A Lifetime of Love

For us, 2011 was a year of learning… Thomas (9) learned to serve others by volunteering to gather and take out the garbage at a local pregnancy center.   He reports for duty every Monday and greatly enjoys the work! He also learned the value of a dollar as he worked for several neighbors and friends doing yard work and house/pet sitting this past spring and summer to earn money for art camp. Thomas is continuing to work and save his money as he plans to go with our church’s youth group to The Wilds Christian Camp in the mountains of North Carolina for one week this upcoming summer. We are excited about how the Lord will work in his life, especially while at camp. Tanner (6 ½) is learning to read in school. It has been fun to witness him read words on his own as we drive around town. He has also begun to read more books to his younger sisters, which is a great help to me! This summer and fall, Tanner learned to operate the lawn mower and leaf blower. If you know Tanner well, you...

Here is our most recent family picture. I am including it in our Christmas card...if I can ever find the time to write them! Life for me has become even busier than it was before. I am struggling to find a balance between my expectations and reality of what I can accomplish in a day. My "To Do" list is so long and yet it seems I spend all my time between laundry, dishes, and caring for children. It is discouraging to see my list get longer instead of shorter, but I know soon enough a routine will be established and life will get back to "normal," whatever that was. On a different note, Taryn is gaining weight quickly because she eats so often! During the day, she goes about 2 hours between feedings. However, starting around 8pm, she feeds about every hour and a half. I am nursing her but find myself giving her bottles of formula more and more because she just doesn't seem satisfied, even after nursing for 30 minutes or more. On the bright side, the kids (...

My dad and a close family friend (Donna) drove down from Ohio to visit us for Thanksgiving. They arrived around 1:30pm on Thanksgiving day. After some playtime with Grandpa and a tour of the house for Donna, the younger kids settled down for naps while Th and the adults chatted and  I finished up dinner preparations. We ate our Thanksgiving meal around 4:30pm, I cleaned up and then prepared dessert while the kids and other adults played outside, enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures. Shortly before 7pm the kids came in and began their bedtime routines of showers/baths. We then sat and enjoyed a variety of desserts prepared by both Donna and myself. Once dessert was over, bedtime for the kids was not far behind, and by 8:30pm all of the adults were gathered in the living room for the evening. The busyness of the day left me exhausted and as I sat watching TV and chatting with the family, I realized I was having mild contractions...

Teagan is not known for her grace and poise. I can't count the number of times she has bumped her head, some worse than others. She had two goose-eggs on her forehead within 3 months of each other because of falls that were only stopped by her head pounding the ground.  Simply put, she is quite the klutz! TJ picked her up from preschool on Monday afternoon to find her crying. Apparently she had just had an incident in the playroom where she was running and ran into another child. Upon their collision, she fell and hit her forehead on the floor. There was no bump, not even a mark, but she was pretty upset. TJ brought her home and we proceded to try to calm her down so she could eat lunch. As soon as she was sitting in her chair, she began to vomit. We knew then that she needed to be seen by a doctor. I called her pediatrician and they recommended we take her straight to the ER. TJ gathered Teagan and had Th go with him to try to keep her awake and talking in the car. In the mean...

As I've shared before, money is extremely tight as we prepare for the arrival of baby #6, upkeep and maintenance on the house, and feeding/caring for a large family. I have been trying to refinish some of the dressers we already have but we still needed a dresser for Taryn (baby #6). I was just going to make space down in my bedroom for her clothes until we had the money to buy something. Imagine my delight as we were driving home from Th's football banquet and passed a house where a woman was standing outside, removing knobs from a wooden dresser. TJ noticed her and mentioned to me that, for some reason, he thought she was going to be getting rid of it. We turned the van around and drove past again, and sure enough, she was carrying a drawer to the curb. We stopped and inquired about the dresser's fate, and she happily gave it to us. It is a solid wood dresser with lots of potential. I can't wait to muster up the energy to strip the paint and refinish it. ...

T.G., I had no idea how being your mom would be such a blessing! You are a sweet, kind, caring girl who loves her baby sisters so much. God has given you a nurturing spirit, and you do it so well! You are helpful, especially when it relates to babies, cleaning, or cooking. I can already tell you will be a GREAT mommy when you get older! :) You have your own ideas regarding fashion and clothing, and your favorite color continues to be pink. If you had it your way, you'd wear pink from head to toe every day of your life! You also have an expressed opinion about hair styles and how you want to wear yours each day, and you refuse to have your hair cut except for an occasional trim. I am amazed that you don't mind it so long (it's almost to the bottom of your back) but it is absolutely beautiful, especially when you wear it down. We have had to start conditioning it daily in order to be able to brush it in the mornings, and you LOVE that you get to use grown-up conditioner. ...

Since money has been (and still is!) so tight for us, my mom sent money for us to take the kids to a pottery place to do something fun for T.G.'s birthday. T.G. has never been to one before and has wanted to go since Th has been doing his homeschool pottery class. We planned it on a day when TJ's dad and step-mom were coming out so they could help us with Annie. The boys painted airplanes and the girls painted butterflies. We ended our afternoon with a Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake as a special treat for T.G. (she has recently become infatuated with her).  =)