Caroling

I helped take the youth and children's choir around to some memebers of the congregation to sing carols to them. Seeing these dear older people beaming at the kids was very sweet. I do not know how many of the kids saw the looks on their faces. One of them mentioned how each year gets more difficult for her with the loss of friends and that the kids singing made up for that sadness. She had tears in her eyes. I thought to myself how I might feel when I am their age (God willing). Three out of four of the visits were to people who still are able to get to church. We see them there too and they seem basically the same from week to week. It was good to see them in their element for the real people they are. One of the women has been a shut-in for quite some time. She is immobile and was laying on a couch in the hallway of a nursing home. I know she heard us as her eyes were open and a tear came to her eye. We should do this more often. Loneliness must be a huge factor in their lives. I'm not sure how I would fare in the same situation. I have a tendency to look very closely at people eyes and see what is up with them. So even in very old immobile people the eyes say so much. A tear in their eye with all those marvelous kids crowded around them singing with gusto is what makes Christmas more special for both of them. I hope the kids realize how much it means to them. It means a lot to me to see the kids joy and willingness to just naturally go and do this. They are a fantastic group of kids. They drip Jesus very naturally to others and it was obvious it was a joy for the older folks to hear "Joy to the World" and other great carols sung for them on this sixth day of Christmas. I'll be happy to drive again!

Bike Trainer

The new bike trainer is AWESOME! I never thought I would enjoy exercising in the house. I am too addicted to being outside, away from my four walls. I like this thing as it is challenging and involves quite a bit of concentration to keep from killing yourself. I guess I have always liked a challenge. 10 minutes wipes me out so far. The good news for me is that 10 minutes also wipes Charley out so I do not feel like such a wimp. I wasn't here yesterday so missed doing it but did manage to job from the Shedd Aquarium to the Soldier Field to get something from the van I forgot. Happily I was able to do that with only a few stops. I is pretty plump so would like to reclaim or find my body in there someplace. I succumbed to ice cream last night to top off a long day. Everyone but smiling Benjamin is still in bed. Evan is sleeping on my shoulder and I probably should go hunt down some recipes for leftover ham and.......squash. I am taking Matthew dear to lunch for all his fantabulous assistance lately. Lately is not a good word to describe him. He is a big help to me all the time. Applications for his future wifeling will be accepted and reviewed as they come. Seriously, this boy knows what is needed and does it. Amazing. The rest of the kidlets are not too shabby either but Matthew has a gift for seeing a need and filling it. It should be a good day.

Only one wrong turn

this time. Last summer I managed to get us pretty lost in a neighborhood south of downtown Chicago on the way to the Shedd Aquarium. Today we ventured back to the Aquarium with some free vouchers. I happened to write the Shedd with a few complaints about their entrance procedures and a few suggestions to improve the experience. I was not expecting anything in return and suddenly I was offered free tickets for our whole group to return to the Shedd again. Our group was 13 people so I took 13 back with me and we had a much better time. I only took one wrong turn on the way there and it wasn't a fatal one sending me off to Wisconsin or something and only took a little jaunt to get us back on track.

Almost all the kids had a blast. Stefan decided he wanted to go home as soon as we took his coat off. Sigh. He just doesn't like to leave home I guess and I should have remembered that. I thought he would enjoy the bigger whales and things but he stubbornly objected. He makes displeasure an art form. I guess I am a seasoned enough parent that it didn't bother me that much. Matthew weathered the storm some with him and I appreciate that greatly. I took him for the last hour or so and just sat with him and watched the beluga whales dancing around together. Very amazing.

Well, the fun wore me out. Stefan is happily home. I'm hitting the hay earlier than usual. I can't wait! Late dinner and ice cream I shouldn't have eaten round out a nice day with the age group I get along with the easiest. Kids. I think I still am one.

But do you read them?

Christmas letters. I write the silly Christmas letters in this family. I do think people have sort of liked them in the past and I HAVE to include humor but seriously I wonder how many people, after nine children and two crazy adults, really take the time to peruse our lives. It becomes the 'War and Peace' of Christmas letters. AND from reading other people's blogs and letters etc, when it boils right down to it our amazing children live very similar lives to the other amazing people we know. These letters could be categorized by age of parents and age of children and then another subcategory of age span of children and juggling college bound/college going/married/grandchildren sort of letters. I take comfort in the similarity of our lives to others but love to laugh my head off too so will most likely send the featured letter out to our dear friends and relatives. To make my dh happy I will put a condensed version of truth to those poor children i our letter whose lives were fictionalized. Matthew (doesn't want me to change his part) - Scouts, Eagle project, smart, helpful, enthusiastic. Cecilia - awesome piano player, performer in plays, still in the Amelia Bedelia stage. Benjamin - learning to read and do math. The rest is all basically true but I think it was Mendelssohn who most inspired Anna to change to an Organ major......or something. So......hope y'all enjoyed that. We most certainly did and are now plotting our future letters of mirth. God bless you all!

Another version

Condensed version of family letter - Anna - IU, many play piano, church, homeschooled and there is another kid (not on the way). The end and God bless.

Love the Horners

The most awesome Christmas letter

Dear Family and Friends,

We pray for you all as you come to mind. Christmas letter sending helps me to remember you all in prayer even if it is once a year. It has been an unbelievable year to say the least. I will give you a short synopsis (or as short as I can make it). A little over a year ago, we discovered we were expecting our ninth child. He is sitting next to me right now being cute. Evan Jakob Sebastian came into the world July 16, and he has been a precious and wonderful gift to the family with his smiles and snuggly ways. We are thankful for his safe delivery and that all has been well.

Charley's year has been a whirlwind of emotion. Rumors were flying at work that Bosch would possibly leave South Bend and though we hoped they would hold off on that decision, it has come to pass that they indeed will be leaving by this time next year at the latest. He will be working here in South Bend till the bitter end but we will not be moving as far as we can foresee right now. He is proceeding with confidence and I am grateful his reputation as an excellent engineer precedes him. I've never ceased to brag on his engineering ability.

The kids have all been busy as ever. Anna is a Sophomore at Indiana University and has switched her major to Organ Performance. She played organ in the Halloween concert at IU and was so moved by the experience that she knew all she ever wanted to was play spooky organ music. The church there has elected her to Fellowship Deacon. Her acceptance speech was, “Welcome to the most boring year this church has ever seen.” That's my girl! In other news, Anna has taken up dancing as a hobby. She's going to join a chorus line this summer. As for her love life, she just likes to keep people guessing. One wry look to the winning guesser!

Erik is 18 and I spontaneously graduated him from High School about a week ago. We still expect him to write a valedictorian speech. He spent half the year confusing our friends by answering the phone in a British accent. We have given up all animal raising and Erik had the pleasure of loading up the chicken coop on the trailer and driving into the sunset to our dear (very dear) friends (hopefully still friends) the Wolfe's. His eyes regularly glaze over as he ponders his gorgeous girlfriend in North Carolina. I have to bring him back to South Bend regularly where his responsibilities now include working on finishing up house projects and designing coffins until he is motivated to get a license and an outside job.

Matthew has no love interests that I am aware of. He is rigging up the house so it can fly to Paradise falls. He has been inflating balloons for weeks and hopes it will approved as his Eagle Project. Too bad he didn't think of doing this with the chicken coop so we could have avoided the trouble of getting it on the trailer. He got an airsoft gun, along with his brothers. They will soon be for sale on Amazon for those interested. Matthew's nose is as congested as ever. We would be keeping kleenex companies in business except... Snot. Lots of laundry.

Martin enjoys Scouts and is our conscientious student. He is working on his “Helping the Elderly
badge so sometimes he does what Anna asks him to. He loves to practice the piano too. Drinking songs are especially popular. I am happy for that as it is all less of a struggle. He grew three inches after getting into some Ent Draught. Our little Hobbit is growing up. He doesn't have any love interests either, though surely every little girl wishes he did. Hobbits are powerful charmin'.

Cecilia also loves learning. She is graduating college top of her class because, as a homeschooled girl, she is naturally a prodigy. Currently she is on tour playing piano in every major orchestra. She is sharing a room with Ingrid, who asks for help getting out of the crib every morning, but somehow is not heard. Anna chuckles and thinks of her days sharing a room with toddler Cecilia. Big C. is now in possession of Mathew's bunnies because he is too busy blowing up balloons. Cecilia is too busy to consider a serious romantic relationship, but DID walk down the aisle just yesterday with her husband Joseph in the church pageant.

Benjamin is still Benjamin. He helps with firewood and cleaning the house. He loves vacuuming and sweeping and throwing away trash so much that we have to tie him to his bed at night to get him to take a break and sleep. He is 7 and dating the love of his life, Abigail. They want to run off and join a circus be we haven't let them, plus she lives too far away. We went on a very pleasant vacation in May to visit his girl and her family, so we could get to know them.

Stefan and his Woody and Bullseye dolls are inseparable. They go on rip roaring adventures together. He has discovered that he can produce a noise like a broken kazoo with his nose. He is in love with... his Woody Pjs and wonders “Are there MORE of these at Walmart?”. He stores all of his leftovers promptly and properly in the fridge. He is happily single. His OCD would prevent him from getting too close to any girl.

Ingrid, no longer the youngest has stepped right into he big sister shoes, along with the shoes of every other family member. Lots of missing shoes. Her babies and Barbies are all securely tucked into their napkins and oven mitts, up and down the stairs and everywheres. She fancies being a single mother, adopting all the emaciated and and disproportionate children in the world.

Evan, by far the cutest, as he most closely resembles Anna as a baby, is the center of everything and has an evil glint in his gorgeous eyes as he spits all over everything. Mom uses Eau de Blurp.

At this point in the letter I would like Anna to take over to write about MY year, as she had NOTHING to do with the letter to this point. You know it's true. Mom. Mom was pregnant. Then she had a baby. She isn't pregnant right now. Stop asking. She just needs to throw some more firewood and maybe take over the housework from Benjamin. She and dad have been, believe it or not, so bored with their 9 children, that they took it upon themselves to adopt our 65 year old neighbor, Jim Edward Carson-Horner. He goes with on family vacations while I sit at school and rot. They failed to ask my permission before taking this course of action. Does this mean that I will be his legal guardian in the event of their untimely demise?

Everyone is home for the holidays, at least until Cecilia has her next gig and Matthew flies off with the home. I hope you enjoyed this letter as much as we enjoyed our rip-roaring year. Peace and love to y'all, bros.

Love, The Horners


NOTICE: This account has been loosely based on the lives of the Horners. No animals were harmed in the making of this letter.

Post pregnancy fatness

As with every child, I gain more weight after the baby than before. I think I have finally figured out why. Before the baby I am the crazed pregnant woman who still loves to mow the lawn, work in the garden, and even ride my bike for as long as possible. After the baby I am in the dairy barn and not a lot of physical work happens. Mr. Evan will begin his cereal/solids career soon so perhaps I will spend less time in the barn???? All my kids gain well until around five months and then their hyper Horner genes take over and they start to level off in weight gain. Their mother does all the weight gain for them. Sigh. Christmas is a terrible time to fight this battle too. Maybe I should get my maternity clothes back out??? It would be cheaper than buying bigger clothes. All my 'don't be so negative' friends could just grin and bear it and let me wallow in my fatness till it drives me to action. Eating is fun! I hate the fact that I am not even eating THAT much and we do eat healthy meals so what gives with this silly body of mine??? I would hate to think what would happen if I was eating frozen dinners, less veges and the like. My children are sticks. My husband is also a stick. Hmmmmm.......I will stop thinking about all this now and go get the kiddos up to work on the kitchen makeover.

Old Christmas Pageant stories

Cecilia has progressed in her Christmas Pageant career. WAY back when, I think she was 2, she decided to participate by singing with the kids. The day of the pageant arrived and sweet little Cecilia was up in front with the cute singing kids, singing 'Away in the Manger' but Cecilia was not singing. She got bored and decided to start pacing up and down the rows of kids. Charley and I saw this happening and he scooted out the back door of the church, went into the basement and up one of the stairways (not Emmaus). The left doorway in front of the church slowly opened as the little cherubs continued to sing 'Away in the Manger' and when dear little Cecilia got close to the doorway, an arm appeared and suddenly Cecilia disappeared. Her feet were last seen flying out the door. It was most amusing and people still talk about that today. Um.

Tomorrow she is Mary. I hope she behaves herself. ;o)

Graduated

I have graduated my second child Erik and he has advanced to the school of life. We will help him pursue his various endeavors as best we can but are now pushing him a bit to get his license, get a job, learn additional skills and in the mean time be employed by his parentals around the house during the day. I am amazed by how similar sons are to their fathers. Charley took a year off of school to 'figure it out' after High School and it looks like much the same is going on here. There will be an eight hour work day expected till such a time as he gets a job else where. Who knows, maybe he can jump start the 'family business' enough he won't get a job away from home but I will be pushing him that way and treating work at home as just that - work. Right now I have sicked him on removing the rest of the wallpaper paste from the walls in the kitchen and his first job will be redoing the kitchen walls and preparing them for painting. I am hoping by the summer to have the counter replaced but am considering a cement counter so it will have to wait till it is warmer. I suppose we will call him our personal contractor. We shall see how long it takes till he gets his job applications filled out. We have beat the academics for long enough. He loves to learn on his own but as with the school of life he will have to work on that in his off hours. I think everyone will be happier this way. I guess we should put him on the same sort of vacation schedule as his dad. I'll have to consult the dad as to how that works.

The boy has worked hard with many adversities and done well, but the time is right to work on the next stage of life. I am proud of him all around and will continue to be. College is not an option right now but it doesn't mean it won't be in the future. There will be a graduation party some time in the not too distant future. The biggest party will be seeing him learn and grow in his future.

Not much has changed

I can't get the part of the Depression article out of my head where it states that the two things treated like gold were coffee and chocolate. When has that NOT been true then. I think our economy is grounded (pun intended) on coffee and Chocolate. Just imagine God's good gift of coffee not being there??? Or chocolate???? Of course you non-coffee drinkers just be quiet, but life is just not the same without my coffee. Between chocolate and coffee, the need for magnesium and sanity, it makes perfect sense to me! I find this pointed out in literature too how families protected their coffee supply for their weary mother to have even in the face of dire straights. I suppose the tea drinkers feel or felt the same way about their tea. I have coffee on the mind I guess so please pardon this ever so deep post. Now to finish my coffee and get the lazy louts out of bed to greet the day. I need little espresso cups lined up for them all to have the most productive day.