An update.

I started this post a few days ago and it brings me Joy to reread it and see how truly blessed I am!

Wow! It has been so many months since I have posted.

So much has happened since last October when we were just beginning to feel what it was like to have my husband working as a service technician with PSEG.

God is so good. All my fears and worries were quickly gone and we were blessed with a new house in a wonderful neighborhood that Nov! It was an amazing gift from God and now we have been here for almost 4 months and I am still loving every minute of it. The weather has been unusually warm for being the dead of winter and my kids have been able to play outside in our backyard almost every day since we have been here. For Christmas we got them a 7ft trampoline with the net enclosure for our backyard and they have been jumping away since then.

We have enjoyed doing school together on our big sunlit front porch. There is definately something about the presence of the warm sun on your face that makes even schooling enjoyable for all!

We have enjoyed MANY play dates with all of our friends that we dreamt about having over when we were in the apartment. Lots of sleepovers and even a slumber party for Jon back in December for his 11th birthday! I have enjoyed many long talks and laughs with dear friends over tea and scrabble. Prayed with and shared tears of joy and sadness with some of the wonderful people who inhabit my life. I had my house full of 20 women and 18 children at one time when we had an in home demonstration for my sister! It was glorious! I have always dreamt of opening my home to bless others and so I am so grateful at this time in my life I really can.

Petes schedule has been nothing less than crazy, but we are so blessed by all the overtime. He leaves at about 6am and doesnt return until between 8-11pm most evenings. I feel safe where we are now and I have become use to single parenting and our schedule. We keep ourselves busy and by the time the end of the day comes I am very ready for my children to go to bed and get some quiet time alone. I am so thankful that in truth I am not a single parent because when the days come that my husband is actually off I am joyful because its so wonderful to have the extra hands.

The children have both been wonderful. They are both growing and changing so much. They are both really enjoying home school this year.

Jon is really thriving in 5th grade and I have REALLY been enjoying teaching him this year. I have enjoyed it so much that I thought if I was ever a teacher I would want to teach 5th grade. He is a hard worker, diligent and so very smart. His favorite subjects are still History and Science. In History we are studying the Eastern hemisphere, currently on Africa. In science we are studying Energy. He has really improved in Math, last year he was really struggling with fractions, etc and now he is zipping through them confidently. I am so proud of him! He is starting his second season of travel soccer and he has been training with a friend of ours over the winter to build up his skills and confidence. He was really excited about his first practice on Monday evening and we are looking forward to the season. I love Spring soccer because of the weather! His love language is definitely words of affirmation (just like me). I love him because he is so gentle hearted with younger children and older people. Im praying he always stays this way!

Little Miss Kylie Joy has really improved as well. She is my example that I always use when a parent thinks that their child is unfit for home schooling. I think back to last year when I had her all registered to go to our local public school for Kindergarten and how I really felt strongly that the Lord wanted me to home school her. I admit I was questioning God thinking that this was not for her. Well, its beautiful when you see Gods plan unravel because my girl is such an amazing home school student. She works so hard to do her very best work, never gives me a problem when its time to do school and she really enjoys it. She is a social bug so she does love many play dates with friends and asks me every single day where we will be going that day. She loves her friends dearly and will still talk about her little friends from pre school like she just saw them yesterday. She reminds me a lot of myself in that way. She LOVES to read and is so excited that she is doing so on her own. Shes quick at math and catches on to new concepts quickly. Sometimes she really surprises me! She is a (very) sensitive, warm hearted girl that sometimes this Mama lioness has a hard time understanding. Im the dust yourself off, get up and try again kinda' girl and she needs to dwell and cry a little more than most little girls. Her love language is absolutely physical touch and I am so blessed that my husband has some of that love language as well and so those two stick together like glue!! She is very tall, already wearing size 7 pants because of her height. She has an absolute love for ALL animals and her and her Daddy can lay close together for hours watching animal shows of any kind. She gets very mad when people call her Dory dog "dumb" and you can often find those two cradled together under some table throughout the day. She has a special call for Dory that Dory responds quickly to and the dog seems to love her just as much. Dory has attended many tea parties, magic shows and Kylie has recently been training her in the back yard when she plays "dog show" with her. Bows and all, Dory is a trooper! I love her heart and I am so blessed to be her stay at home Mommy that can really know it the best.

Pete and I are taking a trip to The Riviera Maya, Mexico this coming March 15th to attend our friends wedding. This is the first time I have been out of the country and only the second time I have ever flown. I am pretty nervous, but my excitement has overidden my nervousness at this point and I am really excited that we are actually doing this. I know that once I am finally there and relaxing I am going to be happy and all the stress of planning will be worth it. makes sense that this is my first trip and stress will come a long with it. Maybe the second trip will be a little less stressful!

Look for lots of upcoming pictures from our trip!

In Him,

Anna