Ups and Downs

This life.  It is so full of ups and downs.  It is so full of blessings and not so blessed things.  It is full of strife and laughter.  Hugs and cuddles and kisses.  I try to share it all.  Try to be honest in my perceptions and realize that sometimes my truth is not others. 
I do not find it a blessing to still have our rat.  The rat is smart enough to leave the trap alone since it had its mishap with it.  And let me tell you as a side note....I don't know how it survived that trap.  The little man tripped it with a broom handle and it broke the broom handle.  I do not find it a blessing to still be washing dishes by hand.  I don't like washing dishes by hand....I'm lazy like that.  But in this scenario what are blessings are having dishes to wash, having the food to dirty the dishes, having running water and a roof over our heads. 
It is not blessed to have to deal with children meltdowns.  And I have heard all the advice about spank them more, punish them more and get them under control more.  I've heard the words, seen the faces and felt the annoyance.  I am blessed for all the resources I have been finding that tells me my way is better.  Not perfect.  Spankings don't work here.  I already know this from experience.  What works is lots and lots of patience and finding root causes.  And we have days where we don't go anywhere so we don't subject the rest of the world, with perfect parents and children, to our struggle.  Children who have suffered trauma like pregnancy drug use are different than children not in that situation.  The littles are blessings all by themselves.  But I am also blessed with a new day every day to practice patience and try and learn new things in regards to them. 
We are not blessed for the littles to have the nuclear family. A lot of people don't have that.  We are blessed to have each other.  We are blessed for the effort my son makes from incarceration.  All the phone calls and emails he sends them. I laugh when he feels all these emotions about the kids that he just doesn't feel when he is using drugs.  And while it is not funny, it kind of is. 
So we are blessed in all our basic needs being met.  We are blessed with me having a job that allows a lot of leeway in work hours.  We are blessed with a great daycare and schooling.  We are blessed with each other and our small family here.  We are blessed with the support of the Midwest family.  We are blessed with the friends we make along the way and the adventures we go on.  We may not have a lot of material possessions, but we have a lot of love and memories.  And we deal with the ups and downs as they come.  We roll with it.  Even the downs show us all the things we are blessed with. 
So we appreciate all the help we get.  We don't mind the person who comes to read the blog just to see our struggles.  We are grateful for all our experiences....well except for that last dog bite that got four stitches.