Lots of good news to be had!

Hello out there! Lots going on in the Ambriz Family.

A few weeks ago we found out where we are heading, or rather where the Coast Guard is sending us. Drum roll please.....Memphis, Tennessee! We couldn't be more thrilled. Of course crime is big in the city itself - so we will be living about 45 minutes away in a much more rural setting. Good news is that we will only be a day's drive from my dad and his side of the family, and from the Creation Museum. We thought we were moving in June - but things have changed a bit. Hubby's new billet needs him there sooner - and his replacement for here should be arriving in March. So - it looks like we'll be on the road again sometime in the last half of March, or early April. I told my dad, and he is thrilled, because it means I can drive up for my grandpa's (dad's dad) 93rd birthday in May. My grandfather hasn't met any of my children in person. My grandpa has over 25 great grandchildren now...in fact, I think he may have a couple of great great grandchildren even. It is sad to think about - how so many people are limiting their families to 1 or 2 children - what a heritage they are missing out on. My grandmother (dad's mom) died when I was 5 or 6. I bet she would have really cherished the heritage she has through her 5 children, 15 grand children, 25+ great grandchildren (so far), and possibly great grandchildren now.

Today we found out that Hubby will be getting promoted to Chief on 1 February 2013. I am so proud of him! He has worked hard, and is a good leader. In fact, the other day he came home really late. Turns out he was giving one of his workers some marital advice. Here we have been married nearly 19 years (in March). We have been through a lot. I felt so much respect for him as a man when he said that a man (fairly recently married) had come to him for some advice and support. I was glad that he took the time to talk with him at length, and took him under his wing. Marriage isn't easy. I think sometimes we are lulled into the mistaken idea that it is all romance, chocolate and flowers, and lovey dovey stuff all the time. When in actuality it is a lot of hard work! Talk about blood, sweat, and tears. But here we are. Soon to be 19 years. 5 children. And hubby is on his downhill slide toward retirement from his military career. 3.5 years until he is eligible for retirement. But I think he is planning on staying at least 5 more. I need to go back to college. Even though I have a degree, I want to get some fresh skills that are marketable - should I need to work. Hubby isn't sure what he wants to do. If he retires at 20 years - he'll get a 50% pension. But he'll only be 45. So he could start a whole new career. We shall see where the good LORD takes us.

With that I will say goodbye. It is after midnight and I need to hit the hay. Until next time....

Be Blessed,
Tiffany

Good bye 2012

How is it that another whole year has gone by? Time seems to be ticking faster and faster every year. We enjoyed a wonderful Hanukkah. My mom visited for nearly a month, and then took our oldest 2 daughters back with her to California for a few weeks. The girls come home in 4 days. I have missed them so very much! We haven't had more than a dusting of snow so far. And we still don't know where we are being transferred to in June. The powers that be have announced that they are making 2 chiefs on January 1st. That  puts Hubby at #2 on the list. Could be February or March when we see his promotion. We have  been fighting a horrible cold/flu  for 3 weeks or so. I hope to update more again soon when we are all well and have more info. Until next time....

Be Blessed!
Tiffany

Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel...

It is that time of year again. Holy-Day time! We celebrate Hanukkah as messianic followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - YHVH. However, most of our family and friends celebrate Christmas. Well, we can not, in good faith send out cards celebrating the pagan ritual of Christmas - now that we have come to know the truth. And it yet we can't really send everyone a Hanukkah card that does not celebrate this Holy-Day either. Last year we made a "Happy holiday" card, and that just didn't sit right with us. So this year, I created a wonderful card (with the help of my hubby who manned the camera). It proclaims our faith in Yeshua without being overtly "Hanukkah-y", and stays clear of the trappings of Christmas. We used Shutterfly.com! It was so easy. They have so so many choices for cards, and photo layouts. Here is a preview of what will be coming to a mailbox near you. Hopefully I will find time to write a little "What the Ambriz Family has been up to in 2012" letter to include with it.  Talk to you soon!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1QauGrly1ZOJA&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

On the road again!

Hello, hello, hello. Did I ever tell you that we got the news that Hubby made the cut to be promoted to Chief this year? Well, this coming year. Sometime between January 1, 2013 and December 1, 2013 Hubby will be pinned as GMC Ambriz. He is, however, already Chief of my heart - and our home. We have also learned that we will be on the move this summer. Hubs was scheduled to be at this billet until June 2014. With him advancing - they have decided to send us on our merry way this summer. Well, truth be told - we were given the option to say whether we wanted to stay or go. We chose to go. I know you are all chomping at the bit to know where we are going. Want to know?....Well....We don't know. Yet. I will say that Hubby's list looked something like this....

Milwalke, WI
Buffalo, NY
Yorktown, VA
Atlantic City, NJ
Atlantic Beach, NC
San Diego, CA
Sault Saint Marie, MI


These are the places that didn't make it onto our list....

Charleston, SC
Oakland, CA
Norfolk, VA
Key West, FL
Kodiak, AK
Port Clinton, OH

*Port Clinton was actually a place we really wanted to go to. BUT...that particular job is a deployable, security unit. Given the state of things in the middle east, and the fact that I would wager a hefty bet there will be at least a regional war - and quite possibly a global war there in the next few years; we decided to not hedge our bets and left it off.

Of course, the Coast Guard can send us anywhere they darn well please. We are leaving it in God's hands, and want to be where He wants to send us. So, we will happily go where we are sent. It is possible that we will know before - but I am thinking we won't know until sometime between the New Year, and mid-March. I will, of course, keep you posted.

Until next time...

Be blessed!,
Tiffany

It is a fairy tale after all...

Once upon a time, a wonderful man and his bride were expecting a little princess. The day she was born was the happiest day of their lives. Everyone thought she was the most precious thing to grace  their family in ... well, in just a really long time. That sweet little princess began to cry. A lot. No matter what the wonderful man and his bride tried - the crying would not stop. They still thought their little princess was as precious as ever, as the bride rocked her for hours and paced the floor endlessly. That little princess grew and grew, and she couldn't have been more loved. Before she was 18 months old,  the wonderful man and his bride became worried about their little princess. She wasn't starting to talk and didn't like hugs.  Come to think of it - she had never babbled either. She behaved strangely, and would have times where she would scream for hours and bang her head on  the ground. Then the seizures started. The wonderful man and his bride took the little princess from doctor to doctor. Medications were prescribed to stop the little princess from having seizures. The medications did not work. No one seemed worried (except the wonderful man and his bride) that the little princess  still wasn't talking, and couldn't follow directions, nor could she be taken anywhere because of her  propensity for 3+ hour tantrums. Finally, when the little princess was about 3 years old - the wonderful man's bride took her to a new neurologist, Dr. Ira Lott.  Dr. Lott diagnosed the little princess with autism. Shortly after, the little princess was enrolled into the local school's special education preschool. The wonderful man and his bride cried the first day the "short" school bus pulled up in front of their house. The kind old bus driver escorted the little princess onto the bus. The bus driver's assistant buckled the little princess into a car seat - and off they drove. The wonderful man and his bride stood on the sidewalk in front of their house, held each other, and wept quietly. Year after year the little princess would get on a short yellow bus to attend special education class at school. Preschool turned into elementary school. Elementary school into junior high school. And finally, high school. The little princess wasn't little any more. But to the wonderful man and his bride - she was still their princess (even though they had been blessed with 4 more children by then). The princess no longer screamed and cried. She had come a long way. She could speak beautifully  and carry on a conversation.  She was an avid reader, and loved riding horses. The princess had even discovered how wonderful hugs and snuggles were. She no longer needed to ride the "short" bus.  She now rode the regular bus with everyone else. The princess made friends at her high school too. She fit in, and even when she didn't - the kids, and the teachers loved her anyway.

One day the princess came home beaming! The wonderful man and his bride were excited to find out what wonderful news their princess had for them. The princess burst out with the news that she had been chosen to be the Junior Class Princess of the Homecoming Court at school! The wonderful man and his bride showered their princess with hugs and kisses. They rushed out the door....they had to go dress shopping! The next day, the whole family...the wonderful man, his bride, the princess, and their 4 other children arrived at the high school to watch the homecoming football game. At half time, there was a flurry of excitement as 4 girls, and 3 boys stepped out onto the football field. It was the Royal Homecoming Court. And among them was THEIR princess! The princess was wearing a beautiful, sparkly, long blue dress. She was arm in arm with the Junior Class Prince, who was in his football uniform. As they announced her name - she was given flowers and a tiara was placed on her head. The wonderful man and his bride stood in the bleachers, held each other, and wept quietly. Their little princess was a real princess after all.

Where did summer go - and is that frost already?

I am at a loss for a whitty title. Again.

We have begun the 2012-2013 school year. I don't know why - but suddenly adding a 3rd, full time schooling child has really changed the dynamics of our little home school in the boonies. Often, I am not done schooling everyone until dinner - and the house has never been less organized. And yet - I am thankful that YHVH has blessed me to be able to have a home to be messy, and my husband with a job that allows me to stay home and school the children.

Hubby took the 2012 Service Wide Exam in May to make chief. He tested well, and with his dinosaur points is sitting at #5 on the list (of about 80). I am so excited! We are expecting the cuts to be out any time in the next week or so. Praying this will mean we can move next summer.

Summer went by way too fast. Didn't do anything major. Camped out in the yard, swam in the pool. The kids all grew. And we are already waking up to a frost nearly every morning.

Sadly, I have 3 family members struggling with cancer. My father was diagnosed with colon cancer last year. They got it all with surgery, and he is going for follow up routinely - but they found a few more polps recently. My dad's next youngest brother was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer a few months ago and has been given 12 to 18 months to live. There is no real treatment for small cell cancer. My mom's brother had prostate cancer - stage 3. They treated it with radiation - and he was doing better, but recent tests indicate the cancer is growing again. I hate cancer.

There is so much more to say, but lunch break is over and it is back to the grindstone....

Education.

I am so overjoyed, and sad. How wonderfully complex our YHVH made us!  Our 5 children are all so fearfully and wonderfully made - and YHVH made them all so different. I have made some discoveries lately about my children's academic abilities and struggles. It was a boon for me, as I realized I am not failing them in education - but it also tore at my heart to realize that I do have a child who struggles immensely despite all the different things I have tried with him.

It is no secret that our oldest has autism. She is now what you could call "high functioning". She is in regular ed. classes in 10th grade at age 17 (she just had her birthday last week), with the exception of math. She goes to public school - and always has. It started when she was 3, and she got on that short yellow "special" bus to special education preschool and has just continued. She was always in self contained programs. She was protected in a little nest, so to speak. Until high school. She has bloomed in many ways. I look at her and marvel at how far she has come, but it is sobering also that she is nearly an adult and won't be doing normal adult things (that is another post for another time).

Our 2nd child, Esther is my right hand gal. She is 11 going on 25. Taught herself to read at age 3. Flourishes where ever she is. She went to private kindergarten at our church school in San Diego, and then I have homeschooled her from 1st grade on. Schooling is easy for her - and she zips through her work most day is 90 minutes or so. Devours books like there is no tomorrow.

Child number 3 is Jack. He is my struggling learner, in regards to reading. Math- he is a wiz. Jack is exceptionally bright, and loves to learn. He has so much to say, about anything and everything. You can watch the gears in his mind spin. He thinks about everything! However, he struggles with reading. And by struggle - I mean outright fights for every little baby step he makes in progress. It exhausts him, and rather depresses him.  At 9 (almost 10), I feel I have tried everything. It is just a very very slow go. Most days it takes him 4+ hours to get through his individual school work.  And it breaks my heart. I know he feels stupid.

4th in line is Pippa. Miss Penelope Pit Stop. Princess Pea. She is 5, and about 6 month ago started reading. At. Break. Neck. Speed. She is now a fluent reading with feeling. Probably reading mid-2nd grade level. (Probably better than Jack. And as I type that I cry.) Math stumps her sometimes...I used to chuckle about how well she reads, and yet 1+1=11 to her. But she is making progress there and "gets" basic addition and subtraction now. I school her sporadically, as time allows. Which really isn't more than once or twice a week for 30 minutes. Age wise, I should be starting kindergarten curriculum with her in the fall, but will start first grade instead. Why hold her back because of her age?

Israel (aka Izzy) is thus far, last in line...our caboose. He knows his letters, numbers, and shocked me this morning by pointing to a word and reading it. Izzy is 4, a sweet heart, cute as a bug's ear, and just a ball of joy. I haven't really spent any time schooling him formally. I am hoping that next fall, when Pippa settles into formal sit down instruction, I'll have some time to spend with him 1:1.

I used to think I wasn't a good teacher. That I just got lucky with Esther. Jack struggled so much with reading. I knew it was me. Then Pippa came along and picked up reading. I started to wonder if maybe Jack just had some special problems...maybe it wasn't ALL me. Now that Izzy is starting to read - and showing none of the issues Jack has, I am fairly convinced it is not me. My heart breaks that at nearly 10, the 5 year old reads better than he does. I hate to see how hard Jack has to work to learn a skill - only to realize the next day, that he did not retain it. That we are back to square one. I remember being in a grocery store when I was 20. A man approached me with some cans of cat food. He asked me to read the label and tell me what flavor they were. He could not read. I realize that my son is not much better off, and secretly fear that he will be that man someday. Jack thinks he is stupid - and I tell him he is not, and remind him of all of his wonderful talents. But when you struggle with basic reading, and your sibling that is 5 years younger can out read you - it doesn't seem to matter. I am in the process of getting Jack an appointment to see a neuro-psychologist for educational assessment. I hope that can shed some light, and maybe point us down some unknown road we haven't yet tried.