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Six Years Later

Wow, it's been a really long time since I last made a blog post. I've been feeling for a while now that I want to document more detailed aspects of our lives and not just a couple sentence blurb every now and then on Facebook. The kids and I spent the morning reading old blog posts and had many laughs reminiscing. I'm disappointed I didn't keep up with blogging, but am determined to jump back in. So without further ado, here is what we're up to.

 Audrey is 11 and entering middle school next month. She got her ukulele for Christmas and has surprised us all with how quickly she's been able to pick it up. She also is learning how to play the violin. Audrey is a slime enthusiast and every time we go to the store she almost always begs for glue, and glitter and any other ingredients needed for slime!
 Brandon is 9 and is good at building and creating things. He loves Minecraft and watching YouTube videos of others playing video games. I don't really understand the draw... but he's a fan!  He's a lot more mathematical minded and tested in the top 5% in math in all of Texas on the Staar test. He loves Imagine Dragons and whenever it's his day to sit in the front seat we all know we'll be listening to Imagine Dragons all day.
 Melanie is 7 and I feel like her birthday landing on the first day of spring is so perfect for her. She is full of life, vibrant and colorful... figuratively and literally, I never know what she's gonna come out of her room wearing. She can play dress up and princesses with the girls and then engage in a Nerf gun fight and get dirty with the boys. She loves pranks and is such a fun kid.
Elliott is working as an Asylum Officer. He interviews those who come to our country claiming asylum. He has to determine whether their claim is valid and if they can continue with the process of becoming legal to live in the US or be sent home. It's an emotionally taxing job, and he works a lot. He leaves at 6:30am and doesn't get home until 7:30pm most days, works Saturday afternoons, then on top of that he's in the bishopric. He's working so much this first year because we took a pay cut to move out to Texas but this September he will get a raise and then again next September which will ease up the amount of overtime he puts in. Good things on the horizon and a lot of good things to look forward too. We knew this first year was going to be tight on his time and financially but we've almost made it! There were many benefits to taking this job and student loan forgiveness, and a career that provides places for him to move up was what brought here. 

 Currently I'm a stay at home mom and am finding joy in being content here with the kids. I've always felt like I needed to have something else going on to contribute financially which has been helpful at times but for the most part creates a very hectic and chaotic home. It feels really good to be able to maintain the house and laundry, have dinner on the table and just overall feel like we've kinda got things together... kinda. :) I eventually would like to find something, I'm just not sure what and don't want to jump into something too quickly and regret it. With Elliott's long hours and not having my family close to help with the kids makes me a little gun shy to jump into something. I'm discovering I don't handle the chaos very well and feel this simplicity is just what my soul needs. So for now, I'm happy and content with being home but if something peeks my interest or comes up I'd be happy to look into it.

Overall we are really happy with where we are. For a very long time we didn't know what the next step was going to be and I can't tell ya how good it feels to be somewhere that we can grow some roots and start building a life. Starting over has felt like a breath of fresh air, almost therapeutic. I'm really excited for what the future holds and honestly feel like we are where we are supposed to be.

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