On My Bookshelf

One of the things that I love about homeschooling is the fact that it is making me step up and increase my learning as well. It's made me study everything I can about teaching, learning styles, homeschooling methods and how to create a learning environment. It's made me realize that my kids will never love to learn unless I'm showing them that I personally love learning. Which I do. I really do.  So I've made the goal to read more. Read more to the kids as well as read more myself. So far I've been doing pretty good. I recently saved up and sold some stuff we didn't use any more to get a simple kindle for reading, and have fallen in love with having tons of books in one spot. I love using it for school, having audios to listen to as we drive in the car, and just how much I've read since having it.  So I thought I'd share the books I've been reading to the kids, finished reading or are currently in the middle of them. Some of them have become all time favorites, which I hope to share more about later. (Sorry these aren't linkable.  Hopefully they're big enough you could do a search on Amazon if you wanted to check it out.)

Among the Night People

"Can we keep him?"
"Where's his mommy?  Maybe she'll come looking for him?"
"What if he's hurt?"
"Can we hold him?"
"Why can't we keep him?  We can make him some milk and feed him, till he gets a little bit bigger."
"Why can't we hold him?"

Yes, our daily random homeschooling moment continues.  Today's moment was brought to you by the knock on the door.

"Hi!  I'm new next door.  I found a baby raccoon on the sidewalk, and was wondering if it might be yours."

"Hmmm... let me check.  Pets...  Cat? Nope - severely allergic to them.  Dog? Not while we live in this tiny place.  Bum Lamb?  We almost ended up with one of those... Chickens?  I wish.  Fish.  Yes.  Fish.  The same reply I give the doctor every 2 months when we go in for a visit and he asks us if we still have our fish.  They're the perfect pet in my opinion.  Raccoon?  Not in this lifetime... (but we'll go ahead and let the kids call dad in about 30 minutes and see if they can convince him to let them keep it.)

 "Sorry. I can't say that I purposefully own a Raccoon."

That led to an immediate mass exodus of the house. So much for getting a lesson done or maybe we just need to change up the lesson.  The guy next door called the animal control unit to come and figure out what to do with it. The kids oooooed and awwwed while waiting for the "crazy guys" as Mirian was calling them. (I have no idea where she got that from.)

I have to admit, he was cute... and I even started flashing back to being a kid and day dreaming how awesome it would be to have a wild animal for a pet... but the realistic, party-crashing mom jerked back to reality and said no way.  A few other neighbors gathered round, picked it up and let the kids look at it up close.  Soon animal control pulled up all serious, adorned their gloves, grabbed the claw, walked up and then did a double take and said. "That's all it is?"  It wasn't too old.  Barely getting around and making lots of little noises trying to locate his mother I'm sure.  I went back inside to grab the burning waffles for lunch.

"Why did Sally ask them not to put it down? What does that mean?"

Here began the learning opportunities.  We ate lunch and discussed what it means to put an animal down and why sometimes it's more humane than letting it suffer.  "So they kill it?!"  I could see Fern in the back of my mind "up at the crack of dawn, ridding the world of injustice" as she saved Wilber from an untimely death.  I'm still not sure if they quite understood 'why' they would need to put it to sleep.

At that point their minds were not on fractions, or the Trojan wars. So I decided we might as well go with it.  We pulled out the book "Among the Night People." One of the books in a series about the various animals and their habitats and behaviors. It's a classic and a great read for kids as it's told from the animal's point of view, but shows them the way of life, behaviors and environment various animals live in. I pulled up the chapter on Raccoons.  We read about them having a party in the night and and their mom helping them learn to have good manners. After the story I asked the kid what we learned about Raccoons and their behaviors.

- The come out at night and sleep during the day.
- They can't run fast
- They can't dive in water although they like to play in it.
- They walk on their toes
- They use their paws like hands to pick up objects and to eat, and can stand on their back feet.
- They like to eat bugs, worms, crayfish, etc. (Bats too, Isaac said, because he learned that on the Krats
       brothers.)
- They like to get out and play with others and can be mischievousness
- Live often in wooded areas
- They tend to dip or wash their food in water before eating it

We pulled out their journals to have them write about their Raccoon adventures.  We try to write daily in our journals, even if it's just a little bit. I want them to get in the habit, and I want them to have a record of their own life and stories.

Savannah actually wanted to write about hers in newspaper format.  I've been trying to create a literacy center, with different options for them to use while writing.  It might have blank books, letter forms, blank lists, Mad libs etc. I'm not completely finished but have great plans for it. While creating it I made this generic  Newsletter form and keep several blank copies of it for them to use at their liking.  I saw a similar one from Martha Stewart for Mother's Day. I wanted mine to be very flexible as well as usable for a history.

Who knew that this is what we would be studying for the day.  That's alright though.  They will remember more about Raccoons now, because of the personal hands-on living experience, than they ever would have remembered by reading about them in a science lesson.

I wanted to share my blank copy of the newsletter. It's a great way to just get a  kid writing for fun. You can create realistic news stories or make up some wild tales. It's a fun way to get the kids writing just for the enjoyment and pleasure of telling a story.








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What It Really Looks Like

"Mom! Savannah dropped her book in the pond!"

Really?  The hard bound Newberry Honor book from the Library?  Arghh.  Is it not enough that I already single handedly donate large sums of money to our city library unintentionally.

It's been 3 weeks already?

No it's been more like 4 or 5 weeks since checkout. Ouch, that's going to cost me.

And how many books do I have out? 30?

78.

 Hmm. Maybe I'm not cut out to homeschool. I have obviously been unable to teach my children math, explicitly how to count to five. Five books everyone. That's all you can get. 5 books x 4 kids and one mom...plus a couple of extras. Thirty really should have been our max. Seventy-eight?  I guess I should be happy that I have raised kids that love to read. But really .... what could be a great literary quote?  You know the one that will be engraven above the door to the new library wing, created from our family's personal donations to the library.

Plus they'll now have another $20 my daughter will be paying after she's cleaned the car, scrubbed my toilets, picked up the lawn, cleaned the fridge, and babysat for a couple of hours.  That seems about fair, and doesn't seem like it would be overstepping child labor laws too much.

"There's nothing like a good lesson in responsibility." I stated, turning around to continue my conversation with the other homeschooling mother.  It was a play date at the park, our few hours to swap stories, ideas and get inspired from each other.  We leave realizing our children are normal and that we really aren't as crazy as we thought we were.

It's a good dose of medicine every few weeks. Plus the kids have the chance to play with each other, be in nature and wear themselves out.

"They're in the water!  All of them!"  If a book wasn't enough it was now all the kids. The other mom headed to the pond to be the bad guy.

"And there are leaches in it!"  I'm not so sure about the leaches. I did see small fish or tadpoles swimming earlier when I had walked by.  But, who knows what else swims in there besides the ducks. (Who had already been fed our picnic sandwiches, which meant a melt down was soon to follow when everyone got tired, thirsty, and hungry later.)

"Tyson picked up a snake too!  He thought it was a twig but when he picked it up it wiggled and then his tail BROKE off!" She was telling the full story now.

"Well, there is homeschool for you... picking up real snakes." I had to laugh..and shudder at the thought.

"That's right.  In regular school they only show you pictures of snakes. Here you get the real thing." the Texan mom drawled.

The other mom returned.  "They were cleaning out trash from the pond. It was hard to get too mad at them."

This is what I love.  Air, sunshine, kids, other mothers in the trenches, laughter, real life experiences, the free schedule.  This is truly what I love about homeschooling.  How family life and school can so easily happen together in every day moments.

Real memories created with each other.  Memories that only happen in brief instances of time that can be so easily lost.

Moments like that first good snowfall, when the kids rush out excited, wanting to put their snow clothes on. The rest of the world, was hurrying their kids out the door, with breakfast in hand to make it to the school before the bell. Because of our flexible schedule, I recognized this was one of those few and rare occasions to enjoy God's beautiful creation of a white blanket of snow on a cool crisp morning.  Add to that the frosty breaths of air, laughter, the children's squeals and the pure delight for life. The excitement of showing their new little sister, only 6 months, old the beauty of snow, was worth setting the start of our schooling back an extra hour.

It's those random moments. Cuddling and reading books together. Making chef salad together (New York Style), which got all of the  kids excited about eating vegetables. 10 minutes earlier they would have been complaining about those uneatable veggies.  Watching your kids sit through an entire 2 hour play - The Suessical Musical, completely enthralled with kids their age, singing, dancing and acting. Seeing your daughter catch on to a math concept and exclaim, "Oh this is easy!"

It's starting out the day not completely sure how everything will pan out, but excited when lessons were learned that were not planned.  Just like that day at the park.  We came excited to talk and play and instead we left having learned a little bit more about:

- The Pond Life Ecosystem
- Snakes
- Taking care of the Environment - Littering
- Responsibility
- Ducks
- The lives of other people
- Physical Exercise
- Social Skills
- A list of some new books to check out

It has taken me some time to start looking for these everyday learning moments. It was hard to not assume that if it isn't happening at the table, with a workbook in hand, and everyone busy, that learning wasn't happening. In reality, it is happening. I just have to stop and re-adjust my perspective so I don't miss out on the joy and splendor found in learning from everyday life and experiences.  That is when it's the most satisfying.  That's when I can can look at another $20 donation to the public library as another learning moment. (I'm sure my husband will see it that way as well.)

Making Our Space Work

We have a very tiny home and when it comes to wall space there is even less.  Trying to figure out how to do school and where to do school is sometimes a challenge. Most of it happens in this tiny space right here. Our one room living room / dining room.  Nothing Fancy.  

Since our wall space is limited, I've had to come up with other creative means of having supplies right at our fingertips.  Here is one example - our world and US maps.  We just didn't have wall space for these, except in the kid's rooms, and I didn't want to have to go to the bedrooms every time we needed to look something up.  I saw a table in a photo from Delightful Learning, where she had maps on her table covered in clear vinyl.  I loved the idea.  So one day in Walmart I picked up a large chunk of it for less than $8. (I wanted it pretty thick so it would be durable.) Beau asked me what I was doing with it.  (He always has a certain look on his face that says, uh oh... now what.)  I told him not to worry, "You'll hate it." :)

So we laid the maps underneath, wrapped the plastic over top and stapled it with the staple gun underneath. I personally have loved it.  (You can ask Beau his opinion about it later.)  I love that they are easily accessible, which makes is possible to quickly locate our geographic area we are discussing in history.

I also love watching my kids do random things with it throughout the day. Out of the blue Savannah started to make her own little geography book.  She was locating countries throughout the world, drawing their flags, writing down their capitals, and then listing anyone she knew that served a mission there. I was often asked... do you know anyone that served in a mission in France? Australia? Israel?

They also came in handy when we were doing math and talking about coins.  We ended up finding the matching state for our quarters we were using in counting money. 

They have also make for great discussions and quizzes at dinner time.  We see who knows state capitals, countries or ask who can find a certain town. I am hoping at one point to also bring more current events to the meals, where we can find them on the map and know what is going on in the world.  They can also be used to draw on top of with dry erase markers to show explorers trade routes, the pioneer's trek from Illinois to Utah or other travels.

We also have some of the little animal safari tubes. They could be used to sort animals by climates, continents or countries. You could reenact battles or show where wars were fought with little army or civil war men. There are so many uses, and it makes it so much easier than unrolling the map and then putting it away every time you want to look at it.

Another way to be creative is how to find supplies, curriculum and other resources.  I like to check our local DI (Thrift Store) to see what kinds of gems I can get. One day I found a roll of 12-15 laminated maps of continents and countries around the world.  On the back of most of them has detailed facts. For example on the back of Brazil it had a whole bunch of facts on the Rain Forest. Pictures of the animals, the different layers of the rain forest and other related facts.  What a great resource for $2.50.  We ended up pulling it out last night and Beau asked me where I got them.  When I told him, his reply was "That's why I love you.. these are really cool!"  I also found some great activity books on the human body, some eye witness books on reptiles, and a large volume of stories from around the world. Savannah found it recently has been reading the 500 page book for the last week.  

So if your discouraged about lack of space or resources, be creative and frugal and you might be surprised at ideas you've never thought of before. I'm pretty excited about mine. 

Why my 7 month old baby is super amazing.

I love coming into the room and finding this.  Superman and his super baby. They had found the small superman cape from his old pajamas and instantly knew that Belén needed to be adorning it.  She was oblivious to what is happening and is just there for the ride.  I really think that's why all of my younger kids seem to progress so much faster than my first born and even second born for that matter.  She doesn't do what other 7 month babies do, she lives the same life that my other four children are currently living.

She is found in the cardboard houses, cars or airplanes depending on the day. She is eating the math manipulatives, school papers, and magnifying glasses right along with everyone else. She's found in the running stroller flying around the yard with her other siblings holding her while the older ones race each other. She's found on their laps or in the adult front pack they've attached to themselves while swinging away.  I can find her laying in the hammock admiring the view of the trees, bright blue sky and the bird poop that just landed in their hair. Luckily I haven't found her up in the tree house yet, and if I'm not careful they might find a way to rig her onto their pulley system and pull her up in the bucket. 

She's playing superman with her brother, hanging out in the bedroom listening to Old Testament dramatization tapes or CD's checked out from the library.  She's crawling from one room to the next, looking for the excitement of her buddies.They can't stand to have her crying for longer than two seconds before they have to pick her up, take care of her, and haul her off to be with them.  It's no wonder people say the youngest child is spoiled. It's not necessarily because of mom and dad. It's because of the 4 other little ones like her that just want her to be a part of their world. I can't say that I would want it any other way.  They love her, they dote on her, and it's as if she just belongs with them no matter how small.  

I do have a super baby. She's pretty amazing. But she's only super because of her super siblings.

Toothpick Mishap

Yesterday morning before church Savannah and Isaac had the toothpicks out and were making shapes with them on the floor. At one point I told them to clean up  and put them away so we could get ready to go. Savannah "sort of" picked them up.  She just left the pile on the edge of the couch and there were a few more remaining on the floor. I told her again to pick them up and she started getting upset about having to do it.  I explained about what I meant by "putting them away." Her version and my version of putting something away are completely different.  I made the off hand comment that someone is going to step on one and they really hurt.  I had done it before.  She still took her time following directions and Beau was telling her for the 3rd or 4th time to pick them up when Isaac started screaming and hollering. I was in the kitchen and made the comment "someone stepped on one didn't they."

Well he not only stepped on it, he lodged it through his heal and then broke it off inside. He was hysterical. He hobbled over with the broken part in his hand crying. Beau took a look at it and told him to hold still while he tried to see if he could pull it out. It was lodged in pretty deep and every time Beau attempted to pull it out he would flip out screaming "Don't touch it! It hurts!"  At this point Savannah is feeling horrible for not putting the toothpicks away. There is always something about learning a lesson the hard way that drives the point home rather than mom just trying to tell you why you should it.  

We decided that it would be best if we had the doctor help.  They could at least numb the area. So we called up the pediatrician during the after hours and scheduled for him to come in. Beau took him up while we headed to church.  All went well.  As you can see from the picture he had a good size piece lodged lodged in the foot.  Beau said he went hysterical over getting the shot to help numb it. It took Beau, the Dr. and another nurse to help hold him down. "He's a tough little guy," one of them commented. Yes he is.  

They were able to get it out without having to cut it open or without it splintering. He brought home the prize in a jar, and spent the afternoon watching a movie relaxing.  My favorite part was when the girls all got home from church and they ran over to see the tooth pick, and asked him, "Did you cry?"

"No.  I screamed."

What Kids Say

Today was one of those days where Mirian was fighting the school work. Some days she does great, and some days she stamps her foot down and refuses to move.  Today I wanted her practice some writing.  I asked her to think of the scariest thing that's ever happened to her and write about it. I told her I'd be willing to help.  She glared at me, thought, and then asked me how to spell the word 'making' while she hid her paper.  A few seconds later she handed it to me and proclaimed, "There. I'm done." 

I smiled.  Oh Mirian, Mirian.... what will I do with you.  I get the point.  We'll move onto a different lesson right now.  That little angry face with arrow says it all.  I'm thinking she's confusing the emotions of being scared over being angry though.  That's alright... I get the hint. Let's go read a book together.

After running around for a while this evening chasing each other, Caitlyn came up to me all out of breath.  She put her hand on her chest and declared with amazement, "Mom!  I can feel my heart beeping." 

Disease

I have this disease that cripples me when it comes to taking a long blogging break.  I have a hard time getting back into the swing of things. I feel like I have to go back and get you caught up on everything that has happened since my last post, which is completely overwhelming. Hence, I don't do anything. It is even more overwhelming right now because as a person I feel like I have learned so much since the beginning of the year in a variety of aspects that I want to share it all with you, and then the other part of me doesn't want to share any of it. How does that work?  It doesn't.  What results is a long absence of blogging with no writing or sharing of anything. Which is starting to wear on me.  My mind is filled with so many thoughts, ideas, and the desire to just keep a record of what is going on in our family that it feels as if it's going to explode.  The lack of time to do it also hinders me too, and keeps me from even writing a small post.  So I'm going to just shove all my reasons aside, and start small in catching up on small bits of things we've been doing and try to get back into the swing of blogging again.  I am finding that it really helps me sort thoughts, share ideas, and keep a written history of things our family is experiencing right now.

Sooo...  I'm going to start with the basics.

Last week was a huge week for us, specifically Beau.  10 years ago we started this journey together as we moved back to Provo so Beau could continue his education at BYU.

Our Plan of Study For The Year

This year we are doing a study of the Book of Mormon throughout the church for Sunday School. I always love studying the Book of Mormon. The first Sunday of the year I was sitting in Sunday School, flipping through the Study guide. I ran across this quote which I absolutely love on the promises given for reading the Book of Mormon regularly with our families.

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1980, 90; or Ensign, May 1980, 67).













I don't know a home or family that DOES NOT need these types of blessings on a regular basis. This quote always gives me a renewed purpose in making sure we are reading it in our family.

As I continued glancing through the study guide though I had a thought as I noticed the little section after each lesson for a family discussion. I've seen this my whole life, but it hit me a bit differently that moment. I started reading through a few of them and thought these would be great FHE lessons. Why not actually do what they suggest and discuss this as a family. Why not make life easier on us and have the FHE lesson, be the same as what we've been studying as a family in scripture study as well as what we are studying in church.

Most of the time Beau and I end up picking a topic that we feel our family needs at the time, and do a Family Home Evening lesson on that topic. But my thoughts were different that day. The thoughts I kept having were: The Book of Mormon has the power to change lives. Teaching Doctrine will improve behavior faster than teaching behavior will improve behavior. The promises made in the quote, and how we are need of them. I knew that if we did this our family would better in so many ways.

So I shared my thoughts with Beau and we decided to simplify things for the year. We're going to read the Book of Mormon as a family, and follow along with the Sunday School lessons, the following week, we'll use the family discussion suggestions in the Study guide to use as a basis for our family home-evening on the chapters we had studied the week before. Basically it's all about the Book of Mormon.

We are continuing to do our scripture stories with our kids as we read. Our goal is to illustrate as close as we can every chapter of the Book of Mormon, and then I'll bind them at the end of their year for their own scripture story book. We are really wanting them to learn the people, stories and events of the Book of Mormon. We've also be been able to have some great discussions with them while they are coloring about various things we're reading. One being the attitude of Laman and Lemuel. We discussed how they were still obedient to everything they were asked to do, the difference was they complained and murmured about it every time. We discussed our attitudes when asked to do something.

I try and print up all the chapters we'll need for the week, then all I have to do is put them on the table with the bucket of crayons when I set it for breakfast. When we're finished eating, Beau will pull out the scriptures and read while the kids grab their paper and start to draw about what we are reading for the day. Here is Savannah's for the week.














Tonight was our first Family Home Evening lesson, discussing the importance of the Book of Mormon. We also discussed how the Book of Mormon came about.

I assigned everyone a prophet from the Book of Mormon and then handed them each their own plate of gold (created from a Styrofoam meat tray I cut up). I gave them an opened paper clip to have them try writing some scripture on their own plates. The styrofoam works great to press into, but it's still a lot tougher than writing on paper. They did great and loved the hands on part of the activity. I was impressed with what Mirian and Savannah chose to write on theirs.

We then had Mormon (Isaac) abridge the plates. (combine all the pages together with some book rings.) We talked about how he had to take all these records from so many prophets, and through prayer and revelation know which parts to include in the final gold plates, which would come forth in the last days. We then had him give them to Moroni who buried them. Joseph Smith was then visited in a dream by Moroni (thousands of years later) and acted out the whole story of how the Book of Mormon came to be translated, published and now prints over a million copies a year.

We then ended with the testimony of Elder Holland on the Book of Mormon. His testimony affects me so powerfully every single time I hear it. It affected my kids too when they heard it this time. It resignates deep inside my soul, with my own testimony and knowledge that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet and he did translate the golden plates and brought forth the Book of Mormon. It is the most correct book on earth. The prophets and people that wrote it did live, I feel that every time I read it, and it hit home even more so tonight in our little acting lesson.

This book is the word of God. It is so powerful and as I've been re-reading it again, I am always amazed at how much more I learn from it. I encourage you to watch Elder Holland's testimony. I would encourage you to re-read it this year and study it with your families. If you have never read it before. I encourage you to read it from start to finish all the way through for yourself. If you need a copy let me know and I will give you one, (in your preferred language.) See what it's about, find out for yourself why Elder Holland's testimony is so powerful. It is a true book. I know that with all my heart. I have no doubt. It will change your life if you let it. I'm excited for it to change my family's this year.

A Year Ago

I thought I would share one more month from our Family Book. This is the month of January. Look at where we were a year ago, and how much the kids have grown! This was also a month were I took little pictures and didn't blog much. So it ended up being a short section. That has made me want to take more pictures and record more of what we were doing. What kinds of things do I want to remember and read about 30 years down the road when I pull one of these books out. I want to be better at documenting the little things, and recording our life happenings.

While working on this month, I included a calendar of what had been on our original calendar for the month, and decided I would like to include this as the last page of every month. (I now need to go back and update some of the months with this.) You never realize what a great historical document your calendar is, but it shows a great overview of those little every day happenings of the month.

Our Family Year Book

So it was obvious that I wasn't around much on the blog during November. It was the start of that busy holiday season. Another reason I didn't blog much was because I decided I wanted to try and complete a family history album of the past year for our family. It was a huge undertaking and I'm still not finished, but I was able to get quite a bit accomplished.

I wanted to create it by month. Each month contained an overview, what we've been learning about in school and any other significant happenings. I'd really like to go back and do one for every year we've been married and continue doing it every forthcoming year. I think it would be such an incredible legacy for your kids to look back on, and for me to enjoy when they are all gone. I have so many thoughts about this, but won't dump them all on you right now. :)

One thing I wanted to accomplish during the project was making sure that it was fast and easy to do. No complicated layouts. I also wanted it to be cost effective. After trying several options, it came down to doing it 8.5 x 11, printing it for now and putting it in plastic sleeves. Eventually I do plan on binding each year into a finished book.

I've fallen in love with the 8.5 x 11 size and plan to never go back to the square format. (I'll still be doing them occasionally for my design work, but I've figured out how to convert those ones to 8.5 x 11 too so I can have a finished printed copy. I'm also happy to say that ScrapGirls is now doing a lot for 8.5x11. Yeah!!

So I thought I'd share our month of November from our book, since I didn't post much about it here.

Another Year to Look Forward To

I love everything about the new year. I'm one of those people who thrive on change, love a chance to make goals and look forward to seeing what can happen over a year.






I realized I was pretty much absent for half of November and the whole month of December. Oops. Life was busy, hectic and full of good things. We enjoyed a wonderful holiday together as family and were able to relax from a busy month. Beau was on a deadline to finish up a journal paper that he needed to finish before Christmas. He almost made it, but decided to relax and spend Christmas Eve, Christmas and a few days after with us. It's a good thing too or Santa might have just left him a hunk of coal. We had a great time, and he was able to finish it up before the new year.






We are now on the countdown to writing the final dissertation and finishing up the last of the research by mid February so he can graduate come April. I think we see an end in sight. Our first 10 years of marriage to complete his education. Would I have done it differently? Never. He has grown so much in these years. The things he is now capable of doing, and the things he has learned have been amazing. To see him develop talents and abilities, along with watching him grow as a person has been worth it all. There have been hard times, frustration, late hours, stress and tight finances that we have experienced here and there through this road of getting a higher education while choosing to have a family, but the Lord has truly blessed us for that choice. It doesn't add up by the world's ways or on paper, but it has added up in our lives in blessings more numerous to count, happiness that is we could never imagine, and experiences we would never want to pass up.










It is going to be a good year. We can both feel it. Change is in the air and I love it's feeling. Here's to another new year of joy, growth, trials, love, new people, learning and fun.