Awards

Hey look someone loves me, they really love me. ;o) JK

Actually a pretty cool woman I have "met" through blogging (obviously) shared this with me. I find it fascinating that reading about someones life makes you feel close to them. I have learned so much about my faith, and her strength through reading her blog and emails. I am inspired by her trust and her honesty. Thank you Tiffany! ;o)

Here are the rules of "Your Blog is Fabulous." I have to list/describe five addictions and then pass the award on to five others. lol, along with other's I am not sure how addictions apply to being fabulous, but I guess rules are rules?

1. Email: I am addicted to checking email. I can no longer deny it...lol I work at a computer all day and we aren't generally busy so I have opportunity to check it all day long. It has become habit and I have found that I hate to miss emails. So sad. I am working on focusing on other things for Lent however...lol

2. Blogs: I love to read blogs. I have a handful that I check almost daily because I love to see what is happening in their lives. And another 10 or 12 that I check on at least weekly. Then when things are happening in my life I think about how I might write them on my blog. I am a bit crazy...lol

3. Popcorn: I LOVE popcorn. I pop it myself. I have popcorn almost every night. I pop it on the stove in olive oil and add just a bit of salt.

4. Books: When I am not reading emails and blogs I am reading books. Maybe I could just condense those 3 things to one. I just enjoy reading a good book. I usually have at least 3 or 4 going at one time.

5. Coffee: Yes I am a coffee addict. I usually only have coffee or water to drink each day. I don't do soft drinks or juices usually so I think Coffee is the lesser of the evils...lol


Ok now I have to name 5 people that haven't gotten the award? Do I know 5 people that haven't gotten it? I may love blogs but I don't read THAT many of them...lol Here are my pics in no particular order cause I love you all!

1. Cindy. I love Cindy. I 'met' her on the CHSFS forum gosh 2 yrs ago probably. We started talking via email afterwards and found we have very bizarrely parallel lives. Not everything, but some really weird stuff. God seemed to be working in our lives at the same time in the same way and we found really awesome common ground and support in each other. When she says she's going to pray she does. Cindy's insight always amazes me. God is using this woman in amazing ways. Someday we will meet in real life and it will be like coming home.

2. Amanda. Amanda inspires me. Another fellow forum friend from CHSFS. Something about having boys the same age brings moms together. It's fun to watch them grow, fun to see them play. Amanda and I have the same broken hearts for the children and people in Ethiopia... and in the world. God uses Amanda in amazing ways. I can't wait to see how He works in her life in the future. It's gonna be good stuff!

3. Erin. I love Erin!!!Ok I am sure she's received this award like 1000 times, so I hesitate to share it yet again...lol But I mean really, how can I not? As she said once, Erin is my "person". ;o) I began reading her blog about 2 yrs ago. She inspired and wowed me. I then began exchanging emails and then phone calls, and now there really isn't a way that we don't communicate...lol She has an amazing way of sharing and putting into words the things I want to say. I love to read her blog because I learn so much, and continue to love her heart, faith and strength. Learning from her has changed my life!

4. Aaron. Can you award a guy? We met in Ethiopia on the way to the Embassy. Both D and I were impressed with this young couple back for their second child. I really enjoy reading the things he comes up with on his blog. I also really enjoy his insight, and faith in God. He's real and down to earth and loves God. And he chooses to work with teenagers...LOL That deserves respect.

5. Jen. I have only recently begun reading her blog. But love it. She amazes me in her capacity to love and her strength is an inspiration. Plus her blog is really just cute! Check it out. She's doing some amazing things with life and God is using her BIG!

ok there's 5. If I didn't choose you it's not cause I don't love you. I was trying to award people that I thought hadn't received the award, at least that I could tell. ;o) I love all the blogs I am addicted to...LOL

YAY

We got a call from Make A Wish yesterday with fun news! They were working on booking our dates when they realized that there had been some cancellations and that we would travel at the end of March as we originally wanted!!!

YAY!

We will be leaving March 26th and returning on April 1. D's 40th birthday is 3/31 so we will be able to celebrate his big milestone while there celebating E's life!

We will also get to spend time with Erin's family! That's some extreme icing on the cake!!! YAY again!

Last night I was showing E how soon we would be leaving and he was so excited. This is the image I saw in my head when I looked at him.

We looked at our Birnbaum Guides 2009 Walt Disney World Book, and he exclaimed "Too big!" about some of the images of rides... and "E?!" on others.

He was excited all night, he kept saying "Disney comin?" N is also beside himself. He will be able to ride almost all the rides cause he's so tall. And this might just be the thing to tire him out at the end of a day. ;o)

S is very much looking forward to meeting Erin's older girls and having some people more her size to be able to hang with for a while.

Always learning...

I thought I would share a few of the wonderful things about my N, since I have shared some of our struggles. In the past months of praying for him, and for us, and for his behaviors I have begun to see more and more that he's just a boy with a huge heart that hurts easily, and a huge brain that needs extra stimulation, and a huge capacity to store energy and that needs an outlet.

My N is a sweet boy. He is a lover. He just loves everyone. He doesn't like to see anything in pain. While I was sick over the weekend he tried very hard to contain some of that boundless energy, and sit with momma and kiss her head to make her feel better. He would get my drink and hand me tissues and ask me if I was ok. Last night daddy was asleep in the couch cause mommy was nice enough to share her illness with him, and N went up to him and kissed his forehead. (both boys have gotten their flu shots and they are working great!!) What a sweet sight. I think sometimes it's his big heart that gets hurt, and he reacts the only way he knows how...he strikes back. N wants so badly for people to love him the way he loves them, and when they hurt him, he takes it very personally. I can sure understand that.

He has an amazing imagination. He is always thinking up stuff that just amazes me. Two weekends ago he decided that he had 2 dinosaur invisible friends. These dinosaurs followed him every where and at times got him in trouble. ;o)

He is smarter than the average bear...lol His teacher has said that she is going to work him a little bit harder than the other kids because she thinks he needs the challenge. Last night he told us that he wants to be a builder just like daddy, but daddy needs to teach him how to do things because he won't know how to do it if daddy doesn't teach him (duh!)....lol

I sure do love this kid!!!

When we started with the behavior issues back in Oct/Nov I reacted in a defense mode I think. I felt like a failure, how could I be a good mom and him keep doing what he is doing. I realize now that there were so many factors that contributed to the melt down, and my lack of ability to 'fix' it humiliated me. Well guess what... it's not about me. Weird huh?! As we move forward I am reminded that his ginormous heart is tender, and he needs me to get over myself and stand up for him. Now this may not news to some of you and some of you may be thinking... sheesh! you are SLOW... and I would readily agree. But I am a parent that is constantly learning, I want to be the best mom, and when I found out that I may not have been succeeding I was crushed. I am over being crushed and ready to stand up again.

Back...

Sorry I have been MIA.  I started getting sick on Friday and was down pretty much all weekend. I was pretty much a Nyquil commercial. Crazy stuff.  I am not usually a sickly person, but I have been fighting to stay well all fall/winter it seems.  It started in August just before we left with pneumonia, then Thanksgiving I had bronchitis and a sinus infection then a cough that lingered for more than 8 weeks.  Down again with a virus the beginning of January and now this crazy flu stuff.  Thank goodness it seems to just be me. For heavens sake I cannot wait for spring to come so I can air out my house and get all the gross germ-ies out!  

D is working nights now so he's gone all night and sleeps all day.  So the boys and I just hung out in the house all weekend.  I know they were SO glad to get up and go to daycare this morning!  We rented Aristocats from the library and that was a Godsend although I think we watched it like 6 times this weekend.  E LOVES it!  Every time the little orange cat would do something funny E would hop off the couch and try to mimic it.  He just laughed through the whole thing every single time.  SO cute!  I think we may have to buy it.  I do have one question though...  How to 2 dogs in the french country side have southern American accents?  I mean, if dogs could really talk that is...lol  

N had a melt down at school on Friday.  I am not sure what happens but I think I am beginning to see how he has some kind of trigger, and if you can catch him early he can usually be re-directed.  But if not he goes into full on melt down mode.  I was on the phone with him at the daycare for almost 20 minutes while I tried to get him calmed.  He was fine the rest of the day. He did it again at home on Saturday, and if I hadn't been sick I would probably have handled it better.  After he was done with the tantrum I was able to talk to him about it.  Usually he is upset that he's missed something and then just goes into melt down wanting to be able to do the thing he missed. I am working with him to realize that maybe if he just took a second to breathe through his anxiety over missing something then he wouldn't make matters worse by screaming and crying.  He misses less if he calms himself.  He seemed to get that concept the rest of the weekend.  I could see him thinking about it.  Of course I know that's a hard concept for a 4 yr old but he's a smart cookie!  He also has more energy than most kids I know so getting him to take a second to breathe is hard all by itself....lol

We did hear from Make A Wish and while we aren't able to go in March when we had hoped. We are going to travel in May.  We are sad not to be able to go when our friends are, but we know it will be amazing and E will just be blessed beyond imagination.  He and N talk about it all the time.  I think S is pretty excited as well. ;o)  

I am going to go rest some more.  Have to get some strength back to get back to work.

Blessings

A

Disclosure

A dear blogger buddy asked me a question yesterday about disclosure and I thought I would talk about it here a little bit.

When we first started the process to adopt after N, we were very drawn to adopting an HIV+ child. And I have spoken before about our adoption process, and living with E having HIV.

At first only a few very close friends knew that we were adopting a child with HIV. We weren't sure how we felt about the world knowing. We wanted to protect E and quite honestly we weren't sure how the world would react to us. When we chose to tell some immediate family they threw a complete fit. We were deemed stupid, and reckless in our care for our other children. They felt there was no way we could possibly have thought this was a good idea and we better never think our children would be able to play with their cousins. It was pretty ugly.

When we heard all of this we were not deterred from the adoption, but we continued to evaluate how and when we would disclose E's status.

When spent alot of time in prayer, and to be honest in disagreement, and conversation about who should know. I chose in the beginning not to share anything about it on this blog because once it's out there I can't take it back.

After E came home and was so ill, people naturally asked questions, and I began to feel like I was lying. I don't lie well....lol So D and I discussed it some more and decided that it was better for people to know if they ask, rather than keep it a secret.

We don't ever want E to feel ashamed of something he has/had no control over. We want him to be proud of who he is as a human and a child of God. We felt that by our keeping silent we would be sending the message that there was something wrong with him and that he should hide.

There are many local people that read my blog, those of you that our our friends, and others that 'stumble' onto it. ;o) And I will admit to being a little leary of sharing this information publically, but I also felt that it has given me the opportunity to share and include education. Through reading the blog, people will know that HIV is very hard to contract. You can't just 'catch' it like the flu or a cold. After the virus reaches the air it dies pretty quickly. Transmission requires some pretty signifigant blood to blood contact, and frankly that's not probable. Normal every day contact will not endanger any one. As I have said before if we thought there would be the possibility of our other children being at risk we would not have persued this adoption.

Mosquito's aren't carriers, biting doesn't transmit, playing on the playground or with each other's toys won't do it, even a scraped knee properly bandaged isn't a danger. It's ok if he sneezes on you.. it would pretty icky, but you won't contract HIV.

I want people to realize that my child is as loveable as any other, that he along with millions of others deserve to be treated with respect, love and acceptance. If I can change the life of one other child because someone reads this and thinks "I could do that, I could love a child that derserves it" then I feel good. I first thought this was possible because I read the blog of Erin, who is now one of my very dearest friend's.

If I am able to educate just one other person, to kill a little piece of the stigma that still surrounds this disease then I have made a difference to that one person.

Not everyone agrees with us, not everyone thinks it's a good thing to share his illness, but I believe we all have to do what's right for ourselves and our family.

Here is an interview done by Bethany Interview with Hydeia Broadbent. Please take a minute to read it. Hydeia is a young lady who was one of the earliest pediatric HIV patients at a time when only a handful of children had the infection. She was adopted and has been open about her status and is an advocate for people that have HIV. What an inspiration! Thank you Bethany for sharing.

Thank you to those of you that read this blog and love us, and love our E. Maybe each of us can make a difference in just one life through education and love.

Genius and funny stuff

Funny:
It's a good thing that we don't live in the frozen tundra. We had a dusting of snow yesterday, enough to cover the ground and vehicles. I opened our front door so the boys to ooo and ahhh over the beauty. E however was not impressed. His reaction? "blech"

Genius:
N's teacher is very impressed with N's intelligence. (duh?!) Today they were doing math problems, simple ones like 2+2 and 3+1, he figured them out on his own. She then lamented over his handwriting. We had to share with her that our Z is highly intelligent, but his handwriting does not reflect that image. He writes like a 4 yr old...lol I think his brain is just too far advanced to worry about a little thing like pretty handwriting...lol So we may be looking at another gifted child. No wonder N and Z have such a bond... their great minds think alike. ;o)

Sunday

ok I am not sure I have said this before... but I really like God. ;o)

This week I had one of those days, a day where I felt like I wasn't doing such a great job at parenting.  I was impatient and grouchy and then was impatient and grouchy with myself because I was impatient and grouchy...LOL  Ever get in one of those moods?  The kind where you seem to be in a snowball rolling down hill.  I started the day thinking about God, praying for His Grace and then bam... I am fussing over dumb stuff, can't get the boys to brush their teeth, they are whining about their clothes and refusing to put shoes on.  Makes all those good intentions fly away.

Then Friday we found out we will be postponed going to Disney.  E has been talking non-stop about his trip and asking about his 'wish' and I am running out of creative ways to say 'not yet' and 'soon'.  I know once he gets there it will be the trip of a lifetime, I think I am just anxious to see the look on his face and being able to experience his joy with him. And to be honest we were supposed to possibly meet one of my very favorite families in the world there, and now it looks like that's not going to happen.  E was in the orphanage with one of their children and it would have been so grand to see them together again!  Guess God has other plans.

So this morning I was really looking forward to church, I needed some time in Gods house. And God didn't disappoint me. ;o) Worship was amazing and the sermon was good stuff.  Pastor talked about risk taking, and how God calls us to step out in Faith with him.  I will admit to being worried about thinking about a mission trip and getting people to help with financing it when our country is in such a turmoil. But if God wants us to do something we are to step out. And let Him worry about that aspect. Sunday school kind of solidified that concept for me.  I will follow Him, and look forward to seeing where He takes it.  

I just like God, I like the way He does things, I like the way the bible is relevant even today, I like the way He puts people in our lives to touch us in ways that we never knew, I like how He gives us a word when we need it, and how He gives us free will, even when His will is SO much better! ;o)

I can't wait to see how he works in on my heart to help me grow as a mother, how he teaches me yet ANOTHER lesson in patience, and what he does with this growing idea to go to Africa.

I just really like God.

Get a T-shirt

AHOPE Special Edition T-shirt.

(from the Store site)

AHOPE Store is now taking Pre-Orders to help spread the AHOPE message with a new graphic T-shirt created to inspire discussion about the growing orphan crisis. Together we can build a community committed to orphan care. We especially ask you to wear this T-shirt on World AIDS Orphan Day on May 7, 2009. Encourage people to join this campaign for HIV+ orphans in Ethiopia. The T-Shirt will be offered for $10.00. After production costs are met all proceeds will go directly to AHOPE.

Fill you in Friday

So this has been one of those weeks. ;o)  Started great and puttered to disappointment... but I am working on and praying for faith to win this battle. 

The boys had a good week.  Then the Valentine's Day parties started and they had to share cards and candy, the routine was flipped around and they were fed candy. Now tell me that's not going to throw a kid into a tizzy! ;o)  Ok well it threw mine into one, or 2 I guess. ;o)  It didn't help that their most awesome father bought Valentines Day cards that included candy, that had to be given away.  Daddy IS most awesome, just didn't make a good choice. ;o)  

We were dealt some pretty disappointing news today.  E got to make his wish last Saturday, and we have been planning to go at the end of March, but looks like now that's not going to be possible.  They are pretty back logged.  We are pretty sad.  The communication we have had with the State rep has been less than "wishful".  We look forward to someday soon seeing the joy on E's face, as well as N and S.... what a joy that will be. We will go when it's time, and God will bless it. 

I did get to take S to Build a Bear Thursday so that she could make a bear for her boyfriend. That was actually a fun experience.  I hadn't ever built one.  The people that work there are a trip!  Or at least the guy that helped us was. ;o)  

Tomorrow is Valentines Day.  Nothing special planned, just feeling blessed that I have my hubby in my life to share with.  

Sunday is the Daytona 500 baby!!!  WOOHOO  Boogity Boogity Boogity let's go racing!...

Have a blessed weekend!

All is well

G-tube appointment went well. Just as we expected, we were in and out. It's really a very quick procedure to change it. It's just a bit disconcerting, and not for the faint of stomach...lol The hole in the belly just isn't natural. ;o)
But he did great, wasn't even really aware of what she was doing until she was done and then he was all smiles.
He was given a bunny beanie baby and off he went to school.
He was SO not happy that N got to go to school without him. Cried the whole way to the appointment...lol

Thank you for the prayers. All is well. ;o)

Better than good...

Ever come to a point when you start to formulate an idea, and watch is unfold, and it just makes you all excited?

I have a couple of those going on right now.  I feel like a little girl planning Disney, and a weepy mom looking forward to seeing my kids experience it.  

E asks every day when we are going.  And when the people are coming back to take us there. Bless his little heart I pray they are able to get us the dates we are hoping for...lol  They are sooner rather than later.

My mission/volunteer idea is also kind of solidifying. I am praying for guidance, and vision and wisdom.  I don't want to jump into something that won't be to the glory of God.  I sure hope He wants this as much as I do...lol  if not it will be back to prayer to get more wisdom I guess huh?

I love to see Him work, in all ways... even the ones that seem to make the least sense, He's always there.

I would like to ask for a quick prayer, we take E to get his G-tube changed tomorrow.  It's supposed to be easy and quick and relatively painless.  D and I are both going so when we have to do it next time we will have seen how it's one.  Not really looking forward to it, but hey... that's what being a parent is about right? ;o)  Taking care of your kids through the good and bad. ;o)  And I sure love this kid!

Fun at the park...

We had beautiful weather today so we took the boys to the park...here's some of the fun
E's Elvis impersonation...
The boys hiding from daddy.

See, N isn't always a happy guy...lol
Just cause I thought it was cute.

Daddy and N being monkey's
Sweet faces...

Be careful what you pray for...

ok those of you in Sunday School this morning won't be surprised by this post...;o)

Our Sunday school class just finished Philip Yancey's study of his book "Prayer, Does It Make A Difference".  It's a really good study on the aspects of prayer and the reasons why we do it. Today's lesson was talking about how God uses people through prayer to do His will.  When we pray for His will in our lives we are given instruction, when we listen to Him.  We talked about how we tend to be very much talker's but not so much listeners.  We ask God for what we want, and occasionally for what He wants but don't always wait to see what His answers will be.

A couple of days ago I wrote "Do Something" and since then I have prayed for His direction. And I thank those of you who have been praying with me.  He is there when 2 or more are gathered! ;o)

I will be honest with you.... I think alot of my unrest has been that I really want to adopt again. I totally feel like we aren't done.  There is another child out there that needs us, and we need him/her.  But until yesterday D has said he was through, we are done, no more.  But something in him broke yesterday... not sure what it was other than possibly my constant praying...LOL But he said to me that he would like to adopt again too!  

Now don't any body get their panties in a bunch...lol (I am talking about family that are reading ...love you!)  We are going to wait at least a year to allow E to settle more, and more especially N to settle more, and we need to make sure finances are more in order.  But we will be adopting again... PRAISE GOD!  

So I thought that maybe adopting again was the thing that I was supposed to be doing... Bring another child home to love and to cherish and to watch grow. But still I have been on prayer.

Then this morning's lesson hit me... like a ton of bricks.  In my "Do Something" post I joked about selling all my possessions and moving to Africa.  So this morning we read Acts 2:45:  'Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need.'  Then Acts 4: 34 -35:  'There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and gave it to the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.'

Phew! Uh oh!...after reading those I sat there and just asked God if he was truly telling me that I was supposed to sell everything and move to Africa?? And as I sat there I felt like He was telling me no, that's not what He wanted me to do.  It wouldn't serve his purpose for me to sell all my things.  I have felt God confirm things to me... and I truly felt like he was saying to me, no this isn't it.  

Another plan began to take shape in my head as I discussed this with others in the class. Perhaps I am not to sell all my things, but maybe as I have been feeling, I was to show others what He wants.  Some others in class said they would like to go to Africa.  

So... the thoughts are still formulating in my head and again I ask for prayer for His guidance here.  But what if I were to help form a mission team.  Set up a trip to take others to see the need, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, LOVE the people as Jesus told us too?  Together with others we can pull together and get other people to sell their possessions and give to the needy. ;o)  I don't mean extortion or anything... but have church wide garage sales, and bake sales, and spaghetti dinners and raise money together to go and spread love.

I haven't been so excited in a LONG time!  It's been an amazing couple of days!!!  E got to make his wish.  We may get to fulfill his wish with some amazing friends.  D said we could adopt again some day, and I feel like God has given me a grand idea to carry out His Will. Does it get better?!

So again I ask for your prayers as I work through the ideas, continue to seek His will, and iron out the particulars.  Perhaps I will be back in my beloved Africa before I know it! ;o)

Wishing......

Today was the day!

E got to make his wish with Make A Wish!  He was so excited ALL day.

I have the cutest picture I will have to share with you when I can get it uploaded of him standing at the door looking out waiting for them to come.

He got his Buzz Lightyear doll and his Stuffed Rocket out and held on to them while he paced around waiting.

Then... they came!!!

He was SO excited.

I was a little disappointed because they didn't really ask him what he wanted, they asked us...lol

And then hey told us we had to come up with a back up wish.  um... there is no back up...lol  This kid wants Disney.  He was standing next to me and I asked him a couple of times what he wanted if he couldn't do Disney and he said "Disney!" 

So pray that he can do Disney.  Both boys were talking about it all day long.

The volunteers were great though, and so excited for him. ;o)

Now we just wait and see which dates they can get us in for and we are off!

oh I can't tell you how excited I am to see the boys faces when we get there.  I was almost in tears all morning thinking about it.  

Thank you Make A Wish!!!

On a side note, D and I have decided once we get back we are going to contact them about volunteering for them.  What an awesome gift to be able to give!

Do something.....

I keep re-writing this post.... I am not sure what I want to say... my heart is full but jumbled a bit.

I feel like I want to do something. I want to make a difference. I want to sell all my belongings and move to Africa. lol... no not really (sort of) ;o)

Oddly I feel like adopting was the "easy" way out. Not that it's been easy, and not that I trivialize our beautiful children in any way. But they are here with us, in our comfortable home our comfortable lives and there is still so much more to do. Other children and families out there struggling.

I want to make a difference. I want people to see that there are children out there that need homes. Children with illness that can be controlled. Children that deserve more than any I can think of that need LOVE. Need a chance to have a mommy and daddy tuck them in, say prayers with them, fuss at them to eat their peas and make their beds. To kiss the boo boo's and hug them after a bad dream.

I want people to think "hey I can do that"... I see how God has planned this. And if they aren't able to adopt themselves( because I truly believe not all people are called to it) But to help those that can't. Adoption isn't cheap. But with the help of community it's do-able.

It takes a village to raise a child. We need more villages willing to step up and help make a difference.

I also want people to stand up and say, Enough is Enough! Enough people have died because of lack of medications and education. I need to do something. I need to say something. But how? How do I express what I would like to help with when there are so many people hurting right here in my back yard... perhaps that's where I need to start? In my back yard? And work outwards from there, but I want to start out there... and work in. ;o)

Will you join me in prayer for my jumbled heart to find a way to put it's pieces back together?

Fill you in Friday...

I have been kind of slack lately sorry...lol

I enjoyed being able to share some great pics of the boys though.

They have had a great week all the way around. It's really good to be able to just go through a week with normal kid issues. ;o)

N is taking to this school, and while he's still got some pretty severe ants in his pants most of the time, he's redirecting wellm and listening. He's loving learning, he is really very smart, he wants to touch everthing and loves to see how things work. He likes to be in charge and loves to share his day. And he is a genius when it comes to puzzles.

E is also really enjoying being in school. He no longer fights it. ;o) In fact the other day he said to me "Tank you school mommy" ;o) He is also very smart. His fine motor skills continue to astound. He colors more neatly than N, he can cut along lines and can use chop sticks to pick things up and put them in jars. He doesn't like holding pencils though. He will hold a crayon, and a pen, and even big fat pencils, but refuses to hold a regular pencil. Not sure what's up with that? Any ideas?

It's funny to watch them interact after a day at school. I sit between them at the dinner table and it's interesting to talk to them about their day at school and listen to them discuss it with each other. They will each talk about an incident. N translates for E, since E is still working on his language.

People ask me all the time how they get along. And I say "They are brothers". They play well together, they instigate, and then fight over each other's stuff. They laugh together and pick on each other. It's such a joy to see....lol usually ;o)

S is feeling much better after her bout with the tummy bug last week. She is in the legal studies academy and today they have a special prosecuting attorney coming to speak to them. He prosecuted the KKK years ago for a bombing in Alabama that killed 3 young AA girls. It should be a very interesting presentation, I would love to be there to hear him speak!

Z has been busy with work and school. Haven't seen him much, but that's the way it goes when you have young people on a mission...lol Trying to spread those wings. ;o)

Super Day

The boys had a super day... 

Then watched some TV with S...

Then decided it was time for a nap.... (they really were just laying there so cute together until I got the camera out... lol then I had to get them to try to look like they were sleeping...lol) they are still really cute though! ;o)

Puzzles

N loves to do puzzles.  This one is a 60 piece puzzle that he put together all by himself and didn't look at the picture on the box.  He's one smart cookie!

Just catching up

We had an interesting weekend, how was yours?

Friday night was quiet until about 2AM. S woke up ill, she was up literally every half hour sick until about 1230pm. D doesn't deal with stomach ailments so I was up with her each and every time. So I guess Saturday wasn't so busy, as it was just trying to get S to keep something down. We were both relieved and exhausted by the time 1230 came around...lol

Saturday night we watched Hulk. Good movie, it was actually fun to see Lou Farigno (spelling?) and Bill Bixby 'show up'. It will be interesting to see what happens with the next super hero movie. ;o)

Sunday was crazy, but fun. I went to church by myself, S was still recuperating, E was dealing with chest and nose junk, and D was home cleaning the house. Gotta love a husband that cleans AND cooks. ;o) I married well! ;o) Sunday school was really good. We are doing a study on prayer by Phillip Yancy. I have read the book before and it's fun to discuss it with the class. One of the questions posed in the study was whether our prayers make a difference to God. I thought this was an interesting question. I am not sure if I think my prayers change God's mind about something, I tend to think the more I pray about something I am the one that changes. I either truly desire what I want and pray until I get it...LOL Or I pray continually and realize as I am praying that what I want probably isn't in God's Will, and I pray for acceptance of His will. I don't always like what He has planned at first...lol but I usually end up believing that what God has planned for me is SO much better than what I want that I trust His judgement. I am not always so good at accepting it at first though, because how hard is it to give up something you think you really want?! I think of the Garth Brooks song, Thank God for Unanswered Prayers.

Later on Sunday, I got to go to a baby shower for our associate pastor's wife. I really like her, and I think we all had a good time. It's just fun to get together with other women, chat, eat yummy food, and talk about kids, and baby's and just stuff in general. ;o) And oo and ahh over beautiful baby clothes. I even won one of the games. ;o)

Then was the BIG GAME. Now was that a good game or what? Neither team is my fave, but I was rooting for the Steelers cause I am from PA. I will admit though that by the end of the game I was a bit over the unsportsmanlike junk the Steeler players were pulling. I almost switched sides to root for the Cards cause they were really trying. Plus I have a weakness for the under dog. We had friends over for dinner and then to watch the game. We really had a great time.

Hope your weekend was a good one!

Serious Life

I wanted you to know about this publication I’m a part of called Serious.Life Magazine. They just published the February issue today, and I am in their Featured Blog Directory. It’s a very high quality magazine… you’ll really like it.

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other content. The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia (http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/). The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries. Besides great articles on interesting people, there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

Again, the subscription is free, and I know you’ll enjoy the magazine, so take a minute to check it out and sign up to get future issues. http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/