I haven’t been writing for my blog often. I’ve been very busy lately! (And yes, the picture is an old one, like 4 years ago, but it’s one of my favorites of Becca & Anastasia.)
This past week was totally amazing in how God just orchestrated things to work out for good.
If you’ve been reading, you probably know my little sister has been going through some rough medical challenges. Read this if you don’t know about it. (Okay, she’s always going to be “my little sister” to me, even though she’s a very competent adult.) On Wednesday, my Mom texted me at work (she was playing taxi for Becca) with awesome news!
God had closed up one of Becca’s varicose veins! But she was already prepped for surgery and had prepaid for it so the Doctor said they’d do the worst vein on the other leg. That was so amazing! Actually, they scared her to death before telling her it was good news. The nurse with the Doppler says “stop talking” and moves the Doppler around with a serious face. Becca’s heart jumped into her throat. Then she sets the wand down. “Let me get the Doctor.” And then Becca had to find her calm place and bite her tongue as they both moved the Doppler stuff around and made comments like “I see it” and “yes, that’s odd.” Becca said finally the nurse says to the Doctor, “shall I tell her, or do I?” and then they told her it was gone. They offered, since she was already prepped, to just start in on the other leg (the worst, largest vein) so of course, Becca said yes.
The second miracle happened two days later. Anastasia has been severely allergic to eggs all her life. Like so allergic she needs an EpiPen and can’t touch anything that touched eggs. We have chickens, so you’d think our house was a definite no-no, but we are very diligent about keeping her away from our eggs and washing everything (hands, countertops, etc) to keep any contaminates from her. And we bake cookies, breads, ice cream, and cupcakes without eggs anytime she’s over. She’s really good about asking if it has eggs in it. (Louis picked up a cookie snack from Aldis when she was shopping with us & she asked, “does it have eggs?” so we put it back and Christina made eggless cookies instead.)
Anyway, so much for backstory… at the end of school, the school gives back all medications to the parents. Normally, that’s on the last day, but they almost gave Anastasia’s EpiPen back on Thursday instead. Her Dad wisely didn’t take it; he told them her Mom would get it on Friday.
So her EpiPen was at school for the party day.
And that was when she needed it. She misunderstood somehow and thought the cupcakes were eggless, so she ate one and two bites into it, her body rejected it and it ended with her in anaphylactic shock. Although she had to go to the hospital, my brave 5-year-old niece recovered fine. Becca raced from work to get to her. The paramedics let Becca drive her to the hospital and she was admitted with a “severe level 5 reaction” so the doctors had to observe her in case her reaction returned as the medicine wore off. (It didn’t.) The Doctor was extremely helpful and handed Becca his card, which had John 3:16 written on it!
God lined everything up so that Anastasia would have her medicine and get just the right care.
Our family has felt the love of God and amazing miracles in the prayers, support, and love from all of you! Please continue to keep Becca in your prayers! I just had to pass along how awesome our week had been in the way God had been letting Becca feel His presence through these challenging moments.
God always has our best. We give Him our lives with all of our stuff and He blesses us with His constant love and care. He shows us love and grace and we are the hands, feet, and arms of Jesus on Earth. Sometimes we are the givers and sometimes receivers. And sometimes God shocks everyone with something totally unexpected like healing something in our bodies!
Thank you God, for Your warm arms gathering my little sister and her baby in Your tender care!
The girls shifted their beds around so that the Playroom is now the sleeping quarters for Kimberly, Jaquline, and Jillian and the Barracks is sleeping quarters for Christina, Becky, and Primrose. This shift was so that the barbies, legos, and small toys like polly pockets and art stuff could be in the Playroom while the Barracks holds all of the toddler toys that cannot fit in a child’s mouth.
They are planning for Thea to be running around already. (Mommy is not ready just yet!I plan on being in Baby Stage a little longer!)
Lucas was bunking with Christina. But then we got a toddler bed! It needed some repair (but a few wooden dowels and extra bolts made a solid fix!) and we had to dig around for toddler bed sheets, but now Lucas has a big boy bed!
Sheba thinks this is her spot to share with Lucas.
Lucas was so excited to have his Star Wars blanket on his very own big boy bed! Last year, he didn’t want anything to do with a special trundle bed so we gave it away.
As we grow, sometimes the things we brushed away turn into the things we love ~ strange thoughts, I know. But that’s what goes through my head when I watch my little love snuggle into his big boy bed under his blanket; he has grown just a little more independent.
Not only did our little Thea officially turn two months old on Easter, but neither Louis nor I was working, neither of us was tired, and we had the whole weekend to ourselves!
Baby Thea dressed up (minus her cute socks and shoes) in her Easter dress from Aunt Becca & sister-cousin Anastasia!
Louis and the girls dyed eggs – our brown and pink eggs made some unique color experiments and tasty “angel eggs.” (Grandma Joanne started that; she redeemed the deviled eggs so they are “angel eggs” now.)
Louis was waking me up almost every night in the week before Easter as he excitedly told me about the newest item he got for the girls’ baskets – crazy plastic grass, cool candy, a bag of change for the plastic eggs and such.
We love family time! On Easter, we got up early, went to church, and talked all about the first Easter Sunday and Jaquline decided we had to watch a Jesus story movie – “The Greatest Story Ever Told” is the go-to for us. About lunchtime, we snacked on angel eggs and fruit while Louis crafted an amazing ham – this would be early dinner.
And… Egg hunt. The girls learned that Spring Egg Hunts were a result of people letting their hens and ducks out to range in the spring grass and then having to find their eggs for food – young children were tasked for this job and finding the eggs meant the end of winter harshness and the beginning of spring’s bounty.
But for us, Easter Egg Hunt means “see who can hide it best” (for the hiders, adults and teens) and “see who can find the hardest eggs” (for the younger ones). Kimberly decided she is still a youngling for Easter and joined the hunt as a hunter!
Becky took some pictures.
Christina’s hardest eggs were teal, Becky’s were green, and I hid the hard-boiled ones. Mine I wanted found quickly, so most were just rolled in the patches of clover so their stickers showed.
Down to four remaining eggs… One Teal, one Green, and two Boiled! Mom ended up winning with the “hardest” egg being inches from the walkway in plain sight!
Becky made up some adorable pictures with the baskets. Check this link to see her Guinea Pigs in the Easter Basket pictures!
A birth story of our little angel (and a slideshow of proud siblings & family!)
February 22, 2019
The Story of Baby Thea
If you’ve been following my blog, you know I was growing my seventh little angel.
Today, I get to write the story of her arrival!
On February 19th, a beautiful Tuesday morning, my day started normally. During my 32 minute drive to work, the Baby started thinking there was not enough room and my body did the stretching contractions (Braxton-Hicks) that is very normal for me in the last month or two before birth. I didn’t think much of it, really. After my boss left for appointments, one of my office companions, Lily, a beautiful brown and white pittie belonging to my boss, started laying at my feet and wouldn’t let me go anywhere without her! This was a bit of a warning to me because Sheba (my Aussie mix) always does this to me when I’m in active labor. I left at one (normal time) to get to Christina and then my midwife appointment.
Christina had been babysitting, finished some errands at the college so she would be ready for the summer semester, caught the bus to 207 (the road I take into town), and was waiting for me. Along the way, my midwife texted to reschedule the appointment to Thursday and I laughed during my voice-text because I was very tired and that worked great for me. I added, “or when Baby is ready,” as a joke because my babies have all come on or after the due date. Everyone had been rooting for a February birth since the official “due date” was February 24th, and except for Lucas, my wee ones were between 9 and 13 days “overdue” so I usually ignored the due date and just gave a general month (in this case, I’d been saying March).
I got Christina, teased her about driving (she’s recently received her learner’s permit), and we headed home. Sheba was acting odd, I was starving; Louis had made lasagna Monday so I ate a huge plate and took a short nap.
When I got to gym with Becky (her class is on Tuesday, the others are all Wednesday), the contractions were still there, but, like I said, that is normal for me. It had been happening off and on already for about a week and a half, so I just went about work because they were easy to ignore. Some friends and I chatted about babies as I was leaving, and someone said, “you know about your body by now, right?” I laughed, “each is different, but I’m still thinking March.”
Wow, was I wrong.
As Becky texted Christina and Louis to tell them we were off & headed to pick up Christina at CAP, Becky said, “Mom, I can’t drive us home, but if the baby keeps contracting like that, maybe Christina can.”
We laughed. Part of the driving restrictions on a learner’s permit forbid night driving for the first few months; but we always teased Christina that she’d have to drive home in the dark if I was in labor.
Home, I was starved, but my belly felt full after four strawberries. I took a shower and crashed. I kept waking up every couple hours, but I’m a light sleeper so that’s also normal. Each time, though, I noticed contractions. I’d check my phone just to see what time it was. Midnight. 1:40. 2:30. 3:50. At almost 4, I realized I was sweating and I decided to wait for fifteen minutes (so the water softener cycle was finished) and take a shower. The next glance at my watch showed 4:19. I took a shower and the first contraction after the water hit was very strong. I felt movement inside me. “Wow, you sure you’re ready?” I asked. I was sure that was just a fluke and usually the warm water calms contractions down. When the next two made my legs feel like jelly, I got out of the shower and crawled back into bed. The phone said 4:35. I wasn’t about to wake anyone or call Misti for three oddly strong contractions.
I tried to sleep. I had about two hours before I had to get ready for work.
At somewhere before 6am, I tried getting ready for work. I had to stop and breathe through contractions that were easy to time and I felt the baby moving slowly down inside of me. I was about to wake Louis but ended up stretching through a contraction. We have a mind link, I think. Louis woke up as I was stretching. He goes into mega cleaning and question mode. This is his serious mode. He has been through it enough to know we were going to have a baby this morning – or at least today. He told me to call Misti, he woke the kids up to help clean (normally, we clean before bed, but they had been in a non-cleaning mood the previous night), and directed the house with efficiency. I was restless, so kept walking around in between. Christina and Becky didn’t want to get out of bed. I went into the barracks to find out why not.
“Mom! You can’t have the baby in here!” Christina shrieked, covering her head.
“So, get up please and help Daddy with cleaning. Y’all should have done that last night. Once you finish, you can go back to bed, but he’s really stressing about the house and people coming so please help.”
No answer. I could feel another contraction creeping up. “Okay, you have about 20 seconds before I get another contraction and…”
Christina bolted, “MOM! I’m up! I’ll help Dad! GET CONTRACTIONS OUT OF MY ROOM!”
Becky was up too. Kimberly was definitely awake. Mission accomplished. I went back to the kitchen table. My “leave” alarm reminded me to text or call my boss. 6am though, I figured I should just text – plus I didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment.
Misti showed up (can’t remember if the house was clean, but based on the voices and giggling and a movie being on, I’d guess it was straightened). Mom was on the way, she told us she had to be at one of my brother’s promotions at 8am. The girls had turned on “The Two Towers” and as Louis walked by during the Uruk-hai production scene and he ordered, “Turn that off, you can see a real birth soon enough.” I can’t remember if the result was “Wild Kratts” or “Dumbo” but there was something far less messy on the tv a minute later. (I did hear one of the teenagers or preteens quip, “Mom will sound like an orc.” Louis and I laughed. We’re nerds.)
By 8:30, I was immune to the world. I heard Misti’s voice, smelled Louis (I was leaning on him), and faintly heard background voices. I was focused on this job.
8:42am and our little one came into the world, veiled. Misti took the bag off and the Baby screamed to test the limit of her lungs! (We didn’t know Baby was a “she” just yet!) Baby opened her eyes fully and stared up at me. Then she screamed to rattle the roof again. The dogs were barking. We discovered our Baby was Thea!
Welcome to our crazy world, Theadora Taliesyn Tart. You are loved and cherished!
Theadora (after her great-grandfather Melvin Theodore Pearson) means “gifted by God” and Taliesyn (feminine form of your grandfather’s favorite character from a Celtic legend) means, “one with the shining brow, one who sings wisdom.” And Daddy chose the nickname “Thea” because he likes it. (Your uncle texted that he’d call you “3T” – yes, Daddy searched for two “T” names we both liked!) I kept both names the same length, since that’s what we’ve done – all of the children’s names have the same number of letters in the first name and middle name. Theadora 8 letters, Taliesyn 8 letters – told you we are nerds.
Mom (Grandma Joanne in the pictures) came back with a shower of baby girl goodies! (And, yes, this is why she’s in such cute clothes once we managed to get them on her!)
Theadora, I pray you always feel the love of your family as you wiggle your way up to adulthood. I pray you feel the warmth and see the light of God’s love reflected in the faces of your sisters and brother, mother and father, aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins. We have accepted the honor of being your guides to lead you to Jesus, to raise you in love, and to give you room to find, develop, and follow the passion of life God has rooted within you. You are a daughter of God, a precious gift to us, and chosen to bring light through your smile.
Becky said I can’t post a baby story without her pictures! So here is a little slideshow:
Lucas kept trying to “pet” and “kiss” Baby TheaChristina & Thea (oldest & youngest)Lucas said “you are my love, Baby Thea!”Grandma Joanne & TheaChristina and Becky are already vying for who gets the babyKimberly and TheaJillian and TheaTheadora Taliesyn TartThis is Christina’s favorite from Thea’s birthdayJaquline and TheaBecky and TheaDaddy and TheaAunt Becca and TheaThea and Mommy
How Becky discovered gymnastics and is now motivated to workout for personal improvement! Mom is thankful for her fitness goals!
January 12, 2019
Motivation
Sometimes motivation comes from a course you don’t expect.
I often find motivation coming from my study or from life events.
For Becky, the motivation to workout has just never been there. Christina got motivated to run and work out when she joined Civil Air Patrol. Kimberly always wants to beat everyone, so when her dad, sisters, or sister-cousins were running, she matched them, when her sister and friends were seeing who could do the most push-ups or pull-ups or climb the rope fastest, she had to work harder. Jaquline and Jillian get motivated anytime dad, mom, or one of their big sisters happens to be working out. Lucas never stops.
Becky suddenly wanted to be the best. Becky found her motivation to work harder and get stronger.
I am so thankful that she’s found something to help motivate her toward a healthier state.
For some people, a fitness gym or club with others to hold them accountable works, for others, the freedom of working out at home or on the go with the possible aid of an online coach is perfect, others need a structured team event, some need a goal like training for a 5K. I love helping people find and exploit their motivation towards being healthier.
For me, health has been our lifestyle, so modifying my lifestyle in various ways to make healthy easier for us is always in the back of my mind. So as my schedule continually gets busier, my commitment to one fuel and nutrient packed shake each morning has definitely helped me stay on track!
I love watching the girls grow in their personal choices. I am excited about the educational, fitness, and social gains Christina has made at Civil Air Patrol. She’s grown so much in the past year and a half! I can’t wait to see what gains Becky makes in her personal life as she advances in gymnastics – what growth will she produce toward her goal?
Only time will tell, but I’m excited that Becky has found some motivation in her health because I want her to be the very best she can be!
When you’ve worked almost two years to get a harvest and a deep freeze threatens; you save the navel oranges! Jaquline’s Birthday Story
January 4, 2019
The Coldest Day
This is story of the coldest day for us in winter 2009-2010:
It was the second winter in the farm house. We loved that house because there were twelve citrus trees, a huge ancient fig tree, an Asian pear tree, tons of mulberry, pecan, and oak trees, an old neglected trio of muscadine grape vines on the arbor, and blackberry vines in thickets around the perimeter fence.
We had worked feeding and tending each of the trees for almost two years. Most had given us hearty thanks in the form of yummy, sweet fruit. Well, the pecans actually were eaten by the over abundant squirrel population and one of the orange trees was sour so when we wanted lemonade we actually just popped off six of those giant sour oranges and made orangeade instead. It was light yellow in color and except for a slight orange flavor; the girls thought it was lemonade!
There were two tangerines, one pink grapefruit, three yellow grapefruit, one tangelo, two small orange, one lime, and one sour orange tree that had given us fruit after the first winter. Since it had been a mild winter with no deep freezes, the fruit was sweet and had set on the trees over spring as we harvested it in perfectly manageable sets.
Only the navel orange hadn’t yielded fruit. Until this year. It was so loaded we had to support the weaker limbs with stilts despite heavy pruning during the summer! We were so excited because we’d been told it was the sweetest fruit but almost never had a crop. It looked like we had accomplished our goal!
But this winter had only just started.
We’d already had almost a week of mild freezes – just enough for frost, but not enough to freeze the fruit. Grandma Jeanette had called them “sugar freezes.” Now I knew that was because citrus fruit needs five to seven days of light freezes to sweeten. However, the one deep freeze could destroy the whole crop as it would freeze the fruit through the skins and rot them. We had watered down each tree carefully just before sunrise after each of the light freezes, but the forecast said tomorrow, January 7, 2010, we would wake to temperatures below 28 degrees. In our little area, we sunk two to four degrees below what the news said every time.
This would be a fruit-killing deep freeze.
And of all our citrus, the navel orange had the thinnest skin so would be the most affected.
I determined we would harvest all that fruit today.
We didn’t do school lessons, but immediately after milking the cow and feeding the chickens, we tugged the blue fruit bucket (a giant plastic washtub that held about 12 bushels) over to the tree and started picking. I sent Christina and Rebeccah into the tree. At 6 and 4 they were already experts at climbing through citrus trees avoiding the horridly sharp thorns. They scrambled up and out to get the highest fruit. We worked on for hours, singing and laughing. And my belly contracted. I was 41 weeks pregnant.
After her work was over, Grandma Joanne showed up. Seems there’s this old wives tale that if you reach up a lot while you’re pregnant, your baby will be all wrapped up in their cord. (Maybe so, as 2-year-old Kimberly, who was racing around tossing fruit her sisters plopped on the ground into the bucket, had been born with her cord around her neck. I hung clothes out on a line her whole pregnancy.) I told her I wasn’t wasting this fruit. I offered her a bag. She didn’t think that was funny. We were almost done. We were on our third bucket and there were only a few scattered edge pickings left. Rebeccah had decided they were unreachable. That was why I was on the ladder to get them. Christina was busy, putting the last bucket’s goodies into some of the fruit boxes in the garage.
Using the ladder and 4-prong rake (the girls call it the hand-tiller or the fruit-grabber depending on which use we were employing), we managed to get all of the succulent fruit off of that beautiful tree.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. For the first time I watched all three “Lord of the Rings” extended editions back to back in the bed as I tried to sleep. Baby was coming.
Early morning on the coldest day of our winter of 2009-2010, Jaquline Ellouise Tart was born.
Jaquline and Grandma Joanne – Jaquline is less than an hour old.
Christina and Louis made us sweet, fresh orange juice for celebration drinks! (And yes, Jaquline was born with a cord so long the midwife and her assistant measured it to confirm it was the longest they’d ever seen – and it was wrapped around her neck “like a winter scarf,” according to our midwife but was too long to pose a risk.)
Jaquline and Lucas with leaves!
Jaquline with Daddy at a football game!
Jaquline will be nine in a few days… and the story of the navel oranges picked the day before her birth is one of her favorites! She also loves the part about how she chose to be born on the coldest day that hit our house that winter.
This story of Minuit, the Dwarf Holland Lop bunny who became Kimberly’s best gift ever, and how Kimberly fell in love with her “snuggle bunny” gifted by her big sisters!
January 2, 2019
Minuit’s Story
There was a girl, Kimberly, who fell in love in 2013 when she was 6 and a black and white “retired stud rabbit” she called “Mister Walter Rabbit” was left on her family’s back porch.
Mom found out Mr. Walter Rabbit was over 12! (Rabbits average 10 years.) That didn’t matter to Kimberly. She slid down the kiddie slide with him, she put him on his blanket in the baby buggy and dragged it around like a rickshaw, she slept with him, she loved him more than any animal ever before, and with a little help from her oldest sister, took care of him “all by myself!”
Kimberly and Mr. Walter Rabbit were inseparable for over two years!
Fast forward to 2018 and Kimberly helped build a Guinea Pig cage for the big girls’ three new “girl Guinea Pigs” – but Becky’s angel was actually TobyMac (read more here). Kimberly’s little Avery love was far older than the lady let us know, and Kimberly only was able to love on Avery for almost a year.
Kimberly’s loss of her “baby” Guinea Pig came only two days after her Grandfather passed away. Kimberly cried that this would be her saddest Christmas ever.
It wasn’t a great financial year for her parents, so they were very busy with trying to pick up odd jobs and stay working so they could pay bills on time. Kimberly’s mom listened and tried to console her, but she knew Kimberly would have to heal herself because words don’t fill wounded hearts. Kimberly’s mom’s Daddy was Kimberly’s Grandfather.
Kimberly’s mom had only been home for a couple hours after a temp job that morning when Becky and Christina, Kimberly’s two older sisters who had been working babysitting and odd jobs too, came excitedly up to Mom. The younglings were asleep (except the baby brother), and Becky gave Mom $50 and said, “we found this bunny for Kimberly and it’s just perfect and the lady just texted us… they are back from candlelight service and we need you to drive over and pick it up with us.”
Mom was flabbergasted. The teenagers had researched, found a local bunny breeder with the specific kind of bunnies Kimberly had wanted (Dwarf Holland Lops) and she was holding a black female (the EXACT color and sex Kimberly said she was going to buy “once I save enough”) for them.
IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE!
Christina babysat, Becky kept Mom awake, baby brother fell asleep in the van, and Mom taxied the proud big sister out to pick up “the perfect gift” and ferry it home.
The big sisters had planned ahead with feed, a very nice cage (a pair of Guinea Pigs came in it, but it was not used now as they had the big run), the bedding, and even a waterer and feeder. They prepped the bunny cage, set it under the Christmas tree (it was nearly 11pm now!), and tossed a thin sheet over it. Both were so giddy they could barely sleep! Because of her black fur, black eyes, and sweetness, this perfect bunny was called “Minuit,” which is French for “Midnight.”
On Christmas morning, the kids gathered around to open presents and the suspense was just too much for Dad, because Kimberly hadn’t even seemed to notice the animal cage covered in sheet! Dad said, “Kimberly, that sheet is in the way, please fold it up.”
Kimberly grabbed the sheet and almost screamed! (Poor Minuit!) Kimberly was so happy she was in tears! As Christina and Becky reassured her the 9 week old bunny was hers, she scooped her out of the cage and snuggled her on the couch. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Kimberly cried and after everyone had finished adoring the new bunny, she gasped, “Mom, I thought this would be the saddest Christmas, but this is my best Christmas gift ever!”
Leave it to amazing, thoughtful, caring big sisters to research something you really desire, manage a way to get it for you, and give you the best Christmas surprise you’ve ever had!
I hope you enjoyed this story of Minuit, the Dwarf Holland Lop bunny who became Kimberly’s best gift ever, and how Kimberly fell in love with her “snuggle bunny!”
Who else is excited for 2019? Who else looks at the new year like a child on Christmas morning looks at presents around the tree?
December 31, 2018
Fresh New Year
“It’s still 2018, right?” asks Kimberly, working on her History.
“Yes, it’s the last day of 2018,” I respond. Christina pipes in with, “and our Aunt’s birthday!” (One of their aunts is born on December 31!)
This makes me think: (uh-oh, I just heard two kids say “Mom’s writing another blog in her head.”) Yes, my children know me!
Tomorrow starts a fresh new year. We are given a new beginning each day as the dawn warms our skies and the sun rises to dry the dew.
In the service industry, all days blend together and all the New Year has meant for me in the past 8 years was a barrage of people calling to order reservations at 1am on New Year’s Day from the Bayfront downtown or 11pm from the Saint Augustine Beach peir (two locations at the times we can never promise) so then it turns into irritated people who don’t understand the simple line, “I can’t guarantee that time at that location, you can try to call us at the time to see where our cabs are.”
I’m so glad today does not involve dispatching! I’m only answering questions from the school table – awesome!
In 2018:
I started working at WGV Gymnastics as a coach (LOVE this job).
We closed our taxi company in December. It feels awesome to be able to shut off my phone and not worry about missing a reservation call!
I’ve rejoiced with the addition of my best friend’s 10th baby!
I’ve rejoiced with my sister who is due about the same time I am! (They will be close cousins!)
I’ve mourned and rejoiced with my family after my Daddy passed.
I celebrated the first Christmas ever without him – that was his favorite holiday.
Christina achieved CAP rank of C/CMSgt, become Red Cross certified, started officially babysitting, started working as needed at what she calls “my somewhat part time job,” and completed her third college semester.
Becky completed her second college semester, bred and raised a few dozen chicks up to “independence” for clients, raised her batches of “babies” (aka Guinea Piglets), joined gymnastics classes (finally finding something to encourage her fitness!), and has taught most of her siblings the Latin terms for every body part since she’s been dissecting animals in her biology labs!
Kimberly joined gymnastics classes with her gung-ho attitude and is expecting great things from herself, was gifted a bunny (she’s been saving to adopt one for almost a year but her awesome big sisters beat her to it) and Minuit has never left her side.
Jaquline discovered the amazing world of Geometry and everything is now interpreted in shapes or gymnastics skills!
Jillian started losing teeth, is studying sketching (she’s getting rather good actually!) and digital art along with Becky, and getting herself lost in the world of reading!
Lucas started trying to write his name!
We are all expecting amazing things to come in 2019. God has paths lined up for us that we may not even be able to see yet – if you’d told me at the start of 2018 that I’d be teaching gymnastics for an awesome Christian boss, be pregnant again, and have no taxi company, I would have laughed.
But (positive!) God knows the desires of our hearts! He knows I love children, love teaching, and that gymnastics has always been a dream. (Dream job come true? YES!) He knows Lucas loves babies and is super excited about getting to “take MY BABY home from church.” (All the other babies he’s been around are those of church family, so he can’t take them home.) He knows that rebuilding hybrid batteries is something else I love – tinkering with electronics as Daddy taught me & a niche few offer around here so maybe that will be our main income soon!
I’m about to polish and release a few more children’s books (maybe an entire new series working around my budding illustrators’ work!) and my goal for this year is 12 releases.
Who else is excited for 2019? Who else looks at the new year like a child on Christmas morning looks at presents around the tree? I see each day as a gift from God to be opened at each dawn. I see gifts we can’t even dream of yet sitting there, waiting God’s perfect timing for us to unwrap and enjoy. I’m praying that certain things are there – which day holds the gift of my child’s birth? Does a gift in that pile include a property or home of our own? Is there a gift of being able to read my books before a class, teach a grammar workshop, or tutor another child? Only God knows what each gift holds. My Daddy loved seeing the smiles and squeals of excitement on Christmas morning as his children opened presents – I love this part of Christmas morning as a parent too. I can only imagine God smiling as we open each gift and yelp with excitement!
Enjoy your daily gifts in 2019! Happy, blessed New Year!
Picture overload! My family’s Christmas party 2018.
December 22, 2018
Pearson Christmas Party
Imagine twelve adults and thirteen children racing around a beautifully decorated house and every single one of them is acting like they are somewhere in that magic child age around 5 to 8. That was our Christmas party this year. It was the best!
My amazing sister and brother hosted.
Katy is always ready for a picture!
Livy painting faces! Anastasia is concentrating on being very still. She was rewarded with a beautiful butterfly!
Jaquline got snowflakes to match her dress!
Mrs. Claus and helpers! Tina, Christina (Christy the elf), and Mandy (Elsa-elf!)
Liam was here, but jumped out of the way! Brother-cousin time L-to-R JJ, Lucas, Isaac
This video shows our baby sister’s personality – it matches the hat!
Group Selfie! Tina, Ray, Becca, Charles, Allison
The teenage grandchildren (Becky, 13, and Christina, 15)
Bouncy Hat plus Sherlock Pipe (both with accents…)
The pro (Aunt Becca) teaching JJ how to take a selfie… (He knows he’s adorable!)
Mom and the boys (silly faces): L-to-R Nathan, Ray, Tina, Charles, Louis, and Andy
Mom and the girls: L-to-R Mary, Kayla, Katy, Allison, Tina, Becca, and me.
We did not get a group picture, or a full cousin picture, because everyone was just having too much fun! The girls (my pictures come from Christina, Becky, and Kimberly) managed to get many active shots.
This was our first year without my Daddy. Katy and Andy had set up the layout so that he would have a comfy chair, a central view, close to food, close to everything in what Kimberly called “Santa Boompa’s throne.” (The chair with the footstool, Mom’s seat was supposed to be the matching one next to his.) From this view you could see Livy’s facepainting station (she is so talented), the Selfie station (which was hilarious), the “dance floor” (right in front – so much fun!), the food and beverage buffet area was to the left (easy access to refills and the silly shenanigans going on in there), and the covered porch area was just behind it (where not just the boys were showing off their strength… or trying to).
Even though he wasn’t there, I didn’t feel like Daddy was missing. I heard him in my brothers, Mom, and several of the children. I heard his laugh when the boys were showing off. I could hear him cheering each one on. I felt his smile as Anastasia passed out gifts for each of the sister- and brother-cousins. The little ones ran around giving drawings, toys, and hugs to each other and I felt him smile because he loved to give. I felt his heart as Kimberly reminded me she needed my phone to “take pictures and movies for Grandma,” because “Granddaddy always likes to get pictures for Grandma!”
My Daddy’s legacy lives as the humor and fun he always had rubbed off on us kids and our children. We love to see each other smile and laugh. We encourage each other. We share with each other. We love.
This makes me so happy I cried on the way home.
Daddy isn’t really gone. I miss him so bad; I miss being able to talk with him. No one listens to me chatter away about the story ideas I have like he did. Daddy didn’t seem to mind if it was the fifth – or fiftieth – time I told a cute something the kids did or a neat thing I learned; he never said “I’ve already heard that.” I miss that, yes.
But he’s here. I keep hearing the sing-song voice from the Disney cartoon: “he lives in you.”
Daddy lives in all 25 of us that were there (and the 4 who weren’t) in some way. His legacy is us.
Memories with train tracks: little brothers, giggling elves, children 🙂
December 11, 2018
Train Tracks
One Christmas, about 10 years ago, Christina, Rebeccah, and baby Kimberly received a train track set with two little trains. It was a tight year; Mommy had found it at a resale shop for $7 with its own storage tub! This was the “big present” that year. Mommy and Daddy almost woke the little sleepers up giggling and playing with it as we set it up around the Christmas tree. Daddy put the crayons (Mommy saved those from penny sales at the start of school time) and coloring books in sets around it. Three tins with special cookies and treats we’d made were wrapped up and set around the track too. Other presents gathered around the tree, hiding in the circle of track.
That sturdy mix of train track and car track has been heavily played with for many years. It was Lucas and Isaac’s favorite thing to do – “play train tracks” from as soon as they could run every car that would possibly fit down the track.
The tracks fit together like puzzles. Jaquline likes to build the track. Lucas likes both building and “vrooming” trains and cars on it.
They built this one together and took pictures of it!
Lucas has become a little puzzle-fitter when it comes to making the tracks fit lately. The latest update for him has been adding mega-blocks and duplos under the tracks to raise them up over the “water” floor. Once Jaquline showed him this possibility, he’s been trying it by himself!
This little run below was all Lucas.
We heard the Christmas song that goes “…little toy trains and little toy tracks…” and Lucas shouted, “Mommy! A song about my train tracks!”
We donate at least one bag of toys every year as Christmas gets closer, (this year Lucas chose three of his “best cars” to give away to another little boy, and Rebeccah “found” a Lego set in their Legos which she printed the instructions for and gave away) but these tracks stay.
I remember making train tracks with my brothers, and am glad to make “train track” memories with my little ones too.
