It's Christmas morning and as I sit here thinking of what to say to family and friends who will be checking in on us here, I find that I'm a bit conflicted. Christmas is such a fun time with family and friends, music and decorations but I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. Do I keep this happy or do I tell you the honest truth?
Audrey is now 5.5 years old. She is in the first grade and her favorite subject is Geography. She just graduated from The Music Playhouse and has expressed interest in beginning harp lessons. Yes. Harp. Large, heavy, expensive, and lovely. We are considering options in this regard and will keep you posted on this development. Other than that, she is still quite an artist, and can be found doodling, decorating and creating pretty much all day. She enjoys reading, ballet and adventure! She's got quite a sense of humor and a bit of attitude.
Harrison is now 8 years old. He is in the third grade and his favorite subject is recess. He is actively involved in Cub Scouts (He's a Bear Cub) and is still enjoying playing electric guitar. He loves reading, computer games & building and inventing things. He just recently made a scrub brush robot that can "walk" across our hard floors with the help of a battery and some vibration. Harrison is hoping to move up to higher-end materials and make REAL robots as soon as he can save up enough money. He's a hard-working entrepreneur and has saved quite a bit from the past two years' cub scout popcorn sales. We're impressed that he has been able to resist the urge to spend his earnings. He definitely keeps an eye on the prize and easily avoids impulse buys. Harrison has also become a skilled joke-teller, so be sure to ask him for a funny the next time you see him. Harrison's favorite Christmas present this year is his Didj.
The honest truth is that while I can't promise you all happiness in this post, I can bring you good tidings of comfort and joy. Comfort and joy, thank heaven, doesn't require all happy thoughts. :)
Life has been moving along full-speed-ahead for the Hoffmans. Here is a brief update on all of us, youngest to oldest:
Audrey is now 5.5 years old. She is in the first grade and her favorite subject is Geography. She just graduated from The Music Playhouse and has expressed interest in beginning harp lessons. Yes. Harp. Large, heavy, expensive, and lovely. We are considering options in this regard and will keep you posted on this development. Other than that, she is still quite an artist, and can be found doodling, decorating and creating pretty much all day. She enjoys reading, ballet and adventure! She's got quite a sense of humor and a bit of attitude. Audrey had a tie for favorite Christmas present this year: Kit the American Girl doll and Chloe, a Webkinz Chihuahua.
Harrison is now 8 years old. He is in the third grade and his favorite subject is recess. He is actively involved in Cub Scouts (He's a Bear Cub) and is still enjoying playing electric guitar. He loves reading, computer games & building and inventing things. He just recently made a scrub brush robot that can "walk" across our hard floors with the help of a battery and some vibration. Harrison is hoping to move up to higher-end materials and make REAL robots as soon as he can save up enough money. He's a hard-working entrepreneur and has saved quite a bit from the past two years' cub scout popcorn sales. We're impressed that he has been able to resist the urge to spend his earnings. He definitely keeps an eye on the prize and easily avoids impulse buys. Harrison has also become a skilled joke-teller, so be sure to ask him for a funny the next time you see him. Harrison's favorite Christmas present this year is his Didj.
Charissa is now 10 years old. She is in the fifth grade and her favorite subject is history. She's an avid reader. Right now, she enjoys reading Jan Karon's Mitford series, The Mysterious Benedict Society series (she received 2 MBS books from Grandma for Christmas!), and The Babysitters Club Series. Charissa also loves ballet and enjoyed dancing in the Centennial Youth Ballet's "Mini-Nutcracker" as a party-scene girl this month. This required many, many hours of hair styling which only added to the fun of dancing to sold-out performances every night. She was sleep-deprived but overflowing with fun memories. Charissa just received word that she won the 6th place prize in the David Chow Foundation's humanitarian award for her efforts to help The Philip Hayden Foundation orphans in China. She is hoping to begin visiting area churches to let them know of this special work in China and offer baked goods for purchase to continue raising money for the orphanage. If your church would be willing to let her share a 5-minute presentation during a service, please let us know! Charissa can't decide which Christmas present is her favorite, but wants to tell all of her Nutcracker "Bunny" friends that she named her Bunny Webkinz "Lucy Paige" in honor of their heroic performances. : )Tom and Rachel are doing well. Tom continues to homeschool the kids and Rachel continues to run The Music Playhouse in Nashville. Life becomes so busy at times that we find our biggest goals are getting to bed before midnight and making sure we have at least groceries on hand for the day's meals. Most of the time, we accomplish at least those two things. But, lately, our goals have been in finding time to spend time with family...and finding time has been immensely difficult. After 19 years of remission, Rachel's mom's breast cancer returned with a vengeance. After a scan revealed breast cancer in the lungs, bones and various other places in her body, she began agressive chemotherapy treatments that have landed her in the hospital at least twice in the last few months. And, to further complicate her situation, the steroids required for chemotherapy treatments has caused her vision problems to escalate and she now has approximately 5% of her vision remaining. Rachel's dad is working very hard to keep up on her treatments, laundry, household work, yard work, etc. and we would love to spend more time helping share the burden of this hideous diagnosis. However, the many miles between us make this very complicated. Driving what is often 20 hours roundtrip (how many bathroom breaks can you imagine with 3 kids??), is exhausting. But, we've been able to travel to be with them twice over the past few months and we have thoroughly enjoyed the time we've shared.
Sometimes we feel we've had our share of life trials and difficulties, but the longer we live, we learn that everyone has their own set of trials and difficulties. No one is free of stress or sorrow. This is life after the fall. And because of the little baby born in a manger (who often gets lost in all of the other Christmas traditions), life is worth living despite the struggle. Our God could have turned a blind eye to the mess we made of ourselves and this world, but instead took on human flesh, sorrows and stress so we could know Him and His comfort and joy. He is the reason for all good in this life and we are so very grateful to Him for every moment of it.
We hope you feel this comfort and joy despite the trials in your life, not just at Christmas, but all year 'round.
Merry Christmas!
February: The Homeschool Science Fair at the Adventure Science Center. The kids are categorized by age, so none of our children compete against each other. This year, Charissa won third prize for her category and Harrison took home first prize for his. February is also the the month for Father/Daughter Banquets. Charissa & Tom always enjoy their special date!
March: Audrey's Birthday, of course. This year, Audrey turned five. She was sick with a fever the day of her party, so the party was cancelled. We celebrated as a family and she still got a purple cake with a unicorn. March was also time for "The Music Playhouse Live!". The program I direct has a show once each year featuring fabulous Nashville players performing all of the kids' favorites from the year. I've never experienced anything like it. It's a tremendous amount of work to organize, but I love it. Charissa sang a solo on one of the songs this year.
April: Girls' Night Out at the ballet, Cub Scout Ceremonies and Ressurection Day. Sadly, I woke up with a stomach virus on Ressurection Day, so I helped get the kids dressed for church and went back to bed. Tom remembered to take pictures. He's a good dad.
May: Harrison's Profession of Faith. There is nothing sweeter or more satisfying than hearing your child profess their love of Christ publically and with sincerity. All the Sundays of searching for lost shoes, bouncing fussy babies on knees, pulling noisy kids out of service to give them a-talking-to are forgotten. If you're still in that phase, don't lose heart. It's worth every frustrating little battle.
June: The Music Playhouse Studio Grand Opening. Yes, the dream has come true. I am now teaching in a custom studio. The response was overwhelming. We had 1000 people come out for classes during Grand Opening week. It was utterly exhausting but wonderful at the same time.
