blogger mom

We're home from vacation. Week two was just as great as week one. This was the most relaxing vacation I've had in a very long time. I can't thank my parents enough for our time away at the beach. I miss the beach, I always do when I leave. But, it's so good to be home. The best part of the second week was all the time I was able to spend with my older boys in the water. The ocean really calmed down the second week. I was able to float in the water with Riley and Trey during Evan's nap time four days in a row. We had so much fun together. My parents were so kind to wait at the house while Evan napped so I could create these memories with Riley and Trey. Eric was able to spend four days with us over the long weekend between the two weeks. The boys were so happy to see him and loved their time at the beach with their dad. They were quite upset when daddy had to leave on Tuesday morning. We ended our trip with a bit of excitement. On Saturday morning at 5am my brother called to say that Nicole was in labor. We quickly changed plans and decided to do the trip home in one day instead of two. The boys did an amazing job on the very long ride home considering the circumstances. And now Baby Austin (or as Evan says, "Bebe Auten") is here. He is absolutely adorable! My brother is pretty cute too...it's fun to see him loving his little boy. Nicole and Austin should be coming home either tomorrow or Thursday.

Now were back in Franklinton. We have now lived here for a year. It's home for our family and we are so comfortable living here. Life is really good for us now, we feel settled in a way that we haven't felt in a very long time. We are very content and feel an overwhelming sense of peace as a family. Our life was in transition for over five years. It was a very difficult time for us. There have been beautiful moments along the way, but I can't say I'm sad that the chapter has ended. It feels so good to be where we are now. I never would have imagined that the journey would have taken us here, to the ghetto, when we left Bowling Green almost six years ago. But, I couldn't be happier. Franklinton is never dull. Since we've been home we've been to the neighborhood pool (picture a huge crowd of completely unsupervised kids from the neighborhood) where we were able to visit with some friends from church, sat through an inning of t-ball at the Franklinton Youth Park in the POURING DOWN RAIN, and met our new neighbors. Before we left for vacation I bought a $9 sprinkler at Aldi. It's this really cool huge beach ball that sprays water everywhere. We use it in the grassy median in front of our house and it's been a great way to meet some neighborhood kids. Several of them have played in the back yard and in the playroom with us as well. It's how we met our new neighbors today as well. I still an outsider here, probably will be for a long time. But I think we're at least viewed as kind and friendly and that's all that matters right now. It will be good to walk over to St. John's again this Sunday.

I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now by Barbara Kingsolver. It's amazing. So much is growing right now in our back yard and the community gardens...great timing for reading this book. As a family, we love creating healthy food. We've been working for awhile now on creating our "food culture" for our family. It's often adapted and always changing and growing as we continue to learn. This book is so challenging and is creating so much excitement in me to continue to not only create, but also grow, healthy food for my family. The really fun part is trying to do it all within our exceptionally tight budget. It's really become a game for us, and it's something Eric and I enjoy together. f

That's about it...more summer to enjoy in the weeks ahead.