2012

i want to start the year off right with a blog post.....since i wasn't able to finish it with one (i know....slacker). now let's see if i can do this before midnight....ha!

i want to start by saying what a great year 2011! i am truly blessed. let's start with the obvious....a wonderful husband, three amazing girls, great family and friends..a really awesome bible study (love ya girls), of course i could go on and on! these last few months have been exceptionally great (should have blogged about it, huh?) spiritually i am in a place where i haven't been in a very long time, if i can even say that i have been where i am at...did that make sense? i will just say that my daily time in the Word and in prayer has been my most precious time of the day. i have experienced God's peace and joy and presence in such a way that i am overjoyed and busting at the seems excited. His word is alive and alive in me....i am hoping and praying that i can be a reflection of all that i am learning and experiencing.

new years resolutions? be more selfless, loving, kind, PATIENT ;-), love on my kids more, complain less, blog more....and stop biting my cuticles (it's disgusting and it hurts)!!!

so today we start a new year....

kylee has started taking medication to help her sweet brain keep it's focus. since upping the dose a little it has calmed her down a little (though you can tell immediately when it wears off.....she is kind of like a balloon being deflated...the words just come from her mouth 90 miles an hour and she can't sit still) and she seems to be finishing tasks effectively. honestly though, it is hard to tell right now since we are on Christmas break. we have no routine going...and no homework to finish. i will be anxious to see what school will look like in the next few weeks. it was a tough decision for alan and i to go ahead with the medication route. but if it would help her, why wouldn't we try it. she is a sweet girl with a big heart and a wonderful brain....it just works differently...yet, like many others! i just keep praying God will give us wisdom in all of this. it is so easy to get caught up in the challenges that are brought our way....focusing on the negative instead of the positive. i am choosing to switch my focus....i am going to look at our beautiful children with God's eyes (He gave them to me, He lives in me, why shouldn't i use them). He created them, He knows them and everything He makes is wonderfully made! He makes beautiful things...just like that song by gungor (LOVE that song). each one is unique, different strengths, different weaknesses...different spirits, but each one is so wonderful, so beautiful.

i can feel bad for my girls knowing that they have two parents who were oldest children and are very much perfectionist and big KIA's, but i have to stop myself and remember that God gave me (us) all three of three of them. though i don't feel like i will be able to do a good job as their mom, God knows that i can because He is with me. i am willing to be molded into the mother he wants me to be. i need to take a deep breath....and trust.

our sweet little alaina jean, probably feeling a little lost in the middle right now. so much focus has been on the oldest and youngest these past few months...or has it been more like a year...hmmm?? she is our more bendable child...probably because she has too. half way through kindergarten and she is doing so well. i think she is reading like a champ and writing so well. i am very proud of her. she is still likes things that sparkle and loves to mass produce books! not kidding....she will go through an entire ream of paper in two days. we have a lot of teaching ahead of us about conservation!!!!

miss mya actually has a few more hairs on her head....maybe when she is three we can put in piggy tails ;-) sweet thing has everyone wrapped around her finger....probably one of the reasons she is not talking a whole lot. though after her 18 month check up....in which she didn't pass her hearing screen (i am pretty darn sure she has no problem with her hearing) she has actually started saying more things....or at least trying to. so far she says "yesssh (far better than "no"), dada, momma, peaase (please), baby, yanks (thanks), jo jo (our elf on a shelf), ky ky (kylee), ka cker (cracker), papa. She is really trying to say more, it's just a little challenging figuring out how to put all those sounds together. like when she tries to say Bible, it comes out as "bluhhh." it's pretty funny. she really is a smart little thing. she knows what she wants and how to tell you in her own way. one day when she was playing with ohie, it was time to pick up the toys and she didn't want to. when ohie said that they needed to put the toys in the bag mya went over to ohie and pushed her (ohie) with her hand, like, "you go do it." she tried that on me a few days later and i don't think she got the reaction she had wanted ;-) most may give in, but not this mom.....of course i do have to laugh first! i start early in teaching them to help out. we make a mess, we clean it up. unfortunately it hasn't always worked as well as i hoped....at least it has not been initiated independently (with the older kids i mean).

okay, i think i need to stop now. this post has made it very clear to me that i need to post more frequently so that it is not a book every time, but instead of a chapter...or bleep. happy new year to all!!
(side note: i started this post on the 1st and i did not finish this post before midnight....it took two days to finish....sad, very sad!)