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Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged. Life's been busy to say the least and we have so much coming up...so where to start!
We're buys with Emma in ballet and playing soccer. Normally soccer for 3-5 year olds is only 6 weeks total (3 weeks of nothing but practice and then 3 weeks of games), this year 3 weeks of practice (first week we were rained out) and 6 weeks of games (which we are continuing practices too). Jacob and Jackson are playing football. They are on the same team, have practice twice a week, and games on Saturdays. The boys are also taking piano lessons, we have homeschool art, choir, and gym. Add in PWOC (my bible study Wednesday mornings) our life is kind of crazy, oh and yeah we manage to fit in school every day as well!
Our other big news is that after 7 1/2 years of living in Germany, our time is coming to an end. Chad will be getting medically retired, so we're moving back to the states and he'll be in a WTU unit (Warriors Training Unit...which is for soldiers who have been injured) this will be his transition unit as he retires. He'll medically retire, but will still have 20 years in by the time all is said and done. We're planning on buying a house, so if you'd all pray. We have never owned our own home so we're pretty overwhelmed at all of it. We have found a home we like. A 4 bedroom house on 5 acres, with an above ground pool and deck (both brand new) and an outdoor kitchen, a machinery barn,  hay barn, lean to, and garage. We would like to add 2 more bedrooms and a family room, so we'll have to see if we can add this all in when purchasing or if we'll have to do it in a couple years, which would put him retired, but hopefully with a Government Service job on the civilian side of things. The house is great size (a little bigger than the house we live in now), the land would be perfect for what we're wanting (a couple horses and a steer that we'll fatten up and have butchered). We know that if this is the house the Lord has planned for our family, it will happen.

We're still waiting on orders that we were supposed to have a week ago, but so goes the Army and doing what they say...it's a hurry up and wait process. We just really want to get the house packed up and sent on its way and our van shipped out...both as soon as possible so that once we get to the states we don't have to wait for our van or household items and can hopefully get settled into a home quickly.

School, I know I mentioned it briefly above, but it's going really well. Jackson's making great progress in his reading skills and rarely needs help. This has been a major prayer and he's answered. It's exciting to see his progress from week to week and I know that by the end of our school year, his reading is going to be right on target. Jacob's doing great. Next year he'll be in 7th grade, so we'll be changing up his curriculum, with things that will challenge him more, will be more than just book work, etc. Emma's in kindergarten and is loving reading, she's not feeling the math so much, so we're taking a break on the math and just focusing on reading right now. We're doing  Learn How to Read in 100 easy Lessons and she's on lesson 6 as of today and really amazing me. I'll be adding in handwriting in the next few weeks and we'll reintroduce math very soon. Noah likes to join in with our reading lessons, which is so sweet and fun and helps to keep him occupied since I am one on one with Emma (the big boys are more on their own and just come to me when they have questions).

Olivia's Army crawling now!! She's such a sweet and happy and loved baby girl! All our kids have been happy babies, but Olivia Joy lives up to her middle name in a whole new way! Everyone always comments on how happy she is. She's almost always smiling and often laughing. She smiles with her WHOLE face. All the other 4 kids are so in love with her. What I find amazing though is how much Emma and her look alike at this age. I was looking at pictures of Emma and all of the kids thought she was Olivia! Poor Noah was so confused!! LOL

Noah's all two! He's a sweetheart and ornery all at the same time! He loves cuddles, hugs, and kisses and bugging his older siblings. He is still obsessed with balls...football, soccer, baseball, basketball. He practices with Emma's team (Chad's the coach) and honestly for a 2 year old, is very good. He throws a baseball with scary force and speed, and can catch a football! He also loves to color and write and likes playing with his cars. He also would live outside if we allowed him to. He loves playing on his scooter and bike and just running and playing.

I'm truly sitting here in awe of the fact that the Lord has blessed me not once, but 6 times with amazing children to grow and nurture. I fail miserably quite often, and when I feel like I'm the worst mother in the world, I look at them and their faces are so often full of smiles. They're funny, full of joy and such life. So although I am anything but perfect, I mess up too often. I say things too harshly, discipline strictly...they're good and happy kids.



I'm going to try to get better about writing. I'm going to make a goal of at least once a week. Hopefully I can!