What's Scarier than Falling? Blending

I took an intermediate level painting class in college. I had recently earned a bunch of ART credits by taking a Portuguese written assessment and by resubmitting my AP Art History test score from high school. I just needed this painting class to meet the BA requirement and graduate. I should have been in Beginning Watercolor, but it wasn't offered my last semester. I had to get permission to be in the class with the real art students. Getting these last 2 ART credits was the easiest way to get a BA instead of going the BS route and would allow me to graduate ahead of schedule.

I liked painting, but I was no where near good enough to succeed at the "collegiate" level and I really didn't want this class to taint my GPA. After moving through some fairly easy assignments, the professor required us to paint something with difficult colors warning us that if we didn't paint properly, we would end up with a muddy mess. I painted with 2 of the difficult colors he allowed--red and green. Red and green together make muddy brown. I was so careful. There's only one tiny part of my painting that is muddy. I was pleased with my work, but it took a long long time. I still remember the pleasantly shocked look on his face when I presented my painting of a red apple on a green and yellow background. He told me, "Wow! I didn't know you had it in you! You took risks and it tuned out okay."

A while back, I poured my heart out about being scared to fall in love. He is an intelligent, hard working, kind, loving man. I had been afraid that I would love too much and get hurt in the end. It turns out that falling can be really fun if you have a partner that's falling in love right along with you.
Now, as we prepare to blend our lives together, the blending of our families is what scares me. I've heard of others' experiences with step children and step mothers and ex wives and realize that ours will be different. Different doesn't mean easy. Blending families can't be easy for anyone involved. I am so grateful to have a partner right along side of me as we begin the challenging process of blending.
This weekend my girls will get to have more time with him and Emerson, more than Kamryn, realizes that he and I may eventually marry. She sees him differently now than she did when she met him casually in September. She's texted him a few times and is pretty thrilled for his upcoming arrival.
His kids are excited to get to know me, my girls are excited to get to know him--but just like the "excitement" with new love--there will be many other feelings to experience. Here's to the hope, faith and charity we will need to blend these kids as carefully as possible. In the end, I hope to hear something similar to: "I knew you had it in you! You took risks and it tuned out beautifully."

Snow Saturday Slumber NO

We knew it would snow when we fell asleep. In my mind the first snow landing on a Saturday meant snuggling down deeper in my warm bed for at least 30 extra minutes.

To them, it meant SNOW PLAY!!

At 6:45 AM, I bundled them up in the snow pants and gloves (that I got for a bargain at the end of Spring last year). It was dark and I told them to stay in the yard while I started laundry and breakfast.

Only 5 minute later did I realize I needed to grab something from the garden shed and drop it off at the Coombs' house around the corner.

I bundled myself up and headed outside. No girls in the front yard. I had just been in the garden shed and didn't see them in the back yard either. My heart raced. They had run off on Halloween night and were awarded tough consequences--How could they do this again?!?!?

The only place I thought that they would go would be to the Coombs' house where I needed to go, so I calmed down. I was hoping that my girls weren't ringing the doorbell at 7 in the morning on a snowy Saturday, but I could picture it.

Arriving at Coombs, my heart sank when my girls weren't visible. It was still really dark and everything was quiet. Back to my yard, I investigated the footprint in the snow. The markings proved that they had, in fact, walked out of the yard down to the corner and then the prints stopped. Did they cross the street to walk three blocks to visit the horse pasture and check on the horses in the snow? Did a StRaNgEr take them?!?! It was at this moment that my "freak out" turned on. At the corner, I pulled out my phone and looked up the number for the police department--I knew not to use 911, even though this was, in fact, an emergency. I prayed a quick prayer to calm down and guide my actions. As I began dialing, I heard their voices. I ran to the driveway to my laughing daughters. I pulled them close and and asked them why they disobeyed and left the yard. Emerson said, "We walked to the corner, but remembered the rule, so we've been playing in the backyard the whole time."

I'm so thankful for these girls. I can't imagine life without them. I know life without them would include snowy Saturday sleeping in, but I don't like to sleep in anyway.