Friday, September 29, 2017

Foster Pups #42 through #45

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't even been doing a good job of keeping tabs on the foster pups in and out of the home as they've been coming and going so fast! We took a quick little break this week (but could have had pups) and will be back at it tomorrow! Needless to say we've had lots of opportunity at puppy cuddles (and big puppy messes)!  But they've all been so darn cute and cuddly!!!








Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Life Lessons: Contentment

I posted a few months back about a journey we were/are on of accepting what God's will was for us.  I felt like it was time for a follow up.  This last year, as I've posted before had been a challenging one for us, but we really sought God during the struggles and that has changed ever aspect of our lives for the better. But that doesn't mean time still goes on without challenge or disappointments.

My last post on this topic was us trying to resolve our disappointments in a healthy way. That our desires and goals may not be God's desires and goals for us.  Peter and I are both extremely goal driven individuals and always seeking our next big goal or dream. Life has really calmed down to a bit of a boring standstill and that's not how we typically thrive. We enjoy chaos and change. Being content in the still moments has been challenging, but I also see purpose in it. We've had really hard things to work through this year. But not seeing our goals and dreams met at the pace we may hope to see them has still been hard.

I know from research that the early 30's can be a tough phase of life. We currently have a lot of young kids pulling us in all the directions young children pull us in. I am also attempting to school 3.5 early education learners in 4 different grades and that alone feels like it has become a full time job.  We have children in different developmental phases with the attitudes and behaviors associated with that! We have financial strains as we try and save for the future, renovate areas of the home, go on vacations while the kids are still young, and just in general meet these kids needs and activities on one income all while cost of living increases at a far faster rate than wages. We have distractions and busyness trying to pull our marriage and family apart. We are busy and active and this phase of life will stay this way for quite some time. We want to push ahead and meet our dreams and aspirations for our lives and oftentimes feel the pressure. I am not complaining because there are so many wonderful things about this phase of life. I love having active, busy, healthy children. I love that I am able to stay at home and school my children.  We live a very wonderful life!

But we still have a lot to learn on this balancing act of life. Life is good, life is challenging. We goal oriented folks want to check off those goals and fulfill our dreams!  But something we have learned as we first last year sought God's will and now through the summer as we strive towards a content life, we have some how found genuine and real happiness. This is where it is at!  And I want to shout it from the rooftops sometimes. In general, our lives have always been good, but this is different and better, like we've found the holy grail! There is real joy and happiness to be found when you seek God first and accept what He has for you even if it is different than what we want!  Our lives aren't perfect, we still suffer disappointments. Life is always challenging and stressful. But we are still choosing to always be thankful, count our blessings and be content. God has us in this place for His purpose




Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Foster Pup #41 - Icon


Well we did a terrible job of photographing this little guy.  He came during a busy week.  In my opinion he was so ugly he was adorable!  We felt so bad for him as he didn't have any active fleas or ticks but his poor little body was covered in healing bites. Very sweet, a little shy but adored the kids and well, he was a little bit yappy so he was one of the few pups who got to spend the night in his kennel out in the garage.  But all in all, very sweet little boy. I felt bad for him because he was returned by families twice after they said they would adopt him.  This does happen from time to time as people aren't up for the challenge of puppy hood, but seriously, twice?!?  Fortunately 3rd time seems like the charm and he has found his home!  As usual, Eli adored him and the pup was quite fond of Eli too!  



Monday, September 11, 2017

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun and busy extended Labor Day weekend down at Peter's Grandma's house.  The kids look forward to visiting every year and there's always plenty for them to explore and do.  There's far more photos of the sunsets than are necessary, but the only good thing about the smoky sky in the area is the beautiful sunsets and we had a perfect view to enjoy them! 






















We also stopped for one extra night to see my parents who were staying on the northern part of the coast.  That was nice because it was a halfway stop on the drive home so it was broken up nicely! Hard to see but the whales were all over out in the water and it was so cool to see them so close to shore!



Peter and my Dad went out bottom fishing and crabbing the next day! The kids loved all the crab! 


And a little bit of pool time before heading home!  Love our family time away!