1. Is would be so easy to stay focused on the sadness, but I know God is good, God is in control of all things, even the passing of Bryce. The Hurt and the Healer collide. I watch my sweet friend suffer pain so deep, yet she allowing the Lord to be glorified even here. Another reminder that the aching of this life is a revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy. To see how the Body of Christ worked as God designed it to was something beautiful that I came away with from the celebration of Bryce. God has been good to keep Bryce and his family in my mind often, that often means tears, but it also means prayers. I have prayed that God would keep me faithful in praying for them often.
2. We are moving. Not sure we were as prayerful as we should have been when we decided to move. Our long term plan has always been to move closer to Brad's work. We've often said when we could sell both houses (the one I owned before we got married that my sister rented from me and the one we lived in) we could finally afford to move across the tracks (literally). In January my sister got remarried (he seems very nice, my sister is happy, her girls like him) they moved into a bigger house and I sold the NRH in about a week. One house sold, low interest rates, being really tired of dealing with the congestion and traffic to get out of our neighborhood, and the fact that our across the street neighbors were able to sell their house in a short amount of time for way more than we thought they would led us to put our house on the market and see how it went. It went on the market on Mothers Day weekend and sold on the 1st day of school in September. We closed in the middle of October. We are building in Trophy Club. The new house was suppose to be done in Nov. We do not have a move in date yet. They just poured the foundation 2 weeks ago. Our best guess is late Feb/early March. Interesting note. our old across the street neighbors are going to be our across the street neighbors in the new house as well. Totally unplanned, just happened to work out that way. We like them and glad to know at least one person in our new neighborhood.
3. Current residence, Brad's Grandmother's house in old Roanoke. (Very close to Babe's and all the other wonderful resturaunts in downtown Roanoke for those of you familar with the area) Brad's Grandmother passed away in Aug 2011 and the house has been empty since. So the family has graciously allowed us to live in the 889 square foot, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1950's layout and small closet house, no garage (only a one car carport that still houses his grandmother's car) with a huge backyard RENT FREE. I feel Jennifer Lewis' pain in trying to fit your family in a small house with inadequate closets. At least ours is only for a short time. The bathroom has room for exactly one person. The shower head is about 5 ft 5 in high. It works ok for me, not so great for my 6ft husband. He says he is going to join a gym just for the nice showers. The window unit keeps the living room very cold (love those hot temperatures in Nov) but the cool air struggles to make it inot any other room in the house. Hoping the weather will turn cooler soon. The furnace (once we figured out how to light it) heats the entire 889 sq ft. There is a small wall gas heater in the bathroom. We had one in my bathroom growing up, so I know how nice they are. Brad and his sister are afraid of them and of carbon monoxide poisoning. My mother in law said if the house were air tight we might have a reason to be concerned, but even if there was a leak, we would probably be fine. I think my favorite thing is the kitchen sink. The is no dishwasher, which I am fine with. Since there is not much counter space, the dish drainer is in one side of the sink. When I fill up the other side to wash dishes, then unplug it for the water to drain, the dirty water fills up the other side of the sink with the clean dishes. So I tried to just run the water and use dish soap on each items and not plug the sink. But when you you run the water at a normal stream the sink fills up with water and then the other sink also fills up with water. So I have been reduced to running the hot water at a little more than a trickle to wash and rinse all my dishes. I have asked my mother in law about this. They paid a plumber to come out before we moved in. I think the consensus is, this may be as good as it gets. But did I mention it was rent free? The house is on 1/3 of an acre, since 889 sq ft does not take up much room the backyard is HUGE! The girls love it, the dog loves it! His grandmother's neighbors (Jerry and Chico and Max and Martha) have lived next door for 50 plus years. They are so excited we are there. They are very sweet. My girls have enjoyed getting to know them. Presley wants to live in this house when she grows up. We are blessed. I am trying hard to become a minimalist. Carin is my role model. So far I am failing miserably. Who knew it was such hard work to become a minimalist. I haven't given up hope yet. So are enjoying our time being close and learning that we can live with much less. I'm sure we will quickly forget how the train, the busy traffic on business 114 (one street over) just adds to the loudness of the washing machine and dryer (that are in the kitchen) and the window AC unit. We could stand to lose some of our hearing anyway! Right now I am grateful that my rent is free, I can put away all my dishes without having to take a step, I can lean over in my bed and look through the door to check on my kids in bed and when we put any unwanted item out on the curb for big pick up day it is usually gone within an hour.
4. New Elementary School. Since we moved out of our house, I went ahead enrolled Presley in her new school. (The Roanoke house is not much further from the new house) I was as nervous or maybe even more than Presley when I dropped her off for the first day. I know exactly three people at the new school. One is the assistant superintendent and kids (He was wonderful about talking to the principal about us and to make sure Presley was put into a good class, very appreciative of that), one is Kennedy's preschool teacher and kids ( they also are in our small group at church), and our old across the street neighbors who will be our new across the street neighbors. I knew the new elementary was a good school. We went from the largest elementary ( 7 second grade classrooms and 150+ kids) to the smallest (3 second grade classrooms and 65 students). When I met Presley after school on her first day she went on and on about how much she liked the new school, even better than her old one. God was good and went before her. I know how blessed I am that the transition was so smooth. When I asked what was better her response was: "I got to hang from the monkey bars at recess from her knees and she got to talk at lunch." Half the number of students does offer some luxuries. When I would pick her up from school in K and 1st I would try to talk to her about her day, she NEVER wanted to talk much. Now, she chats on and on about what they are doing with out me prodding. I love that! At her old school she met one friend that she really liked and that she would talk about. (We love her, will continue to stay in touch with her, and are very grateful that the Lord blessed her with a sweet, Christian friend). But now she talks about the girls in her class and she wants to hang out with them outside of class and invite them to her birthday party. The move has been good for her. Am very grateful.
5. Presley: I am learning to be the mother of a perfectionist. She is a great reader. (Thank you to Leslie who gave me a quick tutorial on Lexile levels and how to pick appropriate, good literature to read). She told me one day that she felt funny in her stomach, she felt like God was trying to talk to her. I told her to listen. She said God was telling her to read her Bible, specifically the book of Job. I was very glad I had Karen Henley's 7 minute a day Bible at home. She and I read Job together from that version. Still playing soccer. She is improving and liking her team. I think wants to continue. I was surprised and encouraged when she stepped out of her comfort zone and wanted to participate in the cheer clinic for our local high school. (She hates to be in the spotlight and cheering on the football field with lots of people in the stands watching would be my definition of being in the spotlight). She is 7, she is precious, love her sweet spirit, love that she comes home from Bible Study Fellowship radiant, and am glad that I can count on her to try to do the right thing.
6. Kennedy. Turned 5 in September. Is in her last year of preschool. So glad I get to have her at home one more year. She plays well by herself. She likes to learn when it is on her terms. (Which means she does great at school but not so much for me). She is playing soccer. She is pretty good. She scores a lot. There are no goalies in the U5 division. At one game I noticed her counting on her fingers after one goal. I realized she was counting the number of goals she had scored. She was running out of fingers. The next game she would flash the number of goals with her fingers at me at she ran back to for the kick off and after a bit of show boating. One time when another girl, who does not score often, scored I shouted "great job Isabella." Kennedy's response "I passed it to her." I realized the problem was going to need to be addressed when she found a small spiral in her Mimi's car on the way to her game and handed it to her with a pen and told her to write "Scores" at the top and to keep count of all the times she made a goal. I am praying for humility. I am sure it will be painful. But much better to learn at 5. She is funny. She likes to be the center of attention. She gets along with others. She does not care what other people think of her, so she is liked by many. She will probably need to be in speech. I am hoping she will not always be a whiner. If I would let her watch tv all day long, she would. She is an antigonizer, like her Daddy. She desperately wants to ride her bike without training wheels. She likes to snuggle with her Mom. Love her.
7. MS Update. I've been good. I still have normal issues that will plague me from time to time (random numbness, tingling, vision issues, temperature sensitivity). They come and go sometimes for 24 hours, sometimes they come and go for several weeks. But I am getting use to them. I still have random UTIs that are hard for me to diagnose and even harder for the dr to treat. So I have resigned myself that I will be on heavy antibiotics a few times a year. Would love to be able to figure out a way to avoid that, so far I am down to only two for the 2012 year, an improvement from 2011. I still qualify for co pay assistance for my medication. Very grateful that they pick up my $3000 yearly prescription deductible, I pay $0 for my $3500 a month medication. God is good. My dr assures me that I will not have to take daily shots much longer. Praying the new medication options have no terrible side effects so I can change soon. The only issue that has been difficult to deal with is fatigue. I have tried to get enough rest. When I feel like I am getting sick I go to the dr, I don't wait to see if it will get better. I try to stay on top of things. For the most part that has helped, but on occasion I still can't escape it. In Sept I noticed my allergies were starting to bother. I went into the dr within 24 hours of my first symptoms to get a shot and a z pack. I didn't even feel bad yet, I just knew it was coming and still fatigue hit, hard. I was (take a nap every day) tired for about a month. I think the frustrating part is that is nothing I can do to make it better. I just have to rest and wait. But really I am doing well.
8. The Year of Jenn. I am calling mine "the sabbatical" After reading the newsletter I think I may rename it The Year of DeAnne. I am just saying No to everything. I really felt God calling me to simplify my life and clean my plate. So I quit working at the preschool on Tuesday's and Thursday's, I stepped out of my leadership in BSF, I resisted the peer pressure to teach Sunday School, and do not allow myself to feel guilty about not making it to Wednesday small group until after soccer season is over. The only thing I have on my calendar any given week is being a class member in my day BSF class on Wednesday mornings and church on Sunday mornings. I am trying to focus on my health, our diet, and being able to say yes to what God calls me to do, which sometimes is sitting on the back porch with the senior citizen next door neighbor and keeping her company. Keeping my plate cleaning is a challenge. But I cannot be that busy again. I felt like my plate was so full that not another thing could be put on it. I felt bad when my mom had several bouts with vertigo, I really needed to go over and do her laundry, clean her house, but I did not have the time. I was over committed. I had a new next door neighbor (in the old house, not the new roanoke house), she did not have family around, she was new, she knew hardly a soul and had two girls my age, I needed to be able to reach out and help keep her kids so she could go to dr appt or school conferences, but my plate was past full. It was full of good things. But I felt it was preventing me from being able to do "the good things that God had prepared in advance for me to do" instead I was doing good things I wanted to do. So I am on a sabbatical. I am not making any long term commitments. For at least this school year. And then I will be prayerful about any long term commitments to make sure they are in God's will for me, not just a good thing I want to do.
9. Blogger App. I have not downloaded it yet, but I think I might. Perhaps I might actually be a better blogger if I could do it in the hours I sit in pick up line, dr offices, etc.
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