The White White House: March 2015

Last month, we celebrated 18 years of marriage, snow, one conceal carry class completed and completion of our yearly testing. This month, we went skiing with the Brewers and....drum roll.... Jackson completed Barton tutoring, after nearly five years!!!!

We are so proud of his perseverance. We are so thankful for his tutor, Lisa Durham, and the Barton Reading and Spelling System. I want to share a portion of the email I sent to Ms. Lisa. I doubt that Jackson will forget how much he endured to get to where he is today but this letter touches on some of what he went through in the beginning.

"If you only knew the number of days we both cried and the amount of money we spent on tutors and books that didn't work. It would've been easier had we found you sooner but God never wastes anything. He taught me a lot about pride and asking for help:-). If there's one thing I would tell people it would be to pay attention to those early indicators. Sometimes we chalk things up to boys being boys. I spent so many preschool years teaching Jackson, prior to sending him to kindergarten, but looking back, I remember a few things that now I know were early indicators of dyslexia in him. He always struggled with rhyming, remembering certain letters and retaining a reading lesson. Then in kindergarten, he would cry on Friday mornings when he knew his teacher would be giving a word wall quiz. He would complain about how well the kindergarten girls could read; he'd sometimes say that he wished he was a girl (and he was ALL boy and then some). It broke my heart but I was hoping he would just "outgrow" some of the struggles.

I believe that our struggles could've been something far more difficult so we've tried to stand on Romans 8:28 while trusting that God would use this for good in Jackson's life. What a journey so far but I do feel like we are in a much happier and healthier place now. His self-esteem improved after a few lessons with you because he became a more confident reader. I always wanted to see the day when he picked up a chapter book and read on his own. He did that after about a year of tutoring with you and continues to do so. I always wondered if he'd ever feel confident reading a devotion out loud or reading to his brother. He's done that more times than I can count. I share all of this with you because you've made so much of this possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

We will miss seeing Ms. Lisa each week and I will miss the security and assistance that she provided me. Sawyer was a newborn when we met Ms. Lisa and he was used to his stroller sessions during Jackson's tutor sessions. I will miss the routine but the silver lining is we will have more flexibility during our school week, for the first time in many years!

We celebrated Jackson's big accomplishment with a special dinner, a cookie cake, and a card. We topped it off this past week with a ski trip with the Brewers. Granddaddy and Andrew stayed one night with all of us, before they headed to Gettysburg. It was a treat for all! Webb and I changed our plans last minute because we were concerned about so much rain in the forecast. I'm glad we went down early and stayed a day longer than we planned because we had so much fun and enjoyed lots of laughs; Webb can ski the heck out of the black diamond slopes but can't get off a ski lift without falling:-) We laughed a lot! We also hung out by the indoor fire (Grandaddy and Granny taught us well growing up because the Thompson girls know how to start a fire and yes, Holly and I were proud:) We ate a few good meals together enjoyed watching all of the big kids cut up, and we enjoyed counting how many times Bennett and Sawyer changed costumes each day.

Jackson loves snowboarding. I found out today that he would rather do ski trips than go to Disney. He's crazy good on the snowboard but I cannot watch him do the jumps. Webb took a few videos and I watched them once I knew he made it back to the condo, unharmed. He is fearless, something he didn't get from me.

Sawyer didn't enjoy skiing at all. He was very tired when we took him out so the timing wasn't the best. He fell one time with Webb and both of them have bruises to show for it. He says he will try again when he's bigger. Maybe we will get him lessons next time, with an instructor who isn't family;-)

It had been 15 years since I had been skiing and I was nervous getting back out. Holly and I skied alongside Andrew since it was his first time. That made it more fun for me and I was able to focus on Andrew instead of the fear of falling or the fear of not being able to stop, which happened to me the first time I learned to ski. Anyway, most everything is more fun with kids. I really hope that we can go again next season and include all of the Flythes and Granny.

The inside of the card we made for Jackson

Snow in Raleigh, 2/15

Snowboarding at home

Hanging out at the frozen birdbath

He asked me to take a picture of this
(It's a Transformer on cans)

Sound asleep.

Playing with daddy while mom was sleeping in.

Class with Patrice, Laura, Holly & Mom

Beautiful anniversary tulips

He also brought me a copy of People magazine home with the flower, the latest edition with the Jessa Duggar on the cover. He knows me well:-)

Eating a bagel and watching TV from the laundry basket.

Anniversary cheesecake from Whole Foods- definitely a special treat for us.

Snow Cream

And Batman disappears

Anderson and Jackson

Snowboarding

Do you wanna build a snowman? :-)

Sawyer associates snow with Christmas. Santa came up again today. He commented, "I wonder what Santa is doing.....he's probably making all of my toys because I have a very long list....what does Santa do when he gets tired? I think a new Santa starts working and then when he gets tired, another Santa starts working." I think once the snow melts and the weather warms up, he can start working on a birthday list and quit thinking about Christmas;-)