something new

I've begun a new blog....

What I will do with this one remains to be seen. I'm uncertain whether I will even continue writing here. I may close it off and make it private, by invitation only. The reason being, this one holds much of my family's life and I want to preserve their dignity, their privacy, and mine. The new blog, I hope to make public, plan to put on a business card. I'm not so sure I want them attached. But, who knows. Maybe I will just leave this to get dusty, but findable....

I think you will possibly find my new blog interesting and if not - my feelings won't be hurt in the least. If you find this blog turned private in the near future, don't hesitate to email me and request an invitation. I cherish each one of you who've traveled the path I've taken in the past 8 years. Now, I'm ready for a fresh start and a fresh blog and a bigger boost of confidence, (something I'm working on)!

Without further ado, I introduce to see joy.

2013

Happy New Year my friends....
As the old year fades away and the new one blows in with a gusty wind full of life, I thought I'd share a few thoughts.

This past year has been a deliberate slowing down for my household. With all the high needs that run rampant and some seriously intense and difficult years recently behind us, I made a choice to do "school lite" - my homeschool goal this year is "happy"....really, that's it. Which means academics are second place and a breezy unschooling attitude often drifts through here. They do have school requirements and they do have chores, but in a sense we're all taking a break from the push and shove of meeting a standard.  And happiness is starting to shine like stars on a cloudy night. The stress is less, the dark moods that hover over some in our family are less dark and more manageable....it's good stuff, stuff that cares for the hearts of each one in our home; that has far more value to me than anything else. Some days it's hard to remember to keep that focus, though, especially when so many around me push hard through the year academically. But we'll keep the course for now, and see what the fall brings for each of the kids when the time comes. I have a deep sense we'll land our feet one way or another.

We finished out 2012 with a bang - a month of illness that consumed our household:
6 cases of a mystery virus (like a mild flu)
4 of the real flu
4 of a stomach virus
1 cold
1 huge round of bronchitis
1 double ear infection
....bear in mind, there are only 6 people living here! And for a couple days my husband had the flu while I had a stomach virus and we had 3 sick kids to care for, 1 to keep far away from. It was FUN!

But in the end, Bitsy turned 2 in the last days of the year and Baby J hit 5 this week.
(We won't discuss tomorrow's mark in time for myself.)
I remain astonished at the rapid changes and how quickly my littlest ones aren't so little any more. I mean, where did my babies GO?

I am pushing forward with my novel-writing - I finished my rough draft last week, with thousands of words more than I aimed for. I'm excited to dig into the next steps of rewriting and editing and what-not. I'm setting little goals for myself and whatever may come, I am happy with writing. I really love it. I feel like I've found my groove at last.

I hope each of you has had a lovely start to the new year!