New School Year

Summer is over and school has started for all of my kiddos. Jamie and Linda started the sixth grade. They are very excited because every kid at their school was issued an I-pad to do their homework on. They seem to be adjusting to their new school and picking right up with their old friends. Noah and Mina have also started pre-school. It was their first time being in any sort of a daycare or school setting a Jake or I have always been home with them. It turns out that Mom and Dad were more nervous than they were. They took to it with ease and love telling us al about their adventures. We have all adjusted well to the new house and are fully unpacked. Work is going great, and I have been spending all of my time it seems studying for the brokers exam next month. It is a brutal test and takes all of the study time you can get to even have a hope of passing. Jake has begun looking for work now that we are back near family and we are praying he finds something soon. It is really good to be with family and friends. I am glad that the little ones are getting to know their family, and that the whole family is surrounded by people we love. I am also glad to be able to visit Mason's headstone any time I want to. I will admit, we do miss the weather this time of year in Wisconsin. At this rate, I think we will be wearing shorts to the pumpkin patch.

Please Join Me in Prayer

My youth pastor's son was delivered early because of no amniotic fluid. He was delivered at 34 weeks. He has had some trouble breathing and his kidney's are not functioning. They are attempting to do dialysis, but are having issues. Dialysis is not a choice, it is a necessity. I am asking all of my friends who pray to join me in praying for baby Jonas. Most of my readers know what is like to be fearful for your child. You can see his progress here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/671658582861436/permalink/673570032670291/

Last Days of Exploring, and Exciting News

I will start with the exciting news, we are moving back home in a few short weeks! We are very, very excited. I was made an amazing offer that not only will bring us back home, but was a lot more money and better benefits. It feels good to know that all of the hard work I did on my Master's, and to build my experience is paying off. We will only be here a few more short weeks. So we are making the best of it, and trying to get some last minute exploring done. This last weekend we were busy packing so we did not get to do as much as we would like, but we did get to scope out an ambulance, fire truck and rescue helicopter. Noah was the happiest boy as those are three of his favorite things.

A Different Kind of Mother's Day Poem

My friend posted this on facebook and tagged me. I am so touched that she thought of me, but even more than that, I wanted to share it for all of us who do not have all of our children here on earth this Mother's Day. Dear Mr. Hallmark, I am writing to you from heaven, and though it must appear A rather strange idea, I see everything from here. I just popped in to visit, your stores to find a card A card of love for my mother, as this day for her is hard. There must be some mistake I thought, every card you could imagine Except I could not find a card, from a child who lives in heaven. She is still a mother too, no matter where I reside I had to leave, she understands, but oh the tears she’s cried. I thought that if I wrote you, that you would come to know That though I live in heaven now, I still love my mother so. She talks with me, and dreams with me; we still share laughter too, Memories our way of speaking now, would you see what you could do? My mother carries me in her heart, her tears she hides from sight. She writes poems to honor me, sometimes far into the night. She plants flowers in my garden, there my living memory dwells She writes to other grieving parents, trying to ease their pain as well. So you see Mr. Hallmark, though I no longer live on earth I must find a way, to remind her of her wondrous worth She needs to be honored, and remembered too Just as the children of earth will do. Thank you Mr. Hallmark, I know you’ll do your best I have done all I can do; to you I’ll leave the rest. Find a way to tell her, how much she means to me Until I can do it for myself, when she joins me in eternity

Weekend Adventures

Family time is so hard to come by. It seems like we are always running during the week. We try to make up for it on the weekend. This weekend, we went to "The Domes". This consists of three domes, all with a different theme. One was a jungle, one was a desert, and one was local plants. I did manage to get some pics of the kiddos to post, so here we go.

Night Time Woes

My little man Noah has all of the sudden become afraid to go to bed. I cannot think of anything that could have triggered it, but every night at bedtime, he gets really anxious, and asks me every night if he can snuggle with me in my bed instead. We have tried everything from leaving the hall light on, to night lights, to those dream lite pillows, and he is still scared. I am running out of ideas, I am afraid this might just be something he has to outgrow, but it breaks my heart every night. Every night they get songs, stories, and prayers. They have a set routine that has worked for four years until now. Poor Noah, sometimes being little is just hard.

Yet Another Catch Up Blog

I have turned into the worst blogger. It seems like by the time I work all day, come home, do homework, baths, bed, dinner, etc, the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer. This leads me to have to do another catch up blog. It has been very busy since Christmas. There has been snow, snow, and more snow. We have actually had a Blizzard, and numerous winter storm warnings. At one point there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground. We also have had some very cold snaps. Last week we had a windchill that briefly touched -30 degrees. That is a level of cold I do not appreciate. The babies had their 4th birthday in December. I cannot believe they are four. We are working on doing home schooling for preschool this year, and they will go to 4K next year. I am so not ready for that. It is hard to know that once they go to school, there will be no more babies in my house. We got them a bunny for their birthday. Yes, a bunny. He is neutered, fully litter box trained, and pretty much free roams the house. He tends to hide out during the day, but at night comes out to play and snuggle. He loves to watch TV next to Jake. Jamie and Linda are both doing well. Jamie had a rough grade card last time and is learning the hard way that we think grades matter. It was totally because of a lack of effort on his part because in two weeks of no TV, he has brought all of the grades back up. Other than that, he is Jake's shadow, and loves spending time talking your ear off. Linda is well...Linda. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She is doing terrible in reading, but she hates it and you can't make her do it. I am trying anything I can think of. On a positive note, she will spend hours drawing. She usually draws fashion things such as dresses and clothes. It is nice to see her plugged in and engaged. Jake is suffering from cabin fever. The lake is frozen, but not quite enough for fishing. The ground is too frozen/snow covered to metal detect, and the shooting range is snow covered. Poor guy. He does get out and play cards once a week with the guys. Work is going well. Things have settled down. There were a lot of leadership changes in my department, and that always shakes things up for awhile. I have been working on a huge project which goes live this week. I will be glad to check something off of the big to do list. We did get a surprise visit from Jake's little brother and his family. We had not yet met our new niece so that was wonderful. My nephew Zach is very close in age to Noah and Mina and they had a blast. It was a short visit, but we managed to squeeze in sledding, a trip to Lake Michigan, and separate boy's and girl's movie night. It was wonderful to have family here. That is all that is going on in our little world. Hopefully, I will manage to make it on here more often....