This is a fun little blog post that I like to occasionally write that gives a little update on 3 things for each member of our family. It’s a fun way to kind of keep caught up on the highlights of our family.
Theo
- Theo is made to live/work on a homestead. He LOVES his days off that he gets to spend chopping wood, setting up pig paddocks, and taking care of the animals. He has a harder work ethic than anyone I know, but it’s also so fun to see him have a creative outlet.
- For as good as homestead work is going, his actually career has been a lot more of a struggle. The city that he works for is very unsupportive of law enforcement, and the general population that he interacts with hates police officers and makes that well known. He deals daily with being spit at, insulted and threatened on a daily basis. He feels his hands are tied in policing and it’s been a whole mess out there with proactive vs. reactive policing (right now he feels he isn’t ALLOWED to be proactive, so it’s all reactive- which is dangerous and not helpful to the city at all). It’s no wonder so many other officers have quit the job, which just leaves the officers who have stuck around SO understaffed. No matter how you look at it, it is discouraging and not going well.
- The last few months have been a challenge in family spiritual life. Throughout the spring, we chose to leave the church that we had been attending for 11 years. It was the right choice, but it was a hard one. One good thing that has come out of this major transition is that Theo has stepped up in major ways to lead our family spiritually, to pray and examine Scripture in new ways, and to be diligent and faithful in his own walk with the Lord. I’m really, really proud of the man I’ve seen come out of this trial.
Suzanne
- I am now in my third trimester of pregnancy! It has been by far my most difficult pregnancy and my body feels it every single day. I am grateful that the Lord saw fit to make me a mother four times over, but I would be lying if I said I am not counting down to my due date!
- I still LOVE teaching first grade, but this year has been a challenge! I have a very large class, and 15 of my students are boys. I honestly don’t mind having so many boys, but they do require a lot of energy, which is unfortunately something I’ve been lacking lately (see #1 above ha).
- I’m enjoying living on the homestead and fully noticing all the seasons now. In the past two years, I have been doing a much better job of embracing the seasons and learning to establish family rhythms that work better with each season. It’s fun living on a homestead and knowing that I have to adjust some family rhythms around the animal chores and what time I know that they need to be done. I am also enjoying trying to source good, healthy animal food for our animals. It’s like a whole new challenge that I did not have on my plate one year ago!
Tera
- Tera is thriving in 3rd grade! She has a chapter book in hand most of the time and frequently gets in trouble for reading too much- as in, she isn’t getting the things done that she needs to be getting done because her nose is in a book. I guess she comes by that honestly.
- This year Tera asked to join the cheerleading squad at school, and we (reluctantly) agreed. It is a time commitment, and Theo honestly struggled with the idea of having a girl who is into cheerleading (he doesn’t like the cheerleading stereotype). She has only had a few practices, but she loves it so far and I like how it is making her work hard and come out of her bookworm shell a little bit.
- Tera loves reading about animals, but is actually our kid who spends the least amount of time outside with the actual animals. She is, however, a huge help with any inside chores, cooking, and keeping the wood burning stove fire going.
Kiah
- Kiah is half way through Kindergarten and it’s really fun to see things start clicking in his brain. When he recognizes a sight word that he has learned in class, we all get so excited! He is an excellently behaved kiddo at school and then saves all his energy and outbursts for at home with his siblings.
- Kiah could probably run our entire homestead by himself. He is always out doing the chores with Theo and has his Dad’s very hard work ethic. The cold mornings don’t seem to bother him, and he has mastered showing the rooster who is dominant (it took a few days where the rooster was pushing his luck, but Kiah showed his dominance!).
- Kiah finally sleeps in some morning. And by “sleep in” I mean he wakes up after 7. For a kid who has spent the first 6 years of his life waking up around 6am, I’ll take it. I’m telling you…he is made to be a farmer and is such a morning person. He is also my most adventurous eater and also always eats the most.
Ezra
- Ezra is in a preschool class and he really enjoys it! He loves his teacher and some of his classmates, but chooses a select few to love and has no interest in interacting with anyone else. He’s very , very loyal to his people.
- This kid has the absolute best facial expressions. You know EXACTLY what he is thinking and he’s SO FUNNY on top of all that.
- Ezra loves to clean, sweep, wipe and do other tasks around the house. He’s especially great at crushing the egg shells (to put in the chicken and dog feed). He has an ornery streak a mile wide, and I have to pray daily for the strength to raise this kid, but I suspect that as he grows and develops his strong will, it will be used in mighty ways.
Baby O
- Baby O is 27 weeks now- officially entering into the 3rd trimester! He is moving and punching and everyone in the family has been able to feel the kicks and rolls from the outside. He is the size of a cabbage and probably weighs around 2 pounds. Apparently, my womb itself is now the size of a basketball!
- Baby O’s name will start with an O, but beyond that he doesn’t actually have a name yet. Haha. We have 2 or 3 top contenders, and we do have a middle name, but no official name yet.
- Baby O is going to be very well loved and cared for, but I totally dropped the ball and got rid of ALL our baby stuff after Ezra. I don’t know why I did that, because I fully knew we were not done having kids. I think it’s because we moved 5 times and I was so over moving high chairs, baby clothes, etc- so I just donated or gifted all of them- and now I have NOTHING and it’s stressing me out!
So that is a little update on how things are going with each of us!