Hey Friends, it’s been awhile since I’ve given any sort of personal updates so I thought I would sit down and answer some of the questions we have frequently been getting asked and give a super condensed version of what’s been going on in our household over the past month or so.
We have been having a lot behavioral issues with Trinity that we have been trying to work through. I haven’t spoken about it a lot because a lot of people don’t seem to be very understanding and it’s not “my issue” so to speak but it’s been something we are trying to figure out how to approach. It’s more than just terrible twos and meltdowns that seems to be going on. We are considering putting her through the Babies Can’t Wait program but in the mean time, almost every day with her has been a pretty severe challenge. She is still our little social butterfly though and never misses an opportunity to dance with her friends or say hello to random bikers that pass by our house every day. She is currently obsessed with her Hello Kitty Backpack and cars.
Jaden is crawling and in that “I’m going to scream bloody hell if you leave my sight” stage. Though he has the sweetest little smile, he usually remains very serious and loves to watch his crazy sisters with the most perplexed look on his face.
Eowyn is about to turn four this week and has been loving doing home school. Every day she can’t wait to do school with mommy. Mommy feels a little differently about it some days though so we are starting to explore charter schools for next fall. I have absolutely loved getting to be creative with her and explore the world with her, however, It’s felt like a burden that I’m not really equipped to carry very far into the future. I am super thankful for this year to spend time with her though because this age is just the **sweetest**. 
Just this week Fred FINALLY finished training!! For the past 7 months he has been in training which meant he only got his schedule one week at a time and was constantly having to rotate shifts. Being two working parents with 3 kids and very limited childcare, this has been a really difficult season with lots of scheduling nightmares. Through this season I have learned to be a **little** less of a control freak though and truly take it one day at a time. I’m so proud of him for getting through his training so quickly though and for excelling at work in so many different ways. He is still loving his job and it has been such a huge blessing to us in many different ways for many different reasons.
I have still been working 3 different part time jobs while trying to open up our own store. I am so thankful that I have been able to work for 3 different small businesses which has allowed me a flexible schedule plus it has better equipped me for owning my own store and the ins and outs of taking care of a brick and mortar. I remember before I ever even knew we would have a store of our own thinking as I scrubbed the toilets for somebody elses business or stocked someone elses shelves this passage from Luke that says “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities”. I have really tried to hold onto these words and treat each business as I would treat my own and think of each job working for someone else as preparation for working for myself. I am so thankful to see the way God has provided me with my own store to take care and for the jobs He gave me that prepared me for this. I am going to be announcing the date for the soft opening of The Local Gem this week!!! I am so excited!! When I say Fred and I have literally been working around the clock to get this store open I mean literally one of us, if not both of us, are at work 24 hours out of the day most days so we can either pay for the building or prepare the building to be open. I have cried, I have wanted to give up, we’ve worked 90+ hour weeks to keep ourselves afloat, we have thrown thousands of dollars into this dream but I’m really hopeful that this season of waiting to be open will soon be over ( a more in depth post on this coming next week).
So in a nutshell, our lives have mostly consisted of work, work and more work, taking care of kids and trying to survive this season of craziness. I am overwhelmed by it but also thankful for it. It’s a complex feeling 😉 Thanks for reading along with our story and stay fabulous my friends!
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