So many attempts at getting a Christmas card picture.
Most of our friends have Facebook and follow our blog, but for the few that don't I sent a "review" letter in their Christmas cards.
The Beeler Review – 2019
January was a whirlwind of survival. We schooled, had family games nights,
snuggled, and just were. We did
travel to St. Louis to the cerebral palsy clinic at the children’s hospital to
get a new team plan for Natalee. We received
scripts for OT, PT, and shoe orthotics at that visit and talked a lot about
pain management.
February brought more school. It was also the month we announced we were {surprise}
expecting baby #5. I was 3 months along
at the end of the month and feeling tired and nauseous. We had a couple of co-op activities with
fellow homeschoolers.
March 16th brough our first
weenie roast! We were desperate for
spring! We began doctoring with Xavier
for some leg pain and turned in foot and as of writing this (mid Dec) we still
don’t have definite answers. We saw an
orthopedist and neurologist but have him scheduled to see Natalee’s neurologist
in the new year. We also celebrated
Ameliya turning 5 at the end of March.
In April we found out that
baby #5 was a girl. We played more
games, had a swimming field trip with our co-op, and enjoyed the days that were
sunny. Mike also celebrated a birthday.
May sent us back to St. Louis for an overnight stay and
another visit to the cerebral palsy clinic.
Zayden also had a damaged tooth pulled at the dentist, I (Jenn) traveled
to Iowa City with Natalee for another specialist appointment, and Natalee got
casted for her DAFOs with overnight stretchers.
May felt like a lot of appointments!
By June I was getting pretty round. Baseball began for Xavier and that kept us
busy. Zayden got the chicken pox! and
missed our trip to Dream Night at the Zoo in Des Moines that was for
differently abled children. I slipped
away with 4 friends to a homeschool conference and felt revived and excited for
the new school year! Xavier turned 9 at
the end of June.
July brought us the knowledge that we
were pretty sure we were moving. Mike
took for us a rental house near campus in Oskaloosa and our house in Lancaster
was in the process of selling. I was big
and hot and trying not to be grumpy. The
children all took a week of private swim lessons, Natalee went to Girls’ Camp
for the 3rd year in a row, and Xavier had more neurology
appointments and tests. My spare time
was spent packing boxes.
In August, Ameliya had a one
year urology check-up in Iowa City and was declared HEALTHY! We are so thankful. We waited all the month long for baby #5 to
come, it seemed. While we waited, we
packed and packed and packed some more.
Eleven years and {almost} 7 people’s stuff needed to come out of our
little house in Lancaster and find its way to new homes or to our new place in
Iowa. It was exhausting. Finally, at the end of the month, on the 29th
day of August, Evalynn Nancy joined our family.
She is pure joy and we are thankful that God knew we needed her when we
didn’t.
September was simply chaotic. It was moving month, Mike had to work a week
of nights, we had a newborn, and my body did not recover easily. I was on light duty, minimal lifting, which
is tough when you’re moving. Did I
mention we were moving? Ha. Thank you to all our family and friends who
just did it. We’re so grateful. At the end of September, we cleaned that
sweet little Lancaster house one last time, said a tearful good-bye to it, and
turned it over to a new owner.
In October I cried a lot. Moving, post-partum hormones, and
overwhelming anxiety all had their grips on me.
We unpacked, we explored a little, and we held on tightly to each other. We began our official homeschool year in
October. Towards the end of the month,
we had an overnight trip to Quincy, IL to see a play and stay at a hotel with a
pool. It was the break we needed. I also had an overnight get-away with my mom
and sisters to celebrate mom’s birthday.
October brought the first snow with it, and we were grateful Mike wasn’t
driving in it for the first time in six years.
In November we finally started
to find a bit of a rhythm. I celebrated
everyday joys again, and started accepting what is, instead of what used to be
or what is to come. Zayden turned 4 in
November and enjoyed every second of being the birthday boy. We gave thanks with our families and each
other and did a fair amount of driving back and forth between Iowa and
Missouri.
It is December. Natalee has just turned 11 and is less a
little girl every day. I have celebrated
another trip around the sun and lived to tell about it, although some days I
wasn’t sure I would! Evalynn will soon
be 4 months old and is a precious baby.
The holiday season is upon us and the children are excited. We are looking forward to time with family
and a slower pace for a couple of weeks with Daddy off work. Not living in the same town as our families
has made us (me especially) appreciate and yearn for the time we do get with
them.
We are thankful for all of you and
wishing you the a joyous and happy 2020.
If you are friends and family who have stuck with us these last couple
of years, we thank you, so very much.
They haven’t felt easy living in them, but we are sure it hasn’t been
easy to be our support people either.
God’s love, and ours, to each and every one of you.
Much Love,
Mike and Jenn
Natalee Cynthia, Xavier Micheal,
Ameliya Darby, Zayden Samuel, Evalynn Nancy
We also did updated photos for the grandparents frames.
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