the smith seven: Making Up (Time) is Hard to Do

I have been extremely negligent in blogging. Who knows? Maybe by now everyone has given up on reading any more posts and it won't matter that it's been 5 months since I last wrote. But since I keep this as a somewhat personal journal, I am going to proceed anyway! Much has happened since I last posted. To try to sum it all up in one post would make for a VERY long read. Therefore, I am going to break it up into several smaller posts, highlighting each family member. Since the youngest one in a large family often feels overlooked, I think I'll start with Jah'mere. Jah'mere is now 11 years old,in 5th grade and still homeschools. He enjoys crafts, legos, computer games and being with people. He is a gentle and sensitive young man who loves the old and young alike. Jah'mere's idea of the perfect day would be to eat at a different restaurant for every meal, with stops for snacks in between, and to spend the day with all of his family and friends. He values family time and as the youngest of a busy family of older siblings, finds family time much too rare. Jah'mere enjoys playing with our neighbor children whenever he possibly can. He thoroughly enjoys helping with the little guy we babysit and is learning quickly how busy a toddler can be! Recently, Jah'mere helped to assemble a couple of scrapbooks from old magazines and photo albums. He is looking forward to delivering them to a nearby nursing home and taking a few minutes to visit with the residents while he's there. On December 16th, he is hoping to test for his yellow belt in karate. A wonderful woman in Mount Joy holds a free karate class each Monday at a local rec center. Since spring, Jah'mere has been attending her class, albeit not every week, and he is finally ready to take his first test. Although initially a little bored with class, he has begun to take more of an interest as his abilities are growing. I'm honestly not sure which he is looking more forward to, passing his belt test, or the Christmas party they are having afterwards! Another of Jah'mere's favorite hobbies is baking. He has become quite the brownie maker in our home. He enjoys helping me in the kitchen and does a good job measuring and mixing ingredients! Last week for Veteran's Day we baked cookies to share with some of our favorite Vets. Jah'mere took great pleasure in rolling and cutting each of the cookies to get them ready to bake. He is a talker and a people pleaser. He has stories to tell and they are NEVER void of detail. He loves to sing..and sing...and sing. Give him a topic, he will compose a song! Reading and math are two of his LEAST favorite things to do. However, he loves to be read to and this year we are getting to do more of that. And there you have it...A Mere in a nutshell.