A change...

Life continues to journey along here at Sunnyside.  Can you believe I've been scribbling on this little piece of the web, recording our story, for 5 1/2  years?  It seems such a long time when you look at it like that, yet as I look back the years have flown by & it' s purely the dates that remind me of the quick passing of time.
 

All photos taken at the nearby chocolate & licorice factory!

  

Over the years my blog direction has changed in various ways.  Once again this blog is in for another redirection.  After much prayer & discussion with Dave I have decided not to reapply for the 2014 TOS Review Crew.  There are numerous reasons for this change of pace, but please know I am very sad about this choice as I have loved being part of the crew & I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to join!  It has challenged & stretched me & I have met the most wonderful ladies from all over the world!  When I was making this decision I looked at a few factors. Initially I joined for various reasons & I am happy that these have been fulfilled!

Some of these were:

1. I was hoping to increase my writing skills ~ yes, I have. I have found that I love to write reviews  & I hope to continue to refine these skills further as I remain part of a few launch teams over the coming months (these require a lot less time commitment).

2. I wanted to become more familiar with homeschool curriculum as I found it rather intimidating ~ yes, definitely this has happened. I now love curriculum (far, far too much) & am happy that I have a much better grasp on the various options out there & on how it all works. It is with this confidence that we decided to register ourselves as independent homeschoolers with the Board of Studies this past August instead of staying with the DE school we were previously registered through.  I am not sure I would have felt comfortable doing this if I hadn't had such an intimate look at such a wide variety of curriculum!

3.  I needed to be re inspired to write here ~ sometimes writing can be hard & I am often unsure about what & how much to share.  Burnout is real & I believe the typical life of a blog is 5 years.  I was considering closing this blog, but instead chose to apply for the Review Crew.  Part of the criteria was that you had to post a certain number of times each month.  This made me write even when I was uninspired & I have found how much I really love writing!  It has also been very interesting seeing what kind of posts people enjoy reading & this has surprised me!

4. I wanted to be distracted ~ infertility continues to break our hearts & I needed distractions so I don't dwell upon this all day, every day.  Reviewing was a wonderful distraction!

Being part of the Review Crew has been such a blessing & a privilege.  I am going to miss it very much!

BUT 

Although these have all been good, wonderful things, I have found that I haven't fulfilled the original reason I began blogging back in 2008 which was to record our life here on the farm.  There are so many things I haven't written about that have happened & so many things we have tried that need to be recorded.  I only have so much time I can sit here writing & I'm the first to say I can't do everything.  Finding more time in my week was just getting impossible! So I intend to take a step back in the next 12 months & blog as I can, recording those times, the good & bad, the interesting & unique things that happen, the endeavours we try & the adventures we have on this little piece of earth (& hopefully catching up on some of the thing I've missed over the past few months). 

Eli

BUT MAINLY

The reason I did not reapply for the Review Crew is because we are embarking on another journey.  One that will stretch us further than we have ever been stretched before.  One that will require everything we have in us & so much more. We are in the very earliest stages of becoming foster parents.  I hesitate to share this as we are praying through each step & will take it step by step.  Knowing that at any point should we feel uncomfortable we can stop.
This is something we always planned on doing  as it has been heavy upon our hearts since before our marriage, but we had assumed we would wait until our biological children were older.  However as our children continue to grow we are missing the sounds of little feet & voices in our home.  After much prayer we have decided to embark on this journey now & see where the Lord leads us. Our whole family is fully on board & we are blessed with supportive friends & extended family.   We are hoping to foster permanently & would love to adopt from it, but it is currently all in God's hands and of course everything is so very difficult in Australia.  I share this here not because I want accolades (or horror stories ~ please don't share these.  I think I've heard them all already from well meaning friends.), but rather I was hoping you would please pray for us.  Please pray for God's guidance, protection & love.  That His Will occurs. Should we continue through this journey, for the right child/ren to be placed in our family,  for our hearts not to be broken & ultimately for God's glory through all.
~ Thank you friends~

I took about 10 pictures~ not one was a nice photo of them all!

So changes are afoot & I hope you will stick around & continue to follow along our story here.  I really appreciate all my readers & am honoured that you would visit us here!

Have a wonderful week

Blessings

   

PS.. I am just now deciding on what kind of DSLR camera to purchase.  I have decided on another Nikon as I LOVED my D40x, but I'm not sure what model to purchase this time around.  Any hints, tips or warnings to share????