To My Son On His First Father's Day

Dear Douglas,

Happy Father's Day! Can I just say that watching you take on the role of Daddy to my granddaughter is one of the greatest joys of my life thus far? No one warns you of the exquisite push and pull of joy and pain as you watch your children grow into the amazing people you knew they could become. The joys are obvious. The pain is elusive, lurking there, reminding you that you cannot protect them like you once could, that they don't need you like they once did, that they will never be a part of your day-in-day-out life like they were for so many years.

You have always been precocious, doing, seeing, and understanding things sooner than expected. It should not be a surprise that you are K. Douglas Martin, BSN; a husband, a father, and pursuing your dream career at the age of {barely} 22. You were never one to sit and watch the world go by.

I can only hope that Riley brings you as much joy as you have brought to me through the years. Being a parent isn't easy, as you have already discovered. And I can't really tell you it gets easier, because it doesn't. But the pleasure far outweighs the difficulty in each stage. For you, right now, the pleasure is winning the rare and fleeting 5-week-old baby smiles. For me it is watching you become a caring parent.

That precious little girl of yours will challenge you in ways no one else can or will. She will make you laugh, she will make you cry. Don't be afraid of either. She will make you change your ideals on some issues, and that is OK. God knows you have done so with Dad and me! 

Children have a way of reminding us to laugh and to play. Life comes with lots of pressures, but you owe it to her to bear those for her and allow her to grow up in a carefree environment. It's part of the job of parenting and one of the areas I hope you are stronger in than I was. Kids are fun and like to have fun. Some of my best memories of my dad from my childhood are the simple, everyday things that he did to have fun with us. Don't forget to do the little things. Little things are the big things in the end.

It is strange watching the years roll by. This day used to be all about Grandpa Sams. Then it was about Dad. Now it is your turn. You come from a line of good, strong men. I could not be more proud to watch you take your place among the good dads.

Back to Blogging?

Here is the thing. I like to write. I always have. It feels easier to convey thoughts through writing. And I have so many thoughts. I may be drowning in thoughts right now. So, I'm going to try blogging again. I miss it. I used to blog several times a week plus almost daily for Superkids. Not writing at all doesn't feel right. I may drop it again, I may blog forever. It all remains to be seen.

I guess a little update is in order. Kind of like the Christmas letter, to get everyone caught up on the Martin crew.

We are now 20 months into owning Ebenezer Groceries (I guess business ownership is like a new baby, you count months for the first 2 years) it has been a huge growing experience for us, but it's going well and we are happy to be doing what we are doing. We have built a management team we love, which makes a huge difference in how busy we are on any given day.

Now for the kid updates. Everyone is healthy and doing well if you want to skip the mom brag that is coming.

Douglas & Kayla have been married since the end of July. They are super busy with both of them being in their final semester of nursing school. We are so proud of their dedication and hard work! Not only are they in school, but they both are working. And... (drumroll please!!) they are expecting their first baby in about 4 weeks! Meaning we are going to be PaPa and Nan-Naw Just expect this blog to be over-run with grand baby pictures in about a month.

Freeland is 19 and lives in an apartment in Schaefferstown. He is working with a landscaping crew. I am so happy to see him able to be more active again after his back problems and eventual surgery a year ago. He works out and has worked hard to get his core strength built back up after that set-back. He has always been our active outdoorsman, so it does my heart good to see him back at it.

Casper is 16 and is a junior in high school. He is a sweet kid who loves his dogs and cares for them tirelessly. School work has always come pretty easily for him. He is hoping to go to flight school to become a commercial pilot after he graduates.

Annika is turning 14 next week. She is finishing 8th grade online at home. I enjoy the extra one on one time I have with her while the other kids are at school. She got an early birthday gift this year. His name is Olaf and he is a chinchilla rabbit. We got him from the local animal shelter and he is 5 years old. He is so soft and already pretty snuggly considering that she has only had him for 2 days.

Eliana doesn't love when I call her the baby of the family, but my baby she is and will always be. She is 12 and in 5th grade. She is back to going to school full time and I miss her so much on the days she used to spend at home! She had a hybrid schedule until fairly recently, so we got a bit spoiled. She is still my little cuddle bug most of the time, though she occasionally reminds me that she is 12 and has more important things to do than watching cooking shows with me.

And Keith and I are, let's say mid-40's. He is the one who does most of the buying and numbers stuff for the store while I do the marketing. We make a pretty good team, if I do say so myself. 

And I can't close without telling you about the dogs. 

Bubba is our adorable, spoiled little cockapoo. He has his favorite place on the sofa and whines if someone dares to sit there or put something there. He loves snuggle times and will go part way back the hall then whine for me to come back to snuggle with him and rub his belly on the bed. He recently went to obedience school and is a very good little boy even if he does pout a little at times when he has to do something he doesn't want to.

Thor is our big, goofy Rottweiler. He is absolutely the sweetest, most laid back dog. He loves to be snuggled too and will often push his way in when we are giving Bubba attention. He has a big, mean sounding bark, but would pretty much welcome anyone in and serve tea if he could. He also went to obedience school and is such an obedient good boy. 

So that is about it. The update. And bless you if you made it this far. Anyone who followed my blog in the past knows this is not my normal style. I just had to have a base-line to work off of. 

I'm excited to be back!! <3

P.S. Photos of Casper and Annika coming soon. 

I Want More { A Letter to my Sons }

Today I have the privilege of guest posting over at Don't Let Life Pass You By, a fellow adoptive mom's blog.

Head on over here to read about {some of } my desires for my sons.

 

Homeschooling- How Do We Love Thee? #6 { a guest post by Douglas }

I asked Douglas to write this week's post on homeschooling.  This is his unedited post.  These are his opinions. 

Hi. My name is Douglas Martin. I am thirteen and in 8th grade. This is our first year of homeschooling and so far I am really enjoying it. If you're like me you'll miss some things about school but most of the time you are glad to not have to go to school everyday. Some of the positive things about  homeschooling would be that you can go out for lunch with your parents at lunchtime instead of your parents going out for lunch all by themselves and you sitting eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at school.  Also if you have a late night you don't have to get up at 6:30 every morning and be out the door by 7:55. Instead you can sleep in till 7:00 or 7:30 unless of coarse you have a goat to milk at 6:00 every morning! And if you need to go shopping you have the options of doing your schoolwork early and going shopping a little later or else you can go shopping right away in the morning and do your schoolwork in the afternoon. Another thing would be you can get your schoolwork done by noon instead of 3:00 P.M. 

Some negative things would be that your mother can get you to do laundry during school hours and that you really don't have anybody your age to compete with while doing school.

 

This year we are using the A Beka Academy DVD Program. I really enjoy this program because it is more thorough in each of the subjects than Rod and Staff or Christian Light Education ever was.  For instance in my science I thought I had learned all this stuff before but I found out that that there was a lot I had never even heard about before. Also if our mother takes it into her head that she wants you to do a guest post you can do that as an English assignment which at first sounds a little scary but actually isn't once you're started.

As you can see there are more pros than cons and homeschooling is the better option for most people.