Meet My Family

I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to my wonderful family.  These are the people behind my motivation to create this new life.

This is my sweet son, Kenyon.  He's 7 years old and in 2nd grade.  Kenyon's father and I were together for about 9 years and married for 5.  We grew apart and seperated in 2009.  Although things were pretty ugly in the beginning of our seperation, we now have a great relationship and Kenyon is lucky to still be able to enjoy family time with both parents at the same time.  We make an effort to at least do a few things a year together as a family.  Kenyon's got the sweetest spirit.  He's sensitive and gentle.  He reminds me so much of myself.  He goes out of his way to be kind to everyone, even at the cost of his own happiness.  I'm trying to teach him that not everyone deserves kindness to that degree!  He will make some lucky lady a wonderful husband one day!

This beautiful baby girl is Abigail.  We call her Abbey for short.  She is 10 months old and a bundle of energy.  I couldn't have asked for a better baby!  She's slept through the night almost since birth.  She eats anything I put in front of her, as you can tell!  I love her big belly laughs and facial expressions.  She loves her brother so much and he loves her!  They are so sweet together!  Abbey's father isn't involved in her life which is better for us all.  If God allows, one day a wonderful man will become her father.  Until then she's got plenty of love here with us!!

This is my Dad and little Abbey.  My Dad is a true country man.  He loves fried chicken, antique cars, and Storage Wars!  He's good with Abbey and plays with her.  He'll change diapers if needed but usually yells for reinforcements!

This is my sweet Mom giving Abbey loving.  My Mom is my best friend.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago, took radiation and was cancer free until last year.  We found out her cancer came back last summer.  It's stage 4 and terminal.  It has spread throughout her body in several places including her liver and bones.  Right now she is taking chemo and did great until the last couple months.  She is having a lot of trouble currently with the chemo they now have her own (the first version stopped being effective).  I just pray my Mom has several years left here with us to see my babies grow up.  I know she will leave us for a better place one day, but I ask God daily to give us more time with her.

And this is me with my sweet family!  One thing you will notice is that there aren't many pictures of me around (this ones from Thanksgiving and it was the most recent I had).  That's the down side of being the photographer of the family I guess!  Anyway, I have so many interests.  I love to cook and bake, sewing, making recycled crafts, photography, and reading.  You will get a good luck into me just by reading my posts, so I'll just say that for now.

"Be devoted to one another in love." -- Romans 12:10

Why I'm inventing Eden...

I have been rolling this blog around in my mind for weeks, maybe months now, and finally decide to just do it.  I struggled with what I should write and what I should include.  I still am unsure about a lot of these things, but I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens I guess!

So why the title Inventing Eden?  Well, I am on a bit of a mission.  A mission to create the safest, happiest, and healthiest home for my family I can.  Our very own Eden so to speak.  I am in no way under the impression that I can truly create our own Garden of Eden here on Earth, it would be impossible!  But when God created Eden for Adam and Eve he created a place that was secure, healthy, and full of love and happiness.  This is what I want for my children.  I know that I can't protect them from all the pain, sadness, and evil in the world.  Home should be an oasis from that though.  This blog is a way for me to share our journey with others and to keep me motivated when things get difficult. 

The last few years have been a struggle for my family.  I have lost 2 jobs, have separated from my husband, endured another year and a half relationship with a manipulative, violent alcoholic, lost a child at 3 months of pregnancy, battled a 3 year battle with depression, lost my home, moved in with my parents, and my Mom has been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.   Last March I had to leave my home in the middle of the night with nothing more than a duffel bag of clothes and my son to protect him from the man who claimed to love us.  The man I thought I could rebuild my life with.  I was 6 months pregnant at the time. I'm probably lucky I made it through that night unharmed. 

Not all has been bad though, I've had a beautiful baby girl who I wouldn't trade for the world, gone back to school to pursue a career I've been wanting for a very long time, and gotten to spend a lot of quality time with my Mom.  I also began going to church again and have rededicated my life to God.  It has been that relationship with Him and 6 months of counseling at Mainstay, a center for abused women, that have gotten me through the last year. 

I have repaired my relationship with my ex-husband and am well on my way to rebuilding our friendship.  We will never be together as a couple again, but he is a wonderful father and it's so good for my son to know that Mom and Dad don't hate each other.  My daughter's father is no longer in our lives.  I asked him to get counseling and go to substance abuse classes in order to have any sort of visitation rights with his daughter.  He chose a life of drugs and alcohol over his own daughter.  I haven't heard from him since before she was born last May.  Honestly, I couldn't be happier.  She is better off without him in her life.

I now have an opportunity to start fresh which is something not many people get.  It is my new mission in life to provide them both with a life that gives them everything they need to grow into confident, happy, healthy adults who are respectful, well adjusted and ready to tackle anything the world throws at them.  I hope to document that journey in this blog.  It will give me an outlet to share ideas, voice frustrations, and hold myself accountable.  I am so excited about starting this new journey and can't wait to see where it may lead!

In closing I wanted to leave you with this verse.  It has given me strenght over the last several months when I didn't think I would be able to make it through.  God bless...

I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.   Psalm 121:1-8