Sculley Family 2002
2002 was for us . . .
Sleepless in Atlanta! Between Esther’s sleeplessness, Paul’s snoring :), the girls all coming into our bed in the middle of the night, the boys’ boundless enthusiasm way before morning’s first light, and my denial about my inability to burn the candle at both ends, I’ve been quite sleep deprived this year. But thank God for sleep aids—Esther now sleeps very soundly and I’m catching up! We had our share of scary but now funny twin adventures, inside and outside the house—they got their extra calories (from pirated candy), played with all the taboo things, and generally got into all sorts of mischief. [BTW, those childproof doorknob covers don’t work!]
Children growing up too fast! Peter’s quite the young man at 11, Jonathan’s fast approaching 9, Michael’s 7 and a half, Cascade’s 5 and a half (these halves are very important!), and Karis & Esther are two months shy of 3!! It’s stunning to realize how quickly time passes. We are so grateful for each day with our precious children—they are each such a delight to our hearts. And great for doing chores 🙂 Keep rowing, kids!
Unique! Paul is a premier system developer at Georgia Pacific, coffee afficianado, and general computer guru. I thrive on anything challenging, dreaming big dreams, and hanging out with friends, IRL, on the phone, and online. Peter loves pulling gadgets apart, putting things together, and reading voraciously. Jonathan enjoys creating with Knex, money, and creating fun for family and friends. Michael enjoys dinosaurs, acting out complicated scenarios (always involving a battle of some sort), and anything Peter’s into. Cascade loves ballet, writing / drawing, and organizing her little sisters. Karis is into everything (literally), and loves rough and tumble play and anything dangerous. Esther loves her dollies, singing songs, and walking on her tiptoes. It’s so cool seeing how God has made each of us as unique individuals and watching his special plan unfold for each one.
Lots of love, laughter, and laundry!!!
Learning together at home continues to be one of our greatest joys. The Sculley Academy, now in our 7th year, has moved into our new and wonderful campus (a.k.a. the basement), which Paul lovingly and masterfully renovated for us. It’s fantastic—the kids each have their own huge desks, bookshelves, and bulletin boards, we have a reading couch, a smattering of computers, and learning materials all over the place. It’s so wonderful to finally have a place for all our educational stuff. The children each love learning at home, and I love teaching them, so it’s working well 🙂 We have a learning range that spans preschool through college level, so I am definitely kept on my toes constantly, not to mention on my knees. At any given moment, you might see puzzles, science experiments, Latin grammar, math drills, and origami all going on simultaneously in our one-room school!
Energetic . . . karate, soccer, ballet, NASA science/engineering/math/aeronautics, walking, math club, piano lessons, Master’s Academy (history-based fine arts), pottery and art classes, date nights, parties, SciTrek science classes, drama camp, reading, books-on-tape, vacations, games, swimming, hiking . . .
Yahoo! Also, hotmail, ebay, dogpile, geocities, and all our other favorite web hangouts 🙂 A typical relaxed evening at the Sculley home might look like this . . . Paul’s hunting ebay bargains on his laptop, I’m emailing on my desktop, Peter’s seeking villains on his gameboy, Jonathan’s calculating his earnings for next year on his computer, Michael’s inventing Rube Goldberg machines on his computer, and Cascade’s making a Powerpoint presentation of her wish list for her next birthday. Karis and Esther often ask, “Mummy checkin’ ya ebays?” We’re really not that geeky 🙂
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Friends and family are so important to us—we are grateful for the people God has brought into our lives. It’s been more difficult this year to get together with others as much as we would have liked, but no one else seems to be surprised about this!
Attachment and bonding continues. We’ve seen huge progress this year with our little girls. Little by little, they have become more comfortable with intimacy, eye contact, affection, boundaries, relationships. We still have a long way to go, but the progress has been encouraging. 2002 was by far the most difficult year we’ve ever experienced because of these issues, but God has been so faithful in bringing us through with joy and blessings. We’ve had our fill of speech and sensory therapists, social workers, audiologists, ENTs, pediatricians, ophthamologists, nurses, dentists, and even craniofacial surgeons (for Michael’s upcoming pharynx surgery next week).
Making memories . . . We all (yes, all 8 of us) flew to California in Aug / Sep for a western adventure—we were able to visit the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Sunset Crater, Walnut Canyon, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, and many other parks, also rode a ski-lift to 13,000 feet, frolicked in the Pacific Ocean, saw the parched desert areas and evidence of wildfires everywhere, experienced a wide variety of geological formations (which we were studying—this was a school trip :)), even stayed a week in Las Vegas where the air was so dry and hot (107 F) we didn’t need to towel off after swimming. We also studied oceanography this year, so off to various beaches we went. Did I mention how much I love homeschooling—the field trips rock! Paul and I were able to get away overnight not once, but twice, this year, thanks to some generous and daring friends!
Individuality . . . Aspiring careers: Peter—inventor, computer programmer, daddy; Jonathan—scientist, architect, inventor; Michael—fire fighter, veterinarian, police officer; Cascade—ballet teacher, mother, nurse; Karis & Esther—to be decided!
Living in community—at the Atlanta Vineyard! Well, we practically live there, especially since we moved locations this summer, and our new building is only a few miles along Jimmy Carter Blvd. It’s really exciting to see what God’s doing in and through our church. Paul’s enjoying teaching and bear-hugging in kidz church, and we were thrilled to be invited to join the mission board this year. I’ve rejoined the worship team after a 7-year babyrearing sabbatical, and am also very involved with community and small groups ministries. Peter has moved on up to youth group, Jonathan and Michael are thriving in kidz church, and our girls are all in the very fun preschool area complete with brand new humongous play area donated by Chick-fil-a (our favorite fast food joint, so we don’t mind putting a plug in for them!) Our lives basically revolves around church life, and we’re blessed to have been a part of the AVC family for almost 14 years now. On the home front, we’re thrilled to have our good friend Flossie living with us again—she’s such a joy!
You! Thank you for being a special part of our lives! We pray you will grow in your awareness of God’s love for you in 2003! “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” (John 1:16)
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lots of love from each of us,
Paul, Karen, Peter, Jonathan, Michael, Cascade, Karis, Esther
(and later this week, a kitten for Peter, his 11th birthday pet choice)
