2014 in Review

As we prepare to send out our Christmas cards this week (yes, I know they are very late), I feel the need to write an update here, since we did not write a letter to go with our cards.  So what did 2014 look like for us and where in the world are we anyway?!

We started the year living with Ben's parents who were very gracious in sharing their home with us as we made the transition back to "real life."  Ben started the year working second shift at a daycare.  He continued to look for a more permanent job that would provide better for us.  On March 1, we welcomed Abigail Rae Weber into our family.  Mae and Conor were so excited to have a baby sister! Abigail means "Father's Joy" and that is exactly what she has been for us.  She is very laid back and always happy.  She is always smiling, but she is not afraid to push her brother away when he loves her a little too much!  She started scooting at 5 months, so she has kept mommy very busy keeping everything out of her reach.

In April, Ben started to work part time at our church as the facilities coordinator.  He had been wanting to work in a church for awhile, so he was very glad to be able to serve in this way.  In May we moved into a small two bedroom home.  We were very grateful and excited to have our own home after almost 3 years.  Right around that time, Ben changed to a construction job that offered him better pay.  It was hard work physically, but Ben enjoyed the opportunity to work with his hands.  He also enjoyed using some of the scrap wood from work to build desks for the kids, an advent table, a doll cradle for Mae, and blocks for all the kids.  Unfortunately, the job was not very steady work, so in November he accepted a paralegal position at the Weber Law Firm that his dad started.  It was an adjustment for him to go to a desk job, but he has enjoyed learning about legal matters.

Cherie has kept busy learning how to manage a house with three kids and building her business as a Mary Kay consultant.  During the summer, she enjoyed letting the kids play in the backyard and taking care of the small garden we planted right after we moved in.  In the fall, she began to teach the kids some preschool.  It has been fun to watch them learn their letters and sounds.  Mae has also started learning how to write her letters.  In October, she decided to focus a little bit more on her Mary Kay business and God blessed her efforts more than we could imagine!  She began bringing more money home which was very important to paying all the bills right before Ben began working at the law firm.  On December 31, she finished earning her first free Mary Kay car!!!  We have needed a second vehicle for awhile, so we are excited that this is the way that God has chosen to provide for us!

Mae turned 4 in April and enjoyed celebrating in PA with family.  Mae loves the color pink and to wear dresses.  She also loves to boss her brother around.  She has enjoyed making many friends at church.  She loves to do school and is always asking what different words start with.

Conor turned 2 in May.  He loves balls and wrestling.  He loves his two sisters and is always looking out for them.  He is very family-oriented and does not like it when one of his family is missing.  His favorite thing to do is sing, which makes Abigail dance.

Although there were some rough patches, 2014 has been a year of experiencing God's provision.  It has been a year of adjustment and growing into a family of five.  We are excited about what lies ahead for us in 2015!

Road to Recovery

I know this is a strange name for a blog post, but in a lot of ways this is where we feel we are.  We loved our time at Falcon, but it was hard and stressful.  We knew that while we were there, but we didn't notice how much that had affected us, our relationship, and our kids.  I am not saying that we struggled in our marriage, but we did not have much time for each other.  We knew this was true, so we tried to have a date every week that we were off.  The dates were nice, but it did not make up for all the time lost.  You may be thinking, "Didn't you work together, so you were together all the time?"  The answer is yes and no.  There were days where we were together most of the time and then there were days that there was so much transportation that Ben was barely home.  Even on the days when he was there, we barely had time to sit down and talk and when we did it was all about work.  If we had any extended down time, we usually just took a nap, because we were so exhausted.  Ben had to do two bed checks every night, so exhaustion was his constant "friend" while we worked.  On our off weeks, we usually spent the first half of the week just resting and trying to catch up on our sleep.  It feels so good to get a normal night's sleep every night.  It is nice to wake up and feel refreshed.  And now we have time for one another.  Almost every evening we can sit down and talk after the kids are in bed.  We also have time for our kids.  When they ask us to read them a book or build a lego castle, we do not have to say that we can't because we are working.   Do we miss Falcon?  Absolutely!  We miss our boys and our other kids.  We miss our friends.  We miss living in a small community.  We left part of our hearts in Falcon and we will continue to support and be a part of that ministry in every way possible.  But for now, we rest and we wait for God's direction.  Grateful for time to recover.

Transition

Wow!  It has been a year since we have posted!  And what a year this has been!  Our time at Falcon Children's Home ended this past Tuesday.  It was hard to say good-bye to all our friends, but we know that this is the Lord's leading.  We are currently staying with Ben's parents as we decide what our next step is.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us during these last two years.  We will start updating this blog a little more often as we begin this new journey.

Mae Moments

Mae loves being a big sister!  She always keeps track of "my Conor."  For her it was love at first sight.  As soon as she realized that mommy's baby was no longer in mommy's belly and was instead this squirmy little bundle, she asked to hold the baby.  She loves playing with Conor, singing for him, talking to him and making him laugh.

Mae has always been a talker, but now her vocabulary is very big and she can tell you about everything and anything.  She is also very bossy, but is starting to learn that the boys and her parents are not going to respond to her bossiness.
Some of her accomplishments:  counting to 10, starting to learn the ABC song, dressing herself including putting her shoes on, climbing in and out of the tub, climbing into Conor's crib ("that no no"), using the potty by herself (though with our ever-changing schedule, she is not consistent with this), using articles while talking, and is more independent than ever.
Mae has become very good at playing by herself, but she loves playing with our 4-year-old neighbor.  She is the daughter of some other houseparents.  Mae asks to play with her all the time and loves going to her house.

Today, Mae has been playing with a matryoshka doll that Ben's mom has.  Earlier she told Ben, "This one daddy," pointing to the tallest doll.  "This one mommy," pointing to the next tallest.  "This one Mae," pointing to the next one.  "This one Conor," pointing to the smallest one.  She labeled all of those herself.  Her family.

Unwanted

          My kids are cleaning their rooms.  We normally do deep clean on Saturday but because of a campus wide event and the start of school shopping we had them do their "deep" clean of their bedrooms today.  Between checking on kids, I was searching on Google to see if our Blog would pop up.  (I know its pathetic, but someone came here and mentioned that they had found it before they arrived.)
          Anyway, I found this video that someone did about a girl that left here several months ago.  I don't like the style of the filming, but it gives you a little idea of what some of the kids have gone through before they come.  I knew Abby from my time teaching at the on campus school, and was glad to see she likes where she is now.


Unwanted from UNC | Carolina Photojournalism on Vimeo.

No Normal

          We got two more boys on our hall this week.  One we had lost to the emergency cottage several weeks ago because he was accused of bullying another student.  One of our students is still over there, but it's good to have at least one back.  The other is new to our hall completely.  He is 16, and while he sometimes jokes around like he is 13, his behavior has been fine.  We were able to put both students into their own rooms for right now.  With the two new additions our total is now seven.  Seven is one of the magic numbers in Falcon.  If you have less than seven it's easy as can be.  The reason is that the ratio of students to staff has to be six to one.  If you only have six students, one houseparent can take a break for thirty minutes or so, or one houseparent can take all the students to a store to give the other a break.  Once you reach seven you don't get a break.  After that, it can get crazy.  Not that long ago we had eleven.  Our hall sleeps ten.  One boy was sleeping on another hall, and staying with us during the day.

Monday Monday

          This Monday we got up at 6:00 in the morning to throw the last of our belongings into our van and say good-bye to my family in Greensboro, NC.  We left around 7:15 and headed back to Falcon.  Two things struck me about our week off.  The first is that it felt longer.  We normally leave town tuesday or Wednesday, but last Monday when we finally got off our hall we went straight to Greensboro.  That was nice.  The second thing is that Cherie mentioned to me at least two times that she missed the boys.  We have missed the boys before, but this was the first time that we talked about it.  Normally we are so burnt out that we sleep for the first day and rest enough that we are almost ready to go back to work come the Monday houseparent meeting.  This week, we were just as tired and emotionally drained, but something has changed.  We call them ours now.  They ask to spend more time with us.