another one off of the LIST

I have finally crossed another thing off of my bucket list. This past July I was able to DIP MY TOES IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN! It was so amazing having shared this with my amazing four kids and loving husband. At first when the idea popped into my head during our trip to Abbotsford we were not sure that it would work out. We were able to head out to the coast last minute before Grandmas memorial and I was thrilled. What made the day even better was feeling that she was there with us. During our trip up I saw many bald eagles. When we arrived at the end of the pier a bald eagle flew up to a large buoy not to far from us and stayed until we were away from the pier. When we left the pier and walked towards the beach, I looked over to the buoy and watched as the eagle flew away. I will never forget the sense of peace I felt watching the eagle fly away and then the sense of joy wading into the ocean with my amazing family.

HOME

They say home is where the heart is, well the last few years my heart has been leaving home for either 10 or 14 days at a time. We did what we had to four years ago, Nathanael had to work away for us to get caught up financially after a few years of being laid off every winter. We needed to get back on track and the most logical way to make that happen was for him to go where the work was. It was tough at first but soon it became a routine and we made it work the best we could. He excelled at his job and soon the company was aware of his talents. After 2 years they switched his shifts from ten days away to fourteen and then seven home, after adjusting to the change we did well with the routine, we found that it worked better for us. I was asked all the time "How do you do it?" three kids at the time and a husband that worked away, how did I do it? and then we decided to have a fourth. We knew our lives would change but we didn't know how much would change. Nathanael came home for the last five weeks of the pregnancy, I was a wreak, barley able to function. After Natalie came he was back to work in two days. I still don't know how I did it and I hate to think of that time. I missed my husband desperately, the kids missed him, heck even the dog missed him. After Grandma passes and we had a wonderful family trip to say good bye to her it made us realized how much we all needed our family together. After months of working out the details at the end of October our family life changed to include Nathanael. Our daily life has not changed but now he is home in time for dinner every night, he can help with dinner, feeding the baby, taking the kids to activities and more. It is definitely different having him home as much as he is but its amazing. My heart is whole once again and home is definitely HOME!!!!