Life Is An Ever-Changing Stream

As we seek to raise Ethan the best we can I hear one piece of good advice over and over: "whatever you do, be consistent." We're doing our best to follow that advice, though it's hard to stay completely consistent as he is rapidly changing and developing! I think we all crave that consistency in life...finding a groove and staying in it. I think this is especially true as a female; we seem to have an inborn desire to nest and have stability.

That's why this season of life presents such a challenge. There is little consistency, little stability. Lots of hope that everything will work out. Lots of trust in God who provides all things. Lots of faith that no matter what comes the Spirit walks with us through it all. Life is like an ever-changing stream that flows constantly, and while we can direct much of our direction the stream keeps moving whether we enjoy the ride or not.

All that to say that it looks like TJ's job will be changing again. He was blessed to get a job soon after we arrived but unfortunately it looks like that job won't be working out after all. Yesterday he interviewed for a job that looks awesome for him. The benefits would be good enough and it seems the pay would let us find our own home without my needing to re-enter the workforce. The job would be another second shift position but it looks like he'd have most weekends off. He is pretty excited about this possibility and asks for prayer that the Lord would open this door if it is really a good position. Right now they are running his background check which seems promising.

We're still living in transitional housing at my parents. Right now we're waiting for carpet to be delivered so we can put Ethan's room/my dad's new den together. We moved everything out of the room last week so the carpet folks could come but unfortunately the carpet was the wrong size, so our living quarters are rather torn apart until they return with the correct size. Once Ethan's room is done we'll move everything out of our bedroom and get that painted. Fortunately it already has carpet so once it is painted and all my old childhood stuff is moved out we can get moved in there. Since my childhood items were still stored here we will be having a moving day soon to get all those items out of here and into our storage unit. Then we'll be able to fit all the things in the garage into this space...probably just in time to move again! :D

Ethan is doing great! He knows most of his body parts now and has lots of fun pointing to them when we ask him. He can take things to the trash can if I ask him to. He's also heading into his toddler years. We're finding he gets very frustrated now when he can't get things (including his parents) to work like he wants them to. His will is strong and he knows what he wants but his verbal skills aren't developed so that he can tell us what he wants. I'd be frustrated too! He signs "more" and "all done" mostly, though we're teaching him "please," "thank you," "milk," "water," "hungry," and "food." I think it's likely he'll catch on to those about the time his verbal skills are ready to say them. He's just getting into books, asks us "that?" ALL THE TIME (what a vocabulary he's building!) and loves counting! He says "uuunnnneee...uunnnee" (like the "un" in "under") for "one," and then just says "one" as many times as he wants to count until we join in. He loves the vacuum cleaner and my mom's lawnmower and would push both around all day (turned off of course) if we let him.

We're doing good overall, hanging in there and hoping we can get settled soon. Also, TJ's birthday is tomorrow, the 30th! I can pass on any birthday wishes to him. Thanks for all your prayers and notes! Miss you all.

Happy Scream!

"Ahhh, I love the mower..."

"Let's play, daddy!"