The Straights

OK, so this past few weeks has been insane in our family. First of all, Our baby is ONE!! She is such a blessing to us and a joy in our lives. It was really fun to look back at this past year. I can't believe how much we have all changed! She is such a fun and sweet little girl. She can definitely have her crabby days (and believe me, she does) but for the most part she is fun and cute and always ready with a hug and a kiss. She is so very close to walking it's scary, and just a week ago she got her third tooth...on the bottom. yes, thats right, she is so not one to follow the norm, and somehow convinced her teeth that more on the bottom would be better than any on the top. So here we are, top: 0 bottom: 3. Also taking up most of our lives this past month has been my sister's wedding. She and Rob got married on the 29th, and it was great. Although, Paul might tell you that my mom and I were way more involved than my sister. She is just one who cannot see it all in her head, and so, made absolutely no decisions about anything and got upset and overwhelmed when asked. So things were left up to us, and it was very last minute. It made for a crazy time, since many things were done by just the two of us. Oh well, its done now, so we can all breathe a big sigh of relief. They had a wonderful day, and are now on the road to new things ahead.
This past weekend Meghan and Rob also had an open house up in Grande Prairie where my parents live, so we all packed up and headed there for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, especially for Amelia since she get all of the attention and spoiling! it was kind of too bad though that 4 people other than our family actually showed up, but we had fun and ate a TON of food! There is still so much left over from the wedding it's unbelieveable.
Amongst all of this has been the craziness of our life too. We still have Austin, at least for a little while. He started school last week, and I con't tell you how much easier it has made my life. It really feels like a treat to get some things done at home in peace and quiet, and to spend some time one on one with Amelia. I have been feeling a little guilty lately that she doesn't get a lot of my attention, since Austin is so demanding and overwhelming. He is also very jealous of her, since she is our daughter, and feels like we like her better and pay more attention to her, and give her more things. When in reality, it is the other way around. He demands all of our time and attention when he is around, and we have to get him all kinds of things, since he has nothing, but really most of them are not as fun for him I suppose. I can understand a little where he is coming from, though. He has been ditched by and left by everyone he loves and trusts. He knows and understands that his dad is working, but feels only like his dad doesn't want him or want him around even. We talked a lot in primary this month about families and being a forever family, and he felt very out of place. We have tried to talk to him and tell him that he is a part of our family right now, but it's hard for him to understand that being part of our family for a little while doesn't mean that he isn't a part of his dad's family anymore. He has been very nervous lately to start school. I think it is largely due to the fact that he doesn't deal well with new situations, and he didn't know what to expect. He was also so tossed around last year, and missed so much of last year, that it wasn't a good year for him. Hopefully things won't be so difficult for the next little while. But Iwe still don't know how long that will be. I had said to his Dad that I didn't feel comfortable starting september with Austin without a new contract. We had signed an initial contract with him in April when Austin came to our house that was good up until the end of August. He had said several times that he would meet with us again, but has completely blown us off every time. It has been really frustrating for us. There are things we need to talk about with him, and so far none of them have been addressed. It's especially tough for me, because I feel like this has been like a job for me, and I have no schedule and my paychecks are never on time. But at the same time I know that being with us right now is the best possible situation for Austin. I have prayed and thought about it a lot lately. It feels often like I have had enough, and like I want to be finished, but I always get the impression that we are not done yet, we still have things to teach him, and he is still benefitting from this. Not every day is tough, but there are those days. I just feel like I'm not asking for a lot from his Dad, when we are doing so much for him. I just want some sort of plan. I want to have the money that he owes us. I want him to understand that Austin has emotional issues, and possibly other things going on, and that getting help for him is not putting a label on him or a bad thing. Don;t mind my rant, I just wish he would listen and not interrupt long enough for me to say these things to him. maybe thats why I feel like it is so important to sit down with him. Maybe I think that he just might listen if he were right in front of me. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I'm just not sure how long I'm willing to wait.
In between all of these things, Paul was released from his calling as our ward PFR (physical facilities rep), and called as the sunday school teacher in our ward. He is pretty nervous still, but is getting more and more confident all of the time. I just wish I could be in sunday school once in a while to hear him teach. Primary is still as crazy as usual, and hopefully things will settle down enough that I can dedicate a little more time to my calling.
Thus, here we are now, and hopefully I'll actually have more time to myself and will update more often!