The Happy and the Hard

Lately

Happy
- My husband has a new job which is a great fit for his giftings with plenty of room to be challenged and grow professionally.
- We're having opportunities to see most members of our families this summer.
- Our son enjoyed a great season playing baseball this summer with excellent coaches. A coach can really set the whole tone of that experience and these men were top notch.
- Our little girl is walking.  That's bittersweet for this mama.  All our babies aren't really babies anymore.
- We're so thankful for our church community and looking forward to getting back to small group in the fall. 
- A dear friend is getting married this month after more than a decade of prayers that God would bring a husband. She is so happy.  Although I won't be able to make the wedding in Rwanda I think there will live streaming all around the world.  Looking forward to that!
- We're looking forward to fun family times next week.

Hard
- My husband took a statistics course this summer which turned out to be a massive amount of work and time, which was really difficult for all of us.
- The wide range of ages of our children is presenting more of a challenge as our big kids get more into activities.  Have you ever tried to keep a strong-willed 3-year-old from running off at a ball park for 2 hours?  Not fun. We also know that our big kids just don't get to do as much because of the little ones which gives way to feelings of guilt for me.  It seems other large families manage this, but I don't think we've found our groove yet.
- Trying to find balance in our budget for today and for the future.  We usually error on the side of not spending on fun activities today, but our kids are growing fast and it is starting to feel like sometimes you actually do have to spend money to make memories.
- Struggling...my own lack of self-esteem and confidence, feeling discouraged that I don't see the fruit of these intense years of parenting, feeling the need for a break from responsibilities but realizing that is just not possible right now.  Even 24 hours away could be very refreshing.   Since we started parenting almost 11 years ago, my husband and I have been away from the kids for 8 nights, and none of those have been in the last 5 years.  So I guess I'm just tired.

What is the happy and the hard in the spot you're in?