A rare update

It has been weeks since my last post. Life is busier than ever. I am working hard to get my photography business up and running, and between that and my family, well there is little time for much else. My website is up now and most of my content has been added: www.soulfulimagery.com I plan to add more artwork galleries in the next few weeks as I have the time to go through my archives. As of now I haven't gotten any business except for my very sweet neighbors who continue to let me use them as my guinea pigs, but I am hoping that in the next few weeks I will be able to start getting some work! Of course, I don't have a studio space right now, so that might make things tough for the winter months as I do most of my work outdoors, but I feel confident that things will work out!

Regan and Gwen are both doing well in school, at least for the most part. Regan has been struggling a bit with being "bored" as she says and Gwen seems to be having a hard time with keeping up. I am again feeling a strong calling to homeschool our children as I feel more and more strongly that they would do better with a home learning setting where they can learn at their own pace, and get a lot of one on one attention. Scott and I had discussed homeschooling after the last school year, but my health issues prevented us from moving forward with our plans. I am beginning to get my health under control, at least some what, so I am hoping that by the end of the current school year that I might be ready to start teaching the kids at home. There are some great homeschool groups in the area and there would be a lot of activities for the kids through these groups, and I really feel like it would be so good for our family. Our neighbors are debating homeschooling their children as well, and a new friend of mine and her husband have already made the decision to homeschool their children, so we would definitely have a lot of close support if we do this.

Braden and Coen are keeping me busy at home on the weekdays. We haven't been venturing out of the house too much lately, but we play in the back yard a lot and do fun things like bake cookies and I get the boys involved in cleaning and such. We have also been making plans to spend time with my new, wonderful friend and her son coming up, which we are so excited about! It can be lonely being a SAHM and that loneliness is something that I have struggled with since I became a SAHM four years ago. Not to mention that it is tough, for more reasons than one, to take all four kids out on my own. I am thrilled to have a friend who is up for getting out with us and enjoying all of the great things that our community has to offer! Plus, she is really cool and fun, and she and I have so much in common, and its just a blast getting to hang out with her! And, she is a photographer too so it is great to be able to talk shop with her sometimes. :-)

Scott is just keepin' on keepin' on at his job. He is very busy and stressed, and I know that his job can be a major struggle for him at times. I am so grateful for how hard he works in order to take care of our family and for how supportive and encouraging is his of me, both for my work as a SAHM and as a photographer.

Besides all that I have already updated on, my health is improving, somewhat at least. My joint pain has subsided quite a bit, which is great. I am not sure if I am in some sort of remission or if this is a permanent thing. My physician has me on a series of dietary supplements, so it is possible that they are what is bringing about the improvement in my joint pain. I have been having quite a bit of discomfort in my lower abdomen and my cycles have been wonky for about six months, and my OB/GYN decided to have me go in for an ultrasound this past Monday to make sure that I didn't have any obvious issues that could be causing all of this. Thankfully the ultrasound came back totally clear. She is working with me on a treatment plan to help with the pain and cycle weirdness though, so hopefully we will find something that can help all of that. I also continue to have some severe lower back and neck pain. Most mornings when I wake up the pain is excruciating and it makes me feel sick to my stomach. It takes about an hour for my pain meds to kick in, but once they kick in I do mostly okay. I am hoping to get my physician to get me into some physical therapy or something to help with the pain. I swear that I feel like an old woman with all of these issues! I have lost about 10 pounds though, so that is good!

On a final note, for the last 8 months or so I have been following a blog written by a man whose wife has cystic fibrosis. http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/ Tricia and Nate were blessed with a beautiful little girl, Gwyneth, earlier this year. She was born at about 24-25 weeks as Tricia was having some serious health issues that neccesitated Gwyneth making a very early arrival. Thankfully Gwyneth has done amazingly well with her early birth! Tricia had a difficult recovery from the pregnancy and birth, and then she was able to receive a double lung transplant a few weeks later. Tricia and Gwyneth were discharged from the hospital within days of each other, and shortly thereafter they were finally able to go home. Unfortunately, Tricia was diagnosed with cancer not too long after their arrival back home. The cancer that she has is a common cancer for people who have undergone organ transplant and there seemed to be hope that she would be able to overcome the cancer with chemo, which she has been going through for the last few weeks. Then this past Monday Tricia had a PET scan to determine if the chemo was doing its job fighting the cancer. Nate's dad updated on his blog later that day and the update was not good. Tricia's cancer has not improved at all and they think that it may have spread. :*(

When I read this update earlier today I felt a strong urge to come here and ask you all to pray for Tricia, Nate, Gwyneth, and all who love them. They need a miracle. I do not know this people at all outside of what I have read on Nate's blog, but I have cried for them many times these past few months. The outpouring of love on Nate's blog from strangers across the country has uplifted me and helped to restore my faith in humanity. So if you have a moment please say a prayer for them. I know that they would appreciate it.