2008 In Review
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
One of the things I look forward to the most at Christmas is receiving cards from friends and family. I particularly like the picture cards and hearing from people we may not have heard from since the previous Christmas. It's a great way to stay at least a little in touch. Of course, the occasional card that holds a newsletter is great. I like to read about what has gone on with our friends in the past year. Each year, I think I'll do write such a newsletter. I never have gotten around to it, so here is my attempt via blog. (I also thought I'd blog more often when I started staying home. Maybe this will become an annual tradition.)
2008 started off with a weekend full of performances of Me and My Girl. All three kids were in the show - so was one ofthe nastiest stomach viruses I have ever seen. The kids (not just ours) were amazing. Each performance had someone different missing and someone else filling their spot. They had a community barf bucket in the dressing room. Talk about "the show must go on!" Merry caught the bug but managed to be mostly over it before the performances. Raiden caught a mild version. He missed one scene because he was throwing up, but he made it back for the next seen. Even mom got the nasty thing. Joy, of course, was just fine. Some would say that she has a great immune system. We like to say that viruses are scared of her.
After things calmed down a bit, we got back into the routine of work, school, and keeping the house near spotless. The house had been on the market through the holidays and had been shown several times - still no bites. Tom was enjoying his new job and the rest of us had grown accustomed to being home together. Raiden and Merry were both enjoying history and science - the two subjects we did all together. They did their other subjects because they had to. All three kids also continued drama classes.
The rest of the winter and spring were spent in trying to keep the house clean and doing school. Tom was traveling fairly regularly for work. We were all tired of trying to keep the house so tidy. There were many times that I would get a phone call to request a showing in an hour or two. We would stop school, hide all the school stuff, and spiff everything up. That got really old! It is hard to homeschool and make your house look like you don't. I was stressed.
When our six-month contract with the realtor was up, we decided to take the house off the market. We had prayed and prayed for the house to sell. We had also prayed for God's will, timing, and the patience and vision to see those things. Well, the house hadn't sold, so we knew God had a reason for us to stay in Edmond.
Then, Jaxon and Kylee came into our lives. These two precious children are now a big part of our life and the story behind it is so amazing that I have to share it.
One day in late spring, Tom told me that he was feeling called to help children. My first response was, "I am not ready to adopt any children!" We decided it probably was not the time to adopt or foster kids, but we would pray and keep our eyes open for something we could do. Enter God. I think it was two days later that our dear friend, Jeny, and her kids came over for a play date. Jeny told me about a family that needed our prayers. They were have some difficulties and were rather at a loss on what to do for childcare. When Tom got home that night, I told him about it. We both agreed that this might be the answer to our prayers. A couple of weeks later, we met with the family and decided that the kids would come to our house when dad had to work. He works a different schedule than most, so that means the kids are here one to three days a week. Now, if you still don't see God's hand in this, let me go on. While we were meeting with this family the first time, the realtor came by to pull the sale sign out of the yard. Isn't God amazing?! Not only did this family who really needed some help find a little, we found a playmate to help keep Joy occupied while we tried to do school, and I got to have a baby in my house again. This was definitely God's hand!
June brought our next major event in the form of another Family Theater musical. This time, all three kids took part in High School Musical. Fortunately, all the drama happened on stage this time. The kids had a blast and did very well. The girls are still singing the songs. Raiden is pretty much over it.
The summer included lots of play time and time with friends. There were weeks when we weren't really sure if Raiden was still living with us or not. It's become quite a task to keep up with his social schedule. Raiden also found a new hobby of making movies - mostly with Legos. His major solo event for the summer was Camp Impact. He attended that with the Edmond church and got to room with his buddy, Greg. We started attending Memorial Road church of Christ as the drive to Yukon was little much. We did VBS at both MRCC and Edmond. We also spent lots of time at White Water Bay. Joy decided that she really only like one slide at the beginning of the summer. We spent a lot of time in that area and in the pools and lazy river. About a week before WWB closed for the summer, Joy discovered that the other slides - even the really big ones - were fun.
The end of the summer also brought Tom's debut at the Family Theater. This was in an all adult cast play called Advice from a Busboy. Tom played sheriff Tex. It was definitely amusing seeing him sporting cowboy boots and hat!
Fall brought a lot of changes. We switched curriculums to a more unit-study type called Tapestry of Grace. It is history driven (follows a historical path) and points out how God works through everything. It has been great. I have lots of stuff to post on that very soon. We also stepped outside our norm and became part of a co-op. We are doing the Prairie Primer which is based on the Little House books. We meets for classes once a week and have a field trip almost every week. The field trips have been very cool - a bee apiary, a water treatment plant, the firefighter's museum, and the state capitol to name a few. It keeps us very busy. Raiden has continued drama (watch for Newsies in January) and the girls have gone back to gymnastics.
Fall also brought Merry's 8th birthday. For some reason, she really likes horses. I'm not sure why, since she really hasn't been around them much. Nonetheless, Tom arranged to have her party at the house of one of his friends from work - complete with a real, live, full-grown horse. Merry also really wanted a pinata. We couldn't find a horse pinata that we liked in town, so she and I made one together. Everything turned out really well. Even the clouds cooperated long enough for all the kids to get to ride the horse.
We had all our usual Halloween fun and went to Frontier City fairly often. Again, Joy avoided all the things that most of us find fun until the park was about to close for the season. Our very last trip of the year, she tried the Steel Lasso and loved it. We hope she remembers that next year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving (not white this year) as well.
Joy celebrated her birthday with a bunch of friends at the house. Her theme was the Backyardigans. International Super Spy to be exact. I am a fan of nickjr.com - they have the party all planned out for you. Of course, we had to make a pinata for her as well. It wasn't quite as elaborate as Merry's. She had a good time though. I have to admit, it was a bit hard for me though. My BABY is now 5.
The last few weeks have been spent gearing up for Christmas. That means lots of time in the kitchen. I am almost done with the last batch of cookies now! It has been a very good Christmas day in our house. We are so very blessed. We have three wonderful kids (who keep me on my toes), Tom has a terrific job, and we are surrounded by wonderful people. The list goes on, but I won't.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
One of the things I look forward to the most at Christmas is receiving cards from friends and family. I particularly like the picture cards and hearing from people we may not have heard from since the previous Christmas. It's a great way to stay at least a little in touch. Of course, the occasional card that holds a newsletter is great. I like to read about what has gone on with our friends in the past year. Each year, I think I'll do write such a newsletter. I never have gotten around to it, so here is my attempt via blog. (I also thought I'd blog more often when I started staying home. Maybe this will become an annual tradition.)
2008 started off with a weekend full of performances of Me and My Girl. All three kids were in the show - so was one ofthe nastiest stomach viruses I have ever seen. The kids (not just ours) were amazing. Each performance had someone different missing and someone else filling their spot. They had a community barf bucket in the dressing room. Talk about "the show must go on!" Merry caught the bug but managed to be mostly over it before the performances. Raiden caught a mild version. He missed one scene because he was throwing up, but he made it back for the next seen. Even mom got the nasty thing. Joy, of course, was just fine. Some would say that she has a great immune system. We like to say that viruses are scared of her.
After things calmed down a bit, we got back into the routine of work, school, and keeping the house near spotless. The house had been on the market through the holidays and had been shown several times - still no bites. Tom was enjoying his new job and the rest of us had grown accustomed to being home together. Raiden and Merry were both enjoying history and science - the two subjects we did all together. They did their other subjects because they had to. All three kids also continued drama classes.
The rest of the winter and spring were spent in trying to keep the house clean and doing school. Tom was traveling fairly regularly for work. We were all tired of trying to keep the house so tidy. There were many times that I would get a phone call to request a showing in an hour or two. We would stop school, hide all the school stuff, and spiff everything up. That got really old! It is hard to homeschool and make your house look like you don't. I was stressed.
When our six-month contract with the realtor was up, we decided to take the house off the market. We had prayed and prayed for the house to sell. We had also prayed for God's will, timing, and the patience and vision to see those things. Well, the house hadn't sold, so we knew God had a reason for us to stay in Edmond.
Then, Jaxon and Kylee came into our lives. These two precious children are now a big part of our life and the story behind it is so amazing that I have to share it.
One day in late spring, Tom told me that he was feeling called to help children. My first response was, "I am not ready to adopt any children!" We decided it probably was not the time to adopt or foster kids, but we would pray and keep our eyes open for something we could do. Enter God. I think it was two days later that our dear friend, Jeny, and her kids came over for a play date. Jeny told me about a family that needed our prayers. They were have some difficulties and were rather at a loss on what to do for childcare. When Tom got home that night, I told him about it. We both agreed that this might be the answer to our prayers. A couple of weeks later, we met with the family and decided that the kids would come to our house when dad had to work. He works a different schedule than most, so that means the kids are here one to three days a week. Now, if you still don't see God's hand in this, let me go on. While we were meeting with this family the first time, the realtor came by to pull the sale sign out of the yard. Isn't God amazing?! Not only did this family who really needed some help find a little, we found a playmate to help keep Joy occupied while we tried to do school, and I got to have a baby in my house again. This was definitely God's hand!
June brought our next major event in the form of another Family Theater musical. This time, all three kids took part in High School Musical. Fortunately, all the drama happened on stage this time. The kids had a blast and did very well. The girls are still singing the songs. Raiden is pretty much over it.
The summer included lots of play time and time with friends. There were weeks when we weren't really sure if Raiden was still living with us or not. It's become quite a task to keep up with his social schedule. Raiden also found a new hobby of making movies - mostly with Legos. His major solo event for the summer was Camp Impact. He attended that with the Edmond church and got to room with his buddy, Greg. We started attending Memorial Road church of Christ as the drive to Yukon was little much. We did VBS at both MRCC and Edmond. We also spent lots of time at White Water Bay. Joy decided that she really only like one slide at the beginning of the summer. We spent a lot of time in that area and in the pools and lazy river. About a week before WWB closed for the summer, Joy discovered that the other slides - even the really big ones - were fun.
The end of the summer also brought Tom's debut at the Family Theater. This was in an all adult cast play called Advice from a Busboy. Tom played sheriff Tex. It was definitely amusing seeing him sporting cowboy boots and hat!
Fall brought a lot of changes. We switched curriculums to a more unit-study type called Tapestry of Grace. It is history driven (follows a historical path) and points out how God works through everything. It has been great. I have lots of stuff to post on that very soon. We also stepped outside our norm and became part of a co-op. We are doing the Prairie Primer which is based on the Little House books. We meets for classes once a week and have a field trip almost every week. The field trips have been very cool - a bee apiary, a water treatment plant, the firefighter's museum, and the state capitol to name a few. It keeps us very busy. Raiden has continued drama (watch for Newsies in January) and the girls have gone back to gymnastics.
Fall also brought Merry's 8th birthday. For some reason, she really likes horses. I'm not sure why, since she really hasn't been around them much. Nonetheless, Tom arranged to have her party at the house of one of his friends from work - complete with a real, live, full-grown horse. Merry also really wanted a pinata. We couldn't find a horse pinata that we liked in town, so she and I made one together. Everything turned out really well. Even the clouds cooperated long enough for all the kids to get to ride the horse.
We had all our usual Halloween fun and went to Frontier City fairly often. Again, Joy avoided all the things that most of us find fun until the park was about to close for the season. Our very last trip of the year, she tried the Steel Lasso and loved it. We hope she remembers that next year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving (not white this year) as well.
Joy celebrated her birthday with a bunch of friends at the house. Her theme was the Backyardigans. International Super Spy to be exact. I am a fan of nickjr.com - they have the party all planned out for you. Of course, we had to make a pinata for her as well. It wasn't quite as elaborate as Merry's. She had a good time though. I have to admit, it was a bit hard for me though. My BABY is now 5.
The last few weeks have been spent gearing up for Christmas. That means lots of time in the kitchen. I am almost done with the last batch of cookies now! It has been a very good Christmas day in our house. We are so very blessed. We have three wonderful kids (who keep me on my toes), Tom has a terrific job, and we are surrounded by wonderful people. The list goes on, but I won't.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
posted by phylliese @ 4:01 AM
2 comments
