Hi, November! Bye, November.

Oh, hi. I have a blog.

Its coming on December now and while I love to write, I'm finding I don't have the time. If its a paper that's NOT due for a school-something-or-other, it goes unwritten. I suppose its the phase of life I'm in, but who knows. Its also possible I've just lost the zest for blogging frequently.

We moved into our new home back around October 1st. The move did not go very smooth and at the time it seemed horrible. Almost unbearable. Now, looking back 2+ months, I laugh at how silly I become when things aren't easy. How quickly I forget God is in complete control and I am not.
There's a Steven Curtis Chapman song called God is God and I am Not that I find myself humming a lot these days ;-)
The short version of a very long story (with all the dramatic details you'd get if you were sitting here sipping coffee with me in person) is... the man selling us the house wasn't ready to move out when he said he'd be out. We got here with a truck filled with our home in it and had almost no space to unload it. But we found space, quickly made arrangements for our family to sleep at a friend's house {we have amazing friends} and grabbed whatever belongings we could find and needed for the next 24+ hours. The night went well; kids all slept fine and Miles slept on the floor like a champ for the first time! We were able to at least sleep at the house the next night, but it took him an entire week to be mostly out of the house in order for us to be mostly in.
I had a day where I completely lost it. Sent a very desperate texts to Jason at work, called a friend and cried like a baby, and prayed a whole lot.
In the midst of all the chaos, Kara turned six and we had a lovely celebration for her. We spent the day as a family and she had her annual birthday breakfast alone with Daddy, followed by a treasure hunt and gift opening.
She says she loves being six and was thrilled to lose her 1st 2 front (bottom) teeth right around her birthday.
We went to Beni Hana's for her birthday dinner {also tradition} and just enjoyed taking a breather and celebrating our crazy, spunky, sassy girl. I can't believe its been six years since we met her. She's

We love the new house. Its a lot smaller than our previous homes, but it has worked well for us.
We've already done some work in the backyard with our good friends Nick & Amy, but come Spring, there's still a lot more to do.

We managed to escape the horrible Fall sicknesses that loom around at the beginning of school and everyone sharing germs. This is the first year in the history of us that we haven't filtered through some disgusting sickness during this time of year.
I'm telling you, if I wasn't a firm believer in these essential oils before, I am now. We've been using DoTerra oils since last October and haven't seen our Pediatrician since last September. No joke. Aside from slight sniffles and a random (light) fever here or there, my kids haven't been truly ill in a year. I'm beyond thankful because I know at the bottom of all the "oil magic" lies a good and gracious God.
When we kept hitting sickness after sickness I did step back and pray about ways I could try and improve our families health and one major conviction was that I change up our eating habits. We didn't become weird mountain or cave dwelling people, but we did cut out a significant amount of sugars and said good bye to most boxed foods. It was hard for about a month and now it feels like a normal way of life. And like I said, we're not overly strict with it and we do allow junk food in moderation at birthday parties and events like that.
Its been a good change for our whole family and even our Dentist has noticed!

This has been a really busy but fun school year for us! Our move threw me off schedule which has proven to throw me off completely, but God keeps reminding me to S L O W down and relax. My kids aren't going to miss out on college because they didn't learn more about Columbus ON Columbus Day. Seriously, people, I need a chill pill sometimes.
I'm officially home schooling all 3 older kids now and so our days have become a bit more intense and there's definitely a need to at least lay out a "this must get done today" schedule.
Because Miles is at the darling, fun, and incredibly obedient age of 2 1/2 -NOT!!!-  we save some of our schooling for his nap time, so its thrown our days off a bit, but so far its working for us.

My Mom came up for a week in early November and during her stay she took care of the kids while Jason and I went to Vegas! Our first getaway with NO children in .... 3 years? Something like that. It was fun and while I didn't love Vegas (I hope never to return) I loved the alone time with my husband and enjoyed actually looking at him at meal times, not having to feed any other little people at the table, and best of all, not having to clean up the mess :)
When you're a stay-at-home wife/mom, it takes very little to please us.
Jason went to Vegas for a business trip and we saw it as a golden opportunity for me to tag along and turn it into a parent getaway trip.

I don't want to write too much in here because, well, Christmas letter! but I felt like something needed to be said on here. We're still alive and kicking. Looking forward to my favorite holidays of the year {Thanksgiving} and excited about doing lots and lots of cooking in my big kitchen this week.

The days feel like they're going by too fast. It sounds cliche but its totally true. My baby is turning 3 in five months. I'm honestly having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one.
I often go to bed and tell Jason that I didn't finish nearly half the things I had hoped to do that day. I even find that I get in bed and worry that I didn't have the right conversation with that child, or did I hug that child enough, did that child hear me when I told that very interesting and insightful story or will he/she fail when he/she is older because I didn't speak directly to them?! - Its all the silly things I need to remember Jesus covers when I simply can't.
Laundry always needs to be done, piles of clean clothes are typically found on top of Mom's dresser, dishes are almost always in the sink, "what are we gonna eat for dinner" is a common question around 5pm and still, no one ever knows who moved the important thing Dad or Mom is looking for.
But all of this reminds me to give thanks. Not just in November and not just because its Thanksgiving. But to always give thanks. We have clothing, food, dishes, school books, a car, friends to keep busy with, places to travel, family to enjoy seeing, church to attend, the ability to serve others and Jason has a great job.

I am thankful. 

And I'm done with this post.
Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you!









Comments

Gina said…
Happy Thanksgiving Arnolds!
Charlotte said…
Love it when you post! And I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND about not having time. And time going so stinkin' fast.

I write way more on my blog, but then my kids are way older than yours. :-) Seriously, if I had a blog when they were the ages of your kids it would have been photos only, not even captioned. Life seemed a lot busier then, and it is still busy but I am learning to delegate. Chores to the kids, cooking, cleaning...let me tell you I love having three daughters. :-)

Good to "hear" your voice again and to catch up...have a great Thanksgiving!
Stef said…
thank you both! You guys are my faithful readers :)

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