"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

So great to awake this morning and not have to hit the ground running.Raining like crazy here in Southern California which makes for a welcomed lazy Monday morning.At almost 11 am we are all in our jammies.The boys have attached themselves to the Wii and Zoey is content to be watching their antics.Mark unfortunately did not have the day off.Neither did Jess,so they were up and off well before the rest of us.

Matt had a 12 hour shift followed by a few hours of sleep and then a 24 hour run.He came home a bit ago and I am certain is fast asleep as I write.He has another new area of coverage,Compton,which should keep him hopping with calls the vast majority of his shift.Jess and he are waiting to see where she is accepted for nursing school to decide where they will be living come fall.UCLA's master program sends out their acceptance letters in early spring, as does Mount Saint Mary's,so come spring they will have a better idea.Santa Monica seems to be a logical area to be thinking about.Matt has to decide where he will going to Paramedic school and that will factor into the equation too.They are so focused.So hard working.Literally none stop since graduation from Pepperdine last May.Jess continues to work her part time job at the physical therapy center and also juggles a part time job with a volleyball club team,a phlebotomy course to become a certified phlebotomist,2 college courses AND manages to squeeze in assistant work with Parkinson research at a LA Veteran's hospital.The cool thing about the research program is that it originally started out as an unpaid internship but now looks as if it will become a paid gig.Hopefully.Things are really falling into place for the two of them and I couldn't be prouder.

The rest of us are holding our own.Big things going on with Miss Zoey this next month as we transition her out of Early Start and will need to begin making decisions as to what program/programs she will attend when she hits three.Can't imagine sending her to school but I think the time is drawing near.She will just blossom in school.My heart knows that.It's just a matter of me being able to let her go.She is still such a baby to in my eyes.I think in the end, the transition is more about me then her!!She also has a big neurology appointment at UCLA at the beginning of February and the the second week of February also finds us with an Oncology follow up and a sedated EKG/cardiology appointment,both on the same day.Fun times.But glad to be doing it.Grateful everyday to have her here doing so,so well.Her receptive language is really exploding.She seems to understand more and more of what we say and ask of her.And her signing ...wow.I think she has learned 4 new signs this week.Amazing.

Happy Monday everyone.Let's continue to spread the love and light that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of,hoped for and dreamed of.After all,if we don't have love,in the end,what else matter's?And another reminder to all my faithful readers ... if you haven't already,vote now for The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in the Chase Community Giving Campaign.Simple way to spread the love and save lives.

A few cute pictures and short video of Zoey and our resident Buzz Lightyear fanatic ...Jake.He serious LOVED and lived Buzz when he was little.With the new movie coming out he has rekindled that love.Another favorite Christmas gift of his was a remote control Buzz and not only is he quite enamoured with it, but Miss Zoey as well!