The Hill's Chronicles

Okay... I know... don't panic or anything. I am actually blogging twice in one week. I don't think that has happened in at least 7 months or so. There is just so much that has happened and I haven't a had chance to sit down, collect my thoughts and write it all down. This will be my first attempt.

Chapter One

SO... here goes. Why I thought working a full time job and putting the boys in school would somehow make my life easier, is beyond me. Maybe I was seeing dollar signs at little bit, maybe the idea of needing the approval of others that think that staying home and homeschooling is "mooching" off of my husband was a factor, maybe a little bit of it was just wanting to see if I could pull it off. Well, I have learned two things; 1. staying home and and homeschooling is in NO WAY mooching off of my husband by any means. I worked just as hard and can support him better when I am here. When my hubby comes home from work now, he has to help me do laundry, dishes, cook, clean, homework with the boys, listen to be bellyache, etc, etc. When I was home he would come home to a much cleaner home, dinner already cooked, children done with school(for the most part ;) and a much more relaxed and sweeter wife. How is that not supportive of him. Not to mention all of the errands I can run for him during the day. The list goes on an on. 2. I can and have pulled off teaching. I think I am pretty good at it too. I told my principle last week that I was not coming back next year and he said "I am sorry to hear it. You have been one of the best 1st year teachers we have had. A true blessing to the school". I even had one first grade mom tell me that her daughter will not be back next year because I am not going to be the teacher. I know that sounds prideful but have you ever just needed to know that you were capable? That you were able to do more than just clean some laundry and cook a decent meal. Maybe not...maybe I am just that shallow! Just keeping it real people :)

Well....now I know I can do it, I am heading back into homeschooling with gusto! If I can teach 9 other people's children well, I can teach my own precious ones even better! God willing!! Lesson learned.

Chapter 2

So many of you know the struggles we have had with where we were going to live. For a while there it was even a little annoying. Back and forth, back and forth. And despite popular opinion, WE ARE TIRED OF MOVING! I am ready for my "dream home" and a little country air! Over Christmas we did some crunching of numbers, talking over with my folks and a whole lot of praying and we worked it out where we will be able to build out on my parent's land. Not only out there but in the place we wanted most. Away from the busy highway and in the back corner nearest the woods. We are so excited and ready to be out there already!! BUT.... it's going to take some time. Having just paid off most of our debt(the house we are in and student loan are all we have left), we want to do this right. Steve has a friend that works with him that builds beautiful homes and has assured us that he is going to "give us a great bargain" on building. We aren't holding our breathe but if he does what he says, it could be an amazing thing. So, Steve drew up some plans that are modest but fabulous, we have taken them to the draftsman to tweak a little and we will be set to talk about building in February!! We have no idea how long this will take. We are trying to do this right this time, so we will take our time if we have too!! After the house is built, along with come the chickens and goats. No... I not kidding! I can't wait!

Chapter 3

The last but definitely the most exciting part of the past few months is our step toward adopting a baby. Most of you know that this is something that we have wanted to do for quite a long time. Really even before we had our own children. Life has seemed to pass way too quickly and here we are on the down slope toward 40 and we think the time is not only right but right now. We turned in our application to Buckner and are signed up for our workshop on February 13. Because we are open to adopting a child of color (either bi/multi racial or minority) we were contacted VERY quickly. There so many of these children that are adoptable but overlooked that Buckner was very pleased to receive us. Our case worker called immediately and said that because Buckner in Dallas is moving a lot of its area to be more localized, Longview is now going to be the regions headquarters. She told us that our adoption will be the first minority adoption in the Longview area and so we should progress very quickly. We could have a baby as soon as mid-summer if all goes well. This was exciting but also scary news for us. We have been waiting so long to make this move and to think that in a few short months we could have a third child is enough to make our heads spin. Steve's first thought is "are we ready for this". Mine is "I don't have any baby stuff anymore!!" Looks like there is a lot of shopping to be done :)

Well, that's what's been going on with us! Lots of changes, lots of lessons learned and lots of excitement yet to come! I hope to have a weekly chronicle of our new adventures; house and baby. Hopefully some pictures can come your way!

God is good all of the time and we learn that more and more everyday!

Pediculus Humanus Capitis

What an interesting creature? My boys love to read about, look at and scare their mother with bugs. At any given time I can walk out on my porch and see every dead bug or shed skin of some horribly ugly insect from our neighborhood. Most of the time I don't mind. I actually love the fact that my boys love nature. But when they bring home one of these lovely creatures above... their ain't nothing to love about it!!

What is it you ask? Looks innocent enough, right? This is the bane of childhood....every mother's and teacher's worst nightmare. This creature comes uninvited into your home and hunkers down for the long haul. It's wanted nowhere but lives everywhere. It doesn't discriminate against anyone; young and old, male or female, rich or poor. Still no idea? This lovely creature was brought to me by one of my precious students in my class. They shared it with the rest of the class and the class next door. What could it be you ask? I think you know! It's the dreaded {{HEAD LICE}}. Are you itching yet? I know I am and have been for two days now! Thankfully neither my boys or I have it but what fun it is to take each one of my students outside and dig cautiously in their hair looking for the abominable critter for the past two days. They don't tell you about this fun activity for teachers in school! This was NOT in description of my required duties! Don't you think we should get some kind extra compensation for this?

{BIG SIGH}

The only good part of it all..... our hair is squeaky clean and all of our sheets are wonderfully bleached and smell snuggly!

Alive and Kicking....Or Just Kicking and Screaming

Yes... I am still alive although sometimes it feels like barely! We are plugging along with our "new normal" as Jessi calls it!! Have I mentioned that I HATE this new normal! Life is so hectic and busy. Busy is very over rated! I miss my slow paced, just plugging along life. I miss time at home being a homemaker, wife and homeschooling mom. Now I realize that that life was hard too but in a much different way. Why did I think that I needed more? I guess I can chalk all of this up to a real life experience!! I made it to Christmas break and tried to recoup a little~

Four more months and I am through. No more working outside of the home for me for sure! We still don't know about school next year but we are definitely NOT a dual income family!! We did however get out of debt in December!! YEAH~ Now, when I say out of debt I mean everything but our house and our student loan that is never going away!! But, God blessed us this year and we met our goal of paying off car, credit and medical bills!! This is huge for us so I guess the job has been a blessing in some ways!!

I would love to expound on our holidays and everyday activities but I am stealing time just to post this! I don't even have any pictures to share!! They are resting comfortably on my camera and probably will stay there until May ;)

Just wanted to say that I miss everyone! I try to read and catch up when I can but that is not very often! Let me know how you all are and that you still even read my blog! That way I will know if its still worth the effort :)

I am leaving you with just a couple of pics of my boys at Medieval Times. We went this fall for the JDRF walk with the Neal's and splurged with a night out with the other Hills( The Matt, Jessi and Grayson's) for dinner. Really these are the only new pics I have on my computer.

My 10 year old Ethan is growing up and definitely growing with attitude!

And of course, as always, Isaac delivers his infectious smile!!

This is a shot of my precious 2nd grade class! We were doing pumpkin experiments in the kitchen in October. I only have 9 kiddos and each one is so fun!!