Holiday Chaos!

It has been a while but we are ready for another post. There has been a lot going on in the family of N. We will try to update you briefly now.

All the back in October, we lost a dear family member. Pappy left this life after a significant battle with Alzheimer's  disease. He went peacefully and we are thankful for that. The huge family gathered for the memorial and things went smoothly.

Not long after that, Grandpa Levi was hospitalized and then place in an assisted living facility. He is trying to recupe to the point he can return home and seems to be doing as well as can be expected for a 92-year-old.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we traveled to the grandparents and had a good time. We came back and finished up the semester at the university and Shawna and the kids are out for the holiday break. The kids have been going to holiday parties and, this past week, Kaylee was in the holiday parade where we live. Later this week, we plan to return to the grandparents for the next holiday. 

The academic papers Shawna and Jeremy are working on are moving along. Jeremy finished up data collection which was very exciting. Shawna's is moving along but we are not sure where she is in the process.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

-j&k

Living on purpose

Here is a blog post of touchy, filly reflection. The family of N has had a lot of time to consider life. We have come to a conclusion that we are going to continue to live  intionally. Here are some thing that have been going on. 

I (Jeremy) having been working a new job for about eight weeks. It has been going well. I have also been working on a paper. I have been trying to spend time with the family. ( he hasnt got much of that in) life  have been busy , but good. 

Shawna is still loveing her job. She also is working on a paper and is doing well. She is excited about this week because she is off all week long. She has plans to work on the house and the paper. We hope she will get some rest as well. 

JT is growin up fast. He spent the day yesterday doing yard work for someone. He is speaking at service this Wednesday. the biggest news for him right now is that he is scheduled to get braces on his teeth this week. School is going well. Tae kwon do is going well  He is still active with the youth group.

Kaylee cotinues to practice her flute. She is learning independence. As evidenced by climbing on the counter and sitting there in order to reach cups in the cabinets. She can also cook , cut , and eat an intire frozen pizza by her self. We are proud of her and she has been typing this whole post on my phone as I dictate it to her while I drive. 

 The family of N is living purpose. 

-j&k 

The N Diaries

It has been a while and there have been a lot of changes or transitions. However, life is good and we are blessed. Here we go!

Shawna and Jeremy continue to work on their massive research papers. Jeremy had some exciting news this week in that he finished up 5/6s of his data collection. Shawna is moving along and making progress as well. Shawna had a conference recently in a nearby major city. She is still enjoying her job and it keeps her very busy.

Jeremy is starting the fourth week at his new job. He has finished training and starting to work. It is still on a part-time basis but is going well and it seems he will enjoy the job very much.

JT is now a freshman in high school! That does not seem real but it is. He is enjoying school and life very much. He has started back to tae kwon do and is working toward his next belt achievement. He continues to be active in the youth group and even speaking on occasions. 

KK is now in the seventh grade, still playing the flute, and has officially joined the youth group. She loves the youth group more than she ever thought she would and enjoyed girls' tea-time this past week. She continues to be all girl and part sassy. She is working hard to continue to be sweet. Both of the kids are on fall break this week! 

All in all, N continues to be blessed. 

-j&k

Another Week in the Life of the Family of N

JT started high school this past week and Kaylee is now in the seventh grade! The school year is off to a great start and it promises to be the best year yet! The time is flying by and we are trying to enjoy the moments as they pass. There has been a lot of excitement in the family of N, lately...

Dad has had two marriage seminars this summer and they both went very well. The second one, he got to partner with his Dad and they had a good time. He has been out preaching and teaching a lot but is home today so the blog gets posted. He is still working on his paper and it is coming along, though not as fast as he would like! 

Mom has had a lot of work on her hands but has been handling it well. She still manages to find time for her family. She has been getting ready for the school year and working around the house quite a bit. Things are going well for her.

JT had a very, very busy summer! Three camps, a week with family out of town, work camp, and active with two youth groups! It makes us tired just thinking about it. He is starting to settle down and seems to be doing well. He just got back from all night laser tag this past Friday so he has been sleeping a lot. He is adjusting to high school and doing well!

Kaylee got to go to camp this summer as a full camper. She has had a lot of fun growing up! She went to see family for a week with her brother, out of state. She played outside a lot and texts her friends constantly! She had two sleepovers and is adjusting to preteen life! This week, she officially joined the youth group at the congregation. Doesn't that sound grown up!

Family is a precious thing and we are enjoying the preciousness of it.

-j&k

Summer time

Summer is is over😭😭😭😭. So I'm going to tell you about our summer.

Well my summer went like this, I went to a sleepover then had a sleepover.

Then I went to my grandparents.

 Then went to a camp called Horizons.

Then went to my anut Chelle's.

My brother went to three camps.

Went to aunt Chelle's.

But that is all I remember 

My mom just worked.

So the summer felt like it went by fast 

My dad just goofed off

So that was our summer.

Can't believe it over tommow.

-k

Happy Father's Day

So, we have been out for a while. Life has been very busy and Dad and I have gotten out of our normal routine. Since today is Father's Day, I decides to take Dad out for breakfast. He was really happy about it. Here is a brief update to the family of N.

Dad is still working odd jobs and making money when he can. He has been in and out of the house. Mom, Bubba, and I have been out on summer break and enjoying it. Bubba has already been to one of three camps he plans to attend this summer. I will be going to one camp the first full week in July. I am really looking forward to seeing old friends and this will be my first official year as a camper. Dad got me in last year and i had a blast! Dad has been teaching at a camp and a university, preaching on the weekend, and doing whatever else he can do. Mom has been working some. Both Mom and Dad have been working on their papers as they have some time this summer. Later this summer, Bubba and I plan to got spend some time at at our aunt and uncle's house and see our cousins! 

-j&k 

Vacation: Day 6

As we were planning to leave Grand Canyon National Park today, Shawna and I had intentionally planned to 'play up' today and the rest of the trip so that the kids would not get discouraged.We were all very excited about getting to go to two states we have nver been to before. We started out fairly early and stopped at McDonald's in a near-by village for lunch. We got some last looks at the canyon from the car and hit the road. We traveled to California and stopped at Taco Bell in California for lunch. I commented it taste the same in California as it does in Tennessee. We then moved on to Nevada and before we knew it, we were back in Arizona. We did not even get out of the car in Nevada but we can all say we have been there. Our original plan was to stay in Flagstaff, Arizona for the night but we got there and ate dinner (at Five Guys) and decided to move a little closer to Four Corners. We had Grampy do some ground work to find a hotel near Four Corner for us and we stayed a little over an hour away from the landmark. We passed the time in the car by having a devotional, reviewing Bible facts, and writting in our journals. We had an awesome day. Here are some pcitures of the day.

Can you tell who was in charge of taking pictures?

 

 JT and I are still very proud of our accopmlishment of hiking to the river and back in one day.

 

We ran into the Roakkill Cafe on our trip. JT thought it was cool but stated the drink he ordered tasted somewhat like gravel!

This was entering into California. Again, we slowed down but did not have to stop to talk to anyone.

Taco Bell tastes the same in California as it does in Tennessee!

On into Nevada but was not in the state for long.

Kaylee wanted to take pictures of the scenery.

 

It was a good day. And we were safe.

 

-j

Vacation: Day 5

Day five was planned to be a leisure day at the canyon. It was the last day at the canyon and we planned to do some touristing and having a good time. JT and I were very sore this day. JT really wanted some alone time and wanted to stay in the room which he did most of the morning. The family went and ate breakfast and then we took JT back to the room while Shawna, Kaylee and I toured some on the bus system. We also did some souvenir shopping. We also got to take a car tour along the rim of the canyon and stoppes several times for pictures. JT found some shirts and a hat which he really liked. The kids bought a lot of things for other family members. Shawna and I went and did some laundry. I was able to remember the Laundromat from when I came back in the 1980s as it was attached to the shower house by the campground. After touring, we went to a steak house (a plan JT and I had for our celebration of hiking the canyon). After dinner, Shawna and Kaylee went back to the room while JT and went to a lookout point and took even more picture. After we were all back in the room, we had a family devotional and I went and did some more laundry so that we can head out from the canyon fairly early in the morning. It was a good, relaxing, day.

-j

Vacation: Day 4 - Details

Okay, so I posted some pictures of the trail hike JT and I took. Now, I will give you a summary of the great day we had. I woke up around 3:50 AM and took a quick shower. JT and I got dressed and Shawna took us to the trailhead. We prayed together. One blessing I have noticed is how JT is really showing spiritual maturity when he leads prayers. It was cold and we were covered in layers but we were confident it would warm up as the sun came out and the day went on. It did. We hit the trail at about 4:40 AM and hiked at a fairly slow, but steady pace. We took about an hour to get to the mile-and-a-half rest house. We stopped and got something to drink. As you can see from the previous post, we took a lot of pictures. What you saw is a very small sampling of what we actually took. We got to the three-mile rest house at about 6:40 am and the sun was up enough that we did not need our flashlights any more. JT commented several times about the rock formations. We made it to about the half-way point down at a campground area called Indian Gardens at about 7:50 AM and stayed about 20 minutes. We ate some and then hit the trail to move on to the river. At a couple of points, JT wanted to turn around but with a little encouragement, we kept going. In the end, he stated he was very glad he did not turn around at all. We arrived at the river at 9:50 AM and rested a while. We continued to take a lot of pictures and take our time as we knew we had plenty of daylight left in the day. I was glad we left so early in the morning. The move up out of the canyon was slower for sure but we were keeping a steady pace. We got back to Indian Gardens at 12:10 PM. We turned out pants into shorts (the legs zipped off to convert them to shorts). We made it to the three-mile rest house at 1:50 PM and stayed a while. We were noticeably getting more sore and tired but still moving, slower but sure. It was 3:30 PM when we made it back to the mile-and-a-half rest house and we stayed for about 30 minutes. We would walk about 100 strides and rest for a couple of minutes. Every 10 sets of 100 strides, we rested longer and slowly moved on up out of the canyon. As we moved on, JT kept trying to text Shawna letting her know we were getting close. We made it back to the trailhead at about 5:30 PM making the total hike a little less than 13 hours.

Shawna took us to the room and JT and I took showers while Shawna and Kaylee went to get something to eat. After they got back, Shawna took me to get something to eat and JT insisted on not wanting to leave the room. I transferred the pictures from the camera to the computer and iPad. We had planned on having a family devotional but apparently, I was asleep by 8:00 PM. JT has since insisted it was the best day of vacation and wanted to talk to everyone about it. He even called his Grampy from the room (we did not get very good cell service at the canyon) and told him about the day. It was a great day!

-j

Week in Pictures

JT tested this week in Tae Kwon Do this week and acheived.

The kids had their last day of class this week. Next week is finals. So, I took a pictures of them before they went to school.

-j

Vacation: Day 4



Here are some pictures (of many) of our time on the trail, beginning to end.

 

-j

 



 

Weekly Update

Things have been interesting this week, to say the least. However, interesting seems to be a good word to describe our life in the family of N. Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal with the parents going to work and the kids going to school. Mom had an out-of-town event two days this past week but was able to come home for the evenings so we really did not notice anything different. The school where Mom teaches had their last week of classes and they have final exams this week so things are starting to wind down for the school year.

Dad resigned from his job. While that may seem like a shock to some of our readers, he says he has seen this coming for a while now. He does not have anything definite worked out right yet but has a lot of leads. This summer, he will start teaching adjunct at the same school Mom works so that will help out a little bit. He also has some speaking engagements lined up over the next few months which will help. We are actively praying for God's will to be done.

Phil Robertson, from Duck Dynasty, came to speak at a fund-raising event nearby this past week. Dad and Bubba got to go as Mom had secure some free tickets. They say they had a really good time.

-j&k

Vacation: Day 3

We stayed in the night on the edge of New Mexico and attended services with the saints. It was a good opportunity to worship and meet with those of like precious faith. We then had a nicer meal at Cracker Barrel before hitting to road to travel some more. Everyone was ready to get to the destination as we have been traveling for two days already. We have been traveling well and have made good use of our time in the car by having family devotionals, reviewing Bible facts, planning for future events, making specific plans for our vacation. Kaylee took a lot of pictures from the car. All of us have enjoyed the dessert and the different scenery from where we live. We arrived at the Grand Canyon at about 4:00 PM local time and immedeately went to check in and find the trail head so that JT and I can be ready to hike it tomorrow. It took us a little bit to find our way around this small part of the park but once we did, we really enjoyed it. The look on the kids' faces when they got a glimps of the canyon for the first time was priceless. JT said it was worth the four-year wait! As soon as we got moved into the room, we took off to get something to eat. We ate at an Italian restaurant so that JT and I could get some energy for our trip tomorrow. Shawna and Kaylee went back to the room to move in and get settled. I took JT to a look-out point and he really enjoyed it. It got dark soon after so we went back to the room, had a family devotional, and went to bed. Looking back, it was hard to sleep that night as JT and I were so excited about hiking the canyon. Here are some pictures of the day.

-j