Day 71- Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend is over, and it has completely solidified within me that I am where I am supposed to be for so many reasons.

First, we took in a stray. No, not an animal... a person. Lol. A friend of NG's from high school is down on his luck and we took him in for a few days to help him get on his feet. It reminded me of the time that there was the huge earthquake in Haiti and I wanted to adopt a couple of children from there. I knew it would never happen, but I mentioned it to OG (old guy) because there was an ache in my heart over not being able to help others in need. He thought it was a stupid idea. Really, I shouldn't have been surprised. He had never been a 'sharer'. He would give things away and he could be generous, but he didn't like to share things that were 'his' ... his house, his car, his life, ... you know, anything that anybody might 'mess up'.

Anyway, my point is that this is filling a similar space for me. I feel like we are giving back, changing someone's life, just by opening our home. In return, we are also teaching our children lessons about how we treat others and help our friends.

Secondly, we went out alone during the day and had a little bit of fun. Eating, talking, shopping, just enjoying each other. It didn't have to be a big party or anything... just the fact that he took time for me on my birthday was important and meaningful to me.

After that, we had A LOT more fun. A few people joined us and we started playing Pictionary. After the girls totally whipped the boys' butts, we switched to skip-bo and then went down to watch a movie. We ended up not sleeping until 5am. I haven't stayed up that late in forever! Lots of fun.

There has been a lot of teamwork this weekend as well. Closets are being filled, the house is taking shape, kids are learning a routine. I wake up here in the mornings and never wish that I was anywhere else.

P.S. I would like to thank our local school district for ending my birthday celebration with a final big "hurray" by sending all of my children back to school today for 6 hours. You guys rock!

Day 70- Real Life Begins

Tomorrow is the first day of school this year for the six children in this house who I love and can't wait to send away 8 hours every day. Seriously though...

I have glorious plans for the hours that they will be gone. These plans include cleaning a bit, showering, getting dressed for the day, and writing, writing, writing. I also plan on pre-preparing foods like noodles and freezing them. I'd like to get some more moving, unpacking, and rearranging done soon as well.

On one hand, while I know enough to know that I probably won't get to all of those things every day, I do have an incredible hope within me that things will be much better here than they were where I was last year... mainly because I am not doing it alone.

Today I cut NG's hair for him. I don't think I did half bad... We'll see what he says next time I offer to cut it...

Our house is coming together bit by bit and tomorrow I will probably spend a lot of time putting everyone's clothes away in their closets. For the first time tonight, every one of the children is sleeping in a bed! Yay!

I really want to make sure I keep writing here. I think this journey we are all on is going to teach us more than we can imagine and change us in ways we can't dream of. I am so excited to be starting a new chapter of my life with all of these children and the man that I love.

P.S. I had a great birthday yesterday and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Day 60 - Be careful what you ask for...

I know, I know, I have been gone a long time in blog days. For the last week or so I have tried to sit down and write, but just don't seem to have the time I used to have.

When I started this blog, I called it 365 Days to Forever because I was intent on making sure that my life, in one year's time, would be very different than it was when I started the blog. I even joked to friends that maybe I should book a church for next year just in case this whole things works out... of course, I hadn't even met NG yet at that point.

"Change; we don’t like it, we fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either

adapt to change or we get left behind. And it hurts to grow, anybody who tells

you it doesn’t is lying. But here's the truth...the more things change,

the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes

change is good. Oh, sometimes, change is...everything." -Grey's Anatomy

So, I am 60 days in and have 305 days to go... My life is so different now that I wouldn't have believed it two months ago.

I am now living an hour away from where I used to be. (Believe me, I resisted strongly for awhile... but it really is just 'right' for us.) I now have six children instead of four. I've doubled my number of dogs and fish tanks as well.

The main difference though? I wake up happy to be where I am. I wake up feeling safe and secure. I wake up with a smile on my face... and it usually lasts a full few minutes before I hear children running and screaming at each other upstairs... and amazingly, I'm still happy to be here.

ealing with the screaming and antagonizing? Well, that's a post for another day... hopefully soon.