#denvercrowley

Dear diary,

My grandparents of my mothers side of the family are 55 years married. That's so long. I would love to be married to Samson for that long but we are still only a year and a half married. We have been blessed with two little ones in those years, so thankful.

My grandparents have 7 childeren.

My aunt Abby has 9 childeren and 17 grandchilderen.

My uncle Beau has 9 childeren too. But he has 'only' 13 grandchilderen.

My aunt Christine has 10 childeren and 6 grandchilderen.

My mother has 19 childeren and 15 grandchilderen. Two are mine :).

My aunt Fiona has 7 childeren and doesn't have grandchilderen yet.

My uncle Gabriel has 13 childeren and doesn't have grandchilderen either.

My youngest aunt, Hosanna, has 2 childeren and doesn't have grandchilderen yet.

That means my grandparents have 69 grandchilderen and 51 greatgrandchilderen. That's so much! We are always with so many people at family gatherings and there is always missing someone. Their marriage has been such a blessing and example to all of us.

Dear diary,

my parents have been married for 45 years! And still, when they look at eachother you see so much love. They have been blessed incredible for all those years. And they have both been such a blessing to so many of us.

My mother recently turned 65 years old, my father is already 71 years old. We love every visit of them and we get plenty of them. They love to see their many grandchilderen.

I have 6 siblings. Abby is my oldest sister. She is married to Sam and together they have 9 childeren, Isa, Karen, Samuel, Victoria, Adeline, Albert, Cecelia, Eleonor and Leonard. Isa, Karen and Victoria are already married. Isa has two childeren and is expecting another. Karen has one child and Victoria is a newlywed.

Beau is my eldest brother. He is married to Isabel and they have 9 childeren too, Maggie, Wayne, Susie, Clint, Finnley, Addie, Holly, Macie and Oliver. Maggie is already married but doesn't have childeren yet.

Then there is my sister Christina. She is married to Aaron and they have 9 childeren also, Abel, Tina, Amos, Brenda, Josiah, Sandra, Micah, Isaiah and Patricia. They are all under 18 so no one is married yet.

Then there is me. Me and Marco have 16 childeren, Charlotte, Lucy, Evangeline, Roger, William, Aimee, Susanna, Charles, Matthew, George, Florence, Benjamin, Ann, Stephen, Clara and Olimpia. They are all under 18. And we have a little surprise, we are expecting #17! We feel so blessed to add another little one to our growing family. (AN: the ages are the spreadsheat ages. Because I age them up faster a lot of them are married in game)

Fifth is my twinsister Fiona. She is married to Fredrick. They have 4 childeren, Nathan, David, Rebecca and Esther. Their childeren are all under 6.

My second brother is Gabriel. He is married to Tamara and together they have 7 childeren, Elijah, Ethan, Emily, Ezra, Edward, Evan and Eleonor. They are all under 10. Tamara is expecting too, around the same time as me. So special!

And then there is my little sister Hosanna. She is married to Ronald and they have two childeren, Ellen and James. They are both young too.

Dear diary,

The day of my dreams finaly came. It was wonderful. I can't tell how special it felt, how much it meant to me to have this day. And I had the two most important people at my side, ofcourse Fredrick but also my dear twinsister Elianna. She is my rock, always there for me, always listening and offering advice.

My parents where proud and sad at the same time. Proud to see me finaly have my dream come true but also sad because in just a few months the have gone from having two daughters still at home to having no childeren at home anymore. I'm sure I'll see plenty of them in the future when they come over or I will go to them.

Since I dreamed for a long time about my weddingday and I saw a lot of other people getting married, I already figured out what I wanted for a dress. And it turned out so georgous! I felt like a princess.

Most of the ceremony went one in ear and the other one out. I was looking at the wonderful man standing for me. And the ceremony was over before I knew it. The first kiss was a bit awkward in front of so many people. But when we started making photo's it was almost like it was just the two of us. Fredrick is the sweetest and best kisser ever.

Dear diary,

My two daughters, Elianna and Fiona, share a bedroom. They are twins and share everything on their request. Recently they started having nightmares and started thinking their was a monster under their bed. We used the monsterspray, Abby remembered when she was scared years ago and also used it one night for the girls. Abby is such a sweet older sister.

My youngest celebrated his birthday. He is already four years old! I can't believe I won't be having childeren at home anymore. They grow up so fast! Gabriel is such a selfassured young boy. He always knows what he wants.

Since we had two birthday's short after eachother, and it had been a while, we made a new familyphoto.

We made two different ones. We had a hard time getting our teenagers, Abby and Beau in a good position. But we managed to get some cute photo's. I'm so thankful with my family. But deep down, I still have some babyfever left. I hope we get one more some day.

Love, Juanna

Dear diary,

My baby is already one year old. Denver and I might not try for another baby so I'm just sooking in all the moments with my youngest.

He is already such a handsome young boy. And he knows what he wants. I need to learn him that he doesn't trow a fit whenever he doesn't get his way. His father has such a soft spot for his youngest son. He spends a lot of time playing with Gabriel. So sweet to see them together.

With all those birthday's, we wanted a new familyphoto.

We have such a cutie little family. The childeren in order are: Abby, Beau, Christina, Elianna, Fiona and Gabriel. They are 11, 9, 7, 4 and 1 years old. We are so thankful and feel so blessed.

Love, Juanna

Dear diary,

It's still winter but here in Sulani you almost don't notice that. The other day was such a warm day. Denver grilled some bananas, we all enjoyed a fun day in the water. So thankful to live here!

I watched Christina while Denver took Abby and Beau into deeper water. After that I got my moment of rest in the sun while Denver played with the childeren making sandcastle's. He is such a fun dad!

Although Beau loves to play in the water and on the monkeybars, he has a soft side to him. He also loves to make crafts inside. I let him do that, Abby loves to play outside on the monkeybars like him so why not let Beau make crafts inside. As long as they don't argue I'm a happy mother.

We had a nice new years eve with our family. We all swom till we couldn't and then sat in front of the tv till it was midnight. We loved seeing the fireworks on the beach. The new year will bring lot's of new things, like our fourth baby, birthday's, maybe weddings from my brothers or sisters, or more nephew's or nieces.

Dear diary,

We are living just a quiet normal life here. I'm so thankful for that. We are enjoying our childeren. Our daughters are very fond of eachother, so sweet to see. Denver is buzy with his sermons for church and ofcourse his visits to different people from our church who need special attention. We are very pleased with our community here in Sulani.

Abby is really into her crafts corner but also started to play the piano. We reguarly play together, me on the violin and Abby on the piano. I love spending time with my childeren like this. Playing with them, whether it is music or toys.

Abby does have some nightmares from time to time. Denver figured a little spray with lavender would do the trick to scare away the 'monsters' that Abby dreamed of. And it worked, she slept much better after that. My mother would never do this, she just said to us that monster didn't excist, that was that. I'm so glad Denver learned this trick from his mother and we can use that with Abby.

Dear diary,

My youngest is already a toddler! Time sure does fly by but I love every minute of it. And I'm kind off looking forward to having Christina play more with her older brother and sister. I think that will be so cute to watch.

Denver and I are still preventing since we don't want the childeren to close together. In the beginning I was a bit uncomfertable with it but by now I'm used to it. I'm loving the freedom it gives us and I can focus on my childeren so much more then my mother ever could on us, my siblings and me.

We made a new familyphoto with our three childeren. I has been two years since the last one so it was about time.

And all the other times we are just enjoying where we live, on the beach, surrounded by water. Can't you tell I'm so incredible happy?

Love, Juanna