“He Isn’t Safe. But He Is Good.” And I Am Thankful.

We’re leaving early Wednesday morning to visit my baby twin nephews (and their parents!) for Thanksgiving, so I wanted to take a moment to catch up my blog and post pictures of the last couple of weeks. I know that after our trip, all I will want to do is post pictures of sweet babies and our interactions with them! We have so much to be thankful for this year!!!!

So a couple of weeks ago, Ryley officially became a Girl Scout. Her Brownie troop had a special ceremony, and she received her sash:

 

She is very excited, and today Ryan and I took the time to learn how to iron on badges…She has earned three since this picture was taken. I bet Ryan never dreamed that he would be ironing badges on a Girl Scouts sash. :-) But he is a good Daddy.

On a side note, he and Ryley are making deviled eggs up in the kitchen this very minute. Ryley’s got her apron on and everything. :-)

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Last week, after two and a half years, Ryley finally achieved her school’s prestigious “Silver Star” award. She has been working so hard on her behavior, and she finally did it!

I know it’s silly; it’s just one of those things, and we are proud of her and the positive decisions she is making. It’s an ongoing battle, is it not??? :-)

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This week, I was able to accompany Ryley’s 2nd grade class on a field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion.

It was very fun to get to know her classmates and teachers better and even observe what Ryley’s like in her classroom and when interacting with her friends. My charges, however, had a lot of energy, and I learned that I was not meant to be an educator. :-) And I admire those who are.

 
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Other than that, we’re just living life. Ryan is enjoying his new job at Noodles & Co. It’s been wonderful to have more time with him during his time of training. He has almost every weekend off, and he is home most evenings. I know this sounds strange, but we have had to learn how to relax as a family. In the past, if Ryan knew he would be off on a Saturday, it was such a rare thing that we would plan something fun to do together. But we’ve had so many of these recently that we’ve spent some of them just “being”: getting housework done, sitting on the couch, each doing our own thing, etc. And we feel guilty that we’re not having “fun” or making the most of our day together. We have had to re-learn how to be a normal family. :-)

It has been nice for me personally because I had not realized how much of a “single mom” mindset I had developed. Now, since he’s here, I lean on him more, and that’s good for both of us. :-) I love him so very much.

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I’m not one who is good at imagining scenarios of change. When Ryan worked at Panera, I used to wonder what kind of circumstances would occur for him to leave. I knew he wouldn’t work there forever, but I just couldn’t imagine how it would happen. And so many times, he would talk about applying elsewhere, and it would freak me out. Then one day it clicked. It made sense for him to change. And within two hours of applying, he had an interview set up, and the rest is history. It was time. It didn’t freak me out. In fact, it was extremely anti-climactic. I guess it’s because it was in God’s timing, and it was His peace that led us through the change.

I changed Christian radio stations recently. I like to have Christian radio on, especially when Ryley is in the car with me. However, the one station I listened to was driving me nuts. Stupid talking points. Unintelligent humor. I would go online and rip their song choices apart in online music surveys. How sad is that? So one day Ryan asked me if I had ever listened to this other station; I answered, “No.” He said, “You should. They’re like us.” So I did, and I love it. He’s right; it’s much more “our style,” and I can still appreciate that the other station ministers to other people.

Why am I not good at imagining change?? There is another area in our lives that we are considering changing as well. It’s never even dawned on me that we could change it. I am a little conflicted, but it could, in fact, be really good for us. So we are praying about it, and we will see.

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So off we go to Texas to thank God for our baby nephews, who are the answer to all our prayers! We thank God for providing for all of our needs for yet another year and for keeping our loved ones safe and healthy. We thank Him that He leads us constantly in every decision. We thank Him for our beautiful daughter and for the love and happiness the three of us share together.

Life isn’t always easy, but God is always good.

I love this quote from Mr. Beaver in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”:

"Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."