The Blessings of Children

These are my children.

DA(16), JL(12), & HJ(14)

My children are interesting, unique, loving, kind and as you can see...one of them absolutely loves being goofy!  LOL 

Let's see what you can tell from this picture.  DA, my oldest son, is the goofy one.  While all of them can be pretty goofy, this young man can go from stoicly concentrating on writing a paper on a brutal Nazi officer who was killed in WW2, to standing up, walking through the kitchen to get a drink, finding his brother and within seconds they're wrestling in the corner of the dining room (true story!  It happened yesterday! LOL).  He is certainly the jokester of the troup.  He loves science and is currently working toward getting as much of it as he can before he graduates.  He would like to go in to the field of renewable energy, so we're supporting him in any way we can with a good solid educational foundation.  He has been picking berries for the past 4 years at our friend's berry farm to save his money for his first car.

DA

I look at this young man every day and wonder how it is that I could be so blessed to be his mother.  Now comes the hard part for me--teaching him to become the most independent (from us) he's ever been.  Daily lessons on various topics as it arises are what seems to be the best way of presenting it.  Especially using the verse in 1 Corinthians 13:11 that says, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."  I quoted that verse to him yesterday and his question to me was, "Do I have to give up having fun then?"  To which I smiled and said, "No!"  LOL  But with growing up, comes more responsibility. 

Now, on to my youngest son, JL.  He, of course in the above picture, wasn't feeling too well when I snapped this picture.  His face is just a little pale.  As you can probably guess by the pile of blankets on the couch behind him, we snuggle under them a lot during the times of sickness.  It's a good thing.  The fact that he's smiling shows that he's still just as happy.  He doesn't let a bit of sickness get him down.  He's my one who climbs trees and perches on branches like a bird.  LOL 

Our trees are so flexible that he's able to climb out on one branch and they'll gradually bend enough for him to put his feet on the ground and let go of the branch. 

My lovely daughter HJ is such a simple young lady.  She loves flowery t-shirts that are comfortable and a pair of jeans.  Lately she's been pulling her hair back more, but doesn't keep it that way long.  She loves my pendant enough to keep it on always.  I don't mind though.  She's coming out of her "tom-boyishness" and it is good.  She still climbs trees with her brothers though.  LOL  Just this past year she's been asking to have more skirts, so I figured I'd gladly accommodate her request.  She doesn't wear them every day because of the way they feel on her skin.  :)   She drowned when she was 22 months old.  As a result, she has ADHD and some sensory issues with her skin and occationally her hearing (things that are too loud).  We've had some educational hurdles to go over and figure out, but I don't mind.

2008-when doing her workbook pages, the paper running across her hand as she wrote made it feel like pins and needles poking her.  So, we improvised with a latex glove with the fingers cut out, except the pinky finger.

 The most difficult thing for me to do for her right now, educationally, is to simply keep up with her ravenous appetite for books.  She loves history, so finding good historical books for her to read keeps me on my toes. 

This morning Feb. 29, 2012 at 9:05AM.  She's writing her Bible verses.  :)