Joy Dare::February

 13,069. Adult conversations with out children
13,070. Bible study
13,071. Talking to Christie
13,072. Isaiah had a really good piano lesson
13,073. Jeremy is feeling better
13,074. This season of family life
13,075. Temperatures above freezing...
13,076. ...which means Josiah played disc golf
13,077. Car time with Anna
13,078. Being very consistent with math
13,079. Nerf night fun
13,080. Prayer
13,081. Friend time during homeschool gym
13,082. Anna had a really good day
13,083. Unexpected confirmations
13,084. Having the teacher side of school caught up
13,085. A much better option offered
13,086. Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony with Aliza
13,087. Planning a party
13,088. Staying home on a cold and windy day
13,089. Picking up groceries
13,090. Anna excited about Olympics
13,091. Superbowl evening
13,092. My multi tasking plan worked
13,093. Coming to my own conclusions
13,094. Hearing Laura's voice
13,095. Blue sky
13,096. Meeting Baby Will 

13,097. Playing with Maggie
13,098. Plane tickets purchased!
13,099. Waffles
13,100. Lovely 
13,101. Good math days
13,102. Morning sun
13,103. Good ESL class
13,104. Staying up to connect with Aliza
13,105. Overheard Isaiah to Josiah and Anna: "I just love spending time with ya'll."
13,106. Jeremy and the boys spent the evening together
13,107. Aliza hosted the sweetest Galentines party
13,108. Some time with Janell and Mom
13,109. Valentine's = ramen and movie with the family
13,110. Finishing the puzzle with Aliza
13,111. Gramma's banana split dishes for ice cream
13,112. Hanging out with children during church
13,113. Sunday afternoon quiet
13,114. Leftover Valentine desserts
13,115. Got Isaiah through the morning
13,116. A favorite for supper
13,117. Aliza came home happy
13,118. Speed talking with Maria
13,119. Clean sheets
13,120. Lunch with a new friend
13,121. Poke bowls are yummy!
13,122. Allie with us for the day
13,123. Catch up conversation
13,124. Going out without a coat
13,125. A really small ESL class was fun
13,126. Talking to Laura
13,127. Just being there while Aliza studied
13,128. Olympics over lunch
13,129. Sun breaking through the clouds
13,130. Mom stopped by
13,131. A moment that the sun felt warm
13,132. One more quiet Saturday
13,133. Making Anna happy with some online shopping
13,134. Huge snowflakes
13,135. Josiah and Anna could go to youth group
13,136. Electric staying on until very early morning
13,137. Water pressure lasted longer than I expected
13,138. We have lots of blankets

13,139. A hot drink while the house warms up again
13,140. Aliza home for another day
13,141. More snow play
13,142. Hanging out with John, Laura and Sean
13,143. Friends that don't mind just living life with you
13,144. Will was able to rescue Aliza's car
13,145. Watching David movie with church family
13,146. Bluebird on the birdhouse when I opened the curtain
13,147. Eating Chick Fil A free on opening night
13,148. Anna hanging out with us a PE
13,149. An incredible gift of our yard being cleaned up
13,150. Going to a special little girl's dance show

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 13,151. Staying up really late just talking
13,152. Pokemon playing on a beautiful day
13,153. Celebrating Josiah 
13,154. Listening to grown boys playing games

Celebrating Aliza

 20?! Really??!   

To celebrate Aliza's birthday, we went to Tokyo Steakhouse for supper. Aliza has wanted to go to this hibachi restaurant where they cook in front of you for a long time. We are (finally) at the point where all six of us would enjoy the food. And so, for the first time, we went to a "fancy" restaurant as a family. 

It was so fun! Aliza LOVED the experience and the sushi and steak. 

Josiah and Isaiah rode home in the car with me. They went on and on about how the steak was THE BEST that they've ever had. All of the children are old enough to appreciate when we have an experience that is a splurge and they are quick to express their gratitude. 

Our friend from Hondorus brought a Latin American birthday cake for Aliza. It was so pretty and a little something extra special for Aliza. 

 

Celebrating Josiah

 

Josiah had a beautiful day for his birthday that allowed him to do all the things that he enjoys. In all those fun things, not a single picture was taken until 11pm when he opened his gifts. 

Anna did take this picture while we were playing Pokemon at SU. It was a global Pokemon event and it was so nice to be able to walk around SU for the morning. Lunch was at Cookout. 

Then Josiah, Jeremy and Josiah's friends (Siah, Austin, Ben and Ian) played disc golf. After that they came back to house to play games, eat supper and ice cream cake and more games. These grown up boys sat around the table for hours playing Saving Hitler, Camel Up and another one I that I can't remember! 

It was really fun to be in the background, listening and observing. Josiah did not want to open presents in front of anyone. He actually told his friends not to bring presents. And so, when everyone left at 11pm Josiah opened his presents. He kept us entertained while he opened a bunch of small computer components that most of us had no idea what it was. 

Just like that my second child is a legal adult.  

Little Bits of Fun

 We've been watching a Chick Fil A being built 10 minutes away from our house. When Aliza found out that the grand opening was on a day when we were all home and I found out that if you "dressed up" as a cow your entree was free, it was decided that we HAD to go! I've seen lines at Chick Fil A. I've waited in lines at Chick Fil A. I thought maybe it was the craziest thing we had ever decided to do--to try to eat at Chick Fil A on grand opening day. Then again, I know how much it costs for our family to eat a meal at Chick Fil A and decided any line was worth a free meal!

We put white cow spot stickers on black shirts and--just like that--we were dressed up as cows. The drive through line was long, but, inside, we only had 2 groups in front of us. All of the tables were full, but one opened up pretty quickly. And we paid $0.37...for extra sauce.  

 

Friday night, Aliza, Anna and I got to attend Maggie's first dance show. (This was the same day that Maggie's Dad had sent his crew to clean up our front yard. ) We had so much fun cheering her on! Aliza knew a few other girls in the show too. 

 

 The whole auditorium was decorated and pictures of my girls never get old. lol.

Of course, we had to have a picture with a--very tired--Maggie. 

By the time we got home that night, the festivities for Josiah's birthday were getting started!
 

More Snow

 Today I am sitting on the porch with daffodils blooming, but two weeks ago we had 6 or more inches of snow in what they called a blizzard. 

The snow started Sunday afternoon. The flakes were big and I was watching winter Olympics which just made for a cozy afternoon. 

While I was laying with Isaiah that night, we thought we heard thunder. When I came downstairs I checked outside and saw that a large limb had fallen on the electric line that runs from the road to our house. We still had power, but the line looked quite precarious.  

Jeremy and Josiah went out and cut the limb so that it could be lifted off the electric line. Jeremy could see that the line had been pulled from the bracket on the house so it was still hanging low. 

We lost power at 4:30am. When the sun rose we had a winter wonderland--that included LOTS of limbs on the ground. 

I did nothing to prepare for this storm. In January the talk was that we were going to have a huge snow accumulation and we got nothing. Being past those weeks of bitter cold, I really wasn't in the mood to prepare for snow again. When we lost power, I was certain that we were going to be without power for at least 24 hours. My first concern was drinking water. I was pleasantly surprised that I could fill 3 gallons and all of our water bottles before the kitchen faucet lost pressure. 

Can you imagine the Heslop household without internet? Jeremy's work server was down which is located off site in downtown Salisbury. He was pretty concerned about that. We were all under multiple blankets playing cards that morning. No internet is that one thing that will shut down school for us. For that reason the kids were hoping the power was not back on too soon! Power was restored at 1:45pm. I was pleasantly surprised!

On Wednesday the electric company came to the door and told me that our tree needed to be cut down. In the end their definition of "cut down" was different than my definition of "cut down." Of course I know this was going to be necessary. I do like my trees though and it made me a little sad. 

These are the official "before pictures. 

An hour later the bucket trucks came. There were 2 trees across the street from us that also had limbs on utility lines and needed to be cut. Isaiah and I sat on the porch to watch!

While this was happening, our friend, Kayla came over with Maggie and Baby Will. Isaiah held Baby Will this time and it may have been the most precious thing. Kayla became an even better friend that day because she just sat on the couch and relaxed in the middle of the complete chaos happening. 

Aliza came home from school during the cutting. Trucks were blocking access to our house and so she decided to park on the side of the road. That would have been fine except that the ground was very wet and her front tire SUNK in. 

And here is the "after picture." What you can't appreciate from the picture is the mess. Our entire front yard was covered with limbs and branches. 

Kayla's husband, Will, burns wood and was in the area. So he stopped by and Josiah helped him load his truck with the bigger logs. 

 

Will and Josiah also pulled Aliza's car out of the mud. Yup, Will and Kayla are *basically* family now.  

You can see just a little bit, in the above picture, how low the electric line is. 

And then on Friday, Jeremy was driving to a job in Virginia Beach when he received a phone call from Will. Will called to tell Jeremy that he was sending out a crew to clean up the front yard and they were arrive in the next hour. Jeremy texted me and I couldn't believe it. Will was happy for the wood. I could not have been more grateful for that gift! 

(Josiah was also grateful. His birthday was the next day and I may have threatened that the grown up boys coming over were going to clean up the yard instead of play games! I never would have followed through on that, but I was tempted!) 

 

 Happy 20th Birthday Aliza!

You are so very loved! 

 

Happy 18th Birthday Josiah!

It's going to be an exciting year of new adventures! 

Galentines Party

 Aliza asked me to help her plan a Galentines Party for some of the theater girls. It turned out to be such a fun evening for the girls. They were together as a group the whole evening. Aliza had a couple activities planned and they played few games. Mostly, though, they just enjoyed being together. 

Aliza wanted have punch for the party. I decided it was just the right excuse to use Gramma's punch bowl. It made me so nostalgic. I would have loved to talk to Gramma that night. 

And that led me to remember use Gramma's banana split dishes for our family Valentine's evening. 

It was a Valentine's family night. We had ramen bowls for supper and I gave everyone cards and candy. Then it was a movie and hot fudge sundae night. They watched The Matrix. I sat on the couch with them and read my book on the kindle and kept asking Isaiah if it was "too scary" for him. NONE of the other kids would have watched The Matrix at 11 year old! 

 

Jeremy's Valentine for me made me laugh. 8,981 is a lot of days we've been married. But what I loved is that it is not a milestone day, like 9,000 or even 8,900, the Valentine sentiments are valid every day of our marriage. 

 

Winter

 We have had a winter! This morning I heard birds singing when I got out of the car at church. I made a comment about spring coming. Anna said..."uh, Mom, look down. There is still ice on the ground." I don't remember when we have had snow and ice on the ground for several weeks. This week, though, it is warming up! 

Isaiah will be quick to tell you that the few inches of snow we got was "not fun snow." There was one afternoon that it was fun to play in and then it was freezing rain and ice. He still went out just about every day.  

Instead of snowmen, I found messages this time. 

This one greeted me every morning when I opened the curtains. 

Aliza earned Best Sister Ever the day she went out with Isaiah. He wanted to slide on the frozen driveway on a boogie board. 

The snowy days called for snickerdoodle snowman waffles. 

I always say that snow days make the best school days. The kids have been working very hard! We haven't missed a day this since Christmas. 

 

Joy Dare::January 2026

 12,974. One more hibernation day
12,975. The girls got some friend time
12,976. Extra reading time with Isaiah
12,977. Celebrating Moriah
12,978. Decorating a cake

12,979. Sending Aliza off to Skycroft
12,980. Coffee date with Jeremy
12,981. A full house
12,982. Isaiah feeling better
12,983. Teaching Children's Worship
12,984. Sending Aliza off to Kentucky this week
12,985. The struggle of making changes means it needs to happen
12,986. An hour by myself in the car
12,987. The day went more smoothly than I expected
12,988. A friend to check in with
12,989. Josiah helping Anna with math
12,990. Listening to Cross Conference sermons
12,991. Being awake for Aliza's call
12,992. Sliding door open for fresh air
12,993. Taking a walk with Isaiah
12,994. Catching up with Elizabeth
12,995. Audrey and Henry Thursdays
12,996. Homeschool PE went smoothly
12,997. Celebrating Dad's birthday
12,998. Listening to all of Aliza's adventures
12,999. Being able to take the weekend to celebrate Karen's birthday
13,000. Dropping Aliza off for the first winter camp weekend
13,001. Taking in the time with Josiah, Anna and Isaiah
13,002. Making banana bread
13,003. Walking around Shepherdstown
13,004. The evening with Joel's family 
13,005. Driving home together
13,006. Organizing for the week
13,007. A podcast worth listening to twice
13,008. A really decent math day with Anna
13,009. Aliza still comes home ready to talk
13,010. Winter sunshine
13,011. Afternoon walk after school
13,012. Josiah working on college stuff
13,013. Coffee with Maria
13,014. Working on Aliza's puzzle (lol)
13,015. A few more extra evenings at home
13,016. Janell
13,017. Being the safe place for growing up kids
13,018. Psalm 23
13,019. Finding a very old mix CD that Jeremy made for me
13,020. The ache when Aliza drives off for her next adventure
13,021. My mother-in-law
13,022. Needed encouragement

13,023. A Saturday with no plans
13,024. Talking to Moriah
13,025. Starting a Charles Martin book
13,026. Listening
13,027. Aliza home safely
13,028. Jeremy took care of supper
13,029. Josiah's respectful spirit
13,030. The moments when I know Isaiah is still young
13,031. Hearing Anna play guitar late at night
13,032. My brother
13,033. Homemade chicken tenders
13,034. Reading with Isaiah
13,035. Aliza telling me it's her "last first day at WWCC"
13,036. Jeremy mail delivery messages on Alexa
13,037. When supper conversations turn hilarious
13,038. Gospel humility: thinking of myself less
13,039. Comfortably playing outside in sweatshirts
13,040. House full of children for the afternoon
13,041. First ESL class of the semester was really smooth
13,042. Friday.
13,043. Working ahead
13,044. Contemplating Psalm 23:2
13,045. Car time with Jeremy
13,046. Celebrating Chrissy
13,047. Surprised by daffodils

13,048. Sunday snow day
13,049. Snow day candle

13,050. Good day to thaw the shoo fly pie
13,051. A warm house
13,052. Planning a trip
13,053. Isaiah teaching Josiah piano
13,054. Anna's math test went well
13,055. Spontaneous conversation in Aliza's room
13,056. Everyone home for supper
13,057. Theology discussion to start the day
13,058. Finding random pictures on my phone
13,059. Laughing until I'm crying
13,060. Homemade sourdough gifted to us
13,061. Really engaged ESL students
13,062. Time with Anna
13,063. Grocery shopping with Isaiah
13,064. Seeing a testimony publicly shared
13,065. Josiah's "Thank you Mom" after every meal
13,066. Saturday mornings
13,067. Connecting over supper
13,068. The way Aliza has grown into her job
 

Good Old Fashioned Grocery Shopping

 

 I live by routines and my routine is to pick up groceries on Saturday morning between and 11:00 and 12:00. There are exceptions to every routine, of course, and this was one of those times. I wanted to pick up groceries this evening. First thing this morning I sat down to do my grocery order only to find out that pick up was closed through the weekend. I could have picked up at another Wal-Mart but the driving time would have been the same as me just doing my own grocery shopping at the closer store. 

I was reallllly tempted to be frustrated. What an inconvenience to have to walk through the store and pick out my own groceries and rearrange the day's schedule. I very quickly stopped myself because how can I even think of this as even as inconvenience. There IS a store that is full of a vast variety of foods to buy. I have transportation to get to the store. and money to pay for the food. The list goes on and on and on. 

And so I was relaying all of these thoughts to the children over lunch, which led to them remembering the days when we ALL went grocery shopping every single week. They talked about how HUGE Walmart seemed and how they were sure if they let go of holding on to the cart they would get lost in that huge store. Another story was how they hoped that I would not run into anyone I knew at the store--especially Aunt Meghan--because we would talk for sooooo long! Anna did cartwheels down the aisles. (She was not one who was afraid of letting go of the cart! Did she EVER hold on to the cart?!) Josiah remembered playing in a clothes rack only to emerge and not see me and got scared. 

Isaiah doesn't really remember those days and decided he would go along with me today. When we got to the store, I chose a cart and realized it didn't have a plastic cover on the handle and it was COLD. Isaiah offered to push the cart and warm it up for me. He proceeded to push the cart the whole time. He was a great helper. I realized that had I just picked up groceries I would not have had that hour alone with Isaiah and he really did need a full grocery shopping experience with me that he will remember. lol. 

We got to the cashier and I told her that I usually do pickup and was tempted to be annoyed at the "inconvenience." She was old enough to appreciate the days when there was no choice but to do grocery shopping with multiple children in tow and we laughed about "first world problems." She gave me my total and then asked, "And so did you spend more in the store than you do on pickup?" The answer was definitely YES. When we got home and the others saw the extra fruit and bags of chips, their response was "good job Isaiah."