June Week One: Joy

I tried to observe more areas of joy in my life, this week I tried to look through the lens of joy this week. The week started so easy to see the joy, but I did struggle Friday-Sunday. I hope your week was wonderful and there was sparks of joy in everyday this week.

Sunday:

Today I attended a birthday party for a child in one of the cases I work. I am always so happy to be able to see them in happy normal environments. I love the job I have, and it was such a good reminder of the joy in my job. It is why I stay with this field even though it can be so tough.

Later that day we had a wonderful family dinner. I find such happiness from our Sunday dinners. Gathering our friends and family on Sundays to have dinner, it also keeps it fresh in my mind what a blessing family and friends are.

Monday:

It was Memorial Day, so Bryton and his army buddies went to have lunch and then hiked a mountain. Bear went to one of our friends house to play with their new puppy.

I had one of my other friends, her husband, and her baby came over. We will begin watching this baby during the week while our friends. He is only 2 months old and just the cutest dang thing. The girls were in love with him. Both of our girls are so good with babies, it makes me want another baby!

Bryton and I have talked about trying again and I can not wait to see if it is in God’s plan to give us another life to nurture and raise. Later that day I made some dinner and doubled it so I could run it to our friends house so they did not have to worry about it. While I was making dinner, our nephews and nieces came over for a bit it to play.

While I was out dropping off the food to our friends. I got a call from the friends that had Bear, he had hopped her fence. A strange woman called him out of their yard, and he is such a social dog who can jump no joke 6 feet in the air, of course he hopped over their 3 foot fence to get some pets.

I came as soon as I could and I picked him up. I did not want him to keep hopping their fence and take a walk about. When we got home he played with the nephews. Which is a favorite past time of Bears. He loves to play with kids.

I find such great joy watching the kids that I love so much play so well together. Lucy loves her cousins and I am so happy that she can grow up with cousins to play with and make some great memories with.

Tuesday:

We had the nephews and niece all day today. It was a lot of work but oh so much fun. We played with our little pool, and did a lot of jumping on the trampoline. I let the older two boys play on the Xbox for an our while Lyra napped. Then we had some lunch and went back outside.

All of our nephews and nieces love to be outside, which brings me so much joy. I have wonderful memories of playing outside as a child and I love to see things I loved as a child be passed on to new generations. The simple and wholesome memories are so beautiful.

We had pizza for dinner and as usual the kids got some candy as they left. Lucy was so so sad when they had to go home and they could not stay with her and play. I know she is going to love having a large family like Bryton and I plan to have.

Wednesday:

I had a nail appt this morning and I got some cute oranges painted onto my nails. I love getting my nails done, it is one of my things I do just for myself to reset and refill my bucket.

Then my friend with the baby came back to have another play date. We want him to be as used to us and our house as possible before he is here all day 4 days a week.

It was a rainy day so Lucy and I watched some Gordon Ramsey home cooking, I love that show and the thought you can make “fancy” meals at home. I want to cook some cleaner nicer meals and he had some wonderful ideas.

Later that day I was paid for the work that I did in April, it some times takes a month or two due to the amount of time they have allotted the state to have to review all of the activities that we bill for. It took a couple months to get used to getting ahead of being paid way behind.

Bryton came home at 3 and so we packed up the girls and went grocery shopping together. We had so much fun, and loved spending time as a family even doing the little things. I love finding the joy in the little things.

Thursday:

Today I was struggling to discover what routine I want/need to start for the blog. I want to begin to have a better schedule. I have tried to think about it and I could not figure out why I had a good flow in the beginning but was struggling to find one today.

I tried to just spend the day thinking of what I needed to do to get in the right rhythm for my blog and my family. I do love doing this. Even if it goes no where I have a little corner of the web and a diary where the girls can come and read what they did with me that day.

Friday:

Today Bryton graduated his training at work, I am so proud of him. He worked so hard and even pushed through two days of jiu jitsu training with a broken rib before asking for an x-ray. He is such a wonder man and I could not be happier. We went to his graduation with his grandpa. It was so much fun.

When his graduation was done I took the girls to their Aunts to spend the night and have some fun. They loved it. While they were gone I cleaned the house and watched more Gordon Ramsey.

Later our friends came over and dropped the baby off so he could get used to being with us without Mom or Dad. They went on a well deserved date and I snuggled a tiny baby.

It was the day my cycle was supposed to start but hasn’t I will be keeping track to see when and if it does come. I scheduled an appt to see the Dr. I have always had odd cycles and since I had only had one since Lyra was born and we are tryin again I want it to come back so I can track it.

I also came to the realization that I was struggling with the blog schedule and routine due to our schedule and routine shifted. Bryton had a different schedule due to training and it shifted things slightly, once I came to that realization that this is why I was struggling.

I am always overjoyed when I see something like that, it means I know the problem and can try to see solutions and work towards our goals. It is such a blessing to self reflect, it also helps me to see the Lord’s hands in my life.

That night I facetimed my babies before bed and told them goodnight. Oh how I love them.

Saturday:

I woke up and then read a couple chapters of my book, I am so close to being done with it and I can not wait to get the second book in the series. I then let Bear out and pumped 12 oz. While I pumped I worked on figuring out a plan for my blog and Etsy.

Then I packed up and I went to get the girls from their Aunt’s house. They had so much fun which I knew they would.

I got very frustrated with one of our cases and I wanted to call and fix the issues right then and there but the dept is not open on the weekends and the idea of having to wait until Monday is slightly killing me. I get so invested in this cases and these kids lives, I feel very strongly and was ready to fight for what I saw being the child’s best interest.

I tried to calm down and tak my mind of it by listening to a new office ladies podcast and cook dinner. Later when Bry had come home and we all had, had dinner Bryton took us to Coldstone to get some ice cream.

He is too sweet, he knew how I feels about my work and that I was frustrated with one of the cases so he tried to help me take my mind off it. When the girls went to bed I did some of the puzzle I was working on then watched some of the show called Fresh of the Boat. It ended up being a nice day and I saw the joy my family brings me.