Christmas Letter 2008

I am going to post my 2008 Christmas letter here for all of those that I don't have any other way to communicate with. Mainly online friends, but there might be a few relatives that I may have missed as well. (Totally unintentional)

Hello From Mississippi,

It has been and interesting year to say the least. Elizabeth is now 10 and Anthony is now I. It is hard to believe that I have been a mommy for 10 years!

In May, we rented a car and spent a weekend in a rented cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. We met up with a group of ladies that I met online from the site that I am a Global Moderator on. Online Christian Parents. It was really nice and the atmosphere was beautiful and we wee very blessed by the fellowship that we shared with the friends.

While there, w spent two days at Dollywood theme park. It was fun and the children had a blast!!! We went on some real wild rides that I don't think Elizabeth and Anthony would have gone on had they known what was in store. lol

In July, my job at Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation ended. The company had been purchased a few years earlier by a company from China and all of the operations were set to move overseas. I worked in the reconditioning department for five years. Since the majority of the plant was manufacturing, and that part of it was set to go to PRC (Peoples Republic of China) they chose to shut the whole plant down. My department moved to another town here in Mississippi but it would have been way too far for me to commute back and forth, so I took my severance and unemployment.

So now, I am a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) and I am currently homeschooling my children, which is going well by the way. We are in our second year of this and in our hearts we know, that thi is God's will for us and for our children.

I am using a multi aged curriculum called My Father's World that I can teach both Elizabeth and Anthony from. They just have individual Math and English. Our main course of study this year is Geography. They are learning so very much about each continent. I am learning right along with them. It is all going very well.

Mike is still in the process of trying to get his disability. It is a long, drawn out process. The first part of the year, we went for several trips to Jackson for hi to get Faucet Injection shots in his lower back. Come to find out that they really don't help the problem, they pretty much just act like a band aid for a couple of weeks. We quit doing them. So he lives in constant pain with numbness and cramping in the back of his legs. Nothing else we can do. Our insurance runs out at the end of the year.

He also had a bout with serious depression at one time. The doctors wanted to hospitalize him for it, but we got hover the worst part of it. He tried medications for a time, but come to ind out, the meds were worse than the depression and he got off of those.

Elizabeth and Anthony are amazingly smart and we are so very proud of all their accomplishments. They are like any brother and sister though, each trying to out do the other. Sometimes it can way heavy on mom's nerves, but I suppose that is normal and to be expected.

We don't know what God has in store for us next year. But we have faith that He will carry us through and provide for our needs. He always has.

We pray that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!

Love Mike, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Anthony!!!