Hello and welcome to Twenty Shoes! I suppose the first thing you are wondering is why I called this blog Twenty Shoes. Well, because twenty shoes is how many shoes our family has to keep track of every day with our 8 children! Let me share with you some of the things you might expect to see on my blog about our life, and our children.
Walking with Christ!
One thing that we use our shoes for is to walk daily in the Holy Spirit...doing our best for our saviour Jesus Christ. Many days we fail in what we know Christ wants for us...but we are so very grateful for God's mercy and love as we strive to please Him. If you want to know more about this, you can visit our Testimony page. My prayer is that this blog will never deny Him as the leader of our family.
Homeschooling!
Although my homeschooled children (and myself) rarely ever wear shoes during our homeschool days...this is another important aspect of our families life. Although our oldest child has recently begun a different journey in a local Christian school, homeschooling has been a joy, trial, and way of life for our family for the last 8 years. I hope to share all of these daily joys, trials, and challenges that come along with educating your children at home. You can find out more about why we chose this lifestyle on our Why Homeschooling page.
Photography!
It's difficult to have a hobby when you are a homeschooling mother of 8, but this one is mine. Last year, I took my hobby to a new level and started my own photography business. I hope to encourage other mothers in particular to document their family and their special moments by taking good pictures! I so enjoy being able to have nice "posed" pictures that I have taken myself, along with those candid pictures of my family just doing what they do. My favorite decorations for my house are quality pictures of my family, my children, and good nature prints as well! God wants us to do our best in everything we do, and this is one way that I strive to bless my family, and others!
Trials, Struggles and Caretaking
Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, we have added a new facet to our families life. My mom passed away suddenly from a stroke 3 years ago. From that time until now, our family has been handed many trials. We also lost a foster daughter that was with us for a year and a half, we lost a close family friend, we almost lost a sister and a daughter. We recently lost my mother in law as well. The trials have been great, and our children have learned early in their lives about loss and how to work through such things and see them for what they are. Two years ago, my Dad was also diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer...which was unoperable at the time. After much chemo and radiation, he was able to have a surgery to remove the cancer. Through all of this, my family has spent much time doing what we can to take care of my Dad who now lives alone. He was doing well for awhile, but back in October we found out that his cancer was back in his lung! He is now on chemo indefinitely until it ceases to work. The oncologist gave him 6 months to a year. He has had many issues since, and seems to be going downhill. So, our jobs as caretakers has come again. I hope to share some of this journey with others as part of what our family is all about. It's not easy having a young family and taking care of a parent who is dying...
Homemaking, Organization, etc.-
These are the areas where I will be sharing my journey to figure out how to master these things!! LOL
Anything anyone else would like to share with me about keeping a house with a large family, and staying organized...I'm all ears!!
So, this is a little glimpse into our family. You can see pictures of my beautiful children on the sidebar of the blog, but I guarantee pictures of hubby and I will be sparse :-)! I look forward to getting to know new people, sharing life with friends and family, and maybe giving a little bit of insight into what happens in a larger than normal family.
God's Blessings
