Kids, Fun, and a Rooster?

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Raleigh. The kids had a ball together. Shirley, Steve's oldest sister from CA, had the kids posing for pictures so much that I believe they were ready to smash the cameras! I didn't mind 'cause we got a lot of good shots too. I'm also putting a picture of Shad that looks as if he's trying to wash his hair with banana pudding. Too funny! Oh, while I'm at it I might as well include a picture of our new rooster. Our chickens, who are not red sox fans Senor Conary, were getting a little lonely so Steve got a rooster to keep them company.

Family, Food, and Fun!!!

Wow, Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just right around the corner! We had a great Thanksgiving filled with lots of family, food, and fun! : ) We do have so much to be thankful for. We were able to go to Raleigh to visit with our family, some of whom were in town from San Diego,CA which we've not seen in several years. It was so good to see everyone, especially to see the kids hang out with their cousins. I couldn't help but remember how they all played together when they were younger and they're all so big now! I have to look up at a couple of the boys who are now around 6ft tall. Even though most of them are young men and women now, I still see the beautiful faces of those sweet little children laughing and playing together. It was so much fun! We were able to attend church with Steve's mom and I know she must have felt a little pride having her family (which included her 3 oldest children, their spouses, and 10 of her 13 grandchildren) taking up 2 whole pews. When we were trying to leave to come home everyone was together and I thought we'd never get finished with goodbyes and get out the door. However, in the midst of all the chaos of kids running around, adults having conversations, and trying to make sure we hugged everyone goodbye, I had the most overwhelming feeling of peace and love come over me. I truly felt the spirit of family and what family is meant to be. How wonderful it will be to have all our family together in the celestial kingdom with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our elder brother. How blessed we are to have such a large, loving family.
We were back home for Thanksgiving day and my sister Sarah and her son, my handsome nephew RJ, were in town to join us for Thanksgiving. We had a terrific visit and Sarah and I had a great time cooking together. That's the first time we've ever cooked a big dinner together for any occasion. It made me think of when we were kids and we couldn't even wash dishes together without arguing. We're so different from each other. Now that we're adults we love and appreciate one another for those differences. I so enjoyed having her here and I especially enjoyed getting to see her enjoy her little nephew Shadrack. He had fun playing with her and she enjoyed all the hugs and kisses he was handing out. He was too sweet. Watching her with him made me miss my mom and wish that she was here to play with Shad too. It also made me long to see my brother Ike. I've not seen him since I was pregnant with Shad and that was just briefly at my unlce's funeral. He has never met his nephew and that makes me feel sad inside because I know how much he and my sister-in-law Kristie would love their nephew. Hopefully soon we will have all my family together for a visit. I know that would definitely please my mom.
I know that we have so much to be thankful for and I am truly grateful for all of our family near and far. So to all those family members we get to see often and to those we don't see much at all, we love you and miss you all so very much. You are never far from our thoughts or prayers. I hope every one's Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.

Let's All Give Thanks!

I wanted to take a moment to give thanks to my Father in Heaven for the amazing technology he has given us to be able to share our thoughts and our experiences with our family and friends through this blog site. I feel that we all need to take the time to give thanks for all the many things we have been blessed with that enrich our lives in endless ways every day.
My incredibly wonderful husband, Steve came up with the most creative, yet simple idea to help our family remember to give thanks each day for what we have been given. He made a 'Thankful Jar' out of a large plastic container that used to be full of pretzels. Now it's full of thanksgiving. Each day each member of our family (the ones who know how to write) drops into the jar a piece of paper on which they've written something they're thankful for. We're all having great fun doing it and we remind each other to be thankful every day. Katie and Steven are enjoying it, I think they are anyway. If they miss a day, they make up for it the next day by dropping into the jar two things that they're thankful for. I'm very proud of them for keeping it up and I'm extremely proud of Steve for coming up with the idea. Thanks Honey, I love you! : )
So I hope that by posting this blog I've inspired you all to give thanks for all the little things that enrich your lives each day along with the Mills' crew.

Chicken Farmer!

Our neighbor James from across the street has given us some chickens to raise. He's not home enough to care for them anymore and they kept getting loose. Steven and Katie would try to wrangle them back into the cage for him when he wasn't home so he said they could have them. Steve and Steven built a nice little chicken coup for them. Steven worked very hard alongside his dad for hours preparing the coup. He also helps to feed them, collect their eggs, and keep fresh hay spread for their nests. Katie helps some too but she's not too sure about those birds. She thinks that they may attack her. It's really funny to see how timid she is and then watch Shad laugh and chase the chickens wanting to pet them and feed them.There are 5 chickens and I believe they are called Rhode Island Reds. One of them roosts up high by herself while the other 4 hang out together. We're getting eggs from them almost daily. Steve plans to get a rooster for them also. Steven has really been a great help to his Dad with these chickens. I'm really proud of him for working so hard to help out. I believe we can call him our chicken farmer! Although he doesn't dress much like your typical farmer. Check out our pics!

October Fun!

October was very eventful for the Mills crew. Shadrack turned 18 months old on the 19th. On the 20th he had to go to the doctor for his well check and had to get shots. Katie and Steven ended up getting their flu vaccine that day also. Steve and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on the 25th by taking the kids to Trunk-or-Treat at church. We had lots of fun and Steve won a prize for his decorating skills. He had a very spooky trunk.
In the middle of all this activity, I found out I was pregnant but within the week I had a miscarriage. I was at least 6 weeks along. We were sad but we know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. We don't always understand it but we have faith in Him that he knows what's best for us. He may still have in store for us a baby brother or sister for Shadrack. Who knows! I have had a miscarriage before each of my other successful pregnancies. I pray that another little one is in the plan for us but let His will be done and not mine.
OK, back to the October fun. On Halloween we loaded up the kids and went to Victor and Tiffany's for some trick-or-treating. We had a great time. Thanks to Vic & Tiff for having us! Shad really had a great time, once he figured out what was going on. It was so hard for him not to sit right down in front of every door to eat the candy. He was a cute little monkey which really suited him because we tell him he's a monkey every day because he's constantly climbing on everything. Everyone had a terrific time. Especially the kids when it was time to go through the loot! Here are some pictures of our fun. Hope you enjoy viewing the pictures. We sure had a great time making them.

Meeting New Friends From School

So school is going better! We still have our moments but nothing serious. So, Katie has made a new friend through school. Her name is Libby and she is 14. They've been chatting it up quite a lot during school. Katie was wanting Libby to come spend the night with us and come to church with us but of course her parents needed to meet us first.
I had just received an e-mail from Jodie Gee saying anyone who wanted free tickets for The Palace on Thursday to see Le Grande Cirque should let her know. Of course we wanted to go. We don't get out much and wouldn't be able to afford those tickets anyway. When Katie found out about the free tickets she wanted to know if we could get extra tickets for her new friend's family so we could all meet. Well I thought that would be impolite to ask but she had already e-mailed Jodie back asking her for the extra tickets. Jodie replied that she had already e-mailed a list of everyone who wanted tickets to Pam Peterson who was giving out the free tickets to start with. Jodie was just helping her get the word out. So Katie called Pam and told her the story and she said yes. How blessed we are to know such wonderfully kind and loving people!
Well needless to say, we not only enjoyed an exciting show Thursday night, we met an incredibly nice family. There was Libby, her mom, her dad and her 4 sisters. That's right, 5 girls ages 14, 11, 4, 2 and 16 weeks! We enjoyed meeting them and I believe we're all going to be great friends.

School at Home

Wow, we are having school at home this year. I know that we've made the right choice even though it's really tough some days. I didn't realize how tough it would be with Shad who is 17 and a half months old. He was used to having all my time and now he has to share me. As a result he is more mischievous than normal. Katie(15) and Steven(14) would definitely rather be back in public school with their friends where they could get into more mischief themselves. As I work with them and observe their work habits and abilities I know that I've made the right decision pulling them out of public school. They are so used to just getting by and not having to answer for their lack of efforts. Steven really monopolizes a ton of time just trying to get him to follow simple instructions and actually read material. He wants to just do the exercises and go on to the assessments without first reading the material. When he does the exercises he doesn't follow the instructions completely because he doesn't want to read them. He thinks reading is a waste of time. I get so frustrated with him because I explain things to him over and over and over again to no avail. We discuss answers to problems and then he puts something completely different down on his paper. I've prayed and asked for patience and the ability to get through to him. What does he need? How can I help him have a desire to learn rather than this attitude that he knows more than I do? If anyone has any suggestions that may help, I'm open and willing to learn myself. Please pray for us and I'll definitely keep praying for the success of my children.

Sorry for ranting. I had to get that off my chest. It's been a difficult week.

Thanks, Tori

I'm so very grateful to have such a beautiful and loving family.