‘Twas a (nearing) dark and (two days before a) stormy night and I had just braved the pre-storm grocery store and went to a nice trail for a walk. When I came back, my window was broken, my purse gone, and my credit card used. Boo.
Hello!
It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged with any sort of familiarity or “presence” here at our blog. You know, we’ve had this website since before we got married… 2004? I’ve missed having a place to think through current events, my Mom has missed having a reliable place to see my latest updates since exiting Facebook, and I want to have my growth and my family’s growth reflected here for my children to look at when they are grown and starting out on their own themselves. Besides, when I want to get on a soapbox, this is my own personal soapbox space! Why would I ever leave it? haha
I’m in a cheerful mood this afternoon. That’s always a nice place to be. My mood is variable and just as often unrelated to life circumstances as it is because of life circumstances. The fate of many women, I think. I never, until I was about 30 years old, experienced significant depression or anxiety or melancholy or irritability or significant fatigue or any level of PTSD. Now, though, as a 36 year old woman with five children and a life consumed by special needs and real life challenges…. well, they are my close companions. I am trying to live with sorrow and suffering as companions instead of enemies (drawing from one of my favorite books, an allegorical book called “Hinds Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard), but I am regularly overcome by circumstances instead of triumphant.
So! It’s January of 2020. We went to an Oregon beach house as a family for four nights and made many memories… some joyful and some difficult. We had hoped that our two boys would love their time there, but between their history of trauma and subsequent fear levels combined with their autism… well… it was a disaster for them and it took exhaustive measures on the part of me and Brian to keep them safe until we could bring them home to recover. The girls had a blast, I think. On the last night, I sat in the hot tub with my daughters… warm and comfortable with the 50 degree wet beach air around our heads. And I gave permission to my girls to run and jump in the ocean and run back. The crazy children did that THREE TIMES before they were too cold to repeat it. I did not join them.
We’ve had about a month off of schoolwork and I spent today reviewing how it’s been going and setting up for starting school again tomorrow or next Monday. I’m not quite prepared, so we will see when they launch. I have a lot of work to do to prepare for Daniel’s April trip to the hospital back east for more treatment on his feet. I have planned to do that this week. I also have multiple auto repair efforts to make… a transmission going bad (and no great transmission shop I trust to take it to) and a broken window (somebody stole my purse and broke my window!) and Brian’s new car needs a few repairs too. And our floors are disgusting. Having a German Shepherd indoors means hair everywhere all the time… but that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it. Jordan has therapy every morning for three hours (at home) mixed in with that, so you know… I will be struggling to feed and clothe myself between all these other things.
That’s all for today. I hope I’m able to come back for more, light-hearted, every-day blogging in the near future. Here are some photos from December and Christmas! Probably some beach photos from January too.
Carolyn earned her first level (stripe) on her belt at Taekwondo just before Christmas!
Carolyn’s break:
Here is Maggie with Senior Master Mason – receiving her level advancement!
Maggie’s break:
All the colors were represented in the “Taekwondo Mom’s” group.
Me too:
The girls enjoyed the taekwondo Christmas party – including Santa!
Maggie asked Santa for peace. And if not that, then … hmmm… I don’t remember what. I was grieving my uncle, so I had a hard time socializing, but was glad to be there.
Anna saved money, purchased gifts, and hand-painted all of the gift boxes this year. They were exceptional.
I loved this one.
Santa Clause himself – without a beard and wearing flannel – has finished stuffing stockings with gifts!
Christmas morning… opening stockings!
Christmas morning – figurines to paint from Aunt Stephanie! Maggie’s being silly.
Christmas morning – Daniel loved Christmas presents!
Soooooo excited to open presents!
Always a pleasure to see a genuine smile on the preteen’s face!
Jordan has a hard time with Christmas, but he was a good sport.
Maggie has a very contented look on her face here with her Christmas gifts.
Brian’s family was here for Christmas too!
We get a lot of use out of these connector straws!
Maggie and Carrie have been wearing their roller blades around the house almost every day since they bought them in early December.
Maggie took a picture of this neat creation.
I’m not sure what they made for Daniel to wear!
A robot suit?
Daniel likes his new magnetic tile game. He likes this shape… he calls it a pretend blender and puts things inside to make pretend soup.
Brian at the beach house doing a little programming.
Daniel and his blender and Brian and his coding:
The hot tub from the living room window.
Where we rested by the propane fire.
Daniel came out to the hot tub once!
Space.
Beauty.
Adventure.
Wonder.
Play.
Discovery.
Exploration.
Marvel.
Breathlessness.
Wind.
I love this girl.
Before losing her balance.
After losing her balance.
A rough landing!
This looked like a bizarre octopus alien in person.
Anna noticed this weird wind-blown landscape.
Her eyes!
Can you see the sneeze?
Depositing treasures before going upstairs to the rental house.
Hahahaha – hey look – he CAN grow a beard!
Lots of time in pajamas!
We completed three puzzles for a total of 25 missing pieces discovered. Undiscovered?
Poor Brian was coming down with a head cold while I was recovering. But the beach is not such a bad place to be sick.
Thanks Rachel. Loved all the pictures and videos. And congratulations on the break!
So sweet!
I love the photos and especially the balance and losing balance set made me smile!!
Blessings to you!