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."  

 

 

January Things

 January started with a birthday celebration for Moriah. Moriah has been a part of our life for a year now. Her smile, sparkly eyes and overall health is a testament to the work our Lord has been doing in her life. I'm excited to see what this year holds for her! Moriah chose lemon for her dessert. I had never had a lemon Smith Island Cake, but let me tell you, it was delicious!

Back to school with some new screen time limits. I went into this change with the expectation of some pretty big meltdowns, but instead these three have been cooperative and happy. I was telling someone yesterday how thankful I am for Josiah's cooperative spirit. He is just about 18 and could have really pushed back against having the same screen limits that his 11 year old brother has. Not for even a second did he push back. 

Josiah and friends have been able to play disc golf just about every week. Some weeks it's the coldest day that works for everyone, but that doesn't stop them!

This month we have added Audrey and Henry to our Thursday afternoons. They go to Homeschool Gym with Isaiah while Josiah and Anna finish up school. When we get home Henry is glued to Josiah!

Aliza started the year off by going to Cross Con in Louisville, KY with a group of young adults from church. They took four cars and drove themselves. She was in a car with a driver I trusted and I knew she would keep the energy level high for the (11 hour) trip. I'll admit that I did check her location on the travel days. Cross Con had a live stream and I enjoyed listening to the sermons and main breakout sessions. I watched them delayed so that I could speed up the speaking!

We had a good evening celebrating my Dad's birthday. It must have been an extra dark night. There were multiple mishaps among the cousins during Manhunt. 

As soon as she got home, Aliza had her first of 3 weekends at camp during the month of January. She is working for the winter youth retreats. Since she had just gotten home and was very tired, we dropped her off on our way to West Virginia. The timing worked out well so that we got to be with Karen for her birthday.  

Karen had some bananas that needed to be used and asked if I had a banana bread recipe I used. I do and she had the Joanna Gaines cookbook that it is in, so I made it. There is nothing healthy about this banana bread and not what Karen was expecting. However, it was yummy and turned out perfectly!

And then we picked Aliza up again. It actually worked out really well. I'm glad we could do that for her this time. 

A priority this month has been figuring out how to best help Anna with math. We've had some good days and some not-so-good days. I'm hopeful that we are finding a new rhythm. 

Jeremy gave me encouragement cards for Christmas and so far they have been quite timely. After a few days with high emotion and hard conversations, this one was just what I needed. 

It's been a while since I've read a Charles Martin book. Last weekend was pretty quiet and was just the right time for one of his books. 

 Josiah has high school transcripts requested to continue his college application process. I'll be preparing myself emotionally for the next few months for his graduation. 

Joy Dare::December

 12,882. John's surgery was successful
12,883. We made it through school
12,884. Isaiah and Sean have so much fun together
12,885. Boxes being delivered
12,886. Home to be there when Aliza needed me
12,887. Much better school day
12,888. Singing Christmas carols
12,889. Aliza being as opinionated as I am
12,890. Laura, John and Sean safely home together
12,891. Anna and Aliza working together
12,892. Snowman waffles
12,893. Waking up to snow

 12,894. Anna's music project
12,895. Audrey and Henry afternoon
12,896. Catching up with Mom
12,897. Pokemon afternoon
12,898. Christmas concert at SU
12,899. More music video making
12,900. So much laughter
12,901. Another special baptism
12,902. Making Valerie's day
12,903. Anna had a great day
12,904. Fun music lesson
12,905. Wrapping presents
12,906. Getting the text that Aliza finished A&P 1
12,907. White chocolate peppermint tea on cold mornings
12,908. Aliza and Anna spending time together
12,909. Boys playing disc golf in freezing cold temperatures
12,910. Afternoon walk
12,911. Alone at home for a little while
12,912. Knowing when to stop
12,913. Aliza's semester finished
12,914. Gingerbread chai
12,915. Cutting out cookies
12,916. Lunch and shopping with Maria
12,917. Supper with Anna
12,918. The Nutcracker evening
12,919. Waking up to snow again
12,920. Car time with Aliza
12,921. A hug from Anna
12,922. Everyone around the table for lunch
12,923. Isaiah and Anna playing guitar and piano together
12,924. Helping children buy gifts for each other
12,925. Crackling candle
12,926. Shopping with Isaiah
12,927. An evening with my friend
12,928. Children practicing for Christmas Eve service
12,929. Aliza running an errand for me
12,930. Some cookies made
12,931. The rain started later
12,932. Gingerbread houses
12.933. A soul fulfilling evening
12,934. School finished for Christmas
12,935. Children who are up for an adventure
12,936. Christmas lights and exploring a battleship
12,937. The Sheats family all together
12,938. Cousins playing Manhunt
12,939. A really peaceful day
12,940. Experiencing Handel's Messiah
12,941. Aliza's song in church
12,942. Slow, quiet winter mornings
12,943. The evening with Mom and Moriah
12,944. Another song that Isaiah and Anna can play together
12,945. Grades submitted for the semester
12,946. Our whole family showing up
12,947. Using a gift card for supper
12,948. Jeremy and Josiah staying up really late coding
12,949. A day of Christmas baking
12,950. Isaiah's confidence
12,951. Scripture, carols and candlelight
12,952. Christmas morning
12,953. Cinnamon roll success
12,954. Steak and fondue supper
12,955. The best helpers
12,956. Aliza's spurts of energy between sick naps
12,957. After Christmas hibernation days
12,958. Doing as much of nothing as possible
12,959. Finishing a book and starting another one
12,960. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Phil Wickham
12,961. Easy drive to WV
12,962. Listening to our children have Bible study together
12,963. Seeing Aliza's sparkle come back momentarily
12,964. A hand out day
12,965. Heslop family Christmas
12,966. Laughing at midnight over pick up lines Josiah is saying
12,967. Isaiah is Grandma's breakfast helper
12,968. Getting out of the house
12,969. Grandpa's prime rib
12,970. Isaiah is sweet when he's sick, "Thanks, Mom, for everything you do for me." 
12,971. Sharing a podcast with Aliza
12,972. Beginning the Christmas clean up
12,973. Looking back over 2025 memories