Thought I would pop in and give a little update on the kids. I have the grandkids this week while their Daddy works. TJ is 7 now and such a smart kid! He and Emerson love coming to Grandma's house! They are keeping busy, playing in the water, building Lego masterpieces, playing board games, feeding baby dolls, and watching movies.
That laptop is hooked up to the large television, but the girls prefer the little screen! LOL
Emerson goes with me on my Tuesday's out with the girls. Last time she got all dolled up and fit right in.
Charlotte turned 15 the beginning of June. Can you believe it? She is doing exceptionally well this summer. I am really enjoying her!
Zach will be 11 next month. He loves his cats, and spends a lot of time playing nerf guns with his best friend.
Kyle turned 26 last March and is doing very well. Here he is with his service workers. They keep him on track! He will be going on a short trip with me and my mom this month. He chose Rain Forest Cafe and a trip to Gurnee Mills.
And what about those girls?? They continue to be the best of sisters and you most likely will find them together any time of the day or night!
Sassy has such a sweet spirit about her. Calm and loving, and is definitely a Mama's girl. Cammy is a SPASTIC little thing, and loves trouble. Kyle remains her most favorite human, and we all know when he wakes up in the morning...we can hear Cammy crying wailing for him to pick her up.
Well that's the update. I'll come back soon and share some things we've done around the house.
Relationship
Youth
For the girls, anyway....for me, not much time to be lazy! Homeschool, housework, quilting, working out....it all adds up to time. I have learned I can't do it all and be successful in every area. That is when we need to prioritize.
I did just that and things are running smoother. Some areas had to fall by the wayside....limited computer time, spending more time at home, focusing on those important things. Well we think they are ALL important, right.
Scheduling blocks of time for prioritized areas....working out in the mornings before my morning routines means getting up and getting moving right away. Setting aside time to hand quilt in the evenings and scheduling a Saturday afternoon in the studio help to make sure I get that relaxation.
That Sass has the life! Cammy is running a close second in that area!
Charlotte is attending a Youth Lock In tonight....she won't be home til 3 am. I remember those days of staying up waiting for teens to get home from activities. I am much older now, but here we go again. Her last outing was earlier...she was home by 12:30am. I am thinking a night in the sewing room is just what I need to stay awake and productive!!!!
We all know, Mamie, that cats rule and dogs drool!!!!
My foundation began to get chipped away at....by what? By life, the enemy, maybe even God Himself in some areas. My foundation was strong....what was my life built on? We all have the choice on what our foundation is made of and where those pieces fit. My foundation was built on God, of course, but that was not my entire foundation....One of the largest building blocks of my foundation was motherhood. I had HUGE bricks of confidence in this area. I was a REALLY GREAT MOTHER. It was so strong infact, that I actually made this the cornerstone of my foundation. Another area my life is built on is my marriage. 33 years very soon. To the same man. There is a brick of pride built in that area of my foundation. My church....before I moved back to my hometown, my Pastor, church family, and church were a HUGE part of what I built my life on. And family and friendship...that was, and is, a big area of my foundation. The largest area, remains my relationship with Christ....but it was not the cornerstone of my foundation. 
So 11 years ago, we moved here. Within 3 months, we had Charlotte. Life would never again be the same. Her illness became an earthquake in my life. Shifting my ground and shaking my foundation. Because I had not built a strong enough one, it began to crack and crumble. My church was gone, along with my pastor and church family. That took a huge chunk out of my already misplaced bricks. I attended church, but my foundation had been built with MY church....the one that was gone. My cornerstone of motherhood, and the other strong areas of my foundation stood strong...My relationship with my Saviour, which included my daily time in His Word and prayer and journaling my time with Him....those things along with my family and friends. Friends....oh yeah. They were all back in McHenry. Here I had no friends, but I did have family, along with my strong, earthquake-resistant marriage! That slot that was left open from the loss of my church? I filled it quickly with my son's wife and then added bricks around that of my grandchildren. Who needed church, right? The first thing that happens when you parent a child with reactive attachment disorder, is the part of your life you have built on motherhood starts getting chipped at....picture Angry Birds flying and hitting the concrete part of the foundation....one bird just gets knocked off, but after time, and so many birds, cracks start to happen.
Now my life can handle some cracks. We all get bombarded with hits to our foundation. It is the cornerstone that will hold everything in place. Sadly, I based my life on being this incredibly great mom. THAT was my cornerstone. It was WHO I WAS. In this case, it did not matter, how well I fed this child, or how many stories I read her at bedtime, or how many hugs and kisses and "I love you"'s were passed out. Darling outfits, and shiny shoes, all mixed with hair ribbons and bright healthy teeth and bones, did not matter. I was failing....BADLY. Once that happened, everything else began to crumble.....my entire life was shaken.
My friendships were non existent....I would not allow it. Life was too out of control to allow new friendships in, and the old ones were far away. My daughter in law was gone with the end of my son's marriage. I had made her a very large part of my foundation....so large, my entire foundation shifted when she was no longer there, and I almost came undone. Family relationships began to break down. RAD does that....it triangulates, and with the large cracks in my foundation, I could not stand against it. My marriage remained in tact, but there were cracks forming there too. Life was shifting. My relationship with God was suffering great hits caused by a tsunami of anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.
I am not perfect in my life or my foundation, but I am standing strong, and tall, and my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus Blood and righteousness!
Charlotte and Kyle took turns shoveling and it looks like it will need it again.