This mama has been so neglectful of this blog! My hundreds of followers must be lost in despair over my absence. Be hopeless no more, I'm back!
Life has been so busy since Karis arrived. First, we were busy adjusting to our new life as a family of six. Then we were busy adjusting to life with a working-outside-the-home mama.Then there was Luke's birthday (he's SIX!), Thanksgiving, Christmas, our weekly home group, John's 60th birthday party and Adalyn's birthday (she's TWO!).
In the midst of all of that, Luke has been continuing his homeschooling; mainly focusing on phonics, writing and math. For his writing practice, Luke has starting writing and mailing letters to various people. We've all really enjoyed this practice, as writing letters is quickly becoming a lost art. Luke is doing amazingly well learning to read. We're using the book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." Dan and I have made a deal with him, promising that when he finishes learning to read, we will take him out to a restaurant for a burger (grass-fed beef;), sweet potato fries and a shake. He's really excited!
Luke and Ellie have joined the Kids Choir at church. They go every Sunday evening to rehearse, and they will have a concert in March. They sing the songs
incessantly so enthusiastically! They will have no problem memorizing all the words! They're also going to AWANA on Wednesday nights. We are so thankful for the positive influences they have in their lives at church and the strong emphasis on scripture memorization at both of these activities. They are also doing gymnastics again at the Vinyard...busy, busy, busy!
Adalyn has started saying a lot more words since I last posted. She'll try to say just about anything you ask her to. Although, with the exception of thank-you, bye-bye, and combining words with "please" ("milk please"), she has difficulty combining words and saying words that have more than one syllable. Sometimes it's hard to tell if she's struggling, or is just little lazy. I think it might be a little bit of both.
Karis is doing so well! She is our best sleeper yet!! That has been such a great blessing, since I had to return to work at 8 weeks postpartum. By 7 weeks old, she was sleeping 8-9 hours straight! Now she sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours. She's been healthy, which we are so thankful for. She has a bit of a flat spot on the back of her head, so I've been trying to position her differently and keep her off her head (lots of tummy time!)...hopefully we can avoid any other type of therapy.
Life is very busy and full, and we are incredibly blessed. It's definitely a blessed kind of busy. We are anticipating some changes in the near future which need prayer. We have been praying about and discussing Dan staying home to homeschool the children and me going to work full-time. I have a heavy heart as I want to do what pleases the Lord and brings peace into our home and family. Between homeschooling, having 4 children and the possibility of me working full-time, we are definitely not fitting the world's standard for what is "normal" or reasonable. But if the world thinks we're weird, than maybe we're doing it right! :)
