Happy New Year! Happy Valentine’s Day!  Happy St. Patrick’s Day (yeah!)!!  We missed the Holiday Card rush, so now maybe you have time to read our yearly update since you are no longer inundated with Christmas Cards.  🙂

2015 was a great year for the Erdner family.  It seems like there is always something happening around here, and this year was full of changes and surprises.

The biggest change in 2015 was that Abby, who is now 18, graduated from high school!  We are so proud and excited!  We actually successfully educated a child from preK through high school!  It can be done!  Abby, being the oldest, has always been the “experiment.”  We now can answer questions about whether we will homeschool all the way through high school, “Yes!  And we even have an undamaged grown child to prove we have actually done it!”  Abby graduated with a whole year’s worth of college credit under her belt.  She entered Texas State as a sophomore, and is now applying to nursing schools around Texas. Her first choice is Texas State’s nursing school, which is located in Round Rock.  It is through St. David’s hospital and is an excellent program.  She is looking at a couple of other options as well.  Abby has enjoyed her first year of college so much, and is excited to see what is next.  She has been playing intramural soccer and is involved in CRU.  Wherever she goes, she will no longer be on campus at Texas State, as the nursing school is not on the main campus.  So, we are praying that God directs her to the right place, with all the details worked out.

Datiya is 17 and a junior in high school.  She is vibrant and fun and a favorite among her younger siblings, whom she spoils by bringing them frozen yogurt from work.  She got a job at TCBY last summer, and she is now a manager at the store in Dripping Springs.  Datiya continues to compete in speech and debate, and has qualified (at the first three tournaments) to Regionals (which will be in May) in 7 speech events and debate, placing 2nd in Biographical Narrative, 6th in Informative, 6th in Original Interpretation, and 4th in Persuasive at the last tournament, among other accomplishments.  She and her debate partner have done well so far.  Datiya is also really busy right now with work and school (home, One Day Academy and ACC), but she has found time to play on a soccer team this year.  She is really enjoying that.

David is 15, a sophomore, and just got his driver’s permit.  So, our trips to town are once again way more interesting.  So far, every time we make it to our destination, he says, “Well, at least I didn’t crash.”  David is an excellent student, never needing to be nagged about doing his work.  He does well in his classes.  David competes in speech and debate, and recently had a “huge” tournament, placing 1st with his informative, on which he worked very hard.  He made it to finals in Extemporaneous speaking, placing 8th.  He also qualified to Regionals in impromptu.  He and his Team Policy debate partner went to finals (one of two teams to do so) and placed 2nd overall!  It was pretty exciting.  He has developed into an excellent speaker, and it is so exciting to see him excelling in this area. Sometimes, if I can get away from the Timer Table and have an opportunity to hear him speak at a tournament, I can’t believe I’m listening to my David!  He’s so eloquent!  He is, of course, still playing soccer, and is on a Premier team, which means more practices far from our house and more out-of-town games.  It also means that David is getting some good opportunities to possibly get to play in college, which is what he would like to do.  Last summer, he had the opportunity to travel to Sweden with the US Revolution Soccer team (made up of players from all over the US).  David scored 5 out of 6 total goals for his team during the Gothia Cup tournament in Stockholm.   He has been invited to play again with the Revolution this summer.  They will be traveling to Spain to play in a tournament there.  David also continues to excel at piano, and I love hearing his music in our home.

Nina is now 14, but still going on 25.  This girl can’t wait to grow up.  She is constantly asking to take classes at ACC, which will happen eventually, but not while she is still in 8th grade.  She has, however, been taking World History and World Literature at One Day Academy, which are 12th grade classes.  And she is doing quite well in those classes.  Nina also competes in speech and debate, and is qualified to Regionals in Illustrated Oratory, Impromptu, Biographical Narrative, and Persuasive.  At a recent tournament, she placed 2nd in Illustrated Oratory (4th at a different tournament).  At another recent tournament, she placed 4th in Persuasive, 4th in Biographical Narrative, and 7th in impromptu.  She and Datiya partnered for Team Policy debate at the last tournament, and they made it to quarter finals and placed 7th! Nina participates in 4H and is still quite the little chef.  I can always depend on her if I need help in the kitchen.  She pretty much makes all the desserts now.  She  is playing soccer again this year, too.  Nina is a funny girl.  This year, she started saying that when she grows up, she wants to be a “trash guy.”  I’m pretty sure she’s kidding.  She keeps us and everyone around her laughing.

Enoch is 12 and in 6th grade.  When he turns 13 this summer, 5 out of our 10 children will be teenagers!  He still loves soccer, and is playing select again this year.  This boy is very social and always looking for opportunities to “hang out” with friends.  It is Enoch’s first year competing in speech and debate (as a Senior competitor), and everyone already knows who he is (did I mention that he is very social?).  The fun news about that is that he and Datiya placed 1st at the last tournament with their adorable duo on Peter Pan!  Pretty exciting.  Enoch also made it to finals with his Open Interpretation, and placed 6th!  Not bad for a young first-year competitor.  Enoch is a good student as well, and progressing in school. He began taking martial arts last May along with Simeon and Jed.  He is now a blue belt in Kuk Sool Won, working towards the next belt, which is red belt.

Lillah is 10 (11 in April), and HORSE CRAZY!!  She basically just draws horses, reads about horses, and thinks about horses all the time.  Lillah reads and reads and reads.  The librarians know her by name, and she insists our local library is going to run out of books she hasn’t read.  I often have to take away whatever book she is reading in order to get her to do her schoolwork.  I guess there could be worse problems.  She is playing basketball with Nina on the same Upward team, which seems crazy given their difference in age and height.  However, Lillah has proven herself to be one of the best scorers for the team!  Lillah has participated in 4H, and won a couple of blue ribbons for her cooking creations.  Lillah wrote two speeches all by herself for Junior competition in speech and debate.  As far as activity level, she keeps up with her brothers, but she is also girly and feminine at the same time.  Don’t let that fool you into thinking she isn’t tough.  With 6 brothers surrounding her, she is definitely tough.  Lillah is bright and sweet and a blessing to our family.

Simeon is 8 and in 3rd grade.  He always gets up and does his school without needing to be reminded.  He is sweet and loving, and always runs to give us hugs and kisses when we leave the house.  Simeon plays soccer and tears up the field with his speed.  He is also currently playing basketball.  He is also taking martial arts with Enoch and Jed and is working towards his red belt.  Simeon wrote an informative about dogs for Junior speech competition without any help from me.  He has been to every tournament so far this year so that he can time rounds and win timer prizes.  Simeon won top timer award at two tournaments and 2nd place at another.  This means he timed 11 or 12 rounds (12 is the maximum they can time) the first two days of the tournaments, which is hours and hours of timing.  It is so good for the kids to be in that activity.  So many great lessons, and it’s great to have the younger ones able to be involved because when they are old enough to compete at the Senior level, they will have some experience.  Simeon loves to encourage others and writes sweet notes to us all the time.  He is the most generous child, often giving all his money to a sibling, parent or grandparent for their birthday or other occasion.  Simeon used all his tickets from Timer Table at the last tournament to buy prizes to bring home to his siblings who didn’t go with us.  He is a delight.

Jed is our spunky little sweetheart at 6 years old.  I love his mischievous little face.  He is a joy and a challenge and gives us lots of great stories to tell. In fact, Jed has made it into many of the older kids’ speeches and original interpretation pieces for competition.  Because he is hilarious.  He tells great stories, too!   Jed is super busy all the time.  Running here, running there.  He hardly ever slows down.  I do get him to stop and do school with me, and he is very bright.  I’m so so thankful I can homeschool him so he can get the school time he needs with lots of play time and running, jumping on the trampoline, etc. that he needs as an active little boy.  Jed has a sweet and tender side to him that sometimes people miss because of his active personality.  He hugs and kisses and is really sweet with his younger brothers.  Jed plays soccer and basketball and he also takes martial arts, working on his yellow belt.

Hezekiah is 4 years old, and precious as can be.  He has enormous brown eyes that will melt anyone’s heart.  Hezi got a little teddy bear for his birthday, and he named him “Bear Walker.”  I’m not sure where that came from.  Maybe a Star Wars reference?  But he’s never seen Star Wars.  He says it’s because he walks.  I guess that makes sense.  Bear Walker often joins Hezi at meals, and he asks for milk sometimes.  He will sit with his nose in the top of the cup while Hezi eats.  I love this because none of my other children have had little stuffed animals that they have carried around like this.  Every morning, Hezi comes out into the kitchen and says, “I’m hung-a-ry.”  Most evenings, he can be heard asking Daddy for “tickle time.”  I love still having little ones around.  Hezi can play independently for hours with his cars, in the sand box, etc.  He also loves to play with his brothers.  Hezi is just starting to learn to write his name and show interest in doing a little bit of school.  He is a sweet, happy little boy and a blessing to our family.

Toviel (Tovi) is a delightful, sweet and happy toddler.  I always call him “the baby,” but, sadly, he really isn’t a baby anymore.  Tovi runs around all day, pushing cars and trucks, or kicking a ball.  He already has been indoctrinated by big bro David to KICK the ball, and not really touch it with his hands.  However, I think he may grow up to be a soccer goalie because when he does touch the ball, he drop kicks it.  This kid has killer drop kicking skills.  Tovi usually doesn’t slow down much during the day.  Now he can talk, too.  He says things like, “I outside…. I need the ball….I want the waffle….Tickle Time, Daddy!” He gets his point across.  He also runs around following various siblings saying, “_(insert name of given sibling)__, WAIT!”  We are all completely smitten with him, which basically means he may end up quite spoiled.  I’m trying hard to prevent this, but I can only do so much.

Todd is doing great as rancher/Intel engineer and manager/soccer and basketball coach/general contractor/best hubby.  I stay very busy, of course, managing the household and teaching the kids at home.  I ran my first half marathon in March 2015, and I loved it!  My goal was just to finish, and I came in 5th place overall, 3rd place overall female, and 1st place female for my age group.  Running is a great outlet for me.  I would love to train for another half marathon or even a full marathon sometime.  After sitting and watching the boys take martial arts classes for 4 months, I decided to join in on the fun.  It’s a neat way for me to bond with those boys, and I really enjoy it.  I have my yellow belt right now–blue is next.

Another big change for our family was moving my dad here from his home in Florida.  As many of you know, a couple of years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  We moved him into a very nice memory care community about 25 minutes from our home, in Bee Cave.  It’s a great community, and now seeing “Papi” is part of our weekly routine a couple of times per week.  It’s really nice to have him close to one of his daughters and many of his grandchildren.

The biggest news this year is that God has called us to adopt two children from China.  This past summer, we had the opportunity to meet a sweet little boy who was here being hosted by a family in Lubbock.  We knew he was meant to be our little boy.  A little ways into the process of adopting him, we were led to a young lady, who is 12.  We felt God nudge us that we were to adopt her as well.  We have been gathering all the documents for the last several months, and our dossier was just sent to China!  Timeline can vary, but we should travel to get our son and daughter sometime this summer.  We know there will be many challenges ahead, and we are prepared to walk through those with God.  He has called us to do this, and we will depend fully on Him to equip us and give us strength through it all.

If you are interested in helping support our adoption financially, there are a couple of ways to do so.  We have set up a YouCaring website where you can donate and all the money will go to support our adoption.  The link to our YouCaring fundraising site is: https://www.youcaring.com/my-fundraisers.aspx.  We also have put the t-shirts back online (we are wearing these in the photo above), and if you want a t-shirt, your purchase of one of these awesome t-shirts will donate over $10 per t-shirt to support our adoption.  This is a great way to support us, and if you have any friends who love adoption and want a cute adoption themed t-shirt, you can direct them to the website as well.  The t-shirts will be for sale through March 31st, so be sure to go to the website soon if you would like one.  https://www.bonfirefunds.com/erdner-family-adoption

We enjoyed reading all the updates we received from many of you, and we pray that your 2016 is off to a great start!

Blessings from all of the Erdners,

Todd, Michelle, Abby, Datiya, David, Nina, Enoch, Lillah, Simeon, Jed, Hezi, and Tovi