Time, A Move, and Abundant Blessings

I just realized, it's been 9 months since I last visited my blog. I hope to pick up from here. The Ashford home has been a busy home in the past 9 months. Since I last posted, we have moved back to Florida. I must say, this move came with a lot of stress, emotion, changes, and unexpected challenges. However, we could not be happier and more blessed with our decision. We are not settling in and my three precious kiddos are thriving. Amber is doing great in school. She settled in quickly and made many new friends within days. She is such a sweet, caring, funny, loving girl. She has also settled into church, joined the youth group, and the choir. In fact, she is performing in the Gainesville Christmas Festival the next two weekends. So she remains busy with church and school, as well as juggling her friends and time shopping, movies, and just hanging out. I could not be more proud of her and cannot believe in less than a month she will be 17! William is thriving at preschool. He wakes up in the mornings and asks "school, mommy, school?". He has begun to talk in sentences, says his ABC's, counts to 10, sings a million songs, and is learning to say complete prayers. He is such an active 2-year old who brings a smile to our faces daily! He makes us laugh and cry all at once. Gracie, well she is our Gracie girl! She is loving preschool as well. She has started walking, talking (Amber, baba, dada, momma, hey) and waves bye bye with a smile. She now has 4 teeth and eats anything in front of her. I am reminded daily of how precious she is and the journey we traveled with her. Her smiles, kisses, giggles, and sweet personality light up our home. And then there is me....after much deliberation, I did decide to return to work. It was a struggle in the beginning, but after seeing how well the kids were doing, and our easy schedule, we could not have made a better decision. I knew whether I returned to work or not, William was going to begin preschool. Little did I know how much he would truly love going. After several weeks, I adjusted, my children adjusted, and we are now one busy, busy family. Between my schedule and Fred's schedule, they are never at school much past 3:15. Which is awesome. Since being home, we have seen the kids become so close with their family. The smiles, laughs, and excitement on their faces is priceless, just as they time they get to spend with their cousins. William has learned everyone's house and every time we drive up he gets so excited and reminds us where we are. With all the blessings, we still have some hiccups ahead of us. Gracie will most likely have to have tubes in her ears. She is on a second round of antibiotics for her ear infection having "failed" her hearing screening. We will monitor her with this medicine, monitor fluid levels, and then reassess a time from for another hearing study. This sweet girl ocntinues to keep us on our toes. William will be having surgery in the weeks ahead to remove his tonsils. Because of his age, he will be admitted so we are waiting on the new specialist to call us to schedule. The last two years has brought our family so many challenges, triumphs, fears, and blessings. As the holiday season approaches, my heart is so full. My reflections are so deep, and my blessings are so abundant. The month of November brought daily reflections of things I am thankful for. The greatest of these is my Lord and Savior. The very one who provides me with my blessings. So today, the last day of November, I am thankful for my salvation, my friends, and above all my precious family. With Love, Jamie