The Last Few Months…

When I was little, everyone used to say that “time goes so much faster as you get older.” And yeah, they were absolutely right! You get more responsibilities and 24 hours isn’t enough time to accomplish everything!

Anyway, all this to say–we’ve obviously been super busy because we’ve abandoned this place. No, I actually forgot about it. Oopsies. 🙂

So here is little update on what each of us has been up to lately:

Charissa:

Charissa is now a senior in high school (what?!) and is currently working at the library which I know she really enjoys. Our little town is opening up a bakery where she is a part of designing the kitchen, and will soon be making her pastries and lots of other goodies there!

She keeps a food blog HERE where she makes us all drool over the food;)

She has a cake stand that she keeps well supplied with cakes, cookies, macarons, and anything else she bakes up…and sometimes is asking us to eat more so the goodies will be eaten up so that she make a new one!

(personal favorite right here, lemon tart with raspberries!)

Her creations don’t just taste amazing, but are works of art as well! When something isn’t turning out how she wants it to and we tell her it’ll still taste good, she insists that the looks are just as important as taste, if not more important 🙂

Needless to say, we all enjoy the results of her baking, and are maybe a bit spoiled with the frequency that we get to enjoy such wonderful goodies!

Charissa also just passed her permit test, and still isn’t quite sure if she’s excited or scared to start driving 🙂

Rebekah:

Rebekah has been staying busy with her babysitting/mom’s helper jobs, which she absolutely loves! She is so good with kids, and somehow has that patience 😉

She enjoys hanging out with them whenever she possibly can, and is working on getting her license so she isn’t dependent on someone to take her and can go more often 🙂 She has also started working at the local root beer stand with Cassia a couple days a week, and has enjoyed learning how to take orders and help customers 🙂

She also added Raelynn, a baby llama, to her list of animals and has quite enjoyed working with her! She has plans to do shows with her, take her to schools, nursing homes, etc, and eventually raise more llamas!

Anna:

I have just finished up my Freshman year of College (studying Elementary Education) but am taking a year or two off as I switch gears a bit to get certified in TEFL (Teaching English As a Second Language) as well as furthering my Spanish. Along with keeping busy with work. I’m still working at the High School (currently in the process of getting a new job) but am now full time, which gives me less time lol!

At the beginning of August, I enjoyed spending time outside with a group of friends canoeing 40 miles down a river. It was such an absolute relaxing time (without my phone!!) and being out in the sun and away from the business of life. I keep forgetting how much I love being outdoors.

Cassia:

Cassia has three part-time jobs at the moment which keeps her hopping…If she is not at one job she is at the other. And she just accepted another part-time job offer at the hospital, however, this job will help her settle down to where she doesn’t have to work so much. She still runs with the EMS in our town once a week and has recently moved out on her own, which, from what I have heard, she really enjoys having her own place!

Earlier this year she was between jobs and was not working at all…which she enjoyed for a short time but then it drove her crazy! She finally decided to pick up a job and ended up at Domino’s delivering pizza! Eight months later she’s still there and loves it, she says she is not there to stay, but for the time being it is a good fit!

In the beginning months of this year, she took a spontaneous 2 day trip to Florida with Susannah, Leah, and Jessica to spend some time on the beach and come back to Indiana looking like lobsters (literally 🙂 ). But non-the less, they had a load of fun and enjoyed spending time together.

She got to fly commercially for the first time on that trip!

Amidst her busy life, she says she needs to slow down a bit and do more fun things! Next spring she will be taking time off work, unfortunately not for a fun vacation but back surgery. While the news was not exactly what she wanted to hear, she is very excited as to finally having answers to her back issues and looking forward to being able to move on in the medical field.

Susannah:

Susannah is finishing up her third year of college and recently got to return to clinicals (attending births/prenatals/postpartums) for her midwifery education/degree again this fall after taking a 15-month break recovering from a car accident last year.  I know getting to go back has been a huge source of encouragement and joy for her and she absolutely loves it! Her current life mainly consists of eating, sleeping (sometimes), paperwork, class assignments, office visits, and births.

(did you know cutting 10 inches of hair off makes going from bed to car in 2 minutes in the middle of the night on the way to a birth easier? 😀 )

Susannah is getting ready to move several states away soon for her next clinical rotation. It will be about four months in a large city where she knows hardly anyone which is terrifying and super exciting!

(and she has started drinking COFFEE! She used to abhor the mere smell of it but missing multiple nights of sleep makes coffee kinda necessary 😉

(they do foot prints at all 6 week visits [the last official visit for mom and baby] and hang them in the office)

(weighing the baby is a huge highlight for every parent after the birth!)

(newborn footprints for the parents [photo used with parent’s permission])

Leah:

Leah enjoyed spending three of her September weekends on Lake Michigan–once with Bekah, Charissa, and friends Alaina and Esther for a senior picture trip for Charissa, then for our annual fall camping trip, and again for one of Mama’s ladies’ retreats that she and Bekah did all the cooking for.

She just bought a car, which she is super excited about! And now she wants to go ALL the places just so she can drive it! 😀

She continues to amaze us with her art skills and is still creating beautiful designs. She is slowly working on starting a business to sell her work.

Also, she’s kept busy keeping the flower garden looking like a garden, not a weed patch! And keeps the house supplied with fresh arrangements that brighten each day. I always enjoy seeing how she arranges the flowers each time fresh ones appear 🙂

The rest of her time is filled up with her job at a local farm supply store, helping to keep things going at home, and doing a bit of teaching sewing and violin.

Jessica:

Jessica is currently doing all things flying and it’s rare when I see her because she is so busy! She’s now a flight instructor and has already gotten several students certified. Below is a picture of her and her student after Mayra soloed. It’s tradition to cut out the back of the student’s shirt, like “cutting the apron strings”, once the student is able to land the airplane by themselves. 🙂

Also, she recently got to experience  visiting another country (Costa Rica) with our ‘adopted’ sister Sarah, where they got to see in the Volcano Irazu (pictured below) eat all sorts of good food, and swim with the whales.

Sarah & Jessica at the Volcan Irazu

 Sarah caught a selfie with the whale, just in time!

Jessica is also flying a Pilatus (the plane in the back of the picture) and gets to fly all over the country and drive cool courtesy cars, like this one in Wisconsin.  She LOVES that Pilatus! It’s a turboprop, so it can fly up high and go fast with the jets.

And there you have it, a small glimpse of what has been going on in our busy lives even though the blog has been quite silent 🙂

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