The 2006 Flanders Family Update

Both our extended families gathered in Grapevine for a few days of sight-seeing and fine-dining before following us home for Christmas. Isaac loved the gift he received from his big brothers—a one-piece, spandex Spiderman suit which fastens up the back. He wore it constantly, layered beneath pajamas and play-clothes alike. Such preparedness may save time for superheroes, but it tends to make diaper changes unnecessarily difficult.

Our 6’4” bottomless pit turned 14 on February 20. No longer content to polish off a full box of cereal or carton of eggs as a midnight snack, now when David gets hungry after dinner, he’ll bake ten loaves of bread and eat two while they’re still warm. You wouldn’t know it to look at him. He stays fit riding his bicycle, pedaling over 80 miles at a stretch. Our entire family logged some good mileage on foot this month in preparation for the Cowtown Half-Marathon. Doug, Jennifer, Jon, Bethany, David, and Samuel stretched their long run to ten miles, while the little ones joined us for shorter runs, riding on bikes or in strollers. We made it to Fort Worth just ahead of a thunder storm. It raged all night and was still pouring at race time next morning, so we decided to forfeit. The boys were terribly disappointed; the girls were secretly relieved (but don’t tell).
We joined an organic vegetable co-op in March which specializes in crops we never knew existed: white radishes, purple kale, black bell peppers, yellow chard, and a variety of greens we still can’t identify but have grown to like. Of necessity, Mom’s cooking skills have been stretched to the point that our family eats almost all our meals at home anymore, usually without complaints. Doug’s willingness to forgo restaurant dinners may be due in part to his preoccupation with a little construction project he and the boys tackled on his days off. They designed a massive tree fort with three stories, which Doug jokingly dubbed the “family practice level, the orthopedic level, and the neurosurgical level” (referring to the kind of specialist we’d need should anyone fall from a given deck). In the end, better judgment prevailed and they stopped with two, the second of which is kept secured with a combination lock when not in use. Still, it’s a nice place to read a book or gaze at the stars, and it makes a terrific launch pad for the zip line Uncle Chris installed last December.
That project complete, Doug was even less interested in moving than he’d been before. Our house showed a few times in April, but we took it off the market when it hadn’t sold by summer, which explains why we’re still here, and happily so. Doug re-instituted story-time now that he is home most evenings. He read Swallows and Amazons aloud to the children, then sent them to bed and swapped interesting excerpts from other books with Jennifer while soaking in the tub. Favorite picks this year include Mark Kurlansky’s Salt, Jared Diamond’s Collapse, Ann Coulter’s Godless, John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life, and Milo Frank’s How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less (which we’ve successfully applied to everything but Christmas letters).
The indefatigable Isaac turned three on May 22 and inherited the Davy Crockett costume that Mom had made for Jon’s third birthday. It has been passed from brother to brother for the past 15 years, but the latest recipient wore it only two days before reverting back to his Spidey suit. Isaac loves to help around the house, so Dad showed him how to use an electric paper shredder to dispose of junk mail. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. The stack of “pre-approved credit” offers ran out long before Isaac’s enthusiasm for the task, so he cracked open the permanent files and began shredding Doug’s tax receipts!

Our two oldest graduated from high school this month and received their diplomas during our home school group’s annual commencement exercises. It was early for Beth, but she’d been doing the same coursework
as Jon since ninth grade, so it made sense (at least until Mom realized she’d be leaving for college in a few months and began to second-guess the decision). Bethany independently arrived at the same conclusion—that 16 is too young to move away from home—so she postponed applying to Dallas Baptist University in favor of spending her first two years at Tyler Junior College, where she was awarded a full presidential scholarship and a job as a biology lab assistant. Jonathan decided to stay at TJC, as well, not because he has any qualms about leaving home—he’s been planning an exit strategy for months now—but because he can’t bear the thought of living more than ten minutes away from his fellow Red Cross volunteer and sweetheart of two years, the lovely and loveable Matti Jones. He grew a goatee after celebrating his 18th birthday (May 31). It served as a good visual reminder for us to treat him like an adult. Learning to let go has been particularly challenging for Mom (who distinctly remembers crying when Jonathan was four days old, because he was growing up so fast), so Doug made her practice repeating, “Okay, Sweetie. Have fun. I love you. See you when you get home…” until she could say it in her sleep. That has actually helped. Do you suppose this will get any easier as our last ones leave the nest?







The Tyler Morning Telegraph ran an article on home schooling this fall and sent reporters to our house to get pictures for the story. Doug and Jennifer spent two hours fielding questions about why we do what we do. Short answer: No, we’re not reacting to some bad experience in our childhoods. We loved school, loved our teachers, and are grateful for the education we received in the public school system. But we also love our children, love learning, and enjoy doing it together. Home schooling is not the only way to fulfill the Biblical injunction to teach “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), but it’s certainly a rewarding way to do so, and fosters family friendships, besides…. David took the training wheels off Rachel’s bicycle this month and taught her to ride without them. He has become the little ones’ go-to guy for bike help, as well as first aid. Doug, Sam, and Ben have begun joining David on treks with the Tyler Biking Club. The four ride to Bullard almost every Saturday morning to eat breakfast at Sherry’s Kitchen. But life is not always so idyllic. Three short months after being diagnosed with stomach cancer, Jennifer’s father passed away on September 20. It was a shock. None of us were ready to lose him, but by grace through faith, he was ready to go. They say that children tend to view God in the same way they view their dad. Perhaps that is true. My earthly father was wise, benevolent, and completely trustworthy, so it has never been difficult for me to trust implicitly in the wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of my Heavenly Father. And that’s a rich heritage, indeed.

Our sober-minded Samuel turned 13 on October 2 and joined the ballroom dance class, something he’s wanted to do since his older siblings started lessons a year ago. In true Renaissance fashion, he plays the violin and tennis and throws himself into his studies, as well. Sam loves the sciences and would rather read ten biology texts than a single work of fiction. He also loves the baby. At his request, we attached a child-carrier to his bike, so he can pump Daniel around the neighborhood in the afternoons and keep him from getting underfoot while Mom cooks dinner. Incidentally, the baby took his first step this month and is now walking everywhere. It is so sweet to watch him toddle around the house with his arms outstretched and a smile across his face. He is understandably proud of the accomplishment, as are we all…. Benjamin turned 11 on October 16. A hard worker, he considers any amount of physical labor a good excuse to strip off his shirt and flaunt his “six-pack”. Ben is gregarious and loves to be on the go, but has become much more focused in his lessons this year after learning that Joseph might catch him in a couple of subjects—there’s nothing like a little sibling rivalry to light the fire under a procrastinator (at least, that’s how it worked when Jennifer was in school—she’d never have graduated summa cum laude from DBU had she not glimpsed those straight A’s her sister Kimberly kept bringing home)!
The weather turned decidedly cooler in November, making us grateful for the ample supply of firewood Doug and the boys laid up this fall. They cleared all the dead trees off our property using Dad’s new chain saw and Papa’s old axe, and then raced to see who could split the logs the fastest. Neither Jonathan nor Samuel could bear being bested by a 14-year old brother, and their repeated attempts to out-do David got the job finished in short order…. Unwilling to wait for January, Doug made “Reformation Day Resolutions” this year. In addition to writing, exercising, taking vitamins, and religiously tracking calories, he has sworn off caffeine (again), refined sugar (except gum), and fried foods (not including maple-flavored bacon). He is busily training for another triathlon, having set as his goal being ready for the Half-Ironman in Dallas on his 40th birthday. Several of our kids plan to compete in various events that same weekend, but Jennifer is hoping to be pregnant by then, which will give her a good excuse to sit this one out.
That wraps up our news for another year—it blew by so fast that our heads are spinning. As December turns our thoughts back to the birth of our Savior, we pray Jesus will reign in your heart and home this Christmas and grant you peace and prosperity in 2007. Let us hear from you soon!
That wraps up our news for another year—it blew by so fast that our heads are spinning. As December turns our thoughts back to the birth of our Savior, we pray Jesus will reign in your heart and home this Christmas and grant you peace and prosperity in 2007. Let us hear from you soon!
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