Merry Christmas!
Christmas is a wonderful time to reflect on the past year and see God's hand in every aspect of our lives. And that once-a-year time when we can post pictures of the kids with all of them smiling at the same time.
But as we started writing this post, we asked ourselves, “who really wants to read yet another newsletter about everything our family views as our accomplishments this past year?” While we’re thankful to the Lord for all He has done in our lives this year, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that most of the hard lessons we learn don’t usually get posted on Facebook. We admit, most of our public posts are about how cute, funny, smart, or accomplished we or our kids are! So we decided to do something different with our end-of-year update. While we’ll still give you an update on the good stuff, we also wanted to share just a few of what we’re calling our family’s year-end FAIL blog to describe just some of the of the many ways that we have fallen short, goofed, or flat-out failed this past year :)
2016 Fox Family FailBlog
(Not Your Grandfather’s Newsletter)
First off, we failed to catch the typo in our Christmas card this year...you catch it? We wish we could say it was on purpose as a lead-in to this post, but it wasn’t. There’s always next year!
The beginning of the year we set lofty aspirations of setting aside more time for talking and connecting with each other by purposing to turn off all electronics by 9:00PM. Well...that lasted about one week. Unfortunately, after a long day either with the kids or at the office, the only one with enough mental energy to carry on any type of intelligent conversation was Siri. So yes, we have been on our phones a little more than we...
...sorry, just got an alert that Trump just nominated Chuck Norris to be his Secretary of State. You can say you heard it first right here. So yeah...we may have spent a little too much time on our phones this year.
Speaking of technology, we also successfully obliterated our goal of limiting our television intake to one or two shows per week this year. Let's be real, there were some weeks when it was more like one show per night. But hey, at least we can say we have "accomplished" our goal of finishing all six seasons of Blue Bloods. It took us three years, but we celebrated by taking selfies and posting them to Facebook (we’re too old for ChatSnap...or whatever).
We have thoroughly failed to teach Liza when it is an appropriate time of the day to play games with Mommy and Daddy. FAR too often this past year around 2:00AM, Liza has decided to play a little game with Daddy called "Find the Passy." It's such a special bonding time together. Yes, we are bowing to beck and call of our 19 month-old in the middle of the night. And when we say bowing, we mean Daddy literally bows on his knees in the middle of the night to crawl the floor and search blindly for the mysteriously disappearing pacifier. Those precious moments at 2:00AM are especially enjoyable when we realize that Liza is sitting there watching Daddy grope in the darkness like a half-conscious zombie while secretly hiding the passy in her hands. We need to work on the whole game playing concept.
Homeschooling is going as well as can be expected, and is actually improving now that Kari is making her weekly visits to the therapist. Micah no longer returns home everyday to find a sign on her locked bedroom door reading "Safe Space", and Kari coloring in her adult coloring book in the corner while she mumbles the classic line from What About Bob to herself, "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. I feel good, I feel great. I feel wonderful. I FEEL GOOD!"
In all seriousness though, despite seemingly daily shortcomings and failures, we’re thankful that the Lord is gracious. It amazes us to think that He chooses to use such weak and broken vessels such as us, to help carry out His purposes. If there is any good in us, it is only because of Him, and certainly not due to our own abilities or strengths. Our failures give us the opportunity to lean into His word that promises us that when we are weak, He is strong. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:31, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
For those of you who do occasionally enjoy an annual update from families you may or may not actually know...let us indulge you with just a short snippet on each of our sweet, perfect, clean, and ever obedient children (oh okay fine...of us too ;)
2016 Fox Family Newsletter
(Your Grandfather’s Newsletter)
Blake turned 7 this year and is our walking encyclopedia. This kid continues to surprise us with his ability to remember the most minute details about everything! Such as when he used the word "sanguine" appropriately (and casually) during our family Bible time the other night. Who does that?! Daddy may or may not have had to secretly ask Siri for the definition before continuing. Blake loves to read facts about animals and science, and currently dreams of becoming a marine "bee-ologist." We definitely can’t take any credit for his accomplishments. He’s been able to soak up information like a sponge since he was a baby. It’s a gift from God! Like any typical first born, he also delights in helping the adults (or trying to be one rather…), and also being Mommy’s foreman and informant of the house. You know what I mean. He is a biiiiiig help. Much to his sibling's' chagrin.
Seth is just a year apart from Blake and pretty much the polar opposite of his brother. Typical second born. He’s doing well keeping up in school, but it's not his most favorit-ist thing to do. He is affectionate and likes to show his love by drawing special pictures for us. Kari especially likes the one where Mommy is in the lead spaceship blasting a monster with a rocket...hmmm. While school may not be his first choice, he is very coordinated when it comes to competing in sports and games, much to Blake's chagrin. When playing Jenga for example, unless, Owen or Liza are also playing, it's pretty much a guarantee which of our older boys is going to win. Blake may have his moves planned out four moves ahead...but he just can’t beat Seth’s steady hand in this game! Blake and Seth loved their weekly classes with a local homeschool co-op this past semester. It gave them a chance to learn fun things we didn't feel like covering at home (Yes, they really do get to socialize with other kids their age!). Seth excelled in his art class this year, and we’re very proud of him!
Owen will be four in February, and we think he has finally finally emerged, hopefully permanently (fingers crossed) from an extended trip to Terrible Twos Land. He still wants to be Superman when he grows up, but Hulk Smash is a very close second. He is super cute and comes up with the funniest things. Like his finger puppet guests who are his "companies from Corfalina." Don't worry, we don't understand most of the time either. He still doesn't relish Bible memory time like his brothers did at his age and I'm afraid that after about a year and a half we are still working on the first verse of the Psalm 23. We have a hard time understanding that it’s not: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want to." He just can’t help but add that little “to” at the end every time. Can you say “strong willed”? :) Otherwise, he is continually grateful to not be the youngest member of the family anymore, and likes to remind Liza of the fact that he's older by snatching toys that in his aged wisdom, deems inappropriate for babies to handle. Always concerned with her safety, no doubt :)
Liza is at a really fun stage right now. That delightful time between very-needy-baby and traveler to the dreaded Terrible Twos Land. She is saying lots of partial words and seriously makes you want to pinch her cheeks off with all her adorable little antics. She absolutely looooves our two kittens! And when we say love, we mean she loves to hold them in her arms and squeeze them until they can hardly muster a meow. It's not uncommon for us to hear both kittens tearing down the hall in a desperate attempt to escape, and then to hear Liza pitter-pattering after them while screaming in delight and then sternly calling "Mouw! Mouw!" as she chases them.
Micah is still working for North Star Marketing in sales and is part of their leadership team. He started working for NSM over seven years ago and at the time, was the newest and youngest of eight employees. NSM has now grown to 25 employees and there are only four that have been there longer than him! Because of the nature of his position, he does a lot of networking in the community, and is able to meet and work with so many different people and organizations, which he loves! He is currently the President of a local Rotary Club, and is also one of their youngest members :). We are both very grateful for the North Star family and the Christ-centered atmosphere at work among Micah’s coworkers. It’s a huge blessing to us!
Kari just gets more beautiful with age and is the best wife and mother our family could ask for (this is Micah writing BTW). She recently let me know that she was no longer going to refer to herself as a “stay-at-home mom” when people ask her where she works or what she does. She told me, “I’m a ‘WORK-at home mom.” That’s very true. She works at home with our four little angels (said with slight sarcasm) every day, and I know without a doubt that her job is more tiring and demanding than mine! In addition to keeping the home and educating the two older ones, she grows our food in the backyard, makes all our own clothes, gathers eggs from our chicken farm out back, milks the three cows we have in our pasture out front, and only uses essential oils to cure what ails us.
If you actually think that last sentence was true then you need to get out of the house more. What do you think we are?! Homeschoolers?! In all seriousness though, the work of raising the kiddos is a full time job, but she also loves to serve in the church, fellowship with other ladies over coffee, and even finds time to when it’s quiet enough in the house to read a good book, which for now is the two volume biography on Hudson Taylor (But never mind the fact that she’s been working on these for the past two years...that isn’t the point).
We both feel very humbled to be asked to serve our church family in an eldership role this past September. We hope to be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ as we live each day as broken and weak vessels, whose only boast is in the Lord. "Failing forward" as Kari’s Dad likes to say!
Like we said, things may not have gone the way we had hoped this year in every of our lives, but we are incredibly grateful for a loving and merciful God who is in control of all things. In that we find hope, peace, and joy!
Hope this newsy-letter finds you well, and that you also have put your trust in our wonderful Heavenly Father.
With love,
The Foxes
