Saturday, January 26, 2008

a few pics from today

We had Dano's birthday party today. He had so much fun and SO many of his friend got to come. It was a BLAST! We had the party at McDonalds (they don't charge one CENT to have it there! awesome!) and the kids LOVED getting to run and play in between cake and presents. I still can't believe the boy is 4. And now that we're home and all the toys have been opened, the boys are in heaven. They have them ALL spread out and are taking turns in 10 minute rotations playing with each toy. So cute! Anyway, here are some pictures from our fun fun day! Enjoy!



being silly before the party

the cake - he wanted a LarryBoy party so I did my best to make the cake look like Larry

present time.... his favorite were the LarryBoy Mobile, the new Red Jungle Fury Power Ranger, and the Overdrive Accelerate Tracker Phone. (Funny story about that phone, he's wanted it BAD for about 4 months now, but everytime we've gone to get it we couldn't find it. today however his friends Jackson and Jaren got it for him! He's thrilled!)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

dano is 4

Where has the time gone? My baby is FOUR? In exactly 20 minutes my sweet boy will officially be exactly 4 years old. I went into labor at some point during the night, but didn't realize it was actual labor labor, just thought it was braxton hicks. Until I began writing down exactly when I had the pain. At that point it was 8 minutes apart. By the time I'd called the hospital it was 6, and by the time we got to the hospital they were 4 min apart. And by the time I saw my Dr. they were 2 min apart. This happened within 2 hours. EEK! Wanna know the kicker? I was scheduled for a C-section on the 26th. Guess Dano wanted an ealier entrance. And so at 10:45 on Friday January 23rd, 2004 mommies biggest boy was born via c-section. (a few difficulties with my first born made it almost impossible for me to deliver normally. Is that too much info?)

And thus began a whirlwind called Daniel. He didn't begin sleeping through the night until well after a year old. He got 7 teeth at once and never cried or whined. We wouldn't have known he was cutting teeth without the fever. He has hardly ever gotten sick, and when he does he doesn't cry or whine, he just wants to play. He IS a Power Ranger and despite many of our efforts to stop him from doing so, he can still drop kick us. He has the most amazing smile. He has the most amazing blue eyes, and sometimes when I look at them I get lost in them. He pretty much potty trained himself. (highfive on that one!) He still gives spontaneous bear hugs which make a mommy melt. He loves gummies, any kind. He's a BIG fan of strawberry milk. He loves to sit with daddy and watch the Cowboys play. LarryBoy might be his all time favorite set of movies. (next to Power Rangers) He is convinced his Poppy is a Rescue Heroe becuase he has a figure that looks JUST like Poppy. Every once in a while he'll break out into song and sing Jesus Loves Me. He loves going anywhere, just being in the car makes him happy. McDonalds is a MUST have at least once a week. His favorite breakfast item is french toast sticks from Buger King. He looks (and acts!) just like his mommy, which can be both annoyingly funny and humbling at times. He is one amazing, awesome, super sweet, cute, funny, Power Ranger, drop-kickin', kiddo and I think my world would be significantly less without him in it. Here are a few of my favorite pics of my baby boy.

Happy Birthday Biggest Boy!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Chris Tomlin - Not To Us

feel like sending God some praise today, wanna praise with me?

what does it feel like?

Big change from last Sunday. Some things have happened this week that caused me to open my eyes and evaluate where I am and where God wants me to be. Good things. Things that will change my life. I have known for some time now God's plan for my life. Sadly I have been hiding behind the excuse that I don't know how to get started. Rather than fully surrendering to His plan, I held that part of me back and leaned on it to keep me from moving forward.

Not anymore.

Today was turning point day.

Normally going down front brings me to tears. I mean, bawling type tears. And yes, sadly, sometimes the ugly cry comes up. Today however was MUCH different. (now please note that I don't go down front all the time, just when I really feel God's push - today was one of those days). I could not stop smiling. I think I even giggled. Tucked in a corner where it was just me and my Abba, I smiled and with amazing joy surrendered fully to the ministry God has laid before me. And now, I can't stop smiling. I am SO excited. I think the Holy Spirit has been gettin' down since this morning. Doing a little boogie for the Lord. Cause my heart is just leaping! It's an amazing feeling to completely hand things over. I may not know where to begin, but God's given me a few great opportunities allready. My choice was simple - either sit where you're at and never move forward, or get off my tush and MOVE some mountains! I moved a big one today, and I plan to move more and more and more until there's nothing satan can do to get between me and my God.

What about you? Do you want to come move some mountains with me?

ps - what does complete surrender feel like??

One word - Freedom!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

formula for haiti

I have a sweet friend, Carly, (Debra's daughter) who has an amazing story. Please go visit her site by clicking here and see what God would have you do.

Carly if you're reading this - I am so tremendously proud of you! Your mission and your incredible heart brings a smile not only to my heart, but also to God's. You are one amazing young lady!

casting crowns life of praise

This song speaks volumes to me right now. He is awesome and He deserves ALL the praise! Lift your hands with me Siestas!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

what was it like?

Do you even wonder what it was like for Mary? To see her son grow into a man most people hated? To see Him go from place to place proclaiming the truth, healing the people, teaching and speaking the very words of God and yet still having to "prove" himself everywhere he went? We're studying Matthew in BSF this year and with every chapter we dive deeper into Jesus work on earth, and with each chapter we see stronger and stronger opposistion to his ministry. I keep wondering what it must have been like for Mary to witness her son going through all of this. It must have gotten scary at times. It must have gotten frustrating at times. And surely it must have been heartbreaking at times. As a mother I wonder how much I'd be able to see my sons go through in the name of Christ. Could I be as strong as Mary was? What was it like for her? What emotions did she go through? What would it be like to see your son go through so much? And what would it be like to know that you couldn't stop it? I have more thoughts forming, but I want to hear from you all. What do you think it was like for Mary? As parents, what do you think you would have felt seeing your child go through these things? Put yourself in Mary's place - what do you feel?

Monday, January 14, 2008

sometimes cleaning is healing

A secret of mine is that when times get tough, I get cleaning. I have spent the entire day cleaning my house. You name it, I've probably cleaned it today. And while I clean like this, I talk to God. So we had a full on, day long conversation and I am better for it. I cleaned the house, He cleaned my attitude and re-focused my spirit. I even got to read some of my Bible study notes, and BOY do I have some thoughts. For now I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reached out to me via e-mails and blogs. It was so sweet to come in here this afternoon and see everyone's encouraging thoughts. I am letting the situation go. What actually happened is not near as big as it felt, and in the grand scheme of things is really nothing more than a grain of sand in God's plan for my life. So it's a lesson learned, and moved on from. God has a lot more in store for me than this. It's stirring, and it's moving and it's more real than I have allowed myself to realize. I'm excited and scared to death all at the same time! This is a wild ride our Jesus takes us on! Okay, so I have to run but again, thank you to all of you who reached out to me.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

sitting.feeling.attacked

Those 3 words sum up what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. I am sitting here wallowing in my feelings of hurt. I am being attacked. I'm being slapped in the face with false guilt. And I'm letting it all dictate my mood. I'm in a crummy mood. And to top this horrible day off, dinner is not agreeing with me. (and I think I just misspelled "agreeing") Why do I expect certain things from certain people? I mean, let's face it, we all expect certain things from certain people. Expect certain behaviors, certain things to not be done by certain people. (I'm protecting identities here so I'm being vague on purpose). What surprised (and hurt) me today was something someone did that I DIDN'T expect. A situation was manipulated that caused me to miss an important meeting. And the person that did it... well it's just someone I never expected it from. Which I think is what I'm most upset about. It's difficult sometimes to handle when people act in a certain manner that you'd never expect. But it's making me look at why I expected this woman to act differently. I guess I was shown a dose of humanity and didn't really like what I saw. I've always seen Christ in her, and I guess I had come to always expect Christ from her, and this was just not what I was used to seeing. Satan is on the attack. Both with me personally, and within our church. We are starting a new program, and from the moment we committed to it we have been under attack. People are acting in ways they never have, people (including me) are RE-acting in ways they never have. So many issues have come up that have prevented me from doing with I commited to doing. And this is where the false guilt comes in... I KNOW in my head I've had no control over my family getting sick and the other situations that have come up, but that doesn't make it any better. I have failed at doing what I commited to do, and I hate it. Satan has been attacking me physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, you name it, he's attacked it. It's been a full on war from the moment I said yes to helping facilitate this new program. And thus my reaction from what happened today. My head keeps telling me "why are you so mad? she's human" But the emotion in me says, "you have every right to be mad, what happened was not fair!" And so I struggle with what to do now that it's happened and I'm hurt and it can't be taken back. I know what I will do is let it go and leave it because in the grand realm of things, it's pointless. But how do I tell my emotional side to drop it? I was wronged. I was hurt. I was made to look like I didn't care... I. I. I. And there's the problem. Satan wants me so focused on myself, that I lose focus on what God has for me. I can not explain what God has been doing with me over the past few months. Radical change in the deepest corners of my soul. That's the only way to explain what God's been doing to me. I'm scared. I'm so afraid of what He wants me to do that now I'm scared I'm secretly letting satan will a few small battles so that I don't have to face what God wants from me. I'm worried that people like her will think I am the biggest crazy person on the planet. I'm worried that others will think I'm just jumping on the band-wagon and really have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm worried that others will discredit me because I'm not acting in the way that's expected. I'm worried that I'll be so afraid that I'll let satan change my focus without realizing it and miss out on what God has for me. I'm worried that you're reading this and thinking, "yep, she's crazy". I don't know why now. I don't know why what happened today has effected me so deeply. I don't know why I'm sharing this on a blog that a million people might read. I don't know why I didn't expect human-ness from this woman. And I'm sorry for that. I don't know why some people are on a pedastal in my "book of expectations". My dissapointment in people today was great. My dissapointment in myself today was great. Today was a bad day. I'm still sorting through all the emotions that I have felt. It runs the gammot. I summed it up in 3 words -

sitting.feeling.attacked

Oh Lord... I don't even know where to begin. You know my heart. I have no words.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

the boys' got a new passion

David has begun karate and he loves it. This was only second night, but he already feels like he can do a few "power ranger" kicks. :) He is so stinkin cute in that uniform! And the boy is serious about his stuff. He holds out his arms for me to lift him into or out of the van so as to not even tempt the dirt to jump on his pristine white uniform. He walks slowly so as to not stir up any dirt. :) And he refuses to sit with the uniform on. Very smart child! His kick is good his teacher says, he just needs to not be afraid of the board. This was only his second day and the teacher asked if he wanted to kick the board and break it. David was worried it would hurt and so didn't do it, however another student did and was allowed to take the broken board home with him. WOW. That's all it took. The boy is going to get me a broken board. LOL! He's very serious. He wants a broken board, and he wants it badly now. I think he's even dreaming about karate! I'm so glad he is having a good time. When mom and I first talked about it I was a little worried that he might not really get it or like it that much, but he's in love and I know how to tie a "fortune cookie" knot in his sash, so we're good for it. :) Here are a few pics of my boy in his uniform. Even tried to get you an action shot! Enjoy.


Monday, January 7, 2008

Pay It Forward

This is a really neat idea I got from my friend Annette's blog. Enjoy!

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this Pay it Forward Exchange. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment, you’re on. I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make for you.

Once you sign up, copy and paste this paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work.I had wanted to do this earlier last month but didn't want to commit to making something handmade until I knew I would have time to do so! So, if you are game, post a comment. Give me those warm fuzzies. If you are the first three, then I'll get back with you for your address!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Rob Thomas - Little Wonders

Have you seen Disney's "Meet The Robinsons" yet? I think it may be the best movie I have seen Disney put out. I was SO moved from the very beginning. If you're in the adoption process, or in the prayer stages of adoption - watch the movie. Even if you're not, watch it anyway. This is the theme song from the movie. I hope you enjoy...

Thursday, January 3, 2008

update

*** edit Jan 6th - We are doing somewhat better today. Dano is still running a high fever and threw up more today, but this evening was better so who knows. David is doing okay, we're just worried now that with lil'brother being sick he'll relapse and we don't want that at ALL. So keep those prayers coming Siestas, the Lord has ears to hear them and is steadily raising our health from this fog. You are all so precious to me. ***

Hi everyone. I'm sorry I have not been able to update you all sooner. I now have whatever it is that David has. We are all seriously ill right now. It's hard to even move around the house. Every joint hurts, it's hard to even breathe I'm so congested, this stuff is just bad bad news. The boys are doing somewhat better, they're able to play for a little while each evening so that's an improvement. I do okay in the late mornings and early afternoon but by evening time I feel rotten again and the morning are the absolute worst. Scott has been having to help me get up because it hurts to move. Today though I've been able to move around a little more, so hopefully that means we're on the mend. Thank you everyone who's been praying for us. It has been a HUGE encouragement to me. I'll update again when I can.