Meet My Married Kids

Louisa (13), Me and Emily (19)—the girls still at home

Mother's Day was wonderful for me—the best Mother's Day I have ever had! Some of that stems from the fact that I have 3 daughters old enough to scheme and plan a fun surprise, as I've said before. But the a lot of it was because I had all my kids (and grandkids) around me for Mother's Day and it was heavenly for me!

So, let me share a little of why I am so happy: I've got great kids. And my married kids are good parents who are trying hard to teach their children to be good Christians, good citizens, mannerly and respectful. I am so pleased. I think all those years of work in raising my children and homeschooling them is paying huge dividends!

We took pictures in my backyard on Mother's Day, which turned out to be the perfect spring day, lilacs blooming and all!

Here's my oldest, Daniel, and his family:

Rebekah (5), Daniel, Abigail (almost 4), Melissa
and Isaac (just 1, and happier than he looks in this photo!)

Daniel was my guinea pig, poor boy. Had to learn to mother on him. Had to learn to be a teaching mother on him. Amazingly, he survived and flourished. He went to public school until 6th grade, then homeschooled through high school and finally off to college to become a pretty fab Computer Techy who makes a good income and has a happy homelife with his cute wife and kids. He loves teaching classes at church. They live 10 minutes away, so I am the lucky one!

Melissa is a very devoted mom and I am proud of her! She was a Chemistry major in college, is a good businesswoman, and could easily excel in a career. Instead, she is teaching Rebekah to read, and takes her girls to dance and violin lessons and more. She is following her family tradition and growing an enormous garden full of vegetables this summer! She is an amazing cook. I always feel happy to get invited to dinner.

Isaac tries to eat the lilacs. I don't blame him. They smell good enough to eat!

Here's my second child, Nathan, and his family:

Rachel Lily (had her #2 birthday the day before Mother's Day), Nathan, Melanie,
and Chubby (oops, I mean Christian, who is 8 months old)

Nathan is a caring daddy and husband! My second son, Nathan, was the reason I started homeschooling. He is creative and inventive and so he didn't fit very well into the public school slot of sitting in a desk and learning. Give him a workshop and some tools and he can excel amazingly. Which is what I let him do a lot of when he came out of public school into homeschool at age 9. There is a burnt spot on his old bedroom carpet to prove it (. . . inventing something with an old toaster. . .). Nathan is a Mechanical Engineer for a company in Thousand Oaks, California. He endured college so he could get paid for what he loves doing: designing and flying remote controlled planes that are used in search and rescue, and in the military. Who would have thought you could get paid for all that tinkering and inventing fun?

Melanie is the most adoring wife, which endears her greatly to me—she loves my son and only speaks lovingly and positively of him! She is an attentive, good little mother who is very busy with 2 babies. She teaches them songs about Jesus, and she even sews Rachel's little dresses. Melanie was a first grade school teacher before she married my son, and is the oldest of 13 children.

They live far away, and I miss them so much. Rachel loved going out with Grandaddy to see the chickens and gather the eggs every morning while they were staying here. Christian has such a pleasant personality—alot like his easy-going Daddy. It is so fun to have grandkids!

Rachel helps make her #2 birthday cake!

So, that's my married kids. And when you add their spouses and their children to the family photo, it is getting to be pretty big. When I was a young mother with just one baby boy, I used to look at photos like these of other people and think I'd never make it. The years roll by and it is amazing how the Lord has blessed me!

So, here's the whole family!