My Family
My family. I love these three people so very much. Lately I am realizing how swiftly the days pass. This month my babies will be half way through year 12 and 10 and Darin and I will have been married 15 years on the 22nd.
Our first 3 and a 1/2 years were spent living in an old duplex in Zeeland, Michigan. We rented out the top unit to a stream of interesting tenants and even had my brother living above us for a while. Tyson was brought home from the hospital to this house, our tiny baby boy. When Tyson was a little over a year, we moved into what we thought was our forever home in Hudsonville. We were expecting Jori, so obviously, we needed a house with more bedrooms and more bathrooms before our second child arrived! We lived on Elm Avenue for a little over 5 years and then had the crazy idea to move to South Africa. So we sold our forever home and moved into an apartment for 4 months before getting on a plane and heading into the wild unknown.
In just over a week, we will celebrate 5 and 1/2 years in South Africa. We've lived on three properties in that time, our latest home has been our landing spot for less than a year. Our years here have had moments of great beauty and great pain, but if we had remained in the states this would have also been true. There are times when I listen to Tyson and Jori express their feelings that life in America would be So, Much. Better. than the life they are living here. This usually happens after seeing pictures of cousins enjoying time together or old friends making new memories that we would have been a part of if only we'd stayed where we were.



I am a different woman living here in a foreign country than I would be if we had never gotten on that plane so long ago. My experiences here have shaped me as a wife, mother and friend. I am sure that not all of the differences in me are good. There are parts of my life here that consume me and take my focus off of working on the inner me. I am often too busy, running through my days at a pace that only seems crazy when I have crashed on the sofa early in the evening, unwilling to even get up and make supper for my family. "Have a sandwich, eat some cold cereal, make yourself some oatmeal. Just let me be". Not exactly mothering at its finest, but then again, my kids and husband are all pretty laid back and go with the flow people. Maybe this wouldn't be the case if we were living the typical life of a family in West Michigan.
Then there's this guy. My main man, Darin Fey. I do not know what I would do without him. OK, there are days where I am frustrated with him, so I drink the last of his Pepsi Max or treat him in a less than loving way, even accusing him of choosing other people and projects over me and his own children. How could we ever doubt his love? This man who carries the burden of supporting us, who loves us all even when we are acting slightly insane, my dear husband who survived a brain bleed a mere half year ago. I often feel like I am running on empty, but I don't know how Darin keeps up with all of the things that get put on his plate. Even when he is surely feeling just as fried as I am, he is mostly positive and even keeled. I'm not going to paint him as perfect, because he and I both know that simply isn't true, but he is perfect for me and he is the best dad to Tyson and Jori.
The four of us Feys are getting ready to face whatever 2017 has in store for us. Together.
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