The Round Up

Ok, this is officially the longest I've ever gone in between blog posts. But I think we are finally starting to surface after a busy couple months and a handful of curve balls :).

You know those seasons when you start to forget the last time you had a full conversation with anyone over the age of 9? Well we are there. Anyone else there too? Awesome. Let me just give you a hug and remind us all that someday far, far away the children will grow up, we will surface from underneath the laundry pile, and we will frolic in our new found freedom.

(No we won't.) (Yes we will.)

Ok maybe we'll "miss this stage" just a little :).

I know. Her hair. It's magical. Advice on products for insanely curly hair is welcome.

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I have been loving time with Lincoln in the mornings during preschool. Like, really loving it. Soaking him in and playing one on one, it's been fun and a much needed season for us. Kinley and Raya love preschool, they are at the same place A was at last year - which has been hard on some mornings when my pregnancy hormones are in complete overdrive.

Life after a long term placement has proved to be interesting. Which I think is why I seem to be flying below the radar lately. I'd like to answer this foster care question that I've gotten a lot recently, "How do you give them back and how do you let go after so long???"

The answer? You don't.

You never let go of how you loved someone. My heart will always have a place for those 2 girls, the ones that literally rocked my world for almost a year with good times and reeeeaaallly hard times. There is a part of me that will always feel like their mother, and there are times when I want to see them really bad so I can just make sure they are ok. I've had days when I wanted to stay in bed all day because the situation they went back to haunted my heart so deeply - thankfully, I had sisters walking me through it who spoke truth and reminded me of His faithfulness. We really feel at peace with what happened, and even though I worry about them and I have my moments of "what if's, and should have's, and could have's", I feel that everything happened just the way He intended. The Lord helps you let go of your plan and reminds you that His plan is best. But the love and the story will always be in my heart...there is no letting go of that part :).

So. That was a little heavy. Sorry about that, folks.

Moving on.

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We have started throwing some names around for babe #7. And while we have a few we like, we can't come to a conclusion. Not that we need to immediately. Eric doesn't like picking names early because he says I tend to change my mind after fully committing to a name. After all, you do remember the great name debate we had in 2004, right? You don't? Well let me fill you in.

Eric thinks that I waited till he left the hospital to name Ella. He says that the other name we had in mind was the one we were definitely going to use, but then he says I put "Ella" on the birth certificate instead when he went home to take a shower.

Not true, friends. Not. True.

He does still hold me to that though, and he is still wrong. We had come to a conclusion to name her Ella, he just forgot that at some point during MY 24 hours of labor. That's my side of the story people, and I'm sticking to it.

So clearly we could always use some help in the name department. I'd love a name as strong and manly as Lincoln. Any ideas??

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So that's about it. Nothing insanely exciting or new, just normal life in these parts. We are sitting outside and enjoying this crisp, beautiful weather today - I truly could not love Fall more than I do.

Back soon! And I mean it this time :).