2015 in Closing

 Christmas morning looks the same over the years.  All of us gathering for the unveiling of the presents.  Wondering if Dad's impossible trivia is anything what they thought in their heads.  The expressions of "Oh, now I get it." is fun to hear.

 This year we were happy to have all of us together.  We had a few surprises up our sleeve...

 Like, plane tickets to Minnesota for this guy.  We hope he figures out his future plans, somewhere up there among the snow, ice fishing, and hunting with uncles to clear the head...not sure what that will be, but we hope it makes him happy.

 Oh, yeah, new tablet and wireless printer to help kick off a new business...any one need their dog trained???

 These guys stopped by to call home to their families.  And get a couple of presents from the ward too.

 This year mom and dad combined their Christmas dinners.  We all met at mom's house.  It was nice not to have the extra stop.

 We sure enjoyed time together with parents, step-parents, aunts/uncles and lots of cousins...

Lastly, we got visited by Kyle's sister Kelly and her family.  I thought Kayla reminded me of Kelly with her bangs being cut.  But once you get them in the picture together it seems that maybe I was mistaken...what do you think?

So, lots of ups and downs in this year.  Son on a mission, Son not on a mission.  Girl to dog training school, new school building, old school building is gone, just a memory.  Grandpa passed away.  New patio and roof on the house.  So many memories, just lumped together for 2015.  Am I more like Christ after this year...maybe.  I have seemed to be learning patience.  I am not as resistant as I once was, but still have a ways to go.  The realization I'm facing today is God's will is much more powerful than mine.  I hope to be able to take what I've learned and build upon it.

All in all, life is good here in the Crawford Clan.

Making New Traditions

As my children get older it seems some of our traditions make way for new ones.  Kyle had an idea this year to give Christmas themed gifts to the kids at Thanksgiving.  So we bought them each a Christmas CD and a Christmas ornament and a red box to start collecting their ornaments for their own houses some day.

I have been working on changing my decorations the past few years and have some new additions to my tree.

The only bummer is that the dogs have eaten two of my new birds.  I'm getting to the point I'm over pets. Pet hair every where. Dogs everywhere.  They eat my couch ( to be fair, Dixie is the chewer).  Blair has been peeing on the floor lately...the kids seem to look over the care of their animals...not so much their health, but the cleanup.

Oh, enough fretting.  Christmas has been fun here.  We've worked at lifting people this season.  We've done our fair share.  It is such much fun helping people.  We were blessed with receiving a lot of meat from my dad.  So much that my two freezers couldn't hold it all.  We delivered a box of meat to four different families.  Then helped people with Christmas baking that couldn't physically do it all on their own.  So much love to pass out this time of year.

Miracles are often small pieces in our life.  So much of the missionary work we have done over a year has come to mean a lot to people.  To spread the love of the Saviour to people is probably my favorite thing to do.

I can't wait for Christmas to see the faces of my children when they open some heartfelt gifts.  Both of them have been saying they can't wait until we open what they found for us.  Even though we don't have little people we are still happy and excited for Santa.

Time Flys, where did November and December go?

It has been hectic.  Since Dakota has come home, seems like things have gotten busy.  Parent teacher conference season.  outdoor school again, grade cards, interims, National Geographic Geography Bee, National History Day Club, Christmas baking, shopping, oh who can forget Thanksgiving with the missionaries....lists to do, lists accomplished, phew...

Blogging, not sure I'm going to keep up next year.  I haven't decided.  I have made a decision that I am not going to peruse being a principal anymore.  I think I'm going to scale back on work committees and extras there.  I think I'm going to try to simplify.  I want more quality time to do the things that matter.

I want to serve more, focus more on the matters of the heart.  I want to enrich my soul.  Not sure where that will take me, or what calling that desire might bring on to help me grow, but that is the desire of my heart at this point in life.

My iPad camera is not able to be accessed so not pics this post.

Flying by the Seat of My Pants in October

Once school started up, later than normal it seems everything is going by as if my only gear is high!  I haven't had much time to think about anything, but school.  I don't like it when work life takes over everything else.  I'm finally feeling like I can think straight again.

I have been working super hard at having all my work done on Fridays so that we can enjoy the weekends though.  So we (Kyle and I) have gone on a few walks at Beyer's Woods.  There is something magical about autumn time in Ohio.

 Kyle bought himself a new toy.  He got a projector and we hosted an outdoor movie for one of our home teaching families and our niece and nephews.  We tried to get in another one, but got rained out. :(

 We went hawthorn berry picking to make some more jelly to send to our "moose" who was serving a mission.

 We snuck in a Sunday drive to Mt. Jeez overlook down by Malabar Farm.  It was gorgeous.  Dakota was missing the autumn leaves in Utah and wanted some picks from home.

 Do these girls not remind you of Little House on the Prairie? 

 I think this is my favorite fall picture of all time.  We were driving some back roads around Hayesville area and say these deer.  Kyle stopped in the middle of the road for me to take several shots of those deer.  They stood a long time for me to be able to get some good ones.

 Then we got a phone call from the mission office in Utah.  Kota needed to come home for 6 months.  Sigh...but we learned a lot from last time he came home early.  This time after receiving the phone call we went immediately to prayer.  We prayed hard, that we would be loving and receptive, that we would be able to recognize quickly when the adversary was trying to give us doubt or confusion, that we would quickly be able to dismiss his lies.  We prayed for understanding of our role as parent of an adult child that is more grown up than a child now.  We prayed that Heavenly Father's will would be done.

 I have to say, I am at peace with this trial.  Maybe I'm growing up a little bit more too.  I wanted more than anything for him (Dakota) to know that we love him.  It is amazing when you see scriptures stories come to life in your home.  I understand the father of the prodigal son a bit better.  I know that repentant missionaries make the best ones (Alma, sons of Mosiah, etc.).  I don't always understand Heavenly Father's will, but I have learned that when we work on our weakness, we sure do get stronger.

 My boys, home again, trying to eat the full harvest moon.  Life is good!

 We ended the month with a ward social.  Pumpkin carving and costume judging.  Isn't that just the cutest puppy you've seen.

Dog Days

These two young ladies left for dog training school today.  Kayla and Dixie are off on their three week adventure in learning to be a dog trainer and trainee.  If all goes as planned, Kayla will be the trainer!

Dixie really enjoyed the trip to Columbus.

 We made it!  Dixie was so excited to be around all the other dogs, that we had to take her away from them.

 Time for the kennel, then the students could settle in.

 They really have a nice kitchen for the 12 students to share.

 There was a common area to share too.

She has her own dorm room.

Class is from 9-5 or later, 6 days a week.  They get Sundays off.

Just a little view of the Skyline.

 What we wanted to see.  Job positing.  This particular one is in Utah starting at $50K a year.  Hmmm, not to shabby.

I look forward to seeing the transformation.

The Sweat of my Brow

I've been sweating here the past two weeks getting all the new stuff in the right spots.

Trying out the new chairs.

My visiting teacher Michelle came and helped me.  She organized my books and supplies on the shelf.

We completed open house last Thursday night and had a marathon of trainings.  My favorite was on the brain development.  It is fascinating how the brain learns.

I am excited to teach just social studies this year.

I can't wait to meet the children tomorrow.

It will be fun seeing their reaction to everything.  The size of the middle school alone is staggering to them.  They aren't in an elementary anymore.