Wings of Children

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear family and friends,

We hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season!

I thought I would write a brief letter to update you on what has been happening with our family and give a few highlights from our past year as well. As you can see, this blog has been sadly neglected over the past couple of years. I guess time just gets away from me!

Hunter and Ethan are now 13 years old and actually soon will be turning 14... so we find ourselves the parents of teenagers! So far, they are actually a lot of fun. They are constantly growing and lately it seems that I am needing to get them new jeans and shoes every time I turn around! We continue to homeschool and they are currently working through the 8th grade. I never thought I would find myself still homeschooling at this point but the boys continue to thrive and love being home for school. Reed has also stepped in to help them with some science this year. And yes, we plan to continue to homeschool them through high school! We continue to attend our music based CoOp on Fridays where they have moved up to high school choir and other classes. In addition to school and CoOp, both boys keep busy playing sports. We are grateful to have neighbor boys who also love to play basketball, football, etc... and with whom they play with almost everyday. When not playing at home, they play soccer on the community soccer league and this fall they joined a Homeschool basketball team. The basketball has kept us on the road quite a bit this fall but they are absolutely loving it. So far, their team is 6-0. In their spare time like most boys their age, they can usually be found playing Minecraft or on their Ipods. And finally, another highlight for us this year was that they both chose to be baptized and seem to be growing in their faith as well. 

Basketball team

Baptism

Isabel is 10 years old and is a very busy girl. She is currently in 5th grade. She is doing well with her school despite needed frequent redirection.... If I am not careful she can get distracted from her school and end up doing a craft of some sort all day. She loves being with her friends and just about any activity we will let her try. She keeps up with the boys and often can be found holding her own playing sports with her brothers. However, her biggest interests revolve around music. She loves to sing, play piano, and also plays viola. This year, she was invited to audition for the local high school's musical. She got the part of Amaryllis in The Music Man. She loved it because she got to play piano and sing! (Hunter was also invited to audition and did a great job as a teenage dancer and boy band member). Izzy was also in the musical Annie for her second time, this time playing her favorite part of Molly, a very feisty orphan.

Izzy as "Amaryllis"

Izzy as "Molly"

She began the year playing Upwards basketball but decided to try a dance class instead this last fall. She is taking Jazz and Tap and has fallen in love with it. She is looking forward to a recital this June.

Reed continues to work for the Eye Center. The office has moved to a new location where they have a very nice new building. He enjoys his work there. In his spare time, he is the king of finding home projects to do. This past year, he went from building a chicken coop to building a whole addition to our house. He did most of the project himself with some help from friends and family. The addition was a bedroom and bathroom that we added to our upstairs... so now each of the kids has their own room. He just finished it all and we moved the kids into their new rooms this week. I am amazed at his energy....I never have to make a to-do list for him, he just keeps going on to the next thing that needs done.

Our addition

And now, for the newest member of our family....Sadie. We actually got her as a puppy this last spring. She is definitely a puppy! Sometimes we wonder what we were thinking, but for the most part she is a lot of fun. The kids absolutely love her....well, except for having to take her outside :-/ Lately she can be found trying to sneak into the bathroom where she pulls stuff out of the trash.

 

As for myself, I feel more like I have become the secretary/manager of the family. I often am figuring out where everyone needs to be and when and how to get them there! I now have a deeper appreciation for my own mother and how much she ran me around to all my activities. For the most part, I enjoy it. In my little bit of spare time, I enjoy digital scrapbooking and photography...though I am years behind!! I also continue to sing on our worship team at church. I seem. to have caught the theater bug with Izzy. This summer, I also was in Annie as Daddy Warbuck's secretary, Grace Farrell. I definitely overcame some fears to be able to do it but was so glad I did...I had a great time!

me as "Grace"

This past summer, I also went back to work after a few years off. I work per diem doing home care occupational therapy. I really enjoy doing home care and the flexibility it allows me. However, it was quite the challenge learning the new computer system! It has all been worth it though, because it saves me many trips to the office as I am able to transfer all my paperwork from home.

This year, Reed and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. Hard to believe! We continue to enjoy leading parenting classes/small groups together for our local Growing Families International ministry. We really enjoy meeting young parents and helping them parent effectively in anyway we can. It keeps us on our toes with our own family as well which we definitely need.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed a glimpse into our lives this past year. We are thankful for each one of you and pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Lisa