It's a new year! Or so...

Oh my! It's 2014. A brand new year, over a year since I started this blog. I started it with the intention to keep it up but life happened and I forgot all about it. Not what I meant to do!
Here's an update from the last year:
J and I have been married over a year. We celebrated our one year anniversary by staying home I think, maybe we had a dinner date. I can't remember because I was so tired from staying up all night, every night, with our newborn.
Oh yes, we had a baby! We were pleasantly surprised in February or maybe the end of January I think it was when I felt this weird urge to buy a pregnancy test. Just three weeks prior I had surrendered the idea of having a baby and put it in God's hands. I had no idea if I could even get pregnant but we were happily blessed!
I had horrible, terrible, lay you out flat morning sickness. So-in our first 6 months, my poor sweet husband went from being a single man, to being a step father of two girls, we lived in a basement of a sweet lady
 but her son was battling some issues of his own, the septic tank had some MAJOR issues so we were without a toilet downstairs but also had a horrible mess in our living area, our families were trying to adjust to not having us be available whenever they wanted, we moved to a new place in April-that is an amazing story in itself, I was pregnant and sick so unable to really even care for the girls so he had to take over the role from just step parent to being pretty much the only parent, his dad is bipolar and went into a hyper mania and threw everyone for a huge gigantic loop-it was pretty scary for quite some time, he and I had to learn to live with each other as well-we both have strong personalities but I have to say-he is by far the most gentle of the two of us. One big reason why I love him so much and just one of a many reasons why he is so wonderful for me.
So-in our first year we have had so much life happen. Up and down and upside down and all around. It really left us reeling many days. I really feel that first year really helped us build a stronger foundation for us. It was nothing short of GRACE that we survived it together. God really can do so much!
So much life happened, so much stress, and just so much happened in a short year. He and I have both grown so very much. I think it is noticeable in both of us. Some people in our lives have had to grow as well. Some people have chosen not too. Some people struggle with us growing and changing and just want us to be who we used to be before God turned our lives around.

This year we are focusing on growing in Christ as a family and individually. We both still have areas to grow in-but that is a constant thing. I am doing two wonderful bible studies. I'll post links below. :) J is working on his own personal struggles. We are learning to parent TOGETHER. Which is so very hard for me. Once you learn how to do everything for yourself it is so hard to learn to share it.

So, Happy New year to you. I hope it's a year of blessings and joy for you. And if you're a woman, check out the blogs with the bible studies I am doing.

 http://unveiledwife.com/wife-after-god/

http://walkingredeemed.org/category/recapturing-your-beautiful-fitness-challenge/

I think I can get the hang of this! ;-)

      I feel so incredibly loved and blessed. <3  And trying very hard to have myself not feel horrible because I was feeling useless and the only things I've accomplished revolved around the computer, E1, and books. If I rearrange that thought-E1 has her school work for the day, she asked to look up a chore chart we could implement so it can help her remember her chores and she also has been helping work on her daily schedule. We were looking at some books online and discussing things she finds interesting and decided that for our next read out loud we want to do the Narnia Chronicles-well E1 does and I really want to do the Laura Ingalls books because I have some really fun activities to do. However I want her to be interested in it and The Narnia books are awesome and if it gets her reading more by all means! And by read out loud that means its usually something I read out-she is not reading chapter books yet and sometimes she can help read a page or a paragraph or she has certain words she gets to look for. We won't start this until January though.
      With her daily schedule and school work we set up a cool award system, some days are REALLY hard for her to focus and she needs extra motivation. We had an old job chart but she said she didn't like it and shared her ideas on what would make a good chore chart. E1 said she prefers to call it a chore chart because the ch sound can be tricky for her and it will make her practice that sound if we call it that. Whatever works! So she and I looked online for some ideas of what other people have done and found a really awesome one. Don't tell her this but it is almost just like our old it just uses our calendar chart instead of just poster board. AND the reward system falls in line with what we are doing with her school and daily schedule chart.
        I love that E1 loves to plan ahead, that she feels comfortable enough to share her ideas, and comfortable enough with herself to know that there are things she can work on about herself to do better. I am also glad that for her that doesn't cross the line and goes into the dangerous perfectionist territory-though it use too!
       E2 is home and even when she got in the car she was pushing boundaries a bit. I changed her bedtime routine so it starts right at dinner time. As soon as dinner is over she knows it's time for pajama's or a shower if she'd like. She seems to need a lot of downtime in order for her to prepare her body to sleep. I know she's a night person like I am but that also means we aren't morning people and since right now we have to have early mornings that means earlier bedtimes for all of us. She also seems to need at least 9 if not 10 hours of sleep to function at a nice level.
       My to do list tomorrow is looking quite adventurous.... What I told my good friend, I'm resting today so I can overdo it tomorrow.  I am kidding! Well maybe halfway. ;-)  I will just pace myself, keep slow and steady as my mantra, and take breaks often and see a good friend of mine for a much needed coffee date and catch up time, and then go to bed early. I can see that working tomorrow..... Really I can. :D

Happy Thursday!

            I am really excited! Not jump on the couch crazy excited-I am in to much pain for that but smiling like a goof on the inside and out excited. I am excited because it has only taken a bit over a year to finally start my blog. Only a year of encouragement from the wonderful people in my life who want me to share my journey through life with my wonderful daughters, who enjoy and are entertained by my journey with them, and who like to hear about the happenings in my household with my sweet girls, E1 and E2 as I call them. I am not a professional writer. I make plenty of mistakes. Grammar and sentence structure don't fall in line with how I talk. ;-) The purpose of this blog is to share my journey with those that want to hear it, to share wisdom, to gain wisdom, and maybe to add some sunshine in your life.
           Even as I'm excited I'm a bit nervous. What I am reminding myself today is, it's okay if it takes a handful of blogs to make it worth reading, it's okay if it isn't perfect, and I sure have a lot to do today and my body doesn't want to cooperate. I suffer from S.O.S., otherwise known as shiny object syndrome. My mind goes a million miles an hour sometimes and I get distracted easily.
         Today is just my starter blog. In the future my blogs will mainly focus on my daughter's and home life, homeschooling and life adventures, and the random funny things my sweet husband says. Time for to put my focus back on E1 so she can do her daily reading.

Blessings and Happy Almost Friday! :-)