Recap Of The Florida Trip!

 Dear Kids, 

I realized that I never wrote about the Florida Trip. 

Wow - now that I get to look back on it (we've been home for almost a month), I am so grateful for the blessing that trip was for our family. 

I am SO GRATEFUL for your dad and the sacrifices he made so we could be together with him while he was working. I know it was a huge sacrifice for him. But he did it still. He had to keep working, but we got to play. And that's all he said was, "I'm just so glad that you all got to come and enjoy everywhere we were."

I am SO GRATEFUL that we had the finances to do the trip. And that is AGAIN because of your dad. He did all the financial planning to make sure it could happen. And most of the finances were used for YOUR enjoyment - he didn't get to do everything we got to go do because he was working. Again showing his selflessness with money. 

I am SO GRATEFUL for the time we had together just as a family. It has been a REALLY busy time with your schooling and I have missed the days when we were just a pack together, without outside distractions. The Florida trip allowed us to just be together again and to relax and bond together. Everyone's energy was just so SETTLED after we got home. Everyone was so much more bonded. 

Can you believe everything we got to do? Here is a list of great parts and memories:

• Drive across the country! That's crazy that we did that. 
• Laying in the back of the truck while driving and taking turns inside the truck.
• Nice Universal Studios hotel and the POOL there was amazing!
• Gatorland! Feeding the baby gators. The boys loved that and the bird room
• Talia flying to Florida and picking her up, bonding in the hotel room the night she got there, all the boys were so happy to see her.
• Seaworld. THIS PARK WAS AWESOME! All day eating pass, rides, exhibits, dolphin show, orca show...
• Kennedy Space Center - shuttle simulation and all the cool exhibits, bus tour.
• Kayaking together as a family with dad. He was off that day, it was beautiful!
• Going from hotel to hotel to hotel - and everyone giving hotel rooms "ratings" which were their favorites!
• Gabe continuing "75 Hard" while we were traveling and all the work outs he had to get in while we were doing all the things. 
• Miami and just going to the beach EVERYDAY. It was awesome to have a hotel that was right off the beach. Playing in the waves over and over and over again. We were able to go and lay out and stay at the beach for DAYS. It was so relaxing and rejuvenating.
• Getting rained out one of the days in Miami and having a movie marathon with the "Trolls" movies.
• Going to Denny's in Miami and having the kids "rate" their food compared to the Denny's at home.
• Loading and unloading the trailer and going back and forth to the airport for the luggage and gear.
• Airboat ride at the everglades and another gator show.
• Getting ready for the cruise!
• Going on the Cruise - this was awesome! 
• Bonding over so much ice cream any time of day. Eating all the food you want. And fancy dinners and sharing food, passing it around to "rate" the different dinner dishes.
• Nassau port - Queens steps, walking around, trying to shop, loud lunch at Señor Frogs...
• Half Moon Cay port - going on the ferry to get there, Gabe and Talia were in a major fight and it took all day for them to be able to talk to each other again, relaxing on the beach, playing baseball, enjoying the crystal blue water. 
• Grand Turk port - renting a golf cart, seeing all the locals and the lighthouse, the donkeys all over the place, and finding the most private spot on the beach to just enjoy together as a family, all the kids taking turns driving the golf cart.
• Time on the boat - dad saying "What do you like better? Working dad or vacation dad?" and everyone yelling "vacation dad!". The kids just being able to enjoy being around their dad and have no other distractions. 
• Water slide, karaoke night (that was so fun!), and more food, movie nights. 
• Then getting off the boat and driving BACK across the country! Getting all the stickers, visiting "Buccee's" gas stop, going to four corners.
• Then everyone being SO GLAD TO BE HOME!

During the trip there were several times when you guys were fighting over something. Talia was irritated with Gabe, or Gabe was irritated with Talia. Elijah and Joshua would fight over things... There were a lot of moments of tension. But I believe that the deposits and the GOOD TIMES will be what we remember!

I'm so grateful to have gone on the trip. I loved to bond with you. I love you so much.

Love, 

Your Mom

Just More Feeling About Having Teenagers and Kids Growing Up

 Dear Kids, 

We are starting to know what it is going to be like to have kids in and out of the house a lot. 

Gabe was gone for over a week to All Stars Camp. That was an amazing experience for him. Now he is gone again to a mission farewell of a friend for about 5 hours. Talia was at a dance camp, she'll have girls camp and FSY. Elijah was gone to boys camp. There have been many days this summer that have been half of our family gone. 

It's strange. 

I've raised you to be independent and to go out and follow your dreams. Your dad and I have been very intentional about encouraging you to GET OUT and GO DO. And now that you are old enough to start to do all of those things on your own... well... I didn't realize how much I would miss you when you are gone. 

I miss you when you aren't here. 

I miss our conversations. 

I miss seeing you and laughing with you. 

I miss seeing you play with each other. 

I miss the innocence of what little kids meant. 

I miss how everything was "new" when you were young. 

I miss the little things to worry about, instead of the big things (like driving and adult decisions).

I just didn't anticipate how much I would miss you when you were little and how much I would miss our family just being together away from everything else around us. I am SO GRATEFUL that I homeschooled you when you were all young. I love the memories of just being together and enjoying the slow mornings together. 

Do you remember those times? When you would just wake up and start playing with each other. I would want to do "the morning basket" for schooling for the day but I couldn't stand the thought of interrupting your beautiful free play. You all got to free play SO MUCH. 

There are so many things from when you were young that I'm SO GLAD your dad and I decided to do. 

I am so glad that you got to free play EVERY morning if you wanted to. I am so glad that we had so much time together with JUST our family EVERY DAY. I am so glad that I got to hug you every morning without rushing you out the door. I am so glad that we had devotionals together and that we enjoyed making meals together. I am so glad that we were always out exploring nature. I am so glad that you gardened with me and we worked together. I am so grateful for bed time routines and how we were able to tuck you in at night. 

I am just in this place of motherhood where so much is changing. So much is changing in this place. And I'm just still trying to figure out how to be a really great mom - and what that looks like with teenagers. 

Eventually I might have my head wrapped around it. And then you'll all move out and I'll have to get my head wrapped around that too!

I would just give you this word of advice:

When you are parents - TRULY SOAK IT IN. Do everything you can to spend as much time with your kids as you can. You won't have regrets if you do that. 

I love you kids, 

Love,

Your Mom

Lots Going On In The World

 Dear Kids, 

Today the talks in church were about "Preparing for the 2nd Coming WITHOUT Fear". I loved all the talks... but it just got me thinking about our day, YOUR day, and what that means for you and the generations to come in our family. 

Yesterday the US, under the supervision of President Trump, bombed 3 nuclear sites in Iran. It officially enters the US into the war between Israel and Iran that has been happening. There is so much I don't understand inside of this conflict. But I do know that it is significant. "Wars and rumors of war" is constantly happening in our day. 

Volcanoes have been going off at an unprecedented rate. So many volcanoes have gone off in the past few months. As of May 2025, there are 47 active volcanoes. 

It is crazy to see all this activity. So many earthquakes are also happening. There are many theories about "Polar Shift" happening, where the magnetism in the earth is changing poles. 

We live in a day when prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes. You aren't waiting for prophecy to be fulfilled - it is FULFILLED! We live in a day of FULFILLED prophecy. 

That is humbling. It is amazing and crazy all at the same time. I have to ask myself, "do my kids see what is happening before their very eyes?". 

You are all so involved in your lives right now with sports, high adventure camps, dance, friends, schooling, travel... so many things that are good. But do you know WHAT IS BEST? As you are entering your teenage years, I feel like I am floundering in so many ways as your mother. I feel like I'm having to "re-make" myself over and over again as a mom and what you need from me as your mom. 

And I feel like there is so much work to do on your hearts, even more than before, and I don't even know where to begin to do it. You don't want the same structure and lessons from me that you had when you were 5 years old, you want something different and I am still trying to find how to do that. 

It's been hard. Really hard. 

Mothering is the BEST work in the world. And I feel like I have never failed so much in my life. Oh dear Lord, please bless my children. Please bless them to know how much YOU LOVE THEM and how with Jesus as their guide they can make it through these last days. Please bless their hearts to turn to you. Please forgive me of my weaknesses. 

I love you kids. You can make it through these days. No matter what comes before you in your lives, PLEASE GIVE ALL GLORY TO JESUS. 

I love you,

Your Mom

Letter for Talia - BIG emotions and teenage years

 Dear Talia,

I want this to talk to just you. 

You are a girl who is full of PASSION. You have so much in your soul. 

And right now as a 14 - almost 15 - year old, that passion is taking over your ability to reason with life. You are passionate about your friends, you are passionate about how you feel about things, about your opinions, your desires, your interpretation of friends and family, your social experiences... so many things. 

This whole school year you have slowly become more and more disrespectful and a VERY big attitude. It was one of those things that kept building in a way that I didn't realize how bad it was getting until it was really hard to be around. I just allowed you to keep being more and more rude to me, and now I am seeing the results of that boundary not being up. 

I was so worried about it at the end of the school year. I was like, "What have I don't to show her this example of how to treat people?". I was at my wit's end about it. 

But then the trip happened. The first week on the trip was a huge emotional CLEANSE for you. But after the first week... all of a sudden I HAD MY TALIA BACK! You were happy again! We had so much being with each other. We had ups and downs on the trip for sure, but for the most part our family cleansed of everything else except being together and it was GLORIOUS. 

Then we got back. Everyone was settled for the first couple of days, especially you. You had such a great outlook on life. 

But yesterday all your previous attitude came out in FULL FORCE. Wow... yesterday was a hard day. Your communication to me has never been so shocking. It really hurt my feelings, in a really big way. 

So this morning I am just sitting in bed praying about this over and over again. I have been praying, "What do we do about this? Is this my fault? Have I given her a bad example or something? What am I not seeing?". 

Then Mimi came to talk to me. I heard her say, "Andrea, think about the trip. Did she get worse or better with more family time?"

I answered, "Better". 

"If it is your family's fault, wouldn't she have gotten worse with more time with you? If it was your fault, she would have been WORSE by the end of the trip, not better."

It was so good for me to have that assurance from the spirit and my mom about that TRUTH. This behavior is NOT our family's fault. If anything, we need MORE family time in order to help your emotions to settle down. 

You actually have good friends. I really believe that the girls you hang out with are good girls. I just think that you are SO AWARE of everything around you, you are so aware of everyone around you, you are so aware of all the intricacies of life and you INTERNALIZE EVERYTHING. 

And when you start hanging out with friends and having too much time, it affects you in a big way. You are an empath and trying to navigate all the energy of everyone around you is over stimulating in a HUGE way and you don't know how to navigate it all yet. 

Plus you are in the throws of not feeling enough. You are looking to worldly answers to try to help you feel good about life and it doesn't work and it will never work!

As your mom you will have NO IDEA how much I have prayed for you about this whole issue... not until you become a mother of a teenage girl as well and you feel all of these big things from her. I am grasping for answers of how to help you, without just shoving you under a rock and never allowing you to have a social life. 

I don't know... maybe just getting away until you are 25 is just the right answer. 

I am praying and pleading for help with you right now. Please know when you read this, no matter how old you are, that I really did my best for you. I love you. I want you to be happy. 

I love you, 

Your Mom