Quiet here? Not!

I’m sure it seems as though things have been quiet around Neyville due to my lack of blogging recently. Quite the opposite is true though. Shelbie came home on August 14th and since then I have been enjoying having our family all together again so much that I just didn’t feel like sitting and blogging.

We have spent so much time listening to Shelbie share about her trip, the culture, and the children she fell in love with. We have laughed over some stories and also felt a deep sadness over others. Our eyes have been opened to the need these children have and we are praying over what our role may be.

I have also been spending a lot of time getting ready for our new school year. Our official first day was Monday! I have six students this year, seven if I count Shylie, who is very eager to do “something”. After a nice break this summer, a much need time to reflect and think, I am excited to see what this school year holds for us. We are all going to be studying U.S history/geography together. This is going to be our main focus. I have a fun new curriculum, Road Trip USA, to use with my little ones. We also have some great videos to watch as a family. Duane and I are probably more excited than the kids to start history. We both went to traditional school where history was dry and B.O.R.I.N.G. Neither of us liked history and neither of us can remember very many of the dull facts we were forced to learn. We want history to be very different for our children. We are hoping to make it alive and exciting! Studying it as a family will help with that!

Shadd recently was fitted with an expander to prepare him for his upcoming braces. Every day I have to “click” his expander open one notch. Over the next 4 months his jaw with widen enough to make room for the new teeth to come down and he’ll get his braces on. He’s been such a trooper about this! We click him open at night since it gives him a bit of a headache and by morning he is fine.

Duane was on vacation last week. We ended up canceling our planned camping trip so we could be around since Shyloh just had a baby. We spent the week around the house. Duane started working on building us a pantry. Finding a place to store everything is always an issue here. We have a lot of people, with a lot of stuff, and a fairly small space to work with. We are always looking for ways to be creative here and utilize the space we have here. We had a empty wall that backed up to the garage that was just screaming to be used. Hopefully we get that completed soon.

This week we have had the pleasure of Shyloh and her babies staying the night with us. Jeff had to go back to work this week and we asked if she would like to stay here. With Jeff working nights it leaves Shyloh pretty much being a single parent during the work week. He’s gone all night and needs to sleep for a good part of the day. The work week can be pretty busy for her. We are so happy to give her the gift of a little more time to relax before she jumps back into life. It’s been nice for her to sleep in and be able to just enjoy holding Blessing and not having to do a lot. We have loved having them here with us. As I type this I have my sweet little Blessing tucked in a babysling, nuzzled against my chest, while Shyloh is taking a bath. I’m loving this week too!!

Hopefully as we settle into a new routine for school I can be much better at keeping up with blogging. I did say, “hopefully”!