Licensing

Our new "Foster Home License" arrived in the mail this week. After silence from the Department of Social and Health Services, I guess they decided to grant us or license after all...next step, petitioning to adopt. I talked to the lawyer yesterday.

This month I have also renewed both my California nursing license and Washington nursing license along with my business license. Quite a month for licenses! Too bad Daniel and I don't have January birthdays, we could take care of our drivers licenses this month too and get it all out of the way.

Life's Hike

Today was a 10 steps backwards kind of a day. There were quite a few steps forward, Capper came back jazzed after his 10 day vacation with Gramps to Canada!! I had a successful day of work. We went to AWANA (which is always fun for the kids, exhausting for the adults). But we also found out we didn't pass our foster care license renewal. And we found out that a rental home we own, which flooded during Hurricane Harvey, which we've invested plenty of money in to renovate after this incident...flooded again today. But it's just money right? It's just stuff, right?

I read a blog post about a dear friend struggling with cancer today too.

I worked with families who are struggling with mental illness today too.

I am sure I drove past individuals who are desperate to pay bills and make ends meet.

And I am here. I am warm. I am fed. My sweet, SWEET, children are tucked in their cozy beds. My husband sits upstairs, and he is faithful. He will never leave us or our family. He will faithfully get up and go to work tomorrow long before the sun rises. And the sun WILL rise...a new day...maybe a 10 steps forward day, maybe not. But regardless of what the day brings and whether or not I feel "blessed" or "cursed" or somewhere in between, I still have plenty to be thankful for. And I still have the joys (and tears) of four amazing children to remind me that life may not be easy but we can still laugh and have fun. So I'll get up in the morning (and likely 5 times during the night if the last few nights are any indicator) and I'll build our community. Our community of 6 in this home...I'll have a friend over for lunch who is learning how to cope with the chronic illness of a child...I'll meet with other moms to fervently pray for our children and the school they attend...and I'll remind myself, be not discouraged. We have plenty to be thankful for!

Word

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!