Spring is Here!

It has not snowed in quite a while now (thank goodness!), so it's time for my last post to disappear. This winter was unlike any I've seen since we moved to North Carolina in 1987! I remember when I was very pregnant with Julian, we got 3 snow-storms within a few weeks and had measurable accumulation. BUT from what I remember, it was short lived, and soon the snow melted, and we were back to typical fairly warm winter weather. Not this time! It was cold and then colder, and I am glad to see it is over for this year.

Spring this year will probably be different than years past because I am not working this spring. The mystery shopping company I have contracted for since Julian was born, and worked in-office for a couple of years before that has been sold. I remain blissfully ignorant of how all that business-transaction-type-stuff works. All I know is all assets were sold, and my job disappeared. This is sad for me, because it had been such a perfect job for my situation. My priority has always been to stay home with my kids. Life is short. I learned this at a young age, and I wanted my kids to know they are the most important thing to someone. I wanted to show them that people will make sacrifices for them because they are important. I think Jason and I have succeeded in this, mostly because I have been home with them. I don't think we would have been able to do this without my pitiful extra income. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

For 2 years now I have had to balance home, work, school, and so many other little things that don't fit neatly into one of those categories. It is sad to lose the job I've depended on for so long, but at the same time, it is a blessing! I have prayed for God to relieve the stress I have constantly been under since starting school. I asked and asked, but at the end of the day, I wasn't doing anything to change the situation.. I can't give up school, I would never quit my job! And my kids, well, they're here to stay. So God answered my prayer by removing one of my stressors! Praise Him, He always does what is right for me, so I am thankful. All that to say, I have some free time that I didn't have a couple of weeks ago. Today was my first day with no work. No emails, nothing to read and edit. It was a bit strange, to be honest.

So, we've had a wonderful Easter weekend, seeing my family on Saturday for Julian's birthday and then Jason's family on Sunday for another birthday party and Easter dinner. Today, I took cupcakes for Julian and his class, and we had our small family dinner with leftover cake from Saturday and cupcakes from today.

I wanted to post these pictures from a couple of weeks ago. I visited the Natural Science Center with Kathryn and her class. I was chaperone for her and her friend, Grace. We had a great time. There were lots of pictures, but these were my faves!