Emily and Ashley

Emily and Ashley just started kindergarten and they both have been doing great! They are working on their reading, as well as their sounds right now. In the first video, Emily is reading a book called "What will fat cat sit on?." She is able to read most of the words. In the second one, Ashley is going through her letters and giving the letter sound for each one.

MOV008 from Roland Sanchez on Vimeo.

Emily reading a book

MOV009 from Roland Sanchez on Vimeo.

Ashley is practicing her letter sounds

Family Calendar

This summer as I contemplated the school year with five children ranging in ages from kindergarten to ninth grade, I realized I needed to have a central place to organize and record everyone's activities. Between the 5 kids we have soccer, cross country, Good News Club, lawn mowing jobs, speech therapy; not to mention orthodontist appts, doctor appts, etc. So, after doing some research, we ended up with this color coded white board. Each person's activities is written in a different color ink.

Kindergarten!

I've been dreading this day for many months. I have been overwhelmed with fear, anxiety and deep feelings of inadequacy....Emily and Ashley's first day of kindergarten. It seems silly when I think about it. I've homeschooled 3 kids from the very beginning-taught them to read, diagram sentences, write essays, do algebra. But they aren't deaf. They were not deprived of language for the first three years of life... The statistics are daunting...The average deaf child graduates high school with a third grade reading level. There is no 'proven' standardized way to teach a deaf child to read. The girls have cochlear implants which allow them to hear well; yet they have only had them for two years and do not understand much of what they hear. So will they be able to be successful with phonics? I told Roland that if they become proficient readers I will consider it one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. People have encouraged me to record what we're doing so that I can write a book about it someday. : ) I dunno about that. But I have decided to blog about OUR progress here...

3 years ago today....

Three years ago today, we arrived at the Spokane airport from the Philippines with Crystal and Lavinia Pasco. I don't know who was more fearful, us or them. Our family of 5 had become a family of 7 overnight. We were exhausted and ill-prepared for what lay ahead. We had no idea the incredible pain, heartache, but ultimate joy that awaited us. We just knew that God had led us by faith to these two precious orphaned girls.... Emily and Ashley, we love you. We are so thankful that God, in his sovereignty, put you in our family. You are a blessing.

Yard work

We've been working on our front yard-we pulled out overgrown plants, groundcover, cut out new flower beds, hauled in 4 truckloads of soil, planted perennials, etc. It's been a family effort...Cade and Claire have hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil and bark, Emily and Ashley have collected worms. Kailyn prefers to serve the family by cleaning the house and making lunch for all of us, so we're thankful for that as well. : )

Kids

Having five children ages 5 to 14 ensures that there is a lot of variety in my day. I go from listening to Kailyn conjugate Latin verbs to helping Cade with his pre-algebra to singing the ABC song with the twins. One day recently, though, I was struck by the wide gap in their ages and abilities...Cade was working on his final project in geography-free-hand drawing a map of the entire world complete with all of the capitals and countries labeled (Did you know that the capital of Swaziland is Mbabane?) Shortly after admiring his amazing detail, Emily brought me a portrait that she had drawn of "mom" and "dad". (She was very proud that she had drawn in daddy's goatee.) I am so thankful for the privilege of being a mom!

Claire sings at church

Last Sunday Claire sang with the children's choir at church. She got to sing a solo, and I have the video posted here. Enjoy! :)

Snow!

A strange clash of seasons here in Albany...

Rain, rain, go away...come again another day

Our backyard

December Highlights

Making Gingerbread houses




Christmas in Spokane





Christmas in California with the cousins



Galen and Hannah's wedding in Seattle

Must-read book

I just got done reading a great book, Kisses from Katie. It is about a young woman who, after graduating from high school, leaves her comfortable upper middle class life in America to go to Uganda. She started by serving at an orphanage. And then God opened doors for her to start her own ministry there. She spends her time loving orphans, feeding and educating the poor and caring for the sick. At age 22, she has adopted 13 children...A young woman living by faith...A young woman living out the gospel.

Emily and Ashley meet Santa

What do you see when you look at this picture? The untrained eye might merely see a couple of Asian kids with jolly old Saint Nick. However, the more discerning will see not just a festive picture, but a historic event in the making...the first time ever captured on camera...Sanchez children with Santa Claus. Times are changing, I guess. They always say you loosen up with your younger children. Hopefully all is not lost.

Cade gets baptized!

Roland had the privilege of baptizing Cade last month. My parents were able to come and share in the special occasion. How thankful we are for the work God is doing in his heart!

Sampling of Emily and Ashley's Progress

Wrestling season has started again

Our new home!

After nearly six months of living on Looney Lane, we've purchased a house of our own. It's in a great neighborhood, in a quiet cul-de-sac. It is about 4 miles from the church. We'll be moving in at the end of September. We're so excited to settle into our own place.

A visit to Spokane

In July, we made a trip back "home" to Spokane. (Though my dear husband gently reminds that Albany is now our home, I still refer to Spokane as "home".) We had a wonderful visit with family and dear friends. Emily and Ashley loved spending time with grandma and grandpa. The big kids enjoyed hanging out with their friends and cousins. They were also able to go to camp with Faith Bible Church. As a bonus, we sold our house that week. (Praise God for answered prayer!)

It was a great week. I was reminded of all the many reasons I love that place-family, dear friends and a great church.


Riverfront Park






Manito Park

Portland Zoo

What do you do in Oregon when you plan a trip to the zoo, but it's raining? Judging by all the cars in the zoo parking lot, I guess you just go ahead with your plans. I was sure that we would be the only people crazy enough to wander through the zoo all day in the rain. But much to my surprise the parking lot was packed. Families piled out of their cars, put on raincoats, rain boots, plastic ponchos and opened up brightly colored umbrellas. I guess when you get 40 inches of rain a year, you don't let a little water keep you at home.

A garden

When we moved in to the house this spring, the owner, Don, offered to put in a raised garden bed for us. I was initially hesitant to have him go to all the trouble since we didn't know how long we'd be here. But, since summer is fast approaching and it doesn't look like our house is selling soon, he went ahead and put it in yesterday. The kids and I didn't waste any time getting it planted. We planted tomatoes, onions, zucchini, jalapenos, basil and cilantro. It's our first garden and we're all so excited about it. : )




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Sunset on the Farm