Back in the saddle...

We're BAAACK!!!

This is my first post since both of our girls have been home and our family is complete. Honestly, it's a miracle that I am even able to sit down and write this while all three of my children are tucked in their beds, sound asleep. I hesitate to even breathe too loudly for fear that this moment will end too soon!

Things haven't slowed down a bit now that none of us are residents in the hospital anymore. I don't know why I thought life would become a calming normal once we were all together - boy was I naive!! We got to spend a whole one day as just the five of us before we had to be separated once again. I think about that insurance commercial that says, "Life comes at you fast" - no kidding!

Our house, come to find out, had mold and mildew growing in the basement due to much flooding from all of the snow and rain we had this winter/early spring. I am dreadfully allergic to both and we of course feared the kids would develop asthma or allergies, so we (the kids and I) trekked up to Michigan to stay with our family. It wasn't too bad being a single parent once we got there - however, the ride there was one of the most horrible things I've experienced. When I arrived at my parents', my mom said, "How was it?" with a sympathetic look as if she already knew the answer. I replied, "We all cried at different points of the trip!" Once I got over the initial pain of the drive, we had a wonderful time. We actually ended up staying at Jake's parents' where his dad and sister helped out a ton when they were home. We had a wonderful time visiting friends and family we don't get to see often and were kept busy having visitors every day! It was great and of course I loved introducing the girls to everyone.

This visit lasted a total of a week and a half. For the last week, Jake was on our senior high missions' trip in Tecumseh, Michigan where our group participated in GROUP Workcamp. The kids had a great time helping people in need of repairs to their homes and came back a more solidified group. We are loving how every time we get together, we grow closer and closer with our students, and Jake had a wonderful time building even deeper relationships with them on this trip.

The Mannes were reunited a little over a week ago on Saturday in our mold-free house and are not making plans to be apart again for quite a while! The girls are growing and have become very acclimated to us and our noisy home and I think Cole doesn't even remember that it was ever just him. He loves being a big brother and he is such a good helper - sometimes too good (think picking up the babies when they're crying!).

So, we are back and ready to have some normalcy - even if it's some crazy normalcy! It's nice to not be writing about doctors and nurses and treatments all of the time. Many more fun stories and thoughts to come!