My Maternal Side of the Fam... Minus a few

Miss Priss LOVES to fish!

Apparently fishing is a spectator sport

(I was taking a pic of my cousin Hunter and had a surprise in the background) :)

It was my weekend with my Great Aunt again and also happened to be Mother's Day. So, we had a Mother's Day Party on the farm. We had a great time eating and then fishing. The ticks almost carried us away but A great time was still had by all. I love taking a family portrait every year (even though it's like pulling teeth) and seeing how we all change from year to year. I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and my sweet husband gave me a beautiful heart necklace!

Goings On...

EASTER PARTY AT THE POND

Hayden, Noah & Laurel in the MUD!!

Celebrating Ma's Birthday! Happy Birthday Maw Maw

Noah had to get a tooth pulled!

Laurel and her My Twinn Doll! Who is Who??

(FBC Ladies at the Beach Retreat..... minus Katie!)

Where to start?? Well, we had a wonderful Easter. The kids at church did a very moving production of "Arise my Love" and I was so proud of them. We had an Easter Party on the pond with family & friends and lots of food and fishing. Oh, and the tradition is that after the easter egg hunt the babies get to play in the mud. They had a blast!!

Noah had to have one of his front teeth pulled this week. I REALLY did not want to have to do this but he had an abcess that wouldn't go away. The only way to fix it is to pull the tooth. It is so funny how God works sometimes. I was coming home the night before praying God would make it VERY clear whether or not to pull this tooth. When I got home, Noah had infection coming from the sore above the tooth, he told me it hurt and when I flossed it half of the tooth came out in my hand!!!! Talk about a clear signal from God. I was so relieved. Anyway, he loves being called Snaggletooth, the tooth fairy did show up and he'll be toothless for probably 4 years! Oh well.

Miss Priss seems to be having a bit of a rough week with personal space and sharing. She wants to tear up whatever Noah is playing with right now so she's been in trouble a good part of the week. I was gone this weekend to a Ladies Retreat so I think that may have something to do with it.... or she's coming down with something. She's too cute with her little My Twinn Doll who we call "Nastya". This was Laurel's name in the orphanage so we thought she might like to call her doll this and she does. If you call her Nastya however she says "No, I Laurel"! She never looked back!

I had the privaledge of going on our church Ladies Retreat to the beach this past weekend. 19 Ladies got together to get away from it all, Praise God, Sing Songs, Play Games and have a blast in general. I loved getting to know some of the new ladies and renewing friendships with the "oldies". I am so happy to be a part of such a loving church body with such wise and godly women.

BECAUSE HE LIVES...

HAPPY EASTER. WE SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR!

How sweet to hold, a newborn baby
and feel the pride and joy he gives.
But sweeter still, the calm assurance
this child can face uncertain days
Because HE lives

Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
Who holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives

AMEN

Who Needs a Baby??

Carlisle (31)

BOY, born January 16, 2009

Med info coming, please check back soon.

"SANDERS "
Boy, Born September 2010

From his medical records: Cleft lip and cleft palate (congenital). Holds his head, turns around, coos, takes toy in his hand and plays with it for a long time. Sanders will be cleared for international adoption in December 2011. ***LOOK AT THOSE BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES***



Praises to the Lord for protecting us during the Tornadoes! Lots of people lost their homes and even their lives. We are so thankful to be spared.

I am putting these profiles up of 2 sweet angel boys that I would have in an INSTANT if we could adopt again right now. For some reason I have always been drawn to babies with Cleft Palets/Lips . We even support the Smile Train who makes it their mission to go around the world and find children with these and does surgery on them to correct them. In so many countries and villages these children are outcasts and are even made to walk around the village with paper bags on their heads b/c it is seen as a curse. A 30 min. surgery can change everything but very few can afford it.

These 2 boys are in the country that Laurel was adopted from. There is not a place for these children in that society. Put them on your Facebook, blogs ANYTHING that will help them find a forever mommy & daddy and get the medical care that they need. You can find them on www.reecesrainbow.org and they are on the "other angel boys 0-5 page". Most of all, pray for these boys. Could one of them be YOUR child??

About a Tree...

I love the trees in my yard. They are 75-100 yrs. old and when they fall or have to be cut down I feel like I've lost a friend. Ok Ok I know what you are thinking..... NO I am not a tree hugger. I just appreciate them and their Maker :) Anyway, one of our trees in our front yard was almost dead, and leaning and the combination does not make for a safe place to play under. My Dad called the Tree Man and he came and felled it for us. He didn't cut it up so Uncle John and Mr. Fred brought their tree splitter over and we made an evening (or two) of it. Laurel was completely mesmorized by the machine. She sat on a log and watched it for almost 2 hours!! Noah got his fill and moved on to bigger and better things:) Gotta love a boy. Anyway, the tree is gone and the spot where it was doesn't look half as bad as I thought. So, we made the best of it and used some branches for camo on the babies tractors. Noah loved playing army. It's a good thing b/c that's as close to the army as he'll ever get if I have anything to say about it! ;)

Laurel Progress Update: I thought I'd give a quick update on Laurel's progress since we've had some events lately and she's at her 18month home mark. She continues to do fantastic! We've had relatively little adjustment with Miss Priss and I am grateful for that. Yes, having a hearing impaired child is tough some times but honestly....... isn't raising children tough period?? She's my sweet girl. She LOVES her little brother and their fits of laughing at each other do my heart good. She has had a breakthru in her speech development and can finally do the "t" sound. It amazes me how much we take for granted normal speech and language development. It is SO much work for her to catch up but she blows through it like a champ! We are once again facing tubes in her ears b/c of fluid that wont go away. We aren't sure however we are going to pursue those right now due to the fact that 3 weeks ago she was put under for tubes but they didn't check her ears prior to the surgery so when she was under they found no fluid and didn't put tubes in...... Just got the bill for that one to the tune of about $3000!! So, to make a short story long we just may wait a bit to see if this fluid goes away. We'd appreciate your prayers for wisdom. Oh and did I mention that in the 18 months Laurel has been here, she has gained 14 lbs and 14 inches??? Amazing what a little love and sunshine will do for a child. Consider Adoption.

Spring Has Sprung....and The Long Black Train

We are so excited that Spring has finally come to the farm! It seems like it has been a LONG winter and we are a bit stir crazy. So what comes with Spring?? Baby Chickens of course. We are trying to build our flock up a bit so we can keep enjoying fresh eggs (Laurel loves her eggs for breakfast). Also, Grandaddy had this bright idea to put our garden in boxes this year to help with the weeding and watering so we are getting those ready for planting. I LOVE it being dark in the mornings longer (the babies sleep in). I LOVE it getting dark so late! I LOVE everything about Spring. New life, new beginnings, how exciting!

I was at Aunt Ruthie's last weekend and it was 70 degrees. We were able to take several walks and I got lots of pictures. The peacocks are so funny this time of year. The males spend their entire time showing off for the females. The males are so vain this time of year that they look at their reflections in my car and start pecking it, chipping the paint off the car. They do this over and over, not figuring out it is themselves. They sure are pretty but not much in the brains department.

One more reason why I am happy Spring is here. Hopefully the flu & cold season is on its way out. Laurel came down with an awful cold last week and it turned into a terrible ear infection. I'm talking 104 fevers and up all night hallucinating. It was a pretty long week. Noah & I passed a much lighter version around and we are all feeling somewhat better today.

And as for the Long Black Train Video..... What can I say? American Idol is my guilty pleasure :)

CATCHING UP....AGAIN

Miss Priss & "Spice"
Bowling for Aunt Michelle's Birthday
(Above) LOVE this picture of Poppy... he almost busted it!!

"The New Recruit"
Show off

Birding at a local park
Shopping for fresh eggs
CUTEST BABIES IN THE WORLD!!!!



Do you ever just wonder where the days go?? Yeah, me too. Mike & I have made a decision to live life more purposely and actually make time to do some fun things.... Our goal is to not let life run us over. We want to stop and smell the roses. Since the weather has been nice lately, we've stayed out quite a bit.

--We've had a bowling party for Aunt Michelle. The babies LOVED bowling and we didn't even have any smashed fingers or toes! Nana & Poppy said they hadn't bowled in years but they did great!
--We went to watch Grandaddy & Uncle John at a Civil War Reenactment. Noah loved dressing up and carrying his "gun". He may be a new recruit.
--We've had lots of walks around the farm and Laurel really loves the horses. I think Noah could really care less about them, probably because he is so allergic to them and stays away.
--Last weekend we went Birding at a local park. You can check out a backpack with everything in it you need to see & track birds. The babies really got into it.
--We had some dear friends Brian & Crystal over this weekend that we haven't seen in a while. Brian has been fighting the war for us in Afghanistan and we thank him for his service. Our babies are close to the same age and had a blast dressing up and playing together.

Anyway, that's about all that is going on around here. I love being able to watch my babies grow up and learn new things. I thank God that I can stay home to watch them grow into the people God would have them be.