Focusing on the family.

It has been a while since my last post, mostly due to the fact that I have been focusing in on what is going on with our family, and trying to protect Micah's feelings and get a little more daddy time. Since last Tuesday, when we caved and went downtown to visit Leon, things have been completely different around here. Micah has gone back to his happy, fun-loving self, and I have been less of a drag to be around too. I think having Leon back on our radar, and being more involved in what he is doing on the streets has really changed our family dynamic for the better.

Since my last post, I sent Micah down to Dallas with Layne on Thursday morning, so he could spend the morning with his dad. Leon has also become a registered "Street Zine" vendor, with a badge number and everything, so he is able to sell Street Zines to make money (so if you are downtown, make sure you purchase one from someone...it's a great program for the homeless to make some money without panhandling!). So Leon and Micah spent the morning on Thursday selling Street Zines, walking the streets of downtown with Micah on Leon's shoulders, and then I met them later that afternoon at the new deck park downtown. Here is the scene I walked up to, when I found them that day (turn your volume down, there is some loud construction going on in the background)...

As you can imagine, it melted my heart, and I knew that Micah was the happiest child in the world, getting to skip preschool and spend the morning with his dad! We stayed at the awesome new park for a while, and let Micah play in the fountains...

And then we even walked over to the Fountain building to show Micah the fountains, which he, of course, loved! When Leon and I first met, we spent our first night together at the fountain building, where he played guitar for me and swept me off my feet. We spent the night talking forever, about life, our goals, our struggles, and that is where we fell in love...yes, the first night we hung out! So now we brought Micah back there, and even got a picture on the exact bench where we sat all night....

All in all, it was a great day. And since then, things have been much better, both for Leon and for us. Because I caved and went to see Leon, I got to participate in the coat and blanket drive that Taylor, a former youth student of Leon's organized. Here are some pictures from that amazing day, where we were able to give coats, hats, gloves, blankets, water and granola bars to many people without homes or winter-appropriate clothing....

And that brings us to today...a little more upbeat, a little more hopeful, and a little more thankful for what we have, and the fact that we have a wonderful family with so much love, and that even in the midst of Leon's mission, he isn't willing to sacrifice the well-being of our family to accomplish what he set out to do.

Yes, he is still committed to the 30 days, and thankfully, Micah and I get to be more of a part of it now.