How is Carmen?

Carmen is doing well. He is going to be 13 weeks soon. I can't believe it. He is a very calm baby and spends most of his awake time sitting happily in his chair or being carried around by one of his sisters. He does pretty well napping during the day and his reflux is under control, thanks to his drugs. He has started teething (already!) and so now we are fighting through that pain. You can pray for him and us as he still wakes up at night for something. Sometimes it's gas. Sometimes it's teething pain. Sometimes it something that I ate that his still-developing digestive system can't handle. Pray that the Lord would allow his body to develop quickly and he would start sleeping longer hours since I would love the sleep. He is in a great pattern with eating and hasn't eaten at night for the last 3 or 4 weeks so it's not hunger but every night there always is something that causes him to wake crying and it's frustrating. So, pray for a miracle that the Lord would allow the nights to be peaceful.

How Are the Girls?

A lot has happened since I last wrote. The girls continue to do well in school and we have taken off for the whole week of Thanksgiving since we've had different friends in town. That's the nice thing about homeschooling.
We attended the regional conference together as a family which meant traveling 8 hours to near LA. Everyone did great in the car and it was a really easy trip. The conference was good with Curt getting to do some trainings that he needed to have under his belt. I didn't get to attend much since I was still doing school with the girls and Carmen slept best in his pack-n-play in the room. But it was still nice to get to be together as a family.
The highlight of the trip was the girls getting to see the ocean for the first time. It was an amazing experience. They absolutely loved it. They stared at it for awhile and wondered why the water moved. Turi jumped right in, of course, even though it was only about 65 degrees out and the water was probably about 60. She loved playing in the waves. Bitsu went in after awhile and couldn't stop screaming with delight. Tihi watched for a long time and then spent some time running back and forth as the waves came up. It was so fun to watch them. They loved playing with the sand and making stuff and we can't wait to go back when it's actually warm enough to enjoy it.
Thanksgiving was fun. We have some friends in town staying with us. As the girls were helping cook (and they were a huge help), they wondered what we were going to do with all this food! And they couldn't believe how big the bird was. They kept calling it Big Bird :). As they slowly tasted everything, they really jumped in. I mean, who wouldn't? Sweet potato casserole (with sugar), green beans (with sugar), turkey and cranberry sauce (with sugar), creamy mashed potatoes and stuffing. They loved it all. Turi said she was thankful for family. And so are we!

Updates

So, I've posted a lot of pictures but haven't written a lot about what's actually going on.
The girls: they are continuing to do well. School is going well and they are plowing ahead. Turi has completed 2nd grade math in 3 months and is now working through 3rd grade. She's very good with math. All of their language is improving. I rarely hear, "huh?" anymore, meaning everyone understands pretty much everything. They continue to make grammar mistakes but in general are doing very well. They continue to love their teacher that we hired and having Elizabeth here has helped me to figure out life with a baby and get back on my feet.
The highlight of the girls' last month was Halloween. They couldn't believe that you could go to other people's houses and they would just hand you candy. They wanted to go out the next day and do it too :).
Carmen: he is MUCH better. We started him on drugs again a week and a half ago to see if his system could handle them. It did and he is finally living pain-free. The drugs reduce the acid in his stomach so that when he does reflux, he doesn't have the pain of the acid coming up with it. This has meant longer naps and easier days since he is much more comfortable. We are so thankful to God for answering our prayers.
Ministry: students have really responded to the outings and we have had stuff going every weekend. Sometimes we've had as many as 3 outings over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which makes for a crazy schedule and a very tired Curt! But it has been a hard road since we work with the unchurched and although they love hanging out with us and are exposed to the gospel, often it doesn't go much farther than that. Personally, I have started meeting with two women on Mondays to share a story from the Bible and talk through what we think which has been a lot of fun.
Overall, life is good. It often feels so busy and the months are just slipping away. The semester ends in just a month already. It seems like yesterday that we got the girls and moved here and now we feel settled, the girls have friends in the neighborhood, we have friends in town and ministry has taken off. Amazing what can happen in 6 months.