It’s that time of year again, when I’m late with the “Christmas” card, and end up writing a New Year’s greeting. 🙂 We hope you have all had a lovely Holiday Season. We have had a special time this year with some travel before Christmas, and a wonderful time of celebrating the birth of Jesus. So here’s a “quick” update on our family for your reading pleasure.

Abby graduated in May (a year early!) with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She turned 21 shortly after graduation and passed the NCLEX. Abby had been hired during her final clinical rotation, and upon passing the NCLEX she officially began her job as a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at St. David’s Northwest Austin Medical Center. She is currently working nights, but is hoping to get put on day shift soon. Abby’s caring and cheerful personality makes her a wonderful nurse, and she is perfect for the ICU, which is not an easy place to be. When searching for Christian friends her age, we came across a ministry called Abby also began attending Coffee House Austin, which is a young adult fellowship that meets in North Austin. She really enjoys being involved in that ministry, and was asked to be on the leadership team. She is very excited to be joining a group led by our former pastor to Israel this Spring. We’re extremely proud of our beautiful Abby and all that she has accomplished through her hard work and dedication. We are excited to watch her future unfold before her.

Datiya turned 20 in October. It seems strange that we now have two children in their “20’s.” Weren’t we just in our 20’s? Datiya decided to to leave the ACC Vet Tech program after completing her first year (with flying colors–she just realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do). She transferred to Texas State University and was accepted into the Honors College. She is working towards a degree in Recreation Administration with a concentration on Recreational Therapy. She is on track to graduate in December of 2020. As a fun bonus, Datiya is planning to travel to Australia in the early part of the summer to study abroad. As part of her degree program, Datiya has been able to volunteer at the memory care community where my dad is a resident. That has been really special. Datiya’s fun sense of humor and wit keeps us laughing whenever she is around. We are excited to see where her adventurous spirit paired with her very versatile degree takes her in the future.

David turned 18 in December, and got accepted to Texas A & M University where he is now the “loudest, proudest member of the fighting Texas Aggies, aaaaayyyyyyyyyyy! Ay!” I have honestly never met anyone more excited to be in college at a particular University. David lives and breathes Texas Aggie spirit. It is very cute. This past summer, David pulled off getting a paid internship at Intel. He was Todd’s chauffeur to work every day, and it was a real blessing for both of them to get to work together. We are happy to report that David has already been hired again for next summer. Another notable event for this young man was that he participated in a mission trip our church hosted for our young adults to minister in Guatemala. He was able to go with Nina, Enoch and Lillah. They had a very special time. He finished his year last spring qualifying to Nationals in speech and debate in 5 speeches. He is currently helping out at a speech and debate club in College Station and is really enjoying that. He is doing very well at A & M, and he recently got a job in campus cyber security. We will see how that goes. David is a delight and we are very proud of him.

Nina is newly 17 but still going on about 25. She is very capable and has a couple of “mom jobs” where she does everything from caring for children to cooking meals and doing housework. Unfortunately, those skills aren’t necessarily put to use in our own household because she is so busy! She loved the mission trip to Guatemala over the summer, and she often says she misses her time there. Currently, Nina is very busy completing her high school requirements this year and earning college credits through Austin Community College. She is also doing Mock Trial this year as well as competing in speech and debate. She is a junior this year, but has a hankering to graduate early and begin her studies to become a surgeon. She applied to a few colleges this fall, and has been accepted to Texas Tech. She is waiting to hear back from a couple more universities. Nina is a bright, funny, and very mature young lady. I’m hoping she’ll get into UT so she can stay close to home. She and her mom are very close, so it will be hard to let her go too far. We have very mixed feelings about letting Nina graduate early. We enjoy having her around, and it’s a bit shocking to have 4 kids graduate from high school in the span of 4 years! Regardless, it is wonderful to see the beautiful young woman Nina is becoming. We know God has great things planned for her.

Enoch is 15 as of July, and he is Mr. Social. Enoch makes friends easily and is somehow really good at getting what he wants. I guess that’s a good skill to have in life. Persistence is the name of the game with Enoch. He doesn’t give up easily, so he is successful at many things. The good news is, he’s really generous and shares pretty well. If he buys food, he always asks if I want some. He often buys a coffee for one of his teachers at One Day Academy just to bless her. Pretty sweet. Enoch continues to enjoy playing select soccer, and he spends a lot of time practicing and juggling the ball. He is also a very good student. Enoch will compete in Lincoln Douglas debate again this year as well as a few speeches. Over the past summer, Enoch not only got to participate in the mission trip to Guatemala, but he also went on a soccer travel trip with US Revolution to Norway and Scotland. His cousin was on the team with him, and his Uncle accompanied them on the trip. They had the time of their lives. It was so nice for him to be able to spend that time with his cousin and uncle. Enoch is a really amazing kid, with so many things going for him: great personality, confidence, brains, and he is kinda cute to boot! It’s fun watching him grow into a young man.

Lillah is 13, and will be 14 in April. She remains as sweet as she can possibly be. Lillah is a horse lover extraordinaire. She now has 3 horses in her care at our little ranch. She helps out at the barn where she rides whenever she can. Lillah is a loyal friend, and her friends all love her. She can make anyone feel comfortable. The little brothers all look up to Lillah, and she is still their “captain.” Lillah and Simeon have had the opportunity to be part of a homeschool discipleship group run by a pastor at a little church not too far from our house. That has been a huge blessing for them this year. They are learning a ton and having loads of fun as well. Lillah is increasing her speech load this year and hoping to compete in 4 speech events. She wanted to debate as well, but we haven’t been able to find her a Team Policy partner. Lillah was the youngest member of the Guatemala mission trip this summer, and her favorite part besides ministering to the beautiful people there was, of course, meeting different animals there. She even befriended a chicken she named Pablo. Lillah is still very horse crazy. She also plays soccer and takes ballet, tap, modern and drama at Dance to Glory dance studio. Lillah is sweet, compassionate, and, even at 13, has remained very innocent, which we really love about her. She can stay young and innocent for a bit longer–that’s OK with us! Lillah is becoming a lovely young woman inside and out, and she really loves God and learning about Him. We are delighted with our little lady.

Simeon is 11 1/2. He is very charming with a big smile, and a fun, endearing manner about him. He is the one all the little boys look up to, and he’s so loving and caring with Tovi. They call each other “Buddy,” and it is just the sweetest thing. Simeon is very athletic, playing soccer on a select team for the first time this year, and continuing to impress everyone with his gymnastic abilities. Simeon can often be seen jumping on the trampoline with the younger boys, doing tricks and back flips. Simeon also continues with Kuk Sool Won martial arts and is on track to earn his black belt in the next year or so. He is very bright, and learns things easily. When he wants to learn about something, Simeon simply checks out a book about it at the library or reads about it on the internet. Recently, Simeon has developed an interest in baking, and we enjoy the goodies he makes whenever he gets the urge to create a new baking creation. He is also the healthy Smoothie King of the household. It is a pleasure to see Simeon growing into a young man who loves Jesus and is trying to please him. He is generous and cheerful, and he is a good buddy not only to his siblings, but also to his friends. We love his kind, loyal personality.

Jedidiah is 9 as of September, and he is the most hilarious person. He keeps us all laughing most of the time, unless he’s getting into major trouble. He has been our most accident-prone child, sporting scars from 6 different sets of stitches or staples on his head or face alone. He added a 7th round of stitches over the summer after stepping on top of a glass aquarium. This time, he expanded his repertoire to include 27 stitches on his calf. Jed plays soccer, which he really loves, and he is also working towards becoming a black belt candidate in Kuk Sool Won. Jed is maturing and beginning to really get into school. He is quite a math whiz, easily working through several pages per day in his math book. Jed competed in his first Juniors speech tournament last spring, and he placed 3rd with his cute interpretation of the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out!” He is quite expressive. Jed is very thoughtful for such a young guy. He pipes up with little nuggets of wisdom for us all the time. Recently, we were driving home after a long day of outings during which I had been trying to civilize my bunch of little boys. Jed was sitting up front, and I was asking him if, after seeing me dealing with all of their antics all afternoon, he could understand why I sometimes can get frustrated. He nodded sympathetically and said, “Mom, when I’m having a hard day, chocolate helps.” Yes, yes, it does Jed. We love our bouncy, energetic little Jed.

Hezekiah turned 7 in November! It’s hard for me to believe our little ones are getting so old now. Hezi is in 2nd grade, and is doing really well with reading and math. He is inquisitive and able to figure out where to find the information he needs. I always say if you can teach a child how to learn for him- or herself, he or she will excel. Hezi seems naturally good at math as well. It’s fun to see him easily navigate through his books. Learning is such a cool thing to be a part of as a homeschool mom. As for sports, Hezi became our first baseball player ever. He played Spring and Fall ball. He told me last Spring that he was retiring from soccer to play baseball, but that he might decide to go back to soccer someday. It was a nice change of pace to sit on the bleachers and watch his games. We really enjoyed it. Hezi is sweet and sensitive. He asks for snuggle time every day and still sleeps with his little bear, “Bear Walker.” We love having this precious boy in our family.

Toviel is 4 and will be 5 in April. He is no longer a baby although we call him our baby. He is quick to remind us that he is a big boy. And that he is. We are always joking that Tovi is good at everything. The reality is, he is really good at things. If there is something he isn’t good at, he will practice over and over until he masters it. I’ve never seen a more coordinated 4-year-old. Tovi can ripstick, ride a bike, play soccer, swim like a fish, and ski better and faster than many of the other family members. This summer while we were in Destin for a family vacation, Tovi wanted to learn how to stand on the boogie board in the pool. He tried again and again for over an hour until he could stand on that boogie board. He did the same thing to learn how to ride the ripstick. He spent a whole day falling off the ripstick and getting back up on it again until he could speed around the couch with the older kids. It’s truly amazing, the determination that drives this little 4-year-old. We can’t wait to see how this little wonder continues to grow and mature. We are all smitten with him. We can’t help it.

Eden is 15 and doing well. She chatters away in English all day long. She is full of questions as well as answers. Eden is helpful and sweet and super obedient. She is eager to do school and is learning to read! She also can do math at a kindergarten level, and is progressing well. Her fine motor skills are developing well, and she works really hard. Eden loves going to therapy. She has speech, occupational and physical therapy, and is making improvements in all areas. Eden loves to help Haddie in their school as well. Daniel really responds to her, and she is very sweet and patient with him. We are very blessed to have this sweet girl as our daughter.

Daniel is 11, and he LOVES going to school at our local public school. They moved him to the 3rd grade this year. He spends most of the day in the Special Ed classroom, and about 30 minutes each day in the mainstream 3rd grade classroom. He rides the special needs bus, and he absolutely loves it. The bus driver has created a little incentive chart to help him learn to behave on the bus. It has worked really well for him. He sometimes struggles with behavior at school, but overall he has improved with his behavior. I love seeing him interact with kids at the school. They are all so sweet and accepting of him. He has learned to be more comfortable on the playground, and now he can swing without freaking out. Daniel still struggles with connecting with the family, which is really hard for us, but we are loving him and giving him a place to belong. All of the other kids are really sweet to him. His favorite sibling is definitely Eden. He shares a special connection with her.

Haddie will be turning 16 in just a few days. We had thought about changing the kids’ ages with a readoption, but decided against it after finding out they can receive some insurance benefits when they turn 21, so it’s better to not do that. Haddie is still severely delayed. She still barely speaks. It seems like she puts together what is being said to her and around her by taking in body language along with the words, but we’re not sure how much she truly completely understands. She gets by for the most part and she can play with the younger kids without needing to talk much. They all make it work and don’t seem bothered by it. Last Spring, we were able to find someone who could evaluate her in Mandarin (this has been a huge hurdle). We discovered she only says about 40 words in Mandarin. She couldn’t tell a story from pictures and she also only puts 2-3 words together at a time in Mandarin. This was very eye opening for us as we try to help Haddie with learning and language acquisition. Learning is very slow for Haddie, but she is making some progress. She can identify most of the letters of the alphabet now as well as the sounds they make. Counting is still very difficult for her. She has worked very hard and can now reliably count to 5 using signs and words, but she starts to get confused starting with the number 6. I am really excited because she is eligible to receive a communication device through our insurance and the speech therapy office. I am really hoping this device will help to unlock her ability to communicate. She needs a lot of repetition, and the device will allow her to choose pictures of words she wants to say and put them into sentences that she can then click on. The device will say the sentence for her, and she can try to repeat it. It will be wonderful to get the device and see how it helps Haddie. She is sweet and happy, and pretty compliant. She loves doing her school work and is helpful with chores as well. Haddie seems very happy to be part of our family and we love her. She shares a special bond with Tovi. He says she’s one of his best friends.

We had a bit of a shock in early September when Todd went to the hospital with chest pain and found out he was having a heart attack. I got a call from a nurse on his phone, which was very disturbing. I could hear him in the background telling me not to freak out. Needless to say, I freaked out. I rushed out the door and made it to the hospital in downtown Austin where he had been taken by ambulance from the hospital near our house which isn’t equipped with a cath lab. The doctors were able to quickly get a stent placed in the LAD artery, which was 98% blocked. Thankfully, the doctor said there was little to no permanent damage to his heart. We did find out that the main cause of his heart attack was that his blood was thickened and clotting. After a series of blood tests, we found out that he has a rare blood disorder that causes the bone marrow to make excess red blood cells. This condition is treatable by having blood drawn periodically to balance the volume of red blood cells and keep the blood from hypercoagulating. It has been quite a bumpy ride adjusting to the idea of all of this. Ultimately, we are just so very thankful that God spared Todd’s life and that He led us to discover this blood disease that could have caused even worse complications if left undetected.

I continue to homeschool the children and work with our speech and debate club. I am training for another half marathon, and I’m thinking of trying to work towards running a full marathon sometime. Right before Todd’s heart attack I went through training to become certified in Les Mills Body Pump. The day after the training, Todd had the heart attack. I didn’t think I would be able to complete the certification process, which involved team teaching and sending in a nearly flawless video of myself teaching Body Pump. I was able to finish the process in the weeks after Todd came home from the hospital, and I became a certified Body Pump instructor in November. I am now teaching classes at the YMCA.

We are so blessed in this crazy, full life. and are thankful for our friends, family and our church. We are happy to announce that we have started a YouTube channel to share our crazy adventures. We would love it if you would subscribe to our channel and share with your friends and family. By subscribing, you will receive an email letting you know whenever we post a new video (it doesn’t cost anything to subscribe). We are very entertained by our crazy family, and we are thrilled to share it and some positive family energy with the world. You can find our channel on YouTube by searching Erdnerds or by clicking the following link (to our intro video):

We hope that your holidays were filled with joy and wonder and that 2019 brings many blessings your way.