Reid Family 2007 Update
Megan, Angela, James, Hanna, Tim, Sara, Becca, and Emily,
Reid Family Update 2007

This has been a very interesting year for our family.  The ages of the children are now:  Megan 18, Hanna 15, Emily 12, Sara 10, Tim 7 and Becca 4.

Our entire family has really enjoyed the new church we have joined, Faith Harvest.   The church is so popular that it is overcrowded and is building a
new building. Each of us has become involved in a different way with the ministries there.  Jaimie liked being a part of the Christmas drama and is
training to be an usher.  Megan and Hanna love the dance team.  Their team is so good that sometimes they travel to other churches to perform.  
They really enjoy traveling with the group.  The girls are also involved with the Youth Group.  Sara has joined the Youth Choir and is learning a lot
about singing.  I (Angela) will be running the church bookstore once we get in the new building.

Our family has now been homeschooling for 14 years.  This year we had all 6 children schooling grades Pre-12.  It was a new challenge to balance it
all.  We were not able to do as much with the homeschool group as we have in the past.  The younger 4 are still doing unit studies, meaning they all
work together on certain subjects, each child working on their own level and then they all share what they learned.  Our units for the year included
human anatomy, early church, poultry, frogs, animal anatomy, Middle Ages, and Renaissance.

Our family is still in the Pets and Pals 4-H group.  I am the coordinator, Hanna is the president, and Megan is the secretary.  We all like the group a lot
and think the kids in it are great.  Emily and Megan do cats, Hanna does goats and Sara does dogs.  We have a lady from the AKC named Terri who
works with the group on training dogs.  Sara has been learning from Terri how to properly work with her dog Hailey.  She even earned her Good
Citizenship Award with Hailey.  We went camping as a group this summer and had group t-shirts made that look really cool.  

Kitties, kitties, and more kitties has been the theme of the year as I added more breeders to my cattery and started producing kittens.  What fun!!  We
always have a kitty to smooch on and everyone in this family can hold one or two at the same time.   The girls and I have enjoyed going to cat shows
and have learned so much.   Thankfully, Jaimie has lost count of how many cats we currently have in the house and I think that is just the way it
should be.  What?  You saw a new cat in the bathroom?  Oh, no we have had that cat for a long time now, dear ;o}.  

You may ask what it is like to live with two gorgeous teenage girls.  Well, I will say the key word here is DRAMA.  Yes, during the week Megan is just
like any other homeschool nerd complete with frizzy hair, sloppy clothes, and lots of pimples.  But mention the words, “Going out,” she promptly runs
to the bathroom and transforms into a beauty queen with luscious, long, curly hair.  Public outings are very entertaining now as we watch the young
men follow at a safe distance and drool.  She of course works very hard at ignoring them.  I am not sure why the hours of fix up are needed if she is
just going to ignore them but I have a strong suspicion that she wants them to look.  I believe this problem goes back to the Garden of Eden when
God presented Eve to Adam.  Adam said, “Wow,” and Eve went on to act like she did not see him.  Now Hanna claims that when she is 18 she will
not do this.  The rest of the family has our doubts.  It is a ritual entrenched deeply in human nature.  So what is my secret to making it through the
teenage years?  A good sense of humor.

When Megan is not doing her hair (which those that know Megan know this is a big job) she is kept productively occupied working hard at her
studies, drawing and writing stories.  She is currently a senior with our homeschool and duel-enrolled at Vance Granville Community College.  In the
fall her best friend from Oregon, Mattie, visited and that was a real treat for her.  Megan has developed a very good sense of humor and can laugh at
even herself, which is a very important characteristic to have in life.

Hanna has started to volunteer at the local library.  She is learning a lot and works with some very special ladies.  In the spring she got three little
female goats that were triplets.  They were some of the best little goats that we ever knew.  Unfortunately two of them died a few months later from
bloat.  It was hard for all of us but she is thankful for the one she has left.   Hanna still believes all guys her age are dorks.  Megan says she hopes
Hanna grows out of this stage soon because she finds her embarrassing.  Dad and I think that is a fine belief for now.

Emily has this unique ability to always look fashionable.  During times when the rest of humanity looks sloppy or unkempt Emily looks stylish.  For
example Emily never looks frumpled up in the morning when she first gets out of bed.  Even her pajamas and hang around the house sweats are
perfectly matched.  We have tried to find out her secret but none of us have been successful.   Besides fashion Emily also has an interest in cats.  
She has been very helpful with taking care of and socializing our kittens.  She even helped be a midwife while one of the cats was having kittens.

The other day while most of us were sitting down to lunch, Becca sighed and said sadly, “Someday I am going to have to get married.”  I said, “Yes,
but that will be a long way off because whoever you are interested in will have to be approved by Tim and then Sara, Emily, Hanna, Megan, mommy
and then daddy.  That will be a hard crew to please so you getting married may take a lot of time.”  Then Tim helped out with, “Well, I guess you could
marry Johnny,” his little buddy.  Becca sighed again, “Ya I guess I could.  But...that would be gross because I would have to kiss him.”  Now some
may ask why we had so many kids.  The answer is quite simply because lots of kids are lots more fun.

Jaimie is working for a friend of ours doing maintenance at storage facilities.  He is learning how to fix the gates and he hopes to help grow this side
of the business.  He enjoyed hunting this last year but was not able to get in as many days as he would have liked.   He almost always has some
home fixer project going and is very good at that.  When he ever runs out of ideas for projects I am helpful and add to his list like a good wifie.

We have enjoyed visits with our extended family since moving out here.  Jaimie’s side of the family had a reunion with the 3 brothers, their mom and
grandmother.  That was wonderful to see everyone together again and the cousins playing.  On my side we have gotten in lots of visits with my Aunt
Rona and Uncle Bill Schriber.  They are like grandparents to our children and Tim is buddies with Uncle Bill.

The Lord taught me something life changing this year.  He taught me that if I control my thoughts I control my emotions.  In addition he taught me that
it is always easiest to control the first negative thought than it is to run with a negative thought, allow my emotions to follow suit, get in a bad mood
and then try to change my thoughts.  It was all laid out so simply for me and all I have had to do is to work on taking captive any negative thoughts that
come into my mind.  Over the last year I have concentrated on this skill and it has become easier and easier as time goes on.  My level of joy has
increased remarkably and I find myself laughing a lot now.  I highly recommend the book by Joyce Meyer, “Battlefield of the Mind.”

Looking back over the last year I am convinced that, “The best is yet to come.”
~~Angela Reid writing for the James Reid family