Thankful Thursday

I haven't written in a week which is highly unusual for me. I feel uninspired and unmotivated. We've also had our kids at home for what feels like forever (two snow days and now my kids have five more days at home). I feel anxiety over the weather and the warnings that have come with it. For the most part, we can just stay home if need be but we do have certain obligations to attend to as well. All that said, I feel out of sorts. So, let's get focused here and figure out what we're thankful for.  Without further adieu..

I am thankful for:

1. Time at home with my Nya Bear. I do love my days with her. She does ask to watch TV a little too much for my liking but she also very helpful and a great partner to run errands with. Next year she will be in kindergarten 3 days a week which will be good for both of us. She is currently in daycare one day a week and she finds the full days hard to be away from me often so part time should be best.

2. These three playing together. They are doing quite well as a group, well, maybe just a bit better. Usually one person feels excluded and that is what causes problems so I think having two kids would've caused way less fighting! Kai went to a friends house one afternoon and Koen and Nya played so well together. 

3. Dessert. Gary made Molten Lava Cake which is what he made when he proposed to me. We rarely have it but he was craving chocolate so I was happy to join him in enjoying it!

4. Hummingbirds. I will try not to talk about them each week but seriously, they are cool!  This is Anna's Hummingbird (pink head=male). I've seen there tongues (so cool) and I love watching them visit each morning.  Koen loves it too.

5. My husband finding me beautiful at all times.  Often I dress nicely on Fridays (for work) or Sundays (for church). Has he taken a picture of me then? No. Here I was in comfy clothes, hair not even dried, no make up and he was taking pictures of me because I looked "beautiful". Uh okay. Thanks.

6.  The kids enjoying the snow. They haven't complained about the weather that we've had so that helps. I do not love them going outside numerous times a day and my living room taken over by drying snowsuits but I'm glad they're still getting exercise and fresh air.

7. The chance to know our Little One.  Our Little One is transitioning out of our home now and this is a good thing. I can't get into details but "good" meaning, what we hope for. Second chances. This means half the week is spent with us. We have the end date which is in less than a month. We are hopeful that we will be able to visit every 2 weeks or so...this is what makes it "okay" for the kids and I. After this we are taking a break and will likely provide short term relief for other foster parents and then open up our home again in August (we want a summer where we can travel without appointments and visitations).

8. Cavalia with Leah. I won tickets and they were for the next night! I wasn't sure if we could make it work but in the end we had a great time. Yay for winning.

9. The kids went to school on Wednesday. I was giddy for a return to routine for one day at least.

10.  Nya enjoyed swimming lessons. She is more of a natural swimmer than the boys so it was fun to see her do her thing. We did 10 sessions and that is way too long for me as we normally just do a week long one. She passed Sea Urchin and is now a Jellyfish :) I admire her confidence and sweet personality. I pray that she will be able to maintain her confidence over the years.

11.  We are going on a cruise. The caribbean. Spring Break. With our kids. I have been researching where to go for the past two months and couldn't figure out what to do. When we heard our Little One was leaving that meant we had two weeks without visits or appointments and could do anything we wanted.  A friend of ours is currently cruising the Caribbean with her family (for the fourth time I think?) and that encouraged me to check it out. We are on a very kid-friendly cruise and Koen was in tears over the unlimited ice cream and pizza. We will be cruising out of Port Canaveral, Florida and going to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. I'm a bit nervous about how much money it is costing us in the end (that american dollar!) but just trying to be cool about it as we have a travel fund so we might as well use it. We still have to figure out excursions that we want to do and how that will look for our family. We always thought we would do an Alaskan cruise, and maybe we will, but for now, the Caribbean it is! I would appreciate any and all information you can give me. Like, should I bring my own snorkel and fins? It might seem strange to take our kids but we have no one to watch them for eight days and we really do love our family vacations so much (they better appreciate it $$$$).  

{Watching YouTube videos on the water slides and ropes course in the kids zone}

So there you go! I do think the trip is causing me some anxiety as well. It is more money than we've spent on any trip since our SE Asia trip in 2013 and that always stresses this frugal girl out a bit. I've also never done a cruise in my life so there are many unknowns. I don't love this uneasy feeling but hopefully I'll be able to get answers to some questions over the next month and feel better about it all!

What is something that you are thankful for this week?

Love,
Louise