Back in the Groove

Blather on about why I took a blog break, then link to the new posts... That was the note I left myself about this post I wanted to write about trying to once again get back into the swing of regular blogging.

My guess is that with a smile like that, this little one is going to provide me with a lot of blog worthy material!

The truth is I'm busy. With eight kids to keep up with, a new pregnancy (blog announcement coming), school, laundry, fatigue, dinner, and countless other distractions, the blog just fell to the wayside. Then I started remembering why I started this blog in the first place. Not as a space that would have a major readership, but rather a family space to remind me of all the special blessings my children bring me each day. Many years ago I kept a digital journal of the funny things Hannah and Catie did as toddlers. I would have forgotten so many of them if I hadn't written them down. Now with the dog and pony show my home has become, it is more important than ever to chronicle our adventures.

My life sometimes--running around in circles and everything all a blur!

Hopefully in the coming weeks you will see more posts from me. I'd like there to be new posts about all of our current happenings, but also some "make-up" posts of all the special events that took place during my blog absence. Here's a list of what I hope will be some of those posts:

Where We Are Now
London
First Day of School
Christmas
When Eight Isn't Enough
Gabriel-isms

Birthday Posts:
Hannah
Mary
Catie
David
Peter
Gabriel

OK, that list looks intimidating. I'm just going to do my best.

Where We Are Now

Do you ever think back to what you thought you'd be as a child, a teenager, young adult? How different my life is than I expected it to be and yet how I can see the hand of God guiding me each step of the way. How surprising to be here in some ways and in other ways how could I be anywhere else? What is also amazing to me is that I don't have to look back on childhood thoughts, teenage dreams, or college aspirations to be surprised where we are.

This is my family less than five years ago.

Look at all the pink, the orderliness, the femininity. If you had told me then that in five short years we'd be expecting the arrival of a FOURTH son and have another sweet girl in that mix, I'm not sure I would've believed you.

Still, here we are weeks away from the birth of another little boy. My house is littered with cars, trucks, trains, and countless airplanes. Unfortunately I don't have a recent family picture. Hopefully that will be remedied with Easter, but here is one of my favorite pictures of my boys.