January Update

Josiah has taken up art with his first crayon composition and the fingerpainting shown below. He is now taking several steps at a time, but still figuring out balance while walking. He just got his 3rd tooth and some of his favorite words (sign language) are airplane, lion, fish, bird, more, all done, book, drink, cracker, please, and thank you. He is a little fireball of energy.



Mary's art has transformed into recognizable objects. It has been fun to watch her blossom and she has so much fun being creative! Below is a photo of us enjoying snow ice-cream and hot cocoa. She loves puzzles and games. One of her favorites is to play hide and seek in the dark with a flashlight. She is such a joy.



Our family was blessed with a new member in December! Here is a photo of our new niece Alissa Anne and proud big brother David.



Finally, we are moving soon. Aaron has accepted an operations manager position with Amazon.com in Phoenix. This was not an easy decision and we are grateful for the support we have received from everyone. We are excited for the season ahead, but we are in no hurry to rush these last few weeks as we spend time with friends and family while getting ready to make the transition.

Child Sexual Abuse

I attended a seminar called "Smart Kids, Safe Bodies" today. The speaker, Jon Holsten, is a police sergeant and former child sex crimes investigator. He did an excellent job explaining the prevalence of child sex crimes and advising on ways to talk to children about it. He also offered suggestions to avoid potentially harmful situations, discussed indicators of abuse, and issued a call to action with a message of hope for everyone.

I will provide links for more detailed information at the end and just touch on a few pieces of information I gleaned. I pray it will be valuable to you.

• First, studies show 1 out of every 3 or 4 girls and 1 out of every 6 boys will be sexually abused by the time they are 18. Also, 67% of all sex crimes involve child victims. Such statistics make me sick and angry, but we must realize what is going on in our society in order to protect children.
• Second, just as we use car seats, helmets, and teach them how to cross the street safely, we must make a point to teach them about appropriate touch and what to do if the unthinkable happens (no matter how uncomfortable it may be to talk about!)
  
• Jon informed us that you can access a listing on sex offenders at your local law enforcement agency. Not all offenders are required to be registered online.
  
• One of his final points was that we need to be praying for families and individuals that have been victimized whether we know who they are or not. Pray that they would know that there is hope for healing and that they would take the difficult step of telling someone what happened in order to begin the healing process.
  

Jon authored a book called "The Swimsuit Lesson" to help parents discuss appropriate and inappropriate touch as well as what to do if those boundaries are violated.

Here is a link to his website: http://www.theswimsuitlesson.com/
Here is an article he wrote for Focus on the Family: Talking to Your Kids About Sexual Abuse

May God give you the vision and strength to do with this what He wills,
Sarah

The kids meet Santa Clause

We took the kids to the local paper's open house this week. We got to tour the facility, munch cookies, and meet the jolly fellow. This is the only picture where Joisah is not crying. Santa asked Mary what she wanted for Christmas and she said she would like candy and to dress like a ballerina.

Tales of Transition

There has been talk of transition for the Timmons family. We have no news yet, but I wanted to take some time to fill you in on what we do know.

Aaron has been considering a job/career change for a while now. He has enjoyed his current position at Hawker Beechcraft, but he is ready for something different. Recently, he began actively seeking out positions with companies of interest to him. Namely, The Motley Fool and Amazon.com. They have both been receptive to his interest and things seem to be moving forward, though he has not received any job offers yet. He has an on-site interview with The Motley Fool in December and there are two locations with Amazon.com that we are currently looking at in Pheonix, AZ and Allentown, PA .

A trip to the zoo

Wednesday was too beautiful of a day to not go to the zoo. I just cannot get enough of all the beautiful fall colors. The red leaves pictured above are probably my favorite during this season. I love my children and I love watching how excited they get about the animals and the playground at the zoo!

Josiah at age one

To mark Josiah's 1st birthday, I thought I would give an update and describe him at this point in his life.

People keep asking me if he is still wearing his brace. As of September 10th, he only wears it at night. In Novemeber, the left hip was not quite where it needed to be so he will wear it until his next evaluation in March. He can stand up, crawl, roll over, and even "waddle cruise" with it on!

I think it is telling what others say when we are out and about. He is "a really happy baby" and "doesn't look like he's missed too many meals" as one put it kindly. :)

He is walking while holding onto things and can kick his crawl into overdrive. He is intense, persistent, and responds to a firm "No." with a giddy grin. We have to wrestle him to keep him in the bathtub, but he loves splashing water; reaching into the tub, sink, and toilet. He makes us smile and laugh a whole lot.

In addition to splashing, he LOVES playing with his sister, being outside, moving to music, rubbing Daddy's head, eating, and manipulating toys.

He hates lying on his back and spoon food.

He blesses Mommy by pretty much only soiling his diaper in the morning (when he still has a disposable on) or on evenings when Daddy is watching him (cloth diaper). Such a sweet, sweet little boy.

The above was written before we tried transitioning him to whole milk. That backfired. Literally, messy, multiple times a day. Not good. Today his doctor recommended keeping him on formula until 18 months.

We have all had fun watching him learn to use sign language. So far, he knows signs for light, dog, more, and all done. It is so exciting for everyone when he communicates!

Josiah is 1!

We celebrated the little guy's birthday last weekend. Highlights included an intense game of stack the cheerios, receiving a blue bow on one of his gifts, Josiah centered finger food for dinner, Daddy arriving home from work with LOTS of balloons, a train cake decorated by Mommy and Grandma Nancy, which led to...his first taste of SUGAR!