I'm Back

     Let me start off by saying how much I have missed blogging!  I should also add, anytime you notice I have gone for a long period of time without writing, start praying for my family and friends, immediately!  I have a large word quota everyday and if I am not blogging them, then all of those around me are forced to hear them—bless their hearts.  In the past couple of months, I have actually typed two or three posts, but sadly have not made time to post them and now one of them might be a bit past due since it is directly related to the beginning of the New Year—it’s already March for crying out loud.  Time is flying by and I can’t seem to get a handle on it these days.   Today I am choosing to slow it down and spend some time doing things I need to do for me, and this post is definitely one of them.

     So much has happened in my little world since my last post in December—did I just say December?  Little sassy pants is now potty trained.  WOOHOO!  She is doing so great and growing up way too fast.  And, on the subject of growing up too fast, my oldest son is now 16!.  I can’t even deal, people.  He is growing up to be such an amazing young man, I just wish he could slow down just a bit so I can cherish these next few years a little longer.   Then, to add insult to injury, I just turned 42!  What?  How did this happen?  Why am I not more mature and responsible by now?  I better hurry and grow up fast.  I told my best friend yesterday that I believe I have hit the age that I need to start lying about my age differently.  Instead of saying I am younger; I am going to start telling people I am older.  If I tell people now that I am younger they just feel bad for me because I look so old, but if I say I am older then they think I look great for my age.  And this is how my mind works.

     Another bit of news that we received was in regards to our precious little sassy pants.  As most of you know, she is our foster daughter, which is why I never type her name, but we are hoping to adopt her.  We thought we were in the final leg of this journey and moving swiftly to the adoption hearing, but we are not…yet.  This case will go on to the Supreme Court of Virginia.  We have no idea how long this will take, nor what we should expect during this process.  We know God has a plan and we are trusting in him to take care of her, and us.  We are relying on a few verses to get us through; let me share a couple of them with you:

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still” (Exodus 14:14).

“’For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,’ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

     These verses, as well as others, are carrying us though this uncertain time and giving us peace and comfort.  As I mentioned, I typed a post discussing the New Year, I may post it even though it is a bit late, and in it I discussed our family motto for 2015.  It is “Faith in ‘15.”   Back in December, we were looking at our upcoming year and realized there will be a lot of things that will really test our faith and require us to be strong in the Lord.  We decided to label our year with the faith we knew we would be in need of.  As this year is well underway, I can say we have definitely picked the right motto.  The faith tests have begun, but so have the amazing blessings that accompany faithfully following God’s lead.

     Our middle son is in his last year of elementary school and in a special school out of district that can better handle his special needs.  We pray he can get out of this situation and return to public school next year.  This elementary to middle school transition is critical to his success.  We hope that he will be in public school by the time he starts sixth grade, as opposed to entering public school in the middle of the year.  Let me just be honest; sixth grade is hard enough without having to change schools in the middle of the year, especially if you happen to have special needs.  This particular faith test is proving to be difficult as we are not sure what steps we should be taking.  The option of homeschool is always on the table, but our concern first-and-foremost is doing the best we can do for Tony, regardless of how hard it is on us.  This parenting thing is way harder than I thought it would be.

     Well, there it is, my first blog in a long time.  It is amazing how much better I feel verbalizing all of this.  I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to share life with me and read my rambling words.  My family appreciates all of you so much as I will not have to attack them with my words today.  Life is just better when we go through it together, living, learning, listening, and loving our way though.

Here is a picture of my wonderful Wonder Woman cookies my best friend gave me for my birthday......made by the awesomely talented, Jana Salinas!  Find her on Facebook at "Who made the cookies".