Ah, Christmas time is always the best time for me to reflect on
the year that has flown by. I love going back and looking through the year to
see how much the kids have grown, how much Joe & I have grown, and the
things we’ve overcome as a family. 2015 did not disappoint, that’s for sure!
Especially just this month. Its been a doozy! Yet, we’ve survived and come out
better on the other side for it.
Joe – is still working with Douglass Colony as a project
manager. In my opinion, one of the hardest working project managers too! He
rocks his job and his bosses have been very appreciative. They really put him
through the ringer and he’s got some hefty jobs right now but he puts his nose
to the grind stone and works his hardest. I know the company appreciates him and
his family at home really appreciates all he does for us. He’s been with DCG for
almost three years now. It’s a great company! He also hit his 5 year anniversary
as bishop of the Peoria ward back in August. This calling has come with so many
lessons learned, hardships, stress, struggles, and yet so many blessings, love,
comfort, compassion, understanding, and just a sturdier relationship with our
Heavenly Father. I just can’t say how grateful we are for this calling as a
family and the love we’ve felt for and from our Lord and the ward throughout the
entire process. I’ve watched Joe grow mentally, physically, and spiritually
through this calling. I’ve seen him struggle and I’ve seen him overcome and
succeed. I’ve seen him fail. This calling has really pushed, blessed, refined,
and grown Joe. I know without a doubt that the Lord loves him. I love him, and I
pray for him daily.
Natalie – is pregnant with baby Doxey #4 and doing great! We’ve
had a few pregnancy scares around 31 weeks but baby is still hanging in there
and being a trooper! She is delivering with the midwives at University hospital
this time around and has so far loved the experience! They are definitely a
calming presence. Natalie is excited to experience a delivery with midwives and
still have her epidural, it couldn’t be more perfect. This is her second year
with really pushing and pursuing her photography business/career. She had 43
clients for the entire year of 2015!! For some, that may seem small but it was
HUGE for Natalie, her confidence, and her business. She loves each and every one
of her clients and has really enjoyed growing in this industry and pushing
herself to continually grow and do better with her talents, skills, and sheer
passion for photography. Natalie also figured out and overcame her battle with
anxiety this year which has been WONDERFUL!!! She continues to enjoy raising her
three beautiful kiddos and is excited to be adding #4 to the mix very soon. She
misses her boys while they’re away at school but has enjoyed the one-on-one time
with Gwen this year.
Enoch – is 9 1/2 and growing like a WEED! He still very much
enjoys learning all he can about the animal world/kingdom. He just loves all
animals! He watches Animal Documentaries constantly and memorizing anything and
everything he can about animals. His hopes and dreams have him traveling down
the path of zoologist one day. He played his 5th season of outdoor lacrosse this
year! This was his second season of 6 wins – 0 losses with the same coach and
team he’s played with for 4 seasons now. He LOVES lacrosse, watching and playing
it, and its amazing to see how he’s grown throughout his years playing. He has
played all positions and his favorite is middy I believe. He’s a GREAT team
player and we were so proud to watch him score quite a few goals this year!
Enoch is halfway through his year in 4th grade and he’s really doing so well at
school. He loves his teachers and his many classmates. He’s learning that in 4th
grade, some kids can be on the meaner side but he makes up for their lacking by
being kinder to them and everyone else. He really is the kindest kid I know.
Enoch is also our Chicken guy. He locks the girls up at night and lets them out
in the mornings. He use to complain a lot but then the girls were taken by a
fox, he really understood the importance of his duties. He takes his job very
seriously now.
Travis – is almost 7!! GAH! This kid is something else I tell
ya! He’s almost as tall as a giraffe, he’s in the 1st grade, he’s reading like a
champ, he LOVES math, talking to his friends in school even when he’s not
suppose to, loves to draw and does really well, and enjoys outsmarting his
parents all the time. He has also found the joy in Legos. He will sit and build
for hours. He enjoys the instructions and is trying his hand at “Master Builder”
(Building without instructions). Travis loves the chickens too, but doesn’t
enjoy taking care of them. He just likes to hold them and pet them. He really
loves the girls. He loves anything that Enoch loves. He really looks up to his
big brother. He has lost FOUR teeth this year! Amazing. He’s still a little
scared of pulling them out but he’s done fairly well. He is very excited about
baby #4 and her arrival. He’s been very interested in the whole pregnancy
process this time around where as with Gwen, he was oblivious. He loves to feel
her move in my tummy and he’s already explained to Enoch that this is HIS baby
and Gwen is Enoch’s baby so Travis will be taking care of baby #4 and not Enoch.
We’ll see how that goes once she arrives! Travis is a helpful little guy who
really enjoys having conversations with anyone really. He’s friendly but very
picky about who he calls ‘friend’.
Gwenevere – just turned 3 and is truly the light of our family’s
life. She’s just a bright spot. Gwen is loving and kind and is excited about
life in general. She loves her brothers with a fierce passion and loves to beat
them up too. But don’t you DARE mess with her brothers or she will pounce on you
and let you know that those are HER brothers and you CANNOT touch them! She
still loves reading books with mom, helping clean the house, cooking, doing
laundry, drawing, cuddling her baby sister, swimming, playing with her friends,
eating watermelon, mac & cheese, and french fries. She’s still a bit picky
about people. You could be her favorite person in the entire world on Tuesday
but come Wednesday, she’ll want nothing to do with you. Unless you’re Uncle
David & Auntie Jamie. She adores them! She also has a strong desire to be a
nurse. For her birthday, she got a REAL stethoscope, pink scrubs, and a toy
medical kit. She LOVES them! She wears her scrubs often and carries her
stethoscope everywhere. She comes to all of Mom’s prenatal visits and brought
her stethoscope to the last visit and everyone kept asking if she was going to
be a doctor one day. Her response? “NO! I going to be NURSE Gwenevere.”
Little Nugget #4 – Is due to arrive February 3rd. We had a early
labor scare three weeks ago but things have since calmed down and we’re doing
okay. We hit 34 weeks today which is the safe zone for little nugget to come.
We’re still hoping she makes it to Natalie’s normal delivery time around 36
weeks which is January 6th. Her name is beautiful and we’re so excited to share
when she arrives. It’s a name that is near and dear to Natalie and she’s very
excited to be carrying on a family name with this little one. All her clothes
have been washed, she will be bunking in Gwen’s room, her car seat is washed and
ready to go, we are set for her arrival! We all are so excited to finally meet
her and just love & squeeze on her. We weren’t planning on having 4 kiddos
but the Lord kept dropping hints and letting us all know there was one more
little one waiting for us to just say yes. We feel so blessed to be able to have
another babe in our lives. Children are truly blessings straight from Heavenly
Father and we feel blessed to have His trust to care for another sweet spirit.
Sally, Astrid, Thistle, & Dottie – After Sally survived two
dog attacks and we nursed her back to health and all four girls started laying
beautiful eggs, a fox came the Monday before Thanksgiving and took all four of
our girls. It was pretty hard to wake up to that. What a mess of feathers. We
had thought our chicken run and coop were pretty safe but the fox outsmarted us,
jumped on top of the coop and leapt right into the run. We thought we had locked
the girls in the coop but we must have missed it the night before. We’ve also
noticed a trend from this fox, he only comes once its snowed two days in a row.
We mourned the loss of our beautiful girls again and hope it doesn’t happen
anymore. We’ve now covered the run so nothing is getting in this time! We
purchased two buff Polish sisters who have happily lived in their little coop
since the weekend after Thanksgiving. They’re beautiful but they only lay once a
week during warm months so we’re getting nothing now. We will be getting four
more girls in the Spring since the city ordinance now allows 6 chickens. We’re
very excited!
This has become much longer than I anticipated but that’s okay!
That is our Christmas letter update to you for the year of 2015! We are SO
looking forward to what 2016 has in store for us all!
We love you all and are so grateful for your contribution in our
lives.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From our family to yours,
With love,
The Doxeys
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