A year...

My husband sent me a link today from my post almost exactly a year ago. A poem I wrote, and forgot. Find it here: I am a Mama The timing is wonderful. It has been a year since I wrote here.

What did I do for a year? Well, if we are being honest, it was a pretty wild year.

Shortly after I wrote that post last  year, I went back to working away from the home. We are self employed business owners, and sometimes, as a family, we make sacrifices. I went back to work and things got crazy! I was away from home 5-6 days a week. My husband was juggling soccer and baseball on weekends, my mom was juggling kids on the weekdays. We were doggy paddling to stay afloat, praying everyday, and thankful for the opportunity I had to work.

Somewhere in the middle of that temporary job, I got another job! It was a miracle too. It fell in my lap and was the answer to a million prayers! I could work from home and be with the kids while still connecting the dots between not enough and enough.

After three months of working two jobs, I finally finished the temporary job, took a month off the regular job and headed to Hawaii with the kids and my grandparents.

Hallelujah!!!

This is just what the doctor ordered!

We missed Daddy a lot, but as a gift and a huge surprise, my Grandpa brought him over for the second half of the trip!

We found out about our big surprise right after this was taken.

I was really happy to see Daddy, but for some reason, my brain didn't think so. I was mean to him. I am never mean to him, so this was kind of strange. Right after we took this picture, we went back to the house and found out that we were expecting a baby!! No wonder Mom was mean and didn't feel well!

So, after months of financial uncertainty, here we were, expecting a baby. I was scared, Clint was elated. He called my first few months of pregnancy pre-partum depression :) Miracles began to shower down on us. Opportunities that hadn't been there before, checks in the mail we weren't expecting, and slowly I was able to really get excited. We found a wonderful midwife after a lot of looking and found out we were having a our first little girl together. Finally, a little sister!!

It's a girl.

Sometime in February we got really brave and decided to have our little girl at home. And, to come full circle, on March 13, 2014 at 1:34 AM, almost exactly a year after I published my Ode to Motherhood, we welcomed our fourth child into the world. Scarlett Wynelle Hardin. Our miracle, our joy, the great addition to our happiness.

Sweet baby!

So, now we start a new adventure. I am hoping to get back to writing here. It is purely selfish though. Not for you at all really. When I went back and read my posts, I felt the memories just wash over me. I loved reading my thoughts from a year ago. I loved seeing my kids during times gone by. I love this little record.