Ask Jo: Family Questions Answered

Every so often I get questions from readers that I think other readers might want the answers to as well so I answer them here on the blog.  Today is one of those days.

Today’s questions all came about after I showed some photos of Kalissa and Craig’s wedding.

From Carolyn:
I read all your posts, Jo, I love all you do. It was great to meet all your family, all your children with “k” names. I have a question. : why do all the men have beards ? Are you Amish ?
Please excuse my curiosity, I am French , and admire your way of living.

This question made me smile as I guess I never really thought much about the facial hair that’s apparent in all the photos.  I met Hubby in 1985.  When I met him he had a beard.  It was a reddish brown back then.  He told me I would likely never see him with a clean shaven face.  I was okay with that.  I grew up with a dad who grew a beard for the 1976 bi-centennial and kept it until about 2000 when he learned he had skin cancer on his lip.  Men with facial hair seemed the norm for me.  My Dad and Hubby were both busy farmers who take little time for themselves.  They were both men that grow facial hair easily.  Hubby could likely shave in the morning and need to shave again in the evening.  He breaks out from shaving too.

I’d rather have him with facial hair and time to spend with me.

A day did come when he did shave.  Hubby is a volunteer fireman.  At one point he was taking classes and in order to participate in the testing and wear the requirement mask he was required to shave his beard.  He kissed me clean shaven and told him that wouldn’t be happening again until his beard grew back.  Honestly, I felt like I was having an affair!

I think my boys just have facial hair for the same reasons…they grow fast and they don’t care to take the time to shave.

One more thing…right now in the US in our area, facial hair of some kind is very much normal.  I think the “Duck Dynasty” show was part of that.  Popular or not, I actually like facial hair…like I said, I’m used to it…oh I forgot to answer the other part of the question..We are not Amish.  We’re Lutheran.


From Nancy:
Yeah for wedding pictures! I’ve been waiting to see these. How did the kids like their wedding quilt?

UGH.  Sadly we forgot to get a picture with the quilt.  So far, it’s my only regret of the wedding…but yes, they did love their quilt.  They took a little of their wedding money and put towards a new bedroom set.  The quilt will be on the bed.

From Cindy:
Jo, You’re the best !! As a devoted blog follower I love seeing your beautiful family and seeing you all on such a happy day ! I join everyone and wish you all many years of happiness and good health!!   Just wondering if all the girls sew ?

Actually ALL of my kids can sew- both the boys and the girls.  My mom taught all of her children, boys and girls, to sew and I did too.  When Buck and Jen were first together he could sew and she couldn’t.  HE hemmed her jeans and made them into capris.  Karl and I have had sewing days too…he likes make cases…but does too.  Kelli is my main quilter and quilting partner.  Kayla is a family consumer sciences teacher.  She can and does sew and even does some quilting.  Kayla recently showed this as her project she was working on…It’s Drunkard’s Path done with vintage sheets.

Kayla prefers knitting and crochet.  She’s working on a “marathon” of charity knitting.  That means she’s trying to knit and donate 26.1 miles of yarn projects for charity.  She recently made these cute-cute raccoon hats for charity.  Aren’t they cute??

Kalissa can sew.  She really prefers more DIY things.  she is more of a “crafting because she wants something for the house” rather than crafting because she simply loves crafting.  She does projects often though.  She’s back at college working towards her BSN so between that the wedding and working full time she really doesn’t have a lot of time.  In the future once life settles down a bit I look for her to do more crafting.  Of all..she prefers scrapbooking and graphic art the most.

From Susan:
Beautiful pictures and lovely wedding. Your daughter was simply stunning- it’s easy to see her happiness. Wishing her a lifetime of it! Thanks for sharing…..

More that any wedding I’ve been to in my entire life, they both have seen the happiest.  The priest who married them went on to do evening mass.  He even commented to the congregation how fun it was to marry two who were so happy.  It’s especially great to know that the smiling happy faces weren’t just for the camera.  They were that happy.  I hope they can stay that way..honestly, I think they will.

Hubby and I are so blessed.  We have a great bunch of kids and in laws.  We truly enjoy seeing them.  We truly enjoy spending time with them.  We’re still the mom and dad but they’ve all become our friends too…and believe it or not, I think they consider us their friends too!  They are the best kind of family.

Thats today’s dose of “Ask Jo”.