Thursday, November 15, 2018

Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

We are in a very bittersweet phase; transitioning our foster daughter back to her mom. This is awesome because mom has done the hard work and this is what we hope for. It is hard because I like to have some control in the situation (like, I know what her days will look like here) and she's a sweetheart that we love. The other sweet part (of the bittersweet) is that we will now have more time/energy/space in our home to focus on our own kids. I look forward to pouring more into our biological kids over the rest of this school year as one of our kids in particular could really benefit from even more of us.

By the way, if I ever write a book it may have "Bittersweet" in the title because I have grown and stretched so much in those moments of my life.

Okay, so what am I thankful for today?

1. That I can play hockey. I've said this many times but will add that because our Baby Girl is now gone some evenings, Gary and the kids could come watch me play and take photos. I love that my kids can see that women rock in sports and you're never too old. I am thankful that I am healthy enough to be active and look forward to boosting up my fitness level at the end of January when I only teach 1/2 days!


2. That my boys are so active. They both love sports and are gifted in them too. I'm grateful for all the opportunities that they have at the school as we only do ball hockey outside of school. In cross country this year they both placed in the top 50 and Koen even ran the whole race with just one shoe. I'm not sure about Nya's activity level--she has said that her favourite movement is moving her mouth to talk or sing. That said, she is an awesome little hiker and I'm not concerned about her ability to do the hard work.



3. Relaxing afternoons. Yes, doing the Coquitlam Crunch is relaxing because my kids get along so well when they are being active outside. I'm grateful we had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy together.


4. Homemade food. After our hike we had homemade waffles, whipped cream and blueberry sauce. So delicious!


5. A new niece! Thankful that she is here safe and sound. Nya is in love.


6. Moments like this before school. Although our mornings are a bit chaotic, these two need to fill up on physical touch so they often get a good cuddle in before heading out for the day.


7. Organic meat in the freezer. Oh, and a freezer that works to hold all that expensive meat. Our upright freezer stopped working this week so Gary ran out to Coquitlam to get a new control panel and the problem was solved for $217.00 which is a lot cheaper than buying a new upright freezer which was my initial solution.


8. New pants for work. I was starting to feel uncomfortable in my old pants (from a few years ago) as I have 5 extra pounds that will come off eventually but not until January so I bought a few to tide me over. At the til the cashier was like "These are festive pants!" which almost deterred me from buying them...I'm not looking to be festive. I want something I can wear for more than just the Christmas season! I'm wearing them into March, friends.


9. A beautiful year with "our" girl. I'm thankful for the gift of having bio mom and social workers trusting us to help raise up this beautiful girl. It is such an honour and privilege. This year has flown by as I remember the day she came like it was yesterday.


10. Reading a book by an author I know! I really enjoyed this book although I kept picturing Tim and his wife as the couple in the book the entire time (which made the opening sex scene very awkward ;) ). If you're looking for a book that covers infertility (and other topics) from a males perspective, you can find it here. I really love the main character, Mitch.


11. A new educational series on Netflix called Brainchild. This is safe and informative for kids ages 7+ and all three of mine loved it. I showed the Germs episode to my grade 8's too.


12. If you made it this far, I am thankful for this kid. Life is a struggle sometimes but he works hard each and every day and makes us laugh while doing so. I'm thankful for pediatricians (even though they take six months to see) and for ADHD medication. If you ever want to connect with me over this, please feel free to. I am a person who tries all natural ways of doing things first and once we addressed every single factor (allergies, vision, hearing, nutrition, screen time, exercise, oils, additional diagnoses, psych eds, OT,, sleep etc), starting medication for ADHD was life-changing. I do not use this term lightly.


If you made it this far, high five (which is 2X cleaner than a handshake so we should probably fist-bump instead which is 20X cleaner – see, this is what you learn from Brainchild). I really appreciate you caring about what goes on in the life of Louise and hopefully these Thankful Thursday posts remind you to reflect on what you are grateful for as well. Doesn't always need to be the big things...although, we do have a trip coming up in March which will definitely have to be in an upcoming "Thankful Thursday" post!

Love,
Louise

4 comments:

  1. Always happy to read one of your Thankful Thursday posts! I am pleased to hear that you are seeing good results with the ADHD medication.

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    1. I'm I'm happy that you continue to read. Thank you, Carol!

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  2. Hi Louise,
    Baby girl was so lucky to be a part of your family - I hope the transition goes as well as possible. Does it get any easier to say bye? Also, happy that you've had success with meds for ADHD - sounds like its been quite the journey for you!

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    1. Mandeep! Thanks for reading, I miss hearing from you on social media ;) Transition is going well and actually, we will likely have her one day a week for 3 months just so mom gets a break so that will be good. I guess you could say it gets easier? As for meds, it took me 3 years to start even giving him melatonin so you can imagine how tricky this was for me but I am so thankful for it. It allows him to be his best self, we all love it. PS Every time I'm at a pharmacy I think of you!

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