All posts by KME

Family, Grandparents

Christmas with Mamie

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It is such an incredible blessing to spend time with my mom. She is beautiful, godly and a true servant. The joy, however, is always tinged with the sadness of missing my dad. This is the second Christmas without him and time has not diminished the ache of our loss. If anything, I think I miss him even more as the realization that he really and truly isn’t coming back hits me. The family picture is NOT complete without Grandad.

Such a blessing to have everyone gathered together for Christmas – we miss Grandad!

There are more things I wanted to discuss with him. There are projects around the house I had hoped he would do with Daniel and David. I wanted him to see how well Joshua is doing at college and marvel over Rachel’s new car and shake his head at how much we love our cat. I wanted to watch him hug the kids and listen to them talk about their friends and school and the books they are reading. I wanted to see him hold Mom’s hand and sing enthusiastically (off key of course) to the Christmas carols at church and watch Christmas movies with us.

We love Mamie!

It is a sweet comfort to know we will see each other again. I hold tightly to the truth that death does not part forever those who love Jesus and follow Him. And I am thankful beyond measure that I had such a godly, wise, loving earthly father and that my children had close, tender relationships with their grandfather.

Mamie and her oldest grandson.

In the meantime, as we wait for heaven or Christ’s return, I am holding tight to the gift of this time with Mamie. What an honor that she comes and spends weeks with us. It is worth the effort of shuffling kids around and sharing the space. She brings such a light and joy to our family times. Even her tears are a reminder of God’s love and His design for marriage – she grieves deeply because she loved wholeheartedly. I hope that I will be as closely bound to Tim in our marriage.

A restful moment at The Refuge!

The children love her (even if she says Grandad was the “fun one”). She is always ready for a game or an outing or a story. She is faithful and steady and gifted us with her service (she must have washed dozens of loads of laundry while she was here) and finances (paying for groceries and dinners out).

Laughter and joy – a silly moment.

Our last official outing – pedicures for the girls!

We love you, Mamie! Thank you for traveling to Washington to be with us. Thank you for loving my children and my friends. Thank you for pedicures and dinners and laundry and groceries. Thank you for tissues and cold medicine and wise council. Thank you for Christmas presents and little treats and clean dishes and helping me prepare many, many salads. It was NOT long enough! Please come back soon!!

Kathy

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Holidays

New Year’s Eve Party

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Rachel and Sarah decorated the whiteboard.

Love chalkboard markers – decorate the pantry door.

I posted all sorts of pictures on Facebook from our (infamous?) New Year’s Eve party, but Joshua isn’t on FB these days and he sweetly asked/begged/entreated that we start blogging again.

It was wonderful having Timothy and Joshua home for Christmas

It’s 2013 and I would love to begin blogging again. Spending Christmas with Mamie (my mom) and Joshua (home from college) made me realize how precious it is to capture some of the big and little events of our lives and share them.

Time for some Mexican Train!

For the past several years we’ve hosted an open house style New Year’s Eve party. We invite friends, make lots of food, clean like crazy, set out games and then enjoy the hours until midnight. This year was no different. The guest list grew and grew until I was both worried I had forgotten someone important/special and concerned that our house wouldn’t hold everyone.

One of the best things about the party was having all the kids/teens/college students gathered around playing games and laughing.

Thankfully teenagers are willing to crowd in on the couches and also sit on the floor, and little ones are happy to run around in the garage (cleaned and organized and stocked with Nerf guns and Wii games). There was plenty of food, laughter and games. I think we had games going in several rooms of the house and food spread over the kitchen table and counter tops.

Daniel and Mamie made a delicious Bûche de Noël for the party.

The men hid upstairs in their own game room.

Ahhh, it was a lovely party. We were delighted to have the King family visiting from Germany. And one of the best moments was when some guests (love you, Debbie and Tung) arrived AFTER midnight. We gleefully (loudly) counted down the New Year AGAIN. We talked, laughed, and ate our way well into 2013.

Robert (here from Germany) and Katie.

Time for a hug – Allison, Heather and Hannah

Ringing in the new year!

Grace helped with the countdown.

This year I stole an idea from Pinterest for a New Year’s Eve balloon countdown. We filled 13 balloons with little pieces of paper and marked the balloons with a time (from 6pm to 12:00) and taped them around the house. At each half an hour we popped a balloon and followed the instructions written on the paper.

Some of the activities:
1) Gather in the kitchen and sing “O Come All Ye Faithful”
2) Tell one thing you are thankful for
3) Hand out a mini candy cane to all the children
4) Share a goal for 2013
5) Stop and pray for LC3 (our church)

I LOVED this idea and am definitely including it in our New Year’s Eve traditions. Next time I will be more careful in planning the timing of the different instructions and I will throw in some more silly ones for the kids.

Sarah, Lizzie, Ceara, Hannah, Emma, Julia and Tarah pose for a picture.

Several years ago we had so much food leftover we had a New Year’s party AFTER the New Year’s Eve party. One night of games and friends just wasn’t enough. Another year Joshua was leaving for a trip to Africa and we had to move our celebration back a bit.

Sarah, Jenny, Allison, Rachel and Heather – beautiful on the inside and out.

Who knows what 2013 will hold.

Happy New Year!

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Homeschooling, Kathy

Yearbook Thank You’s

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Our homeschool co-op is drawing to a close – the final Friday school day falls in the last week of April and graduation will be in the beginning of May. We have been very blessed to be a part of H.O.P.E. co-op. The children have taken an incredibly varied and interesting collection of classes over the years, and I’ve taught a fun assortment of classes. We have all made dear friends and been stretched in different ways.

This is my second year being the primary director/teacher/coordinator of the Yearbook class. It is a fun/challenging/exhausting/time-consuming responsibility.

Most Fridays you can find me sitting at one of the many laptops we use for Yearbook – editing, helping kids with their pages, or frantically trying to get as much done as I can before the co-op day ends. Either that or I’m moving through the halls – taking pictures myself or instructing the students to snap shots.

Meranda (our amazing photographer) shows me a few things in Lightroom.

This week, however, is CRUNCH TIME!! We don’t have co-op as it’s Good Friday and the yearbook final copy is due at the printers by Monday morning. Gulp. I’m praying we managed to get all the pictures and class info, because There’s. No. Time. Left…

Thankfully I have an amazing team of people working with me in Yearbook. Meranda took all our class photos this year. She’s a wonderful photographer and our yearbook will be excellent in part because of her. Our co-op president has been a huge support to our work. Melissa manages to somehow oversee the process yet still give us total freedom and creative license. She is also readily available for editing and design help.

Thank you, Meranda and Melissa!!

Krystal, however, has been my absolute lifesaver! I truly could not have done my job this year without her. She has been organized and creative when my mind was blank and my life crazy. She is faithful, steady and non-complaining. Every week she hauls an extra table to co-op so we have enough room for our laptops and folders. When I say, “Let’s meet this week and go through the picture files and folders.” She always responds with a willing, “Sure. When?” Last week we met at 7 am for an hour of editing BEFORE school. And then she came back (both times bringing her two children with her) later in the afternoon to do further work. She let’s me instruct and direct the project without any fussing or complaint. She encourages me and almost always ends our time with the question, “How can I help you, Kathy?” I couldn’t begin to pay her for all her time and help.

Thank you, Krystal, from the bottom of my heart!

This is pretty much where we'll be all week until the work is done!

We have done our best to be organized, efficient and creative in the Yearbook class this year. We made some changes and tried to add in some helpful structure. We are praying that the yearbook will turn out beautiful and be a sweet memory for the H.O.P.E. families for the 2011-2012 year.

Kathy

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Daily Life, David, Rachel, Sarah

Documented Day

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Tim is constantly hounding me to take photos during the day.

“Did you take any pictures today, Kath?” He’ll say as he settles into his cozy computer chair, swiveling to glance in my direction. “You know I can’t really blog without pictures – I need some inspiration.”

“Um….” At that point my mind usually traces back through my typical day.

Empty dishwasher – check
Load dishes – check
Make breakfast for kiddos – check
Wash dishes – check
Encourage random child to help in the kitchen – check
Empty dryer, transfer load to dryer, start fresh load of laundry – check and triple check
Make sure assorted teenagers are logged on and attending their online classes – check
Print out and grade math homework – check
Encourage/nag someone to practice the piano (preferably one of the children who is actually taking lessons) – check
Tell another child to start their (fill in the blank – math, English, Spanish, French, table work, etc) – check
Answer random texts and FB messages – check
Start reading Bible, history, literature, science w/the younger kiddos – check

The rest of day fades into a hazy blur.

“No, I totally forgot to take any pictures.”

“Wait, didn’t you go for a walk, meet with friends and have a play date?”

“Yes.”

“No pictures?”

“Nope. Sorry.”

At this point I’m usually falling asleep at the table, glad that the busy, full, blessed day is ALMOST OVER. Tim sighs like the martyr he is, turns back around and comes up with some witty, clever blog (without my inspiring photos).

Today I remembered! And I’m stealing the opportunity to blog a few highlights of the day.

An impromptu tea party for David and Sarah

Rachel picked out some sparkling water drinks for the kids yesterday. David and Sarah decided that was all the excuse they needed for a tea party. They love this little set of tea cups and coasters a friend gave to us. I was editing yearbook/co-op files, and the next thing I knew they were all set up in the living room with water and pretzels (not the fanciest of tea party fare) waiting for me to come and read to them.

Nothing like some pretzels to make a monster out of a nice guy.

Would you like some tea with your pretzels, David?

Later in the day I concocted some weird smoothies. I forgot to take a picture of mine, but it was basically:

Decaf coffee and almond milk (frozen in an ice cube tray)
A tbs each of cacao nibs, almond butter, and chia seeds.

Actually surprisingly good.

Knowing the kids always clamor for tastes of my smoothie, I quickly fashioned up a fun treat for them. This one was definitely more sweet than healthy.

Just what is in that smoothie???

Vanilla Eggnog Smoothie:

A box of vanilla pudding
Coconut milk
1% milk
Eggnog syrup
Chia seeds
Ice.

Blend away. Fun – definitely different.

Rachel holds up a sample glass of our eggnog smoothie.

I almost threw in some spinach at the last minute, but I didn’t think the kids would go for a spinach/vanilla/eggnog smoothie.

Maybe next time.

Thanks for the encouragement to take pictures, Tim!

Kathy

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Daily Life, Rachel

Everyone Grab a Kitty

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Rachel loves her kittens and works hard taking care of them. I found an old blog she wrote from 2009 pleading with the reader to vote in her favor for a kitten rescue. Oh, my, but the pictures were adorable. It took her three more years to convince the rest of her reluctant family (okay parents) to bring a cat into the home. I have to say Rachel definitely lives out the verse Proverbs 12:10a; “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal…”

Her one weakness?

Sharing.

I hate to say this on a public forum, but Rachel is not a good kitty sharer. Yep, she’s a little over protective and watchful of the two felines who reside in our home.

Thankfully she knows how to share with those who prove themselves worthy.

Jenny loves these kittens ALMOST as much as Rachel does.

Jenny (and her sister Sarah) were with us when we picked out Miri and Misty so it’s only fitting that Jenny has “kitty rights.”

Do kittens have aunts?

Kathy

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