the schools are really bad and your 3rd grade test scores determine which middle school and then which high school you can go to. Now that I have negotiated this process for myself and a few other families I can help families from the start. Anyway so far I teach a course 3 times a month and will start meeting with families every other Saturday.
Cole started kindergarten this year, last year preschool was very difficult for him, he is bright but wouldn't take his hood off or make eye contact or participate in anyway. In February of last year he was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, basically he is easily overwhelmed. One on one he is great, he is really funny, 100% obedient and easily taught, in a group his biggest struggle is distinguishing between background noise and the teacher speaking. He is a little OCD and gets frustrated when things do not go perfectly, for example he hates play-do because he insists that it has cracks and is never actually smooth. Anyway after months of occupational therapy and daily one on one work together he graduated from Pre-K which I know shouldn't be a big deal, but it was for us, we were not sure it was going to happen. So we were nervous when he started kindergarten and the first few weeks were rough but now he is doing so well. So far he hasn't been able to tell me any other kids names and I was worried he wasn't making friends but at back to school night several mothers came up to me and said "oh Cole is Jake or Alec or Odin's best friend we hear about him all the time!" One sweet boy helps Cole smooth his rest mat every day. I called the school nurse today about Cole's asthma and she said "Oh he is my favorite student, he is kind of.......different in a hilarious kind of way." So he adjusting much better and more quickly than I could have hoped.
Miles is sweet and very bold and fearless, I think Heavenly Father was very wise to send Cole first, I think athletic, smiley Miles would be a hard act to follow. I am excited about the possibility of moving next year but if we end up staying here that is fine too. SO all in all we are busy and truly I don't go looking for things to do, they just keep falling in my lap, but I am so grateful my patriarchal blessing that says that I will never have the problem of boredom or limited achievement (luckily I have my mother who is such a great example of tireless service and one day I hope we can go somewhere together and be bored just for a day), it helps me know it is ok and Heavenly Fathers plan for me, I am also so grateful for my husband who does dishes, laundry and gets up with kids in the night, I am grateful for a true partner so we both get to spend time and nurture our children and pursue our own talents as well.
I love you all,
Emily and the Bradys
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