So just do it, already!

I started this blog a few weeks ago and have not done anything to it. Fear of failure, the inability to start, and chronic typing phobia have all contributed but I have to do it and so here it is!

I have decided that I don't really need to go back to where it all began, that was proving way too complicated as everything depended on everything else and there was no real 'Once upon a time ... ' with which to kick it all off. I had decided to start with my Dad's coin toss that led him to live in Bristol where he met my Mum, but even that had shreds of lives attached that seemed to be just as relevant and meaningful.

So I decided, on my drive to preschool this morning, listening to Gretchen Rubin's 'The Happiness Project", that the answer was just to start now, where I am, with what is happening today and then the rest will come.

So, today I am smiling. I am a 50 year old woman, about to attend her third daughter's graduation from college, driving her 2, 3, and 4 year old toddlers to preschool. It is weird to say that I have six children ... three, grown, beautiful, intelligent, and college graduated daughters, and three preschoolers, bursting with enthusiasm for everything from ladybugs at the park to noticing all the chimneys on our route that Santa will be descending in a few days!

This middle aged life was supposed to be winding down, looking inward, and slowing down. The choice to become foster parents, 6 years ago as Hattie, our third daughter, was a senior at high school, changed everything. What was going to be a ten year commitment to helping children in distress has turned into a lifelong commitment to three beautiful new additions to our family. This middle aged life is not slowing down, nor is there much time for introspection. There is, however, the joy of seeing a fragment of rainbow in a nearly clear sky, through the eyes of delighted four year old; there is the smile at the sight of a round-bellied two year old in pajamas, strolling into the room, with a book under her arm and wearing dark glasses; and there is the heart stopping love of a three year old boy who snuggles up each morning and says "I wuv you".

This unexpected journey has sights and experiences that only God knew were going to be part of our lives. I am surprised and incredulous to be living a life so unexpected and so joyful and so challenging. I wouldn't have it any other way!