Another Nutshell

Since Halloween, our family was all revved up for the elections, hoping the producers would out-vote the takers, and unfortunately, our side lost. To quote a great man, "It's hard to beat Santa Claus". If you haven't seen 2016, you simply MUST. The DAY after the elections, Obama made a frightening move that was predicted in the film, and for every day since election day, he's averaged 64 NEW regulations PER DAY. We are fervently praying for the health of our nation, and the elimination of the start to socialism that appears to have begun. It is hard not to be glum, but we know "our hope is in the name of the Lord" (Psl 124:8)Enough about politics, for now...

Our family has been busy as usual, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Parent-teacher conferences for both Ella and Natalie have shown the girls are adjusting well to school and are doing GREAT academically. Natalie made the 'AB' (vs A) Honor Roll, and when her teacher unveiled her results, Nat's face fell because she didn't know that the Honor Roll is a GOOD thing-she thought she was on some type of 'bad' list:). She was recognized in a special Awards Ceremony chapel service for the Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance. Both girls are at schools where the A to B cut-off is 92%, so their academic challenges are greater. In addition to academics, both girls continue to be active in their personal interests and school clubs, and though the increased 'car time' the family endures is unpleasant, it is a joy to see them both bloom in their new environments!

Grace, David and Claire have become a LOT closer with the absence of their older siblings. It is both fun, and a little sad, to see. Grace lost her first 2 molars, and is rapidly blossoming into a young lady. She continues to partake in her art class, and has become an expert butterfly catcher! David has lost his 2 front teeth, an eye tooth, and has another tooth loose. This is making his speech therapy a bit more challenging, but the therapist is very impressed with how well he's compensating for the loss of all those teeth:). Claire is always singing, making up songs that are cute for the first 10 minutes, annoying for the next 10, and agony for the remaining hours she chooses to sing them while corralling all the cats she can find (including our neighbors friendly kitties!).

Craig is wrapping up his most challenging semester yet in SMP, while catapulting the Shepherd kids choir to public performance level at the San Antonio Spurs game, where they sang the National Anthem! Not too shabby...especially when you include his new responsibilities with the Sr. Shepherds, an organ planning committee, and weddings and funerals (more of the latter, sadly).

Yes, life is busy.....

Yes, our future as a nation looks blurry...

Yes, the days start earlier than we'd like and ends later than we planned....

...but we are SO GRATEFUL for the unit we are blessed to call OUR family!!

Additionally, we are honored to call all of you our friends, even when we don't see you as often as we'd like, or blog as frequently as we should.

Until next time...

Love Much,

The Meissler 7