Wishing
you all a joyous Christmas season and many blessings in the coming
New Year!
Our
lives have been very joy-filled in many ways this year, including the
arrival of a new little bundle of joy on November 7th!
Miss Harriet Frances Dodson is doing her best to be the sweetest and
most adorable baby ever.
Here
are a few other ways in which we have been blessed in 2014:
Education
Margaret
completed her first official year of school with flying colors and
exuberantly started her 2nd
grade year, attending the one day program at the classical Christian
school, Ozark's Academy, and studying at home the other four days
each week. Her favorite class is Art, and she daily proclaims her
ambitions of being an artist. For her 7th
birthday she received a book light and now stays up to all hours of
the night devouring Marguerite Henry horse books. William began his
official studies at home this year. He is well on his way in learning
how to read and can spout off all manners of poetry, math facts and
Psalms. He is scheduled to join Margaret at Ozark's Academy for the
spring semester. Amelia follows in their wake and can already repeat
almost all of William's assigned poems. Elissa is enjoying getting a
second education as she teaches the little ones, as well as being
absorbed in the never-ending studies of motherhood. Susannah plays
with her dolls.
Music
Clay
and Elissa (professionally hiding under the riveting alias: “Swinging
on a Gate”) enjoyed furthering their burgeoning career as local
folk musicians. The Fair Grove farmer marketeers put up with them on
a regular basis and even occasionally threw food at them, which the
Dodsons thankfully devoured. They also broadened their scope to
include the Farmers' Market of the Ozarks, the Fair Grove Heritage
Festival and English Country Dances in Columbia, MO, where they
joined Elissa's siblings in forming the “Deylight Country
Orchestra”. They are considering quitting their day jobs. Margaret
slaves away at her piano and cello on a daily basis, with an apparent
love of music, and in the hopes that she will be joining her parents
when they take their show on the road. She made enough progress this
year that she was able to sight-read Christmas songs on the piano.
Even William and Amelia are joining in and beginning to learn basic
piano skills under their mother's tutelage.
Menagerie
There
is no shortage of animals here at the Cross D. Chickens, guinea fowl,
Harp the Goose, Arlo the Starling, Athos the “Guard” Dog, Mr.
McElligot the fish, Peshewa the (not-so) Wild Cat, Ellie the Farm
Cat, Hunca Munca & Tom Thumb the gerbils, and Buttercup the Milk
Cow, not to mention the horse herd (Chico, Samson, Sackett, Fritz
and, on occasion, Lady), the goldfish residing in the horse water
tanks, the resident basement toads & frogs, and the random
assortment of other wildlife that have been known to spend a few
hours or days in the Dodson home. Elissa managed to work with the
horses and teach a few riding lessons throughout the spring &
summer, until the horses got a long vacation as Harriet's arrival
became more imminent. In September Elissa & Clay attended a
Driving Clinic where Clay spent the day driving ginormous Percherons
in fancy wagons. Samson (our draft pony) continues to be oblivious to
the grand plans we have for him. The children continued loving on
their patient ponies and this fall Margaret and William were able to
spend some fun hours riding together in the arena. Buttercup had her
first calf in the spring and since then has become a sweet family
milk cow, even patiently letting the children milk her. The highlight
of every day for Susannah was calling up Buttercup with her father
(“Buttercup! Yoo hoo!”) and would often practice for hours ahead
of time in her crib.
Work
& Home
Surviving
the whirlwind of a home remodel was high on our list of
accomplishments this year. With much outside help the main floor was
completely gutted (including removing most of the interior walls) and
insulation, drywall and fresh paint was installed in the new open
floor plan. New kitchen shelving and a beautiful wood stove were also
included in the updates. Clay continues to beautify the landscape
outside with a great variety of fruit trees, bushes and gardens, and
the resulting benefits and harvest are slowly starting to make
themselves known. In his free time he does a great job as an
Environmental Consultant at Terracon.
May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. –
Romans 15:13
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