Adam might be the busiest of us all. He is a senior in high school this year. He continues to follow pretty much every sport closely. He is a true blue BYU fan first, though. He is president of the senior class at our large high school. He sings in, and is president of, Acapella. He is in the varsity Jazz choir, and in the Men's choir, too. This is also his third year in varsity show choir. He plays intramural sports for flag football, volleyball, basketball and soccer. Since that doesn't seem enough for him he also has a job at one of our local grocery stores. He auditioned and made Iowa's all state choir for the third year. For this mom, one of the proudest moments of the year was when he made the homecoming court (that is not the cool part). In a stadium full of people they announced each member of the court, and it made my heart sing to have them announce that after high school he is planning to serve a two year mission for his church and then hoping to attend BYU. We are so proud of him and the amazing young man that he is. Just this week he met with the Bishop so we can begin working on his mission papers. He is hoping to turn them in just before his birthday in February with the hopes of leaving in June. I can hardly believe it! I think one of the hardest parts of Adam leaving home will be knowing that my other little Finchlings are not too far behind. Things are going to start changing, and I don't know if this momma is ready. Adam is doing an amazing job of blazing a path to follow. How thankful we are to have him in our home.
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| The kids posing at Adam's last all-state choir performance |
Anna is 15 and a sophomore in high school. She continues to work hard at everything she does, excelling at school. She ran cross country again this year, continuing to press on even with an injured knee. She is loving the different art classes that are offered at the high school, and her talent continues to amaze us. She was able to complete driver's ed in this summer and is looking forward to getting her license in January when she turns 16. Anna also has a great love of music. She participates in choir at school. She also has taught herself to play the ukulele, and we love hearing her sing and play. She has gotten more brave about sharing this talent, and often accompanied her EFY group this summer as they sang hymns. Anna is warm and friendly, and much to her father's dismay, already has a date lined up for when she turns 16. She makes us laugh and finds the fun in most anything we do. We love our Anna.
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| Anna all ready to go to Homecoming with friends |
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| Lizzy on stage for her performance of "Just Another Snow Day" |
Ben is 12 and in 6th grade. He is enjoying being a deacon at church. He is ever responsible and just successfully planned and pulled off a talent show for all of the youth at church. He was the MC, printed programs, came up with prizes, and determined the criteria for the judge to use. Since the start of the school year I have received a couple of emails from some of his teachers letting me know how amazed they are with Ben's work. He always goes above and beyond. Some of his talents include computer programming and math. He and Greg worked all of last year to program a game called "Squirmy Wormy". Greg could see Ben's talents and wanted to help him develop them. Ben was so proud as many of the teachers downloaded the app on their ipads at school. Ben also just made the math team at his school. He is excited for the upcoming competitions. He has also been blessed with musical talent as well. He submitted an audition tape, and was able to participate in Iowa's all state Opus Honor choir for 5th and 6th graders. He and Anna enjoy singing duets together at home. Ben is also helpful at home, often helping with dinner or baking up family home evening treats. He is my tech adviser, and I rely on him often. I am so thankful to have him around!
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| Ben getting some love from his sisters on the day he was ordained a deacon (they are recreating a picture from his baptism day) |
Jacob is 9 years old. He is cheerful and fun to be around. He can be found wrestling with Adam or sneaking up on Greg. He is also an avid reader and I think his favorite spot on the family room couch has a permanent indentation of him curled up in a ball holding a book. He is still taking piano lessons, but I wouldn't say he loves it. He really enjoys going to a climbing center here in Iowa, but there is not a lot of opportunity outside to climb here. He is good natured about being dragged along to all of his siblings different events. We are thankful for the joy he spreads everyday in our home.
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| Jacob- age 9 |
Greg is still with John Deere. His job has kept him quite busy this year. He was even given a special award this year at work for one of the projects he worked on. When he is not busy with work he loves spending time with the kids throwing a ball around, or playing Mario Kart. He is always thankful for days off, and loves his long break between Christmas and New Year's. Church also keeps him busy. We are grateful for the time we are able to eek out for just the two of us.
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| Hotel selfie--not the best, but no one was there to take our picture! |
The Lord continues to bless our family. We are happy. We are healthy. We have each other. We also have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We love our Savior, and feel so thankful to feel his love for us so often. May you find the peace and happiness we have found through knowing him. Merry Christmas!
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