My American Idol's

ME & MY TINKERBELL

JOHN WAYNE

RED RIDING HOOD

My "Scotty McCreery" look a like :)

Girlfriend Reunion at the Beach!!

Noah singing 'Train Train take me out of this town"

And they thought she'd never talk!

Shew!! Has May been out of control for anyone else out there?? I have no idea what has gone on. It seems I've been out of town almost every weekend. I have a saint for a husband. Last weekend I had a wonderful time catching up with some girlfriends from High School. I am so lucky to have a group of girlfriends that go that far back and we can still pick up like we've never been away from each other.

In other news, 2 of Laurel's therapies will be ending in a week. We'll continue one throughout the summer. She continues to make great strides, praise be to God. The last testing was done a few weeks ago and showed that her Receptive language skills were at 2 yr. 2 months and her Expressive language was on a 3 yr 2 month old level. These are AWESOME scores considering her hearing age (how long she's had her hearing aids) is only 1 yr. 6 mo. Smart little cookie.

Noah is still the best big brother ever. He has had a blast watching our American Idol Scotty McCreery sing. Because the show is too risque for him to watch we could only watch Scotty sing and then turn it off. He loved it though. He's inspired Noah to pick up his guitar and start singing. He's quite the little showman er... show off.

Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow another busy weekend..... of to my cousin's wedding. We are looking forward to that though. Hopefully June will be a bit slower paced!

Rainy Days & Strawberry Picking

Rachel & Aubrey, Laurel, Noah, Amy & Lydia

We've had some wonderful rainy days lately. The kids have loved watching the rain come across the fields and then playing in the mud that it leaves behind. The rain has been great for our little garden and blueberry bushes but apparently wasn't great for the strawberry crop. Regardless, 2 women from my church and all of our cute babies went on a hunt for some strawberries. We had a blast. Girls are definately the best pickers. Aubrey & Laurel & even baby Lydia all picked and put them in their buckets. Noah however came back empty handed. He had eaten ALL of his strawberries! Such a boy. Anyway, I am so thankful God has put these girls and the others at the church in my life. I really believe that "for such a time as this" God has put us all together in different stages of life..... some Grandmother's, some empty nesters, some having "returning" children, some planning pregnancies, some struggling with pregnancies, some pregnant, and some with babies and toddlers.... to encourage each other and raise the next generation. Praise God for godly women!

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.