The Owens Family: Thankfulness, Sickness, and Decorating Oh My!

We have certainly been busy this past month! As Thanksgiving was approaching I really started to feel homesick. For me the holidays are the hardest being away from family. It is hard to get excited about the planning and all knowing that it will not be the same without our families. That is usually why I try to invite others to spend the holiday with us. Estonians don't traditionally celebrate thanksgiving so we invited another family that is also serving here as missionaries and it just so happens they are also from Texas! They are dear friends of ours and I was hoping that getting together would be a blessing to them. Turns out it was an even bigger blessing for me. I am very happy to say we had a great time and the kids played well together too. We were able to Skype with each of our families later that evening as well, which was priceless. It was great getting to have a little piece of home by speaking to our families and seeing them.

After thanksgiving we all were sick for about a week on and off. Just the crud I think but some of us had it worse than the others. I am thankful to say we are all better now! We also had our first snow around Thanksgiving. Not much and it didn't stay long, but the kids still enjoyed it!

The day after Thanksgiving we always decorate the tree. It is a tradition that I remember from being a kid that we have carried into our family now. Most of my ornaments came from my memaw. She bought us each an ornament as we grew up and gave them to us when we turned 18. They bring back so many memories. We also buy a family ornament each year so we have fourteen of those now! We buy the kids an ornament each year too so that we can given them to them when they turn 18. We watch a Christmas movie after decorating and just enjoy time together. I hope that my kids cherish this time and remember it when they have families of their own like I do.

We are still going to language school and it is getting better. We could not have asked for a better teacher. She teaches towards Justin's level, which is way higher than mine, but then helps me along the way. I am learning to speak more and understanding more. We also have been building on relationships we had last time we lived here. It has been great to get to know them and their child better.

Home school is in full swing. Teaching a child to read to me is by far the hardest thing I have ever done! It was difficult with Kayla and Braeden, but not as hard as it has been this time with Ellie. I was really down about it and trying to figure out what to do. I would pray for patience on my end and hers and to find something that worked for her. When it came down to it I realized the curriculum we use now was not the same one we used for Kayla or Braeden when learning how to read. The curriculum we used for them had a lot of repetition which was lacking in our current curriculum and I think something Ellie really needs. So we decided to buy that curriculum for Ellie and give it a try. We started the new curriculum this week and so far so good! Please continue to pray for this as it is very important that we find something that works for her.

We thank you for all of your prayers and support! We hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas!