This morning on my facebook feed, an old blog post popped up from exactly two years ago today-- August 9, 2014, "Life Lately." I was pregnant, working on a trailer in Texas, with my truck-driving, cowboy-boot-wearing husband. We were anticipating returning to Sweet Home Alabama, buying our first fixer-upper house, and having our first baby. And we thought life was crazy then... ha!

TWO YEARS LATER... August 9, 2016.

I am pregnant, staying home with our THREE children (Jane, plus two foster siblings), with my minivan-driving husband. We are in the midst of selling our first fixer-upper and renovating/moving into our second fixer-upper, hopefully all before the arrival of Baby #2/4 (?!). And all of this happened since my last blog update 3 months ago... ha! Life in this family is never boring (although boring does sound kinda nice sometimes)! ;)

For a more detailed update, we'd have to sit down together with a cup of coffee-- I have to be careful what I share on the internet. I can say, however, that foster care is changing us... obviously in the new-minivan, new-house kind of way, but in deeper ways too. Some days hold lots of joy; other days we wonder what we got ourselves into. Life has not been easy, but it has been good.

Sometimes I think it's God's grace that when we say "yes" to something, we can't see all the future "yes's" that will follow. Life lately has required a lot of "yes's" that we didn't anticipate-- Yes to a minivan. Yes to leaving this house/neighborhood that we LOVE and quickly moving to a house with more room in a better school district for the sake of the kids in our care. Yes to suddenly fast-forwarding our lives 7 years to a family of soon-to-be 6. Yes to being okay with not knowing the permanency of our family members. Yes to the loss of personal space/alone time. Yes to elevated noise/energy levels. Yes to choosing love even when it's difficult.

We don't know what the future holds, but today we are saying, "yes." If I'm honest, sometimes our "yes" is a begrudging one-- as in, "Yes, I'll eat these vegetables but I really don't want to." Although Danny & I are technically saying "yes," our hearts do not always overflow with overwhelming excitement for what's on our plate. But I pray that as we continue to act out our "yes," our hearts will follow with increasing joy.

Jane adores her foster siblings. Their names are the first two words that come out of her mouth each morning. She follows them around the house, and they are so, so sweet with her. This warms my heart!

 Here's to hoping two more years from today we don't have so much to update. ;)

TWJ - 15 months

Today marks 15 months with our Janie Bear, and I figured we were due for an update!

At 15 months, Jane is a walking, babbling, opinionated little toddler! When did she grow up?!?

She LOVES...

BEING FANCY... dressing up, trying on jewelry, and looking at her outfits in the mirror. Such a little girl!

DOGS... pictures of dogs, toy dogs, real dogs. For now we love to visit the neighbors' dogs, but I think it's only a matter of time before Danny will convince her that we need one of our own.

the ZOO... in fact, "zooow" is one of her favorite words. I hear her saying it in her crib and when she is eating breakfast and when we get in the car to go the grocery store.

small spaces...

"helping" with house projects... 

clean hands... if her hands are the slightest bit dirty, she will say, "owww, owww" until someone wipes them off.

"no, no, no, no, no"... another new favorite word, which she says ALL. THE. TIME. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Experienced parents, please tell us this will pass?!?

babies... which works out well since we'll have another one around here come late October. :)

 That's right, Jane is going to be a BIG SISTER!!!

I'm about 15 weeks along and feeling great. We are so excited to welcome another little one into our family!

We are also so excited to welcome some "big" ones into our family... while Jane does not realize it, she's about to become a little sister too. We've officially been approved as foster parents and are awaiting a set of siblings who will likely be coming to live with us in the next few weeks... which means we are quickly approaching minivan land!!! It's about to get crazy around here! :)

We look forward to seeing what God will do with our little family in the days to come.

TWJ - Birthdays & Bye-Byes

What a fun week of celebrating JANE! We are so grateful for her life and for the gift that she is to our family.

She even got to celebrate with one of her best buddies, Luke, surrounded by friends and family who love them both so much.

Happy Birthday, Jane! Here's to many more full and joyous years.

And so this one-year milestone brings us to the end of our Tuesdays with Jane... Tuesdays aren't going anywhere, of course, and Jane may still make an internet appearance from time to time. But for now, consider this our official "bye-bye." Thank you for sharing this special year with us.