A couple of months ago, we loaded up our 5 children, 3 canines, and 5 rabbits (ALMOST took a chicken too) into our Nissan NV, and pulled our trailer to our new home in Union, KY. The whole journey has been quite an undertaking, to say the least. It's difficult to truly wrap our heads around our new identities as Kentuckins. I guess the correct term for KY dwellers is actually "KentuckiAns", but I much prefer Eiley's version of the word, so we'll stick with "Kentuckins" for now...or "tuckins" if we're feeling less ambitious.
The decision to relocate our family did not come without heartache and presented its fair share of challenges and bumps in the road, but we are here, and we are relieved to have the physical journey behind us. As you can probably imagine, 5 kids, 3 dogs and 5 rabbits make a cross country journey rather...preposterous. Also, smelly.
WHY KENTUCKY?!? If I had a dime for every time we were asked this question...I'd put it all towards the tuition needed to send our kids to the new "Answers Academy" (https://answersacademy.org/) here, in Northern KY. "Answers Academy" (formerly "12 Stones Christian Academy") is one major reason we were drawn to the particular location we are in. For years now, we have intended to homeschool our kids for as long as I felt able, but this last summer, after our time visiting with the school and witnessing the enthusiastic passion for Biblical truth that seems to seep into every crevice of the students' learning experience....we were stoked. Our experiences visiting the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter have lit a metaphorical fire under our rears to IMMERSE ourselves and our children in the TRUTH of God's Word with more vigor and increased urgency. This life is SHORT ya'll...and we want to do our BEST to live for the one who granted us life in the first place. Brett and I both felt immense peace about our decision to uproot our lives in Washington state for the sole reason of providing our children with the experiences this place offers them. Not only will we have the opportunity, Lord willing, to send our children to a school that seems to go above and beyond all of our loftiest dreams in regards to arming our children with truth and answers in preparation for this absolutely bonkers world, the Answers ministry also provides a flood (see what I did there?😆) of educational workshops/seminars/conferences/employment opportunities for kids and adults alike that we all look forward to participating in.
Although the Answers ministry COULD be our only reason for moving, we have many more. We are currently a mere EIGHT hours from Johns Hopkins hospital. Most of you are well aware of the fact that for 12 years now, we have been making the trip, by car/motorhome/rental vehicle/trailer/hitch hiking(kidding) from WA to MD to see Emri's team of docs at Hopkins. Emri has had multiple spine/lung surgeries at Hopkins and will most likely need a heart operation in the future as well. WHAT a relief it is, to know that Emri's cardiologist, pulmonologist, ophthalmologist, orthopedist, and other experienced marfan professionals are so near. We will still be getting to know specialists at Cincy Children's to make sure they are familiar with her in the case of an emergency, but we are thrilled to be so close to the place that knows Emri's body best.
Aside from the two reasons stated above, and without getting too uptight/exasperated/irate/livid...I will say that Washington state has done an exceptional job of overstepping its boundaries in a wide variety of ways...particularly during covid. It is not an exaggeration to say that we no longer felt safe, free or welcome in our own state. I applaud you, WA, for fully mutilating the beautiful place we have called home for so many marvelous years. I commend you for sucking up and spitting out so many people who wanted to remain "home"...safe and free. Well shoot, I wasn't going to get emotional.
It would be a lie to say that there have not been tears shed and heads hung as we look back and see what we are leaving behind...most of our very dearest and warmest life moments and closest friendships have taken place nestled in the ever-green, mountainous, beauty/rain drenched regions of the PNW...and it IS absolutely heartbreaking to leave it all behind. We most definitely left pieces of ourselves in the state we have known and loved for so long and are still grieving the loss of a wonderful, wonderful church community and time with our precious blood family as well...but God has drawn us out and gently lead us on a new journey to a new land and we feel contentment and peace. Thank you, Lord.
Despite enduring all of the viruses KY has to offer in the first two months of living here, we are faring relatively well and really just reveling in all of the newness and soaking in all of the firsts. It's strange to know that Eiley and Boaz will never remember Washington. The older kids had me take lots of pictures of funny things they wanted to remember in WA...including roundabouts, Dairy Queen, road signs, a tree shaped like a dragon, etc...so I will be making a picture book for them to look at when they need a refresher of what their favorite roundabout looked like. You'll be happy to know, we've got a few pretty epic roundabouts quite near our new house as well...so yay.
We were immensely blessed by a month of help from Brett's parents as we moved into our new home. Bunk beds were built, leaves were raked and then raked again, spaces were organized, boxes unpacked, and kids were entertained! Yay for grandparents! The morning Brett's parents left, my parents showed up and surprised me! Although their stay was short, we packed it all in! So much organizing/cleaning/unpacking, the flu...in just a few days' time. THANK YOU to our dear parents for the time and effort, blood and sweat, tears and laughs.
Besides covering the whole "move across the country" shindig, I thought maybe I should do a little kid coverage...it's been a bit.
Emri has had a heart check already in Cincy and her heart remains somewhat stable...valves are still moderately leaky, but her aorta HAS grown over the past year. We have sent everything off to Dr. Dietz and wait to hear how he feels on the matter because we still like him the best😁. Everything else in Emri's body seems to be somewhat cooperative. She can walk about the equivalent of once around a grocery store before needing her chair. Her sight continues to AMAZE me every day---she sees all of the birds, bugs and dirty windows! We now live 8 hours from a competent surgeon able to successfully lengthen her spinal rods 2-3 times a year (that wasn't a luxury we enjoyed in WA). Emri continues to show so much courage in the face of adversity...it sometimes puts me to shame. School comes easy for Emri and she follows in her fathers footsteps when it comes to math and drawing capabilities! She loves art, socializing (don't know where THAT came from), her sweet puppy-in-training, "Doc", playing with her sibs, and teriyaki chicken. Prayer requests for Emri are:
-Healing for her heart--God can do anything!
-WEIGHT GAIN--we are still around 50 lbs at 12 years old
-relief from and endurance during viral illnesses
Abe. Oh Abe. We love him. Abe is our budding creation scientist and dinosaur connoisseur. Ask him anything dino related and you'll get all the facts and then some. He is a passionate and empathetic child and is a true and unashamed witness for the Lord and Biblical truth. His passion continually inspires me. He adores his siblings and is living in dreamland having unlimited access to all things Creation Museum/Ark. Abe enjoys school, writing funny stories, drawing/writing about dinosaurs, playing with the sibs, animals, witnessing to Eiley (he reads her Bible to her often), and anything outdoors. Quick, "funny" Abe story. Abe found one of our rabbits out of his pen before we left for KY. He told me he "just put it in with the brown one". The one he found was a male and "the brown one" was a female. We now have two really adorable, yet completely unintentional baby lops that we now have to try to find homes for in Kentucky in the middle of January...woohoo!! If any of our new KY friends are reading this...YOU WANT A RABBIT?!??
Jaemin has been a Van Andel now for 7 years. It's hard to believe we ever had a Jaemin-less life. This kid is what I believe they refer to as a "firecracker"! I've tried to offer him money for a small fraction of his energy, but that transaction never occurred and he kept it ALL. He's the life of the party and enjoys every second of it. He too, enjoys all things dinosaurs, legendary wrestling matches with Brett and Abe (AND EILEY TOO), anything involving physical movement, and mom hugs. He's a brilliant student, but doesn't like the whole "sitting still" thing that school so often involves. He's a very sweet natured kid at heart, recently proven true by how many times he profusely thanked the dentist for pulling out a tooth that was giving him issues.
Where oh where to start with Eiley?!?? She's hilarious. She's always been hilarious. Pretty confident we knew she would be class clown already by month two. She doesn't allow the fact that she is 6 years behind the older kids stop her from being heavily involved in most aspects of their lives. "AND EILEY TOO", is an ever-present phrase in our home. To see that girl dive without hesitation into an all-boy wrestling pit, hair flying high and confidence unhindered...it's amusing for sure. Her strong will and lionhearted zest for life hold potential to be a passionate and bold witness for Christ, which is what I pray for her.
Our sweet Boaz. What would we do without Bo? Well, to be honest, we would probably sleep a little more😆! Our littlest man turned ONE already on November 21. Do NOT ask me how he is already one...I legitimately don't understand how it happened this fast. He's not quite walking, but doing his one-legged scoot like a boss and has begrudgingly popped 8.5 teeth already (he doesn't love it). I was hoping his tooth popping ambition might carry over to growing some hair on his head by now, but alas, I still have his nice, round, BALD head to rub and kiss if I'm needing a little stress relief. Boaz loves daddy/mommy snuggles, MILK, meal time, emptying kitchen drawers, eating questionable objects under the kitchen table, door stoppers, expressing himself with his eyebrows, music/dancing, glue sticks, and bath time. He lights up every day brighter than I could've imagined and he is immensely loved and more than adequately adored by all of his brothers and sisters. We'll keep him.
Well, I think that's a wrap! If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking it out! Our new home has space that has been previously used as an Airbnb, mostly for Ark/Creation Museum visitors as we are located directly in the middle of the two. We are currently working to re-open the Airbnb and hope to have it as a space to offer any to any of our family/friends that may want to come and visit! PLEASE come and visit!! We love visitors and feel so fortunate to be able to provide a space for people we love to come and be comfortable in our home!
Our Christmas season may look a little different this year, but the message remains the same. Our CREATOR GOD, our KING, the author of LIFE, sent his son to earth, in the flesh, to fulfill the mission he was given that we might have hope...and hope we now have! May you all know this hope. Merry Christmas friends!
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"
"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."
