This year has been so crazy, I knew I wouldn't get Christmas cards mailed so I didn't even try. I have loved each and every card we have received though, and I am excited to mail ours next year.
So here's my update and Christmas blog card!
For some reason, I decided to say "Yes!" to the elementary art teaching position here in Holton a week before school actually started. (A big reason why I haven't done well and keeping up with this blog and other things) I am eager about next semester and have some really fun projects planned.
More than anything, I hope the kids I am teaching learn to love being creative. I always tell them. It doesn't even have to be "good" (they get so hung up on that!), I just want them to love the creative process, and learn something along the way. Watching that actually happen is pure joy for me. I believe every child is an artist and I want them to know and believe they were made to be creative. I do love getting messy with them! They think I am an amazing artist (hahaha!) and I have enjoyed immersing myself again into the art world where we draw, paint, make collages, play with clay, and study famous artists together. The kindergarteners have a hard time remembering my name, so they call me Ms. Art, or sometimes just Art. It's my favorite thing ever.
**Side note, I have so much awe and respect for teachers that have been doing this for years and years. God bless them!
Early this fall I had a really awesome opportunity to work with Jen from Zeiss Hunting and do some commercial photography. I was able to shoot their products (riflescopes & binoculars mostly) on our land and some neighboring land. Bryson, Charlotte, Auggie, and my dad all got to model as well as a hunter from Arizona named Courtland. It was a busy three days of shooting and hours of editing but it was so much fun for me. I love this kind of work and I hope I can do more commercial work in the future.
I am still keeping bees, and taking a few family photography sessions when time allows. My journals are selling on Amazon and I am working on a few more right now. The football playbooks Bryson helped me design a couple of years ago continue to be my best sellers during Q4.
More than teaching art, taking pictures, designing books, and even beekeeping, I love being a mom and wife. There is nothing in the world better than raising our three with Bryson and watching the sunset from our porch swing whenever we can. I am not the world's best homemaker (I don't really even like to cook, and I suck at laundry), but if I have learned anything this year, it's to treasure this time we have as a family. After my dad's heart attack this summer, I am so much more grateful for these moments together. God has blessed us, and I think it's easy to overlook the best blessings of all sometimes, and scary times make us aware of these blessings. My main "job", or maybe I should say purpose, privilege, and goal, is to raise our kids to know that they are loved, not just by us, but by an amazing Creator who sent his only son as a baby to be the Savior of the world. That is the beautiful truth we want to make sure our kids know well! Oh, and I am happy to report my dad is as strong as ever. It was hardly a week and he was back to making cabinets. I'd definitely call that a miracle we are all so thankful for.
We celebrated Bryson's 40th birthday in April! At the time he was feeling pretty awful and we thought that maybe getting old is just rough until we discovered he had Rocky Mountian Spotted Fever and wasn't just "old". He's much better now, thank God for that too.
Bryson is still working at Evergy and enjoys his job maintaining substations. He's been in the Topeka office more and more and working from home just sometimes now after working from home for almost two years.
Bryson was able to be a hunting guide to our youngest, and Auggie successfully harvested his first deer! The kids are always so proud to shoot their first buck, but Bryson is even more proud and it's pretty obvious.
I've also promoted Bryson in our beekeeping operation, and he often joins me in the apiary.
He is always improving the timber by our home and his love for the outdoors is contagious. We all enjoy joining him on buggy rides and checking trail cameras. His sanctuary is in the woods and God meets him there.
Charlotte is a sophomore in high school and gets college letters in the mail already, which totally freaked me out the first time I opened the mailbox. She enjoys running and even went to state on the 4x800mm track team. We are excited to watch her run again in the spring. She also loves volleyball and is a pretty amazing artist.
Charlotte would rather spend a day with her little cousins than anything else and she picks up the slack at home whenever we need her to. She's a taxi for her brothers as well and makes sure we help her pay for gas. She worked for the school food service program during the summer, and is currently working part-time at Lasting Impressions (screen printing), and babysits often as well.
She is tenderhearted, quiet, and kind to everyone. Charlotte has been taller than me for a few years, and is now 5'9''. She's hoping to gain another inch, but we shall see!
As far as universities go, she thinks she'd like to go to KSU and pursue engineering like her dad, but she's not sure what kind of engineering yet. Bryson tries to talk her into electrical engineering at every opportunity. I think there's plenty of time to think about all that, and time to switch to Fine Arts if she wants to. These next two years need to slow down a little! I love watching her grow up and figure out what she loves. (This might be the best part of parenting so far!)
Pierson has had a year of trying new things, and it's his first year of middle school after being home-schooled last year. 7th grade has been great for him! He came home a few months ago and announced that he signed up for wrestling. We were a little shocked because he was adamant that he'd never wrestle. It was a quick season and he spend a lot of time on his back, but in his very last match the incredible hulk emerged and he pinned a kid in under 5 seconds! I didn't even get a picture or video it happened so fast! He loved playing football as well and has just started basketball.
Pierson is still my curious kid and I thank the Lord for our personal robot Alexa that can answer most of the questions he asks. (I tell him that back in my day we had to look stuff up in an actual encyclopedia!) He can sing and play the guitar as well! Pier climbed his first 14er in Colorado with Bryson and came back a man. He's grown a lot and loves to stand next to me to show me he's taller whenever he can. He eats a ton of food every day and it's getting very expensive to feed him. He still thinks he'd like to be a wildlife biologist someday and he goes fishing at every opportunity. His favorite subject in school this year is science! (Thank you, Mrs. Shupe!)
August is almost 11 and rocking 5th grade and his last year at the elementary school. He thinks he's as big as everyone else in our family (typical youngest). He loves sports and is a natural with a ball in his hands. He broke his arm this summer at the end of baseball season and it was such a bummer for him. Thankfully waterproof casts allowed him to do everything else and he was fine after the initial disappointment of missing the big tournament. I love his confidence in everything he does and it's been a joy to have him as a student in my class as well. He only has art once a week, but daily he comes to my room and I get to hear about his day. He is good at math, like his dad and siblings, and is working ahead at the middle school every other day with the 6th graders.
Auggie was up before Bryson during hunting season and worked hard to harvest his first deer. He loves fishing with his siblings and being outside. He is still the world's pickiest eater, which drives me crazy, but he seems to be growing well despite the lack of veggies in his diet.
Welp, that's my family update! I am sure a lot more happened but maybe you keep up with me on Instagram where I over post about our life according to Bryson.
Thank you again for your beautiful Holiday cards and Christmas blessings. A blog post update is super lame in comparison! May God bless you and keep you this season and the year and years to come.
Comments