The Varberg household

Just wanted to update everyone on what's been happening in our neck of the woods.

Aside from my step-dad's illness and my nephew Drew's asthma attack, so far the last few months have been relatively uneventful for us. Nothing terribly exciting anyway! Here is what has been happening:

Kayla just finished volleyball. For those of you who don't know us well, she is going to the local Christian school. I work there 3 days a week to help pay the tuition. Occasionally David and Kayla help me with that when I have to work and I am under the weather! She is doing well in school, both academically and socially. We had a couple of incidents early in the year (with friends) but nothing that couldn't be handled with some firm guidance from her parental units.

Josh has his snakes (Amazon Tree Boa - Phantom, Ball Python - Ruby, Burmese Python - Sapphire), an Iguana - Emerald, Ferret - Bob, an Anole and house gecko - unnamed, and constantly breeding feeder mice and rats, also thankfully unnamed! That's just in his room! He also has a dog (Spitz) named Roxy that comes and goes from his room. He plans on breeding the ball python and a leopard gecko that he does not have yet to make some money. He's really into zoology and biology at the moment.

Which brings me to our new co-op. He is really enjoying it, but I don't think we will be going back next year. I don't know what the deal is with this particular group, which really bums me out as it's the only group in our county that we are involved in. We are also involved in groups in other counties, but it would really be lovely if Josh could meet some people closer to home. Anyway, a person or two in this new co-op just rubs me wrong. I feel as if we are constantly being censored, me in particular and there is a constant power struggle. I don't know what the threat is (from me to them) but I am discerning that there must be one. I try very hard to be humble and kind, but it really is getting the better of me! I can't even send out e-mails to the group! I'm a reasonable person, so when I send out something of the same caliber as the others, and mine gets denied, or ignored, it gets really frustrating!! I have all but ceased posting there, which really doesn't help with making new friends in the group. My friend is in the co-op as well and I think she is equally frustrated. Okay, perhaps not as much as I am, but almost! At least I know it's not just me. In fact, I have heard from others in the group that they are frustrated with the e-mail control thing.

Okay, I digress. I didn't intend to rant on about the co-op! This is about the family, right?

David is still working (praise God), but sometimes it is shaky. He will occasionally find out that his contract is up or that the project he is on is no longer billable. Thankfully his company, Keane, Inc. is really taking care of him and making sure he can remain on. I think that is saying something.

David just turned 45 (oh wow!) on the 28th. I can't believe it!

Like I said before, I am working at Kayla's school, homeschooling Josh (not too bad now that he's older and more independent), working at Tractor Supply in town, still on the board of GRACE Homeschool Co-op as secretary, though that's probably not going to last much longer and on the board (secretary) and active in American Heritage Girls, a Christian Scouting organization that Kayla and I do together.

As a family, we are reorganizing and making changes in the house. Painting walls, stairs, floors, trim and so-on. Trying to figure out what to do with the floor tile that is coming up in the main bathroom. Trying to afford to get our wood stove fully installed - still!

We have three dogs we care for (one of them Josh's dog Roxy). The other two are Coco, the beagle mix and Emma, the dachshund mix. My babies! We have an indoor cat named Snickerdoodle that David just HAD to have (years ago), but that lays on me and next to me most nights. Go figure. We also have anywhere from 15 to 20 outdoor cats that we care for. I really need to figure out a way to afford to get them fixed. They are passing viruses and diseases to one another and some don't live very long. I'm tired of burying animals. It's a sad thing.

We also have ducks and hens. No more roosters. They were all killed this spring/summer from raccoons. About 6 of our hens were too. We hardly get any eggs from the hens that are left. It's sad, really. I used to sell eggs and now we are buying them for us.

I'm pretty active in anything political, homeschool related and pro-life related. Those are my passions - besides my family and my animals!

I think I about covered everything. I hope to keep updates on the family here and there as we go along, but I felt I needed to give one general posting about us first.

A favorite song of mine (from a favorite group):