8 days in to 2018. My word for the year, it's "Community."
2014, the first year I decided to meditate on one word, the word LISTEN. I still remember individual comments, people I really listened to whom I would have otherwise taken as a casual exchange. I remember a man at the library, I remember a stranger on the sidewalk, I remember them because I really listened that year. I hope what I learned that year continues to carry through into the present and that I listen still.
2015 was the year of BRIGHT which included the unexpected death of a child...yet her light shone as bright as ever that year.
2016 Trust...we began the year obtaining our foster license...we trusted that God would work through that and bring us the child he wanted in our home for a season...we ended the year with not only a foster child but an unexpected pregnancy...it took a lot of trust.
2017 was the year to GROW, and that we did! I grew by 35 pounds and then lost (most) of it with the birth of our newest member. Our house also grows as we are moving from about 1,000 square feet to over 2,000 square feet. Daniel and I were challenged, our marriage was challenged, we spent a lot of the year not really liking each other, but with all growing pains, we made it through and I'd say we are stronger now!
So here I am, feeling like COMMUNITY is the direction I'm headed. As a friend said, "you're all of a sudden done building your house and your family and are instead cultivating what you have built." We are also sinking roots into this valley. We are so happy living in such a close community, but it's not close without some investment so we're moving outward. Opening up to opportunities around us and relationships to invest in. I'll try to let you know what comes about as a result!
Today we added another Royal to the family! We are so happy that Sophia will be part of our family forever!
And now it's time for us to take a break from foster care for a few years. We have full hearts but also full hands and a full home. Time to focus on these four children and attempting to train them up with love, discipline, and a heart for Jesus.
Our farm continues to grow. Lightning, Skittles, and Chocolate Chip are doing fabulous, except they can't keep up with the wildly growing pasture! Sometimes one will call out fearfully because she has lost the other two in the towering grass. We chose sheep because we wanted something that would keep the pasture down, would be low maintenance, wouldn't cost a fortune to over-winter (feed during the winter), and wouldn't escape continuously (like goats do). Sheep seemed to be the right choice. Plus we have a couple sheep-farming neighbors so we can share resources and bounce ideas off of them. We're starting with three ewes and will get a ram eventually. We are hoping for some adorable little lambs next spring. We will keep the ewe-babies to raise up and sell the ram-babies. We chose Katahdin because they seem do do well in our area and because they are hair sheep! They develop a woolly undercoat in the winter but shed that for an entirely hair coat in the summer- no shearing required!!
The muddy pile of clothes on the floor; a reminder that girls caught frogs today. Filled a bucket with seven frogs, some green, some brown, one even looked bronze. And that bucket, it was next to the canoe that was left in the pond after the 6 year olds' most recent excursion: a bucket of rocks, a bucket of water, two paddles, and a grimy rake its only remaining passengers.
