To those of you who are regular followers of my blog, this will seem like an odd post to show up in first part of November. For those of you who are here because of a qr code ... congratulations! You figured out my Christmas card. That's right. This year I got really fancy as I designed the Blau family Christmas card, and I included a qr code on the front that directs everyone right to our online Christmas letter. It saves paper and won't just end up in the trash bin with all of the other Christmas letters sent out this year. And the great thing is that I have a good record of our year in a place where I can keep it forever (hopefully).
Here is the super fun card that I have created through
heritagemakers.com for Christmas 2012:
To be fair, some other super creative person created the template for this card. I just replaced the info until it fit our family. Love it!
And now for our Blau Family Christmas Letter:
It has been several years since we have sent out Christmas cards. Did I buy Christmas cards? Yes. Did I address envelopes? Yes. Did I purchase special Christmas stamps? Yes. Did I ever actually get the cards into the mail? Not so much. It seemed a bit anti-climactic to send out the cards in the middle of February.
I am a procrastinator.
But not this year. This year I am getting on the ball early. I refuse to leave these cards until the last minute. So hopefully many of you will be receiving cards. If not, at least I'll have a great Christmas letter blog post, right?
As the Blau children get older and older, life for Team Blau gets more and more hectic. Thank goodness we have extra drivers now to help cart people all over the planet for various activities. I am very grateful for modern conveniences like Google calendar so that I have space to keep all of it straight ... and even then I miss some things. Luckily the kids still claim us as parents, even when we make mistakes.
2012 has been a transition year for us and our business. After five years at the head of Quest Education Systems, Herman and I split from our partner and went off on our own as 100% owners of Great Educators. If you are interested in the nitty gritty details of our big business decision, you can check out my blog post
HERE. Check out our new company website
HERE. Herman is involved in visiting individual school districts, mostly in Missouri, and offering consultation for their schools in whatever areas they need it. He has been very successful setting these consultations up, so he has been super busy traveling all over the state almost every weekday during the school year. So the great news is ... we aren't going to starve this year. Hurray!
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Eliza Ruth QingMin Blau
July 2012 |
For those of you who are not regular followers of Blau family happenings, you may be very surprised to notice a family addition. That's right. Team Blau is now a family of nine. In November 2011 the entire family headed to China in order to adopt the newest Blau. If you are interested in hearing more about our once-in-a-lifetime trip, I kept a daily blog of our adventure. You can check out links to the various posts
HERE. Our little Asian wonder child is Eliza. Her American name is Eliza Ruth QingMin Blau. Obviously, we came up with Eliza and Ruth, but we kept her Chinese name as a middle name as well. At school they call her Eliza, but at home and church she is Minsy which was her nickname in China. Officially, Eliza is five years old. We are not seeing this. She is extremely small, and after getting her bones tested, we have found that she has the bone age of a 3 year old. She behaves more like a 2 1/2 to 3 year-old child as well. Right now she is in the early childhood program through the Waynesville school district, and they have placed her in a 3 year-old class. Even in that class she seems a bit behind, but lots of that can probably be attributed to her transition to American life and the time it takes to catch up after such a dramatic change. Still, we are taking her to specialist after specialist to see if we need to change her age officially. Right now I would say that she is EXTREMELY delayed if she really is five. If she is three, then she is only slightly delayed, and I'm not so worried. We'll see how this drama plays out. Stay tuned to this blog for more information. (DECEMBER 2012 UPDATE -- Turns out, Minsy is officially five. We still can't process this. To hear the full story of how we determined this, check out my blog post
HERE.) The great news is, no matter how old Minsy might be, she is a very happy child. It has been such a joy to welcome her into our family, and it is like she was always meant to be here. She fits right in.
Outside of the new business and adjusting to a new Blau in the family, Herman and I stay super busy with other pursuits as well. Herman has been busy buying a few more properties in the Waynesville area to add to our rental property company. Since this is not my cup of tea, I just nod my head and smile as he shares his enthusiasm for the newest property he is looking at. He won re-election to the Waynesville school board in April, so he'll be serving our area for another three years. That has been enjoyable for him, although he has a reputation as a rebel on the board, constantly questioning and pushing against what he considers to be poor use of the district resources. Luckily he is pretty personable, so he doesn't tend to alienate people. Interested in his frazzled "Meet the Candidates" experience? You can read about it
HERE. I started teaching early morning seminary last January. These are religion classes before school for high school students. Our seminary students have class at 6 am every school day as they study the scriptures. Because I am not a morning person and never have been, waking up, getting dressed up in church clothes, and coming to church to teach eighteen high school juniors and seniors (mostly) has been quite an adjustment. But it has been pretty fun and way worth it. It does tend to wipe me out on some days, but I survive. You can see an example of what a good seminary day for me looks like
HERE. I continue to dream dreams about the book I want to write, but I never take the time to get it on paper. Instead I busy myself reading other people's books and writing reviews for amazon, goodreads, and my own personal book blog.
Laney is turning 18 on December 10th. 18!!!!! That hardly seems possible. I have spent the past few months thinking of how every single event is the LAST time that we will be able to do this as a family with Laney here. The last birthday party. The last Halloween. The last Homecoming. The last high school football game. And on and on and on. It can get a bit depressing at times. Laney spent last year at home, taking her high school courses online. You can read about my thoughts on her homeschooling adventure
HERE. She felt that she needed to come back to high school to finish out her senior year, so she re-enrolled at Waynesville High School in August. It has been a bit of an adjustment for her to re-enter the daily grind of school after a year off, but she is doing wonderfully. I love having Savannah and her at the high school together. They spend lots of time involved in many of the same activities together, and that has been great. Laney is taking many AP classes this year in hopes of becoming the valedictorian for her class. So far, so good. She is also the editor of the school paper and is a very talented writer. You can check out her wonderful blog
HERE. It looks like she has chosen to go to BYU-Idaho in the fall, and she is busy getting her application ready right now. She should have no problem getting accepted with her GPA and ACT scores, so now we are looking into scholarships. Fun. Fun.
Savannah just turned 16 and is a sophomore at Waynesville High School. She is really blossoming as a young woman with confidence. She has found her groove as a high school student. Last year she was the piano player for the jazz band, and she really developed her piano playing talent and confidence. This year she didn't have room in her schedule for that, but she just finished participating in marching band as a tuba player. I don't often say this about tuba players, but ... Savannah has a gorgeous sound as she plays. Watching her march with that giant tuba on her shoulder was amazing. The thing weighs a ton but she, along with her section mates, had to run, swing, and dip themselves all over the field ... all while playing the music. That takes some skills. She is also an amazing member of the school's scholar bowl team. This is a quiz competition that requires a wide range of knowledge. Kind of like jeopardy. She has placed individually at every competition they have attended this year, and last year she was the only freshman in the district to place. We are in a very competitive district, so this was a big deal. You can check out a little about the somewhat crazy attempts by colleges to recruit Savannah
HERE. But outside of her music and scholar talent, Savannah is so, so funny. She is super quick with a comic retort to almost any topic we discuss. It is a talent that I do not possess.
Spencer is an eighth grader at Waynesville Middle School. He will be turning 14 in February and will get to start attending church dances and EFY (a camp put on by BYU) in the summer. Crazy. I will really enjoy seeing how he interacts at these things. For a taste of what Spencer might be at these future dances, check out my post
HERE. He is a hoot. Spencer is very active as a trombone player in the middle school bands. He has really become very good at jazz band and a leader in his section. The jazz bands work a lot on improvisational solos, and Spencer has just enough confidence and creativity to pull these off. He has declared his desire to join the tennis team when he gets into high school. Since he really hasn't had a lot of experience playing tennis, it looks like we're going to have to find him some opportunities around here. It might be difficult since tennis isn't the most popular sport in the area. Too bad his talented uncles aren't around to play with him. Spencer is quite a character with lots of enthusiasm and a willingness to speak out. Sometimes we have to tamp this tendency down a bit, but I think that it will serve him well in the future. Have I mentioned how much he loves the Beatles? No? Well, he LOVES the Beatles. And not just their well-known stuff. He can sing along with all of their rare and lesser known songs. And, boy, that band sang a lot of weird, weird songs. Spencer knows them all.
Katie will be turning 11 in March. She is in fifth grade at Freedom Elementary in Waynesville. Katie is a social butterfly and fits into a stereotypical tween personality (the good kind). She loves to be a helper to her teachers in every way. She is part of the district elementary honor choir, and has turned into a very good young singer. For those of you that haven't kept up with us recently, Katie got the opportunity to play Gretl in the high school's production of The Sound of Music when she was in third grade, and she did very well. That was fun to see. She has displayed a talent for befriending those who are most in need of friendship, and I really love this about Katie.
Hyrum just turned nine, and he is growing up so quickly. He moved from the lower elementary to the upper elementary this year, and he is in third grade. He is also in the district honor choir with Katie. Hyrum takes life very, very seriously. Don't get me wrong. He is lots of fun. But he tries very hard to understand everything about the world around him. He enjoys serving the people he encounters each day, and he is an excellent brother to his siblings. Hyrum's latest obsession is Power Rangers, and he is an expert in each of the series (thank you Netflix!). We have decided to give him an outlet for his Power Ranger enthusiasm and start him in Karate classes. He is beyond thrilled. Another possibility for him might be gymnastics because he has an amazing combination of strength and super flexibility. That has to count for something in a sport like gymnastics, right? For an excellent insight into Hyrum's personality, check out my post about his irritation with our local tooth fairy
HERE.
JoJo is turning 7 in December, but he will always be my baby. I spoil him too much. Luckily he is still turning out sweet. JoJo is a first grader at East Elementary in Waynesville, and he is getting very proficient at reading. He is getting fast enough that he can follow along with the words as we sing hymns in church. He loves to be silly, and I always find the adult monitors at the parent pickup line laughing with him as he makes a joke while waiting in line. Lately he has been on a "snuggle with Mom" kick, and I don't mind that at all. These moments won't stick around much longer. He adores his big brother, Hyrum, and he shares his obsession for all things Power Rangers.
Life seems to move faster and faster for us. We are doing all that we can to enjoy the last months we will have together as a family before Laney heads off into the world to forge her own place out there. When she was a baby every older person we met told us to cherish these moments because they don't last long. We see the wisdom in that advice now. I sometimes wish that I could freeze time for a bit so that things would not keep moving on, but at the same time I get to experience such wonderful experiences and blessings as I see each of the children become their own person and set out into the world around them. The holidays are an excellent time to take stock and remember all the wonderful blessings in our life. Heavenly Father has been very good to Team Blau in the last year, and I am so grateful for all He has done for us. I hope that all of you can be equally blessed in your lives. Thank you for your friendship in everything!
Have an Exceptionally Merry Christmas from the Blau Family!
Herman, Melissa, Laney, Savannah, Spencer, Katie, Hyrum, JoJo and Minsy
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