This is what it must be like

I am officially a full time nanny. 6 different kids, 3 families, one me. I am so happy that I can do this full time. I am excited to go to work for the first time in...well, a long time. I am so excited to see where God takes me in this new journey and just how I can impact each and every one of these kids. I have an awesome schedule that gives me the weekends and holidays off. I can also pretty much make my own schedule. But the best thing yet are these kids. This is what it must have been like for my mom (well, the running around and watching kids part, not the time off part)

I am watching seven month old Audrey three days a week into the afternoon. She is getting bigger everyday and still acts like my little monkey. Occasionally I watch Audrey's older siblings, eight year old Kai and 5 year old Dylan. They are such great kids and I definitely am so blessed to be involved with their family. I am now watching Henry, a big eyed, Australian, three year old who LOVES his trains. I watch him in the afternoons five days a week. I am SO excited to get to know him and go on many adventures with his adorable little self. I am also watching six year old Joshua twice a week after school. I can't wait to see all he will teach me.

So, I have come to realize these kids, they are what I was meant to do. I get up and think of the things we can do that day, what they will all start to learn and how I can love on them the way the Lord would. They are so full of wonder and they remind me what it is like to have a childlike spirit. This is the part of me I think my mom most effected. I honestly feel like this is something she would be so proud of me for.

Justin is doing incredibly well in school. He, too, is doing what he loves every day. We are so blessed to be where we are and even though it was a rough start, God has been so faithful to us.

I turned 23 on the 5th and feel no older or younger, just... alive. It was a wonderful birthday. My hubby made me a comfort food, Grandma Ruth's Chicken and Dumplings. He knew I was feeling homesick that day. He also made AMAZING molten chocolate cake and had a dozen roses for me at the door :D The next weekend we had chorizo and eggs for breakfast in bed and he bought me the new Jimmy Eat World on record! SOOOO great! Oh and a surprise trip to San Fransisco to see ANBERLIN IN CONCERT!!!!! He kept it a secret all the way there. It was just so fun. So, needless to say, my husband gave me a wonderful 23rd. 

So, all the updates aside, I will paint a picture of where I am now. I am sitting in Dolci. It is an adorable little Italian coffee shop downtown St. Helena. I am waiting until I go pick up Joshua at school, then over to Henry's till six. The people who actually live in St. Helena almost never go walking downtown, they are too busy in their adorable homes (when I say adorable I mean mostly Victorian and the kind of homes they put in movies to seem like the "average American home" when you are watching you go "I don't know anyone with a house that nice unless they live in like New Hampshire")and working to salvage this seasons harvest. Most of the people who walk through the shops are tourists or just traveling through. Yet, here I sit, typing away drinking my iced tea and thinking of the holidays. The trees change color here, just like the vineyards, and it makes for  gorgeous fall palette. We had a nice few rainy days and now it is sunny but brisk enough for a jacket...ah I LOVE the fall. The wind is sweeping in through the open doors and inspiring me to go and find a nice ubby pumpkin for carving. Yup...it's a plan.

Thank you to those of you who read this. Thank you for listening for a little while. I must be off to do what my mom did and get my house cozy for the holidays. My love to you -Bean