It's been almost a full year since I have done a blog post. How is that possible!? 2018 was a good, full year for us!
In January, our sweet Emma Marie turned 3! Emma really is our sweet child! She is sensitive to other's feelings, is good with sharing and playing well with others, and she also plays well by herself. She started Preschool this fall, and is having fun learning alongside he two older siblings, She loves playing with Chloe and doing whatever she is doing. She is picking up Chloe's love for art, and loves to do it with her, just not as long as Chloe likes to ;) She loves her baby sister Carsyn, and like PawPatrol and Little Einsteins. We love our sweet Emma!
In March, our sweet Carsyn Faith was born! She was, and is still adored by her 4 older siblings! She is 9 months old now. crawling, standing up, and taking a few steps while holding on to something. She has 2 bottom teeth and loves chewing on anything she can get her hands on. She loves food, and would much rather have "real" food than baby food! He favorite is any kind of bread! She says "Da-da-da, Na-na-na, and Ma-ma (sometimes), and is Mommy's girl! She is a very good and "chill" baby. We love our sweet Carsyn!
In May, my brother Brandon, and sister-in-law Cassidy were married! Joshua and Chloe were a ring bearer and flower girl for this wedding! They were both thrilled to be a part of this special occasion. Josh and I have really enjoyed getting to have some double dates with these two. We are super excited that they are expecting their first little one next June! Now my kids will have a cousin on the Madison side! I have been blessed to grow closer to Cassidy this year, and especially this fall as we connect with baby things and our Young Living businesses! Our kids love their aunt and uncle, and we all love hanging out with them whenever we get the chance!
In June, Josh and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! We got a (belated) weekend away in Philly and had so much fun spending time together in a beautiful hotel, seeing the sights, eating good food, and just being together! We are looking forward to many more special years together! A huge thanks to my mom and sister for keeping 4 of the kiddos for us! ;)
In August, my brother Daniel and sister-in-law Julia got married! It was a beautiful wedding, and Emma was so excited to have the honor of being the flower girl this time! We love Dan and Julia so much, and it's always a good time when they're around! They (and all of our siblings) are so good with the kids, and we all love them so much!
A couple days after the wedding, Josh left for Augusta, GA for an extended Army training period. He has now finished 5 months, and has 2 to go. He is enjoying the easy pace of classes from 8-4, and free afternoons, evenings, and weekends. It is hard for him to be away from us for so long, so we are really enjoying his 2 week Christmas break right now.
Also in August, Joshua turned 7, and Chloe turned 5! These two are both first-borns, and definitely have their power struggles (with Chloe coming out on top more than you might think lol), but also get along and have fun playing together a lot!
Joshua is in 2nd grade, and doing very well in school. He doesn't enjoy it quite as much as he used to, but definitely does very well when he puts his mind to it. Joshua is a a great big brother and loves to help out, especially with the youngest girls. He is good about doing his chores, like taking out the trash, unloading the dishwasher, and putting his clothes away, when asked. He has discovered that he likes reading, and will sometimes head up to his bed by himself to read. He still loves Legos, and has a whole collection of his constructions up on his bed. He also loves Eagles football, like his Dad :) This year he has been working on memorizing Philippians 1 with Daddy. Joshua has a desire to please his parents and the Lord, and loves learning more about God through reading his picture Bible and having family devotions. He has lost 3 teeth in the past couple of months and is getting so tall! We love our Joshua Caleb!
Chloe Madison is a special girl! She is dramatic, artsy, and has a tender heart towards God. It was my great joy and privilege to lead her to the Lord this fall when we were in Greenville! I wasn't planning to do this, so it was so neat how the Lord lead! I was talking with Chloe about something she had done wrong, and explaining how it was sin. This lead to my explaining the gospel to her, but I still wasn't expecting her to receive Christ right then. But she started asking questions and then said that she "wanted to become a Christian like Mommy and Daddy" so we prayed together right then and there! She was so excited and wanted to tell everyone about it! And that evening she drew a picture of a heart in a box. She sad "Mommy, guess who is the only one who can unlock the box to get to the heart!" I was across the room and not thinking to hard about it, so I gave her a couple guesses, to which she replied "nope!" So I asked her "who?" and she said "God is the only one who can unlock the box to get to the heart!" I started choking up. She really understood! Since then, she has had a hunger to learn all she can about God, and excitedly shared everything she learned in Good News Club about God and Jesus.
Chloe is in K5 and loves school! She is excited to do it every day, and is usually the first one done! Chloe has been doing so great this month since coming home from SC! Almost every single day she is one of the first ones up. dresses herself, washes her face and brushes her teeth, cleans her room up, and asks to do school! Then every night, she gets herself ready for bed, and hops in all by herself. She keeps her room clean and neat, and is such a great helper around the house and with her little sisters! We love our Chloe!
In September, our Morgan Grace turned 2! This little girl has such a big, and "loud" personality! She runs headfirst into everything she does, and puts her all into it! She is learning new things every day. She got along so great with her cousin Esther (who is only 2 weeks younger) this fall! Morgan does well helping out when encouraged, does great counting to 10, and loves to copy what her older brother and sisters are doing! We're so glad to have her as part of our family!
In October, my sister Staci drove down to Greenville, SC with me to visit my in-laws so that we could be near Josh, and get to visit him on the weekends! My mother-in-law and father-in-law were so wonderful, and accommodating, and made us feel right at home and loved the whole time we were there! I feel very blessed to have such wonderful in-laws whom I love like my own family!
We stayed in Greenville for a full 2 months! And had such a great time visiting our family and getting to know them better! The kids especially loved getting time with their close-in-age cousins several times a week!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Cooks, and are looking forward to seeing everyone again for the bi-annual Cook Family Vacation in April 2019!
Also, while we were down there, my awesome sis-in-law Bekah did our family pictures! We love her and her talent for capturing great photos!
My Mom flew down to drive back with us on December 1st. We've had a busy month this December! While we were gone in SC, my awesome Dad installed a new floor in our kitchen and dining room for us! I am loving it so much (especially since we had carpet in our dining room before! :P). Then I painted the cabinets to match the floor better.
We had our annual Madison Family Christmas party and Nicole and Angelo came in for the occasion! All of my kids absolutely love "Aunt Cole" and get so excited when she and Angelo are in town! They are from IL so we love seeing them anytime they come down for a visit! They are both generous and loving and we love spending time with them!
Uncle Norm is another awesome uncle! He loves his nieces and nephew and is so good making time to play and hang out with them! I am so blessed with such awesome siblings!
Staci is my all-time best babysitter and friend! I love being close and getting to hang out and have movie nights with her! She is unselfish, and sweet, and always willing to help me out with the kids! Josh and I have enjoyed many date nights thanks to Staci!
I am very grateful for Kevin too! He has been a big help with the kids recently too! He is 16, in 10th grade, and works at the YMCA as a lifeguard. We are continually grateful for his recovery from leukemia, and thankful that he is doing so well now!
We are grateful to the Lord for His faithfulness and so many blessings! Our prayer for 2019 is that we continue to grow closer to and become more like Him every day. and that we continue to seek His will for our lives and family.
Lauren jumped all in to working her Young Living essential oils business in September, and is excited to see that start growing! She keeps pretty busy with that, homeschooling, and taking care of the kids. Josh will be in Army training until the end of February. We are looking forward to seeing where God leads us in 2019!
We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and wish all of you the merriest Christmas and happiest New Year 2019!
