It's A Wonderful Life

Look who followed us back to Missouri after our trip to Utah last month!  Here is Deanne with the crew during a night on the town.     We bought this home as a 4 bedroom home.  However, there was an office downstairs that is now a bedroom and there was an attic space that they converted to a huge closet.  We added this dormer window to that closet and it will soon become the favorite bedroom in the house.   Casey, Hyrum and Simon have claim to it as soon as it is finished this week. Simon getting his first riding lesson from a good friend.  She comes over a few hours a week to give all the kids individual lessons in exchange for boarding her horse here.  This is her horse, "Lady". Ressa and Charlie having a ride on our horse, "Fannie Mae".  Of course, when we get another horse and it happens to be a male, it will be called the only thing a mortgage banker would name a companion to Fannie Mae.. obviously, he will be Fr...

Mother's Day isn't always the happy rewarding day we would hope it could be. Some Mother's Day's are wonderful and filled with happiness and counting blessings. This year turned out to be a rewarding Mother's Day. I want to share a few of the things the kids wrote to me. "Thank you for helping me be a wonderful young women." This touched my heart. I want all my kids to think of themselves as wonderful and not be embarrassed about it. This daughter has struggled in her life with recognition. When she was younger we couldn't even say her name or praise her without many tears. She didn't like herself and felt worthless. A Mother's Day Reward. Your patience and understanding tell me  "that's the mom I want to be". Incredible. This child experienced abuse and deep criticism for many years. She could do nothing right and she was told that the problems in the family were her fault. She had no confidence and a fear of ...

It seems to me that some people have plenty to say on a blog. Their lives are very interesting and uplifting. They have stories to tell and varied experiences. Other blogs are full of perfect parents and beautiful kids. You know the kind that make you feel like a loser of a parent because your kids aren't dressed in matching designer clothes and you don't take your kids on an outing every week. Well, I'm neither one of those. This is Deanne, and I am a normal average mom. I have my ups and downs with kids that are every bit as normal as I am. They are good kids that study, work and develop talents but not the kind that set records or earn great accolades. That could easily be my fault. I stay home and raise the children while I struggle finding ways to feel of value. When things are going well I can think of all kinds of blog posts and moments appear. But, when things are hard it's difficult for me to share my life with others. Not that I don't want others to k...

Casey and friend, McKaden, getting the new rolls of fencing in on the Easter fun.   Some eggs had to be obvious for the younger children.  It appears that Clayson saw the egg first... but Marshall was quick to catch on.     Hunting around the septic system and buried propane tank.  I couldn't get the kids to hide any eggs under the septic tank inspection lids, but they did go for under the propane tank cover. Emma being Emma.... Hannah being Hannah... Big smile from Malia. Mom and Simon on the hunt... Niya pointing the way for a younger child who needs a few more eggs. Olivia just won't look at the camera. Bria looks worried.  She must not have her 15 eggs yet.  Scott - always happy about everything. We had a rainy Saturday, but there was a small window of sunshine for our Easter egg hunt.   Stats 120 eggs 60 hardboiled and 60 plastic 6 older kids hiding 8 younge...

What do you do when you just arrived at your new home with 1,800 square feet of wood floor before the truck arrives with the furniture and it is 30 degrees outside and you have to entertain 13 children that have been stuck in a car for 20 hours of driving the previous two days????   SLIDING CONTEST!!

Everyday there are reminders that we are not in familiar territory.  We can still say, "Toto , I have a feeling we're not in  Kansas anymore ."  ... but it's not too far away! One of the first weekends we were here we went to visit Jamesport, MO, an Amish community about an hour north of us.  We had an impromptu tourist orientation by a very nice Mennonite woman who came out to chat with us as we were getting out of our van.  She was remodeling the restaurant she and her husband owned, but she took the time to explain the "hot spots" to visit in town - shops and stores, etc. She seemed open and comfortable enough that we asked her about the differences between the Amish and Mennonite cultures and beliefs.  She was very happy to enlighten us.  We thanked her for her kindness and told her we would be back to eat at her restaurant after it reopens.  As we were walking into one of the Amish stores, we saw this buggy and small family. ...

I knew I would do this. Trying to write while helping the children with school and then trying to finish up at midnight doesn't support strong memory. Creed left to serve a mission in Louisville Kentucky on August 5. How could I really forget that one. We have missed him so much. He struggled for a while. The Lord was mindful of his needs and put him in an area that a good friend of ours used to live. She had prepared her friends that there was a possibility that Creed could be a missionary in that area. When I found out that Creed was struggling I called my friend and she called out the Calvary. That ward took over and loved Creed into feeling safe and strong. What a blessing. Creed is doing well. Having Creed leave and the other kids move caused some fear in Simon that when we move we will never see them again. Simon's behaviors got really bad. None of us liked having him around. He would constantly say things like "No one wants to love me" "I'm so dum...

We have had an incredibly busy and emotional 9 months and that's an understatement. I am just going to highlight things instead of trying to catch up. Blogging to me feels much like journaling. Once I get behind it's so overwhelming that I just ignore it. Oh, the little voice in my head never lets me completely forget so I, like any normal human, I ignore it. Yes, sometimes I do ignore that inner voice and I always pay a price for it. Now here I sit hoping I can at least catch all the highlights and lamenting the fact that we have learned so much that could be lost now from our memory. Not too long after we got home from China in March with Simon Doug and I both started to feel like we needed to move. We discussed it many times and began to pray. By the beginning of June we knew that we were to move and that move would take us to the state of Missouri. So 6 very long months of getting a house ready to sell, looking for a job and home, packing our belongings and waiting som...