Saturday, January 17, 2009

New Year News

When I don’t blog for a couple of weeks, you know we’ve been busy! Here’s a little update on our lives since December 30th:

Our Favorite Christmas Gifts
Kylen graduated from college, became a computer programmer (just like his dad!), married, had three kids (including one set of twins), and bought a small cape house, all within the first week of the new year! He experienced debt, career changes, taxes, even retirement! Can you guess how? One of his favorite gifts was the board game Life. I highly recommend it! He thought it was so cool getting to be an adult!

One of my personal favorites was a set of 600 thread count sheets. They are amazing. Almost sheer but they do a better job keeping me warm than a blanket and are very soft. Thanks, Mom!
Ball of Whacks. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? But it’s a really neat toy made up of magnetic blocks that can be built into all sorts of things. You can even stick them to the fridge!

Other highlights: a couple of new CDs and four way chess for Greg, three mini handmade scrapbooks by a local crafter (whose work I love), and lots of LEGO stuff! Lots and lots of LEGO stuff!!

Homeschooling in Earnest
We are back at it! Co-op has resumed, and Greg is again teaching two sections of a programming class. He comes up with the material himself, so it requires a good chunk of his time on weekends.

Much of my time is spent on basic housekeeping and helping Kylen with cursive, math, English, history, and science. He has resumed basketball with one practice and one game a week.

Greg’s Job Status
Some of you have heard about layoffs at Greg’s company. Only around 30 out of 130 people are expected to remain at this site. Some will be gone by the end of this month, and others will stay till October. We just found out Greg will indeed be layed off but not until October. We are thankful his job is secure for the next nine months, and we are excited to see what the Lord has planned for the future. Greg has begun job searching and applied for a couple of permanent positions at his current company that are open.

Annual Birthday Bash
We throw one very large party every year for our son’s birthday. Besides allowing me an outlet for my favorite hobby, it is an opportunity to invite lots of people over for a great time. Kylen, being an only, looks forward to having the house full, and we all enjoy the planning and preparations. So many hours this past week have been spent putting away Christmas stuff and working on the party.

That's our life lately. Now, I need to catch up on blog reading!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

You have been busy! Glad to see you blogging again! Have a beautiful weekend!

Anonymous said...

Hi Farrah,

Glad to see you are enjoying your Ball of Whacks. It is fun!

Best wishes to you,

Roger von Oech
(creator of the BOW)

Farrah said...

Mr. Oech,

Very cool! I keep forgetting things can be tracked on the net! Thanks for dropping by!! :-)

Kris said...

I have such happy memories of the game Life! And I'm sorry about Greg's job, but glad he has some time to look.

Jan Lyn said...

Farrah, please know that I will be praying for you and Gregg over his job situation. I'm thankful he has good notice and see that as a direct provision from the Lord. You are a Godly lady, being optimistic in expressing excitement over what God may have in store. That inspires me....

Blessings to your family!

lauralavon said...

So nice to get your update but really sorry to hear about your husband's future layoff. That is happening to so many people. It's hard to imagine what's in store for us as a nation. You all will be in our prayers as you go about figuring out the next "chapter" in your lives.

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

Oh.My.Goodness. Rebecca got her invitation yesterday, and we are all SO impressed! She had a lot of fun watching the DVD... and we enjoyed the voice-overs y'all did with the StarWars excerpts. How fun! The whole thing was just so neat. She's really looking forward to the party.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like lots has been going on around your house too! Sorry to hear about Greg's job. I'll be praying for you.
We found out Friday that the company Bryan works for will probably close before the end of the year. They did the first round of layoffs Friday.
I'm glad you're back to blogging. I had been thinking about you, and had been planning to check in.
I'm hoping to post tomorrow. Maybe I'll make it. : )

Andrew Clarke said...

Hi Farrah, good to hear from you. When I read your post I said a quick prayer that Greg will find the right job at the right time. I've been wondering how people are getting on with the economic issues happening. I know God will provide - which brings us back to my post and your comment. What would an atheist be thinking at a time like the present, when their life can be seriously upended by things beyond their control? I'm profoundly thankful to know God is there, and cares about each of us. It would be a horribly empty universe otherwise. And life would have to be a disappointment. Perhaps that is where people who have no faith get that slogan: "Life's a b---- and then you die." It becomes their excuse for pleasing themselves. I'm glad to read your comments.Blessings.