Contentment

If frequency of blogging is any indication of the busyness of life... then I must be one busy gal!  Seriously.  I want to blog.  I just don't make time for it.  I'm like the apostle Paul, "I do the things I don't want to do; and I don't do the things I want to do."  Except, I'm operating on a much less spiritual level...
So, for an update on the Hodsons.  In three words:  We. Are. Awesome.
We're still at our little church, which is fast becoming not-so-little.  We're getting ready to embark on a building project (I know!  Building Campaigns... oy vey!)  But it will be so awesome for us as a church family... Every day I'm more and more thankful that God chose to send us to Perche.  As hesitant as I was to go there... and as fiercely as I dragged my feet... He has given us some of the best friendships that we've ever had through our family there.  I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it is for my kids to have 2 (or 3 or 4) extra sets of grandparents, who love them & love on them & will speak love & truth into their lives.
So, basically, we love it here.  If it were up to us, we may never leave. :)

Cole is also forever-busy working... mostly on other people's cars.  What an incredible gift that God gave Him, to be able to fix anything.  His extra work blesses our family beyond belief!

I've started yet another year in 8th grade.  I just love it more & more every year!  I have a fabulous group of kiddos, and I absolutely love teaching history.  They say "work at something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life"  Most days, I feel that way.  Most days.
This year, though, more than ever before, I had some serious "mommy-guilt" when I headed back to school.  I don't know if it's because I'm getting older (read: more emotional) or if it's because my babies are getting older or that there are 2 of them now... or a combination of those & 1,000 other things.  But for the first time I had to really consider if working was what I wanted.  More than that, if it is what God wanted for me.  I struggled.
To be honest, I'm still struggling a little.  The dream world where I would be home all day, and my house would be clean, and I could hang out with my girl, maybe even (gasp!) homeschool Javik?!  It sounds very ideal.  The reality is that I wouldn't be home all day... heaven knows I'd find a million other things to do, or Cole would find them for me!  And anyone who knows me knows that my house wouldn't be "clean!" But it sounds good in my head.

Speaking of those babies... oh my heart!  They just get more awesome.  Every stage is my favorite!  At every turn, I think "I want them to stay just. like. this!"  And they don't.  And I love the next thing even more.  Having a big brother (who fancies himself the disciplinarian) and a little sister (who KNOWS she is the D.I.V.A. of this house) is the most amazing / stressful / joyful / trying thing I've ever known.  I love them.
And they could not be more different than one another.  For all the ways that Jav was a mellow, easy-going, self-entertaining guy... picture the exact opposite = that's Z!  She's a hot-mess most of the time, but shares his fun sense of humor and gift of "vocalization" (the girl does not stop talking!... I'm inclined to blame her dad, but...)
And that big brother.  He's rocking the 1st Grade!  His reading is unbelievable... Cole & I both are in awe as we sit and listen to him read.  And he loves it.  We're going to do everything we can to keep that going :)  He's also pretty great at math.  We've had a teeny tiny little crossroads this year where he absolutely loves to learn, but he's not so in love with the whole "work ALL day at school" thing.  We're working to overcome.  We shall prevail!  What I want for him, more than being really smart & doing well at school work, is to become really great at being a hard worker.  That way, when things come easy to him, he knows he's a great learner... and when things don't come so easy to him, he knows he's a great learner.

So that's about it for our little corner of the world.  We just pretty much do our thing.  And we pretty much love it.  I painted on a canvas recently this quote:  "We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun!"  That's so us.  I know we'll look back on these days & years and realize that we were making the memories that will be their childhoods... but for the time being, we're just having fun :)