Pics 2

Because it's too cute not to post here...
Our new kitchen color... very reminiscent of Antigua, very warm and inviting... we love it.
New color in the family room too...

We're piecing things together around here as quickly as we can, in the best way we can with the what we've got on hand. Literally and figuratively.

The house is coming together, bit by bit. It's just beginning to feel like home, the first "home" I've had in two years. Actually, even longer than that, really, since I moved into Greg's house when we got married. It never really felt like it was my home as much as it felt like Greg's home. This is a big, big thing for me emotionally and I'm really loving it. Like, it's ridiculous, but I smile when I come downstairs in the morning because I feel like I'm greeting a dear friend. "Goodmorning, my dear, lovely, cheerful little house."

We've only painted two rooms yet, but we did the kitchen and the family room first since they are used the most and we're quite happy with how they've turned out. I know not everyone likes such bold colors, but they remind me of Antigua and that makes me very happy :) These are friendly, comfortable rooms.

The rest of the house is still coming together and will be a project for months (and years) to come, I think. That's ok with me, honestly, because I can't do it all at once. This settling in is such a big thing to me that I need to unravel it slowly.

So, aside from the house, what's been happening with the Freeman's?

Well, one thing that has been pretty stressful for us lately is an ongoing issue with Irene. Parenting a teenager is not for the faint of heart, especially one with as many emotional scars are our Irene has. Without going into too much detail, for those of you who don't know our entire story, I can share that Irene has lost two mothers before me. She's constantly living in subconcious fear that she'll lose Greg or I in some way or that she'll be so bad that we'll abandon her. Ironically, the way she handles this fear is by acting out, disobedience, and deception. Her counsellor has explained to us that this is her testing our loyalty and love for her. While we love her infinitely, these periods of deception are exceptionally hard on all of us and we are just plain worn out this time. All of our plans for this coming year have had to be altered and, unfortunately, we'll be home-schooling again this year. We were really hoping that things would be different, but they just aren't right now. Her counsellor thinks it will take some time for Irene to work all of this out and really begin to build trust with us and then, eventually others.

More on the Belle-Belle and myself later...