So, for those of you whose snail mail address I don't have, I thought I would post my yearly rant on the blog as well. Special thanks to my BFF Jess for helping me put together the "Doty Bunch" image. Sometimes I have such a hard time putting together what I come up with in this always-thinking brain of mine. Enjoy!
This year I thought I’d start my Christmas letter out with a song. I have stolen the melody so as you sing it in your head, please use the tune to the theme song of the TV show “The Brady Bunch”. Here goes…
Here’s a story…
Of a gal named Amy
Who got hitched to a guy named Kirk one day in May
And they had 4 kids
Kyle, Keaton, Abby
And lil’ Alexa Kay
Then they felt called to
Add to their happy family
And they knew it was much more than a hunch
Added Brianna and Hongru the Chinaman
And now no one ever asks them over for lunch
The Doty Bunch
The Doty Bunch
That’s the way we became the Doty Bunch
Aren’t I just the clever one? And just when you thought I couldn’t top the previous Christmas letter I go and get all creative once again. I even amaze myself sometimes.
So, on with all the news of 2009. Has been a very big year here at the Doty house. Additions and changes….all part of life but seems we had our fair share this year. One of our biggest additions this year was the addition of Brianna to our family. She came to us a couple days before Valentine’s Day thru the foster care system and appears she is going to be with us for quite some time. She is 9 years old and is in the 4th grade. She is all girl and loves to sing. Some mornings I feel like I am in the midst of a musical. Can cause some drama as she is pretty much the ONLY morning person here (myself included) and there is not much of a tolerance for singing so early in the morning. She is also enjoys art and is an excellent reader. She has adjusted to Doty Life quite well. We are glad to have her.
Our second addition came to us in August. My friend Callico is a supervisor for a student exchange program and had asked if we would be interested in hosting. Because our last bed available was in the boys’ room, we knew our newest member would need to be a boy. Hongru was who we chose and before we knew it, we added #6 to the crew. I have now gotten a taste of what it is like to feed a teenager (and am contemplating taking on a 3rd job to finance it!). He loves meat as he is “sick of rice and vegetables” as they eat a lot of that in China. His favorite place to eat is KFC and he tells us that the joke in China about KFC is that it stands for “Kentucky Fried Children”. Kind of morbid but funny in a sick way. He is also very studious and his language skills are much better than I had anticipated. I will often ask him to teach me some Chinese but I pretty much am awful at it and often will end up saying a completely different thing. One evening I was trying to get him to teach me how to say “Close your mouth” in Chinese as that is a frequent phrase I am in need of around here. Apparently I was saying “Close your legs” in my many attempts so figured that may not be the best phrase to have in my vocabulary and have since given up on Chinese. If I ever have a need for it, I will have to resort to just calling in a favor with my Chinese son. He is currently spending time applying to colleges as he wants to attend next year. He has applied at University of Chicago and Northwestern among his choices and speaks of coming “home” on the weekends if either of these choices work out, so he must not mind us all that much. He is happy that we are within a bike ride’s distance from the public library as I think the chaos is a bit much for him at times (went from being an only child to one of six!). It has been a positive thing all around having Hongru here. A good learning experience too. I am teaching him lots of English slang and he is teaching me SAT words so it’s a good arrangement. He’ll be here til the end of the school year when he graduates from Ridgewood Baptist Academy. That brings me to the next topic, as Hongru is not the only member of the family attending Ridgewood this year. After 4 years of homeschooling, Kirk and I decided to put the kids in school and they, too, are now attending Ridgewood. Had been a bit of an adjustment for everybody but overall has been a good choice for the family I think. So, my days have suddenly gotten different. I’ve still got Alexa here and she now thinks I need to be her constant playmate, but we have found some ways to keep her occupied. Grandma Pat takes her on Mondays so I can go and volunteer at the school so that is a highlight of her week. Wednesdays we go to my BFF Jessica’s house for a play day, and Daddy tends to be home on Fridays so she is not completely stuck w/ just Mama all day every day. Hard to believe Midge will be in Kindergarten next year! She is her mama’s daughter as she is Ms. Social and makes friends easily and often. She is a wild woman and has a ton of energy. She knows her alphabet and can write most of the letters so guess the eavesdropping of the previous homeschooling years has rubbed off. She’s a trip.
Abby is 8 and in 3rd grade this year. She was not happy about going to school as she loves her mama and wanted to stay home. Can’s say as I blame her cuz I am pretty awesome. Anyways, the first few months were a bit rough as she cried almost daily prior to school and followed me around in the mornings begging me to keep her home. Was feeling like a horrible mother every time she would climb out of the car and look at me with those big brown crocodile tear filled eyes . But, by October, she finally came to grips with it all and is now okay with it. I think it has helped going to volunteer in her classroom on Mondays and having lunch with her on Mondays at school. All her classmates are jealous that her mama brings her fast food every Monday. So, it’s all good. Abby is quiet out in public but at home she is a card. She is always coming up w/ these out-of-nowhere one liners that just crack us up. She is very particular and I will no longer buy her clothes without her present as she is far too picky and I will end up returning them anyways. Her favorite food is bacon and KFC chicken, all though you would not know it by looking at her as she is a bit of a twig. She gets good grades and I quite enjoy her.
Next to speak of is Keaton. He’s 11 this year and in 6th grade. He continues to be the funny guy and enjoys getting a charge out of people. His grades are good as well and he is playing on the Jr. High Basketball team. He has such a natural athletic ability and started in the game last week, which was a big deal to him. He has adjusted to the new school life well. He continues to play the drums and has taken up bass this year as well.
Kyle is now in 7th grade and turned 12 this past April. He, too, is playing on the basketball team at school. He is learning some tough lessons this year as it is a bit different being in 7th grade at school then homeschooling. So many more authorities to answer to than just Mom. He continues to enjoy anything audiovisual like movies and video games but not much time for them these days. He has to work harder at the school stuff and there are only so many hours in a day. But, he will get there….we will keep pressing on! He continues to play electric guitar and is still taking lessons. He and Keaton also play in a band thru the music studio. He has also gotten out to the land some w/ his dad, which he really enjoys.
Speaking of the land---we have had an addition out there. We just had a 40x60 pole building built out there, much to the delight of my hubby. We will have it for storage as well as the hopes of having a lumber mill of some sort in the coming years. Kirk continues to do some hunting out there as well and he took a buck a couple weekends ago. I had contemplated including the pictures of he and the kids cleaning the deer in the garage in my little picture collage, but figured it may not be something you would want to see or put on the fridge. But, was happy for the few dinners he provided. Several deer were taken at our property by friends and we also inherited a second deer to the freezer from one of them. Will help feed our many mouths. Kirk’s job has remained steady, but much less overtime than times past. The company has since put him back in the field and downscaled their work force. I am just glad he’s still got a job as I know many have lost their jobs in this economy.
Part of the economy-related decisions being made in the workplace may have contributed to my former employer’s (Edward Hospital) decision to sell our homecare division. This means I am no longer an Edward Hospital employee (after 12 years of service) and am now an employee of Residential Home Health. Has been a bit of a rough adjustment as changes like this affect the everyday operations and morale. Had to learn a completely new computer program and be part of working out new processes, but I still have a job with them. I continue to do the on-call triage with them for the time being. Their main office is out of Michigan and some of what I am doing is likely being shifted there but will just go along and see how it all plays out. I am able to continue to work from home with them, so I will ride that deal out as long as I can. I also decided to pick up a second job working a couple 12 hr shifts a month. The name of the place is Timberline Knolls and it is a residential treatment center for women and adolescent girls who suffer from things like eating disorders, substance abuse issues, mood disorders, self harming etc. My mom works there full time so it’s fun to be working at the same place. I work the adolescent side and I completely LOVE it! I really click with the girls and feel like this field is a good fit. Kind of funny that I initially took this job for a “mental break” to get out of the house a bit and it’s at a mental health facility. I leave 6 kids and go to work w/ 26 kids. But, I love it. It’s how God wired me. A lot of people don’t understand it. And that’s okay. Initially, when Kirk and I decided to do “the big family” thing this way, people thought we were crazy. Now, I kind of enjoy getting those reactions. It’s different and people find it interesting and it opens doors to discuss the reason why we do what we do. Simply put—it is what God has called us to do. Plain and simple. Like in Hongru’s case, he had never even heard of a Bible until he walked in my front door. And we have been able to show him first hand of what a powerful thing God’s love is by inviting him, a perfect stranger to us, live with us, come along side of him over the course of this year, and do it because of the love God gave us for him before we even knew him. I think if more people did that kind of thing, we could see big things happen. I don’t think having a kid from China in your home for a year is everyone’s calling, but just taking an interest in a person and showing love and concern without “getting something in return” speaks volumes. Funny thing is that we are getting LOTS in return. May not be in the form that people would deem as valuable (like money or gifts) but the pure knowledge of knowing that our actions could be impacting ETERNITY! How cool is that? (am I too old to use the word “cool”? I hope not.) But I think you get it…..
Well, this is a record. Four pages! If I continue to add family members to this house I am afraid it may only get longer every year, my friends. We would have to move as well as I am currently out of bedrooms and beds. If anyone hears of a hotel for sale, please let me know. I think my husband would prefer a llama farm instead of the hotel (His dream is to have a llama farm and now the kids are hooked on the idea---yeah, like I said, we are DIFFERENT!) I could also use a bus at this point too. We did test drive a shuttle bus this summer and two days later went to buy it and it was sold. I was bummed cuz I wanted to paint it like the Partridge Family bus, have “The Doty Family” painted down the side, and go on tour but guess that wasn’t what God had for us. I have mourned the loss and am now okay with it. But that would have been fun.
Well, guess I will close for now. If you would like to keep up with us during the year, you can always look me up on Facebook as I am a little addicted (admitting there is a problem is the first step---I learned that at the new job at the mental health facility) You can also subscribe to my blog which is www.homeschoolmom2four.blogspot.com. Now that I am not homeschooling I may need to reconsider the name of my blog but maybe in all my spare time I will get around to that someday.
So, from my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas! God Bless you this upcoming year and always! With Much Love, The Doty Bunch
