Dear friends,

It’s been awhile since I’ve derailed from the topic of homeschooling, but I thought it’d be fun to do another life update. Nothing too much has changed here, but God is blessing us daily, and there’s much to thank Him for.

I always like to start by telling you a little about my little people, how they’re growing and what they’re enjoying. This is as much for my own memory’s sake, as for you:) But I do love hearing about other people’s lives, so here goes an update on ours.

Anna Grace is 7 and a half, and if there ever was a stereotypical eldest child, that’s our Gracie Girl. She is determined to be as grown up as possible, and begs constantly for jobs around the house. She folds a good percentage of our laundry, is so dependable with the little ones, and absolutely loves to cook and bake. I don’t love baking, so it’s been wonderful to have a little baker in the house. 🥰 Twice recently, as I was making a meal for a new mama, she volunteered to make cookies for dessert.

School-wise, she’s in grade three except for one subject. We’re finding that each child learns at a different speed, and have decided to re-take phonics this year, to build a better foundation and gain confidence before we dive deeper into reading/spelling. It’s been fun because Oliver is doing the same phonics, and they love doing it together. Then if I decide to have him take it twice, he can do it with Ruthie.

Speaking of Oliver, he’s the one who’s probably changed the most since my last update. He has always been a shy little boy, but over the summer he has suddenly become more talkative, friendly and much more confident. He makes little friends easily, and is just growing up so quickly.

He’s all boy. Sword fighting, nerf guns, mud, all the boy things, he just loves them. He is my right hand man when I milk the cows. He scoops out the stalls, puts grain in their troughs, and lets the cows in and out as needed. He’s my little nature guy, the most likely to run inside and tell me about a sunset, or bring me a special rock, leaf, or feather he’s found. I did have to draw a line, regarding his turkey bone collection. (It stays outside.)

In school, he’s in first grade and loving it. He’s quickly progressing in his reading and decoding skills, and it’s so fun to see. He and Anna Grace have a (mostly) friendly competition going on, that makes them both try harder. He will turn 6 next month, I can hardly believe that 😳

Ruthie… is still Ruthie. 😅 She’s constantly singing, a natural comedian, a friend to everyone she meets, and the most confident little child I have ever seen. A typical Ruthie greeting in the morning, is something along the lines of “Good Morning, Mama! It’s your beautiful darling, all ready for breakfast!” 😅

She has the most interesting questions and thoughts about life. From somewhere, she retained the thought that loved ones who have passed away, live on in our hearts. She took this literally, and makes a habit of looking down at herself, clasping her hands over her heart, and having the sweetest heartfelt conversations with Aunt Fann and Patsy, two family members that have passed in the last few years.

She’s is not in school, but she of course has her spot at the table, and is learning phonics and decoding by default, so I think it will come pretty easily to her, once she’s in school. She loves poetry and attempts creating her own poems and songs, so that’s been fun. 🙂

Her interests are mostly in the world of make believe…dressing up and pretending to be a princess, a mama, an Old Order Mennonite, an orphaned puppy, a preacher, a monster. Whatever she’s feeling, she’s a great little pretender. We probably laugh at her too much, but I’m pretty sure you would too. 🙂

Elizabeth is our petite little princess. She’s dearly beloved and pampered (and fought over) by her older siblings. She really thinks she’s the ruler of our house. 🙂 I recently heard her tell a sibling, “You can’t fight with me, because I’m the baby!” I’m afraid she’s going to have some serious questions about her royalty status after her new sibling shows up, Lord willing, in January. I think it will be a healthy adjustment, though. Cory always does so well at loving on the “dethroned baby” and making them feel special, when the new baby takes up residence. So she’ll probably be alright. 🙂

She turned two on November 5; and I guess it’s the fact that she has so many talkative siblings, but she’s the most articulate 2 year old I’ve ever had. She just talks and talks, and amazes us with her language skills. I’m sure if you know us well , you’re not surprised to learn we have talkative children, 🙈but Elizabeth is exceptionally so.

She loves to color, and begs to “help” constantly. She’s especially interested in “helping” to make food, aka sneaking tidbits every chance she gets. She’s got an appetite that doesn’t match her tiny little frame.

Cory and I celebrated 11 years of marriage in July. It doesn’t seem that long, but it’s definitely true that after that much time together, you figure out a lot about one another. I love being middle aged with him 🙂 we are both finding significant numbers of grey hairs these days, but we don’t mind.

Obviously, no marriage is perfect, so no, ours isn’t an exception, but what I can say, is that it just gets better with time. Cory is so good at remembering things he’s learned, and putting them into practice; and I feel like he knows me better now, than I know myself. He’s a good one.

He’s still doing well pump service, and loving it. He never comes home from work, saying he had a rough day. He’s tired sometimes of course, but he’s always just such a “happy tired.” I’m so pleased for him that he’s found a job that he loves so much.

Something I have always admired about Cory, is his love for elderly people. He will do just about anything if a sweet little old man or woman asks him to. Last week, an elderly acquaintance of ours needed someone to cook his dinner, because his caregiver had called in sick. I was so proud of Cory; he heard there was a need, and didn’t think twice. Just rode over there, cooked dinner, washed the dishes, and came home with a big smile on his face.

As for myself, I don’t think much has changed in my life, since last update. I’ve just been trying to keep up with the things that need to be done, and taking care of my little people. I’ve been really convicted to slow down and say no to more social things, and give more time to my family. Don’t ask how that is going, quite yet. I haven’t figured it out very well.

We are very social creatures over here, and it’s such a huge blessing to have wide and varied circles; but if we don’t watch out, we suddenly have somewhere to go every night of the week. While that’s fun, we’re trying to be mature and stay home more. It’s easier said than done, but we have noticed, that when we are home more, the children seem happier, and I think they behave better. Annnnd, the house stays in better shape when I actually stay home and keep it.

One thing that my family will not be able to honestly say at my funeral, is that “Mom was such a good housekeeper.” But I pray that I can love them well enough, and nurture their hearts enough, even in the the busiest times, that they can at least say: “Mom was a complete disaster, but in her hot mess-ADHD world, we always knew we were the top priority.”

These aren’t lofty aspirations, but they’re what I’m working toward at the moment. Maybe when I’ve achieved my lowly dreams of today, I can move my sights higher for the future.

This is getting long, but maybe I’ll share some highlights from the summer/fall. These are in no particular order, just random memories, as I thought of them/ found them in my camera roll:)

There you have it, our fall update. Til next time, God bless! ❤️