Spring is here, and I'm tired.

(Daddy having some late night snuggle time)

It's seeding season here on the farm.  For my non-agricultural readers that is the time of year when us Canadian farmers put some grain into the ground in expectation that it will yield a harvest.  It's the kick off to our somewhat short growing season.  It is the time of year that my hubby leaves with a packed cooler first thing in the morning and then gets home long after the kids have gone to bed.  

Farm life, and it's constantly changing, unpredictable, yet cyclical seasons, has always been a part of my life.  Some farm wives have a hard time adjusting to their life being dictated by things like weather and seasons but it's just natural to me.  I grew up with a farmer Dad, and despite marrying an American city boy...ended up being a farmers wife. 

Right now being a farmers wife means single parenting for a few weeks. 

It's almost comical that the day seeding started this little bundle of sweetness arrived in our home.  Because we can't ever do things the easy way right?  Over all it's gone well.  We are making it through each day...and night.  I was thinking back to my other home-made newborns and neither of us has ever had "maternity leave" or "paternity leave".  Aili was born during harvest....so my husband was back out in the fields the day we got home from the hospital.  Roman was a summer time baby and was born during hay and silage season.  Silas was my winter baby and most likely my husband was around quite a bit more when he was tiny.  Adding another baby into the business of life just doesn't seem like that big a deal.  Baby Annie is our 7th foster child and our 4th foster newborn.

Right now my house is a mess.  My kids and I ate popcorn for supper.  We haven't finished up our home schooling year yet.  My days are a blur of noise, laundry, cooking, breaking up sibling spats, various appointments in various towns, long division, boiling bottles, feeding and burping a baby.  My nights are a blur of catching moments of sleep, rocking a baby, mixing formula into bottles, waking up to squeeks and cries, and falling asleep with a tiny girl on my chest. 

But I get to see moments like this.

I love my sleep as much as the next person...maybe more because it's such an elusive and rare commodity but in the end, 

It's a good trade. 

They're worth it.  Two beautiful precious little girls. I'm so thankful I get to love them.

It has finally warmed up enough to put in the garden. I'm rarely very organized about it but each year we get the seeds into the dirt. 

Roman is teaching little sister how to plant the onion sets. 

Today was the first day that felt like summer.  It was SO warm! 

Warm enough for some water play in the back yard.

 \Yay for green grass!

Big sister helping Elijah fill the water guns. Never too big for a turtle pool right?

This little girlie is so goofy.  Seriously.  She's our comic relief without even realizing she is.

Spring is here. 

 I'm tired

but it's short and beautiful season. 

Someday I'll get all the rest I can stand..until then I'll let Jesus be my Sabbath. 

Introducing our newest little one.

So much to write, and so little time and brain power to do it.

I'll muddle through my foggy sleep deprived brain and let you in on the newest little family member we are caring for.

I wrote a while back that we had re-opened our home for foster placements.  It took a little longer than expected to get our first phone call (about 3 weeks) but she was worth the wait.  

I spent those weeks preparing our home and my heart for any possibilitiy.  I prayed for the mystery child who I knew could be entering the world at any time.  We knew we were mostly likely to get an infant since newborns are the hardest to place...and that's what I like.  

I prayed for protection for this next child.  I didn't know who this child would be but a newborn placed into foster care is already a survivor.  A baby who likely already has many odds stacked against her.  I prayed she wouldn't slip through the cracks of the system, that she would be safe through childbirth, and that she would be protected. 

12 days ago we got "the call" asking us if we would take a teeny tiny little girl.  

We asked a lot of questions and answered with an eager "yes!"

She is just as sweet as can be, and we feel so blessed to get to be the ones to care for her. 

She didn't come home right away and we spent some time commuting back and forth to the city to visit her in the hospital.  

After a week of waiting for her she was finally discharged and came home.

The next day the kids had a little soccer camp.  Life doesn't slow down this time of year!  

This is really the first organized activity/ sport that Elijah has been involved with.

It was good to see him participate.  He tuckered out part way through and was more interested in playing with the dog of one of the other parents but he did well trying to keep up.

Elijah is doing great with the new baby.  He has really battled extreme insecurity and jealousy when mommy's affections are focused on one of the other children so I wasn't sure how this would go.  So far he's been very welcoming and has taken on a "big brother" role.  He is very sweet.

The pictures are a bit out of order but these were some we snapped with visiting our tiny girl in the NICU.

Love at first sight.

I am not permitted to share much information about the baby, show her face (trust me she's beautiful), or her actual name but I'll share as much of this new story God is writing in our lives as possible.  He gets the glory.

I've been soaking up the newborn preciousness.  She loves to be held close and I'm happy to oblige.

Not one kiss, or sleepless night is wasted effort.

She's worth every bit of it.

Once again, what her future holds is uncertain but while she is here in my arms I will love her ferociously and hold nothing back.  Simply because that's what she needs, and that's what she deserves. 

I don't know the future but I trust the One who does..  

Knowing what she has endured already I know that God has already answered so many of my prayers.  

Her life was preserved, she has been protected, and she is now in a place of safety and love. 

With each of my foster babies I have given them a social media alias.

This little one has officially remained nameless, but the nickname "Annie" was given to her by a caseworker and was used in the NICU.  The nickname has stuck. although it won't be her official, documented name.  It also works well for an online alias.

The day we brought Annie home was also the day my husband started seeding.  On the grain farm there are two busy seasons...seeding time and harvest.  This little one hasn't had her share of Daddy time, since he's in the field from morning until dark, but she's already got him wrapped around her itty bitty fingers.




I'm feeling very tired, but very very blessed.


Soli Deo Gloria,