Feeling Blessed

I know it has been over a year since I posted on this blog.  But, I felt compelled to share just how wonderful this year has been and how truly blessed I feel.
It has been a busy year, with the usual home education and family commitments that come with being a sole parent to two tweens.

This year has also seen major health and wellbeing changes happen for me personally.  Anyone not in the know can follow my journey over on Changing Meal Habits but in a nut shell I have shed over 45kg since February and rid myself of fibromyalgia, anxiety and other debilitating side effects of poor diet/health.  The changes I feel are immense and I love that I am mobile and feeling well enough to get out and enjoy life with my kids, family and friends.

In other news, we decided this year to become a foster family.  This was a slow process that took a lot of soul searching and thought and was first discussed almost two years ago.  I did the course earlier this year and we had our first placement of a little boy in November.  We currently have a baby girl who is an absolute delight.

I think having the care of this baby has really prompted me to count my blessings.  I am so grateful that I have had support of my parents in my most challenging times and have been able to continue caring for my children.

Oh and my children, wow!  I am so incredibly proud of them.  The way they have taken this on board astounds me.  Even though it was their idea to foster initially they have followed through and picked up the loose ends so beautifully.  They have had to sacrifice my time with a newborn in the house and they have had to help out a little more and they have done so without question.  They have so much love to give this wee one and my heart swells to watch them.

The fact that I am not only educated and privileged (yes, I do live below the poverty line on a single parent pension) but also have opportunity that many others don't have  has  meant that I have come through tough times relatively unscathed.  This doesn't happen for so many women (and men) out there.  I watch this tiny baby in my care and it breaks my heart that her mum is missing out on so many 'firsts'.

My eyes have been opened to a whole new world out there.  One that we know exists but because it doesn't touch us we never give it much thought.  A world of drugs, alcohol, neglect, abuse that sees children and parents torn apart, and it is unfathomable.  When I speak to other carers and read other stories I feel so naive and teeter between heart break and anger.  Needless to say this has been a time of great personal growth for me.

So, my top ten blessings for the year:

10. Education

9. Opportunity

8. Government income

7. Health

6. Affordable housing

5. Access to good food/water

4. My car (which I also paid off this year!)

3. Friends

2. Family

1. My beautiful kids 

It's been a while hasn't it!

Hiya

remember me :P

I know I got a bit slack, lost my blog mojo over here and put it in the 'too hard basket'.

However, this isn't really true.  I just moved house is all.

Decided to get up and get healthy 

Want to know why?

Want to know how?

Then come on over and join me at

Veggie madness

With the madness of christmas over and a few sunny days we are starting to harvest more and more from our little garden.  I only wish I had more space for vegetables!

 Peas are going great guns.  We have been picking loads every night.  There is one poor little bean plant that I should have planted separately as it isn't doing well at all.  but the peas, oh the peas.

                               

In the front garden I ripped out flowers and weeds and planted lettuce, silverbeat, two types of kale, broccoli and cauliflower.  They are all doing well and I have used heaps of kale already.  I love that I can cut leaves off and it keeps growing.  I had mini cos lettuce in and used most of it so now have an empty spot.   Some iceberg is growing on the grass side of the patch.  Also have sun flowers dotted throughout.

Down the side of the driveway there are three tomato plants, corn, zucchini, sunflowers and basil that we have already had a meal of pesto from.  I am hoping they will keep growing though.  I think I will plant some more in this space as we love fresh pesto.  There are also a few beetroot plants almost ready to harvest in here as well.

Out the back in styrofoam boxes there are tomatos, beetroot and herbs.  Tomatoes aren't really big but are already fairly full of fruit so I hope we get enough warm days to help them along.  My strawberries are keeping the birds healthy too!

I love having a garden and the kids love picking food to eat too.  Such a beautiful time in the evenings when we are all outside, seeing what is ready to pick, watering, weeding and chatting.

This week at home ed

This week has been a little less frantic and we are winding back a bit.

We didn't go to home ed group this week as the day changed and we had other commitments.  The weather this week has been spectacularly weird so our activities have been dependent on what is happening.

we have done a spot of swimming at Riverside Pool

Harvested some peas from the garden

went geocaching and had a play in the park at Perth, on the same day we went to Utsi cafe for a cuppa with my parents and then continued on to the Simmons Plains farm to catch up with another home ed family.  The kids had a great time exploring the large farm and shooting footage for a short film with their friend Isaac.

Plus, plenty of free time in the sun to just hang out together and play.

We also had our monitor visit from the gorgeous Sandra.  I do like this visit as it reminds we that we are on the right track, that we do plenty and the kids learn so much just from having the freedom to learn what, how and when.  We are truly blessed to live the life we have.