Belated Annual Family Letter

Dear Family and Friends:
We absolutely failed to get out a Christmas letter in 2007. I thought to myself, “that’s alright. I’ll just send it out in the beginning of the new year.” With one third of 2008 nearly gone, I am determined to write a letter. My correspondence has, sadly, been reduced to annually and not even faithfully at that. I have felt more in touch with all the blogging going on now. If you wish to see our blog, email me ...

I have sent out some invites to email addresses that may be so old they have changed or closed. I obtained a new one last year myself. AND I am much better at checking it now. I have found it very convenient for communicating Primary business in the middle of the night, when I happen to have time. I am still Primary president and Jeff still teaches primary. We find that people serve a long time in the same callings in our ward. OR, perhaps I have never stayed anywhere long enough to serve this long yet. I love working with the children and our children are happy mom and dad are in Primary too.

2007 now seems so far away I hardly remember anything significant to write. I shall just have to share how we are now:

Eli has been loving first grade. He began losing some of his teeth last year which he was determined to do at school. The nurse puts your tooth in a tooth-shaped box on a necklace if you lose it at school. Now we have one of those floating around in his room. He was referred to be tested for gifted and just finished those last month. We currently await the result, although they really don’t have much of a program here. They are really into mainstreaming students. He talks of his preparations for baptism at the end of the year and seems excited to be turning eight. This may be because I indicated he could have a new set of scriptures then too. He loves reading the scriptures. He finished the Book of Mormon on his own and has been reading from the Bible now. How faithfully he reads every word, I don’t know but he does read on his own often. He also really loves online games and can navigate the computer pretty self-sufficiently.

Lizzy started kindergarten and likes it some days more than others. Formal education doesn’t fit her personality quite as well, though she does excellent academically. There isn’t enough creative choice for her. She needs creative time without any rules about what has to be created. I am amazed at all the artwork she produces here at home. She also loves to plan events, whether it’s dinner at home or her birthday party. She has many opinions about how to make it fun and pretty and enjoyable for everyone. This year she requested a scrapbooking opportunity with me so we are going to our first crop to make a book together. She also likes to play games at PBSkids, and ride her bike or scooter or roller skates… She grew big enough to sleep in the top bunk of their new bunk beds and loves inviting her siblings up there. She just lost her first tooth and was so excited to tell everyone. Her newest quirk has been this tendency to worry. If I need to change her transportation for any reason she worries the whole time at school that I or her teacher will forget. It has been quite unexpected from the girl who, as a toddler, never looked back to see if mommy was there.

Bella is still at home with me and requests “school” from me often. I home-preschool her and just started with Anna too. Bella likes the games more than anything else. I have seen her start to identify letters wherever we go now. She also loves playing and protests when we have to come inside or leave the park. She really loves the nursery at the YMCA now that I have started exercising there regularly. It is such a battle to convince her to leave. She gets such a boost out of mastering a new skill and wants to try anything her older siblings do. She’ll come up to me at the park and ask for a “high five” telling me she just went down the pole for the first time or something similar. I wish she would give up her thumb-sucking for a high five. She seems most attached to the habit and the dentist indicated that it will affect her permanent teeth when they come in. Thankfully, that is still a couple of years away. I continue to hope she will choose to leave it behind on her own.

Anna doesn’t even know she is only two. Taking her to the park is a heart-attack because she insists on following the other children. She ignores the stairs and goes for the ladder or tries to step off by the pole. Her determination is great, however, for she has mastered the ladder by her own efforts. I simply shadow her, with my heart in my mouth, to cheer her on and catch her if she should slip. Babies are her thing. She had to take a stuffed rabbit which she called “baby” everywhere yesterday. Of course, it couldn’t wait for us in the car either or take a nap in my purse while she played. Her fetish is shoes. She is constantly trying on her own or anyone else’s shoes that she finds. She also loves this dance outfit with a tutu that grandma found her. She requests music to dance to and won’t take it off even if we have to go somewhere. She speaks well enough but still parrots a lot and mostly wants to feel she is part of whatever is going on. Whenever I ask anyone to do the dishes she runs to get the stool.

Jeff became an assistant manager at FedEx Kinko’s last year. This means he is gone more than ever. To accommodate evening classes, he is now working days. The children love having him home at bed-time now. Whereas before they were given bedtime rides on weekends, now they get a ride almost every night. He continues to reassure me that he is almost done and claims that he will graduate with a business degree by the end of this year. We are all looking forward to that. Jeff most of all, probably.

And what is there to say about me notwithstanding children and Primary? I continue to fall further behind on scrapbooking our memories even though I play at it regularly. I have been enjoying the new adobe suite three programs we obtained last year. Playing around in Photoshop has been fun. I watch the short online tutorials at the help desk and then try it on my own photos. I thought it was cool to “wipe” the chocolate pudding off of Bella’s face after I already took the picture. I quilted a few more squares, yet still have finished no quilt. I learned to crochet and actually finished several small projects, no blankets. I finally found the motivation to get in shape. I realized that I couldn’t keep up with the kids. I would run them somewhere, do a bit of housework, and then feel like I needed a break or even a nap. That shocked me to be 32 and tiring through the day. So I joined the YMCA. I conquered my fear of looking stupid when I walk into that room full of machines with all those unfamiliar buttons. I took an aerobics step and sculpt class and thought my legs would turn to jelly. I exercised some faith and let strangers watch my children while I ran around the track. I feel great about myself for trying new things even though there is no real improvement yet. (It’s only been two weeks!)

I did enjoy hearing from many of you. I hope you will send me your email address so that we may renew correspondence that way. God bless and have a wonderful week.
Love,
Rachel Brown and Family

Summer 2007

Eli at Magic Castle

Lizzy between seeions of General Conference

Bella goes to the Dentist

Anna blows out her birthday candle.

Jeff and Rachel

Christmas 2007

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee" Numbers 6:24