October

Coming back to this space has been hard. I’ve missed all of the wonderful people that I’ve met here, missed the conversations and the feeling of community, but I’ve also been paralyzed  by writer’s block. Mostly, my writer’s block stems not from me having nothing to say, but mostly from me being so out of focus.

When I started this blog, it felt as though my path was clear. I knew what I wanted from life, I knew where I wanted our home and our hearts to go and we had a steady plan on how to get there.

Then, life happened.

Plans get changed, then they get postponed, then they are scrapped all together and new plans are made. Before you know it, you are not the person you were when you started your blog and you ask yourself “where do I go from here?” and “What is this blog about anyway?”

Our family life is wonderful, but it has also been taken over by Little Man’s therapy. But, I don’t want to be an autism blog. Although I think I have a good handle on what works for our family, I don’t feel I’m in any position to tell people how they should go about things. And it feels like all the facts about autism are out there, I am not needed to drive the point in any further. But autism being a major driving force in our home right now, that left me with so much to say, but no idea how to say it and NOT become an autism blog.

I can’t really have a homesteading blog because for now,  our homesteading projects have been put on hold. When gardening season arrived, we were neck-deep in therapy, school, home renovations and planning our first family vacation in almost 3 years. Our soil analysis was shot, the amount of amending needed to have any kind of decent production would have cost a fortune and because of personal health issues and impending surgery (I’m healing well, no worries), there was no way we could see ourselves taking on a homestead this summer. So we let 60% of our gardens go fallow, planted buckwheat and concentrated our efforts on a few of our newer beds. When a late June frost killed all of our warm loving plants, we took it as a sign from the Universe that we had made the right decision.

I so want to find my quilting and crafting voice again, but for now, I’m truly not a quilting or crafting blog. But that should change very soon. I am officially the proud owner of a few days a week “sans” kiddos and I plan on making the most of it as soon as I can sit up for longer than a few minutes at a time. (Abdominal surgery sucks!)

Where does all this new-found time come from? Let me explain : Among the many changes in our lives comes Little Man’s debut in part-time preschool. We were blessed to receive a phone call offering us a 2 day a week space available in this local preschool that is adapted for special little people. They have a full-time specialized education staff, a cooking staff trained in food issues, sensory facilities and a “the more we are outdoors the better” philosophy that was too good to pass up. And he has been thriving : He is making friends, letting go of some of his rigid behaviors, using pictograms to speak and has even started saying “Bye” and “Allo” on a regular basis. Their Montessori inspired focus of independence and life skills has been amazing and little man can now partially dress and undress himself. brush his teeth, put together his own snacks and help in family chores like clearing the table, putting away his toys and helping with yard work.  He has been going for a month now and they are tickled with how well he is doing. So much so that the rehab center has deemed him ready to move to a more intensive therapy schedule. He will be starting proper occupational and speech therapy in addition to multiplying his in-home (and at preschool) therapy sessions. It will require a lot of commitment, but the potential is limitless.

Moving along, I’m really not a food blog. I love sharing my recipes and I love baking and cooking, but the kitchen has been more convenient than creative as of late so not much to say there. But Little Man’s taste buds have been relaxing a bit. Maybe it is eating away from home 2 days a week that has made it happen, but we are finding ourselves able to feed him a lot of new things lately. So we are again feeling this desire to experiment and discover.

Last but not least, when I first started sharing our journey here, I had a deep down desire that MAYBE, I would become a homeschooling mama. That has clearly not happened. So no, I cannot be a homeschooling blog. As some of you know, Little Miss made me understand very early on that she wanted to go to school. Staying home was not an option. Many told me that I should have followed my gut and kept her home, but I truly would not have felt as though I would have respected her wishes. Now, I haven’t yet decided for Little Man. We still have a few years to go. But being honest, after seeing how much progress he’s made in just a few weeks of being exposed to a more structured setting, my heart is slowly accepting that school might be the way for him as well. But luckily in life, things are not always black and white and I may get my wish at least partially. More on that very soon!

So here I am. Seasons have passed, things have changed, I am finding and redefining myself again and my space is still here. Not an autism blog, not a homesteading blog, not a quilting or crafting , food or homeschooling blog. But I am still here. So if you don’t mind, I will keep my blog for a little while longer, and the name will remain the same : Family, because it is the corner-stone of who I am, Faith, because without it I would be lost, Food, because it is always good to eat and Fabric, because my creativity is slightly out of my reach right now, but I’m closely gaining on it and once I catch up, I don’t plan on letting go.