Got to finally plant my tomato, zucchini and pepper plants, grow baby grow!!!! Love yard work, as long as its not too tedious cause I'm not to into hard physical labor anymore. Anything to be outside though. Still working on redoing our yard from the mess it was and still pulling multiple bushes out and sifting around recycled soil to fill in spots. Overall though our yard is finally getting somewhere!
Open windows and airing out my house!!! Much needed after such a cooped up winter inside. I must admit our house reeks of old people smell. ICK! Pretty much need to yank out our carpet and I've yet to want to conquer that choir. Guess I'll just wait for my Dad ;)
Another great thing to me, as corny as it sounds, is being able to hang laundry out. I love it!!! Pretty much the only time I love doing laundry. I don't know what it is about it but I love it. Feeling like the little bit of electric it saves me is a good thing and allowing me to be outside to hang it...key thing outside and I'm still getting work done!!
And then there's the book reading. Oh what a blessing it's been to enjoy some reading time. I love reading and actually have read and finished 4 books in the last few weeks!!! I miss reading at times and it's just truly an amazing escape. Feet up, flippies on, a kiss of sunshine on my skin, while a book in hand! Thank you Jesus!!
But the biggest blessing of all is watching my son play. He loves being outdoors and his imagination just goes crazy. Watching him play and talk to himself is amazing to me. I had a huge imagination as a kid, playing house was my favorite thing. I was hoping Trent would be like that...be capable of playing anywhere and enjoying himself. He goes through at least 2 changes of clothes a day, sometimes more but hey just gives me more laundry to hang ;) And little Rylee...she loves to swing and usually cries as soon as you remove her from it. She also loves our water table, she is also starting to go through multiple outfit as shes usually wet and covered in dirt and grass. Hey let them be little and have fun...no harm done.
Last but not least what a blessing it has been to spend so much quality time with my husband. He has been laid off for quite a while now and I've been loving having him home. Walks, time at the park, outside fun, trips to Lancaster, petting zoo, so many things. One of our more popular things to do as a family is race Trents power wheels and his dirt bike around our yard. We do it way too often and probably look a bit goofy but oh the fun we have. However Steves time at home is finally coming to an end, he has finally been called back to work!!!! Love having him home but hey the bills need paid and he defly needs to get back to the grind of things. Routine is a good thing, waking up everyday knowing you have a huge purpose is a great thing! God made men to work hard and support their families and I am beyond greatful for a man who loves doing just that and strives to always do it better. Praying God works in Steve as he's heading back to work, rests his worries and allows him to know his presence in his life, the blessings he has given us and mainly the great man he is and can be with Gods strong hand in our lives.
In the winter time its so easy to sorta get wrapped up in a self pity party. To not be capable of seeing all the major blessings. To focus on the boring ickiness of being cooped up and starring at 4 walls all day, everyday. In the past few months I've been trying to reevaluate myself. Counting my blessings everyday and focusing on each day being made new. I had a few rough weeks a few months ago and needed a break and got to spend sometime away and regroup. I needed it like crazy at the time. Its so easy to get wrapped up in the negatives and after so much weighing down on me and not being able to see through the light and not understanding how I even got to that point I needed to pray and hard! Life is hard! Sometimes it's really hard to see the light. God is always there and why we just can't see that at times and are blinded to that totally baffles me. I need to focus everyday on the blessings and all he gives to me. I need to understand that all my struggles are to get me where he wants me and he's merely saying trust in Me! He has it all under control, nothing is outside of his plan for me. His WILL will be done and not mine...I'm not in control! A friendly reminder to myself daily!
So with all that said here's a little update on us. Trent started this week with an I.U.9 teacher. She will work with him twice a week for the next few months till they feel he is where he should be. He's doing wonderful and thrives with her assistance. He loves one on one help. We're pretty sure the chaos of all the kiddos just gets to him at times and he can't focus then on the lessons. We still haven't heard from Head Start and I'm hoping we do soon. It would be a great program to get him into and defly help financially, it's a free program and he will attend 4 days a week. He loves structure so school will be a great thing for him...but momma will defly be missing him, not a fan of the 4 days.
Rylee is also doing well. She can be a handful at times but she can also be such a sweetie. Fostering has been a lot harder then I thought. I still struggle with my heart and getting so attached to her, wanting to protect myself from the brokeness I could feel in the end. It has been very difficult dealing with Mom. I've actually had to cut back on the communication with her and I think thats helped. Court was very rough this last time and I never want to do it again however I can't avoid it. Its defly just a learning process and I'm sure this is all normal for new foster parents. Rylee has 8 teeth now, she's crawling like a champ, moves from one piece of furniture to the next, eats like its her last meal ever and loves everything food related!! She's still little but growing. Shes just about 11 months old and just got into 6-9 months clothing and that depends on the name brand. Oh but what a drama queen we have. She's very demanding of your full attention and will let you know exactly when she wants it. She also likes to have tantrums and scream her little head off, what a voice she has....loud!!!!!! Time outs have started! Usually they take place during dinner when she isn't getting what she needs and needs sometime to calm down. Seems to be working. We find that when she gets it out and realizes were not giving in she calms down and moves on...thank you Jesus! Her favorite thing is Praise Baby she gets completely mezmorized and it's absolutely adorable to watch her watch it!
As a family we have been attending a new church. Faith Baptist. We love it. Nothing will be what we are use to and we need to just realize that. It is however full of amazing, God loving, friendly people. It is small though and there is not a lot of kids and that's a little hard for us with Trent but hey it can grow!! I'm excited to get involved. There's a womans Bible study and I want to start attending that, there also is a feeding the community time and I can't wait to help with that, I also want to include Trent in that as much as possible! Not much else to really update you on. We continue to want to meet knew people here and gain some good friendships. We haven't really been able to get real close to people but we do talk to a bunch of people and everyone is so incredibly friendly here and we couldn't ask for more. The family situation has not changed and we've officially handed that over to God, He knows our hearts and he will work this out in his time. We continue to spend time with Steves grandma and his uncle and aunt and cousin when she's in town. They are all a huge blessing in our life. Steves grandma has such a huge heart and she calls me at least once a week and just makes me giggle. But she is also a worrier and I pray for her comfort daily. We also enjoy time with Tommy, Mae and jer. Not as much as we use to but Steve still talks to them regularly. I'm praying for good friendships in my life, encouraging Godly woman I'm also praying for this in Steves life as well, good Godly men....much needed! We've almost officially been here a year and wow has the year flown right past, and hey I don't want to run away!!! No really God is good and he brought us here and he is blessing us more then we could ever ask for. He knows the plans He has for us and I'm just waiting to see what those plans are. Like I said I'm trying to focus on the positives everyday and understand tomorrow is another day and its a fresh start. Things happen everyday, unpaid bills, tantrums, sickness, broken flower pots, sinks that dont drain, leaking furnace, blown up vehicles, vehicle repairs, dumb animals, broken hearts, unkind people, leaking shower, stinky dirty carpet, dishes piled to the ceiling, laundry piles and yet God is good and we have our health and each other and what an amazing AMAZING feeling to know still tomorrow the sun will shine and fresh flowers will bloom.
So get out and enjoy the day!!
