Blog and Update

[Stephanie]

I'm stopping by to say hi to old friends and new! Life is busier than ever with our XL family and all the activities that accompany seven growing, active children.

Our oldest, Josiah, whom many of you know, graduated this year and we are so proud of and for him. Jesse is now officially a Senior and he is enjoying every moment of this season of life. The younger five are growing by leaps and bounds as we continue to homeschool and homestead on our five acres.

I have recently opened a blog that you are welcome to read any time that usually has a daily devotional post and often pics of our life and family.

 

Stephanie Rodda | A fine WordPress.com site

https://stephanierodda.wordpress.com/

[Mt_Rider]

Good to hear an update from you, Stephanie!

 

for Josiah and Jesse!!! What's your next plans, Josiah?

 

Wish is could have worked out to meet more of the kids last Oct...

 

 

MtRider

[Annarchy]

 

Nice to hear from you. I've been missing you.

 

[Stephanie]

MtRider, maybe next time I can bring the three middles.

 

Josiah and Jesse are both working and Josiah will be starting the Jr. college after a one semester break.

 

Ann, so good to see you too. Determined to start dropping in on a regular basis.

[dogmom4]

Nice to hear from you Stephanie! And congratulations to your son. My Jordan also graduated as of yesterday.

[Stephanie]

Congrats to Jordan as well! What are his plans?

 

Ann, how is your dear MIL?

 

MtRider how is your new baby? Is she getting humongous?

[Annarchy]

MIL is doing well, Stephanie, thank you for asking. She is handling chemo like a trooper. Next week I'll be heading there again.

 

Have you added to your clan recently?

[Stephanie]

Ann, we still have our seven from heaven. :-) as far as we know (unless God has a surprise) we are done. ;-)

 

Praying for your MIL.

[Becca_Anne]

Congratulations to Josiah and to Jordan!

 

My Max graduated this year as well. He's headed to college to study engineering.

[Stephanie]

And congrats to Max! Engineering is a wonderful field.

 

Josiah's heart is Worship Music. He wants to serve in that area and we are so proud. But, he is preparing to make his living as a small business owner. So, he's got a practical outlook while dreaming big dreams.

 

Jesse is determined to join the military. This has been his plan since he was 5 yo. We are so proud that he wants to serve, I am heart broken that he will likely be far away as he serves. He talks all the time about 'this time next year'. I try not to think about it.

[dogmom4]

Congratulations to Max. I don't know what Jordan is going to do. If it does end up being college it will likely be a small one. He is my child who doesn't like being in large groups. Hopefully he'll start out with some community college classes and then go from there.

[Stephanie]

I was thinking this morning about all the changes and graduating and plans for the future. Here is what I surmised. I'm glad I still have little ones, or this first wave of vacating the nest would be harder than it is. And... It is hard enough.

[Annarchy]

(((((((Stephanie)))))))

[Mt_Rider]

Yeah, our DD's were both gone within 2 yrs....and we left Maui when #2 went to college. Verrrry tough.

 

 

My 'baby' is now 100+ lbs. DH stopped lifting her up to stand on our bathroom scale when she topped 85# some months back. :imok: Healthy as the proverbial horse, despite those scary days in Oct. Still 'puppy' but taking on 'watching and announcing' when she perceives that SOMEthing is different! Digs the same holes in her yard over and over.....and I fill it in. Don't have to trip her toenails, since she's digging the Rocky Mts.

 

She LOVES riding in the truck....her long front legs sticking out towards the dash, 'elbows' on the console between us. Her hindquarters are on her pad on the back bench seat. She's alert to everything. Sometimes when she's tired, she might lean her head against our shoulder. She's been pretty good about chewing up things. But since DH's empty soda bottles are her toys, she often takes his full one from the holder. He has to find it, hoping there is no hole, in her backseat.

 

She's quite a light color, nearly a white....with the markings of course. Still has her grey, "muddy" paw on the front right. That was how I first could tell her apart from Sock and others. But we hadn't realized, until her first bath recently, that the color of our dirt changes her color to a more red/yellow. The bath revealed a different color. LOL And she's trying to shed her first THICK coat. We help and we could provide sweaters for a village if we knitted all this hair!!!

 

She got to visit my folks' today and gets SO [overly] excited to be adored by different people. After a while, Mz Nutcase calms down and acts normal. .... We don't get out much.

 

 

MtRider

Edited June 17, 2013 by Mt_Rider

[Jeepers]

I love hearing about 'little' Miss Nutcase. I'll bet she is soooo cute.

 

You are lucky she likes to ride. Mine used to like it too but was a puker. LOL

[Stephanie]

Aslan loves to ride too. But, there's not many places for a giant dog to go! Ha!

 

The pet store will let him come but, he draws so much attention that a the trip becomes a long ordeal. Most common question. "What is he?". Lol!