Today, I have hope

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If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you will know that our family was created via adoption.  All four of our children were adopted at different times but are indeed a sibling group.  This is significant because this means that all four had very similar lives in the womb and upon birth.  We are still learning about what their birth mother’s choices means to them.

We are learning about Fetal Alcohol Exposure and it’s affects.  We are learning about autism, oppositional defiance disorder, dyslexia, OCD, development delays, and so much more.

There are days where just living with those things means that there isn’t enough energy to do much more than fall into bed and pray that tomorrow is different. Those days it’s easy to feel hopeless.

Then there are days like today – when someone hears you and gives you a few more things to try and you start to believe we will indeed make it another day, week, month, year.

Today, I have hope.

No, I’m NOT crying over the spilled milk!

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I’m crying because

  • the fight. The every-single-day-fight of why he needs to do this school work.
  • the fact that when he finally did settle down and get to work, he mis-spells every single word in the sentence except the curse word. Great! He’s a curse-word-spelling savant! Sh*t!
  • the fact that his little brother can’t find his headphones to do his computer work. Every single pair offered to him was “not right”. STUPID sensory issues.
  • the fact that there is TOO much for me to do.  I have to sit here hour by hour overseeing their seatwork but somehow I still need to make sure the menus are planned, groceries are bought and prepared, laundry and all the other chores that make this house keep going are all done too.
  • the fact that there are just TOO many of them.  I can’t meet all their needs. I can’t even come close.
  • I’m frustrated.  THAT is why I’m crying!

(Sorry for the vent – I’ll get a second wind and be back to ‘normal’ soon.  It was either write this post and be angry or keep crying!  Thanks for letting me get it out!  FASD SUCKS!!!!)

Unexpected Mommy Break!!

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Yeah!!  My sister-in-law just called and asked if Sissy could hang out with her this morning!  Sissy literally jumped up and down at the idea!

The teenagers are still in bed.

The kitchen is clean.

Dinner is planned.

Bible study is done.

Bathroom is clean.

I have nothing to do but grab that pesky library book and a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy!!

Yeah me!!

Lost a few days

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Saturday we woke up and started a slow, quiet day.  We were headed up to my Sister’s house to visit with my Dad, stepmom & uncle by mid-day so there was no reason to rush.  But then as I was getting ready to go, Hubs got a call from one of his sister’s asking him to go over to his folks house and take his dad to the ER.

Pretty much from that moment until now, we’ve been running around trying to get it all done.  And, somehow we got quite a few really necessary things done too!    I’m so thankful for a Husband who can make a plan and is actually willing to get to the end of it.  My Hubby might not be perfect (no one is really) but he is a perfect match for me. When I get overwhelmed he can cut through all the chaos and distraction and help me make a list until I can see my way to do my own again.  I’m so thankful we have that in our relationship!

So, no photos of the day for the weekend.  I’ll start it up again tomorrow.  I’m really into giving myself some breaks right now as there are some seriously big issues I’m dealing with and trying to make sure I truly post a picture a day just isn’t.  🙂  Maybe I should change it to “Project 365ish” lol

Lights out!

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Last night I took J1 to youth group and I guess I missed some fun!  😉 The lights started to flicker – there was a short burst of hail and a fast wind moved through and then it got very quiet and dark. The electricity went out.

Hubs and the boys took quick action and lit our lanterns, some candles and made a fire.  Our heater still works when the power goes out so I think the fire was more for light…and it was a good choice.

The kids brought out pillows and blankets to the living room.  Surprising me they also brought me books to read to them by flashlight.  I read Go, Dog, Go!, a few chapters of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Goodnight Farm!  I think there were more, but that was all I remember.

Honestly, it was so nice that I think we need to do this periodically – well, not in the summer heat!  When the power came back on 1.5 hours later, no one ran to turn the TV or computers on.  It was a nice change!

Here are some pictures of our evening:

And, the view without the camera flash:

Project 365 – Day 98, 267 to go!