There's Nothing Like Friends for the Holidays...

So far, we have had a wonderful time with our friends over Christmas!! We went bowling with the Rigsbys and had a ball! The kids have NEVER been bowing and after many Wii family bowling tournaments with Charlie telling us he was the "king of bowling", we just had to take him and let him get a taste of the real thing! It was hilarious...he was pretty frustrated not to be beating everyone...we had so much fun. This is Shane holding Lucy...I am guessing this look is due to the fact that he literally could not move without Lucy wanting him to hold her!!! She was stuck to him:)


Then, Sunday night, since there was no church service, we had the Johnson's over....they haven't been to our house (other than a Sunday School party) in over a year at least, so I actually cooked and we let the kids play...and we played a little ourselves (Wii)...

Then, this morning, I met some friends for breakfast at Panera...Paige, Me, Kristi & Misti...[& NO, I am NOT afraid to sport my favorite t-shirt just as often as I please!!! This won't be the last you see of it or my beads!!!!haha]

Kristi moved to Florida a while back and I haven't seen her in years, so while she was in town visiting family, we got together to try and catch up for at least a few minutes over breakfast. It feels so good to be with old friends, just to feel that familiar feeling you had when you were with them last...just to pick right back up where you left off. "...a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Proverbs 27:9"

Thank you Lord, for sweet friends...

Lucy's First Night

Well, I got some courage right before bedtime tonight and decided to give Lucy a try in her 'big girl' bed...better known to her as her "PRINCESS" bed....she was medicated for her little cold and it had the potential to make her 'drowsy', so I thought this might be my best bet. I have been telling her what the rules will be for months....1. she can NOT get up out of the bed 2. If she needs anything, she can call out to us and we will come and help her 3. If she gets up, she gets a spanking and has to go back to the crib....She could tell me these rules without any prompting tonight, so I felt like she might really do it. It is 11:00 pm right now and I just went in and checked her and she has her sweet hands together (like she was praying) and she has them under her little cheek and she is sound asleep. I don't think she has moved a muscle. She has been in there for several hours and we have not heard a peep, so I am thinking, it may have been a success. Here she was as we tucked her in for the first time in her new bed....have I mentioned any lately that she is my angel??!? She was pretty proud that we were finally going to let her, she was just squealing...man, I love her!!!


Thank you Lord for your many blessings in my life...you knew I needed this little girl...

Happy Birthday Charles!!

Charles always gets the short-end-of-the-stick because his birthday is the day after Christmas...we always go out to eat and he wants a cherry cheesecake and that is pretty much it. He is VERY hard to buy for and all the way around he is just not easy to surprise or anything like that. Of course, this night, all of the restaurants he wanted to eat at had at least an hour or more wait and with 4 hungry and tired little ones (Regan and Davis were with us--mom too), that wasn't happening. So, we ended up eating at Phil Sandoval's mexican restaurant (or as my kids kept calling it, Phil Santaclaus). Here we are posing it up (take note of my favorite T-shirt and my Ugandan beads {both from www.147millionorphans.com---it still won't let me insert a link, sorry}. The beads are made by the Ugandan women of the Karamojong tribe...they take strips of recycled magazines and roll them up to make individual beads for the necklaces. By buying them, you are helping create sustainable income for their families. Also the tshirts and things sold on this website help feed children in Africa..check out the website...and the section "blogs". Your heart will be stirred...GUARANTEED!)

Here is Max glued to his DS. I let the boys bring them in the restaurant since they just got new games...

I actually got a picture of Charlie...he is not fond of my annoying picture-taking...and Lucy was in a bad mood!!

Me and Lulu with her oh, so cheesy grin...

And, here is my labor of love...THE yearly cherry cheesecake.....in all of its glory...it was yummy:)

Happy Birthday, *honeybun*...you are caught up with me for 2 whole months...we are 32!!!

SERIOUSLY??!!

I was talking to a lady recently that I did not previously know and we got on the subject of adoption--IMAGINE THAT!!! She actually has a domestically adopted child, so I proceeded to tell her about how we came to the decision to adopt from China and that we had whittled down our main three options to China SN, Ethiopia and that we had considered adopting domestically also. I told her that we had even been a back up family for an adoption and that the baby was biracial. She, "wasn't racist or anything like that" but in so many terms, said that it would be scary not to know for sure the race of the child and what if down the road the child had a baby and it was black---what a "horror" that would be. Anyone who knows me, knows that my face does not hide my feelings very well, so I hate that it was probably evident that in my mind I was going..."ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS---HORROR??!!!" She went on to say that orientals were very "unique" as well....not really sure exactly what she meant by that. I guess I am naive to a degree, but people really view being of a different color a HORROR?? My heart hurt so bad and I haven't been able to get it off of my mind. My thinking is that we ALL are created in the image of our Saviour and that, my friend, is anything but horror...it is beautiful and OH HOW BEAUTIFUL the sight of ALL colors, and ALL differences as we worship TOGETHER, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ in Heaven....I can promise you that Heaven will NOT be a sea of 'whiteness'.
"And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him..Gen 1:27"
"...from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb...Rev 7:9"

Christmas Day 2009

I am doing my best to catch up after taking a "Christmas Break"!! This will be the hardest--just picking a few pics out of the bazillion we took on Christmas day!! We had a great morning...Charlie and Max woke up about 8:00...we woke Lucy up and all crawled in our bed, read the Christmas story and gave the boys a nativity set for their room and Lucy one for her room...then, we headed downstairs to see what Santa had left...the kids (and us!) had a great time and we enjoyed just being home with each other. Here are all of my sleepyheads...


Our whole family of sleepyheads...

Two happy boys...

One little girl who LOVED her new baby!!!

After we ate breakfast, Charlie helped me make Jesus' birthday cake...the little ones were not interested, but Charlie sure was...I baked it and he DESIGNED it, he said...so I let him tell me what to do and let him do the rest. He loved every minute of it and was very proud of his creation!!

The kids on the first verse of Happy Birthday (to Jesus!)....

The finished cake...

Late afternoon, my family (Regan, Dave, Davis and Mom) got together at our house to have Christmas dinner and open gifts. Here is Max in all of his "Titan" stuff...he was SO excited!!!

Of course, Lucy HAS to get naked at least once every get together...Regan got her a Snow White outfit and as soon as she laid eyes on it, the clothes were OFF...

...and the Snow White outfit was ON...she is such a card...what an angel:)

Well, all in all, we had a wonderful Christmas and I am SO blessed. I feel like I really had more of a 'worshipful' Christmas than ever before. The Lord has opened my eyes and my heart to SO much and He has only just begun and I am more than excited...I can not wait to see what is in store...I pray that He will continue to open my eyes and heart even more and more every day. He is just toooo good! God has been so unbelievable to our family...Hopefully next year, we will have another little one running around, enjoying this wonderful time of year with our family!!!
Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve 2009

I guess I am posting this after midnight, so it reads, Christmas day, but it is still technically Christmas Eve.....This year for Christmas Eve, we headed to Tennessee to visit Charles' family...we stopped by his brother's house first...this is about the best picture I got of all 3 of them. Max got the transformer dress-up from RG and I think he wore it the entire day!!!

Look at Lucy in this picture...Could she look any more prissy with her legs crossed like that!! She was VERY proud of the PINK shoes and PINK bow that RG got her and is showing them off...Such a sweetie...

Of course, this is classic Max...always trying to be funny or get a laugh...he is definitely our comedian...

Me and Lucy, trying to get the one million twist ties off of Berry Fruitcake (better known to the world as Strawberry Shortcake!)...she is such a ham!!

Here are Max and Lucy opening their gifts....


then we headed to his aunt's...we always have such a good time there too, of course, Lucy was absolutely in RARE (well, really not-so-rare) form while we were there...here she is with all of her new treats...

The older girls, Kylar, 10 and Allie, 12...just ate her up and they painted her fingernails and put (VERY) red lipstick on her little lips...I think if she smiled any bigger, she might explode!!!


Funny thing about Lucy is, if she EVER gets ANYTHING new to wear, you can GUARANTEE she will be stripped down in 2 seconds trying to put the new clothes on...of course, she opened a new outfit and here she is in action and she is SERIOUS about it...she is not a bit modest!!!

Here is Charles and Lucy...she thinks she is already 16...not a good sign...

Here is Bumblebee, I mean Max, opening his gifts...

Allie and Max...

Charlie and I didn't get any pictures tonight...I know it seems like I never post pictures of Charlie, but he DOES NOT like to get his picture made like the other two and so, if it seems that way, that is the reason...It was such a fun night...the kids had a blast...I had fun too...we got to sit around (the girls) and talk about what we might name our new little one. It doesn't even seem real but it was fun just the same. I can't wait to see who she will be!!! Headed back home...don't want to miss Santa Claus...:)

Gingerbread Men, Phoebe & Lucy's Christmas Present

Today was a very eventful and fun day!!! I have SOOOOO much left to do before Christmas arrives, I have NO idea how I will even remotely be able to finish it all, SO, I decided to go over to my friend, Meia's today and take all the kids so we could decorate gingerbread men!!! I mean, isn't that what the season (and time off from school) is for??? Nixing all the boring "have-to's" and having fun with friends and family!!! The kids had a ton of fun and I enjoyed time with adult friends....here is Lucy decorating her cookie but not without her "B" (her blankie)!! As you can see, she also found one of Henry's pacifiers and she isn't letting that get too far from her sight...she was too funny...

Here are all the kiddos, decorating away!!

Laurie, helping Henry and Adam...they were so quiet and sweet!!

Me and my little sweeties after the decorating...

Our precious dog, Phoebe, has been slightly neglected since I had all of the kids, so she only gets groomed about 2 times a year, so we had her groomed today and she looked SO beautiful, I had to post a picture. Lucy thinks she is the greatest and calls her, "my Phoebe girl". She was ecstatic that we actually let Phoebe in the house, which is extremely rare--only when she is freshly groomed. We actually let her come inside for Christmas and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. It is just WAY too much hair floating around for me!!!

Finally, before heading to the candlelight service at church, Lucy's Christmas present was delivered to our house...her new bed!!! She was so excited to get her "princess bed", as she calls it. She is pushing 3 1/2 so I know that the time is drawing near to give it a shot...don't know exactly when that will be. It was alot to get the nerve up to buy the bed...using it is another story...I will be sure to post that!! Look what a precious big girl she is...she is growing up on me:(

Have a wonderful night!!

Slow Down??

I have been thinking about the "why don't you slow down" and the "why are you breaking your neck trying to get all of the paperwork done" and "you have to be realistic, you can't do it all the week of Christmas"...I mean, am I being too ridiculous, am I overdoing it, should I just take my time and enjoy the holidays? Well, yes, to a degree. I am going to enjoy my kids and our time together, I am definitely not going to neglect them or let this season pass and not savor our time together....No, I can't do it ALL before Christmas, but I can get the part that needs to get there asap there and that is what I have been working toward......but the more I thought about it...the more I know I am doing the right thing...I have been hitting it hard, because right now, there is a little girl somewhere halfway across the world that is probably cold, hungry, needing to be held. A little girl that probably has some kind of medical need that has not been met and she may not have ever experienced what love feels like. She has nobody ooohing and ahhing over her, no one smothering her with kisses, no one snuggling her and calming her down....she may not be born yet, but there is a very good chance that our daughter has already been born and if she is on this earth, I don't want to waste a single second "sitting back, enjoying all of our excess"...I am working like crazy because the faster I do, then the faster she can come home to us and feel what it is like to have a family...I cannot wait to see her face and get my arms around her...

It's Officially Christmas Break!!!

Yes!!! Christmas break has officially begun. Charlie and Max both had their Christmas parties today...here are Max and Lucy at Max's party this morning....


Then, a picture of Charlie and his friend Teresa at their Christmas party...with their Hershey kisses.

Then, last night we had our Sunday School Christmas party and it was a HOOT!!! The girls play dirty santa with ornaments and then, the guys always do gag gifts...it was pretty funny...

Very LIVELY bunch!!

Jimbo and his special "as seen on TV" plate...

I have a feeling we may be seeing this shirt at church tomorrow...

Jeff was SUPER excited about his gift!!

Joey was blessed to get all of the hair that Eric shaved off of his head in a nice little baggie with commemorative picture...

Here we are...somehow I got around having to pose with what Charles got!!!

On a different note, Charles and mom went and got their fingerprints done and Charles got his extra passport pictures made. We got quite a few documents knocked out of the way and will be sending the first batch of stuff back to Lifeline on Monday!!!
I had a pretty rough day before our sunday school party....having to be here and there at the parties and with all this paperwork on my mind....I lost my phone (and found it a few hours later) and I backed out of the garage but the door wasn't opened!! Not good...think I will skip any pictures on that event...wouldn't have been so bad but I backed out and hit the wall of the garage last week....should probably slow down, but my brain is going in 100 different directions:) The party was so much fun, it definitely cheered me up...
Have a great weekend!!! It's Christmas break!!!