Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2015. What a year we had in 2014. It was a growing year on so many levels. We are a different family at this point and I think I am going to take this opportunity to evaluate what that looks like. So excuse my somewhat random musing. 2014 started with a husband that was quickly becoming more and more restricted by back pain. From a man who competed in half Ironmans to a man that needed his wife to help him put his socks on, we knew we needed to do something drastic. That drastic something was back surgery. It came 2 weeks before we closed on our new house and had to be out of our rental house. We learned how to rely on family and friends in our time of need. We could not have done it without my sweet family coming to the rescue and some dear new friends jumping right in and doing a tremendous job of helping us at a time we really couldn't help ourselves. It was a strong illustration of what loving your neighbor as yourself looks like. We had people come out and give up their weekend to help us. It was awesome and we were humbled by the love shown us. After that crazy time, we were starting to get settled in when I began to have some health issues. I had chest pain that I was going to ignor, but my husband used the line, "Do you want your kids to wake up to a dead mom?" or something along that line. I got a complete cardiac check up and learned I was not having a heart attack or anything crazy like that. It was a long night, again, with a wonderful friend coming over and staying with the kids while I went to the doctor. Very sweet. I went in to see a general practitioner after that and went through all the usual tests to figure out what was going on. I felt awful and was exhausted. Again, for someone that has a real problem slowing down, it threw me for a loop. I went through so many tests, I now know everything about my health, and thankfully I am pretty healthy. Finally after 2 months of being told it could be anxiety, one last blood test showed that my thyroid was working overtime, and my symptoms were caused by hyperthyroidism. Thankful to finally have an explanation for the symptoms, I was able to take some medicine and finally begin to feel normal again. I was so grateful. It was crazy feeling awful everyday. Shortly after I finally began feeling better, Mike and I did a Spartan Race. I had been unable to even run for almost 3 months, so I was pretty sure I was not going to finish, and was going to be a cheerleader for my husband and my friends that had talked us into doing the race. We had signed up in February before back surgery and health problems. Crazy as it was, I was able to finish with only a little help from my teammates. It was what I needed at that point in my life. I had begun to feel weak and unable to do anything because of the hyperthyroidism, but as I went through the race, I felt more and more capable. I felt a strength I didn't know I still possessed. It was an opportunity to see God's work in my life. Realizing how weak I am and the strength he provides to me, helped me to begin to mentally heal. I didn't even realize how weak I had become mentally. It was an opportunity for God to show me what he can do through me, because I didn't have the strength to do it on my own. I know it sounds crazy for a race to have such and an impact on me, but it did. I was so hooked that I did a warrior dash with my sis the next month. It was so exciting to see what I was capable of. I didn't feel weak or sorry for myself anymore. I saw what strength God has given me. I have continued to rely on Him for my strength, because I see how truly weak I am. We began a new school year and blinked and it was Christmas. My sweet husband has settled into his new territory and has begun to get very busy. The kids have become more busy as they have gotten older. All the boys play competitive soccer. They are on teams that run year round. We love to see them excel and become passionate about something, but at the expense of free time and what I refer to as margins. We have no empty time. Mike and I typically get up by 5:00 every morning and sometimes we leave the house before 7:00 and don't return until evening depending on the practice schedule. We have had many discussion about where we can gain some margins back, but there seems to be no time to compromise. The boys are growing and becoming better soccer players, and the benefit to them outweighs our loss of time. They are also wrestlers. They are naturally good wrestlers. During the season, they are so much less likely to push each other around at home, that I find that to be a big enough benefit to allow them to continue. At least with wrestling they all practice and compete at the same time and place. The girls have their activities as well. Big sis loves her horse riding lessons, soccer and basketball. Thankfully they are all seasonal. She isn't doing anything year round yet. I want to give her the opportunities I gave her brothers. Just because I have three very busy big boys, it shouldn't mean she is cheated of the same opportunities. And I won't even start with Grace. If you could just see her beg me for ballet everyday, you would look into it too. She has speech a couple times a week, and now she insists she needs ballet. I would have to agree, since she is so cute and hard to resist. So where should I make the margins I feel I need? I don't see any. I am not really asking for suggestions. I have put this all on my plate and this is the way it is going to be for awhile. It just makes the time fly by. I can't believe how quickly the fall went. Our life is so full. We love where we are right now. It is amazing how this feels like home, even though we have only been here a year and a half. We have some wonderful new friends. Our kids have some wonderful new friends, though there is still some struggles there. It was a hard decision to make to move our family over here. It was for all the right reasons, but I know there was some negative impact from the choice. I have lost some friends but God has been faithful to bring me new friends. My kids lost friends, but they have mostly found new wonderful friends. I pray they will all find someone to share their school years with, though brothers and sisters make great friends, too. I have been thinking about our choice to adopt. I love to see what God has done in Grace's life and in our life. She is an amazing kid. She is funny and smart, and loving and passionate. She is in love with her family and shows us everyday. We made a choice that completely changed our life. There is something I feel God says to us often. Not just with Grace, but with all of our kids. He never said it would be easy, but He said it would be worth it. It would be worth it. I remember that every time I see the amazing people God has allowed me to call my children. They are better people than I am. They are loving and kind and selfless. When they behave badly, I get so upset, but I realize, it was never meant to be easy, but oh it is so worth it. Here is a snapshot of our life. I can't seem to get the pictures to efficiently load up so I will work on that later. We went snowboarding yesterday and had a great time. This is the before and after of the Spartan race.