UPDATE ON THE MAMA

The video I took of Jasper isn't computer-ready yet, so until that happens, I'll keep going down the rest of my list of blog posts. Today is the update on yours truly.

**As I mentioned in my last post, it's been a rough ride for the past couple of months. About six months ago, I wrote a post about overcoming the sin of gluttony and overeating, and how this has always been a struggle for me, but that I'd found freedom. Well, guess where Satan hit me hardest? Yep. With food. Even as I write this, I cringe inside because I just don't like admitting such weakness, and over something that seems so silly. But everyone has their downfalls, their struggles, and this has been mine. I'm going back through the same course again, and God is opening my eyes to new things about His grace and mercy, and His quiet peace, that I've never understood so clearly. I am thankful for this. I also know that I'm traveling a long, hard road, and I am thankful to have God at my side, flexing His muscle and doing the grunt work that I'm not strong enough for. That's update number one.

**Number two is book stuff. Nothing has happened with the first book I wrote, although I've been sitting on a couple more proposals to a couple more agents that have yet to be sent, and I'm also considering sending my work straight to publishers, but I haven't decided yet, and I'm not in any hurry. I'm actually working on two others right now (for pure enjoyment/hobby). One of them is a sequel of sorts to the first book I wrote, and the other is a completely random YA novel that I started a couple of weeks ago in a burst of inspiration and plot/character ideas. The sequel is about 60 pages in length right now, and the YA project is about 30 pages so far. I go back and forth working on the two, depending on my mood. It's fun to think about my kids reading these books when they're older, that I've written while they're babies.

**I am trying to gear myself up for more projects around our house, like hand towel ties to be sewn on that keep towels from slipping off your oven or refrigerator handle, painting our computer desk, touching up our baseboards and crown moulding with white paint, and the horrifying, hair-raising prospect of painting our kitchen cabinets (EEK!). I've recently tackled the finishing of Jasper's first year scrapbook (FINALLY!) and am organizing ALL of our pictures into their proper albums, and creating new albums where appropriate. This includes photos of our honeymoon cruise, our trips to Prague, China, New York, and Washington D.C., pictures from college, and pictures of the boys over the past year. LOTS of work ahead on this, but I've gotten a lot done already. Michael and I also tackled trimming (hacking is more like it) back the huge live oak in our front yard, and a pair of gigantic crape myrtles. It was so shaggy and bad, we had to rent a chainsaw to get the job done. It took me hours of pruning a little here a little there, and then both of us working all weekend to finish up, but there's so much satisfaction in feeling like your yard is actually landscaped, instead of a party-site for whatever vermin feel like roosting in your wildly growing greenery :).

**I'm in a place in life where I'm also trimming and pruning back things in my life that are unnecessary or cause unwanted clutter/complications, and the more I cut away, the better I feel. Simplifying one's life is a beautiful thing.

**It has struck me lately that I am one blessed woman when it comes to my friends. I have so many wonderful people who love me and my family more than I could ever hope to deserve, and all I can say is how grateful I am, and how needed these precious, beautiful people are in my life. A friend and I were talking over coffee the other night about how funny it is that you can have different friends who serve totally different purposes in your life, and they are all needed and desired, and wonderful to have. That's the way I feel. God has orchestrated each of these friendships, and I hold them all close to my heart. Friendship is one of God's coolest inventions :)

**I am so thankful to be able to breathe again (both literally and figuratively). The boys and I have been sick for over a week (Michael avoided it and remained healthy as a horse, as always), and it's so nice to be out from under spiritual attack for now, and to be physically back to my old self again.

**Jasper John turns two on the 14th, and I just can't believe it. I still talk to him like he's a baby - something I've really got to stop doing - and I know that's still my mindset. I know I feel even more that way because of all his health issues and hard work to get to where he is today. This has been a year of tough milestones. Four and two are just so different from having a toddler and a baby. I'll write an update post just on him when the time gets closer. For now I'm just biting my nails nervously, in disbelief that he's been a part of our family for two whole years. How blessed we are.

**I am researching what to do with Bennett for school. He will be in pre-K next year, so there's no real urgency, but I'm a planner, and I like to have my ducks in a row. We're considering homeschooling...(Michael is a huge fan)...never thought I'd say that, but there you have it. If you've even remotely considered it yourself, I highly recommend a book I'm reading right now called The Well Trained Mind. A friend of mine who homeschools her kiddos loaned it to me, and I'm so glad she did. It has really opened my eyes to the goals we have for our family, and the feelings I have about it all. More on this when I know more about which way I'm leaning and what road we are actually going to start down.

And there's a full, well-rounded update on the mama for you.