Family Friday: Happy Blogging Anniversary!

Dear Friends and Family,

It's hard to believe that it has been 14 years since I started blogging. I remember my husband telling me that I had enough crazy stuff happening with our sweet little family that I could write a book, so why not start with a blog. It hasn't been a continuous 14 years. There were a few down times in there. But the following post is the first one I wrote that started off my journey. I hope you enjoy!

April 6th, 2005

So to bring everyone up to date...Eight weeks ago we had our fourth and final little girl! She was born on February 4th at 3:39 pm.

We also moved four days after Shelby was born. (Oh, did I mention that I also had surgery? Talk about cramming a lot into one week!) Thankfully, my parents were staying with us. That was a great help and blessing! Anyway, we now have a much larger house with a fenced-in backyard. And we are within a couple minutes of our downtown. The girls and I love taking walking trips downtown to the post office and doing window-shopping. The library is also within walking distance! We are truly blessed to live here!

McKenzie has about two months left of Kindergarten and then she is an official First Grader! She is doing great and we are so proud of her progress. She can read small words, write her own stories, do first-grade math and loves doing Science Experiments. So far, our homeschooling experience has been a great one. I don't know what I would do without the support of my parents or the homeschool group we are in. They are a great source of encouragement.

Jordyn, without me realizing, has been learning right behind McKenzie. I guess that is how it is with the next child down! She is doing great with Preschool stuff and will officially be starting Preschool this Fall. It has been hard on Jordyn to be without her sister for a couple hours a day during school time, but it has helped her to learn how to play on her own better. She is a great helper with Shelby and is enjoying taking care of her. We really appreciate her hard work.

Sierra is 18 months now! She is barely shorter than Jordyn and only a few inches shorter than McKenzie. I think that we have a tall one on our hands! (NOTE: This cracks me up now as Sierra is the shortest of the girls now that they are teenagers!) She has a great sense of humor and is rarely grumpy.....just don't wake her up! She loves our backyard cause she can run and play as much as she wants without mommy worrying. She is our "go!" girl!

So I think that about sums up the kids!

Peter is going to college now and doing it over the internet. He has about 3 1/2 years to go. We feel so blessed to have found this program as he is able to work full-time while going back to college. It is a little stressful sometimes, for me anyway! I try to remind myself that it is easier to do it now while the kids are young than to wait till later.

Me...well...I am still trying to get the house unpacked. I actually only have the office/school room left. The rest of the house is pretty much done. Then I have to head out to the storage shed and go through everything out there cause I KNOW that there is stuff out there that is supposed to be in the house!

Well, hopefully, I can keep this up at least once a week! We will see what happens!


And....that was 14 years ago! Here is a quick update on peeps now:


Peter: Finished college many moons ago and is now living his dream job doing computer programming for a company remotely.


McKenzie: This girl is out of school now and working as a PSW (Personal Support Worker) for a couple families that have special needs kiddos. She really has a talent for working with unique kiddos.


Jordyn: She is now a senior in high school and published her first book on Amazon Kindle back in December 2018. (Here is a link to her book: Ella and the Prince) She has many ideas on what she would like to do after high school but she is prayerfully waiting on the Lord to help her with her decisions.


Sierra: Sierra is a Freshman in high school. She has no desire to get her permit or license yet. However, she enjoys volunteering at the local Mops (Mothers Of Preschoolers) group here in town. She loves going and working with her great-grandma outdoors in the garden and on other projects.


Shelby: Shelby is no longer an infant! She is taller than me by far now. It's fun to go lay my head on her shoulder. Shelby is in 8th grade with a love/hate relationship with school. She also enjoys volunteering at Mops and comes home with some funny stories!


Tony: We adopted Tony through the foster care system. He came into our home when he was 8 months old and was officially adopted when he was 3.5 years old. Tony has special needs and makes great progress every day. He is homeschooled but also receives support through the SPED room at our local elementary school. Next year he looks forward to being in a Life Skills class all day in middle school.


Noah: We adopted Noah last September. He came into our home 2.5 years ago through foster care. Noah also has special needs but they are what you call "invisible". So it makes it hard for people to always understand that he has needs that have to be addressed. He has been in a private school for the past two years, but we recently brought him home to homeschool and he is thriving! He loves learning!


We continue to foster kiddos which makes our numbers fluctuate depending on who is currently in our home. However, we have just started a break from fostering. It's been five years since our last break and it's time to regroup.


Update on me in the past 14 years: I have no idea where to start. I'm continuing to enjoy my life as a wife and mother. Some days are stressful, other days are nothing but fun. I had a hysterectomy two years ago and that changed some things for the better! I rarely have time to sit and do nothing!


I have to say that time really flies when you aren't paying attention. In 2005, I had no idea that we would foster, that our family would expand by two. Or even how much I would love blogging.

For me, blogging is all about saving family memories and sharing those memories and activities with family that lives far away.

I hope that my kids will look back in the future and think of it as a way that I was able to save their memories for the future.

Have a blessed weekend!

Heidi