Goodness. I last posted in this family blog around Christmastime! So much has happened since then, I am tempted to throw up my hands and continue to ignore this blog! But my Facebook "See Your Memories" often provides me with links to the past, and I love reading over blog posts about our family from years back. So...I press on...in hopes that someday I can get to the point where I can post quick little nuggets here and there instead of feeling MONTHS behind.
Most of my updating energy is spent on
Verity's blog. It is so crazy to me to think that a year ago, Ted and I were sitting on a secret: we were expecting Baby Number Nine. As you can imagine, we weren't terribly eager to start shouting the news. We get enough comments about our family size as it is, thankyouverymuch. Receiving Verity's Trisomy 18 diagnosis in late September was followed by a fall and winter of wrestling, reading, and researching this condition we had never heard of prior to September 22, 2016.
Somehow we muddled through school days and a myriad of appointments. Now that we are into July, we can safely say we are "done" with our homeschool year, but the truth is...it's all a blur. I have no idea what we studied or learned. I do know that Zaden learned to read! I've now taught 6 kids how to read! So that's definitely a plus. I always love it when the kids start reading books on their own, and I have found Zaden many times with his own book, curled on a chair or hanging upside down off a couch reading to himself. Aaaahhh. We must be doing SOMETHING right.
Verity arrived at the end of February, and the last 4 months have been a total whirlwind. So. Many. Appointments. Most of the happenings with her are chronicled on her blog, so I won't go over them here. I'm racking my brain for other family happenings...I think I will reach into my phone camera files and see what we can come up with!
Here's a whirlwind view of the past 6 months or so...
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| After taking the PSAT last fall, Charis is on the college radar! |
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| Kenna decided to publicly declare her faith in Christ and was baptized by our local pastor. |
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| Rhema managed to keep us on our toes and did her best to do whatever her big siblings were doing. |
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No tooth fairy visits our house. Kids just bring me their teeth and I hand over the dollar bill...
then chuck the tooth when they aren't looking. |
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| Grandma J moved into our basement at the end of January and stayed with us several months. It was such a blessing to have her with us to just do life together! She took over the math teaching for all levels (Rhema is in pre-calc, lol), which was SUCH a blessing for me AND the kids! |
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Charis got more and more musical experience, playing violin with the worship team.
Ted played guitar many Sundays as well. |
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During the winter months, Ted and the kids read through the first two books in the Green Ember series. I confess I got lost, since I went into labor toward the end of book 1 (and had fallen asleep during many of the earlier readings anyway, lol).
But I hear the books were very good and they can't wait to read book 3! |
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| Arden kept his status as the Sibling Most Fun to Play With on the Couch...there were many games of airplane and all kinds of (ahem) gymnastics...which probably contributed greatly to the current (much-declined) condition of the couch... |
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| Kenna turned 10 on February 27 and got her ears pierced the week before! |
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Family party for Kenna! We celebrated a bit early...JUST in case...Verity did kindly wait until the day
after Kenna's birthday to make her appearance into the world! |
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| We took advantage of a good-weather day to get a break from winter! |
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| Seanin's "preschool" year has been a rousing success, as demonstrated here by his amazing artwork! Can you tell we celebrated multiple birthdays in a short time?! Charis was kept busy making a lot of cakes! Photos aren't posted here, but we celebrated LOTS of birthdays: Grandma Rhonda (2/6); Kenna (2/27); Grandma Irene (3/19) Ted (3/22); Lucan (3/27); and Tobin (4/13). |
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Hey! Evidence that we DID actually do some structured schooling!!
Two boys work on writing letters while Lucan does a language arts page. |
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Kenna did most of her schoolwork independently this year. I cannot tell you how often I THANKED
the Lord for making Kenna so...independent, lol. That was NOT a prayer I prayed when she was
two, three, or four years old, ha!! |
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| NCFCA Tournament Season! Charis competed in several regional speech competitions (Kansas City, Lincoln, and Omaha), qualifying for the Regional Competition at the end of April. Tobin and his debate partner competed in two competitions (Lincoln and Omaha), and while they did not qualify, it was a HUGE benefit for them both--they improved by leaps and bounds and did amazingly well for novices! |
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Verity joined our family 2/28/17 and was dedicated to the Lord at our church three weeks later.
(For birth photos and details, please visit her blog.) |
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| My mom arrived to help after Verity and I moved home from the NICU. For a short while, we had TWO GRANDMAS in the house! The kids were in heaven! We loved getting to share so much time together, especially since Ted and I were in the no-sleep fog that goes along with a newborn...that hasn't really disappeared, actually... |
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| As our assignment was finalized and we pinpointed a date for our move, the landlords began showing the house. Eeeek! They were so gracious to tell us "Don't worry about cleaning," but...we wanted to do our best for them! I at least made sure the kitchen looked AMAZING whenever we left before a showing! Thankfully another large family (7 kids) signed a rental agreement before too long, so we could stop worrying about cleaning up, lol. |
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| I have no idea what was happening around this photo...I think it was a Sunday given the dress Verity is wearing...but clearly she does not lack for admirers! |
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Tobin and Verity forged a sweet bond! I love walking into a room and
finding him tenderly holding his baby sister. |
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We got to share Easter Sunday with my mom;
she drove home the day after, and we were sad to see her go. |
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Verity had her first surgery, a tenotomy to lengthen her Achilles tendons,
a procedure that went along with her clubfoot treatment. (You can read more about this here.) |
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| Reading continued to be a part of our family life, even though we no longer sit down as a WHOLE family to do read-aloud time. (And clearly we lose a parent to sleep deprivation from time to time...Ted is passed out behind Zaden here...) |
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I had the opportunity to accompany Charis to the Regional competition, at which she placed
2nd in Apologetics and qualified to compete in the National Finals! She did decline the invitation to compete, however, choosing instead to go on a mission trip. |
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| Verity's 2nd surgery: a g-tube placement, which allowed us to say a hearty GOODBYE and GOOD RIDDANCE to the NG tube she had had since birth. You can read about this here and here. |
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| Shown here is Arden, but BOTH of my teen boys are taller than I! |
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| Spring arrived finally, and I took comfort in the fact that library books keep my kids engaged and learning despite my utter lack of energy or organization during this insane season of appointments for and sleepless nights with Verity. |
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You can see the feeding tube to the left of the photo...dinner is in the crockpot, Verity is getting a tube feeding, Rhema has planted herself firmly on my lap, and we are all listening to Zaden showing off his new reading skills.
Slice of life, spring 2017. |
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| Mother's Day 2017. I am a mother of nine. |
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Occasionally Rhema lets someone besides Mommy hold her!
She is shown here with her beloved Blankie and "Woof Woof," the purple bear who unfortunately
entered Rhema's life at a time when anything with fur was thought to be of the canine variety. |
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| Zaden is reading aloud while Seanin listens in. I LOVE this stage!!!! |
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| Oh, my heart!!!!! |
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| Verity graduated to boots and bar from her casts and began taking a TINY bit of milk by bottle. We thank God for the ability to tube feed our girl; she would not be alive otherwise. She likes to suck, she has a decently strong suck, and there is nothing hindering her from swallowing--but somehow she just isn't strong enough to suck the amount she needs. We continue to try oral feedings and pray that someday she will graduate from the tube. |
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Memorial Day weekend: Ted and 4 of our kids went to Colorado for a house-hunting trip,
and my friend Mimi came to hang out with the rest of our family! |
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| We got to enjoy a week-long visit with some great friends we met in Italy! They now live in WA and drove out to meet little Verity and hang out with us for awhile. Carla also stocked our freezer with meals! |
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| June 28, 2017: We celebrated 20 years of wedded bliss! Also, this date was the Change of Command ceremony...Ted is no longer a squadron command! After the celebration, Ted and I got away for about 20 hours. ;-) |
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| And...happening today...the final stages of our moving-out process. Somehow June passed in the blink of an eye and here we are, in the thick of the PCS (permanent change of station) mess. But the hard part is behind us...we are living in transition, in a hotel for about a week, and then to Denver to Ted's Mom's for the weekend, before we officially check in and get the keys to our new rental in Colorado Springs. Nebraska/Iowa has been good to us! We will miss the wonderful people we have met here but look forward to what God has for us next. |
