LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015

I am REALLY looking forward to all that 2015 holds for our family.  We have traveled a very rough road the past couple of years, but it is smoothing out to quite a beautiful drive for the new year!

The biggest change we have had, and the most needed one, is a more relaxed home.  We (kids to kids, kids to mom and dad, and mom and dad to kids) are attaching.  We are getting used to one another.  Our days are mostly relaxed with no major difficulties now, only minor corrections about every day sibling issues.  We are morphing into ONE whole family, instead of two or three separate ones living under one roof.
It is wonderful.

We have a bus - I lovingly call it The Great White Hive.  (It's white, and it holds all my B's - ha ha ha - that makes me the Queen B!).  It's not just a bus though.  It's a means for us to travel in one vehicle as a family of 11.  It's a means for me to take all 9 children out on my own, something I wasn't prepared for the first year and a half.  God, in all His goodness, kept us close to home till now so we could blend together - so our new children could learn how to be good siblings to one another.  So they could learn right from wrong and how to be friends.  I am extremely thankful.  I still can't believe we own it.

Homeschooling - we are making progress :) With two international adoptions in the past 4 years Carissa, Tyler and Laurel (16, 15, 13) got a touch behind in their "book" work, but now they are almost caught up and on track. We will have our first graduate out of the nine (Carissa) in 2016! On the flip side, they are light years ahead in their life skills (which is the priority in our home).  They can cook, clean, care for animals, care for 6 children who are 9 and younger, change diapers and more!  We are very proud of them.  The past few years have been major adjustments for them, and they are coming out of it as amazing young "adults".

David, Jaime and Lyric (9, 7, 7) are the oldest of our 6 "Littles". They are quickly learning to read and are spelling everything.  They have zoomed through their Primer level math and will be starting their 1st grade math in just a couple of weeks.  B.G., and Diego (6 and 5) will start their schooling in the fall, and we plan for Brayan (almost 4) to sit in on some of their schooling in the hopes that he will absorb much of it!

Business - Kevin's real estate business, Values Driven Realty, Inc., continues to grow.  I am excited to see all that it will become this year.  In 2014 he was able to help many clients either buy or sell their homes, and he has a great start to 2015!  (short plug - if you are looking to buy or sell your home any time soon - contact my husband!) :)

Global Soaps- wow!  Lots and lots of plans for 2015!  We are starting the year right by meeting with someone from SCORE (a national not for profit which offers free mentoring and small business help) next week.  With their help, we plan to build an online store this year as well as develop a wholesale side of the business (we are in 1 store right now!).  We have 11 goats now and plan to expand as the business grows and as we establish rotational grazing for them.  I am so excited!

So... what does 2015 look like to me?  It looks like a VERY busy, fun-filled year -
and I am looking forward to every single day.

May God bless you and your family in 2015,

Karen