First of all, we were extremely busy upon our return preparing for the beginning of school. Less than a week after we returned I began home-schooling Gideon's Kindergarten year and Naomi's preschool.
But here is the main reason I stopped blogging:
I found myself taking photos of our school time, and coming up with great lesson plans... not for my children... but for the blog. (how sickening is this?)
I was "performing" for my blog readers instead of planning these things for my children's education. I was seeking the approval of man, rather than faithfully fulfilling my role as a mother/teacher/wife for God's glory. I wanted other people to see me being a great mother, homeschooler, wife, and home-maker. My motives were misplaced. And so, I cut out the thing that was pulling my focus off point.
***I am not extending my sin onto other bloggers. PLEASE don't think that I am. Many people can and do use their blogs for the Glory of God. But last semester, I realized I was using it for my own glory.***
With a renewed sense of perspective and a right heart, I return to the blog so that I do not continue losing the day-to-day details of my children's "growing up". These kids are funny, and quirky, and after reading over previous years, I have realized how much I forget about the day-to-day things... the things I want to cherish.
So... as a way to catch up...
August:
8-- I did a photo session in the morning and did the first day of Kindergarten in the afternoon.
JR had an intensive class and then I joined him for Hebrew on Tuesday afternoons. In exchange for watching G and N while I was in Hebrew with JR, I have Sydney join us for "school" on Wed. and Thurs.
JR was officially invited by the church of Christ in Peterhead, to come and work as the "Lead Evangelist".
(School-wise, both kids began reading this month.)
Gideon started Soccer with JR as his coach. At every one of G's games, people from the HST community came to cheer him on. (We are so blessed to be surrounded and loved by our neighbors.)
10-- JR and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with my parent's, the kids, and Scott Lloyd at Greer's Ferry Lake. (We have photos somewhere, but I don't feel like looking them up.) ;)
11--JR's 32nd b-day
September became crazy because the weekend before our anniversary, I was fb chatting with Andrea (VanDyke) Lopina in Cebu, Philippines. We were chatting about how JR and I would love to see missions in a 3rd-World context. I brought up my chat to JR Thursday night, and we prayed about it and felt like we should look at heading to the Philippines over JR's fall break and him taking an additional week off of school. We knew we should go, and we also knew that we didn't have the money to get there. (This is all Thursday night, mind you.) Friday morning, while eating breakfast and checking e-mail, I get a message from the VanDykes that they would like to take care of one of the plane tickets for us as well as our expenses there. Well, to make a long, Providential, story short: God removed all the obstacles in our path: expense, school, soccer-coaching, child-care, and before September ended, JR and I were in Asia. I have multiple albums from our time in the Philippines on facebook.
Also, one morning Naomi walked into the room where JR and I were still in bed. I open my eyes to see her big, blue eyes staring at me. "I'm going to call you "Baby Jojo"," was all she said before she walked back out of the room. I've been "Baby Jojo" ever since. :)
October:
JR and I returned from the Philippines and tried to return life to "normal". However, JR and I had our eyes opened to another perspective on life.
We got back on track with school. Unfortunately, I never caught back up with my Hebrew. :(
Halloween:
School continued.
We stopped in Carrollton, GA to visit with the Mosiers on our way to Florida.
Thanksgiving was spent in Tallahassee.
I got my nose pierced over our week in Tally.
We found out that Germantown church of Christ would not be sending out a missionary family in 2012. This news threw us for a loop since we had been working with the missions committee all year. There are no ill feelings on either side of this decision. However, this does put a kink in our time-line for heading back to Peterhead.
We, as a family, wrapped up our semester.
To celebrate, we used G's Incredible Pizza gift card. I believe this was the first time ever our immediate family had made a FAMILY DAY of things where we actually went out and did things. (We usually just rent a Red Box movie and eat Taco Bell or something.)
After eating, we played Mini-Bowling. (5 frames is perfect for a 5 yr. old and a 3 3/4 year old.)
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After Incredible Pizza we went to see "Arthur Christmas". We had such a wonderful day just the 4 of us!
Over this long break we are blessed to be seeing almost all of our family. I have been taking photos of the different groups along the way.
My Parent's: Daniel and Cindee Stockstill (aka: Gigi and Papa Dan)
Christmas has been celebrated with the Stockstill side. I only took photos of my kids opening the gifts I made them, and the gifts they got each other.
After we did Christmas with my family (on the 27th) we celebrated my birthday on our way to the airport (28th).
Currently, we are in Pasadena with JR's family. We haven't done our formal portraits yet because the box Debby mailed on the 22nd is lost in the postal system... delaying our Christmas and photos. :(
We've been playing and relaxing and enjoying each other's company.
We've eaten at In-and-Out Burger... played at the park... enjoyed the 70 degree weather...
All 4 kids sang 3 songs, choral-style, as a surprise for me.
Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Judy, and "Grandma" (Debby) got to show off ALL the kids at various places including Uncle Don's and church.
JR's cousins and aunts and uncles came to visit.
And now, I think we are pretty well caught up. :)
I will do some posts about the kid's schooling, our "plans" for the future, and what the kids are saying these days. And, of course, I'll be blogging about our time here in sunny Southern California.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~Daisha
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