Seasonal Updates

2012 was exciting as always for our aging family.  Aging is the key word this year – Maggie turns 13 here in a couple of weeks, Jason turned 45, and the rest of us are wishing for being a big person so we can eat ice cream whenever we want or that we were younger so the ice cream we eat whenever we want wouldn’t stick with us so much!

Each spring brings wind, mud, (no more ice!–yeah!), our church Spring Push, school, starting seedlings, garden prep, and planning for summer projects & programs.  2012 was no different, and summer got off to a good start. (officially on June 1 to the locals here)

Our personal summer began for the kids 3 weeks before our church VBS began, so they had a little time to get going on a few summer projects, get some bike riding time in and Ashley, Colt, and Virginia to get started on their gardens.  Ashley took the prize for gardening this year – she had a nasturtium growing in one of her tires that had over 100 blooms – she sure was proud of her turnips, nasturtiums and beets.  Holly did great with her carrots, and Colt was real excited about his 3 tires of carrots, flowers, and potatoes for about the first 2 weeks.  His harvest dried up with the hot Mongolian summer sun except for the potato tire – because of an unusually rainy summer he got a meal or two out of those.

Jason’s younger brother came over for a quick visit in May.  What fun the kids had with their uncle, and I was sure thrilled to have his expertise in piano tuning for my baby – it hadn’t been tuned in just way-too-long!

Fall brought school, then our trip out to Korea – not much else to be said about that season!

During December, our good friends stayed with us for a final time together here.  The house was hopping with 12 kids and 4 adults total!  Good times!

Individual Updates!

Maggie has been working on learning the flute over the past couple of years and is doing well with it.  Last week she started playing along with mom at the piano for church services.  She is also playing piano for Thursday night service as of a couple of months ago.  7^th grade has been challenging for her, but video classes have helped immensely.

Holly, now in 5^th grade, hit double digits in January and is doing well in school this year.  She is plugging away at the piano and has started violin lessons with her Dad. (NOT the violin, it’s the “fiddle” of courseJ)  She seems to enjoy music composing, we’re hoping she’ll continue experimenting in that area.

Colt, 2^nd grade and all 8 year-old boy, keeps us hopping and trying to think of chores to keep his mind and body busy and strong.  He just about has no teeth left in his head at this point!  He lost several within a short time recently and has a pretty toothless smile.  It has been fun watching him mature some this year and able to handle some small projects that Dad typically does, ie. chopping wood for and stoking the fire in the schoolroom.

Ashley got her first dog bite last week, just about the time she lost her first tooth.  Our smaller dog, Alaska, who doesn’t bite, nipped her in the forehead!  Go figure, but a good reminder for us all to not take a dog for granted and also that God protects us!  We’ve made several trips to the “foreign” clinic in town over the past year, but are so thankful it is there and open to the public now (it wasn’t before) and that nothing too major has taken us to it.  Ashley is progressing in reading, writing and math and makes a great nurse to any who might be sick in the family – she loves tending things and people!

Virginia is full of joy and life – now 4 and quickly becoming independent.  She has moved up in the chores to dish washer, which she is excited about!  Her alphabet and number learning is progressing immensely as Maggie is drilling her before bed most nights.

We had an unexpected\unplanned trip to Korea in Oct./Nov. due to visa issues.  Though this really threw our life in a whirlwind for a while, we enjoyed spending time with friends there and the Lord also used it to establish some contacts for Jason, as it became vital for him to get back there to get his throat worked on.  He had two tight places in his esophagus that would close up at times and allow nothing to pass through to his stomach, sometimes for a couple of days.  He got that taken care of a couple of weeks ago, and we’re all excited  that Daddy can eat whatever and whenever we do and he even beats some of us finishing!

We hope you all had a wonderful year, busy serving the Lord and finding joy and fulfillment in His plan for you in your little spot in the world.

Jason Muller