Happy Birthday, Anya

Anya is my sweet little nature girl. She loves to be outdoors. She loves the animals, the trees, the flowers, and the birds. Anya likes school well enough and is smart. She is an excellent artist, and spends a great deal of time drawing and making up stories about her drawings. Anya is Joseph's buddy and Rachel's partner. Rachel is particularly glad that Anya will go to young womens with her, so she won't have to be alone. Anya's helpful, but a day dreamer. Anya obeys well when she knows what she is asked to do. Mostly, she is just a lovely, lovely daughter and sister.


Here are two poems I have written about Anya:


Anya

she runs through a springtime field
a thousand wild violets blooming
amber hair cascading like a waterfall
sparkling in the purple dawn


Becoming a Woodland Fairy Queen

Infant trees lining the street
neighborhood made of concrete
yellow leaves littering ground
hearing active city sounds

little girl holding my hand
tear stained cheeks, kicking the sand
"Darling, why are you crying?"
"Mom why are they all dying?"

spying little barren trees
limb and branch, empty of leaves
watching girl with cheeks flushed red
"Little one, those trees aren't dead."

explaining changing seasons
girl not accepting reasons
"When I grow up," she said
"No tree will ever be dead."

Now a girl of eleven
Spirit of fairy leaven
Caring for all life that's green
like a woodland fairy queen

This Week at Our House #1 2020

Hmmm... I need to get to the family computer to get pictures up. We finished our last week of school vacation, a major house project, had a nice new year's eve with a game my sister sent for Christmas, and finished off most of our Christmas snacks.

School starts tomorrow morning and we will go 16 weeks nonstop with no days off. I think this year I am going to go back to old weekly format most weeks. It helps me to keep track of each kid and they all like their stories.

1. Ruth is working on pictures for me, for my next kid's book. She is also preparing an intense
   Spanish curriculum for our 16 weeks of school for Adam up through John and I.
2. Kate is currently drawing the cover for my poetry book. She is also scheduled to start the drawings for the forth children's book that I have written and is looking to do more with MegaDragonsaurus.
3. Johnny has been sick with a very bad cough. He helped me finish off a very big house project and rested. 
4. Adam argues about art. He has one artist he loves and argues that all others are wrong. We're trying to teach him that differing opinions and tastes are fine to have and you must tolerate that. If it isn't a commandment, it is not on the list for absolute. 
5. Rachel cooked a lot this week. She is getting so she likes to make treats. She is not looking forward to school being back in session.
6. Anya turns 12 in just a few more days. She is as cute of a 12 year old as they come. Rachel is very, very happy to have her in young women's and sunday school with her.
7. Joseph is very talkative and always has things to tell me. I learned this week that he hates picking up the floors so much, he will beg to wash the dishes. Funny.
8. Joshua came and cuddled up to me and said that he was looking forward to our school time reading scriptures together.
9. I have been walking a mile (7 laps around 2/3rds of our property) and Arwen has been running the whole time. She is an athletic little one.
10. Susan said she would not take a bath because she wants her hair to be curly. 
11. Sam is such a sweet cuddly boy. The terrible twos have melted away and he is nothing but cute again. Unfortunately, he has learned to play computer games.
12. Gideon walks and runs, says: yes and cat, and shakes his head no. He has become a terrible two at eleven months. He also threw off his pacifier. If we even try to give it to him, he will get angry. The problem is, he has decided that I am his pacifier and wants to nurse for 5 or 10 minutes, play for 10 minutes, and then nurse again. He will be one this month. Time sure flies. 
    
    
    
    

This week at our House # 52 Christmas 2019

We had a nice small Christmas. We have learned a lot from being poor, and one of those things is that Christmas can be very nice and very spiritual without the emphasis on gifts. I spent $60 on all 12 kids, and they were all quite happy with what they got. I have learned to find things that they want or like or need that fit into a small budget.

Here is a poem I wrote about our Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve

Many candles lit the room

some on one side, some on another

some set in front of the creche

reflecting light on the miniature stable

and the porcelain baby Jesus.

The tree in the corner stood

lighted in tiny colors

yet the room remained dim.

We sat together

on couches and chairs and stools

the baby sat in his rocking horse

dimples showing with his smiles

an infantile delight.

And we sang the songs of Christmas--

Angels, and Shepherds and Silent Nights

then read aloud and discussed

harmonious...

two hours passed

as light and knowledge

enveloped our family shrine

with a Spirit of Peace

Some fun things this year:

Ruth made bean bags for the boys, particularly Adam who is learning how to juggle. She had Anya and Rachel help her with the sewing.

Ruth and Kate helped me with all of the shopping, and made sure I stayed within the budget I had set.

Johnny and Adam helped me get all of the scrap metal from our yard, including our broken dryer which has been in the garage, to sell for cash for Christmas. When we were at the scrap metal place, they had a contest to see who could throw the metal the farthest.

Johnny and Adam used scrap wood that we had to carve toy guns for the little boys. Josh, Joseph,

Sam, and even Gideon have loved them.

Rachel had asked for a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and crayons for Christmas. I said I doubt that would happen because it was so specific. Well, the Lord blessed her, probably for her humility and frugality, and there was exactly one strawberry shortcake coloring book at the dollar store.

Rachel and Anya got craft supplies from my mom when we went 3 days before Christmas. When we got home, they got to work sewing mini, cute, decorated hand bags for Susan and Arwen.

Joseph learned to play "Hark the Herold Angels Sing" on the piano this Christmas and asked us to sing it many times so that he could play the song.

Joshua got a measuring tape and began measuring everything as we opened presents.

Arwen has been trying really hard to color her coloring books as nicely and carefully as Rachel.

Susan got shiny red shoes from my mom and LOVES them so much that she has taken them to bed with her and cried over them a few times.

Samuel called Christmas "Miss miss" he also calls Swiss Miss hot chocolate, "miss miss". Sam

surprised me by remembering Christmas and everything about it. I had one tender moment with Sam and Susan looking at our little porcelain baby Jesus. My mom bought Sam a helicopter and a train the can unscrew and he has loved that. I bought him his own real set of dollar store screw drivers and a real measuring tape. He keeps them with the rest of our tools, but to the side. It's really cute.

Gideon had his first Christmas and I think he is all in. He liked opening presents, Christmas lights, and candle lights.

And here is one more poem I wrote about Christmas that got read on a radio program in the midwest on Christmas Eve:

A Christmas Theme

"For God so loved the world..."

What is this love... this precious gift?
How can we know?
I sit in a room with lights on low
staring at the tree
colored lights aglow

I ponder on this Heavenly story
the Lord of all, not born in glory:

No bed offered the expecting Mother
shunned and disdained, cast out from the others.
Joseph took Mary to an animal stall,
where Mary bore the God of all

Born into the world,
a baby, poor
one would think

God would be given more

Still in the sky, a new star appeared.
A blessed night, forever revered.

And I think, as the story is told
there is a theme that unfolds

Shepherds watched their sheep in the night
when suddenly appeared a heavenly light.
They fell back in earthly fear,
as an angel of God, to them, appeared.

“Fear not, I bring tidings of great joy”
“To every man, woman, girl, and boy”

The Shepherds, ancient people poor,
an angel to them, testimony bore.
The angel did not come to tell the king.
To the wealthy, he had no message to bring.

Christ, the Savior, born in a stall
The Father's gift to one and all

Sent the message to the humble, disdained and poor
and told them to bare testimony more

For God does not esteem
palaces, riches, and kings.
Instead, Christ to the world
with His message to bring,
came into the world without glory,
so we could understand this important story:
gold and silver are not what's right,
instead seek for humility
and a heart contrite.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

This really was a miracle trip. we are grateful the Lord blessed us to make it there and back. Thank you for the Christmas Grandma and Grandpa

Here are some highlights since we got home:

1. Sam loves his train and helicopter that he can take apart and rebuild. He has done it 4 or 5 times already.
2. Gideon can rock his little horse really well and smiles big when he does.
3. Anya and Rachel have used the craft sets to make presents for their younger siblings.
4. Joseph ran laps around the back yard in the rain for hours because his watch tells him calories burnt and how many steps he takes.
5. Adam had been using his stuff to make Christmas presents.
   

This Week at Our House # 51

I had written a Christmas fun schedule at the beginning of the week, and while we did not stick to it one hundred percent, we did a lot of it and had a nice time.

Monday we were supposed to go to the beach, but did yard work instead. That badly needed to happen, and as it turned out, the van started to have transmission problems, so it is good we did not do any extra driving.

Tuesday rained all day, so we stayed indoors and wrote and drew. It was a pleasant day.

Wednesday, the boys and I gathered all our scrap metal and took it to the recycling place and made $16 for some Christmas money. That is when I first noticed that the van was thumping in the same way it did a year ago. Later in the day, we made lots of Christmas cookies. The kids had fun frosting them. The cookies were good and gone by the next morning.

Thursday, I took Ruth and Kate, Sam and Gideon and we went to stores to buy all of our Christmas

presents and get all of our groceries. That was when the engine light came on.

Friday, we cleaned the house and then had a fun little tea party.

Saturday, after some serious prayer, we decided that we needed to trust that the Lord would keep us safely in our van, and drive the five and a half hours to my parent's house. We arrived safely, though, at times it was scary as the transmission was clearly not not behaving as it should. My parents had bought several

Christmas presents for the kids, and they were excited about that, so we sat down and opened presents first things. We spent the rest of the day talking and having a nice time. Then we spent the night.

Sunday, we went to Church with my parents, sisters, and niece and nephew. Then we left church with a prayer of safety and drove home in the van. Again, the Lord blessed us and we made it safely. We got home in time for dinner. The kids enjoyed getting to know their new toys and crafts and such. Then we sang carols

and sent the littlest ones to bed, while Johnny made whoopie pies, a favorite family treat.

My parents have offered to pay for the transmission replacement or repair, but asked me to get an estimate first. That will have to happen soon. I am grateful all is well. The Lord has kept us in mind all year long. It has been another year of poverty, but the Lord has brought us through with a gentle hand.