Yearly Archives: 2023

12 31 23

Well. It’s year-end and not counting this entry, I updated this blog 18 times. How’d I do? 

Even though it’s totally cliche, I feel as though it’s also totally appropriate, given today’s date, to highlight the highs and completely ignore the lows for 2023. However, I’m tired and I can’t remember much. Plus I don’t always have the right words, or any words, and without words it’s tough for people to, you know, read a blog, rarely updated or not.

If you’re thinking “oh boy, not the highlights for a family of eight! We’ll never get to the end of this post,” right now, I can assure you that it will be much shorter than you imagined because when asked what their highlights were, four kids said “BVIs”, one said they didn’t know, and one chose that time when he pretended to be the bodyguard for a friend who was pretending to be someone famous.  Wow. You really can’t compare your year to our amazing, awesome, wonderful, fantastic, better than ever year, can you? 

Moving on to the resolutions we obviously work on all year, I thought I’d list our new ones here. 

Setting the bar low helps keep us grounded. 😉

A Short Story

I’m not a very good story-teller. All too often, I lose the plot part way along, and if there’s ever supposed to be a punchline, I never do justice to the delivery. Usually, my oral stories take one of three paths: one that’s never just the ‘long story short’ but instead has all the bonus features and extra scenes, or I can hardly come up with multisyllabic words to use in the telling, or they end up being pointless.

Several posts back I touched on how I can write 10,000 words far better than I could say a 10 word sentence, which is why I appreciate the space on this blog to do just that. You’d still have to work pretty hard to convince me that anyone cares to read it, but my kids do seem to find what I write amusing. Most of what I write, though it may be better than the verbal version, is still severely lacking in its engaging descriptions or compelling content. Encapsulating the ongoings of the family through composition is a feat I’m not convinced I accomplish well. 

Have you ever tried to put emotions evoked during a trip or conversation in writing? Using words, can you accurately portray the most exciting or happy or discouraging event you’ve experienced to make it as real on paper as it was in person? How would you sum up your desires, worries, joys of parenthood in a short, yet interesting, and maybe even humorous, entry?

As a parent, you probably can understand the depth of feelings and thoughts you may have towards your children, especially during certain situations. It wasn’t just a car ride to the store; you were taken aback by the budding maturity that kid really showed while you chatted. It wasn’t just an evening in the living room; the hilarity with which the conversation was filled will bring a smile to your face long after the evening has ended. It wasn’t just an unfortunate event; it reminded you how essential it is to pray for your children. It wasn’t just a hug; it was your silent leap of joy at your teen’s show of physical affection. It wasn’t just a day of endless housekeeping and ferrying kids hither and yon; it was your privilege to provide for and watch over the offspring entrusted to you. It wasn’t just one sibling helping out another; it was seeing a servant’s heart and being filled with gratitude for the Lord’s blessing in their lives. It wasn’t just disobedience on the part of my child; it was a reminder that my sin is just as important to correct before I can model obedience and love to my Lord. 

Like Mary, I try to store all of these things in my heart, and like a faux author, I feel like a fraud as I try to write about them. All this to say that our Thanksgiving holiday was as lovely (and tiring and joyful and yummy and busy) as anticipated and that’s probably a plot twist you didn’t see coming. Did I mention I’m bad at telling stories?    

An Essay Worthy of a Scholarship

Whew. What a week it’s been. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in college application nonsense and we’ve finally crossed the threshold of the worst part to the easy part. Feverishly spending hours writing recommendations, school profiles, filling in forms, answering questions, waiting for call-backs from the Home School Legal Aid helpline, and prodding Isaac along to complete his part has been about as stressful as you can imagine. I won’t bore you with all the details because I ‘m so eager to be done with it all and I’m anxious to share with you one of the funnier, light-hearted moments we enjoyed during this process. 

In order to be considered for scholarships, most of the schools require the student to submit an essay, either on a topic of personal choice or in an answer to a prompt the school suggests. While waiting….and waiting….and waiting….and waiting some more for Isaac to complete this portion of the application process, one of his siblings decided to write an essay for him. Though it pokes fun at Isaac, it is also a testament to the ready humor this sibling possesses and we all got quite a laugh out of it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Isaac Allan (Just kidding, it’s Anna)

Oct. 22, 2023

Scholarship Essay

I am a great person. That is why you should give me a scholarship. One of the awesome talents I have is that I am really good at procrastinating. It might seem like this trait is not very helpful in my life, but I can assure you, it has helped. For example, this letter is being written by my incredible younger sister. A scholarship would help me very much, I think. I clearly do not have enough money to get into college. I am not implying that I would get into college with enough money, for I do not know enough about life to live on my own.

I have accomplished more in my life than just beating Legends of Zelda and sleeping in till 11:47 a.m. I work at a Chick-fil-a and earn $3.00 an hour. As you can see, this is why I must get this scholarship. 

I also enjoy symmetry. For example, if there is a spot in my room where you can see the floor, I immediately take clothes out of my hamper (I wouldn’t know whether clean or dirty) and spread it over the spot. 

One of my fantastic accomplishments is getting out of bed. It is an arduous and strenuous challenge. My mother typically sends one of my five siblings to wake me up (you can see why my life might need a scholarship once in a while). My earliest time of getting downstairs after the wake-up call is 34 minutes. That, in my book, deserves a platinum reward, such as sleeping 15 minutes later. 

I truly believe that with motivation, a scholarship, and some sugary candies, I can make it through this part of my interesting life.

Though Isaac is a fantastic writer, don’t you think this essay would add zest and color to the scholarship application’s office? 😄