Back!

After another hiatus of, well, life, I think - I hope - I am attempting - to be back to blogging.  Life has just been busy.  Good stuff, bad stuff, in-between stuff: all of it normal, but since I'm the kind of person who can only have so much on my plate, blogging went to the wayside in favor of laundry, childrearing, and all those other mundane events that make up the beauty of my vocation.

It seems like I have so much to say, but for the last few months I either didn't have much to say that was blogworthy (aka, not full of negativity and complaints), or I just didn't have time to blog, period.

One piece of big news:  our old home sold!  3 weeks ago, our beautiful first home, the home we brought home our first four children, the home Paul built a fence around, the home we began a tradition of an All Saints Party in, the home we grew and loved in, was transferred in ownership to someone else.  It felt strange, but not as sad for me as it was for Paul.  He is more sentimental than I in a few ways - leaving cars and homes is one of these ways that he "feels" things more.  For my part, I have to admit that the house wasn't the same as the house we knew and loved and lived in, for our belongings were out, and so was the faded old carpet that came with the house (beautiful hardwood underneath, but the carpet was better for kids learning to walk on anyway, and I never feared ruining the floors!), so letting go wasn't as difficult for me.

We are very thankful for the prayers and intercessions of all who thought of us as we took the leap of faith in buying a new home while having yet to sell a home.  God is good; He made His plans for us known, but only to a point.  We followed in faith, and it was rewarded.  Only 4 months on the market, and we are satisfied with the terms.  We were very, very blessed in this.

Please bear with me, as I may or may not be putting up many posts in the next few weeks, or just one or two each week.  I have the drive to do so much, but then the baby growing within me somehow needs every last bit of energy I have, and I am left drained and with a cloudy brain.  For example, I have an overdue DVD from the library that I actually never made time to watch.  Frankly, since I can't leave it in the outdoor book drop, I've put off returning it because paying a fine seems easier than having to run in to the library building and return it - that involves getting all the kids in the car and, pathetic as it may seem, these last two days, I figured I'd rather pay a buck than get us all in the car.  :-)

Baby is doing well, and I have beautiful ultrasound pics to share, but I'll do so in a separate post.

Sophia is getting her last 3 molars as well as her third front bottom teeth.  Paul is a little sad that soon he won't be able to call her "Two Tooth" anymore, since she'll now show more than just the bottom two when her mouth is slightly open.  Sophia also manages to show off her independence and strong will.  She's a beautiful little girl and I'm going to have to stop calling her "Baby" pretty soon.

Luke is, for real, a big boy.  Finally.  He got it last year, when I worked with him and, to my chagrin, blogged about it - and then I had to let it go - because he was successful, but only if I was constantly, hourly, on top of it.  Now, just shy of 3 1/2, he is going potty on his own, often without even telling me he has to go, and is dry through the night as well.  This just happened within the last week or two; hardly the difficulty I feared.  He is so proud of himself, and I am proud of him, too.  I have some great pictures of him from his first Big Boy haircut from a few weeks ago (he looks SO grown-up and handsome!) and from today when he got a gift from his godparents.  Those deserve a new post, too.

Nadia is getting excited to school and I've got the majority of her 1st semester planned out.  I actually have 2 math activities for her each day, in the hopes that she'll get a good start.  I have another curriculum for math that I'd like to incorporate for her and Luke, too, if they have interest, but I have to keep expectations reasonable.  :-)  Really, the problem is not my understanding of math, nor hers, but my poor ability of clearly giving mathematical instruction.  I'll think of more things to update with her for a future post as well.

Kassia is doing really well in all things, too.  She needs me to tuck her into bed now, so I'll have to save more updates for another time.  Besides, it's 8pm and, these days, that is brain and body shut-down time for me!

Blessings!
Katie