End of an Era

It's been awhile since I've been on here, I think.
:)
Vaughan has graduated from high school with his 
accelerated diploma and
Magna cum laude. 
He is the first member of the NSBHS chapter of the National Technical Honor Society, 
Vaughan has also worked 20-24 hours a week at Chick-fil-A, 
been an amazing husband and dad.


It seems like yesterday we stared home schooling.
We lived in Oklahoma then,
later we homeschooled in New Hampshire 
and finally finished the 8th grade here in Florida.
Vaughan stepped foot for the first time ever in a public school his 9th grade year. I remember it like yesterday.
We all loaded into the car that morning and drove in the car pool line to drop him at the front door.
We rarely used that front entrance again and he spent his last 2 years driving himself to school.


Then he graduated.


Somewhere along the line he received enough credits, even managed to take some college classes along the way and landed himself right smack in the middle of a high school graduation ceremony.
Shouldn't he still be little?
I'm not sure we even took the training wheels off his bike?
He just can't be old enough,
but he is
and the graduation ceremony was great!
I loved it, much different than the small high school I attended.


Now that that era of our life is over, we step blindly into this next one.
I try not to wonder too much what it will hold,
afterall this last era looks nothing like I thought it would.


"...for we walk by faith, not by sight-"
2 Corinthians 5:7

Today

Today for a few minutes I wanted my old life back.


The baby crying, the preschool training.


I was tired and just thought, "I want my old life back"


But then I wondered...
what old life?
Which one?
Life changes so much, seasons coming and going.


No it's not my old life I need back it's an old perspective.
A perspective written many years ago,
penned by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the very Words of God.


Yes.
That is what I need,
Christ's perspective.


For this life;
this season.


Christ's strength to get me through.


Today:
today, I press on toward the goal,
running with perseverance and eyes to the sky.

It's Just Busy Around Here, Even When It's Not

We've been busy.

I had two recent court dates regarding the kids, basically when the state removes children they set a hearing 5-6 months out to check on the kids and their placement.

It was pretty identical for both the cases we are involved in.

The judge said things will remain as they are.

I am back in court later this month and things could change for the older kids, but really I am unsure; our farthest our court date is in August so mentally I am preparing to have the older kids until then.

So we remain at a household of 9.

For now.

One of the biggest changes in my life right now is that fact that at court this week the judge ruled that the older two kids can now go to their maternal grandparents unsupervised.... meaning the slow wean out of our house has begun. 

They have spent the last 2 evenings there, getting dropped off shortly before bedtime.

So far so good.

Things have been quieter, today I sat on the floor playing with Aubry and panicked at one point, "Where are the other kids!?" For a second I thought I had forgotten to get them at school.

LOL

Well here are some pictures -- Aubs sleeping with her dolly.

Not an uncommon sight. Sarah, Nik, Lexi, Illana, Aubry and I all hanging out!

I got a date night with Steve and Justin a few weeks back- so much fun to enjoy them both. 

Justin purchased this lobster shirt- he has quite the style in clothing.

Lexi and I snuck out for a girls night and saw Mirror Mirror. We liked it and it was nice seeing a movie where nothing got blown up or shot up!

Illana is a drawing fool!! She loves to pick up anything she can write with and write, write, write.

 We sure are busy around here.

Wrestling Spanos style.
We just can't help it, it's our love language I guess.

Aubry reminds me a lot of Justin, always wanting to be held and loved on; the back sling is the easiest for when I am doing housework and a sling is great for out and about.

Illana got into the pantry one afternoon, Kix cereal and white chocolate chips, boy oh boy did she ever eat those chocolate chips!!

So that's been some of our day to day,
I also did some catching up on friends blogs, have been working on the front patio area and can't wait to start some new projects with pallets!!
Happy day!

The Time Is Coming...

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