Phinn's Quilt...Finally Finished

The Front



The Back

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!

Our first snow. You might have to click on the pictures to see the snow showers. It's been beautiful this morning!

SOLD

*When we went over to the house today to move the rest of our things out, the realtor had changed the sign. Mom and Dad close that house on the 25th of this month. We're glad to have everything out of there and ready to keep moving forward!

he picture should read sold....but close enough!

In spite of the hope of my last post...

We have 49 days until Daniel is finished with his responsibilities at the Well. In those 49 days we have to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas without blowing our budget. We need to keep on working on our debt snowball. I have to continue substituting while starting working on another venture (to be discussed soon). Daniel has to finish two classes and some research hours. Daniel has to preach 3-5 more times. I need to finish that quilt for the boy (which I am really excited about but soooo ready to be finished with). I need to have a little poop intervention with the girl. And a few other various things I'm sure I missed.
In all of this I am having trouble maintaining a focus on the LORD who is the only one that will draw me/us through this. Struggling, I am.

I miss my husband. I hope my kids don't remember the mom they have now that loses her mind all the time and sometimes yells and cries and feels overwhelming stress that sometimes vents onto them. I want to make time for quiet time in the Word and in prayer. I want to make time for a work out several times a week. Frankly, I feel so exhausted (mostly mentally) that all my down time is just that, down not thinking.

Ugh! Maybe I should change my blog name to Sarah's Sob Story.

Some happy thoughts (for a change)

I'm sort of a downer some, no most, of the time. So, in order to jolt myself out of a downer blogging funk I wanted to relay some happy thoughts for the day to you, my faithful readers. ;)
Today I had a great day with the kids. There was nothing crazy different about the day, but it seemed to be a day filled with reminders. Reminders that I do indeed love my life.

I spent the morning cleaning up, taking care of some much neglected business, and hanging out with Phinn and Gigi. While I was in the throes of my general work the kids played. For two hours. Together. Without Fighting. Gasp! It was great to be able to listen to their little conversations and pretend play. I am really enjoying the ages they are now (for the most part, anyway). Gigi can carry on a conversation with Phinn. Sometimes he's the only one that can figure out what she's saying. And I love that. Gigi is pretending much earlier than Phinn did too. I can only assume it's because he's deep into pretending and she wants to do everything her big brother does. Who knows? It's just great to be witness to such sweet beginning imaginations.

After our smooth morning we packed a lunch and trekked into Daniel's lab. What a treat to spend a little time in the middle of the day with Daddy. He's working feverishly to complete the two classes he's taking this semester, so we may not see much of him in the coming couple of weeks. It's okay, if we can take some time during the day to go visit and hang out like we did today.

Naps were good. I got to quilt a little over a quarter of Phinn's quilt in peace. (It's looking so good and I'm super ready to finish it.) My nieces came out after school and they all played outside in the glorious November weather. Seriously, t-shirts and jeans in November. I could not be happier. All four kiddos played really well together this afternoon too! That almost never happens.

Mom and Dad took the girls home and took my kids too. I was left with an empty house to make dinner. Roast chicken and waffles. Awesome!

Tonight the kids were sweet and kind and gentle and went to bed without fuss. *Sigh* You see, all of this day is completely contrary to what the norm has been for a while now. I was beginning to think I was going to be the permanent mad/frustrated momma with hooligans instead of children.

I just wanted to share that I enjoyed my day. And I love my life. And I'm trying not to expect the worst to happen tomorrow.

Now, off to read my book in silence. Bliss!

No coats in November

Friday morning we went on a hike in the woods behind Mom and Dad's house. Daniel has done this a couple of times with the kids. I had not. I may not do it again since I'm pretty sure I messed my back up during the hike. At any rate, it was a fun hike on a beautiful day.








Some crazy fungus we saw working on decomposing the logs. Very cool and, I felt, a little creepy. Not sure why but creepy. :)

It is days like this...

...when Gigi has pooped her pants TWICE and peed once
...when I feel like I'm coming down with the same thing Daniel had that kept him home sick for 2 days
...when, in spite of the 35 minute hike through the woods this morning, the kids are more mischievous than ever
...when my patience has been worn as thin as it can be without disintegrating

I wish

*I could justify heavy drinking mid-afternoon
*I had my own personal masseuse
*I didn't have to clean any more bottoms
*I could flee to my sewing world, where things have been surprisingly stress free and a bit of an escape
*I had a best friend in town so I could load up the kids and with who I could commiserate

*Sigh*