The Past Year

Man, Im so surprised that my last post was a year ago'ish.  We moved out of our big beautiful home, lived in a two bedroom (700 sq ft) apartment for two months, said goodbye to some pretty special friends, packed up and moved down to KC.  We thought we would buy a house within a month or two of moving, but it turned into a five month ordeal.  One thing after another kept happening to prevent us from buying a house.  So we lived in a temporary place, that though we were thankful for it, we could NOT wait to have our own place.  We got a sweet little home, with an acre of land.  We are right in the city, but have a giant yard.  I ended up having to work part time to suppliment income.  We knew that the job Randy got would be a ministry job, not a money making job.  Hes learning a lot and Im willing to pitch in and help out since we need it. Working and homeschooling is no joke!  I felt like I was going to lose my mind at times.  I need to figure out a better schedule next year.  We made it through the year in one peice, but I dont feel like I was able to teach the kids as well as they needed to be taught.  My plan was to help the kids catch up on a few things this summer, but our summer has been packed so far!!  Since I needed to work, I landed the perfect job with a boy that goes to our church.  Charlie is a 12 year old with cerebral palsy.  His parents needed someone to get him off the bus and hang out till they got home from work.  This summer he has been coming to our house from 6:45 am till his dad gets home.  Hes in a wheelchair and needs help with eating and pretty much everything.  Hes a cool kid and hes teaching the whole family a lot.

In April the boy that Taylor went through treatment with passed away.  Randy and I drove up to Iowa for the viewing, funeral, and burial.  I cried till my head hurt.  It hit me pretty hard.  Now Happy is the last of the 4 that we knew from her clinic that had neuroblastoma.  That cancer is such a beast.  My cousins little boys cancer relapsed.  They are reliving the cancer nightmare for a second time.  Its been fun getting to know her kiddos.  The hospital they go to for his treatment is only about 20 min from where we live.

Well, this is mostly for me to read back on someday...

George grew taller than me!  Its so weird to look up when talking to my son.  Hes turned into such a big help with everything.  He will load and unload the dishes.  Switch the laundry.  Feed the chickens. Helps with all sorts of things with Charlie.  He doesnt like school and loves legos and the Wii.  He will tease the younger kids and drive everyone absolutely crazy some days.  If he would wear his rubber bands he might get his braces off before hes 20...

Blondie is turning into a lady right before my eyes.  Shes in the stage where she is stuck between being a little girl or a young woman.  She is an imense help with Sunny.  I love that she so willingly (not always but most of the time) helps him pick out church clothes or find his shoes.  She has a stubborn streak the size of the Grand Canyon.  She ADORES babies and small kids.  Shes one smart cookie, but since things come easy for her, she doesnt like to learn new things that are difficult.  I know one day she is going to be a beautiful strong woman that will take such good care of her family.  She has a nurturing instinct that is pretty amazing.  

Sweets is still our extremely shy and sweet girl.  She got a tick last summer that gave her lymes.  Shes struggled a bit with fatigue and all that goes with that.  Thankfully we have found a kinesiologist chiropractor that I believe will be able to clear it up for her.  Sweets loves pretty flowers, birds, plants, gardening, our stinky chickens, Lasso our dog, and basically anything that has to do with nature/animals.  I love how shes a lover of pretty and is so shy, yet she can run like the wind and is the first to dash outside to play like a wild woman.  She gets really frustrated by her fatigue and I cant wait till shes feeling all better.  Oh and she is one fast cleaner.  Sweets tears through the house cleaning like a tornado when I tell the kids to pick up their stuff.  She still really loves giraffes and wants to work with "Heraffs" someday.  She also loves crafting and drawing.

Happy is doing amazing.  I love so much to see her be a bubbly, vibrant, five year old.  She is a beautiful, loud, affectionate, little package of personality.  She has crazy hair that wont stay in a braid or pony tail.  She could care less if her clothes look nice, let alone fit.  She talks so loud that I wonder if Im eventually going to go deaf.  Shes bossy, and funny, giggly and loves to snuggle.  She talks so funny.  She cant say the "K" sound so says a "T" sound in place of it, so says "Tars, Tant, Tool, ect". 2 months ago we had a relapse scare.  They found liesons on her spleen.  So we go in every month for an ultrasound to keep an eye on it.  They arent sure what it is, but they said it doesnt have the characteristics of cancer... So I choose to not worry to much about it.     

Sunny... Oh Sunny... He is the sterotypical boy that makes a mother age.  Some days hes such a smiley sweet boy and others... Whew.  He always has a grin on his face.  He used to speak in "Whine" but now only speaks in "Whine" half time.  Its not because I even give him what he wants when he talks like that... He just does!  It drives me crazy!!!  Hes got a really funny sense of humor and if we can get past toddler years I think hes going to be  a neat kid.  He doesnt have that cause and effect part of his brain.  So he will often fall off the swing because he decided to let go, or fall off the side of the slide, because he thought it would be cool??... Or get his hand shut in the door because he keeps slamming the door.  He does everything in extreme.  Thankfully he decided to potty train himself last summer in the middle of our three moves.  So thats good, because I was so done with potty training... He would probably still be in diapers if he didnt take it upon himself to do it.  Hes a little love bug and has the most amazing smile... We just need to make it to age five :)

The four younger kids think they all need to sit on my lap for church, when we watch movies, or basically anytime Im sitting.  Im sure George would want to as well if he wasnt taller than me.  I sometimes just want to sit, and not be touched, but I know someday I will miss this crazy, everyone wants to smother mommy, stage.  

I have been going to a massage monthly to get my arms worked on.  I had surgery on both of them because of contraction like pain that would radiate up my arms and make me have a severe headache.  The surgery worked about 50%.  I went to a massage when we first moved here because I needed to go to a chiropractor for something, but we didnt have insurance yet.  So Randy said I should see if a massage would help.  Anyway, we found this place that was open on Saturdays so I made an appointment.  The girl that did my massage started working on my arms and it felt so good, and helpful, that I was literally praising God for letting me find her.  She loves to "torture my arms" and she does a really good job of it.  I just feel a little bit like a brat saying "Im going to my monthly massage" HAHAHA.  

Since we have been so busy since moving here, Randy and I have been very intentional about making time for our marriage and focusing on loving each other.  We fall into bed at night from exhaustion.  Its crazy.  Poor Randy is doing three peoples jobs at work right now (because of lack of employees).  We go on dates every other week or so.  We also went to a marriage conference in February and stayed at a hotel for the weekend.  Even though a lot that we learned, we already knew, it was nice to be told it again and remind ourselves of the truths.  We also went to a conference that Kirk Cameron puts on.  That was cool.  For our anniversary I was going to surprise Randy with a zip linning date.  The weather was horrid though, the tornado sirens went off 15 times in a row.  So it got canceled.  We were able to go last weekend.  It was so fun!  I love doing stuff like that, and I love that Randy does too.  Oh on my birthday, my friend who is a photographer did a couples session for us.  "A couples session of love" is what we called it.  I am nervously awaiting them.  Im afraid we are going to look like a couple of sad middle aged people in them.  It was fun none the less.  

This summer a follower of Happy, that has become a friend, is coming to meet us!  That will be super exciting!   We are also hoping to drive out to Colorado to meet up with my childood friend.  We havent seen each other for 15 years.  I cant wait to meet her sweet family.  We have plans to arrange a couple of marriages between our kids :)  

Well, I have an early morning so better close.  I really hope that I will write more in this, but dont think I will, haha!  Time is a sacred thing right now.