Seasons Greetings!!!
I'm sorry to post our Christmas newsletter here instead of mailing it out to everyone. The last 6 weeks have been crazy busy with events and sicknesses. I ran out of time to do everything I wanted to do before Christmas and it was either post it here or not do one at all. So I figured that here was better than the alternative. But if you read to the end, I promise to make up for it!
It has been another busy year for us. This year has been
full of new things. The boys have explored new sports and are reaching new
levels with their musical abilities, we've learned how to get to more new
places locally and are needing to use the GPS less often, the kids have learned
many new skills, Nikki was licensed to teach a new fitness class, Hannah is a
new reader, and John managed his very own field for the first time (while still
working for his grandfather). We've grown new types of vegetables and tried out
many new recipes with them. We have made new traditions to replace old ones
that can no longer be continued. We are learning to grow new roots and to
flourish where we have been planted.
It's also been a year full of treasured visits. We have been
so blessed to host many loved ones in our new home. We have been able to spend
time with many members of John's family, my (Nikki) parents, three sets of very
close friends that we have known since Luke was a baby (or before), John's
cousin and his family, and even the evangelist who performed our wedding
ceremony. Visits with beloved friends and family are so special and we treasure
each one.
My children are growing up too quickly! Luke is 10.5 now and
in the 5th grade. He is studying guitar under his daddy's guidance and is doing
really well. He has played and sang in a local nursing home and just this
morning he led our church in singing Silent Night while he played his guitar.
Talk about a proud mama moment! He is also a part of our homeschool group's
children's choir. He was a Classical Conversations memory master again this past
spring. Nathanael was also a memory master this past school year. He is now 9
and in the 4th grade. He is still taking piano lessons and is also doing very
well. He is also a part of the homeschool choir. Luke and Nathanael have learned some basic
cooking skills as well as how to make a few easy meals and they have been a
big blessing to me in the kitchen. Micah will turn 8 next month and is now in the 2nd grade. He has had some
struggles with schoolwork, but the Lord is always faithful to show me how to
help him and now he is doing much better. Micah is also taking piano and is a part
of the choir. He is transitioning from being a little boy to a big boy and is
learning how to have his own ideas (instead of just following his brothers) and
how to do things his own way. My guys are totally addicted to Lego Technics.
These special Legos have gears, remotes & receivers, moving parts, and
power functions. They have amazed me with some of the creations they come up
with. I think we have some little engineers on our hands. Nathanael especially
is really good at building vehicles that really drive (without using
instructions). He really enjoys making them realistic and including moving
pistons. The boys started expressing an interest in sports this year . Luke and
Nathanael have been on swim teams before, but other than that the boys really
haven't cared much about sports thus far. Nathanael and Micah decided to play baseball this spring and both boys really enjoyed it and are looking forward to
playing again next spring. All three boys have fallen in love with basketball
this fall. I have been managing five practices and two to four games a week
between the three of them in addition to our music lessons, my Zumba classes, and our other activities. It's been crazy,
but I don't mind since they are having such a good time and it's only for a
season. Hannah will be 6 in February and started kindergarten this year. My
baby really isn't a baby at all anymore. She's doing really well in school and
is picking things up very quickly. She's mastered counting to 100 and is
working on learning her addition facts. She is reading one and two vowel words
and starting to learn those special English sounds that don't follow normal
patterns. She is not old enough yet to be in the homeschool choir, but enjoys
practicing with them, since I help out with rehearsals. She is hoping to start
music lessons next year and is requesting to learn to play the violin. She
isn't involved in any sports yet, although I have debated putting her in
gymnastics several times. She is learning to be a kitchen and housework helper
and is pretty good at sweeping and vacuuming when she decides she wants to do
it.
John has had a busy year. He began renting a 140 acre field
from his grandfather and officially became a farmer, and not just farm help. He
does still also work for his grandfather. He grew soybeans this year and will
grow corn next year (they rotate between the two crops). It was a very wet spring
and that caused issues for him (and many other farmers in this area). They were
not able to plant when they wanted to and then after they finally were able to
plant, we got a lot more rain. John's fields were flooded several times and he
lost some of his crop because of it. When you plant late or have to re-plant,
the big concern is whether or not your crops will be ready to harvest before
the first frost. But God is gracious and John was still able to get a decent
crop. He has not sold it yet, as the bean prices are lower than he'd like, so
pray the prices will rise before he has to sell. I mentioned in the last
newsletter that he has taken up deer hunting. We were able to save a lot of
money with the meat he got last year, and we discovered that the venison here
is tasty. So he has a goal of three deer this hunting season.
As I mentioned earlier, I got a new fitness license this
year and I am now licensed to teach Zumba Gold, in addition to regular Zumba
and Zumba kids. This is a special kind of Zumba class that is geared towards
seniors and beginners. It's low impact and not as fast paced as regular Zumba.
It's been well received at my gym and I will start teaching a regular class
when the new year starts. This will make a total of three classes per week that
I'll be teaching at the Y. Next on my list will be Aqua Zumba, which is Zumba
in the pool! It's being requested at my Y and I am the only Zumba instructor
there. With the addition of Hannah to our school day, homeschooling became more
challenging for me. I really struggled at first to learn to how to balance my
time in order to make sure everyone got what they needed from me. Thankfully,
we are in a good routine now and things are going much smoother. We know that
this is what God wants for our children, and He has been faithful to help me
time after time when I don't think I can do it or don't know how to address a
problem. I could not do this without Him. I started facilitating a women's
group for the first time. There are
three other ladies from my church in my group. We are doing a year long program
called The 7th Year (www.the7thyear.com) and it's been going well. I have been
experiencing some very unpleasant and painful gastrointestinal issues since
last November. I wound up having to do an elimination diet and it seems to be
just what I needed. It's really hard to stick to, but I am having really good
results. It appears I can no longer tolerate gluten and can only handle limited
amounts of dairy. My kids had to remove dairy and gluten from their diets years
ago, but I had been able to eat those things until recently. I miss soft bread,
but eating gluten is not worth experiencing the pain I was having.
Our family was able to take a vacation to Branson, MO in
early September. We were able to take the kids to the Sight and Sound Theatre
there to see Jonah. I had asked to go
see it as a family for my birthday/anniversary/Mother's Day present. (Those three special days are all within a month's time for me.) It was
their first musical and they absolutely loved it and are begging to go back
next year to see Moses. We did miss
our traditional trip to the beaches in North Carolina with our friends, but we
did have a great time in Branson and would go back again. There is a lot to do
there and not all of it costs money. We were also able to take a camping trip
in NE over the 4th of July weekend. During the summer months, John was able to
incorporate the boys into some of his farming. Due to all the rain this year,
there were lots of weeds to deal with. John and the boys went out on several
occasions to weed in the bean field. He paid them for their work, so they were
quite excited for a chance to be with dad and earn money at the same time. They
also helped with many of the garden chores this year and enjoyed taking turns
riding in the combine with dad during harvest time. They are getting to the
point now where they are actually helpful (in many different areas) instead of
just needing to be trained all the time. This is a new stage for us and
although I miss their baby days, this is a fun stage too. Currently, we are seeking
the Lord concerning providing foster care for young children. It's something we
are wanting to pursue as a way to serve others as a family and love on little
ones. But we want to be in God's will concerning the timing and details. So you
can pray for wisdom and direction for us in that.
That about sums it up for us for the year. If this is your
first visit to my blog, you can go back through old posts to hear about some
other happenings in our lives and also to see photos from our year. I haven't posted photos from our vacation yet, but I will be doing that soon. You can subscribe
to my blog on the right side of this page by entering your email address. You
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John has been having harmony practices with the boys and we've been trying to teach them how to sing well and how to blend. We still have a lot of work to do in that area, but I wanted to share with you the results of some of that practicing. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas --Wilcox style! This is something I could not have shared with you in a regular newsletter. :)
