CHRISTMAS BELLS ARE RINGING

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! We love this season when we all celebrate the birth of our Savior and reflect on events of the past year. We love you all and miss you. We hope you are happy and well.

Our kids are growing up and I continue to be amazed at how old they are getting. Porter turns seven tomorrow and Marshal is almost ten. Hannah will be four in two months and Emily is two. We are so blessed to be their parents.

We still live in our little white farmhouse and are slowly but surely becoming farmers? Who would have known. To date we have 28 chickens(although seven roosters are set to be turned into dinner tomorrow), two dogs, one cat, and plans to buy a milking cow this year(if we can find the right one for the right price).

Tyler continues to design Emergency Vehicles, but his real passion is farming and building Timber Frame homes/barns/buildings etc. I have been taking a children's writing course which I love and am working toward publishing articles and a book.

This year we also decided to home-school our kids and it has been such a positive experience for us all. The kids have learned so much, they have made great friends from co-op's we are involved in, they are much better friends with each other, and I have discovered that I really love to teach.

I think our favorite subject is History (we are studying ancient history this year), We've read lots of books-some favorites were: Tom Sawyer,The Swiss Family Robinson,Lad a Dog, Pippi Longstocking, Redwall and Moby Dick. And of course we cover all the other subjects too: Reading,phonics,grammar,spelling,math, biology, handwriting,writing,piano and we will start Latin in January.

Since many of you don't get to see the kids for years and years here is a little peek into their interests and personalities

Marshal loves-Dogs,Chickens,Horses, reading, whittling and is dying to get a hunting rifle and a hunting dog( a black mouth cur to be exact). He also enjoys scouts and 4h. He has a lot of self discipline and drive to accomplish his goals. He love playing jokes and laughing too.

Porter loves-Horses and riding them, building anything, math, planting the garden and drawing. He is super funny and genuinely interested in people and helping them. He is really good at doing service and he is very one track minded. He also likes 4h.

Hannah loves-horses and ponies, princesses,coloring, reading, singing and listening to other people sing. She loves all things girl but she can hold her own with the boys too. She looks out for us all and is very loving.

Emily is such a joy to us all. She loves swimming, climbing, jumping on anything, books, music,animal sounds and drums. She amazes us with all she can do and the way she sees the world is so refreshing. She has no fear, can verbalize anything and she has a funny sense of humor.

Finally a little word on the picture- Two of the teachers that work with Emily planned an activity so we could all experience what being blind was like. We had the cool goggles on and then one at a time we drew a paper out of a box. On each paper were household tasks that we needed to accomplish. We snapped a picture when we had all accomplished our tasks successfully.

We hope next year we will be able to give you all real hugs but until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from North Carolina!

The Promised Land

Has it really been so long since I last posted? Time flies from Winter to Summer. So much has happened, but i will spare you all the details. Last week we were in the "Promised Land" pageant in Bath. It was such a great experience for us and the kids. Tyler portrayed a revolutionary war soldier, a pioneer, and Christ. I portrayed a colonial, pioneer, and lamanite woman. The kids were pioneer, colonial or lamanite/nephite children. The practices were long and hot but we all had some amazing spiritual experiences. Like the portrayal of the blind girl being healed by Christ(who was Tyler). Wow, what a tear jerker. Other scences that were especially meaningful were the martrydom of Joseph and Hyrum, and the revolutionary war scene and song. We met new friends, laughed, played and did service together. All the heat was but a small price to pay.
During the same week I had an opportunity to write an article for Eastern Carolina Parents magazine. It was entitled "Home School vs. Public School: How parents can know which choice is right for their family." It will be published for the July issue of the magazine and I will post it as soon as I have a link. I am so excited! I also wrote another piece about Somerset plantation and my teacher loved it. She is currently critiquing my list of magazine markets and I will send it out in about 3 or 4 weeks.
We are all loving summer and can't wait to go to the beach tomorrow. I will post more pictures from that trip,hopefully before next winter:)

For my mom and dad

These pictures are for everybody to see, but especially for my mom and dad and Tylers Mom. Wish you were here to see your cute grandkids growing up. We love and miss you.

P.S. Grandma Joan-Thanks for the jamas!

Snow is falling all around

For two days we have romped, rolled, snow angeled, tubed, snow-manned, and snow balled. After 4 long years it snowed, and we loved it. The anticipation started Monday night as Porter pulled up his blinds and watched. He watched and waited until he fell asleep. Marshal came home from basketball practice cold and hyper-we needed snow so he could spend his energy.

It started after midnight. The wind roared and the snow fell in large beautiful flakes. The kind perfect for playing in-light and fluffy.

Tuesday morning dawned and the kids with it. They raced into our room to tell us it was snowing. "Was this Hannah's first snow storm?" they asked." Can we go out in it now?"

So we abandoned breakfast and pulled down an old box from the attic filled with unused snow gear. Porter grabbed the smallest pair of snow pants and put them on, a full three inches of legs were left exposed. Then he put on "no show" socks and tennis shoes. He was ready to go. Twenty minutes later I had bundled them all up, and covered Porter legs. Of course we had to use belts for the oversized snow pants and tie the gators and retie the gators after they fell down when the began to run. Fortunately we did have gloves for all, in the right sizes, and they proved to be indispensible.

In the morning the focus was on snowballs-"How do you make them so good mom?" they asked. I felt proud of my expertise and taught them my secret snowball making technique. Short minutes later I was pummelled with snowballs in perfect form. We made snow angels and tiny snowmen. Then we got cold and went inside. Steaming cups of hot chocolate and warm cake-of only the healthiest kind was our mid morning snack. Then later we had chips.

Tyler came home at lunch with the best surprise-a huge intertube bought at the local tire store.

We spent the rest of the day sliding down the little hill by our house. Friends came to join us about 3 with boogie boards and an imitation snowboard-which proved to be my demise.

What fun! Of course Wednesday the fun was carried to the lawns of the doctor and the radiologist where restless children and husband,waiting for their mother/wife, built snowmen. "Is your knee broken?" they asked. "I don't know yet," I answered. Two hours and two beautiful snowmen later the doctor made his diagnosis. "The bone isn't broken," he said. "I think you have a torn meniscus."

"You don't work?" he said "Why then go home and stay off your leg for 5-7 days, come back if it doesn't improve and we'll do an MRI." I forgave him his ignorance, and started to pity my poor husband who would have to pick up my slack.

Today the sun is slowly melting our clean white snow and I sit with leg propped. Fortunately I took pictures and we are saving the intertube for 2013 when we will get to enjoy our beautiful snow covered hill again.

And She's OFF!

Today Emily decided she was going to take off walking. She has been cruising and taking about 3 steps at a time for 4-6 weeks, but today she just decided to walk across the room. What a brave girl! Here is a little video we thought you would all enjoy

Lots of other exciting things have taken place this month too. Porter turned six-to my surprise. I can't believe he was only one when we moved here. In the craze of life he has grown, and we stopped to celebrate his birthday. We had a robot party for him, and I am proud to say, he loved it. Tyler brought all of these cool lugs,nuts,bolts and wires( that were scrap from his work) and the kids built their own robots. Everybody had such creative designs.

One other fun thing to share-Marshal was a shepherd on his cub scout troops float. I loved the crisp cold air the day of the parade. We actually got red cheeks and wore coats and gloves. I miss the cold air! Of course since the parade we have been in light jackets and sweaters.

PURGE Prop 8

I have a huge need to purge feelings about proposition 8 so I can move on with my life and since talking with others seems to intensify the feelings rather than helping me move on I've decided to blog a little about my 2 week obsession.

Admissions-
I have read every article written on prop 8 on the latimes,deseret news, lds.org,and on mormontimes.com.
I have read way to many blogposts on the above listed sights
I have felt outrage,surprise,fierce loyalty,sadness, among many other emotions

Certainly I should be sick of the topic if nothing else, but I find myself still pivoted to it. So I ask myself the question WHY?

I think that deep down I feel that this is a hugely pivotal issue in our day and time. I am outraged at the treatment of our brothers and sisters in the gospel across the nation and I am saddened at the members of our own faith who have been blinded by the sophistry of men on this issue. I cherish my faith and testimony above all and the thought that all religious liberties could be in such jeopardy is disheartening. The knowledge that absolute acceptance of the gay lesbian lifestyle in states like Massachusetts and CT has let to radical changes in the education curriculum and parental notification responsibilties is frightening. But perhaps the most alarming signal of how an adoption of genderless marriage could effect religion in america is found in European countries that have already adopted it. Ministers preaching against the gay/lesbian lifestyle have faced imprisonment.


So where to go from here?

I have come to the point of overload and have decided that I have to let go of all of this "information" thus the blog.

I want to express a huge debt of gratitude to all those in CA who worked tirelessly to defend the sanctity of marriage as God wants it. and to those in AZ and FL who also adopted such defense as well.

I am proud to be a Mormon. Proud that our Prophet and First Presidency stand firm for what is right in Gods eyes. I am so heartened by the numerous churches that have stood firm in defending marriage and understand the deep significance of this issue.

I have a testimony of the Proclamation of the Family and know that it was divinely inspired. I know that God knows the consequences on us as individuals, and on our society, if marriage is not protected. I also know and that we will be led through what ever storms will rage as we move forward. So I am now going to excercise faith and hope and move on with my life.

An Election,Halloween,and Puppies

So much has happened since I last blogged. An election, two new puppies, Halloween and lots of thoughts about both. I'll spare you all my election analysis since it is over and we have moved on. I feel optimistic about our new president and am hopeful that he will be a good president. I didn't vote for him, but I am hopeful. I am very happy proposition 8 passed in California and feel grateful to all the people of California who decided to protect marriage-despite personal persecution etc.

As for the puppies- they have been so easy. The boys love them and do practically everything for them. Including clean up and take them out in the mornings. They are the cutest little pups and we are excited to see what they will look like when they grow up. I have had to call Dana(my sister) for puppy training tips and all her advice has worked so far.

And Haloween? We had a Ninja, Optimus Prime, Tinkerbell and a Chicken. We ate candy for a week and were sad to see the last of it go(at least the chocolate).

I absolutely love the cool crisp air and am looking forward to the Holiday Season.