Life Happens, Even when I'm NOT blogging

This is a bit of a 'stream of consciousness' blog.

We had a lovely New Years Day with lots of family and friends. It was a planned potluck. Mom and Dad made their traditional pork and sour kraut. Everything was yummy. We had about 35 people for the day. It was a lot of fun. I missed a bit of it as I was recovering from a bad stomach flu.

JoAn turned 20 this year. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She is working hard at college and will have gotten 30+ semester credits since October. The family she works for as a 'mother's helper' is pregnant with twins. Now that's job security. She is still teaching at a Children's Evangelism Fellowship after school club as well as AWANA at church. She is a real peach! I am glad she has chosen to stick around. She is a real positive influence on the other children.

Mr. Boots, who we will call Paul from here on, is now 18. Not sure how that happened so quickly. He is a big part of the reason this blog has slowed down lately. He is on my computer ALL the time. He is really enjoying playing volleyball on a church league. He is growing up so well. We have decided that he will school at home for another year. There are a lot of good reasons for this. It is because he is doing so well, not because there are problems, that we have made this decision. He still picks up his violin and plays it for church. He is starting to grow and has passed me up by over an inch.

Here is Paul in his birthday suit. Yep. He and Thomas have joined a Speech and Debate team. He was required to have a suit for it. He and his partner won the Best novice team award for their club round robin. The big tournaments start in 2 weeks. This club involves lots of studying and research. I can really see it bringing a big change in both boys. Their comportment and clarity of thought is really improving. But it does hinder my blogging efforts, as he uses the computer in my office all the time.

We have made several trips to a local sledding hill. The children love it. We have had a cold snowy winter. We have kept both wood stoves going 24/7. They do a good job keeping us warm unless the temperature drops into the teens consistently. The basement, family room and bedrooms are warm, but the living room, dining room, and kitchen didn't get above 52 degrees today. We thank the Lord for warm sweaters and a big wood pile.

We are homeschooling and working hard at many things. Keep following this blog as you never know what you will learn soon.

~Mom