Category Archives: Family History

Beyond Thankful

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It hasn’t been a secret that we are a family in need.  My husband has been without a job since July 2006, and I bet he would be a top contender in “Dear John” letters if there were a contest for such.  I have been the main breadwinner, but since my MS diagnosis in December, my income has fallen drastically.  We can feed our kids, but anything above that is always a gift from God and family or friends.

When it was time to start thinking about summer activities for our kids, we knew we needed help.  We reached out to my third foster mother (who paid for three of our kids to go to church camp last year) and she paid for us to register our three daughters. 

Then, our Pastor at church said that an anonymous donor wanted to send ALL of our kids to church camp, and he didn’t bat an eye at the price; because although we got camperships for the girls, it was too late to ask for one for our son.  When I told our Pastor the final cost, he obtained a check from the generous donor and we signed all four kids up for camp.

Each of the three younger kids participated for a week in their various age-appropriate camps.  The son-man was ecstatic that we finally allowed him to go to camp (usually, he goes to Boy Scout camp while the girls choose church camp) – and he had a great week!  Our oldest daughter is in the counselor-in-training course, and she had to attend camp for two weeks, at two different camps.  The kids are still “bringing down the roof” with camp praise songs!

We picked the eldest up last week, and now all four kids have had another experience of a lifetime to grow in their faith and keep as precious memories of their youth.

And we, their parents, have yet another lovely heart to pray for and give thanks to God for living and loving our children.

The Artist Is In the House

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Our oldest daughter was accepted to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) summer camp a few months ago, but without a scholarship the trip was totally out of our reach.  Lucky for our budding artist, our community and friends came together to help raise the funds for her trip…..and her grandma had enough sky miles to get them there.

Here she is leaving our home at 4 a.m. – which is early, but considering she’d just returned from a mission trip with our church youth to Chicago …. well, let’s just say she slept the ENTIRE way to Savannah with a little grumpiness when she had to switch planes in Atlanta:

She chose two courses for her summer session – Mixed Media and Fashion Design. 

Now, let’s be clear on where we live.  Small town is too big of a word.  The kids’ school is Pre-K – 12th grades, with less than 300 students in the ENTIRE school.  There are NOT a lot of artistic-types such as our daughter and there certainly no other students were offered such a fantastic opportunity at one of the nation’s top art colleges.  Big thanks go to her art teacher, too, because she started the ball rolling.

The following photos contain the two exhibition pieces of hers that were chosen for their finale to show off to the parents and general public after her week at SCAD:

Needless to say, we are extremely proud of the gifts that God gave to our daughter…..and for our daughter who literally stepped out of her comfort zone to travel so far from home and be amongst other talented artists.

Precious Memories

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Our oldest daughter went with our church youth group and chaperones to Chicago to participate in a week of service for YouthWorks last week.  It was her first mission trip experience and her first trip to Chicago.

I was just tickled pink to receive this message from her while they were on the ride to their destination:

dear mom, hi. missouri is nice, we just left st louis. i stood in the mississippi and played in its mud. i danced barefoot under the arch. having fun, give my love to dad and the kids. later, keara the national traveler

She is now in Savannah, Georgia attending a week of summer camp at the Savannah College of Art and Design.  What a wonderful summer for her, of achieving dreams!

First Day of Summer Break Fun

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While I sat in my office shed working the morning away, the hubster made lists of chores for the kids to accomplish on their first official day of summer break – but, they weren’t just any list.  He made them “bargains” – as in, vacuum the kitchen so you can bake bread.  How ingenious to barter with the kidlets!

Our youngest did her work like Speedy Gonzalez because she got to Easy Bake:

The oldest did her vacuuming so she could make these delishious PARTYBROT rolls.  The first photo is of the cookbook where she found the recipe and the second is a photo of her beautiful culinary masterpiece:

I’m not real sure what the son-man accomplished, except I know he got his gear and clothing all set out for his upcoming Boy Scout week of camp.  Then, he got to open some belated birthday gifts from his aunt and grandma:

And finally, the middle daughter did twice as many chores (she’s SURE of that) than the others (right, she had to do her chores PLUS unload the dishwasher – gah) so she got to have an hour on the computer and then watch a baby chick hatch!  The chick was named Juevo Tater – hubby couldn’t decide whether to name it Juan Tater or Huevo Tater so he just combined the two for its own unique spelling:

Obviously, hubby was too busy keeping the kids in line to get anything on HIS list done…..but, there’s always another day!

School’s Out for Summer!

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The kids have a half day of school today, and then we have the official countdown as to how long it will take them to say the “B” word (B O R E D).  🙂

We all have a restful week of unplanned activities outside of Scouts for the son-man and hubster, and then our oldest takes off for her mission trip with our church youth to Chicago and the hubster and son-man head to Boy Scout camp.  What are the two little girls and I going to do??!!  I just heard from my MIL and nephew that he will be back that week, so that means I will have someone for the girls to play with so I can work!  Yippee!!!

DD#2 received another award yesterday from her band teacher – most improved player for the year!  I have to agree with him, since she went from 6th grade band to high school band with nothing in-between!  Very proud of her accomplishments!

As we end this school year – we have sadness and losses, too.  The principal has accepted a position elsewhere, and although he deserves to move so he can be with his wife, he’s been a relatively good principal (after I had to get on him the first year).  Our school superintendent also requested resignations from the art teacher and the band teacher – which means our middle schooler will have no fine art options and our high schooler is left with just one fine art option.  Very, very upsetting – since both girls have God-gifted fine art talents that they will no longer be able to enhance at school.

We have a full summer planned, though, so there won’t be as many opportunities for the kids to whine and cry about having nothing to do – and if they do, we’ll start unloading the crap stuff in their bedrooms and make them do a little spring-into-summer cleaning!