Well, as usual time never stops and as the kids get older it just seems to fly right by. Not really sure why it happens that way. When they are first born, time seems to just creep along as you wait for them to do things on their own. You just can't wait for them to smile their first smile, roll over by themselves, sit on their own, crawl, say their first words, creep, walk (need I go on). We seem to wish time away just so you can enjoy experiencing life with them. AND the next thing you know, you blink your eyes and turn around and they are nearly GROWN. Then you think, OH MY where has the time gone and why can't I turn back to clocks. Not really sure why it happens that way, but it does.
It is hard to believe that 17 years ago, I became a mom to one one the most precious babies on this earth, and just yesterday, my sweet little baby boy had his senior portraits taken at school. WOW!!! I was a little surprised when we got the notice in the mail that they would be taking them already. He is still a junior and not even finished out the school year yet, and already time is getting away from us once again!!! Can't believe that this time next year, we will be gearing up for GRADUATION. Not sure if I am ready for all of this, but in reality I have no choice. I am very proud of him and the young man he has become, but a little sad, worried and scared all at the same time. All of these thoughts come flooding to my mind like, did I raise him the right way, will he be able to handle life on his own if he goes away to college, is he mature enough to handle life's decisions, am I ready for him to leave, will he make the right decisions.
I know that he has a good head on his shoulders and a good foundation of faith and will do just fine, but what about me? Sure he has gone away on trips and adventures with school, church, friends, etc. and done just fine, but this is the BIG YEAR for him and when he graduates, it will be just the first step to leaving home for good. AM I READY FOR THIS. Well I guess I have to be, because, time keeps moving and I can't stop it or take it back or turn back the clocks. Just have to trust that we have raised him right, not screwed up too much and give him the room to leave our safe little nest so he can spread his wings and SOAR!!!
Artie told me when he got back from taking him to have his pictures made yesterday, that he was glad I didn't go, because I probably would have CRIED!! As I am sure other parents have know have testified to their tears yesterday, too.
Well, I suppose all I can do is place him in God's hands, pray for his leadership and guidance to watch over and protect him and know that I can't stop time and keep it from turning, but I can make the most of the time we have been give together and sit back and enjoy the ride. May be a little bumpy at times and move a little too fast, but I am buckled up and ready to go.
Thank you God for the time you have given me with this precious treasure, and may I not waste it on the unimportant things in life, but treasure every sweet and precious moment from now on.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Growing Pains
As I mentioned in my previous post, we have been playing the waiting game at our house, with our animals, our children, and decisions about our near future. Well the wait is over on most accounts, but now we are experiencing some GROWING PAINS, that we sometimes have to go through while waiting and once the wait is over.
First of all, our 20 something eggs that our broody hen was sitting on never hatched, so we had to throw them out and start over. A week ago we put 38 eggs in the incubator, and after candling the eggs today, we have 31 viable eggs that should be hatching out in about 2 weeks. Of course we cannot keep ALL 31 chicks with the 19 chickens we already have, we just don't have the room and need for all of them. I am sure we will have to give some of them away, so if anyone would like some chicks, just let us know!!! Our chickens are GREAT egg layers and since we have expanded our animal enclosure so that they can "free range" ALL the time, we seem to be collecting more eggs than before. We have white, brown and blue egg layers (and some of all 3 in our incubator). If you or anyone you know needs and chickens, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!
Some of our children have also been experiencing growing pains when dealing with some tough life decisions and situations, some more difficult than others. #3 had to go through some "growing pains" last week while on her 8th grade trip to the OBX. What should have been the BEST time of her life so far, ended up being the WORST time when some of the other girls she was with showed their true colors and were just being down right MEAN AND UGLY with her. She was only half way through her trip when all that started. She couldn't even enjoy the rest of her trip and told us she had a TERRIBLE time after that happened and she didn't enjoy it at all. The worst part about the whole thing is that she was afraid to "tell" any adult chaperones about what was going on for fear that she would get in trouble and be sent home. She wouldn't even tell her daddy what happened because it made her feel so bad, she had to tell her older sister about it so that sister could tell her dad. I was gone on a trip, too, when she came home, so I didn't even get a chance to talk to her about it untl I got home the next day!!! Talk about feeling HELPLESS, that's the worst feeling in the world to know your child is in pain and Artie had to tell her when she got home that she had not been accepted into the early college high school for next year, something she had taken upon herself to pursue. So she got a DOUBLE WHAMMY in just a couple of days time. I guess at some point in life we all have to learn to take the good with the bad, but her BAD just went to WORSE when she found that out and her sadness to DEEP SORROW and DISAPPOINTMENT!! Growing up is so hard and having to learn these lessons is even harder, but at least she had the courage enough to set her mind to do something and doing it, even though the end result was sadness and disappointment. On the flip side, we have a GREAT group of youth who she can call friends who showed their love and support to her when she was falling apart. The upside in all of this is that she proved to all of us that if she sets her mind to doing something that even though her efforts will not always end in success, she can still set goals and work hard to achieve them. God must have bigger and better plans for her and we know that there is a reason and purpose to everything he allows to happen. There is a reason she will be @ Crest High School next year, and her 8th grade science/math teacher has encouraged her to pursue trying out for Cross Country next year. This will give her something to work for this summer, and something she can be involved with other students she knows, that will make her transition from middle to high school a lot easier and smoother. THANKS BE TO GOD FOR WISE AND CARING TEACHERS!!!
On a final note, we all had to experience some growing pains last night when we had one of our goats go into labor with OUR very own "first" set of kids here at Hubbard's Haven. She started showing signs of labor about 5:00 this afternoon and by the time we all got back home from McTeacher's night around 8:30, she was going into active labor. By the time I had gone to the store and back by 9:00 her water had broken and she was working VERY hard, harder than we thought she should be, to deliver her babies. I was in the midst of bathing #6 when Leeann came running in and said "IT IS HAPPENING!!! WE CAN SEE THE FEET!!!" I rushed to get little bit out of the tub and dressed, still dripping wet to get outside to see what I could do to help. After about an hour, she still hadn't delivered and was really starting to struggle. We could see 2 feet, but then it looked like another foot was coming, too. You see goats, like most farm animal, should be born front feet first and nose/face to follow. It appered our kid was coming out back feet first and then front feet BEFORE the head. We immediately called inside for Trey to come help and called our friend, who sold us our goats and has tons of experience delivering goats, told her what was going on and asked what to do. I thought if we didn't do something FAST we might just lose mama AND the babies. Not long after that, we saw not 2, not 3, but 4 feet being delivered at the same time (2 front legs and 2 back legs). Our friend told us how to grab hold of what appeared to be the back feet and gently pull them out with each contraction. She then told us she was on her way to help!!! Trey was able to get the back legs and nearly half the body out, when we saw a nose and realized that BOTH kids were being delivered at the exact same time SIDE BY SIDE. He was almost in tears for fear and worry about trying to safely deliver hims, without hurting him and putting mom and the other baby in danger. We tried to no avail to push the 2nd baby back in to deliver the first safely (at the time he was kicking his back legs) but her head was pushing against her brother's chest, in essence crushing his rib cage, and we weren't able to save him (apparently they were identical twins in the same sac which is why they would account for them being born simultaneously). Luckily, she was born quickly and safely after her brother just as our friend arrived to help. Our lucky little goat has been named "Lucky Storm" since she is EXTREMELY lucky to be alive and was born in the midst of a lightning storm. She is the first of our goats to have our name Hubbard's Haven. Trey is grateful to have been able to save her and mama, but saddened that brother didn't make it. I guess this is just another one of those hard life lesson to learn about "farm living" and raising animals. But brother goat gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life in exchange for sister. Sad over our loss, but rejoicing in the fact that we still have new life to celebrate.
You know it would be just our luck that our first delivery on our own would be such a difficult one, but now we know what to expect and how to handle things for round 2 and 3. For although the wait is over for us by experiencing our first delivery, we still have 2 more rounds to go with our other goats. Praying that our growing pains will not lead to more tragedy, but rejoicing in the fact that we can go through them together and experience the joy of success in the new life we will receive.
I suppose you can liken all this to our Christian life and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. He never promised us that life would be easy and we would not experience pain, BUT he did promise that He would be with us and showed us that if we endure through it, we can experience the joy that new life in Him with bring, if we just believe and never give up on HIM, ourselves and each other. Sometimes we must experience the pain and sorrow in order to look to Him for the strenghth, help and guidance to get through it all, knowing that the ultimate prize still lies ahead and we must keep pressing on.
Philippians 3:12b, 13b-14
I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me... forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I PRESS ON toward the goal of the ultimate PRIZE of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.
Despite of what has happened in life, what we are currently going through or what we will go through, we must ALL keep our eyes on the prize. If Leeann had given up and not tried to work through her problems this week, or if Trey had given up on trying to deliver our goats, then the end result could have been disastrous or even FATAL. But they were persistent and took it upon themselves to not give up or let circumstances keep them down and out, but persisted and pursued solving their problems HEAD ON. We all need to remember that no matter what is happening around us we must focus our lives on the ultimate goal set before us. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE and God will bring you joy in sorrow, comfort in pain and Peace in knowing that all things work together for good if we trust HIM!!!!!
First of all, our 20 something eggs that our broody hen was sitting on never hatched, so we had to throw them out and start over. A week ago we put 38 eggs in the incubator, and after candling the eggs today, we have 31 viable eggs that should be hatching out in about 2 weeks. Of course we cannot keep ALL 31 chicks with the 19 chickens we already have, we just don't have the room and need for all of them. I am sure we will have to give some of them away, so if anyone would like some chicks, just let us know!!! Our chickens are GREAT egg layers and since we have expanded our animal enclosure so that they can "free range" ALL the time, we seem to be collecting more eggs than before. We have white, brown and blue egg layers (and some of all 3 in our incubator). If you or anyone you know needs and chickens, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!
Some of our children have also been experiencing growing pains when dealing with some tough life decisions and situations, some more difficult than others. #3 had to go through some "growing pains" last week while on her 8th grade trip to the OBX. What should have been the BEST time of her life so far, ended up being the WORST time when some of the other girls she was with showed their true colors and were just being down right MEAN AND UGLY with her. She was only half way through her trip when all that started. She couldn't even enjoy the rest of her trip and told us she had a TERRIBLE time after that happened and she didn't enjoy it at all. The worst part about the whole thing is that she was afraid to "tell" any adult chaperones about what was going on for fear that she would get in trouble and be sent home. She wouldn't even tell her daddy what happened because it made her feel so bad, she had to tell her older sister about it so that sister could tell her dad. I was gone on a trip, too, when she came home, so I didn't even get a chance to talk to her about it untl I got home the next day!!! Talk about feeling HELPLESS, that's the worst feeling in the world to know your child is in pain and Artie had to tell her when she got home that she had not been accepted into the early college high school for next year, something she had taken upon herself to pursue. So she got a DOUBLE WHAMMY in just a couple of days time. I guess at some point in life we all have to learn to take the good with the bad, but her BAD just went to WORSE when she found that out and her sadness to DEEP SORROW and DISAPPOINTMENT!! Growing up is so hard and having to learn these lessons is even harder, but at least she had the courage enough to set her mind to do something and doing it, even though the end result was sadness and disappointment. On the flip side, we have a GREAT group of youth who she can call friends who showed their love and support to her when she was falling apart. The upside in all of this is that she proved to all of us that if she sets her mind to doing something that even though her efforts will not always end in success, she can still set goals and work hard to achieve them. God must have bigger and better plans for her and we know that there is a reason and purpose to everything he allows to happen. There is a reason she will be @ Crest High School next year, and her 8th grade science/math teacher has encouraged her to pursue trying out for Cross Country next year. This will give her something to work for this summer, and something she can be involved with other students she knows, that will make her transition from middle to high school a lot easier and smoother. THANKS BE TO GOD FOR WISE AND CARING TEACHERS!!!
On a final note, we all had to experience some growing pains last night when we had one of our goats go into labor with OUR very own "first" set of kids here at Hubbard's Haven. She started showing signs of labor about 5:00 this afternoon and by the time we all got back home from McTeacher's night around 8:30, she was going into active labor. By the time I had gone to the store and back by 9:00 her water had broken and she was working VERY hard, harder than we thought she should be, to deliver her babies. I was in the midst of bathing #6 when Leeann came running in and said "IT IS HAPPENING!!! WE CAN SEE THE FEET!!!" I rushed to get little bit out of the tub and dressed, still dripping wet to get outside to see what I could do to help. After about an hour, she still hadn't delivered and was really starting to struggle. We could see 2 feet, but then it looked like another foot was coming, too. You see goats, like most farm animal, should be born front feet first and nose/face to follow. It appered our kid was coming out back feet first and then front feet BEFORE the head. We immediately called inside for Trey to come help and called our friend, who sold us our goats and has tons of experience delivering goats, told her what was going on and asked what to do. I thought if we didn't do something FAST we might just lose mama AND the babies. Not long after that, we saw not 2, not 3, but 4 feet being delivered at the same time (2 front legs and 2 back legs). Our friend told us how to grab hold of what appeared to be the back feet and gently pull them out with each contraction. She then told us she was on her way to help!!! Trey was able to get the back legs and nearly half the body out, when we saw a nose and realized that BOTH kids were being delivered at the exact same time SIDE BY SIDE. He was almost in tears for fear and worry about trying to safely deliver hims, without hurting him and putting mom and the other baby in danger. We tried to no avail to push the 2nd baby back in to deliver the first safely (at the time he was kicking his back legs) but her head was pushing against her brother's chest, in essence crushing his rib cage, and we weren't able to save him (apparently they were identical twins in the same sac which is why they would account for them being born simultaneously). Luckily, she was born quickly and safely after her brother just as our friend arrived to help. Our lucky little goat has been named "Lucky Storm" since she is EXTREMELY lucky to be alive and was born in the midst of a lightning storm. She is the first of our goats to have our name Hubbard's Haven. Trey is grateful to have been able to save her and mama, but saddened that brother didn't make it. I guess this is just another one of those hard life lesson to learn about "farm living" and raising animals. But brother goat gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life in exchange for sister. Sad over our loss, but rejoicing in the fact that we still have new life to celebrate.
You know it would be just our luck that our first delivery on our own would be such a difficult one, but now we know what to expect and how to handle things for round 2 and 3. For although the wait is over for us by experiencing our first delivery, we still have 2 more rounds to go with our other goats. Praying that our growing pains will not lead to more tragedy, but rejoicing in the fact that we can go through them together and experience the joy of success in the new life we will receive.
I suppose you can liken all this to our Christian life and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. He never promised us that life would be easy and we would not experience pain, BUT he did promise that He would be with us and showed us that if we endure through it, we can experience the joy that new life in Him with bring, if we just believe and never give up on HIM, ourselves and each other. Sometimes we must experience the pain and sorrow in order to look to Him for the strenghth, help and guidance to get through it all, knowing that the ultimate prize still lies ahead and we must keep pressing on.
Philippians 3:12b, 13b-14
I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me... forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I PRESS ON toward the goal of the ultimate PRIZE of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.
Despite of what has happened in life, what we are currently going through or what we will go through, we must ALL keep our eyes on the prize. If Leeann had given up and not tried to work through her problems this week, or if Trey had given up on trying to deliver our goats, then the end result could have been disastrous or even FATAL. But they were persistent and took it upon themselves to not give up or let circumstances keep them down and out, but persisted and pursued solving their problems HEAD ON. We all need to remember that no matter what is happening around us we must focus our lives on the ultimate goal set before us. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE and God will bring you joy in sorrow, comfort in pain and Peace in knowing that all things work together for good if we trust HIM!!!!!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The waiting game
Well, the Hubbard gang is all back under one roof again. Casey made it safely back from NYC on Sunday night and we are back in full swing with our busy schedules. We are back in the full swing of things with school, work, church, etc. But in the midst of everything going on around us, we are also playing the waiting game. You see Leeann had her interview for the early college high school yesterday. Artie and I sat in on part of the interview session with her, and we were excused as she completed the interview alone. AND WE WAITED. Then after the interview she had to write an essay about why she wanted to be accepted in the early college high school. AND WE WAITED some more. When it was all said and done, the entire process took about an hour and a half. AND NOW WE WAIT AGAIN to hear if she gets accepted. Praying for God's will to be done, and hoping for her sake, it will all work out for her. We just have to be PATIENT IN WAITING.
We are also WAITING anxiously as our 3 goats get closer and closer to having their babies. Our "mama" goat, as I call her since she has had babies before. Looks like she could give birth ANY DAY NOW!!! We have actually been "waiting" for her to deliver for a few days now. Every day she shows more and more signs that it won't be long now. Hopefully her "baby" who is also expecting, and her baby's half sister, will follow suit soon after her.
We are also WAITING to see if the 20 something eggs that our hen has been sitting on for about 3 weeks now, will hatch. Out of all the chickens we have had in the past 2 years, she is the only "broody" hen that we have had. I would love for our children to experience going to the coup to gather eggs in the next few days, and find some "dibs" hatched out. In the past, we have just incubated the eggs in order for them to hatch, which is exciting, but it would be even more exciting, if our hen hatched her own babies.
Hopefully, the WAITING GAME will be over soon and we will have some good news to share on all accounts. But for now we just WAIT. So pray for us as we WAIT and see what God is going to do!!
We are also WAITING anxiously as our 3 goats get closer and closer to having their babies. Our "mama" goat, as I call her since she has had babies before. Looks like she could give birth ANY DAY NOW!!! We have actually been "waiting" for her to deliver for a few days now. Every day she shows more and more signs that it won't be long now. Hopefully her "baby" who is also expecting, and her baby's half sister, will follow suit soon after her.
We are also WAITING to see if the 20 something eggs that our hen has been sitting on for about 3 weeks now, will hatch. Out of all the chickens we have had in the past 2 years, she is the only "broody" hen that we have had. I would love for our children to experience going to the coup to gather eggs in the next few days, and find some "dibs" hatched out. In the past, we have just incubated the eggs in order for them to hatch, which is exciting, but it would be even more exciting, if our hen hatched her own babies.
Hopefully, the WAITING GAME will be over soon and we will have some good news to share on all accounts. But for now we just WAIT. So pray for us as we WAIT and see what God is going to do!!
Friday, April 13, 2012
How time flies
Well it has been a while since my last post (7 months to be exact) which should tell you something about the way our life has been, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!! Life and time just seems to be passing SOO quickly the older you get I suppose. With a house full of six kids and usually one or two extras life never slows down. This train just keeps a movin'. On the days that the ride seems to slow down, something else ALWAYS happens to speed things up again and put us back on track.
Luckily, life for us this week has been a little more low key, and relaxed, although we have kept ourselves VERY busy. You see, it is spring break here in NC and for the first time since Timothy was a baby, we are having a "staycation" here at Hubbard's Haven. We even got to enjoy "Good Friday" off school this year, since we had such a mild winter and didn't have to make up any snow days on our "holiday". We enjoyed a restful Easter weekend, beginning with watching the Passion of the Christ with our youth on Friday, the girls and I took a mommy/daughter day on Saturday to shop for new dresses, and on Sunday took part in a beautiful Sonrise service @ church followed by regular services to celebrate the resurrection of our risen Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. How precious it was to have enjoyed all of this together as a family, especially since 2 of our children have just recently accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour!!!! HALLELUJAH!!! Jonathan prayed to receive Christ about a month ago in our living room one Sunday after church. Emma Faith prayed to receive Christ at home one Wednesday night after coming back from AWANA. What a joy, privilege and a gift it has been to share those precious moments with our children!!! Nothing like hearing the heart of a child through a prayer of repentance and seeing their brokenness about wanting to follow Christ with their whole heart and life. Moments like these are worth all the hard work, dedication and even pain and heart break that you sometimes must endure as a parent.
Trey our oldest is finishing up his junior year, and is getting TONS of mail from colleges. He just took his ACT at school not too long ago. So I suppose it is just about that time to start making the college rounds and visits. He is still set on going to vet school somewhere and up until this year was set on going to University of Florida, which is probably still his first choice. Being a GATOR would more than please Artie's family, plus he could get in state tuition by living with some of Artie's family in FL. There are some REALLY good schools here in NC that have good vet/agriculture programs, too. He has mentioned NC State in Raleigh, and maybe one or two others. I think he has even made mention of UT in Knoxville, since they do have a REALLY good vet program. This would more than please MY family, since we are Volunteers at heart. He has also mentioned the marines and a few other options. Who knows wherer his path may lead, we just put it all in God's hands and will go from there. For now he is keeping busy with HIGH school, taking care our our little "farm", and taking part in some other extra curricular activities. This week he and friend worked 2 days helping move a fence for the lady who we bought our goats from last year, and then ALL day yesterday, worked to expand our goat/horse enclosure here at home. We currently have 6 goats, 3 of which are pregnant and should be kidding in the next few weeks. We also have 2 new kids, one is the 3 week old son of our goat we bred with a friend's herd, and the other is a 4 day old baby that Trey brought home Monday after helping moving the fence. Trey is still playing in the band and LOVING it, which I love. He also took part in the spring drama at school and played one of hte MAIN characters. He did an excellent job and will probably do it again. He has great talent for acting, wouldn't be surprised to see him on Broadway someday, who know?!?!?!? Oh well, at almost 17 he has his whole life ahead of him, can't wait to see what God has in store for him.
Casey turned 15 in December and got her learner's permit in January. She hasn't done too much driving since then, but I am sure whe will have ample opportunity this summers when we are all home and runing around different places. She, too, has been quite busy with school and church activities. She just left yesterday morning about 6 am on a trip to NYC with chorus from school. SHE WAS SOOOO EXCITED!! Can't wait to hear all about the things she got to see and do. They have a non-stop schedule for the next 2 days, and then back home again via Washington, DC on Sunday. So glad she got opportunity to go. I had opportunity to visit there twice as a pre-teen/teen ager and still didn't get to see everything. Feels good that our kids have the same opportunity to go places and do things like we did and that we are able to send them. Casey, too, spends time taking care of our goats. She and Trey are both in FFA and taken part in showing our goats in several Dairy Goat shows. They spent a whole week at the fair last October with our goats. Casey loves to sing and is a part of our newly formed youth praise band at church. She is finishing up her freshman year and has done well during her first year of high school.
Leeann is in the 8th grade and will be 14 in a month. This has been a pretty good year for her, too. She has done well in school, and has even taken up a love for reading, which was really a struggle for when she was younger. I really credit her love of reading to her wonderful language arts teacher last year. She introduced Leeann to a series of books by an "older" author who has been around some time. Since picking up those books, she just can't seem to get enough to read. She even enjoys reading out loud to me and her younger siblings. It's good to see her succeed at something that seemed to haunt her for sooo long. Leeann also sings in the choir at school and is a part of the new youth praise band at church. This year she has also been VERY involved with Relay for Life at school. One of her classmates was diagnosed with cancer about 2 years ago, endured treatments/surgery, was in remission, but the cancer returned last fall. He is currently undergoing more treatments and will have surgery soon. The Relay for Life team at the middle school, our elemtary school and high school have all joined together in their fundraising efforts to benefit Leeann's classmate and his family to help cover his medical expenses. It is good to know that she is involved with something much greater than herself to help the needs and lives of others. She has always had such a heart for those with special needs, whether physical, mental, medical, etc. and puts her whole self into helping them and being a part of their lives. Such a gift will hopefully take her far in life. She will be taking a trip to the Outer Banks off the NC coast with the entire 8th grade at her school. This is a trip they take every year, and her older brother and sister have been on the same trip and loved it. Probably one of the biggest events for her this is year is that she has applied for the early college program next year, which is something she decided to do on her own, without any suggestion from us or anyone else. If accepted she will take classes at the local community college, as a type of dual enrollment, taking her high school classes and college classes at the same time. This would allow her to get her high school diploma AND a 2 year degree in only 4 years. WOW!!!! Sooo proud of her to take the initiative for her to do this on her own, making sure that she got all her papers filled out, signed and turned in by the deadline. We are praying that if this if God's will for her that it will all work out and she will get to take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity.
Jonathan is finishing up his 6th grade year at the middle school. He is playing french horn in the band this year and enjoying it. He has also been part of the science olympiad, a science competition for middle and high school students, tried out for the BOB team (battle of the books) and has been invited to join the Beta Club for his academic achievement. Although he does well in school and has always made good grades and been in advanced classes, his classes this year have really challenged him, maybe because this is the first year he has really had to WORK to earn his grades. A hard lesson to learn when you never really had to study and work hard since things have always come so naturally for him, but that is just one of life's lessons we all have to learn I guess. Jonathan still loves sports, but has not played any organized sports in over a year. He was going to play football, but they had Wednesday night practices and that conflicted with our Wednesday night church schedule. Maybe next year he can get more involved and try out for sports at school (6th grade is not allowed to play school sports). He has always liked to run and participated in local fun runs. This year, he actually ran his first 5K, which was a fundraiser for Leeann's classmate with cancer. He did pretty well for not really running on a regular basis. Maybe he can work hard this summer and try out for track and cross country next year. Artie also thinks he would do well with wrestling, since he is soooo strong and has the build for it. We will just have to wait and see. As I metioned earlier, Jonathan also recently prayed to receive Christ and will be baptized with his sister this summer, whenever we can work out a date for Artie's dad to come and baptize them both.
Emma Faith just celebrated her 8th birthday in January, a milestone birthday for girls at our house. You see, we have the tradition (which started with Casey) that when you turn out years old, you can get your ears pierced. OH WHAT EXCITEMENT FOR HER!!! After celebrating with a sleepover, where we made pizzas, did makeovers, painted nails, etc., her sisters and I took Faith to Claire's at the mall for the BIG EVENT!!! She looked so grown up sitting in that big chair with her big girl earrings. Such a fun day!! She is growing up too fast. She was just 3 weeks old when we moved to Shelby from Raleigh and now she is 8 and finishing up 2nd grade. Where did the time go? Other than getting her ears pierced, one of hte most exciting thing for her has been getting her own baby goat. He is our newest kid that Trey brought home this week. He is snow white and a mix of 3 different kinds of dairy goats. His name is SAM. Faith also prayed to receive Christ just a few weeks ago after AWANA and will be baptized with her brother.
Timothy is 4 now (going on 16). He thinks he is just as big as the rest of the gang and will let you know real quick that he can DO IT HIMSELF!!! He also loves his big sister "Nanny" (Leeann). Other than mommy (and his 5 girlfriends), she is the center of his world. Never seen a little brother love his sister as much as he loves her. If she ever has doubts about whether or not she is loved in the world, all she has to do is look at his sweet little face and know the answer is YES. Timothy has another year before he starts Kindergarten, since he has a December birthday. He enjoys being outside and playing more than anything else in the world and it has shown this week since we have been home on break and he comes in blacker than the night from playing ALL day long. He love playing with his new goat TJ, which is the son of our goat we bred (but died not long after we got him back home). TJ is brown and white and follows Timothy around the yard, running, jumping and playing just like a little child. Timothy also likes going to visit with our 2 elderly neighbors who live on either side of us. One is a widow, Ms Janelle (who Timothy calls "my neighbor"). Timothy loves to help in her garden. Ms. Martha, who lives on the other side of us, is a single lady with lots of cats and an apple tree in her back yard. Timothy loves to make unannounced visits (unannounce to us that is) whenever he sees them in the yard. We know that if he is outside and suddenly disappears, he is usually at one of their houses "helping" with something. As I mentioned earlier, he has 5 girlfriends and he will quickly tell you in what order, Laura, Gracie, Rebekah, Caitlyn and Sarah. Laura is a friend of ours from church and a college student. He says they are getting married. Gracie, Rebekah and Caitlyn are his "church" girlfriends (although he and Gracie are in the same class at day care, too, when she is not in Colorado with her dad) and Sarah is his "school" girlfriend. Too funny and too smart for his own good, but a joy to have around. Keeps us laughing all the time, sometimes over things he actually gets in trouble for (like saying something he shouldn't, or doing something to one or his brother's or sisters). Artie and I just have to hide our faces at times, to keep him from seeing/hearing us laugh, so he will not think what he did wrong is ok and then DO IT AGAIN!!!
NEVER DULL at our house, NEVER DULL!!!
As for Artie and myself, we celebrated 18 years of marriage this past Thanksgiving. Artie is still working as youth/children's pastor at our church, and I am still working as a Teacher Assistant/Bus driver at the elementary school. Artie has also been working with Young Life this year, as a volunteer leader. He and the 2 older kids go every week to the high school for meetings. They also spent a weekend at Windy Gap camp here in NC and will be heading out west to Colorado to Crooked Creek Ranch for camp this summer. For those of you who don't know, Young Life is an outreach program/organization whose main goal is to reach youth/teens for Christ who wouldn't normally come to church or have opportunity to hear the gospel otherwise. I was a Young lifer in high school and have spent a couple of weekends at Windy Gap myself. I also went to camp in New York one summer. It is a great program and our area has the longest consecutive running Young Life Club in the nation. The club that meets at another high school in our area has been reaching kids for Christ for 50 years. Their leader actually came to know Christ through Young Life as a teenager and is a retired doctor who is still going strong.
We are also gearing up for VBS this summer and will once again have 2 full weeks of camp with our youth and children in July. Most people wind down in the summer once school is out, but we will starting out with a bang since school is out on a Friday and we begin VBS 2 days later on Sunday. Can't wait to see what the rest of the school year and the summer brings for all of us.
Although the last year and a half has brought us through a lot of tough times (illnesses/surgeries, deaths in the family, family issues/daily struggles, etc) God has brought us through it all and has made us stronger and more reliant on him. We actually just had a visit from my aunt and uncle from west TN, whose family endured the unexpected death of a loved one in a car wreck last year. It was GREAT to see them and the kids enjoyed the company and attention they received from their visit. This is the first time they have met Timothy and they hadn't seen the other kids since faith was a year old. Seeing family like that, who you don't see very often unless there is tragedy, really makes you appreciate life even more. Thanks be to God for giving us opportunity to share life with the ones we love, even through the tough times. We know there will be more struggles to come, because life is never always easy. But we can get through anything with God's help and the love and support of family.
Cherish every moment you have with your loved ones, because you never know when your time will be cut short and you don't want to live your life with regrets or "what ifs". God bless you all.
Luckily, life for us this week has been a little more low key, and relaxed, although we have kept ourselves VERY busy. You see, it is spring break here in NC and for the first time since Timothy was a baby, we are having a "staycation" here at Hubbard's Haven. We even got to enjoy "Good Friday" off school this year, since we had such a mild winter and didn't have to make up any snow days on our "holiday". We enjoyed a restful Easter weekend, beginning with watching the Passion of the Christ with our youth on Friday, the girls and I took a mommy/daughter day on Saturday to shop for new dresses, and on Sunday took part in a beautiful Sonrise service @ church followed by regular services to celebrate the resurrection of our risen Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. How precious it was to have enjoyed all of this together as a family, especially since 2 of our children have just recently accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour!!!! HALLELUJAH!!! Jonathan prayed to receive Christ about a month ago in our living room one Sunday after church. Emma Faith prayed to receive Christ at home one Wednesday night after coming back from AWANA. What a joy, privilege and a gift it has been to share those precious moments with our children!!! Nothing like hearing the heart of a child through a prayer of repentance and seeing their brokenness about wanting to follow Christ with their whole heart and life. Moments like these are worth all the hard work, dedication and even pain and heart break that you sometimes must endure as a parent.
Trey our oldest is finishing up his junior year, and is getting TONS of mail from colleges. He just took his ACT at school not too long ago. So I suppose it is just about that time to start making the college rounds and visits. He is still set on going to vet school somewhere and up until this year was set on going to University of Florida, which is probably still his first choice. Being a GATOR would more than please Artie's family, plus he could get in state tuition by living with some of Artie's family in FL. There are some REALLY good schools here in NC that have good vet/agriculture programs, too. He has mentioned NC State in Raleigh, and maybe one or two others. I think he has even made mention of UT in Knoxville, since they do have a REALLY good vet program. This would more than please MY family, since we are Volunteers at heart. He has also mentioned the marines and a few other options. Who knows wherer his path may lead, we just put it all in God's hands and will go from there. For now he is keeping busy with HIGH school, taking care our our little "farm", and taking part in some other extra curricular activities. This week he and friend worked 2 days helping move a fence for the lady who we bought our goats from last year, and then ALL day yesterday, worked to expand our goat/horse enclosure here at home. We currently have 6 goats, 3 of which are pregnant and should be kidding in the next few weeks. We also have 2 new kids, one is the 3 week old son of our goat we bred with a friend's herd, and the other is a 4 day old baby that Trey brought home Monday after helping moving the fence. Trey is still playing in the band and LOVING it, which I love. He also took part in the spring drama at school and played one of hte MAIN characters. He did an excellent job and will probably do it again. He has great talent for acting, wouldn't be surprised to see him on Broadway someday, who know?!?!?!? Oh well, at almost 17 he has his whole life ahead of him, can't wait to see what God has in store for him.
Casey turned 15 in December and got her learner's permit in January. She hasn't done too much driving since then, but I am sure whe will have ample opportunity this summers when we are all home and runing around different places. She, too, has been quite busy with school and church activities. She just left yesterday morning about 6 am on a trip to NYC with chorus from school. SHE WAS SOOOO EXCITED!! Can't wait to hear all about the things she got to see and do. They have a non-stop schedule for the next 2 days, and then back home again via Washington, DC on Sunday. So glad she got opportunity to go. I had opportunity to visit there twice as a pre-teen/teen ager and still didn't get to see everything. Feels good that our kids have the same opportunity to go places and do things like we did and that we are able to send them. Casey, too, spends time taking care of our goats. She and Trey are both in FFA and taken part in showing our goats in several Dairy Goat shows. They spent a whole week at the fair last October with our goats. Casey loves to sing and is a part of our newly formed youth praise band at church. She is finishing up her freshman year and has done well during her first year of high school.
Leeann is in the 8th grade and will be 14 in a month. This has been a pretty good year for her, too. She has done well in school, and has even taken up a love for reading, which was really a struggle for when she was younger. I really credit her love of reading to her wonderful language arts teacher last year. She introduced Leeann to a series of books by an "older" author who has been around some time. Since picking up those books, she just can't seem to get enough to read. She even enjoys reading out loud to me and her younger siblings. It's good to see her succeed at something that seemed to haunt her for sooo long. Leeann also sings in the choir at school and is a part of the new youth praise band at church. This year she has also been VERY involved with Relay for Life at school. One of her classmates was diagnosed with cancer about 2 years ago, endured treatments/surgery, was in remission, but the cancer returned last fall. He is currently undergoing more treatments and will have surgery soon. The Relay for Life team at the middle school, our elemtary school and high school have all joined together in their fundraising efforts to benefit Leeann's classmate and his family to help cover his medical expenses. It is good to know that she is involved with something much greater than herself to help the needs and lives of others. She has always had such a heart for those with special needs, whether physical, mental, medical, etc. and puts her whole self into helping them and being a part of their lives. Such a gift will hopefully take her far in life. She will be taking a trip to the Outer Banks off the NC coast with the entire 8th grade at her school. This is a trip they take every year, and her older brother and sister have been on the same trip and loved it. Probably one of the biggest events for her this is year is that she has applied for the early college program next year, which is something she decided to do on her own, without any suggestion from us or anyone else. If accepted she will take classes at the local community college, as a type of dual enrollment, taking her high school classes and college classes at the same time. This would allow her to get her high school diploma AND a 2 year degree in only 4 years. WOW!!!! Sooo proud of her to take the initiative for her to do this on her own, making sure that she got all her papers filled out, signed and turned in by the deadline. We are praying that if this if God's will for her that it will all work out and she will get to take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity.
Jonathan is finishing up his 6th grade year at the middle school. He is playing french horn in the band this year and enjoying it. He has also been part of the science olympiad, a science competition for middle and high school students, tried out for the BOB team (battle of the books) and has been invited to join the Beta Club for his academic achievement. Although he does well in school and has always made good grades and been in advanced classes, his classes this year have really challenged him, maybe because this is the first year he has really had to WORK to earn his grades. A hard lesson to learn when you never really had to study and work hard since things have always come so naturally for him, but that is just one of life's lessons we all have to learn I guess. Jonathan still loves sports, but has not played any organized sports in over a year. He was going to play football, but they had Wednesday night practices and that conflicted with our Wednesday night church schedule. Maybe next year he can get more involved and try out for sports at school (6th grade is not allowed to play school sports). He has always liked to run and participated in local fun runs. This year, he actually ran his first 5K, which was a fundraiser for Leeann's classmate with cancer. He did pretty well for not really running on a regular basis. Maybe he can work hard this summer and try out for track and cross country next year. Artie also thinks he would do well with wrestling, since he is soooo strong and has the build for it. We will just have to wait and see. As I metioned earlier, Jonathan also recently prayed to receive Christ and will be baptized with his sister this summer, whenever we can work out a date for Artie's dad to come and baptize them both.
Emma Faith just celebrated her 8th birthday in January, a milestone birthday for girls at our house. You see, we have the tradition (which started with Casey) that when you turn out years old, you can get your ears pierced. OH WHAT EXCITEMENT FOR HER!!! After celebrating with a sleepover, where we made pizzas, did makeovers, painted nails, etc., her sisters and I took Faith to Claire's at the mall for the BIG EVENT!!! She looked so grown up sitting in that big chair with her big girl earrings. Such a fun day!! She is growing up too fast. She was just 3 weeks old when we moved to Shelby from Raleigh and now she is 8 and finishing up 2nd grade. Where did the time go? Other than getting her ears pierced, one of hte most exciting thing for her has been getting her own baby goat. He is our newest kid that Trey brought home this week. He is snow white and a mix of 3 different kinds of dairy goats. His name is SAM. Faith also prayed to receive Christ just a few weeks ago after AWANA and will be baptized with her brother.
Timothy is 4 now (going on 16). He thinks he is just as big as the rest of the gang and will let you know real quick that he can DO IT HIMSELF!!! He also loves his big sister "Nanny" (Leeann). Other than mommy (and his 5 girlfriends), she is the center of his world. Never seen a little brother love his sister as much as he loves her. If she ever has doubts about whether or not she is loved in the world, all she has to do is look at his sweet little face and know the answer is YES. Timothy has another year before he starts Kindergarten, since he has a December birthday. He enjoys being outside and playing more than anything else in the world and it has shown this week since we have been home on break and he comes in blacker than the night from playing ALL day long. He love playing with his new goat TJ, which is the son of our goat we bred (but died not long after we got him back home). TJ is brown and white and follows Timothy around the yard, running, jumping and playing just like a little child. Timothy also likes going to visit with our 2 elderly neighbors who live on either side of us. One is a widow, Ms Janelle (who Timothy calls "my neighbor"). Timothy loves to help in her garden. Ms. Martha, who lives on the other side of us, is a single lady with lots of cats and an apple tree in her back yard. Timothy loves to make unannounced visits (unannounce to us that is) whenever he sees them in the yard. We know that if he is outside and suddenly disappears, he is usually at one of their houses "helping" with something. As I mentioned earlier, he has 5 girlfriends and he will quickly tell you in what order, Laura, Gracie, Rebekah, Caitlyn and Sarah. Laura is a friend of ours from church and a college student. He says they are getting married. Gracie, Rebekah and Caitlyn are his "church" girlfriends (although he and Gracie are in the same class at day care, too, when she is not in Colorado with her dad) and Sarah is his "school" girlfriend. Too funny and too smart for his own good, but a joy to have around. Keeps us laughing all the time, sometimes over things he actually gets in trouble for (like saying something he shouldn't, or doing something to one or his brother's or sisters). Artie and I just have to hide our faces at times, to keep him from seeing/hearing us laugh, so he will not think what he did wrong is ok and then DO IT AGAIN!!!
NEVER DULL at our house, NEVER DULL!!!
As for Artie and myself, we celebrated 18 years of marriage this past Thanksgiving. Artie is still working as youth/children's pastor at our church, and I am still working as a Teacher Assistant/Bus driver at the elementary school. Artie has also been working with Young Life this year, as a volunteer leader. He and the 2 older kids go every week to the high school for meetings. They also spent a weekend at Windy Gap camp here in NC and will be heading out west to Colorado to Crooked Creek Ranch for camp this summer. For those of you who don't know, Young Life is an outreach program/organization whose main goal is to reach youth/teens for Christ who wouldn't normally come to church or have opportunity to hear the gospel otherwise. I was a Young lifer in high school and have spent a couple of weekends at Windy Gap myself. I also went to camp in New York one summer. It is a great program and our area has the longest consecutive running Young Life Club in the nation. The club that meets at another high school in our area has been reaching kids for Christ for 50 years. Their leader actually came to know Christ through Young Life as a teenager and is a retired doctor who is still going strong.
We are also gearing up for VBS this summer and will once again have 2 full weeks of camp with our youth and children in July. Most people wind down in the summer once school is out, but we will starting out with a bang since school is out on a Friday and we begin VBS 2 days later on Sunday. Can't wait to see what the rest of the school year and the summer brings for all of us.
Although the last year and a half has brought us through a lot of tough times (illnesses/surgeries, deaths in the family, family issues/daily struggles, etc) God has brought us through it all and has made us stronger and more reliant on him. We actually just had a visit from my aunt and uncle from west TN, whose family endured the unexpected death of a loved one in a car wreck last year. It was GREAT to see them and the kids enjoyed the company and attention they received from their visit. This is the first time they have met Timothy and they hadn't seen the other kids since faith was a year old. Seeing family like that, who you don't see very often unless there is tragedy, really makes you appreciate life even more. Thanks be to God for giving us opportunity to share life with the ones we love, even through the tough times. We know there will be more struggles to come, because life is never always easy. But we can get through anything with God's help and the love and support of family.
Cherish every moment you have with your loved ones, because you never know when your time will be cut short and you don't want to live your life with regrets or "what ifs". God bless you all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)