Icards in Pineville: What's New?

Wow! It's been a long time since I've written - so much has happened in our lives in the past month. Let's recap:

1. Piper came home from his knee/broken bone series of surgeries and just when things were looking up, he developed a bad staph infection in his leg from the multiple incisions and hardware he had placed in his leg. Poor fella spent two full weeks at Carolina Vet Specialists since the infection was a strain resistant to oral antibiotics. He finally came home and had to be given injections once a day (by me!) for a week and now, after several more x-rays and bandage changes, I think he is truly on the road to recovery. We are so thankful to Dr. Weaver at Sharon Lakes Animal Hospital who has helped us tremendously with Piper's recovery.

2. I spent a week on campus at Messiah, but the week plan turned into a three day work week due to a blizzard that hit central PA while I was there. No worries though! I was staying with my parents and actually enjoyed being stuck in the house with them (quite a change from feeling trapped as a teen during snow storms). I did end up having a productive week as I was able to be on campus for two big scholarship interview days and meet quite a few of my prospective students.

3. Kevin went to Chapel Hill for another week of coursework for his City/County Management Certification through UNC's School of Government. I think Kevin secretly (or not so secretly) enjoys this time away from us! He has made friends with fellow students since they've all been in this class together since September and has become quite the socialite staying out until very late...some things never change. It's good that he has this time away to recharge his "daddy" batteries. :)

4. I spent a week in Florida doing a series of college fairs through NACCAP (North American Coalition of Christian Admissions Professionals). It was a crazy week - I visited 8 cities in 5 days and I traveled (including a roundtrip flight) over 1900 miles! I am still recovering from a sore neck that I got from doing so much driving. It was a good trip, though, and I did make some cool friends with some of the other counselors from Eastern University (in Philly) and Northwestern College (in Iowa - random?).

5. ELI! Eli is talking and has so much to say these days. Some of the latest words he's added to his vocaubulary are:

apple
car
oh no!
cheese
hi (when he holds one of phones to his ear)
eat
bath

He is also very in tune with noises now:

tiger=roar!
money=e e e
cow=moo
car=beep beep

It is such a joy to see him grow and develop everyday. Now if we could just get him to eat some new foods we'd be on to something!