The Beginning of a New Decade

    2020 the beginning of a new decade. I love to look back and see where life has taken me. Living the life I do, things often change drastically.  20 years ago, I was 16, 10 years ago I was 26, now I am 36. I have lived a lot of life in the past 20 years.

My top ten highlights from the last 10 years.
  1. In 2010 I adopted David and Fayth.  Nesiah came to live with us. I started homeschooling the kids.

  2. In 2011 I adopted Nesiah, Lee, and Elizabeth.  We also moved to our current home that year.  we purchased our first animals, chickens, and a mini horse.
   
 3. In 2012,  We added a milk cow to our little farmette. I think we may have had sheep too. It was our first year as a family with no new family members and no adoptions.

 4. 2013, Bubbie was born and came to live with us. We got rid of the cow and bought some sheep. I was still homeschooling.

5. 2014, We were in the midst of hard hard. Bubbie was sick and colicky, sleep was nonexistent, and medical appointments far too frequent. We got a crash course on allergies and asthma.  We also had extensive and frustrating foster care drama. It was a hard hard year.

6. 2015, We adopted Bubbie, only by a miracle.  His health started improving. We added goats and 2 old horses to the farm. I also started homeschooling Nesiah that year.

7. 2016,  We took a week-long vacation to Cape Cod thanks to a generous friend.  We added bunnies, dogs, and sheep to our menagerie. Maybe even a steer that year?

8, 2017 The year we spend repairing our health. I had horrific Lyme disease and adrenal fatigue. I made the decision to take care of my health that year. 5 out of 6 kids also had Lyme disease! We battled and won that fight. We found a church we plugged into. My boys became teenagers and the 3 oldest kids got part-time jobs, opened savings accounts and started budgeting. 

9, 2018 The year we really started thriving again. Bubbie started attending a private school. I started working as a parent trainer for the local children and youth agency.  This is the year all 4 of my big kids were teenagers.  I had my own babysitters and mother's helpers. BEST OF ALL, baby girl came to live with us 5 days before Christmas. We added a couple steers, several goats and another dog to the menagerie.  I made a big garden in part of my pasture.

10. 2019,  I quit my job. Bubbie attended his private school for first grade.  Nesiah went back to public school. This all happened over summer as I recognized that I needed to take steps to prevent burnout. The older 3 kids all had steady jobs over the summer with families from church.  I raised a large garden and canned a ton of food. 

So in ten years, I adopted 6 kids with another adoption coming up really soon.  I had two babies dropped into my lap while I was NOT a licensed foster parent. I homeschooled 4 kids from 1st to high school. I had my first kid go into private school. I moved to a farmette and obtained animals, raising as much of our own milk, eggs, and meat as possible. I started a garden from scratch, raising as much of our own food as possible. I started working as a parent trainer for cys and then quit when I got a baby.