It has been a while, I know

I know. I have been absent from blogging forever. And though I check other people's blogs, I have avoided mine. The avoidence first started when we got back from vacation in September and things in the house were very difficult. Our 18 year old decided to make some very poor choices while we were gone and when we came back and discovered these choices, she decided that she did not want to face the consequences of those choices and left. She is now out on her own and is holding her own, I guess, she is still continuing to make extrememly poor choices and put herself into harms way. This really had a negative impact on the other girls since they looked up to her.

At the beginning of Ocotber, we had more changes in our house. One of our freshamn, SS, was at a point that we could no longer help her and keep our other kids in a safe place (on many levels). We then spent almost two weeks trying to figure out what we were going to do with her. She ended up moving houses, and while that seems to have been a positive change for our house and even for her, she is still having repeated conflicts with our girls and is still really struggling to maintain her placement here. I ache for her because I am not sure what is her fault, what is our fault and what blame should be going to the system.

Jason and I then spent 12 days apart on seperate vacations, a necessacity to keep our marriage happy and healthy. He went hunting with his dad and unlce and had wonderful time. He shot a "4 Point" Mule Deer (that means that there are 4 points to his antlers on each side of the rack, not counting the eye guards-in whitetail speak, he would have been an 10 point). He was a very large deer and Jason brough the meat home to process himself. We ended up with a lot of meat and we will probably be eating venison every time we have a day off for the next year (which is fine with me-I love it!)

I spent a week in Austin with my family and visitng my wonderful friends (Amy and her family and Lynnae). Then we packed it all up and went on a four day cruise to Cozumel. It was wondeful! I love being on a cruise. I now understand why people work really hard to loose weight before they go on a cruise-all you do is eat! The beaches of Cozumel were beautiful, but the city defenitly is struggling to recover from all the storms of the past few years.

We returned from our vacations and then a few weeks later (this past weekend, actually) we drove 14 hours to Kentucky to see my grandmother and other family members. It has been four years since I saw my grandmother and 7-8 years since I saw most of the other family members. It was a wonderful time. Finincially, God provided the money for the trip, though now I think we are officially broke. But I know God will continue to provide for us.

So, why have I been avoiding blogging? There will be more about that over the next few days. I think I have figured it out, but I am not 100% sure. But there is an update on what has happened the past two months.