All Is Grace

things that have changed since the last time i blogged (and published. because, oh, the posts i have started but…not published.):

1. my oldest spent 11 weeks away from me. she lived. so did i. i have learned much about what it means to parent a college student. and how very little control i have over anything that happens to her or what she chooses anymore.
   ouch. that’s a lot to take in all-of-a-sudden-like.
2. We took our first official family vacation to Gettysburg, PA when we dropped Rea off at the airport in Philly.

   our next family vacation will be somewhere there aren’t tourist trap museums with statues of Abraham Lincoln and only an indoor swimming pool in the hotel.

3. i made somewhere around two hundred thousand cakes.
   ok. i made somewhere around 110 cakes. it FELT like i made a couple hundred thousand.

   no, really.

4. Bryson and Laine went to camp. Bryson still feels like he might be called into the ministry. Laine still doesn’t love camp, and doesn’t think she ever will. but she and her friend won the talent competition. and they totally deserved it.
5. someone called the health department and questioned my business’s licensing.i do not have said licensing. this could lead to fines and serious trouble were i to continue working out of my home. which leads us to…
6. i have found a place to rent from which to run my business, and while we go through the UNBELIEVABLE HOOPS THROUGH WHICH ONE MUST JUMP IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH A SMALL BUSINESS IN THIS CITY (and it’s taking MONTHS), my sweet friend is letting me do my baking/decorating out of her kitchen. i am extremely grateful. and further annoyed with the garbage of politics and code-meeting.
7. i got my DBA, filed all the lovely tax paperwork, and Joe started his own transportation business and quit Fed Ex. his happiness level has dramatically improved. he’s sleeping better and back in the gym. i’m…a little overwhelmed.i might take on a little bit more than i can chew on a regular basis. but SweetCakes Cakery is a real thing now.
8. Joe went to a CF clinic in Buffalo for the first time in something like 18 years. they gave him new therapies, new medications (you don’t even WANT to know what the price tags are on those babies), and he’s breathing better. and has only had one minor cold since June. after 3 bouts with pneumonia in 5 months last year, this is a big deal in our world. every-three-month visits will continue, and we’re looking pretty forward to a couple of promising new drugs set to be released next spring. at almost 39, we’re just grateful for every. single. day. we get.
9. Bryson and Rea started another season of soccer at Corning Christian Academy. it’s a long two and a half months of crazy, but…they just love it, and i love it for them. you can live through anything for two and a half months, right?
10. Joe arranged to buy the house we’re living in from my parents as our anniversary gift. i had no idea he was doing this, but…hooray! the stress of looking for a different house, the stress of moving from this house…i couldn’t even think about it most of the time. and i LOVE this house. so. we’re staying.

    if the paperwork ever works itself out.

11. we started another year of school. two seniors (Rea graduates in December, Laine in June) and a freshman. yikes.
12. Rea started her first college course through Kingswood University–an early enrollment course (Old Testament)–and was accepted as a student. She plans to take two more classes, and fully enroll fall of 2017.

    New Brunswick, people. New. Freaking. Brunswick.

13. Bryson went to Homecoming at Corning. with a girl. and he had a good time (minus being completely unimpressed by the inappropriate dancing “Mom, it was ridiculous.” Hehe.).
14. i didn’t run the Wineglass Half Marathon. and I have no intentions of ever doing that.
15. we started a marriage small group with about 10 other couples at the church we’re attending. and if i ever have a Saturday that isn’t jam-packed, i started a women’s Bible study as well. crazy. haven’t done those things in years.
16. i started Insanity again. week 5 starts tomorrow (though i’ll be throwing Core de Force sneak peak workouts in through the recovery week and catching up from being sick the past two days..). there is just a different level of fitness that comes along with Insanity. it’s just truth.

    it’s not really a huge list, i guess, but it hits all the major points. and i have nothing to say, really. i have so many thoughts, but not many words.

    hoping to find the words. soon.