Friday, April 30, 2010

Note to Self,

Don't take the PINK allergy pill. I was sneezing a lot this morning and took one of Mike's OTC allergy pills. That was an hour ago. Right now my tongue feels thick, I'm tingly all over, and I just want to curl up and sleep! I called Mike. He said that the blue ones are non drowsy...but the pink ones are like Benadryl! Oops!!! Anyone have some toothpicks to hold my eyelids open?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Daddy Time

Tonight after dinner we went on a family walk. Brody on his new bike, Barrett in the stroller, and Mike and I walked. When we got home it was time for the Mavs game. Mike and the boys headed into the media room to watch the game while I swept the kitchen. Before long Brody came out and said, "Daddy said there's a big tub of Lincoln Logs in the top of your closet and he wants you to bring them to the media room!" After checking with Mike (to make sure he'd really asked for them), I got down the Lincoln Logs (that I bought at a garage sale and was planning to give to the boys as a present at some point in time). Mike had declared that there weren't enough Lincoln Logs in Brody's little box to build anything. Guess they don't have that problem anymore!

FYI: I am not capable of building a structure like the one seen above...unless I have step by step directions! That being said, what do you want to bet that Brody will ask me to build "a house like Daddy built" sometime in the next week? Maybe I should go back in there and take pictures from all angles.

Barrett may have been more of a hindrance than a help while they were trying to build, but he had some special "Daddy time" earlier in the day. After dinner Mike sat down in the living room with his laptop. Barrett started saying, "puter! puter!" (meaning computer). He went and found his laptop and climbed up in the chair beside Daddy. So cute!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Air Guitar

This morning Brody told me he wanted to listen a radio station. I told him he could listen to the radio after I finished watching the news. A little while later I left the living room (forgetting I had made that promise). Brody immediately turned off the tv and turned up the radio (did I mention that he likes to listen to the radio LOUD?!? It's a constant battle to keep music at reasonable decibels in our house). I walked into the kitchen (to turn the radio down) and found Brody dancing around the kitchen playing the air guitar! I tried to sneak back out of the room but he saw me. Instead of being embarrassed, he asked, "Do you know where Barrett's toy guitar is?"

Poppy's Birthday

Last night we were invited over to David & Daina's house to celebrate "Poppy's" birthday (Audria's grandpa). It was a surprise party...and surprised he was when he walked in to see a room full of friends and family! We had a delicious BBQ dinner followed by (of course) birthday cake!
It was gorgeous outside last night!

The boys scarfed down their food and then were ready to play! Uncle Caleb was ready to play too!




What a wonderful evening to celebrate such a wonderful man's life!

Gary's Pictures

I'll post some of the pictures Caleb took of the guys & kids at the park (from this weekend) a little later...but until then, here's a link to the pictures that Gary took:

"While the Ladies are away the Men will play!" (click here to see pictures)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Ladies' Retreat

Hearing God Speak was the theme of our ladies' retreat. What an amazing weekend! Our church is blessed to have several women who are gifted teachers/presenters. They are often asked to speak at other churches and events, so it's a blessing when we get to sit at their feet and learn. Marilyn was our teacher this weekend...and she's amazing! I learned so much about the different ways that God speaks to us.

I would love to regurgitate all the info that she gave us, but that would take 2 days! I asked some friends to hold me accountable to spending time listening to God each morning before I blog...so I don't have much time this morning before the boys wake up! (Email me if you're interested and I'll give you a copy of my notes.) We all loved spending time together this weekend, but I think everyone would agree that the best parts of the weekend were the sessions with Marilyn.

Since I didn't take many pictures of the sessions, here are pictures of some of the fun we had!

As soon as the first session was over on Friday night the announcement was made that there were snacks over on one of the tables. Most of the ladies just sat around and kept talking. Not us! We headed straight for the cream cheese cupcakes! Yummmmm! (Anna, Shelly, Amber, & Angela)
We finally made it back to our room around 11 pm. {Side note: We stayed at The Lodge of Granbury and it was crazy big! There were 4 girls in our "room" which was actually a 2 story condo. The first floor had 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, a full kitchen, and a living room with a balcony overlooking Lake Granbury. The 2nd floor had a loft bedroom, a bathroom, and 2 HUGE closets. There were closets everywhere in our condo...and I mean BIG closets! Ones large enough to make them a bedroom!} When we made it back to our room Robyn realized that she had forgotten her toothbrush. So we set out to find a Wal-Mart. THIRTY minutes later we found the Wal-Mart that was 5 minutes from the lodge. For some reason Shelly's Iphone had a little trouble getting us there. The GPS kept taking us to various gas stations and telling us that we had arrived at Wal-Mart.

Of course, you can't to go Wal-Mart for just a toothbrush (especially when it was so hard to find), but I doubt anyone would be able to guess the seemingly random item Anna purchased....

That's right, a disco ball! She said she'd been looking at them for Autumn's room and she was so excited to find one in the store (she hadn't found one in any store back home). You better believe we plugged that thing in when we got back to the lodge and had a little dance party. It was actually really cool!

Saturday morning we spent more time eating up every word that Marilyn said...then we headed out to the Granbury square to get some eats for our bellies. A bunch of us ended up at a little cafe (don't remember the name of it...and don't really care to either!) on the square. There was one waitress for the entire dining room! We had a great time visiting...but we all agreed to never go there with kids! I think it took us 2 hours to eat sandwiches!

Marilyn, Amy, Jenny, Miss Carrie (one of Brody's pre-school teachers...guess she'll always be "Miss" now in my head), Roberta, and Jill

Juli Beth, Miss Linda (another one of Brody's teachers), Shelly, Julie, Audria, Robyn, Staci, Jana, and Anna

After lunch we attempted the scavenger hunt that some of the women planned. It was extremely hard! Imagine trying to find one obscurely described object among 20 stores of random nick knacks. We went in one store and the owner told us the described item had been sold. So...we took a picture of Anna holding something else that said "Amazing Grace" with a sold sign. Little did we know that we we the only group that captured the picture of the correct item! This one was worth 75 points! Woot!

Jenny, Amy, and Jana hanging out in the meeting room.

Shelly and Anna with their scavenger hunt prize! Even though we gave up after a few stores, that 75 point picture was enough to put our team in 4th place!
Saturday night we wrapped up the last session around 10:30 and then snacked on some food and talked for a while. Then some of us headed down to the dock for some praise time. Slowly more and more of the women came and joined us as we lifted our voices to the Lord with songs of praise. We sat outside singing for an hour or two. It's hard to describe the joy and peace you feel when you sit outside under the stars and just praise the Creator!

Sunday morning I left our room a little early to have some quite time down on the dock. I spent some time talking with God and thinking back over all the things Marilyn had talked about. I listened to the water lap on the dock, the birds sing, and the ducks quack. Here's a picture of the view I had.

When the final session wrapped up it was time to head home. We stopped at Babe's for one last meal together. Amy, Jenny, Marilyn, Jana, Linda, and Juli Beth joined us. Here's a picture of me and the girls that stayed in our room: Robyn, Shelly, Anna, & Staci

Not only did I learn a lot this weekend, but I came back refreshed. Refreshed as a mom, refreshed as a wife, and refreshed as a daughter of God! I'm so excited to apply what I learned and to share it with others!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Star Weekend (Brody titled this post)

I got home from the Ladies Retreat around 3 pm yesterday. Let me just say that my husband is AMAZING! He and the boys had so much fun this weekend. Brody got a "big boy" bike on Friday (pictures to come). Saturday they went to Cabela's, to the park with some of the other guys from our small group, and then went swimming at our house with Caleb. Sunday they went to church and then home for lunch and naps. Mike was doing yard work when I got home and I walked inside to find the house immaculate! The Ladies Retreat was awesome (but that's for another post that will take me a little time), and it made the weekend absolutely wonderful to know that my husband was at home enjoying his "boys weekend" with our boys!

Thank you Mike! You never cease to amaze me! I love you!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Anticipation!

The Ladies' Retreat has finally arrived!!!! Anna, Robyn, Shelly, and I are about to leave to meet up with all the other women and we'll be gone until Sunday afternoon! We're ready for a great weekend of girl time and God time! (I know they'll do great...but you might say a little prayer for our husbands who will be holding down the fort this weekend.)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Closets

On Tuesday I was helping Mom out by cleaning her house while she was stripping wallpaper at their new house.

"New house?" you might ask? It's official. Daddy Steve and Namaw closed on a house this past Monday. Mike, the boys, and I are super excited about it. Why? Because you can almost see their new house from our front yard! We can either walk the sidewalks 1 block to their house or we can walk across the street and across a short part of the greenbelt and be at their front door! Brody excitedly talks about how he can't wait to be able to walk over to Daddy Steve and Namaw's house again (remember when we lived in the rent house down the street from them the first year we were back in Texas? Well Brody has never forgotten and always begs to move back there so he can walk to Daddy Steve and Namaw's house again!) We're very excited for our boys. Can you imagine how fun it would be to grow up down the street from your grandparents? Especially grandparents as fun as Daddy Steve and Namaw? It's exciting to think about the memories that are yet to me made.

We also have some good friends from our small group (Joseph & Anna) that bought a house 1.5 blocks from us. Brody and Autumn (their daughter) are good friends and Brody is over the moon that both Autumn and Daddy Steve & Namaw are moving on the same weekend to our neighborhood! Just look at what Caleb & Audria started (they're the ones that moved to this area first and are a big part of the reason we choose to live in this neighborhood)!

Back to the reason for this post (at this point you may be wondering why it's titled "Closets").

As I said, on Tuesday I cleaned house for Mom. As I was sweeping the floors I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. Growing up it was my responsibility to clean the downstairs. In high school I wasn't allowed to go hang out with my friends on a Friday night unless I had the downstairs cleaned. Mom may remember differently, but I don't recall complaining about this...it was just one of my chores and I knew I had to get it done before I could go have fun. I'm a creature of habit. Once I figure out a good method for doing something, I rarely change it. As I picked up the broom on Tuesday to sweep the kitchen, I automatically started sweeping in the same pattern I've always used. (Sweep everything under the table towards the walls, then sweep along the walls towards the cabinets, then sweep from the dining room towards the middle of the kitchen, etc). One thing that I have learned with age is what to do with that line of dust that you just can't seem to get in the dust pan. I remember very vividly that I used to just sweep it back under the counters (shhhhh! Don't tell my mom!). I've since learned that a wet paper towel does the trick of actually picking up the dust.

While I was cleaning I was thinking about all the memories we have made in that house. We moved there when I was 6 years old (Tyler was only 18 months old), so it is the house that we grew up in. All our memories of new friends, summer swim parties, and first dates are there. So are memories of watching TGIF with my family on Friday nights (instead of going out with friends), Christmas mornings, and slumber parties. Our house was the one that everyone hung out at during high school (for both me and my brothers) and we had more family gatherings there than you could count.

As I was sweeping the entry, I swept by the coat closet. I opened it and took a breath. I was overwhelmed by the sent of cedar with a little hint of old blankets. I was also flooded with memories. This is the closet where blankets for movie watching are stored. Long ago there was a soft (I mean really soft. Softer than the softest stuffed animal your kids have) blue blanket that we would lay out on the floor and all of us would lay on/under. Dad also used to store his back jack in there...the one that he used while we watched movies (that way he could put the bowl of popcorn on the floor and sit on the floor beside it while us kids would all lay around the bowl...I understand now why it's not comfortable for an adult to lay on their belly to watch an entire movie!) The coat closet housed coats, of course...but I really don't have many memories about hanging coats here. I do, however, have a lot of memories of this closet as our tornado shelter. Many nights (remember, I grew up in Tornado Alley!) Dad would take all the coats out of the closet and lay them across the dining room table...just in case we needed to get inside the closet. Looking inside the closet now, I'm glad that we won't all have to fit in there as grown ups. I might have easily protected a couple and their 3 small children, but I don't think it would fit 5 grown adults!

I remember one time that all the coats were pulled out of the closet, but the closet still looked too small for the group needing shelter. Mike was the youth intern at church and we had the junior high group over at Dad & Mom's house! We were very thankful that the tornado skipped over our part of town (it did, however, destroy downtown Ft. Worth and other parts of the Metroplex).

I don't know that we every had to get in the closet for a storm. There were many times that it was readied...and probably a few times that I went ahead and got in the closet (I wasn't a big fan of storms growing up), but I don't ever recall having our family of 5 in the closet with the door closed. I'm glad that never happened!

My memories of the inside of the coat closet are the result of games of hide-and-seek or sardines. Since the blankets were stored in there, it was a good place to hide (under the blankets). Brody and Barrett still use that closet to hide in while we're playing.

As I shut the closet door and went back to cleaning house, I thought about how sad I'll be the day that they hand the keys over to the new owner (once they have a buyer...interested parties leave a comment). Have you seen Father of the Bride II? You know the part where it's moving day? They are moving away from the home the kids grew up in. As they put their arms around each other and look back one last time...there's a rainbow in the sky above the house and the house looks like it's glowing! As excited as I am about my parents moving down the street from us, I know I'll have that "Father of the Bride II" feeling as they leave the old house for the last time.

Don't worry...there will be more nostalgic posts to come...

Monday, April 19, 2010

"You're my birth mommy?"

I was in the bathroom the other day when Brody walked in and said (in a very sweet voice), "Mommy, thank you!"

"Thank you for what?" I asked.

"I just want to thank you and Daddy for loving me and taking care of me when my birth mommy and daddy couldn't take care of me." He gave me a big hug as he said this to me.

Tears filled my eyes when I saw the sincere gratitude written across his face. I said, "Oh honey, Daddy and I do love you very much! But do you remember the stories I've told you about when you were in my tummy?"

"Yes"

"Well, since you were in my tummy, that means I'm your birth mommy and Daddy is your birth daddy."

"Oh. You're my birth mommy?"

"Yes"

"But the little baby that we're going to get...her {side note: he wants a sister} birth mommy and daddy can't take care of her...so we're gonna bring her home to love her?"

"Yes. He/she may not be growing in my tummy...but your new little brother or sister is already growing in our hearts, right?"

"Right! I can't wait to hold her and love her!"

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Small Group Pic

Last week everyone was present at our small group except for Brian & Amber. Since Daddy Steve and Namaw were there (babysitting all the kids for us), we asked them to take a group picture. Two of the babies (Caleb & Reagan) were left out of the picture (Caleb was asleep and Reagan was eating) and Brody insisted on holding a baby in front of his face...but everyone else gave a big smile for the camera.

Wow Factor

Apparently...I have it.

The other day I was making homemade meatballs. Brody walked into the kitchen and asked what I was stirring in the bowl. I told him it was homemade BBQ sauce. He said, "You know how to make BBQ sauce?!?" I told him, "Yes."

His response (in total admiration), "Wow Mommy!!!"

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Home Study

It's over! Yesterday was the big day...our Home Study. We spent Thursday night and Friday morning making sure that everything was in compliance with CPS standards. That included locking up everything from diaper rash cream to mousse for my hair to prescription drugs. On Friday I cleaned house, did laundry, and made dinner. I wanted to have dinner made ahead of time so we could just reheat and feed the kids during the home study.

Kristin arrived at 2:30 pm on the dot. She started with the home inspection (even after our attempts to comply there were still a few things we have to change and send her pictures to prove the change. Did you know even toy bows and arrows have to be locked up?!?) After the home inspection she spent time interviewing us as a family, individually (Mike, Brody, & me...she attempted to interview Barrett...but he wasn't up to talking with a stranger), and as a couple. We didn't realize that she would need to talk to us without the kids present. Since Barrett has been running a fever, he hasn't wanted us to put him down and we knew there was no way he'd let us lock him out of the room for us to talk with Kristin alone! So...we called in reinforcements. Namaw to the rescue! I lured her to our house with the promise of homemade meatballs, cream corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, brownies, and ice cream! I think just coming to play with the kids would've been enough...but I threw in the food too ;) lol

{As Mike and I were playing with Barrett in the media room during Brody's one-on-one interview, I walked down the hall to get a toy and overheard one of the questions she asked him. "What are some of the rules in your house?" He answered, "Don't touch the safe without Daddy or Mommy." "Are there any other rules?" "They tell me not to pee in the closet." lol!!!! True statement, but sounds very strange out of context! One day I was picking up some of Brody's toys and noticed that his closet floor was wet. When I smelled of it, it smelled like urine! I asked him if he peed in his closet and he said, "Yes. I didn't want to go to the bathroom so I just went in my closet." Let's just say that Mike and I weren't very happy about that! He had almost all the quarters taken off of his reward chart and had to start over working towards his new arrows. I never thought we'd have to make a rule "Don't pee in the closet"...but no one every said that parenting is logical! I wonder what Mrs. Kristin thought when he told her that rule? I wish we could've heard the other questions and his responses!}

Namaw arrived when it was my turn for the one-on-one interview. She fed the kids and then took them on a walk while Mike and I talked with Kristin. She said they went to their new house and played with some of the neighborhood kids. She was giving them a bath when we finished our interview.

A little over 5 hours after she arrived, Kristin announced that our home study was complete. We turned in background checks for our immediate extended family, our profile books, and a nice check. She said in the next 30 days she'll let us know that our home study has been read and then we'll be verified. At that point we'll owe Covenant Kids another hefty check...and then we'll be to the waiting stage!

We had a sigh of relief when Kristin left our house...and then we finally sat down to eat dinner. There wasn't a whole lot of talking. Even though I like to talk...talking for almost 5 hours straight (and not just "how's the weather" type conversation) wears a person out! We were in bed before 10 pm.

Thanks for all the prayers that you've offered on our behalf! Please keep praying with us for the birth family and baby that God will place in our lives.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Trying to be sneaky

When I picked Brody up from preschool yesterday Mrs. Linda said something that puzzled me. She said, "This one's sneaky, but he hasn't learned how to be sneaky yet!"

Is it just me, or is that statement puzzling?

I asked what she meant (I thought maybe my mind was just muddled from staring at tax returns for too long...maybe I hadn't heard her right?!) She told me this story...

"Last Thursday Emma (one of the girls in Brody's class) had a tummy ache during rest time. We called her mommy to come pick her up because she was feeling so bad. Well...today when all the kids were out on the playground, Brody told Mrs. Lisa, 'Today when we go inside for rest time, my tummy's going to start hurting. Will you call my mommy to come pick me up?'"

Prime example of why you shouldn't verbally speak everything you think! Brody hasn't learned the art of keeping his thoughts to himself yet. That's probably a good thing for us!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Plan B

Tonight was a little rough. I didn't know that Mike's softball schedule had changed, so I was thinking that there was a double header (7 pm and 8 pm). Last week we'd talked about me taking the boys to the first game and then Mike riding home with Caleb after the 2nd game. At 6 pm tonight I called the boys in from the backyard and started getting them cleaned up. We were talking about how excited we were go to watch Daddy play softball. I even put a baseball outfit on Barrett and was showing the boys pictures of Brody wearing the same outfit when Mike asked what I was doing. I wondered why he wasn't dressed yet since it was time to leave. He said that the games had been changed to 8pm & 9 pm...way too late for the boys (especially since we have to drive 1/2 hour to the ball diamond).

I didn't know what to do! Here I'd been talking up the game for the past 20 minutes (not to mention all the times I'd reminded them during the day that if they were good we'd get to go to Daddy's softball game)! Brody was crying. I was crying. Barrett looked totally confused. Finally Mike pulled me into the bedroom and suggested that I take the boys to the park and to get ice cream. When he told Brody the plan...Brody's tears quickly dried. I hurried them to the car (before they could remember why I was distracting them) and drove to the park.

It was a beautiful night and we had so much fun playing together! The boys wanted their picture taken together, but Brody wanted it to be of them hugging...Barrett wasn't really in the hugging mood.

He was more in the mood for sliding! I think he went down this slide for 45 minutes straight! I tried to get their picture at the bottom of the slide, but Brody was too focused on 3 teenage girls who had a karaoke machine and were singing (really off tune) with the speaker blaring. Kinda strange.



While Barrett was sliding (again), Brody practiced writing his A, B, C's. He was so focused that he wouldn't look at me to let me take his picture.

Mike had told Brody that I'd take them to Sonic for a shake after the park, so I was surprised when we got in the car and Brody said, "Mommy? What's the name of that place with the ice cream cone on the sign that sells shakes?" I asked him if he was talking about Braum's and he said, "Yes! Can we go there instead? Their ice cream is WAY better than Sonic!" I tend to agree, so I was happy to oblige. I know that my Aunt Cindy will be proud ;)

Daddy Steve called as I was putting Brody to bed and offered to tell Brody his bedtime story. Brody was soooooo happy! During part of the story Daddy Steve's phone lost service and Brody came running out of his room with a worried look on his face. "Daddy Steve's not calling back!" Suddenly the phone rang and as he ran back to his room I heard him say, "Were you still telling the story while I couldn't hear you? Did I miss anything? Will you start the whole story over again?" After a while I finally told Brody it was time to go to sleep. I think he and Daddy Steve could talk to each other all night long!

Even though we didn't get to go see PR Black play tonight...Plan B turned out to be a lot of fun!

Scheduled!!!

I forgot to post about the fact that our home study has finally been scheduled! It's this Friday! We ordered the profile book pages the other day, so we should have everything done on our end by the end of the day Friday. Then it will be time to wait...

I'll be sure and let y'all know how the home study goes!

Easter 2010

Yes, Easter was a week ago...but I just didn't have time last week to post pictures and I definitely don't want them left out of the 2010 blog book! So (a week late), here's my Easter post!

Daddy Steve and Namaw had Easter lunch at their house. It was the last time our family would ever hunt Easter eggs in the backyard of the house I grew up in...the house my parents have lived in since I was 6 years old...the only house Tyler remembers them living in (he was 18 months old when we moved there). We're VERY excited about them moving just down the street from us...but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the day they leave the house I grew up in will be a very emotional day for our family!

Anyways...back to Easter. After lunch and after the Easter egg hunt we tried to get a good picture of the "cousins". I don't know if Jan, Julie, Jon, or Daddy Steve got a picture with everyone looking at the camera...but I didn't! This was the closest I got. In EVERY picture Bella was eyeing Lauren's Easter basket. I don't think she every took her eyes off it! lol

Most of the pictures were more like this...(Brody trying to sneak some candy in between pictures. His face tells it all...)

Now both Bella and Barrett are going for Lauren's basket of eggs! It's a good thing they weren't sitting on either side of Brody or Collin. I have a feeling the boys wouldn't have been as gracious about sharing their eggs with the "babies". (Side note: Brody has been reminding me that Barrett is not a baby anymore..."he's a toddler".)

I didn't expect Barrett to care much about the egg hunt, but he loved it! We had different "heats" for our egg hunt. Barrett & Bella first, then Brody & Collin joined in, and then finally the girls were let loose. Barrett was excited about finding the eggs and kept exclaiming, "Egg!!!" and showing us his basket.

Brody and Collin were running around like wild little boys and the pictures I got of him were all from behind. It's hard to keep up with those two!

Bella looked precious in her Easter dress. She didn't care about finding more eggs and was perfectly content smiling for a picture for me!

I love one of the Easter books that Grammy gave the boys last year. Along with our regular morning devotional book, the boys and I read it a lot this past month. Here's the text to the book:

At Easter I will decorate eggs with lots of bright colors...
But Jesus is the one who colors my world every day.
"The heavens tell of the glory of God!" Ps. 19:1

At Easter I will buy sweet treats to share with my friends...
But Jesus is the one who shares all my thoughts and feelings.
"You know my every thought" Ps. 139:2

At Easter I will hunt for eggs...
But Jesus never has to hunt for me - he always knows right where I am.
"Every moment you know where I am." Ps. 139:3

At Easter I see new life all around me...
But Jesus' new life on that first Easter morning is what I celebrate.
"'He isn't here! He has risen from the dead!'" Luke 24:6

On Easter I will dress in new clothes and get a basket full of surprises...
But knowing Jesus loves me is the best gift I will ever receive.
"The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Ro 6:23

Yes, Easter is filled with good things bright and new...
But I can praise Jesus for giving me new life every day of the year!
"'I am the resurrection and the life'" John 11:25

Ham, Easter eggs, and cute pictures may be fun, but the fact that HE IS RISEN is the real reason our family gathered together last week to celebrate! Thank you, Lord, for the new life that we have in your son, Jesus!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

4th Child

Dear Matt & Julie,

Did you realize that you had a 4th child? Today I was cleaning out a drawer and came across a stack of Christmas cards. Brody riffled through them and picked out ones that he wanted to keep. Your family's card was one of the chosen ones. Brody put the chosen cards in a box and took them to his room. Before long he came back out with your family card insisting that the hat Collin is wearing in the picture actually belongs to him. I told him that Collin probably has a hat just like his...but Brody told me that they played in Collin's closet the last time we were at your house and he didn't see a cowboy hat anywhere in Collin's closet! He finally came to the conclusion that to make the picture look right, he wanted me to take a picture of him wearing his cowboy hat and put him next to Collin on the card. He said "we're best friends and we love each other, so we need to be by each other in the picture!" I think you're 4th child is the redneck one in the bunch. He insisted on wearing his camo jammie bottoms, no shirt, and wanted to hold "Remington" his dog.



Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Accountant Workout

Some of you may think that by switching from my previous job as a Fitness Director to my present position as an Accountant that my job no longer requires me to be physically fit. This video shows that even an Accountant needs to stay in shape for the job!




I've been bringing a lot of tax returns home to work on this year. Sorry for the inconsistency in blog posting! I haven't even posted about Easter yet! Arg. I'll get there...

Monday, April 05, 2010

Tender Heart

This morning Brody and Barrett were playing with Jayden while I was getting dressed for work. Angela and Jayden are spending two nights with us...and the boys think it's so much fun! Brody is excited that he gets to see them so many days in one week (Thursday night, Friday during the sale, Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday)!!

I was fixing my hair when Brody walked into the bathroom. He had his hand clenched by his side and a very serious look on his face. He suddenly said, "Here Mommy" and reached his hand up to mine. As I reached out my hand he placed 6 quarters in my hand. I said, "What's this?" He told me that it was all the money from the Easter eggs he had found yesterday. "Why are you handing it to me?" His answer brought tears to my eyes....

"I want to use my Easter egg money to adopt our baby!"

I didn't argue. Instead, I bent down and (with tears in my eyes) gave him a big hug. I told him that I was proud of him for being so selfless and I put the money in my pocket to take to the bank with the other money from the garage sale. Our new baby has a brother that already loves him/her so much...and I couldn't be more proud of this simple act of love from my 3 year old son!

WOW!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" Ephesians 3:20

This weekend we saw God do "immeasurably more than all we asked or imagined"! The garage sale raising money for our adoption was a HUGE success! Even though we had to pull in early on Friday because of the rain (we pulled in at 9:45 am), we made more than we had even dared to dream! We want to thank each and every one of you for praying for us and supporting us in what seemed like an overwhelming endeavor.

Some of our friends and family went above and beyond. On Thursday night Robyn, Angela, Ann, Namaw, Caleb, & Audria all came over to help us organize (as best as we could) the massive mound in our garage. We also made signs....

and fought over some of the donated clothes! (Lol. We didn't really fight over them, but I think most of the girls found at least a few things to keep for themselves.)

Friday was SOOOO hectic. There was never a break in the crowd. We had shoppers from 6:30 am until we pulled in at 9:45...so many shoppers that we didn't get to sit down until after we'd closed for the day! Caleb, Audria, & Angela spent all morning helping me and Mike with the sale. Robyn and my cousin, Cindy, also showed up to help for a while. Jason and Julie showed up just as we were pulling in...so they helped us hurry to get stuff inside before it was ruined from the rain. Daddy Steve was a HUGE help by playing with the boys. At one point they were playing on a mattress out front and a little girl walked up to them and said, "Is this the daycare?" Needless to say, she played with them until her mom was ready to go. From what I hear, Brody tried to get the girl's number! He wanted her to come back over and play!

I don't think that anyone stopped to take a picture of the sale on Friday, but here's what it looked like when it was starting to wind down on Saturday. Caleb, Audria, Daddy Steve, and Namaw all came over to help us on Saturday. Joseph and Anna showed up just before we started boxing things up, so we put them to work too.

Besides the fact that we made so much money to help pay for our adoption, here's the other VERY exciting result of the garage sale....
As soon as we take the empty boxes to my parents' house (for them to use in their move) and the tables back to church...we'll be able to park BOTH cars in the garage! That'll be a first since we've moved to this house. Very exciting!

There's no way to express our gratitude for everyone who volunteered their time & energy and donated their "junk". We couldn't have done it without your help! God blessed us more than we ever imagined and we are excited that this sale helps bring us one step closer towards bringing our little baby home! To God be the glory!

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Cowgirl

I have been a Texan for 30 years now, however, I have never owned a "real" pair of boots! Mike had been telling me for a while that he thought I should get a pair of boots, so I went to DSW and got a pair of cute boots with a heel on them. Sure, they killed my feet...but I thought they were pretty cute...and sometimes there are sacrifices to looking cute...right?

Well...those weren't the kind of boots Mike was talking about. I was so excited when he showed me what he thought I should get. He showed me pictures of "real" cowgirl boots! Ones without a heel! Ones that are actually comfortable to wear (and in his/my opinion...still cute!)

A week or so ago Beverly said that she was wanting to get some boots, so I jumped at the chance! Beverly, Anna, and I (oh...and I can't forget Caleb, Anna's baby) went to Cavender's on Tuesday night. Both Beverly and I got a "real" pair of cowgirl boots! I guess it's official...after 30 years I have proof that I'm a Texan.

(We got a picture of us together in the store...but we forgot to show the boots in the picture! I'll model them for you later.)