Happy 6th Birthday, Katy-did,

You have come such a long way in the last two years since I've written your last birthday letter.  You are still a fiercely independent spirit, with a personality unlike any of the other children.  In so many ways you remain my most unpredictable child, and your moods change like the Florida weather.  Yet, you have settled and are firmly out of that toddler - preschool age.

Speaking of which we had a relaxed year of kindergarten this past school year.  You LOVE math blocks and have gotten pretty good at adding up to twenty.  Subtraction is more of a struggle, but you have really taken to math.  You are also intensely trying to learn the calendar, how to read clocks, and figure out how money works.  Reading however, you just don't seem to be quite ready for.  You can write your name, and will frequently attempt to copy letters that you see, but you have trouble with all of their names and know very few of their sounds.  I'm beginning to wonder if you struggle with dyslexia like Britt and Ruth, but it could be that you are still young.  You sit in with us on history and sometimes ask questions that indicate that you are listening.  Since I'm primarily teaching that to Britt and Ruth, I don't expect you to pick up a great deal, but you are learning.  The biggest hit this school year for you has been science.  I found a very hands on early elementary astronomy program.  You and Rebecca have done it together for your science.  You have loved cutting and gluing definitions and other workbook pages, but mostly you have loved painting the planets for your solar system book.  You remember the most random of facts, but the goal at this age isn't much of memorization, but rather exposure to ideas and inspiring curiosity and a love for learning.  As you tell everyone how much you love school, I think we are successfully doing that. You are so excited to get your own school books this next year as a 1st grader, and ask me every so many days, how many more days until you get them.  You often tell me that you want to start with them as soon as I get home from the homeschool convention with them.

You have developed special relationships with each of your siblings.  Britt you frequently beg to sleep with, and him being the sweet older brother and some what push over where you are concerned, often allows it.  You are his devoted acolyte.  Always willing to play anything he wants whether that's Nintendo or nerf wars.  He always makes sure to include you even if it is only pretending.  He often turns the computer players on and tell you that they are you, so that you can play games with him that you really aren't yet able to manage on your own.  Ruth and you struggle at times, she is at a prickly time in growing up, and you can be prickly all on your own.  I see so many similarities between the two of you, it is natural for you too to butt heads more than the others.  Rebecca is still you best friend and play mate.  She is patient with you, even when you are willful and demanding.  She is always willing to play any game that you want.  The two of you have become great fans of playing Battleship together, and she is patient as you work at learning to read the coordinates.  The twins are devoted to you, especially Will, who likes it when you pick him up.  You spend most of your play time with the boys.  They run and chase you, hold your hand and follow you around.  They even calm down sometimes for you when they are mad and pitching a fit at everyone else.  You have gone from that somewhat skeptical child and jealous of them to a great big sister.  You still want to hog my lap sometimes, which they are immensely jealous of, but you are quick to share almost anything with them.  And so when you put your foot down about something, they are most unreasonable.

Our biggest struggle is probably trying to curb your tv time.  In that in between stage not needing super close attention like you did as a baby or toddler, but not yet in full blown school mode you have a lot of free time.  And while you are good to take time to play as well as entertain your little brothers, you also spend too much time on the tv in Momma's opinion.  You get impatient for it and demanding when you've had too much time on it.  That persistence I continue to think will serve you well in life, I just have to learn how to best manage it with you as a child.

In the last few months, you have begun asking me lots of questions about Church and God.  It actually reminds me a little bit of Britt, how at that age he would out of the blue ask a questions that related to the sermon from the Sunday before.  You asked me lots of questions in the week or two since Bro. Chris preached on baptism.  You also ask me questions like why we can't see God and how do we hear Him if He doesn't talk with a voice.  There is so much going on in your mind, and you aren't nearly as transparent as the others where, that I'm often surprised at some of the things you say and think.

You have begun showing some maturity and responsibility that I didn't see out of the others at this age.  You have had a bunny of your very own for around a month now.  You take time every day to spend with Poppy.  You brush him, hold him in your hammock and talk to him several times a day.  You almost never need to be reminded to clean out and fill up their water bowl.  And in general, are so attentive to their needs.

Katherine, you are my red headed child in temperament, even if you only have a few red highlights in your actual hair.  You are a mighty child, carefree as you spin in your dress or ride your scooter.  We adore you.  At first, it was just the joy of having a child again after a loss, you are still our rainbow, but you are also much more.  Your daddy and I love you more than words can say.

Love you,
Momma

 

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

Momma again last year didn't get your birthday letter written that makes both year 7 and year 9 skipped.  Sometimes I feel like that is the story of your life.  You truly fall into that middle child category, the youngest of the bigs but not one of the littles.  You do carve a unique niche out in our family though, as the crazy and joyful child.

As school has gotten more demanding, you don't enjoy it as much as you once did.  You still enjoy reading time, and are now delving into shorter chapter books.  The bigger books still feel intimating.  You continue to move through math with flying colors and seem to enjoy history as well.  Writing is an area that we have really delved into this year, and though you stay you dislike it, I think you have grown by leaps and bounds.  I still do all your typing thus you don't have the grammar and spelling corrections to make, but you are learning structure and composition.   You chose Astronomy for your science this year, and have helped Kate with her work in that subject as well.  The two of you have been a good team.

You are still a great sister.  Whether you are tagging along with Britt and Ruth, there isn't really anything that they can do that you can't now, or helping Kate and your younger brothers; you are an enthusiastic participant.  You still chose to spend most of your time with Britt or Kate.  With Britt you mostly play video games, or occasionally practice baseball.  With Kate you ride scooters, play with Barbies, or create art.  You are also helpful with Will and Jon, taking turns playing with them, even sometimes being in charge of bath time and diapers.  You have less patience with the crying and fussing than your older siblings, but you still work very hard to amuse them.

You are still the same girl that you were 2 years ago, but more so.  You give greater hugs, laugh more, and your joy is more infectious.  You are still the social butterfly, going out of your way to tell complete strangers hi in the grocery store, and making friends with every child who enters the library.  You are truly one of a kind, Rebecca Joy. I often wonder what big plans the Lord has in store for you, because you are so uniquely joyful and outgoing.

Last January, you joined the Church.  When you made up your mind to it, you absolutely could not wait.  You were mightily moved during communion and talked to me that night in bed, and insisted on being baptized the next morning.  It was a decision that left your Daddy and I overjoyed.  We pray that you always have that fervency and desire in serving your Lord.

We love you always, little girl!

Love,
Momma

 

Ruth,

It has been 6 month's since your birthday, and I am just now finding time to sit down and write your letter.  I'm sorry about that, but I feel like you often get a bit short changed for your birthday.  With everyone else's near the beginning of the year (except Kate) I plan birthday presents and such when I am planning their Christmas.  With you I always seem to have it sneak up on me in the middle of the back to school swing.

You are my right hand, my best help, my most dependable child.  You are so mature, that others often mistake you for being older than you are.  You love to cook and are doing more meals, and even fix meals alone at night now.  You are a whiz at getting the boys to do things that they won't for anyone else.  And while everyone takes turns, I can trust you to look after them when I need to get other things done without any worry if you are doing what needs to be done.  You've shown yourself trustworthy with your, only working on school at school time, and not getting online after bed time.

You have finally had a bit of a growth spurt this year and are starting to look more like a young woman than a little girl.  You have especially been pleased to put on a few inches this year.  It is a bit surprising to see you looking more willowy in your favorite maxi dresses these days.  Bras and other parts of growing into a young lady you have been less thrilled about.  But the truth remains that you are indeed growing up.

We added the adventure of online classes this year to your school schedule.  You are taking two year long courses.  One is writing.  Something you've long enjoyed, you are enjoying academic style writing far less than creative writing, but while still fighting with the rules of various structured pieces, you are excelling.  Each piece becomes more honed and stronger.  You also starts ASL I this year.  You have long wanted to learn sign language and decided that it should be your foreign language for high school.  So far you are learning a lot, but struggling to get assignments submitted on time.  That time management area is still a weakness, but you are working at it.

This past year (and a half now) have brought numerous changes, a move, several different jobs for Daddy, and a lot of stress for you.  You, like me, seem to internalize stress, cramming it down and letting it eat at you, until you are ready to explode.  We've talked about ways to deal with stress like talking or journaling when you don't want to talk to others about something sensitive.  You, also like me, find being creative to be a great stress relief, so I gave you an art journal that you are rapidly filling.  You have been on the verge of a blow up almost daily for a stretch of a few months.  But, we are working at finding you free time and an opportunity to be away from your siblings to destress. You are also still working at being kind and courteous when you just want to strangle people.  It is a life long work, but you are getting better at asking for space before losing your temper.

Ruth you remain a great entertainment in our lives.  You have the funniest laugh and you elaborate your "Ruth Rants" to keep us in stitches.  You are growing into a graceful, independent woman, who will carve her own niche in the world.  We love you, and pray that God will continue to bless you always.

Love,
Momma

 

Britt,

How can it be a year since I wrote your birthday letter.  It can't really be time to do this again can it?  You have really shot up in the last year, at your doctor's appointment last week you are 5 foot and 4 and 3/4 of an inch, you are literally 1 inch shorter than your mother.  You keep checking, eagerly anticipating the day that you pass me.  Yet you are still the sweet boy that will get back up out of bed and give me a kiss on each check before going to sleep if you forgot before heading to your room.

This year has held a lot of stress, but you have striven to be a help and comfort.  At this time last year, we had just moved into our new home and were still unboxing everything.  But since then, we have lost a job, struggled through some temporary jobs, and just now started a new job.  The financial set backs have been tough.  We didn't do birthday gifts or meals out this year, and Uncle Benji has taken over care of the dogs for a little while.  You have seemed disappointed at times, and took it hard when we thought we'd have to rehome the dogs, but through all the set backs and changes to what is typical, you haven't become angry or resentful, and for your outlook I've been grateful.  You may not realize it but you set much of the mood for your siblings.  When you are having a bad day they tend to complain and grumble, but when you are having a good day, you seem to raise the spirits of those around you.

This school year has been a bit different than previous years.  I needed a bit of a recoup and rest period from the farm and the twins, and you needed to spend this year preparing for high school level work, so we signed you up for a few online courses.  In the fall you tried coding.  You still have a great love for video games and thought it would be great to be able to make one.  After working with the material, you decided that the coding part wasn't what you expected and that you didn't really enjoy that part.  So even though you didn't score highly in that class I see it as a success, because it helped you to better know what it is that you did and didn't want to pursue in life.  You have also taken a year long writing course.  Middle School Writing has required a 5 paragraph essay every two weeks.  The learning curve has been steep, both in figuring out how to structure the different styles of essays, and in learning to pace yourself over 2 weeks to complete assignments on time.  A concept that has been fluid in our homeschooling journey this far.  Just over halfway through the class I can say that you are doing really well on writing, and that I hope before long you won't need my help to manage your days and your project planning.

You have also grown in maturity this year.  Enough so that we allowed you to travel on a plane alone for a 2 week visit to Christopher. You had a ball, and we got reports of exceptional helpfulness and good behavior.  We are also allowing you to stay home and even with Ruth's help to occasionally watch the twins while we run short trips to town.  You have the daily chore right now of getting the twins up and feeding them breakfast, which you tend to be attentive too.  There are still days that they squall for you while you obliviously are involved in a Nintendo game.  But you are excellent with them.  Today, watching you hit a ball with your bat, and seeing Will screech with joy and chase after it to bring it back, I thought just how blessed I am to have you for a son.

You look forward more and more to what lies instore ahead in life, but still enjoy the current moment.  We are seeing more than glimpses these days into the kind of man that you are growing into: a man of perseverance and determination, a man who thinks deeply about the things of God, a man of kindness and consideration, a man who retains a heart tender to others, a man who can always find a joke and a smile.  We love you so much Britt, and pray that you continue to grow into a God honoring man.

Love,
Momma

 I need to brag on my brother a minute, the kid's Uncle Benji.

Our finances have gone from bad to worse since last June, when Gary was laid off. He's had a few jobs since then, but nothing permanent. We've gotten by on unemployment, food stamps, gifts from fellow Church members, and loans from our parents. To be honest when I do the budget, I'm still unsure how everything has gotten paid so far. We are incredibly blessed with a good support system.

However, things have gotten to the point that we aren't sure if we can keep the house, or if we will have to sell it. So we needed to gut even the little things left in the budget. Things like dog food. The dogs were already not getting heart worm preventative, vet care, or grooming appointments. We had long since done away with eating out as a family. We are trying to only make one trip to town a week, other than Church on Sunday. So, I finally agreed we needed to rehome the dogs, for them and for the budget. It was a hard decision for me, because I'm an animal person. I have had Scout from a pup, and worked with him a lot. I got Ember as a rescue at a year, and never wanted her to not have a home again.

Telling the kids, over supper though, was the worst part. You see Scout is Britt's dog. He was his brother, when he didn't have any brothers. He is who has had read to for years, to overcome dyslexia. He is the one who comes up with new things to train Scout to do. He is the one who begs for the dog to sleep in his bed at night. Like any 14 year old boy there are times that the dog is neglected a bit in light of video games, but Scout is his dog. Ember is Ruth's dog. She has worked hard to train her, because Ember has a harder time focusing than Scout, and because we didn't have her from the beginning. She sits and talks with her when she won't share things with the rest of us. She has plans of eventually training her to do agility. Like any 12 year old girl there are times she complains about brushing her out or taking her out, but Ember is her dog. Telling them was awful. Ruth teared up, but didn't say anything until she went to rant to Ember the next afternoon. Britt on the other hand had wracking sobs, and offered to sell every thing he had to keep the dogs.

Britt even went to Mister the next day to ask for jobs to do for money. Mister gave him some jobs, but explained that we needed the money he earned to go toward the mortgage, not the dogs. He said he understood, but he was still praying for a way to keep the dogs. Britt then took the money to update their rabies shots and county license. I wanted to tell him the Lord doesn't really care about two dogs, but how could I discourage him like that. However, it appears that the Lord cares about two dogs, because He cares about a little boy, who kept praying full of faith that something would work out.

Earlier this week, my brother called out of the blue while I was driving home. He does every so often just to talk to the kids, after talking a bit he told me that he wanted to take the dogs for the kids, as long as we needed. He had rearranged some stuff with work and the house, and felt like he could take them on. He loves his nieces and nephews, and has constantly proven to have a big heart for them. He knew what the dogs meant to them. He offered to take off Friday and drive down for them, and then drive back home with them on Saturday, since he would have Monday, as President's Day and a federal holiday, to recoup. I was floored.  While no less of a blessing, it isn't surprising that our parents and our Church want to help us out. But I never would have expected my littlest brother to be able to do anything to help us out.

I cannot begin to describe how happy the kids were. Britt told me, I just kept praying for a way to keep them. He then had a long talk with Scout telling him about Uncle Benji, telling him bye, and who knows what else. Ruth squealed, and couldn't believe it. Rebecca needed clarification that it meant we wouldn't have to sell them at all. Kate was almost as happy as Britt, and promptly came home and laid on Scout the way she does and told him how great Uncle Benji was and how the trip would be a fun adventure. The twins just cheered because everyone else was in the car.

Benjamin and Daddy drove down yesterday. He's already got them a grooming appointment, since they are badly in need of one. He asked me to write up everything I could think of about them to help him out, so I put together a notebook. He took the dog training book for trouble shooting and an old baby gate to block the stairs. He wanted their vet records and anything else I had. He asked questions and loved on them.

As they got ready to leave today, I stressed to him I was hoping in 2 or 3 months we would be back on our feet, as Gary has started a new job, and will be on his own starting Monday. However, since it is solely commission, it'll take some time to get back up and running and caught up, so hopefully we can stay in our home. He told me again, to not worry about it, he was prepared to keep them as long as necessary. To not worry about them.

To everyone else they might just be dogs, but while not family in the sense that my kids are, they are part of our family. They matter a great deal to us. They are part of our household. Sure they have bad habits like counter surfing at times, and jumping the fence, but they have far more endearing qualities, like faithful loyalty and loving attention. And it means far more than words can convey that Uncle Benji cared enough about a small thing, among all of the stress we are under, to do this for the kids and me.