One Day at a Time!

This week has been one of those oh-so-busy, “just one day at a time” kind of weeks! It has been good just crazy busy. We definitely have a much busier lifestyle right now, with both of us trying to earn enough income to a)survive (and we have finally gotten to that point in the past 2 months, hooray!) and b)begin to pay off our mammoth debt. It seems light years away that we will not have this monstrous dragon breathing down our necks but we certainly look forward to it! Maybe a miracle will happen and the government will actually decide to help people with school debt!

Right…..I’m guessing pigs will be flying or something of that sort:)

This week, Ben has had a big week at work, taking over as acting manager of the warehouse. His boss went on vacation for the first time in a really long time, trusting Ben (who is unofficially assistant manager these days) to take over! So Ben has been working long days and picking up the slack of other co-workers who may or may not show up for work. After tomorrow, he will have logged in 26 hours of overtime in 2 weeks!

And I started teaching preschool and my newest cleaning job this week. I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed last Saturday night with the week ahead, but we have been constantly praying for each other, checking up on and encouraging one another and saying as our mantra, “Just one day at a time!” And now it’s Thursday and we’re breathing a big sigh of relief! Thank you, Lord, for the grace You give us each day.
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In children news: Samuel started some state-wide testing at school this week. Apparently, these tests do not meet with teacher enthusiasm and make things difficult for schools but they are pushed through by politicians using business methods. Samuel, weirdly enough, says he is glad to be testing because it’s something different and he won’t be bored! Can you tell what he’s been complaining about lately??

He is getting SO big and definitely showing some pre-puberty, pre-teen signs these days (a.k.a. moodiness, self-consciousness over body things, attitude, even needing to wear deodorant sometimes!) Ahh! He is within inches of matching my height and I just look at his sweet face sometimes and I can see the handsome young man he is turning into rapidly. How, oh HOW is my first baby turning 10 this summer?! I can’t think about it….

Z-man loves being 8 and it’s been a good first eight-year-old week for him! He’s been a great listener, lost another tooth and has been burying his nose in books! I do love that we have passed on our love of reading to all of the munchkins. He’s been into some new series this week. He’s funny because they’ve been learning about series at school and he absolutely insists on getting all books in order, even ones that don’t require it like Boxcar Children or Hardy Boys. We cannot sway him! So we make the rounds of libraries to get books in order:) Silly kid.

Eliana has not been adjusting to her new lenses well lately and we noticed a regression in her eye-correction so I took her back to the drs on Tuesday. We have to get her lenses re-made but thankfully it is still under warranty! We also have to start really teaching her to use her bifocals correctly, which will be interesting. She has some strong bifocals that help her eye tremendously but they have to be positioned perfectly on her face for her to use them. Really hoping the new lenses will work!

She’s such a sweetie though and was so patient with everyone taking her glasses on and off, staring at her eyes, doing little eye exams, etc. We had 4 different people in the room at the same time at one point, inspecting her and her glasses! She’s a trooper. She couldn’t have a sweet, more darling personality and character. I pray it always stays so!

So there you have it! A quick update in Thomas-land! Pics coming soon!

Ready or Not…

I am very happy to report….that we are still alive! This flu hit us so hard. The kids bounced back pretty quickly, other than lingering coughs and congestion. Zakkai got it the worst of the kids and still has a pretty nasty cough. He was pale for a few days and just had that “sick eyed” look but thankfully is feeling good now.

Ben went straight into a sinus and ear infection and is on antibiotics. Thankfully, today he finally started to notice an improvement! It is going to take us awhile to get our strength back for sure. I have only been out of the house twice since last Sunday. The second time was today to get a few groceries at the store. I took Z with me and about halfway through, all of the sudden I thought, “I can’t do this. I need to go home!” Somehow I pushed through and after putting the necessary groceries away, promptly fell sound asleep in my chair in the living room. It doesn’t take much to wear us out.

Samuel keeps telling us that this was the worst Christmas vacation ever! (except for the parties and seeing family and the toys they got. Except for that, it was the worst.) I keep telling him that I am so sorry, we did not choose to get sick! I do feel bad that their last week of vacation was trapped in here. Thankfully, Ben’s mom rescued them yesterday and took them out for the afternoon to have some fun. It was refreshing for them and for us so we could rest with a little peace and quiet!

School starts again tomorrow for the boys, preschool on Tuesday for Eliana and back to work for Ben. I pray his body can continue to recover as he jumps back into the busy schedule he’s not quite ready for yet.

Ready or not, here comes life!