Growing up

Life for Team R*dfern has been so busy.  Some days I am just keeping my head above water and falling asleep faster then you can say "good night".  Honestly though, I am loving every moment, (almost every moment).  I am going to try to post more as I have stopped scrap booking for now, as is there is just no time.  This is the memory book for my children at the moment. Here is an update on the kids.

Tasja-22 (turns 23 on April 16th).  She got engaged a couple months ago to a wonderful young man named Brandon who truly loves the Lord.  He works nights right now but is trying to get on as a full time youth pastor.  The wedding is set for May 4th.  We had a bridal shower for her at our local grange.  I am so happy at how it turned out and hope to post pictures soon.  Her colors are yellow and gray and I tried to decorate for those colors.  She got transferred from her nursing job back up to our area.  She was living with an older couple from church about 2 hours away as that is where she got her job.

Wyatt-15.  Still is loving basketball.  He played the Y team after his school team was done, but I honestly think it was more of a joke.  For high school it seems it is the kids that couldn't make the team ??  Maybe I am wrong, but just how it came across to Torey, Wyatt and I.  He has his drivers permit and is starting drivers education.   He is keeping his grades at A's which will come in handy for scholarships.  He is thinking of going into some kind of politics and owning his own business.

Emmet-11.  In the 6th grade this year.    He has struggled this year with friends.  Although we send our children to a christian school, it does not mean everyone is saved or living for Christ.  He has to make some choices about friends and his walk with G*d.  Torey and I have been in much prayer over him and prayerfully Emmet is choosing to walk with Him, even when its not easy.  Proud of him.

Phoebe-10.  In 5th grade and is growing up so quickly.   She is still playing the violin and been doing open gym basketball with Emmets on Mondays.  Although it has made her quite sore at times, she has kept it up.  She is our little susie homemaker and loves to cook and do dishes.

Charis-10.  In 4th grade and doing quite well.  We are still struggling with health issues and just recently found out she is allergic to wheat, dairy, egg whites and rye.  This is a struggle for me at times to cook, but we are finding some ideas.  This is difficult for Charis as she loves these foods.  We are going to go without them for a month then add one of these items back in ,to see how her body does with it.  It was a blood test that determined these allergies and have heard they can give false positives.  Insurance will not pay for a scratch test.

Zeke-6.  In kindergarten.  Zeke got a helping arm made for him from Shriners.  He is getting used to it but it is quite heavy as it needs an elbow joint.  A lot bulkier than Charis' ever was.  He is learning lots in school and has beautiful hand writing.   He is still learning about family and being his own person.  He has been home over 2 years but sometimes still struggles.  Its so sad how not having love and a family can create the deepest wounds, even in the very young.  We just love this little guy so much and our honored to be his family.

Molly Mei-6.  In kindergarten.  MM, as we call her is doing well also in school.  She still struggles with sitting still.  She is constantly wiggling all the time.  We bought her a wiggle seat and it helped a little.  She has had constant ear issues.  She has what they thought was a yeast issue in her ear, but now they are thinking its exema in there.  They put ginger violet in her ear about once  a month.  It can not get wet or her ear will start hurting and stinking.  We use ear plugs, blow dry her ears after every bath, put lotrimin also.  Hoping something works soon.  She has another eye appointment soon and were hoping that goes well and the strabismus still under control. We also see Dr. Kuang this coming friday.  They are scoping her again and we are praying they can get some results.  We did this over a year ago and it was absolutely awful!!  MM did amazing but her nose passage was so small she bled for a week afterwards.  Not fun.  We will also find out if another surgery is in the near future.

Torey and Me-Old-(just kidding).  Torey has been working out of town through the week.  This has left me to work full time, get a daughter married, take care of our kiddos, house, etc.  We live 25 minutes from work, school and town.  Making for a lot of driving.  For instance today ( my only morning off) I have to clean from 11:30-12. Get kids at noon. Wyatt has viola from 12-1:30pm.  Emmet and Phoebe have basketball from 12:30-2:30.  Wyatt has to be at drivers ed from 3:30-6:30pm and then basketball from 7-8:30pm.  I am deciding if I hang out in town with all the kids or go home for 20 minutes to turn around and drive back.  And when you drive a bigger rig to seat all your kids, gas is not cheap.  It is days like this where I want to live in town, but Torey loves this generational property.
Thats about it for now.   Just trying to grow closer to my G*d and seeking Him for decisions we have coming up in our lives.