Life changes

As some of you may know, our life recently took a big change. My good friend here had a successful VBA2C (Vaginal birth after 2 C-sections) on 2/29. I was so happy and excited for her. However, this past Monday, the day after his baptism, her newborn ended up in the hospital with RSV. I quickly volunteered to take her older two kids, ages 4 and 6. None of us realize how severe it was. They transferred him to another hospital this week and at this point, it looks like he'll still be in the hospital for another 2 weeks. I am going to continue to keep her children. Thankfully they flew her husband back from deployment, but they need to focus on the newborn, and they feel the older two are in good hands. (I hope so! ;-))

This has been a BIG change for us. I now have to make sure we're up every morning at 7, get everyone breakfast and dressed, walk 5 kids to school at 8, come back home, walk back at 10:30 to pick one up, and then again at 2:30. It's not bad, just much different than we're use to. At least I'm getting my exercise in ;-) I also managed to take four to the grocery store the other day. Completely survived, after dealing with Hannah screaming for about 5 minutes that she wanted a car grocery cart.

Her kids are very well behaved, and falling in to our schedule, routine, and rules pretty well. The first few days I was "easy" on them, but since learning it will likely be another two weeks, I've insisted they start following some of our rules, etc.

It's opened a lot of dialogue for my husband and me. It does give us an idea of what having 5 would be like... Yes, the ages would be different and they'd all be ours, but the logistics of getting places with 5 would be similar (ie is it easier to just walk to mass or load 5 in car seats today... and HOW are we going to get through mass with 5 kids?). There is still the same amount of dishes and laundry, and oh boy! Am I failing on that!! Plus baths for 5 kids, and cooking for 7 would be the same, which I'm managing, but it's still challenging. I'm VERY grateful that some people have offered to bring us a few meals here and there, along with the mom and dad. Plus, dealing with whining and tattle-tailing, and the if we were to have 5 kids while living here, and how that would be and feel. (cramped! I already couldn't stand where we live, but to add more kids, oh wow.)

It's also opened our eyes to what adoption and foster care could be like in ways. Obviously I realize they would have a lot more issues involved most likely, but this must be similar, my kids and the other kids learning to get along, learning who's the alpha dog, learning what's acceptable in the house and not, etc. etc. And since we've definitely considered both as well, it's been somewhat eye opening.

Like I said, it's given us a new insight on a lot of things, and left me thinking, imagining, and most importantly, praying. It shows me that my desires for more children are still there, as I'm loving having a full house (now that I'm getting use to it). We've never really been in a position where we've had the chance to pray and seek God about adding to our family, so this is a brand new adventure in and of itself, and it's hard to know what God's saying. We know that we are suppose to wait for a bit longer at least. I think for now, we'll just get through the next 2 weeks, then worry about the rest. ;-)

With that said, homeschooling has been put on a back burner for right now. Oh one of the joys of homeschooling, and one of the joys of just doing preschool. My kids and one of the others are very interested in Shadows lately, so I may try to do some research on shadows and try to make a learning experience out of that, if I can find the time. I'm dying to do some crafting, but that's been on hold as well. At 7-7:30 all kids are in bed, so I TRY to finish dishes, and all but pass out by 8. Coffee has become my best friend again. Speaking of which, I think my fresh pot is just done, so I'm off to pour a cup. Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday.

And most importantly, please, keep baby K in your prayers, along with his parents J & J.

Short homeschooling thought

I saw this in a comment I read on a blog, and I loved the idea so much, I wanted to share (and write it down to remember). This woman was talking about being stationed in Germany and homeschooling, and how each summer, they do a unit study. The first summer was on WWI, and they visited many WWI places. This summer will be on Middle Ages, with a goal to visit a new castle each week. And next summer will be WWII, including a trip to Normandy Beach. There are so many places we could visit here, that if I could come up with a "unit study" like that, and focus where we're going on that, and give the kids more info before we go, it might be really worth while! Loved the idea!

Six months

It is hard to believe we have officially been here the first 6 months. Everyone tells you "The first 6 months are the hardest." So we're hoping that things look up from here. We can't say it's been "HARD". Parts have, but the past 2 months have been relatively easy. We're settling in to somewhat of a routine. Homeschooling was doing great, up until the week on Love, and then I've fallen behind because life God busy. Hoping to pick back up this week, as the kids have been bugging me to do school. I have goals for the coming week, hoping to take each day at a time.

Goals:

1. Get up with husband, if not, no later than 8am.

1b. Go to bed by 10 most nights, 11 at the absolute latest.

2. Have everyone get dressed, make beds, comb hair and brush teeth every morning.

3. Work out at least 4x this week.

4. Complete my Bible study before Thursday.

5. Do school at least 4 days this week, including reading books, some crafts, and some fun time.

6. Go outside and play at least 4 days this week.

7. Go to mass on Wednesday.

8. Work on my diabetes management more.

9. Finish crafts and get them mailed

10. Finalize what curriculum we hope to use for K next year.

Anyway, Germany... do we love it? No, not at all. We really don't like it at all. We're trying our best to be content. Jon apparently felt it when we first moved in, and I'm really beginning to feel closed in and cramped in our little apartment with three kids and so many toys, and no real place to do school. We're praying about possibly moving in the fall, or after. We'll see what comes and how we feel then. We can't move any earlier than Sept. We also hate that we don't have a backyard, and our kids have to play on a playground, with us out there, and a bunch of much older kids. I'm really trying to make sure I take the kids out in the morning when the older kids aren't out there. I hate the language barrier, and I'm just not picking up German like I had hoped. The idea of traveling is all good, but you have to have money, and a family that wants to do it. My husband doesn't like to travel at all unfortunately. So, we're stuck here for 3 years, and are doing the best we can to make it a positive experience as much as possible. Hopefully the summer will bring more joy.

However, I do feel very blessed in that I LOVE our church on base and our Catholic community. Right after I started here, the Catholic Women's group, which I had already joined, created a new Bible study for "Moms and Lil Catholics". Through this group, I have met some awesome, very conservative Catholic moms who all have kids the same age as mine, and are all about the same age as me. This is a very new experience for me, and I'm LOVING it and feeling so blessed. Also, my husband seems to like their husbands and able to relate to them, which is a very new thing for us as well.

Anyway, with that said, mass is in about an hour and a half, and I need to run and start waking up kids and getting them ready. Happy Sunday to all!