Mia is such a treasure and is thriving at home with our family. We are all in love with her and fight over who gets to hold her when she wakes up in the morning. Of course I pull the mommy card and win every time....I'm sneaky that way;O)
The past two months have brought many changes to our family. My mom was here from the time we arrived home on the 11th of Jan, until Feb 7th. It was nice to have her since she really got to bond with Mia and get to know her. She wasn't here for Alea's homecoming and didn't meet her until four months after bringing her home.
Warren started a new job in February. The day before we left for Taiwan to pick up Mia, Warren was laid off of his job. He's a carpenter and the job was coming to an end. We were so thankful that he had work right up until the day before we left. What a blessing that was. We didn't have a job to come home to, but God already had that in the works also.
A longtime friend who we haven't really seen in years had heard that Warren might be needing a job. He called out of the blue and asked, and low and behold we did! Perfect timing and only God:O) What a blessing you are to us Mike and Michelle!! Warren began working in Aberdeen on the 520 bridge construction. He leaves at 3pm and gets back home at 4am(thankful for the job, HATE the hours). He does this six days a week. Sunday's are our family day with a nap squeezed in there for Warren:O) We are hoping that he can get on day shift in the next couple of months and are praying that those months pass quickly.
As you can imagine this has really affected our homeschooling style and life in general since Warren sleeps until noon. We've had to try and find a new normal with our homeschool schedule, a new baby, and daddy's schedule. Juggling these things, along with a pre-teen and a spunky pre-schooler have been ahem...challenging, to say the least. We haven't found our "new normal" yet, but hope to in the next month or so.
Alea is doing well. She's absolutely in love with her baby sister and takes her role as big sister very seriously. She has begun more pre-school activities(as I find time) and loves learning her letter sounds and numbers. We haven't seen any jealousy out of her towards her baby sister. I think God just put Mia in her heart from the very beginning and she has enjoyed the change. That is a huge answer to prayer for us!
Caleb and Ethan are doing well also. The enjoyed the time off of school the first few weeks that I was home. I couldn't even get together the brain power to think about lesson plans. Then Warren started working and we had to change things up again. We are planning on getting them in to Karate and they are thrilled about that. This momma just needs to get her feet in gear and get it done:O) Ethan will be 10 years old on Easter Sunday. That means I'll have two in double digits and two in diapers, lol!! Alea is only wearing pull-ups at night, but still... Caleb will be a full blown 13 yr old teenager in May and I'm just hoping that the hormones balance out soon:O)
Mia is an absolute doll baby and is the easy part in all of this change. Well mostly easy(she still won't sleep through the night). But we are getting closer. I predict that once she is no longer sick that she will settle in soon. She is rolling from her tummy to her back but won't go in reverse. Many times after putting her down, we are running back upstairs to roll her back to her tummy. She is a tummy sleeper and will NOT sleep on her back. You can imagine the issue she has with the car seat. She's on her back, and when she gets tired we all hear about it while her tears flow. She's such an easygoing little one and a delight to everyone who meets her. Once she studies you for a minute then her face will light up in a big smile. She has twinkly eyes:O) No teeth yet, but they are coming.
Thank you all for your prayers and support during this crazy time in our lives. I'm looking forward to sharing our happenings as our lives grow and change. God has been so good to us and I'm so very thankful for His love and provision for our family. We love to have visitors and if you're in the area, please give us a call. We would like to introduce our newest treasure and to see someone other than each other now and then, haha!
Lots of Love,
Jenn
