LIFE & LESSONS LEARNED

  Dear Caleb, You are a high schooler. In one year, you have grown 3 and a quarter inches and gained 10 pounds. You may still be small, but you are taller and stronger than you were a year ago. This year--they finally passed the homeschool sport bill, and you were able to play for the local HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM. You worked hard all summer and were excited to finish the year having become a freshman letterman, played good varsity minutes, and join the team in BECKLEY for an exciting championship win! What a fun first year marked with quite an exciting end in the middle of a crazy pandemic and what seemed like a possible no go season! We were so excited to get to celebrate with you. What a miracle that God opened the door for you, and that COVID remained at bay--a special season and memory-- I hope you never forget that. School has been tougher this year with some tough classes, more responsibility and initiative required, but you are rising to the occasion. Re...

  Dear Jack, A teenager! 13! I hate to say this, but homeschooler or not--you are a weirdo! I think of Gonzo from the Muppets and that crazy Animal from behind the drums, and you are like a combination of those guys. Weird and crazy and funny. You are surely one of a kind, Jack Young.  This year has been a very odd year. You finished winter by playing basketball with Jennifer on her West Basketball team. You all finished champions of your league and a great way to finish the season. A week later we headed to the beach to visit Maw Maw Sandy in Florida and that really felt like the end of our normal year which was never really normal anyway because so much had changed in our family after losing Dan last year. However, we came back and hosted one youth event and then COVID happened. The church quit meeting, the schools let out--we barely got testing in-THESIS came to a screeching halt and ended for the year, soccer never started and then a strange spring turned into a strange su...

Wow. Living out history. As the kids and I spend year after year reading through some of the best history books and lessons of our world through all of time--we are always amazed at some of the CRAZY things that have happened and I'll often say out loud..." Can you imagine living through something like that?" Maybe a war, walking with Jesus on earth and witnessing his persecution, the GREAT DEPRESSION, Pearl Harbor, Nazi times, Civil War, the Pilgrim ships, missionary stories, or even when diseases literally leveled the world's population.  Yet, for us we have grown up in fairly easy times. My dad told me a few weeks ago he remembers polio in the 1950's paralyzing people he knew and seeing SOS written in the sky in smoke above his house to get their vaccinations. His mom remembers how terrifying that disease was. My other grandma told me she remembers taking a job as a 16 year old making spark plugs in a factory for the war planes, and when they heard that W...

The Pandemic Quarantine--came right on the heels of a most excellent Florida vacation for our family. We enjoyed swimming, beaching, golfing, eating out, resting, walking and just getting away from the norm. It really wasn't until the last day that I started to worry a little about all that was going on around the nation.  Literally days after we got home--we were quarantined! And now, after over a month-we are all doing fairly well. Yet, we've all handled the quarantine differently. It's been fun to observe these pandemic personalities. Caleb is our most social, outgoing, extroverted kid. After a week--he cried at dinner one night saying his low of this quarantine is missing people and sports/activities. Friends, family--even strangers. Yet, he also is one of our most positive kids--and has found many positives--including time with family, movies, learning more about virtual connection, taking time for hobbies etc. What we have learned (and probably already knew): ...

Dear Blog, I've missed you. It seems I've wanted to catch up for so long, yet you know how it is--that awkward first conversation that takes too long, so you keep putting it off. Like talking to your college roommate after 20 years! Although, for us it hasn't been THAT LONG, I felt I would have to start back almost two years ago--with our school curriculums for those years, or school pictures, or lessons learned, or freelance articles published, or photos of vacations, first day of school or last days of school, or sad seasons or anniversaries and heartbreaks--some for seasons and some forever. I'd have to tell you all the things we've lost, and yet all the things we have gained. I'd have to tell you about the things that have changed and the things that have not. And how could we not talk about the Global Pandemic, or big upcoming challenges or new found friendships? I think I would cry, and laugh and maybe wonder if you even noticed I was gone. I love ...

Dear Caleb, You are such a special person. My new favorite thing is to watch you interact with others when you don’t know I’m watching. Sometimes I am disappointed by a sharp jab or tease with your siblings, but by in large I am blessed to see you on the steps of the gym—not getting jostled when someone steals your shoes. Just laughing and keeping an eye on them, knowing eventually your cool temper will calm the situation. I also notice how you talk to your friends and cousins in the car. Often asking lots of questions and getting them to share their opinions or interests. You do such a great job make sure others feel noticed, loved and appreciated. You go looking for people at church to find out of they could use an extra hand. I am stopped often by a mother or volunteer to let me know what a great young man you are, and something that you have done that has been a blessing to them. I see how little kids flock to you and you focus on them as if they are the only ones arou...