Because of COVID-19, all of the kids are home and driving each other a bit bonkers. Their way to describe it is back to homeschooling without the Sunday School portion. It has been a long time since the last post and boy has a lot happened. Amanda has graduated college, completing her first year of full-time work and learning to "adult". Joel is going to be a senior in the fall and loving the college experience. Although he is no longer a teenager, he eats like a starving college student. Melissa is thriving in college and decided to stay longer to get a dual major. She has developed her love of baking to satisfy her sweet tooth. Geoff (now Dr. Akers) is staying up late to help his students understand engineering course materials. Amanda and Joel both say engineering classes are hard, so we know it isn't just Geoff making it difficult. haha. I am volunteering at a health clinic to fill my time. With three kids out of the house and one in 8th grade, I was going a bit stir crazy. Now-a-days I appreciate the opportunity to leave the house for work. Justin is now 14 years old! How time has flown. He made chicken noodle soup all by himself this week, and it was delicious. Justin (no longer "shorty" as he is taller than his sisters as of this month) has started his own mowing business, is doing well in school, and was running track before the pandemic. He refuses to take the dog because William gets too distracted. Overall the kids are growing up so fast and becoming intelligent young adults. So excited to see what God has planned next.

[Originally written June 2013] Greeting from Virginia! Our family is still adjusting to the area. Amanda and Joel seem to have found their place here very quickly and have some amazing friends. I just never expected to really like my kids friends and enjoy having them over. One of the things I love most about them is, they love to involve Justin and Melissa in all the games. As for an update on my little man. Since moving here, he has somehow adopted the name "shorty". Amanda gave him that name, and with Joel growing 4 inches in a year, Justin really does look short. We have Joel at 70 inches and Justin at 43 inches. He loves his big brother Joel. Joel, Melissa, Justin and Geoff are all taking Martial Arts. My boys LOVE it. You should see them at home practicing their forms and sparring. Justin was excited to pass up his dad in rank. He made it to the green belt last week. Justin still has speech delays. We haven't been able to find him a speech thearpist. A new discovery I made about Justin was that he doesn't know how to spit. Geoff and I have been trying to help him. Especially when it comes to brushing his teeth. We gave him some water to try with, and his reply is, "I can't stop it, it goes down my throat to fast". I am homeschooling Justin this year, he is doing well. His reading is improving a lot. He had me worried at the end of last school year.