Dear Joel,

We have no idea how it's possible that our baby is a teenager! This journey from baby to toddler to preschooler to adolescent to teenager went quickly with your older siblings, but even faster with you. We tried our best to soak it all in even more with you because we knew just how fast it would go. Thankfully, even though time flew, we definitely feel like we made the most of it all. Watching you grow to this point has been an absolute blast and we love the person you are becoming! From early on until now, you've had some of the most admirable qualities. We love your curiosity, your determination, and how incredibly well rounded you are!

There is no doubt that you are curious. In the thirteen years that you've been around, you've probably set a record for how many questions you've asked! In the earlier years, it was usually up to us to answer those questions. However, as time has passed and your inquisitive little brain has grown, you've learned to find answers all on your own. Whether its a book you read or a YouTube video you watch, you're always seeking to find out more about the world around you. You've gone from a novice to a near-expert on so many things and we find it funny to hear you spout off the most random pieces of information (a gift you certainly inherited from Grandpa Rob). You are a shadow at home...mostly following Dad around, but occasionally interested in what Mom is doing. You watch closely to see what is required in the world of "adulting" and our whole family knows that you'll probably be the most prepared for adulthood!

Your curiosity is also intertwined with your incredible determination. You strive to be the best at almost everything....well, except for your handwriting, but we've come to accept that you'll never put much effort into that! You will spend countless hours researching how to be better as a runner, sewer, golfer, you name it! You put so much time and effort into your running this past summer. You signed up for the high school camp and pushed yourself further than you ever thought you could. Keeping up with runners who were much older than you was a challenge, but you never gave up! You also became so knowledgeable with sewing this past year and have created some really cool projects. Your 4H quilt should have taken several weeks, but you laser focused for two days and had the entire thing done. That same laser focus has helped you grow tremendously as a golfer this year. You watch videos all the time in an effort to improve your golf game and you never miss a chance to hit up the driving range with Grandpa! When you're not at home perfecting your hobbies, you're at school doing great things. School comes pretty easy for you and, therefore, you have set your own standard of having the highest grades possible. Sometimes we have to bring you back to reality and remind you that you cannot have a perfect 100% in every single class!

One of our most favorite qualities about you has always been your well-roundedness. From very early on you've been able to get along with just about anyone and can find something to enjoy in just about any situation or environment. You are amazing at entertaining little kids and that's been proven by our little neighbor's affection for you. You can sit and shoot the breeze with people who are decades older than you. You have a heart that knows how to treat everyone with kindness and dignity. That shows in how you spoke of your interactions with the Cherry Hill buddies - a program that brought kids with severe needs to your school to hang out with kids in the general ed population. Girls or boys, young or old, verbal or nonverbal...you can handle it all! In the same way, you can be thrown into any situation and manage to make the most of it. You love to try new things and have, what feels like, a million different hobbies and interests. When change comes your way or new situations arise, you just roll with it. The transition to junior high was seamless for you this year. We didn't even make it to your walk through day because you had your older siblings take you (which was certainly way more fun and cool). Just about any time we've worried about something new or unpredictable coming your way, you've already problem solved it and have a plan in place.

We should probably knock on wood, because the teen years are ever so unpredictable, but parenting you really is easy! You're easy to love, easy to guide, easy to please, and just a joy to be around. You have always been the exclamation point at the end of our sentence...marching to the beat of your own drum in your quirky ways and bringing excitement and fun to all that we do! We are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents. If He hadn't, we'd be pretty jealous of whatever other family got you! We can't wait to continue to watch you grow into the amazing adult that we know you'll be. For now, we are going to soak in these teen years and are hopeful that we will enjoy this phase just as much as we've enjoyed the past thirteen years!

Love,
Dad and Mom

Holidays 2024

We had a wonderful holiday season this year with lots of traditions, family fun, and memories! We definitely look forward to the holiday season and it seems to fly by faster every single year. We crammed in as much as we could, but also built in plenty of time for some rest and relaxation.

We kicked off the holiday season with a fun trip to one of our favorite places - The Walnut Room! We had a yummy dinner and then enjoyed walking around the city to see all of the lights.

The kids all had a plethora of activities throughout December. Leah started off the month running in a 5k to support her friend's little brother. Ben has arthritis and was thrilled to have all of the older girls there to support him! We also enjoyed quite a few concerts throughout December. If we weren't at school for concerts, we were there to watch sports. Caleb was really busy with wrestling and Leah snuck in a few basketball games in the weeks between her foot injury and her concussion.

As soon as break started, we were busy almost every single evening with some sort of celebration. The first night was one of our favorites - a get together with the Blooms because Mark, Madelyn, and Lydia were in town. It was so great to see them and we had such a fun time!

We hosted the Lamont cookie day and it was a blast! We loved having our house full of some of our favorite people. We ended up with way too many cookies, but they managed to get eaten!

Christmas day ended up being super relaxing! We woke up early and opened our presents before having Grandpa, Grandma, and TiTi over for the day. We had breakfast, opened presents, played games, and just lounged around all morning and into the early afternoon. Everyone left for a short time and then came back for dinner. We also loved having Nyla's friend, Tyrese, join us for the day!

Between Christmas and NYE, we squeezed in some birthday celebrations. By the time NYE rolled around, we ate, drank, and celebrated so much that we didn't know if we had anything left to give! Thankfully, we rallied and enjoyed an absolutely awesome visit from our "Florida friends". We had so much fun catching up and celebrating the New Year with them!

By January 1, we felt like we all crawled across the holiday finish line! We had a wonderful holiday season, but it was BUSY. This picture of Chief on New Year's Day sums it all up quite well!

Dear Leah,

Even though you've been a teenager for two years, this felt like the year that really solidified the fact that childhood is over and the teen years are here! That's not just because of the increase in sassiness and moodiness that we've seen! In reality, your level of sass is nothing compared to what it could be, so we cannot complain. You have a heart of gold and genuinely want to make life as sweet and easy as possible for those around you!

The real truth is that you are undoubtedly a teen because of the huge jumps in maturity that we've witnessed over the past year. Prior to this year, you still seemed to have so much childlike innocence and wonder. That was never a bad thing, and truth be told, our hearts hurt just a bit knowing that you have let some of that go. However, in letting go of that, you've begun to grow into the most incredible young lady. You've taken all of your most wonderful qualities and carried them into the teenage years. 

You are a loyal friend and family member....always putting your loved ones first. You don't have enemies and treat people with kindness (even if they're not in your inner circle). You have a great group of girlfriends and have chosen them carefully amongst all of the other drama and harshness that can come with teenage friendships. You make friends wherever you go and do an amazing job of drawing people together. That sometimes comes at a cost - spending a bit too much time on your phone! However, it's worth it to see you so happy and making the most of your high school days. 

Watching you move onto high school in such a flawless way has made us so proud! You chose a heavy academic load and are working so hard to adjust to the rigor and high expectations. You keep yourself organized and never have to be reminded to put your schoolwork first! You've continued to grow in your ability to advocate for yourself and set yourself up for success. When things get challenging, your initial instinct is to give up, but you do a great job of pushing past that and getting to the other side of your frustrations. Aside from the academic side of school, you've done a great job of getting involved! You went out on a limb and played tennis for the high school team. You didn't know a single soul on the team, but made a ton of friendships by the end of the season. Now, you've jumped into basketball and are rediscovering your love for that while having a blast forming new friendships there. You were the ring leader for your Homecoming Olympics team and did a great job of coordinating all of that. You also have pushed through some tough days in band, where the transition to the high school level has been much harder than anticipated. We are genuinely excited to see what the next few years hold. You are already rocking it at LWC and we know the future is bright for you there!

And, when high school is over - which we know will happen way sooner than we'd like - we know you will move on to do amazing things in life! You have never strayed from your innate desire to be a teacher or do something with kids. You continue to seek opportunities to explore that and with each experience, you grow more and more confident in your decision to follow this path. You jump at the chance to spend time with our neighbors' little girls and your help with them is truly a blessing. You've continued to help with the little kids at church and do an amazing job there. You jumped headfirst into helping at Miss Jill's dance camp this summer and she said you were an absolute natural with kids! You've taken on a leadership role with the junior high youth group and are building into younger girls there. And, on top of all of that, you took the child development class first semester in the hopes of being able to get involved with the preschool program at the high school and the teaching internships. There will be no convincing you otherwise - you were made to be in a profession where you work with kids!

We have really loved watching you grow so much in this past year. At the core of who you are, you are still the sweetest and most genuine girl. You stay true to who you are and do a great job of fighting against all of the negativity that comes with being a teenager. We hope and pray that you always find the strength, confidence, and bravery to be yourself...you are just far too amazing to be anything other than yourself! Fifteen years of loving you has been easy and we are so very proud to call you our daughter.

Love,

Dad and Mom

Fall Sports Recap

We had a super busy Fall in the Sturm home with three kids doing three different sports. Despite the fact that it kept us running in a million directions, we truly loved watching them do what they love!

Joel enjoyed his third year of cross country. It definitely feels like he's been a cross country runner for way more than three years! The friends and memories he's made in this sport are priceless! He has grown so much as a runner and his hard work/dedication to the sport grows with every passing year. We love watching him set goals and surpass them. His season started out a bit rough because he came down with a nasty respiratory bug that messed with his breathing for several weeks. He started to get pretty down on himself and doubted if running was even for him. It took a cold, rainy, miserable mid-week race to turn that all around. He finally got back into his groove and ran an amazing race. From that point forward, he was back! The season didn't end with a team trip to state like last year, but he still had a wonderful season overall!

Leah went out on a limb and tried something totally new...tennis! I kept trying to plant that seed with all three of the kids, but nobody ever seemed too interested. At the tail end of summer, Leah decided that she might just want to give it a try. She joined in for the last few days of tennis camp at LWC, spent a few hours practicing with me, and showed up to day one of tryouts. She didn't know a single person and I was so proud of her bravery for trying something new without having a friend to ease the anxiety. She made the team and spent the season playing doubles with another girl who was new to tennis. She learned so much and definitely improved! It was a great way to start her high school career and she learned that sports are an awesome way to get involved and connect with others.

Caleb had a football season to remember! After MONTHS of conditioning (starting last January) and an intense summer of camps, practice, and conditioning, their season started in late August. The boys played their hearts out every single Friday night and we had a blast cheering them on. The few losses they had were super close games that kept us on the edge of our seats. Their hard work paid off and the team made it all the way to the state semi-finals. After an incredibly intense game that appeared to be a victory for LWC right up until the final minute (when the opposing team scored), the boys came up short and the season ended. We know that the loss was heartbreaking for the team and we were sad to see it all come to such an abrupt end, but they certainly had no reason to feel anything besides proud! Caleb had such an amazing experience throughout the whole season and we are so thankful for the memories he made.

Now it's time to move onto Winter....Caleb is doing wrestling again, Leah gave basketball a try, and Joel is managing the boys basketball team at his school. Busy, busy, busy!

Fall Fun 2024

When we weren't busy with sports, we managed to squeeze in some other fun this Fall. Time just keeps flying, but we are trying our best to soak in the memories while the kids are still around!

We were able to sneak in a quick day trip to Champaign to celebrate Nyla's birthday and visit our favorite apple orchard. We had really hoped to make it back down for a football game, but our weekends never freed up like we had hoped!

Caleb and Leah had a great time during Homecoming week. They both participated in the Homecoming Olympics, Caleb had a singing debut at the pep assembly, and the week ended with a fun time at the dance! We also got to experience our first ever Homecoming Proposal. It was a team effort (Joel made the poster, I ordered the latte, and Caleb asked AJ to the dance).

Aside from staying busy with school sports, the three kids still enjoy being part of their school bands. Joel got to march in the Fall Fest Parade over Labor Day weekend and all three kids had concerts in October.

We all enjoyed a nice visit from Aunt Denise at the beginning of October. She spoiled us with lots of treats, gifts, and quality time...we were definitely sad to see her leave. She got to enjoy seeing the kids at their various sports and was even lucky enough to be here for the annual Chili Cookoff. Along with Aunt Denise's guest appearance, we were also graced with a visit from Nyla's friends for the Chili Cookoff. It was a blast to share it with some of our most favorite people!

October wrapped up with a fun Halloween night! Joel went to a friend's house with a bunch of other pals from school and cross country. Leah headed out with a couple of her friends. Caleb declared that he was too old, so he spent the evening just hanging out with friends at AJ's house.

Another Fall highlight was watching Caleb get inducted into the National Honor Society. It was so neat to see so many of these kids that have grown up alongside Caleb get recognized for their hard work. Of course, we were most proud of our kid! He has truly worked so hard despite a lot of struggles at the beginning of high school.

One of the biggest highlights of this Fall was Joel's special trip with TiTi to Universal Studios. After finishing the Harry Potter series last year, he made sure to cash in on the promised trip. He had so much fun getting to take his own special trip and we are incredibly thankful for my sister's generosity with these kids!