Update on my (now much older) Angelicscalliwags!

I thought I’d do a quick update my three older offspring.

Thomas

Thomas is currently working with his dad on the golf course, whilst awaiting an opening with the Fire Brigade. They only recruit once a year and Thomas did get accepted onto their program. However, they cancelled everyone (something to do with their human resource department shutting down or something 🤷‍♀️ ). Anyway, he is on their list for next year’s recruitment drive so until then he is green keeping.

The reason he decided to green keep rather than anything else were the hours. He begins super early in the morning and finishes a couple of hours after lunch. This leaves him the rest of the afternoon and evening to pursue his passions. Currently, he is still serving in the reserve army, with which he is slowly making his way around the world. He’s travelled to a few countries in Africa and a few in Europe. I think this is one of most favourite things about being with the army. He is also doing as many courses as possible with the army to build up his CV. Thomas also volunteers with the local search and rescue and has nearly finished all the training for that. All this is to prepare himself for his dream (which I’ll get to in a moment).

Disaster Response Dream

Working with the army, search and rescue, as well as wanting to join the fire brigade will build up a very specific group of skills. Thomas has wanted to work with disaster response emergency aid for a while now. However, he does not want to go to university to get there. Instead, he is carefully curating his skills and, as he says, is going in via a completely different route.

Thomas is completely living his best life right now! When he tells me all he’s been getting up to on any given week, I’m just blown away by the variety of all his activities. Just a few days ago, he was training with the local search and rescue alongside the dog team, which he loved so much. A few months ago he went skiing with the army. All these different skills he is building up will hopefully help him to realise his dream.

Lillie

Lillie is now in her second year of an Illustrations and Visual Media degree and is LOVING it. Her goal is still to become an art therapist. She has even begun looking for post graduate degrees to do in America. Until then she is keeping herself super busy working part-time at a stationers. She is also being paid for making videos for her university. Oh, and also window painting for various shops in the surrounding towns and villages.

Lil has settled into this uni really well and has a core group of friends who love and support each other. She still chooses to live at home which we all love, especially her two younger sisters 🧡 She stepped back from volunteering at the church to allow the new youth worker (who took over from her) to settle in, but I think her goal is to start back again in the new year.

Lil is my right hand woman in everything and I shall miss her terribly when she moves out. She is the light-hearted other half to her more intense twin. Together, they keep us all laughing…it’s a bit like watching a female version of Laurel and Hardy!

Charlotte (and Ads)

Charlotte is doing really well right now. She seems to have mastered balancing her life with her multiple health problems. She blows all of us away with her amazing attitude towards her health. Things are still a struggle, but with each diagnosis, she has taught herself to control them and not be controlled by them. Charlotte, Lillie and I are thinking about doing a podcast series about homeschooling when a child is chronically ill. She has such an amazing attitude and is so open about her struggles, and literally deals with everything through humour and that incredible personality of hers, I think she may be able to offer hope to those going through their own struggles.

Recent Diagnosis

As an aside, Charlotte has recently been diagnosed with Autism and OCD, which I don’t think I’ve written about her before (it was literally about a month ago she was diagnosed). Her neuropsychiatrist was so impressed by her tenacity and understanding of all her conditions. She has taken herself off all of her pain meds, and has managed to control everything bar the tics. It is these tics which the doctor thinks originate from some form of OCD, and he believes that once he starts the treatment for OCD the tics will clear up entirely.

It’s funny, we’ve been dealing with Charlotte’s health for 8 years now. Most of her conditions arise from her neurones misfiring which cause her to be in pain, exhausted, have seizures, tics, paralysis, anxiety, migraines…and so much more. This means the messaging does not go through to her brain to relay the condition accurately. For example, she suffers from bad migraines, however, there is no organic reason for those migraines. Once she understood this, she was able to tell herself that the pain was not indicative of any damage, just her brain telling her a lie. FND is a complicated complex neurological disorder, and one she has (all by herself) managed to master.

Charlotte’s Husband

I know Ads isn’t one of my biological children but he’s been living with us for five years now and so very much feels part of the family. He and Charlotte got married last summer, just before his final year at uni. He received a 2:1 in his degree and is currently working for an accountancy firm which deals mainly with the tax side of accounting. He’s been there a month and is loving it. They plan to live with us until some time in the new year, once he is fully settled in his job.

Charlotte works in a bookshop three days a week, which she not only loves but she has a boss who has to be the most patient, loving, caring boss she could ever have. He adores her and really looks after her and does exactly what we do at home: laugh and tease her constantly, which she loves! She also reviews books for the company, so gets sent multiple books daily (for free) which feeds her book habit, thank. you. very. much. 😜

Charlotte has never stopped writing and has begun sending in manuscripts to publishers. She is currently writing a type of memoir book about dealing with chronic illness. She leads worship at church and volunteers with the youth group as well. Given all her health struggles, she lives a really full and happy life.