January: A Good-bye.. and a Welcome!

January. 

      Oh January. 

What a month so far! 

Evelyn started gymnastics, a gift from Santa. She loves it and it's a great workout!

The kids also had their Christmas programs and parties at school, since they missed the few days leading up to Christmas break due to snow. 

My mom has been here since the beginning of the month. 

I had surgery to take care of some things left over from my triplet pregnancy. My mom flew out the day before and has taken charge of the household, along with my grandma (who was here for 2 weeks too) The plan was that she’d basically be shuttling kids to preschool and just maintaining the flow of my weekly schedule while I rested and recovered.

 However, it hasn't worked out how I planned. 

Portland experienced snow and ice -"megandon". 

The first day it snowed, it was exciting. It took my grandma and mom 30 minutes to get everyone dressed appropriately and out the door. 

They built a great snowman and went sledding down the hill near our house.

However, the snow turned into ice. And ice is not fun to play on. 

In the name of safety, everything was shut down-school, activities and church.

We were literally trapped in the house. With no where to go, the days started to drag on and on. 

Exhaustion took over my grandma and things got tough with bored, stir crazy kids. 

 My family has been insistent  that I do nothing; they want me to take advantage of them being here so I can rest, heal and be recharged by the time they leave in three weeks.

James needs to rest and recharge too

 The first week I was home from the hospital it was easy to lay around because I didn't feel well. However, as I’ve felt better and better it’s been harder for this mama to remain so inactive. I am healing well though, and I know I will be back to my same self soon enough. And my Mom’s right: soon it will be me in charge again, and I need to have energy reserves.

Something else big happened this month. 

Amanda our beloved nanny who has lived with us for 2.5 years moved on to something else.  There were some tears and bittersweet emotions as we said good-bye. She blessed and helped our family so much, and we will miss her. But we are excited for new opportunities for her, and she will live in the area so hopefully she can visit once in a while.

Good Bye sweet Amanda!

God always takes care of us though. When Amanda told me back in September she would be leaving in January, my heart sunk. I still felt as if I needed some sort of assistance in my daily life with the kiddos,  and the thought of going through the whole process of looking for a nanny and interviewing again was overwhelming.  Amanda has been with our kids since the boys were two months old; I also lamented the fact that this new person would have to start from scratch in getting to know the kids and our family. 

However, I immediately felt a peace and gave it over to God with the expectation he was going to work it out, because He always does. 

Sure enough, finding a new nanny was so wonderfully easy and perfect. One evening in the fall, before I even started looking for anyone, a dear girl from our gym’s childcare (who knows our kids and babysits for us) texted me, saying she heard about our open nanny position. She was extremely enthusiastic, and even though I told her it wouldn’t be available until mid January, she agreed to wait. This was too good to be true.

 My kids adore Kennedy, and Kennedy has a very upbeat, joyful, fun personality we need in the house. She’s intelligent, a hard worker and just an all around pleasant person to be with. And, as an added bonus,  she already has relationships with all my kids because she's been with them at the gym and has done some babysitting for us since they were very little!

 All my worries and concerns were addressed and solved. 

And so, Kennedy moved in a week ago and she has blended right in with our family. Even with my family still here, she embraces the quirks and craziness and sits down to family dinners and it feels natural. 

Grateful. 

I am so grateful that God provided Amanda for the season he did, and I am so grateful he continues to be faithful and provide in this next season with Kennedy. 

Welcome Kennedy!