Our latest news

It seems like every time we turn around there's some big change happening in our lives- and here we go again! As of today I (Julie) am no longer a regular employee of Palmetto Health. My program, now to be called "PASOs" (Perinatal Awareness for Successful Outcomes)- formerly called the Latino Perinatal Outreach Program (LPOP- not such a catchy acronym)- will now be housed at the SC Public Health Institute, which grew out of the School of Public Health of USC. This move is happening due to various factors, mainly having to do with my current grant ending soon, meaning I was needed some serious sustainability (and job security!) but also because other places in the state are asking for help to start their own PASOs Program, and this move allows me the freedom to do so. I will be the Program Director, and will hire someone to coordinate the program in the Midlands (Columbia area of SC for those of Y'ALL not from here). There are 2 more places in the state ready to start, and we're looking for funding to help them. I'm excited about the growth, and hope to have time to really polish the program so it turns into a "best practices" model and can be helpful to both Latino communities and perinatal health providers anywhere. Doesn't hurt to dream, right?! I'll certainly miss my friends at the hospital and will miss teaching my class on a regular basis, but I'm sure I'll find ways to reconnect with everyone, and look forward to being closer to academia.

Andrés is going on one month now of holding services for Cristo Rey Lutheran Church, the Spanish-speaking church functioning out of St. Davids in West Columbia. Each Sunday we've had more families attend, and they really seem hungry for a place to belong, a community of believers, an outlet, or whatever you want to call it. They connect with Andrés and seem to accept the fact that even though he dresses like a Catholic priest, he's married. :-) It's fun for me because many of the families that come are former students from my prenatal classes, so it's neat to reconnect with them and see them on a more frequent basis. Andrés has been working hard at trying to work out the kinks, visiting them in their homes, inviting more people, figuring out the music, the bulletins, etc. etc. We hope to start English classes soon and plan to do at least one social event a month. We had a movie night a few weeks ago and the room was packed! There are lots of children both of our kids' ages so it's fun for them. Maybe they'll practice their Spanish some more this way! Andrés is a bit overwhelmed with it all, so he decided to drop to 20 hours of medicine (rather than 32 as he was doing) and in September the Lutheran Synod (governing body of Lutheran church) will pay him for the other 20.

Jorge has found a couple part-time jobs, and has still been applying for other full-time ones. He got great grades in both of his English classes, and hopes to take an "English for natives" class soon. His wife Elizabeth and my 2 sisters-in-law will come for a visit the first 2 weeks of September.

The kids are great, as you will see in the pix. Elias is starting 4-year-old kindergarten and he really likes his teacher and class. She does all kinds of neat things, so he's already learning a lot. Bella is too smart for her current class, so rather than wait until next May to move her up as is the tradition, they're moving her up to the 2s and 3s as soon as she turns 2 in September. One of her teachers Ms. Lindsay does her hair everyday and it's beautiful! It's like "hair-art" so I take pictures and leave it in for as long as I can until it gets nappy. :-) Bella's talking in 4 & 5 word sentences and signing (American Sign Language) like mad- it's so sweet and amazing.

Anyway, that's the latest for us in a nutshell. Keep us posted on your lives too!