Traci's Testimonials

Suffice it to say, it's been a very rough couple of weeks...one of those "when it rains it...hails and puts a big honkin' dent in the hood of your car" type of thing. The month started out great! Work is picking up for Hubby after a horrific tragedy at his mine and due to his increased hours of overtime we thought we'd finally be able to catch up on some things and maybe start a little bit of Christmas shopping uncharacteristically early. (We are the wait-till-the-last-minute-and-curse-the-busy-malls-as-if-no-one-else-has-the-right-to-do- last-minute-shopping type of people). The second order of school books came in right on time so I didn't have to find make-work projects for the kids while we waited. Life was grand! Then that second week of October hit...OK, no, it SMACKED us right in our faces! It started with my beloved washing machine breaking down. Just the week before I had been complaining about the enormous volume of washing that was relentlessly pi...

I love my sons, I do. Most of the time they are a source of great joy to me. When Hubby and I first discussed the possibility of our future children we determined we wanted 2 boys for reasons I don't remember now (so they obviously weren't very important). When our first child was born and we discovered we had a daughter, she was all we wanted. When our second daughter was born my dad said, (with some amount of pride) "I had two girls." When our third daughter was born we were happy, and done. I have learned that one should never tell God what it is he or she will or will not be doing....such as having more children. I had decided I was done. The Lord disagreed. One month after Hubby's vasectomy consultation I discovered I was pregnant. One month after I discovered I was pregnant I came to terms with the fact that I was pregnant. One week after I came to terms with the fact that I was pregnant I became happy that I was pregnant. One month after I became happy tha...

We each have our own interpretation of 'value'. The old saying; One man's trash is another man's treasure still rings true. My husband and I have tried to steer our childrens' affections away from material possessions as much as North American-ly possible. We are certainly blessed with too much as are many people in our culture, but thankful for every bit of it. There have been lean times...very lean times over the course of creating this family but nothing has been without purpose. No lesson has gone unlearned. We have never claimed to be an average family. We most definitely have different values than some. We have literally been questioned at times about how we can possibly consider ourselves good parents when we have never acquired a DSi   for any of the kids. I'm not kidding. That really happened. Many of the things my children have or don't have and any of the activities my kids are or are not involved in have more to do with logistics than anything...

My family started out having the most wonderful holiday season we've ever had! My husband was able to take two weeks of vacation time over Christmas and the New Year and it was such a treat having him home. We were able to spend a day with my sister and her family just before Christmas and my parents came to our house for Christmas and Boxing day. Because there was so much going on during and in between the two holidays there was no "Christmas Letdown" type feelings hovering over our home. Hubby and I couldn't stop smiling over what had to be our best Christmas ever! Mid-week we started feeling some of the more negative effects of all the visiting we'd been doing. Gramma and Papa had gone home just in time for the flu to move in. Once again, I was glad that Hubby was on vacation so I could take time to recover! I can't even be sure that last week had a Thursday because I wasn't present for it. By New Year's Eve I was awake...barely. Buddy #1 was fee...