And this is my oldest...Emily Anne...(Ann with an "e", ha.) I thought I was so original, naming her Emily way back in 1985, before the internet, before Emily was the #1 name for girls. My younger brother was shocked, he said, "Emily is an old lady name!" That was the point. Or so I thought. Anyway. Yesterday, I went out to lunch with my oldest "child".
And my youngest child, Camille Anaya.
And a few in between...Mali Rose 22, Kathryn Grace 18, Jonathan Robert 12, Charlotte Claire 10...and little Davian, baby Lydia, and Lydia's daddy Zac.
And let me tell you something: with lots of kids comes tons of joy, but also tons of this: Mommy Guilt. Mommy Guilt comes tearing at the mom's heart when child leaves lunch on counter, and mom doesn't find time to bring it to school. These sort of things. Well yesterday, we were at Chipotle, and Mirielle texted me and asked, "Do you want to go to Chipotle?" Oh I felt bad! It was nurses' day, buy one get one free, and Em and Mali are nurses, but so is Mirielle...I had just assumed she was at work...Em had been teaching a class, and came straight from there and didn't realize Mirielle was home either...oops. It worked out fine, she picked up Evelyn and Sonja and brought them out to lunch/dinner...
Anyway. Having all the babies was one thing...chasing toddlers, you know, the busy stuff...but now that they are grown up, and growing up, it's still busy. I am so so so thankful that I don't "work". I can be home, and spend time with my older ones when they have a free day, if they want or need.
So Kathryn is technically finished with high school, and is contemplating her next step. She's thinking maybe college, criminal justice, then the police academy. She's always thought about being a police officer, but isn't 100% sure that's for her. She's a really good kid, hard working, and sweet. I know she'll succeed in whatever she chooses because she's so dedicated. She homeschooled the last few years of high school, and she took it very seriously. She is taking her driver's test soon, and I sincerely hope she passes, it makes it so much easier, as far as getting a job, ect.
Evelyn is finishing up 10th grade, and is also taking her driver's test soon. Evelyn will succeed in life too, she is not afraid of hard work, she knows how to boss people around, she sees what needs to be done and assigns people to do it, ha.
Suzanne finishing up 9th grade. She isn't feeling well today, and has three finals. She left the house in tears, she gets stressed about stuff. I feel so so bad for her, she asked me to pray for her.
Sonja is almost done with 8th grade...(Evelyn, Suze, and Sonja go to "real" school). Sonja is funny, competent, and very friendly. She is so into soccer, she practices kicking the ball around the yard with Jonathan all the time, and plays on the church team.
Jonathan, Char, and Cam are all finishing up their school for the year too.
Joseph (25) lives here too...Mr. Art. He is always working on something, at his standing desk. He sells a few things here and there, just enough to get by, but hasn't hit total success yet. He loves what he does, and I am confident that one of these days he'll make it.
Abigail (29) is in Norway.
Benjamin (27) is in Washington state.
Aaron (23) is in California.
Samuel (20) is in Washington D.C.
(Sam texted this pic to Evelyn last night, I asked her to forward it to me, and on the blog it goes...Don't kill me, Sam!)
Margaret (19) is in Norway.
So the kids are 31,29,27,26,25,23,22,20,19,18,16,15,14,12,10, and 8.
My prayers take a long time at night.
4 comments:
Simply beautiful.
From what I see you've had a full time job 24/24 7/7 for 31 years and counting..unpaid (I mean money here).
Don't feel lazy when you just sit and read a book (see last posts).
You more than earned it!
Aww, thank you!
I loved the updated bios! Emily looks just like you (I actually thought it was you at first glance). Darling photo of Camille. What type of art does Joseph do?
Joseph draws, paints, sketches in an animae sort of genre. Orks, heroes with swords, beautiful dragons...things for video games and for card collections. He has always been talented, when he was seven years old, he collected materials to make himself an Indian (Native American) costume...I just remember being amazed how he snipped through the fabric for the pants, cut the fringe, tied them together every few inches with elastic, and put them in...in like five minutes flat. They fit him perfectly. He made a complete scuba diving get up when he was seven, too, with painted soda bottles and tubing my mother got for him during a hospital stay (clean, ha). He was always making something or other. When he was in first grade, every kid in his class had an "S", the Superman "S", on his or her shirt, courtesy of Joseph, and the teacher let them all wear them. He went to college in preparation for nursing school and was on the Dean's List, then after the first semester of nursing school, decided he simply didn't like it. So he's doing online training as well as selling some of his work. In any case, he's not the type of son that one wishes would just move out already. He's kind and gentle and funny and helpful and doesn't cause any trouble. He gives the kids rides places and does whatever we ask him to do.
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