I'm finally back!

Okay, I've been on a blogging hiatus for almost 3 months. It has not been intentional. First, I was just busy after going back to work after Christmas Break. Then, we looked like we would have a change in the plans I posted about last time and I just felt weird and kind of sad posting about the changes. But, I'm back. I've kept up with everyone else and hope you haven't given up on me.

Now, for some updating. After taking the steps to become a SAHM, our heater went out. Then, other expenses started to creep up on us and we were really feeling the pressure. Also, everyone at work kept telling me how terrible it was that I was leaving because they thought I was such a good teacher and would really be missed. One of my co-workers, whose daughter will be in 1st next year, even started trying to talk me into teaching for just one more year so that she could have me. Then we realized that, if I do stay at home, Maddie will have to sit out of preschool because it is super expensive and there is not a more cost-effective alternative. All of this combined made me start to have 2nd thoughts. Can we afford such a change? Am I wasting my teaching talent? Is it okay for Maddie to miss a year of preschool before kindergarten? Can I teach her as well at home? So, I told my boss and Nathan that I felt that I would need to keep working and thought that was that. I would keep working, we would put off foster parenting, and just wait for a time that we could better afford this lifestyle change.

Well, then we got a call from DHS to set up our first in-home meeting. We had been waiting and waiting and then just planned to tell them never mind, we are not ready. Then, I started thinking that we could still be foster parents, the babies will just have to go to daycare. The DHS person came and met with us and BOOM!!! All of my feelings about wanting to stay at home with my own children and a foster child came flooding back. I felt like I had made a rushed decision to keep working in fear, feeling all the pressure of the expectations of everyone around me.

I still have not made a decision one way or the other. I'm glad that I still have plenty of time to change my mind and really pray and think things through. I just need to look to God and really weigh the outcome more carefully. Needless to say, Nathan is a little put out with the roller coaster of my decisions and just wants to be settled one way or the other. He tends to lean toward me working because of financial concerns but is willing to support the decision for me to stay at home.

Now, if you have had enough patience to actually read all of this, I would love to hear your advice. I know that I follow blogs who are very diverse and would love to hear everyone's perspective. Is the financial worry of letting go of half our income worth it? Thank you in advance for reading and for any advice you have!

Here are a few pictures too:

Madeline had dance pictures a few weeks ago, and we sponge-rolled her hair for the first time. I thought she just looked precious walking around in the rollers that I had to catch it. I had planned to have a cute after picture, but we made the mistake of not drying her thick hair more before putting in the rollers and the curls did not hold because it was still pretty damp. We had to go to plan B and use a curling iron when we got there. Live and learn!

They also recently had a day for parents to come watch and I enjoyed every minute of it. I had to take a 1/2 day of work since her dance is at 1:30 but it was so worth it. I need to crop and zoom in better on this but thought it was tool cute not to share before. Madeline is the 2nd from the left in the bright pink.

Well, we took the plunge!

I told my principal that Nathan and I had been doing a lot of soul searching and financial planning and I will most likely not be back next year. I won't turn my official resignation to the school district until spring but felt I needed to be honest so that she can find a great replacement for next school year.

I can't believe that I am going to be a SAHM for the first time, as we treated my time at home after having Will as more of an unpaid maternity leave. If all goes well, I will stay at home until Will starts school.

It has been a real lifestyle change but I think that we have been smart by living a more simple lifestyle while we still have my income. Its made it possible for us to pay some things off and really begin piling up our savings. It has been a walk of faith for me and I feel that my relationship with God is really becoming stronger. Before, I wanted to control every aspect of my life very carefully and now I'm relying on Him more and more and I feel such a peace at letting go.

We are also looking into becoming foster parents to babies. We are just starting the preliminary paperwork and seeing about getting into the classes. It will probably take a long time but is something that has been on our hearts since we stopped running the group home. We would plan to only have one at a time as our car will not support more than 3 small children and a mini-van is definitely not in the new budget anytime soon.

I'm sure that some who are close to me will not think that we are making a wise decision. Someone asked me recently, when talking about our choice, why we were making any changes when our kids seem to be happy, well-adjusted kids already. I was a little stumped at first, but then all of a sudden the Good Lord put the right words in my mouth. I told this person that I could have the material luxuries that my job provides or the luxury of more time with my children. When put that way, it was an easy decision for me. This person understood completely and was accepting of our decision. I'm not so sure we will be as lucky with other people in our lives but know in our hearts what is best for us.
Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on very uncharted territory for us. It is wonderful and scary all at the same time. I'm sure that through prayer and faith in Him, it will become even more wonderful and less scary everyday.

And, just for fun, here are a few pictures of the kids from last weekend. We have a dear friend who was sick in a very plain and ugly hospital room. We decided to create some artwork to brighten it up. So, please add our friend, Jo, to your prayers. She is having a hard time getting over her pneumonia.

Oh, and in new news, Will is really walking a lot now! He does still crawl some, when it is more convenient, but walks a lot. He has the funniest gait, like Charlie Chaplin and, you can tell he was in the cruising phase for a long time because sometimes I'll catch him side-stepping when he could just go forward. Too cute!

Not Me Monday (a day early)

Okay, I've only done Not Me Monday one other time before but thought I would give it another try.

1. I did not find myself so lazy that I did not feel up to figuring out how to link my Not Me Monday to MckMama's blog. I am very computer savvy and never feel intimidated by others' blogging abilities.
2. I did not get the giggles when I was uploading pictures and found this slightly blurry picture of our dog Molly looking as if she is casting some kind of spell with her eyes. I am a very mature woman who deletes such nonsense and would never go so far as to actually post it on her blog for anyone to see.
3. I did not, out of laziness, decide to try giving my food obsessed 17 month old a whole half of a banana instead of cutting it up into small pieces. I know my child very well and would have stopped myself, realizing that. . . . .

. . . he would decide to shove as much of it as possible into his mouth at one time! I am a very responsible parent who takes chocking hazards very seriously.4. I did not get so relaxed during my holiday from work that I let my children's play room get to this point. I am a wonderful housekeeper and would never use my children's nap time to read a book instead of organizing such a mess. My children's play room would never look like this one.

5. I did not have as much fun as my children playing with all of the new Christmas toys. I most certainly did not have fun organizing all of the new Little People toys into a little village after my kids went to bed at night. I spend that time cleaning up and reorganizing, not playing with the toys of a 1 and 4 year old!

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Now for the Good Pictures!

On Christmas Day, Madeline got a bathrobe from her Great Mema and modeled it for everyone. Can you tell Nathan is her Daddy? I guess I was purely responsible for birthing her:)
Will was more into collecting wrapping paper than actually finishing opening gifts or playing with what was inside them. He was really cute trying to fit as much paper in his hands as he could.

My parents refurbished an older family bike for Maddie to learn on. She took it for its first spin right in their living and dining room.

Right after my parents got settled into their new house, they decided to get a new dog. They adopted this puppy from a rescue shelter and named her Macy. She is supposed to be a shitzo (sp?) beagle mix. We will all be interested to see what she looks like full grown but she sure is a cute puppy.

Oh, and just a quick side note. I also celebrated my 29th birthday on Dec. 28th. It was a quiet celebration but nice. I am not unhappy about turning 30 next year because I know what blessed life I have had and just feel grateful for each and every year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas Update

I will do my best to update you all on everything without making this too long of a post.

Christmas came to our house and was a lot of fun! Will's main gift was this really cute Little People car garage. He also got the Little People airport from Aunt Gina and Uncle Robbie and it is too cute.
Madeline's big gift was this dollhouse. Other family members got her different rooms and a mini-van to go with the house and family. She has already spent a lot of time playing with this and I think it will be fun for her for several years.

We spent lots of time with both sides of the family. Will really enjoyed getting to interact with everyone and was walking around a lot. He still likes to crawl but really wanted to be like the big kids and walk around. He also gave everyone lots of his good snuggles. I caught him hanging out with Poppa Henry in his chair.

Right before we went on Christmas Break, the kids school had a program. Will's class came in riding in their 6 seater buggy. They rang (or some chewed on) their jingle bells to the music. Will was not shy at all. He just kept looking around and started smiling. He really enjoyed himself. For those of you who don't know, he's the one on the right on the 2nd row wearing green and white pajamas.

Maddie's class sang. . . . you guessed it, Go Tell it on the Mountain. She sang with all her heart but looked a little nervous standing up there. It was fun to see everyone in their pajamas and Maddie was excited to wear her new Christmas p.j.'s and Hello Kitty house shoes.

I have really been enjoying spending so much extra time with the kids. It just reinforces our convictions that the kids need me at home and we are working even more diligently to make that happen after this school year. God has been so good to us and I pray that we are taking the path He would want.

Here is a close-up of my beautiful girl. This picture doesn't do her beautiful light blue eyes justice. I sometimes feel like I blinked and she went from a cute, chubby baby/toddler, to this very grown-up looking preschooler.

Speaking of growing up fast, this little man is getting so tall. He got lots of new winter clothes for Christmas because he is outgrowing everything so quickly. He melts my heart daily with his sweet smiles and affectionate nature.

I will say that the slobber is out of control! I can't believe I didn't have a bib on him and recall that this shirt was quite soaked shortly after this was taken. When will it ever stop????

Maddie asked me to take the next picture as she feels she is 4 going on 13. She loves all things "girl" and parades around in jackets with purses and fancy shoes all the time. Please don't grow up too fast sweet girl!

My dad took many more Christmas pictures with this nicer camera and I plan to post them when I can get over to use their computer.

By the way, what do you all think of my new layout. I like the background but wonder if it looks to Christmasy (sp?) and I should change it soon. Let me know what you think:)

Prepare to be Shocked!

I actually figured out how to get a video clip from my camera onto my blog with minimal help from Nathan!

Let me say that there is a lot going on in this video. I was actually taking still pictures of the kids and Will was walking around by himself. So, I thought I would brilliantly capture it on the camera instead of the camcorder. You will see that this plan did not work so I had Maddie perform her program song to entertain us while Will decided to keep rearranging the refrigerator magnets. I love how he decided to chime in on the song partway through while having the pink paper fall on his face. This is very representative of free time in our house.

For those of you who might not have noticed by my voice and Maddie's. . . yes, we're definitely from the South:)

But, didn't Maddie do a great job with her song. More to come on that Monday night after their program. I will also keep trying to catch Will walking for everyone.

I have such a wonderful husband!

Okay, for some reason, blogger uploaded this picture first and I don't know how to switch things around. So, let's all take a moment to smile and admire this handsome little man's "funny" face. I mean, I may be a little biased, but isn't he just one of the cutest babies you have every seen:)

Now, back to business. . .
If the time is posted on this particular blog, you might be wondering what I am doing at home at this time on a weekday. Well, I'm spending the day with my poor sick little girl.

Apparently, she was throwing up all night.

My wonderful husband woke me up around 11:00 to say that Maddie wasn't feeling well and he was going to lay with her for just a little bit to make sure she was okay. I was fine with that because I was pretty tired and had been asleep since 9:30. I woke up in the morning and thought he just feel asleep in Maddie's room because I hadn't heard anything during the night and I'm a notoriously light sleeper. But, I found the infamous bowl in Maddie's room and a very tired Daddy that told me she had been sick all night. I told him that he should take a sick day and stay home and rest with Maddie but he had already taken a day with Will earlier in the week (pink eye). So, it was my turn to take a sick day and I felt just awful that Nathan had to go teach all day after such a hard night. I still can't believe that he didn't even wake me up! That's just the kind of dad and husband he is.

Maddie is doing well now and has been able to keep everything down. We even decided to pick Will up at 11:00. We had decided to send him to baby school until we felt Maddie was doing better.

So, I've really been enjoying my day doing all of the things I love, spending time with the kids, catching up on laundry, reading all my favorite blogs, and, most importantly, having some time to be with God and my thoughts. It's kind of sad that my life is so hurried that it takes a day off for me to really focus on the One who should always come first. I really need to work on that. God is always so good to me and he is helping me see more clearly that which He would have me do. Now, I just need to work on strengthening my faith to truly carry out His plans for me and not let my own fears and worries get in the way.