HIV, Life, and Lily settling in

So I wanted to send out some good info I came across lately to help everyone understand our situation better. I know that many people have asked questions about the risks of having an HIV positive child around and if they can spread it and whatnot, so here’s some helpful info.

In short, you can’t transmit HIV by; sharing drinking cups/cutlery/towels, toilet seats, mosquitoes, coughing, sneezing, shaking hands or kissing. The only risk comes with blood and even with that I had a doctor tell me recently that they’ve proven that if you take a needle with HIV blood on it and put it directly into your blood stream that you still only have less than .6% chance of getting the virus yourself. Here’s the link for more info.

http://www.avert.org/can-you-get-hiv-aids.htm

It has also been so incredible to see such love and support from all our friends and family over these past couple weeks. Thanks everyone who took the time write us! Lily has been settling in and getting comfortable with our family. She’s started calling Heather and I “mommy and daddy” which is so cute. She’s also speaking more and more English each day. Also, the girls are all getting along really well and playing tons (and fighting as well). Lily breaks up the age gap between Sydney and Aubrey and interacts well with both of them. The girls too love having her around, all of which has blessed Heather and I tons.

It’s also been great having Dan here with us. I shared in my last post that he arrived safely and now we’re all settling into a groove. And as always we have some stories to share about our kids, here are a few:

A few weeks ago Sydney, Aubrey and I were playing a game where Sydney and I were neighbors and Aubrey was my dog (Don’t ask why we played this, most games are birthed on the spot). Well, as we were playing Sydney stopped and said to me (remember we’re neighbors and Aubrey is my dog) “I don’t appreciate it when your dog poops in my garden”. HAHA!

One of the first few nights Lily was with us Heather and I laid all our girls down to bed. After a little bit Sydney called out to us and said “The girl with the black hair isn’t lying down!” Nice Syd, way to make someone feel at home.

One morning, Sydney, Dan and I were sitting together at our kitchen table. Sydney sat there busily writing/coloring in her notebook and she said “I got a lot of work to do!” I then asked “Oh, is the boss really coming down on you?” to which she replied, “I don’t really like what you said” (sounding a bit dejected). Whoops.

Lastly, I’ve had some great opportunities to teach the “Life Education” course lately. In the past two weeks or so I’ve lectured 4 times and had a blast doing it. I asked one lady what she thought about it (a week or so after she sat in on one of my lectures) and she said that she learned a lot and has been thinking about it quite a bit. I’m super excited about having more opportunities to share this content! We will keep you posted, but it looks like I may be teaching it in a local community center this upcoming semester!

Much love,
Matt, Heather, Sydney, Lily, Aubrey and little Caleb