The Invisible Woman

MERRY CHRISTMAS- Our annual letter

Howdy from Kentucky!
We’ll do our best to summarize the highlights of 9 people’s lives in only 2 pages. God is so good. We feel blessed beyond measure—so much more than we deserve!

Last year’s letter announced the soon arrival of our 7th blessing. He was born December 17th after a wonderful labor, weighing 8lbs 1 oz. His name is Gilead Courage. It seems so long ago now, as he is almost a year old already, climbing, walking and smiling. He is such a sweet baby. We have never enjoyed a baby as much as we have him!! We usually call him “Gilead” but sometimes he gets called “Gil” or “Gilly” or “Silly Gilly.” What a blessing he is to our family. We are so happy that God chose to give us another baby! EVERYONE in the family just adores him, even Praise!

Praise “Praisey boo” is 3 years old already. She has gone from a wild toddler that caused us to call Poison Control twice within 6 months as a 2 yr old, to a sweet, cute, “only sometimes mischievous” 3 year old. She still reigns as loudest Sweet Savage, but we’re sure this cute thing will develop meekness soon. She excels at being able to suck her fingers and pick her nose at the same time with the same hand! She is very smart and we know God will do great things through her, once He can get her to listen to His voice. She also got the record this year for catching the biggest fish. A 7lb catfish on the smallest pole you’ve ever seen with the smallest hook we’ve ever seen. That’s how it goes though, huh?

Jubilee “Jubi” “Jubi doo” is 5 yrs old. She started kindergarten this year and is already reading easy books and zooming through math. She fits her name so well. She is almost always joyful, skipping, bouncing and making cute faces. She and Praise have become such good buddies. Nobody can make Gilead laugh easier than she can! He thinks that she is hilarious. She played soccer this Spring, and, while hesitant at first, she did great! She also took swimming lessons this summer. After a few years of asking for a “kitty,” mama finally gave in, and we surprised her with TWO for her birthday as long as they stayed outside since mama is very allergic to them. They are: Fire and Bliz.

Josiah “Siah” is 7 yrs old and in 1st /2nd grade. (His birthday puts him in 1st grade but he does 2nd grade work.) He is amazing at school. There is practically nothing he can’t read. He came in 1st place in a cowboy costume contest in our town this year. He is the cutest cowboy we’ve ever seen! He has the calmest and most sensitive personality of the bunch. He loves babies and is so helpful with Gilead, even offering to change wet diapers at times. He started piano lessons last year and is learning a lot. He also took swimming lessons with Jubilee this summer.

Hosanna “Sanna” “Green bean” is 9 yrs old in 4th grade. She has such a servant’s heart to help mama. She loves to cook, hums while she does dishes, entertains the baby, and is patient with the little girls to explain school if mama is busy. Her favorite things are horses, butterflies, flowers and reading books about horses. For her 9yr old birthday trip this year, her and mama went to a horse ranch and took a long horseback ride in the Smoky Mountains. Grandma K went with us too to help with Gilead. She looks so sweet, but when it’s time to play soccer on Sunday afternoons, she runs as fast as the boys! She is also taking piano and loves to make cards for everybody with her art skills—lots of colors and flowers! She is also on the puppet team at church ministering to the younger children.

Noah “Owa” is 12 years old in 6th grade. He is the artist of the family and the musician. He’s not crazy about academics like math or science, though he’s good at them, but he will spend hours drawing or painting. He is so good at it too. He won 2 blue ribbons at the county fair this year for his art. He takes lessons in piano and guitar and is the youngest member of our church Praise Team. He plays the Conga drums and percussion 3 Sunday’s per month, and 1 Sunday per month plays the big drums. He has natural rhythm! He has also asked to learn bagpipes and accordion, but we told him to master the piano, guitar and drums first. (grin) He is a “people person” and can make anyone feel welcome and accepted. He says, when he “grows up” he wants to be a UPS man so he can meet all sorts of people---he loves people!

Aslan “Azi” “Az” is 13 yrs old in 8th grade. He hasn’t stopped growing this year. He passed up Mom this spring in height. He is 5’7” but only for a few minutes probably. He wears size 12 shoes and is so tall and thin! Along with his regular home school classes, he took a 12 week class this fall through Answers in Genesis called “Creation Apologetics.” He is continuing with the other 4 advanced classes they offer as well this next year. He is passionate about defending his faith and carnivorous plants. Unknown to us ahead of time, God allowed his teacher to be a man who gives lectures on Carnivorous Plants at the Creation Museum in Cincinnati! God is so sweet to do that for Aslan. He has been a great mentor for Aslan as they have built a friendship and enjoy discussing Carnivorous Plants and Creationism. On his 13th birthday, we had a big surprise “welcome to manhood” party and invited a small group of godly men to encourage him into the next phase of his life. We also collected a scrapbook full of letters written from men who have impacted him throughout his life. Chris presented a sword to him with the inscription “Know the Word, Obey the Word and follow the Holy Spirit.” It was a special day.

Our 3 oldest children competed in the first annual National Bible Bee. It was a wonderful motivation to memorize a bunch of Scripture as a family. They all did really well. Aslan placed in the top 100 in his age group. 17,000 kids originally entered, and they narrowed it down to the top 100 in 3 age categories. The finals were held in November in Washington DC. Because of the apologetics class and other factors, Aslan chose not to compete in the National Bee this year, but is planning on competing again next year.

Misti has had a busier year than normal with another little toddler. It’s worth every bit of the extra work though. It’s easier in some ways with so many older kids to watch out for his mess-making. Homeschooling takes the majority of her time with grades: 8,6,4,1,K and Preschool. She also leads a monthly group at church called “Mom to Mom” to encourage younger moms in their high calling of motherhood. She was asked to present a workshop this summer at the state Assembly of God Women’s conference. It was called, “Training Children to Know and Love the Word of God.” Hosanna came along to assist in the talk. She helped show how you can incorporate karaoke in memorizing Bible verses. (Grin) In her “free” time she still enjoys blogging. www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweetsavages

Chris has had the busiest year at work yet, both in the clinic and the ER. He sees some pretty amazing country accidents and is becoming more popular with the Mennonites here as we have similar views in some areas. He and the 3 bigger boys are building a larger chicken palace coop right now. It will be pretty impressive and our chickens, ducks, guineas and (soon to buy) geese will officially be spoiled. He is great about teaching himself what needs to be done around the farm, whether it’s how to build an outbuilding, tube feed a dying calf (which ended up living!), or installing a wood stove to pipe into our central heating system. He teaches the boys right along with him!

Our family vacations this year included a trip to Hilton Head, SC in May for a medical conference on the beach for Chris’ job, a trip to a horse ranch in the Smoky Mountains in September, and a trip to Niagara Falls in early November with stops at the Columbus Zoo, Great Wolf Lodge and the Creation Museum.

Our animal count: 3 dogs, 2 kitties, 2 fish tanks, 4 cows, 1 pony, 8 fainting goats, 4 katahdin hair sheep, 5 guineas, and too many chickens and ducks to count.

We’re looking forward to a family mission trip in February with the whole family to Honduras, Lord-willing. We will be doing some medical missions and other projects around the city of Siguatepeque.

More than wishing you all a great year, we wish that whatever this next year has in store, that you would come to realize your need for a deeper relationship with Jesus…and then seek HIM! (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

Blessings in 2010.
The Konsavage Family

Chris, Misti, Aslan, Noah, Hosanna, Josiah, Jubilee, Praise and Gilead Courage


2009 Sweet Savage Funnies
One day while doing hospital rounds with Chris, Josiah was watching him write in a patient’s chart. The nursing station, full of nurses, overhears Josiah say, rather loudly to Chris, “Daddy, how could ANYONE ever READ that?”

Overheard while Chris, Misti, Aslan and Noah tube a calf to save its life:”Noah, you can pass out but just lay on the cow to keep it still while we put the tube down its throat.” (He turned white and almost did, but the cow survived!)

As a side note, last year, when Noah went to do rounds with Chris before church one day, he had to do a procedure in the ER. While draining pus from a patient’s knee, Chris heard a big “THUD” behind him. Noah had passed out cold. He has no plans for medical school….grin.

“Mommy, when I was a little boy, I wasn’t afraid of ANYTHING. But now that I’m big, I am afraid of a few things. I’m not afraid of bears though…maybe because I’ve never seen a bear.” Josiah, age 6

“Mommy, thanks for all you do…even cook food that I don’t like.” A note from Hosanna, age 9.

A conversation at our dinner table one night…you never know what to expect.
We were eating lettuce from our garden with some trout that we caught at a fishing derby that day and some noodles. I had given each kid a few big leaves since we didn’t have too much salad stuff to go with lettuce. Noah asked if he could give one of his leaves to his sister, Hosanna, who LOVES lettuce because he thought I had given him too much. I told him that I was making sure that he never had colon cancer. The discussion went to, “What is a colon?” (Can you believe doctor’s kids asking that?)
So I explained that a colon is the same thing as a large intestine, and that it stays healthy if you eat lots of fiber like fruits and vegetables like lettuce.
Aslan then said, “If I have a colon, then Gilead (5 mos old then) must have a SEMI-COLON.” The homeschool dinner table is never dull.

Awesome Site to see how dozens of things are Made!!

We just spent a long time watching little 2-3 minute clips on how things are made.
That sorta stuff always fascinates me. We watched how bowling balls, tortilla chips, popcorn, diapers and a bunch more stuff are made...check it out!

http://science.discovery.com/videos/how-its-made/

Vacation! Accomplishing things...

It's Christmas vacation at the Sweet Savage household which means NO SCHOOL! That used to only excite the Sweet Savages, but now that I homeschool 6, nobody looks forward to a day or week off more than I do. I've had some projects that I've wanted to accomplish for a long time. One is to catch up on my kids' scrapbook pages. (Everytime one has a birthday, I do a 2-page spread of the best pictures of them for the year) This week, I did Hosanna and Jubilee's pages. I still have my 1 September kid and 2 October and now 1 December to do, but I'm making progress.



Here is a shot of Jubilee's I finished this week.

Another project that I've wanted to try. (My friends IRL, no snickering)....is a monogrammed and name shirt for my little man. I saw shirts online for as much as $40+ for 1 t-shirt with a kids initial or name on it w/ applique. I'm way too cheap, um frugal to spend that, and despite my totally pathetic sewing skills, I decided to give it a try. With less than $10 invested for 2 shirts, ($3 shirts from Wal Mart and $3 in Heat n Bond and $2 in scrap material bin) I figured I had nothing to lose. I did the easy, first initial shirt today. Nobody would ever consider spending $40 on it, but I think my sweet, new 12 month old will love his new "G."

My next attempt later in the week will be a tan shirt with red letters with his whole name actually spelled out. YIKES. Sounds a lot harder.

Here is the finished product.