Life Update Or Virtual Christmas Card

Ah. Life.

Here it is December of yet another whirlwind of a year. I’m realizing I haven’t posted anything in my mishmash family blog since April.

A lot happens in those months when you have a large family. Or really, if you have a family at all.

Highlights:

We are discovering the importance of the right mental health meds for kids and grownups alike.

School is going. Man it’s tough to have 3 in high school, 2 in middle school and 2 grade schoolers. But everyone is getting good grades. Most of the time.

Nick and I still have the same jobs. Yay.

With any luck, we’ll have a couch named after our family at our favorite therapist’s office.

Our oldest daughter is a cancer survivor. That was a whirlwind.

Our oldest son up and moved to Germany because he’s cool like that.

We went camping a couple of times.

Summer flew by with uncanny speed and we went to our first Pride parade.

We have had the flu and at least one cold. I kind of miss masks. *cough cough cough*

We did some decorating and our new “old” house feels more like home.

There were important Lego sets to build.

Halloween was the largest candy haul in the history of trick-or-treating.

Thanksgiving was the usual chaos but it was nice to have just our family.

And here we are smack dab in the middle of December wondering where another year went. Some things are more or less the same and others have changed us permanently. The older the kids get, the more I understand why there’s no manual after “What to expect during the toddler years.”

There’s just no way to know what challenges your kids will face and sometimes no way to prepare for what lies ahead.

That’s the beauty of it, I supposed. The not knowing.

What will 2023 bring for our crazy family?

Definitely more camping and hopefully some off-the-grid travel. More teenagers and unknown adventures. Another round of birthdays for the kids. (I’m holding steady at 27.)

There will be another high school graduation. Four down, five hundred to go.

Two more kids will learn to drive. (Hold me.)

No more pets despite Nick’s persistence in showing me pictures of cute animals. Six is quite enough.

More therapy because yay for life skills.

The bathroom wars will continue.

After that? Who knows. We get the joy of watching our horde grow and become unique individuals. There are growing pains alongside a million wins.

Happy holidays,

The Bishop Crew