I have the best kids

          I have absolutely no clue how I am so incredible fortunate to have the children I do.
Ginny was asked to the Priest Laurel prom by a guy and was excited but ended up telling him it could not happen after a few days.  He was trying to pressure her in to things that she was not comfortable with, so she told him that she was uncomfortable going with him.  It was hard for her to do but she did it on her own and then told us about it. As sad I was for her that she experienced it, I was so proud that she realized it could potentially lead to an uncomfortable situation, and had the courage to make the best choice.  Ginny also received her Honor Bee in young women's, which is the highest honor one may receive.

          Aubree is so full of life. She is engrossed in her theater and placed 2nd at impromptu competition. She has a way to make people smile and is seldom afraid to do the right thing. We had a stake standards night tonight and she left the stand (she was the conductor) and went and sat by another young lady sitting along. What an example of noticing people and acting upon it.

          Will has found a love in singing. He auditioned for an honors choir and made it.  He was so happy at his performance and did so well.  I can tell that he is maturing some this year and growing into more of a responsible young man. He is eager to participate in youth activities, including those he is not quite old enough to attend but I love to see him wanting to be involved in gospel opportunities.

          Christopher had his first and last blue and gold banquet. He and his dad made a simple yet fun little dessert.  We have been working to bring up his grades and he has been remaining patient as we strive to do it.  He has a crush on a little girl in his class (and has for about five months) and was insistent that we purchase a class photo, so he can have a picture of her.  He also wanted to ask her to be his Valentine and purchase her a special gift but we explained that may scare her to not even be his friend.  He is definitely a lover.

          Jake and I are diligently working to maintain balance at home, work, and as students.  While we are not perfect it, it is working.  I strive to have all my assignments submitted by Saturday evening (doing them after I out my kids to bed at night), so I can devote Sundays to my family, while Jake does all of his on Saturday and Sunday.  Recently, I have been so concerned with my sisters and their well being that I am losing sleep over it. I want to "fix" everything and realized my desire to help is a great strength but it is also a weakness. I do not rest, fret that it will be too much for Jake, and want my little crew here to not feel neglected, obligated to help, or any divide in our little family. There are sometimes I need to say "no" or not stress about their disagreements and take care of myself and children.  Tonight at the youth standards night, my heart was full and I felt the Spirit comfort my soul as I listened to, If we love Him (the youth 2019 theme song), felt Will rest his head on my shoulder, and watched my girls.  I know He loves me and I can truly show my love for him by loving others.

My heart has been heavy the last couple days as I have contemplated if I am really giving it my all in helping others and trying to lift their burdens. Do my words strengthen others and show love? Am I giving it my best efforts and what more can I do? I attended sacrament with my little crew and then left to attend the Arlington Ward for their unit conference.  Listening to the talks throughout the day, I felt a sense of urgency that I need to be there more for my sister.  Charity is a single mother and had the realization Friday that she can no longer anticipate help with the kids financially at all.  There was another incident on Friday and her primary focus is the safety of herself and children.  I feel that I need to visit Robert as well because no matter what,  he is a child of God and deserves to feel the love of others too.  My heart aches for he, Charity, and the kids.  I want so bad to do more and be there but I have to guard my crew too and can not let my relationship with my husband or children be effected. I long to do so much more.  I hope that my children learn to serve others and look for the opportunity to help alleviate the burdens of others and find happiness.  Some of the most peaceful moments I feel are in serving others.

Tommie and Lynn Farrell family kind of Christmas

Sang to the tune of “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, written by TW Farrell Christmas 2018

Farrell kind of Christmas 

-Have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas

Let your mouths be full

From now on our stomachs will begin to bulge

-Eat some fudge and crackers made by Papa

Sugar cookies by Tommie

Save some room for Chris's smoked and fried turkey!

And have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas time

-There's always room for a Farrell kind of Christmas

Take another bite

Chicken will be cooked in many different ways

Chicken dumplings made by Jake our brother

Chicken noodles by Blake

Mom can do her famous Chinese chicken take out!

So have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas time

-Jenny bakes some cookies, chocolate chip cookies so warm

Goes well with her favorite dish, super fancy dish, Fish sticks

-Have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas

Grammy will make Gumbo

Chris will grill and Megan will make some cake pops.

-Papa will cook you your very own special pancake

Oatmeal cookies from Sarah

Snacks and treats will keep coming from everywhere!

So have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas time

-Have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas

Christmas calories don't count

Hickory Farms is part of a heart healthy diet

-It's not like we eat like this all the time

Just when family is nearby

-The fat is there to help keep you warm

Eat pecan pralines One more

-Have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas

Food makes Christmas bright

Just be careful when approaching any bathroom door!

And have yourself a Farrell kind of Christmas time

Christmas break has come to and we are back in full swing here in the Farrell household. School has started back for the kids and classes are in session for Jake and I as well.  There are times that I feel that I am sacrificing time that I should be spending with my kids when I am doing some of my school work, but hope one day they will look back and see that their dad and I persevered through challenging times and tried to become better. I worry that I am not failing my sweet babies with time but with staying on my game with homework, especially Christopher. He is pulled for speech daily and we know this would require more effort on our part at home, but I feel that I could do better at keeping up with his work and checking his folder. Certainly, there are times that all parents feel of their inadequacies and probably create inadequacies that even do not exist. 

2019...it's going to be a good year

2019 is going to be a good year for our little crew here in Tennessee.  New Year's Eve, the girls and I made it home just in time to ring in the new year as a family.  We toasted in 2019 and then played a game of "Ticket to Ride".  Playing games with my family gives me great joy and I want it to last forever.  New Year's Day, we just hung out together and prepared to leave for Texas on the 3rd for Gerald Farrell's sealing on Saturday, the 5th.  Ginny drove almost five hours of the trip down for practice and that evening we joined Jake's parents, Sarah and David, and Megan and Blake for dinner at Cracker Barrel.  Friday, Lynn and Tommie celebrated 49 years of marital bliss and the whole family (all their children, their spouses, and many of the grandchildren down for the sealing) enjoyed dinner out celebrating them.  What an example of love, they are to us all.  I think my most favorite part of the trip was dancing at the open house Saturday evening with Jake and watching him dance with his daughters, sisters, and mother.  I also loved that Christopher cut in once when Jake and I were dancing to dance with me.  After the dance, he bowed and said "thank you madam".  He is a keeper.

Christopher and his mom

Chris and Jacob Farrell

Jacob and Renee' Farrell family

Top: Sarah Fullmer, Lynn Farrell, Megan Davis, Jenny Langford      Bottom: Lynn Farrell with some of her grand-daughters.

Add caption

Will, Ginny, Aubree, and Christopher

Dancing at the Open House: Top Right- Jake and kids, Top Left- Ginny, Megan Davis, and Karen Farrell, Middle photos- Aubree, Oscar, and Nathan Farrell, Bottom Photo- Jake Farrell, Sarah Fullmer, and Tommie (TW) Farrell

Aubree and Papa Farrell

Text from Dad

The last week of the semester Ginny was struggling with some of her pre-calculus and was getting very discouraged one evening working through problems in preparation for her upcoming exam.  She came to our room and was in there for about an hour for help but still did not meet a deadline for 1 question on the online platform being used. We worked until after 10:00 pm and although she would not receive credit for the question(s) after the deadlines, she persevered.  She was very concerned not to miss seminary but did not get to bed until after midnight.  She did not got to seminary the next morning but I did take Aubree.   The next morning when she awoke, she had the following text from her father that shows his wisdom and counsel we all need to hear at times: "Hope you had a good nights sleep. I am happy that you always go to seminary. I think it shows your strength and faith. Sorry, I lost my patience a little.  You do much better at your studies than I ever did. I know you out a lot of pressure on yourself. Do not think that you have to be perfect for everyone else, including me. Give everything your best for yourself, not to please or impress others. Find happiness in doing things. If it feels overwhelming, step back, breathe, know you are loved for being you and not for your grades or performances or talents. While much of what you do now will influence your future, it is more important to find joy in this journey. This doesn't come from getting math problems correct. I find the most joys in lifting others unexpectedly, praying, taking time to talk to someone, being around my family, completing hard things, and just being around good people even in silence. I am not very good at most of things but you are."
Often as women, I feel we become discouraged so easily when we are unsuccessful or feel we are unsuccessful because we do not meet the standard that we have set for ourselves. We must be forgiving of one another but even more so ourselves.  We can do hard things, sometimes they may not meet our expectations but we accomplish what we are set out to do. And in those moments where the struggle is real, we can look back and say that even though there are very hard times, our track record is 100% overcoming or surviving those times.

Holiday Shenanigans

Christmas Eve was a little rough for a few hours this year as Jake found out about another fender bender Ginny had over this summer pulling into Charity's car.  After months of having a white scratches on the bumper and the blinker light slightly out of place, he noticed and asked about it. With a large gulp and tears welling in her eyes, Ginny was honest and told her dad, as hard as it was.  His reaction was not as well as it could have been.  He was very angry that he had not been told, which is to be expected but the situation could have been handled better. He ended up grounding her until she drives 100 hours with him and will not allow her to drive to school nor seminary.  We have to arrange rides to school for seminary now, home from school, and Aubree a ride home from the Academy. About 6:00, the kids and I planned to deliver cookies and look at lights (we had wanted to go about 4:00 ot deliver cookies but the situation did not allow).  Jake decided lat minute to come but did not speak.  When we arrived home, I told him he was being ridiculous again and it was Christmas Eve.  About 9:00 pm, he joined us in the living room and we played Ticket to Ride.  About midnight, we put the kids to bed. Christopher was very anxious because he wanted to get to sleep so Santa could come.  The kids all sleep upstairs in the media room and we booby trap the house.  This year, we did an escape room and finally got to bed near 3:00 am.  About 7:30 am, Jake noticed the kids were not awake and called Ginny's phone to awaken them.  He was very excited for the kids to try to make it to our room with no noise so we can go open gifts. We all love it!

We spent time in Jackson on the 26th. My mom seemed to not be having a good few days and as I watched Jake interact with her, I fell more in love with him.  Christmas night, he just sat down and talked to her and the next morning, he asked her to cook him breakfast (she prides herself on being a good cook and really is).  That afternoon, he took her to lunch before we headed back home.  The 27th, I took down Christmas so we could celebrate Will on the 28th.  Jake is still fighting a sinus infection, so the kids and I did most of it.  Most years, people are. out of town on Will's birthday, so it is difficult to have him a party so we invited friends to go to a movie and then back to our place for a couple hours to play games.  Five friends were able to attend. Jake was not able to attend the movie due to a sinus headache but did muster the patience and strength to play games with them.  

As this year draws to a close, I am thankful for the hardships I have overcome. I do not like hard times in the moment but realize they make me better. The past few months have been great for our family as far as growing together.  Ginny has made more a conscious effort to be present and play games.  Jake and I do your best to do school work after the kids go to bed to maximize our time with them.  Hopefully with the new curriculum for church and the transition to two hour church, we can make sure to spend that hour together on Sundays building our relationship with one another and Heavenly Father.