“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
A Christmas Letter :)
Feels weird to be writing this letter already, we have no tree, no lights up, no decorations at all. It is December but when you live with the Grinch, I mean Josh, things happen a bit later in December then most households. (Since I wrote this letter we've gotten a Tree, decorated the house and done some baking :)
Well we've had another crazy year. We sure keep busy around here. Here are some highlights to the kids year.
*Jed finished Grade 1 at home and made the honour roll for all 3 terms :) He started Grade 2 this fall. He's out of his class in reading ( We are going to test after the new year and see where he stands, but his teacher believes grade 3 or 4 level.) and is half done his years paces for grade 2 already. His fathers child in many ways. He is most recently learning to cook and spent an hour looking at online recipes just this morning. He loves games.. at the moment it's chess.
*Levi learned he LOVES to draw and will spend hours each day drawing amazing pictures. He is an amazing fact book on dinosaurs, dragons and many animals. He started grade 1 at home this fall and soaks it in like a sponge. He loves to add but could skip subtraction, writes very neatly and enjoys reading the little stories in the paces.
*Emmaline also started Grade 1, at home, and learned to read with the ACE program. She still battles asthma occasionally but is a much healthier child since her diagnosis. She is one tough little girl. She still walks on her tip toes and enjoys subtraction and reading and dislikes adding.
*Rose was a flower girl in my cousins wedding this fall and did a WONDERFUL job looking as cute as she is :) Her latest cute statements are “Do you like my clothes?” and “Protect the princess!! I'm the princess!!” She insists on 'doing school' and totally loves the two little work books we got her. She has a lot of patience with Jesse and often plays with him while we do school and seems to enjoy mothering him.
*Jesse started walking and talking and generally growing up into a little boy instead of a baby. He is quite a roughneck and loves all things boy. He and Maggie, the cow, seem to have a relationship and he loves all things animal. We are enjoying watching his personality emerge, and wondering at his future.
*Announcing Grace Rebecca Ruth who joined our family on November 18th, at 11pm weighing 8lbs, 4oz and 20m inches long. She is a wonderful baby and everyone loves to hold and cuddle her. She's just what we needed. Praise the Lord!!
As for Josh and I we spent a good chunk of the year battling a herniated disk in Josh's back which is finally on the mend, homeschooling, raising children for the Lord, farming, building and working. Oh and going to school!! Josh is now officially a certified mechanic!!! YAY!!!
Josh's back started acting up while he was in school this spring and got progressively worse until I finally hauled him into the ER as he was in so much pain he didn't even argue with me!! Several weeks later we mostly had our Papa back. He is still on some drugs but is mobile and working and generally normal :) Well... as normal as he gets :)
Our 1st year of homeschooling went very well!! Jed learned a lot and so did I :) Both Levi and Emmaline learned a fair amount considering they weren't actually IN school. This fall we started year 2 and are planning on staying the course. We love it. We would not do it any other way!!
On the farm this year we had a great year. Our sows gave us 17 of the cutest piglets EVER, we put 179 chickens in the freezer, and we even got peas from our patch :) Maggie, the cow, had TONS of grass with the wet weather and we never ran out of grass for her all season! She has now been milking for over a year and is hopefully bred. We paid to have her AI'd to a Jersey bull this fall. The two calves lived the spring to fall in the back leased acreage and at the neighbours (OPPS!) and grew like crazy! They will be ready to butcher next fall and I'm drooling for steak already! We cleared another small area and seeded it to grass. We were super blessed by lots of chicken butchering help, panels from our neighbours and being able to help out a friend who in turn helped us out immensely after Baby Grace was born.
Building!! What a crazy mess. We plastered the 1st coat on to our straw bale addition late this summer. 17 wheel barrows of plaster finished the 1st coat and equals about 17 man hours of plastering! We still have two coats to do. The second coat is mixed and waiting for Josh's back to heal and some free time. HA free time, what a contradiction in terms! :) Josh also got the addition plumbed and winter ready and completely wired with lights in the right places. I got a brand new HUGE washing machine which cuts my laundry days in half. We also replaced the hot water tank, so the only appliance we have not replaced with new ones in the last 5 years is the dryer and we really try not to use it at all.
Josh finished his apprenticeship this summer and swore in for his Canadian citizenship so now he is a certified US/Canadian mechanic and still loving it!! He still works at Valley Diesel with the same great guys. He has now completed 2 apprenticeships and garnered a college diploma!! What an amazing man I married!
The kids are growing, learning about God, work and some schooling too. We keep busy answering questions, finding answers and learning more and more about the children God gave us. At 7, 6, 5, 3,1 and 2 weeks old we find we are always learning something. It's amazing.
I keep busy with homeschooling, farming, blogging, reading and keeping all our ducks in a row while taking time to play with my new iPad2 Josh surprised me with this fall. We have now gently entered the high tech world. We still don't have a cell phone yet but I can't imagine it will be too long before that happens.
Josh and I passed our 12 year anniversary this fall and in August I passed a momentous moment in life.. I've now officially known Josh half my life! What a wonderful God we serve.
Merry Christmas to you all!! Remember JESUS is the reason we celebrate this fun season!
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
Merry CHRISTmas From
The Griggs Family.
