A little of this and a little of that.....

Every so often, when I download pictures from my camera's memory card, I find a handful of pictures I did not take. :) Nathaniel, it turns out, took the above picture. He caught me in a position I find myself often these days: face-to-face, working through a problem with a child, Johanna in this case. While I normally don't keep the pictures Nathaniel captures on my camera, I wouldn't have thought to take this picture and I'm glad I have it now.

A friend asked me about adopting out of birth order, essentially, what's the big deal? I've put alot of thought into what I think of the answer to that question---and it will be a blog post all its own when I'm done putting my feelings into words----but I will say this:

 Parenting is work. Adopted parenting is hard work. Adopted out-of-birth-order parenting is very hard work.

Like any good, hard work, the rewards are great. Dr. Purvis calls the rewards "pay dirt". I call them blessings. Tonight, when Johanna shared a blessing at the dinner table, she said, "I'm so thankful for Daddy and Mommy giving me a family who loves me." Call it what you will, pay dirt or blessings---either way, the rewards make the very hard work WORTHWHILE.

But, the season we're in, especially with Johanna, is very draining. I wake up every morning and try to embrace the challenges that come my way throughout the day. Some days I'm more successful than others, lol.

In other news, Brent starts a new job on Monday. We're all very excited for him as he's been hoping and praying for a new job for about a year!

I'm getting very excited about starting our new school year. We take off school in the spring and head "back to school" in the summer when it gets hot outside. We're going to be switching to My Father's World curriculum this year and I CAN'T WAIT to start back to a school schedule. So much of last year was simply survival mode.....this year, I hope to get much more accomplished. (Well, that's a bit vague, as we did accomplish alot this past year, just not as much "school" as usual, given the extra challenges we experienced.)

Last weekend, we volunteered at the local Special Olympics---so much fun!---and spent the remainder of Friday and all day Saturday at our state's Homeschool Conference. Some years, we try to get a babysitter so Brent and I can attend the workshops offered, then other years, we take all of the children so they can "experience" the fun of the conference. This was a take all of the children year. :) They did amazingly well for two super long days, and we all had a blast and arrived home exhausted (and with bags and bags of new books!)

Tomorrow, I'm going to post Part 4 of the Finding Joy in Motherhood Series. Then I'm hoping to tackle some more of YOUR questions from the Game Time post. And I've redone the girls' room and need to add that to the Home Tour. Oh, and I made the most fabulous cinnamon rolls and wanted to share the recipe with you all.

So, keep checking back (or follow my blog to receive updates!) and I'll chat with you all again soon!