Outgoing Mail

I didn't get any letters this week (sad face), but I did write letters to all 8 of our kids today. I thought I'd share what I wrote about, just to show that letter writing is easy!

This weekend we celebrated my brother in law's birthday, so that was the focus of each letter. I started out each letter by greeting the kids and their families, and said that the library where I work is very busy right now because school has ended for the year, so we have lots of visitors!

In the next paragraph, I wrote a little about my brother in law. I said that we celebrated his birthday this weekend, and that tomorrow, he would turn 23 years old. I said that he is the oldest of Brandon's brothers, and he's also the tallest! I shared that he likes doing things outdoors, like going fishing, and he and Brandon play basketball every year. I also shared that he wants to be a police officer, and he should start training for that when he finishes his schooling. I said that he's a good brother to Brandon and a good brother in law to me. I attached a picture of Brandon and Anthony from our wedding, saying that even though the picture was over three years old, they both look pretty much the same!

In the second part of the letter, I personalized things a little, based on things that have happened recently or letters I have received:

• Mary told me in her last letter that she likes to read,  and she told me the name of the last book she read. I told her the books I am currently reading, and told her that I felt so blessed to receive pictures of her and her mother with the firewood that they sell. 
• I asked Victor about his schooling, and talked about what my favorite subjects were when I was his age. I also told him about a book I am reading, because literature was one of my favorite subjects in school!
• Though I haven't received a first letter from Mishel yet, I told her that a friend of mine will be moving to Peru soon. She will be working with a mission's board and helping missionaries know how to effectively homeschool their kids. She will be working all over South and Central America, but she will be based out of Peru! She will be a little over an hour away from where Mishel lives, according to Google maps. : )
• Since Brenda is so young (she's 5 years old) and we still don't know each other very well yet, I basically sent her a shorter, simpler version of the main letter, telling her about the library and my brother in law. 
• Said sent me a letter last week that had a lovely drawing with it. I told him that I think he's a wonderful artist, and I'd like to draw him a picture- I asked him what he'd like me to draw! I also sent Said a small financial gift this week, and I told him that I sent him a gift because I was so incredibly proud of him for working hard to pass his exams and move forward in school. 
• In Jayid's letter, I talked about big cats. In his last letter he told me that his teacher says his region of India has the highest number of tigers. I told him that the biggest cat in America is called a mountain lion, and it is quite a bit smaller than a tiger! I also said that very few mountain lions live where I live, and I asked him if he had ever seen a tiger in the wild. 
• A friend of ours moved to Thailand recently, and because he has a tourist visa, he has to leave the country every 30 days. This gives him an opportunity to make trips to other countries in southeast Asia. Last week he visited to Indonesia, so I wrote to Tasya about that! I told her that he visited Bali and Jakarta, and while those places are still very far away from where she lives, I was still excited to learn that he had visited her country. I told her that the pictures I have seen of Indonesia are stunningly beautiful, like works of art made by God. 
• My friend Ashley learned last week that her son got his passport, so he should get to come home sometime next month! If you remember from my previous posts, Ashley and her husband are adopting from Haiti, which is where Joane lives. I have given brief updates about this process to Joane since I learned of the adoption. She has never written back about the subject, but her letters are few and far between. I still want her to know that we have this connection to her country, and that when Ashley's boy comes home, as he gets older, I will be happy to tell him that I have a friend in Haiti named Joane. 

What have you written about recently in letters to your kids?  If you haven't written recently, get to it! : )