Christmas greetings from the
Francis Family!
2015 has been a busy and thankful year for us.
Doug’s job at WPX Energy continues to provide for our family
and he is busy as ever, the laptop is always open on the evenings and on
weekends. He and his brothers also take
turns caring for their mom twice a day.
Doug usually has the weekend evenings rotation where he buys her groceries,
pays bills, and administers medications.
His vacation time has been accruing and it’s use it or lose it, so I
convinced him to take some Friday’s off for us to spend together as family
time. We’ve enjoyed several visits to
the Zoo, the Space Museum, and the Children’s Museum this year and I love
seeing his smile return, his shoulders relax, and the snoring in the recliner commence
once our morning of fun is over.
He also worked hard this summer building a new school area with
built-in bookcases and a custom desk area for us. Of course, the shelves are already full and the
desk is used everyday! With one child it was easy to do schoolwork here and there, now it's necessary to keep things a little more organized and have multiple drawers and shelves toddler proofed.
Our garden was growing well this Spring until an underground varmint managed to eat about ¾ of it. I
gave up on it and will have to rework it again next year, adding some kind of
wire beneath the boxes. When we first
started the Square Foot Garden years ago, I had Doug put wood in the bottom of
the boxes but it had disintegrated over the years. This past summer was a very busy one for me
as a homeschooling mom. Our co-op that
we have been part of for 4 years dropped their standard classes and also the preschool/nursery
room. After much prayer and researching,
we decided to join Classical Conversations (CC) in the Fall. This group is academic focused versus our
previous social co-op. I’ve had to
completely change the curriculum we have been using and change the way I teach
Emma. We do love the new way, but I am still
getting used to it all with a busy toddler in tow. 
I also helped organized
a new homeschool PE program for our area at the local YMCA where we have open
swim on Tuesday afternoons and a PE class on Thursday afternoons. I asked one of our favorite homeschooling moms to teach the PE portion and she agreed :)
I am so thankful to be here and to be able to
continue homeschooling Emma. It has been
2 years since the end of cancer treatments and I am now on checkups every 6
months instead of quarterly. I also started teaching Intro classes about
Essential Oils once a month. It’s one of
my passions besides homeschooling and gardening. Visit my 'oily' blog and site to find out more at OilySteps2Health
Emma is thriving in her role as Big Sister and also at CC. She is a very social girl and enjoys meeting
new people, making new friends, and helping take care of her little
brother. Her week is packed: CC on Monday’s with PE and craft in the
afternoon; Art , Swim, and Dance on
Tuesday’s; Piano/Guitar on Wednesday’s; and PE on Thursday’s. We do manage to get bookwork in on Wednesday’s,
Thursday mornings and Friday’s. We all
enjoy memory work for CC while on the road.
Luke, well…he is a toddler, a boy, and into everything. We take him to our church’s ‘preschool’ twice
a week where he gives the teachers a run for their money. I do greatly miss the snugly little baby,
but his smiles and silliness make up for it.
I love this learning stage of exploration and wonder. Earlier this year, we all stayed up to watch
the Blood Moon. Every evening, he is
always asking if the moon is red. ”Red
moon, red moon? Oh, it white now” in his
little caveman talk. He loves reading
books about the moon and stars and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is one of his
favorite songs.
We hope your year has been full of blessings,
Doug, April, Emma, and Luke Francis
1
Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the
LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
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