March

We started March off with dress up days that week at school.  The pic below is the girls dressed for "Wacky Wednesday."  They had fun trying to be the wackiest!

The girls got to have a father/daughter dance this year at Trinity.  The boys got a more "masculine" date with mom.  We built birdhouses and then ate in the cafeteria.  There was a DJ and the boys had fun doing dances like the chicken, cha cha slide and the YMCA.  It was fun to watch Jordan dance with all the boys.  It didn't take him long to learn all the moves!

Brent's parents both work in the school system and are lucky to have spring break off.  We were blessed with a visit from them on their spring break.  

For spring break we decided to take a mini "get away" with everyone and see how everyone would do.  It would be our first family "vacation" staying in a hotel and going fun places.  We have traveled to and from TX a couple of times, but we always stay with family and are mostly in family houses the whole time.  I made all the kids a goodie bag with essentials for the trip: sunglasses, candy, snacks etc.  The pic below is of us about to leave with everyone's sunglasses on.

Our first stop in Atlanta was the aquarium.  The kids really enjoyed it.  We did have one scare.  We couldn't find Whitney and Ryan for a few minutes.  We finally found them at the top of the jungle playground.  Whitney was scared to come down the slide and refused to move.  Many kids were coming through trying to encourage her to go, but she wouldn't move.  Ryan stood by her side and didn't leave her.  Finally the attendant let Rachel (who was technically too tall and was not allowed to go in the playground) go up and rescue Whitney.  She had to drag her screaming and force her down the slide.  By that point we had quite an audience watching the scene!  The pic below is of the kids petting the sting rays.

Cute family pic:

Jordan...

Ready to watch the IMAX movie:

The highlight of the girls trip was to go to the American Girl Doll store.  Hayley used her birthday money last summer to buy a "Just like me" doll to give to Rachel when she came home (she has such a beautiful, sweet heart).  They had both been earning some money doing some chores around the house and saving it to spend on this trip.  I gave them each a little more to spend that day and we had FUN shopping for the dolls!

When Rachel first came home and couldn't speak good english we couldn't explain to her how to take care of the American Girl Doll's hair.  She would just brush really hard and it destroyed her hair.  Luckily, they have a "doll hospital" you can send your doll to and get it fixed.  They even brought our the "Doctor" and he asked what her favorite foods, tv shows etc. were!  They put her in a hospital gown and took her away.  So cute!  Two weeks later we got her back in the mail good as new :-)

The girls ate at the restaurant there and although it is NOT cheap, the food was really good.  The dolls got to sit in high chairs attached to the table and had their own plates and cups.  It was super cute!

It was a dream outing for these girls.  I know I would have been in heaven as a little girl!

The month ended with Turkey season.  Ryan went hunting with Brent and shot his first wild animal.  He was SO proud.  We got to eat it and it was really good :-)

That is all for today!  Hopefully I will have another post up soon...

Finally!

As I stated in my last post, I had planned to bring my blog up to date while we were on vacation at the beginning of the summer.  As my March pictures were uploading I pushed my computer back so that I could reach across the table and help my brother do something on his computer.  What I didn't know was that there was a glass of water sitting in the middle of the table between our computers.  I knocked it over and it ran into the back of my MAC.  I didn't realize it had flowed into my computer for several minutes.  When I went to get back on it, it wouldn't do anything.  I then thought to shake it and see if there happened to be any water inside.  We all sat in disbelief as water drops began flying out of my computer.  No worries , I thought, my hubby bought the protection plan and I was smart of enough to have backed everything up before we left.

Ha! The so called "Protection Plan" that he bought from a big, popular retailer of electronics did not protect anything!  When we dropped the computer off they said not to worry that they would either fix or replace it.  However, their story changed once they got my computer.  We were told later that we should have bought a more expensive plan to cover "accidental" damage.  I am not sure why we would have bought a "protection plan" at all if it didn't cover accidents since Apple covered everything else for free.

I am happy to say that after almost 2 months of "negotiations" we reached a "deal" a couple of days ago and I am the happy owner of a brand new MAC book Pro!  Soooo...stay tuned for the promised updates to our blog.  I want to keep it all in chronological order; one because that is how I think and two because I want this to be a  journal we can look back on and read about our lives...in order.  Maybe I will have it all updated before school starts in 2 weeks????  Ahh, we shall see!

More February....Part 2

I found a few more pics of February and decided that I needed to share them with you.  The first is of me and my cast.  Notice I am resting my foot on my infamous knee roller (I got a lot of unwanted attention everywhere we went thanks to this invention:-).  

Then there is Whitney being her silly self.  She SO fits the profile of the "baby" of the family.  Always the clown and performer!

I also shared the pics of my sweet friend Sallee coming home with her cutie pie, Samson Jude, from Ethiopia.  Many of you have seen my girls wear their "Poppy Dip" skirts/dresses.  Sallee is the talented seamstress who made them to raise money to bring Samson home.  Shortly after they brought home him, Sallee starting feeling really bad and it was discovered that she had ovarian cancer.  She has already undergone a few surgeries to remove it and is awaiting the start of chemo.  Please, Please, remember her in your prayers!  She has her new little guy as well as 5 other kiddos at home.  You can follow more of her journey here: http://itspoppydipblog.blogspot.com

Me and Whitney waiting to get me cast off!  It was an exciting day at our house!!!

Whitney being her funny self...

My 3 girls plus two of the Pedicini girls waiting for little Samson Jude and his parents to get off the plane.

Little Samson and his sweet Momma, Sallee, looking so cute after flying from the other side of the world!

A few more faces playing and waiting for Samson's arrival.

More kids being funny as we waited for the Couch family to arrive.  Airport homecoming parties are the best :-)

March is still coming!!!  Stay tuned....

What have we been up to??? Part 1: February

It has been a REALLY LONG TIME since I updated our blog. A few of my friends have asked given me a hard time about it! What have we been up to??? Well, I am going to attempt to catch up on the last few months over the next few days. After my surgery in January, the rest of the semester I just tried to keep everyone "above water." It has been a hard few months for me recovering from my foot surgery, but school is out and we are going to enjoy some lazier days this summer :-). This week we are on vacation at the beach and having a blast. My goal is to try to catch up my blog and have some beach pics on here by the end of the week.

Today is February.......

Above: February marked the 100th day of school and at our school the kindergartners dress up like they are 100 years old. Here is Jordan dressed as an old man with gray hair and all. Isn't he cute???

Below: This month was also the daddy daughter dance. The girls had fun dressing up and going on a special date: dinner at P.F. Changs and a dance at school. The fun part for me was shopping for their dresses on a knee roller since my foot was still in the cast at this point!

Below: Daddy makes Valentines special for his girls. He is teaching the boys of the house to treat their girls like princesses. Since their girls are their sisters for now we all got flowers and chocolate with a formal presentation. Too sweet!

Below: Me and the men of my life!!! As a side note...notice how dressed up I was for the special day :-)

Below: We always enjoy family coming to visit us from TX. In February we loved having cousins come! Whitney, Jaycee, and Kinlee had fun playing dress up and dolls. What a treat to have them with us for a few days :-).

Below: We had a big gathering at Abay, one of our favorite Ethiopian restaurants, with several other families from our local adoption fellowship group.

I am hoping to have March up by tomorrow or maybe even later today. I hope you are all enjoying the first week of summer :-)

I once was LOST, but now I am FOUND!

With the time that I have right now, not being able to do much that requires walking or moving around, I am focusing on the things I CAN do. One of which is creating a scrapbook for Rachel & Jordan. They have seen the other kids' books and have asked if they too could have one.

As I was downloading some pictures into iPhoto today I was amazed at how far these kids have come. Our director of our agency is amazing and one of the things that makes her awesome is the amount of pictures and video you receive of your children. I wanted to share some pictures that were taken back in June '09:

In just 18 months, these two children have gone from:

HOPELESS to HOPEFUL

SAD to JOYFUL

FEARFUL to CONFIDENT

LOST to FOUND.

Brent and I continue to marvel at what an awesome journey this is. It is such an awesome picture of our relationship with Christ:

He gives us HOPE when we are hopeless,

JOY when we are sad,

CONFIDENCE when we are fearful,

and He lovingly pursues us until we are FOUND!

We stand in awe as we watch all of our children grow in wisdom and love for the LORD. I know that not all are called to adopt, BUT we are ALL called to do something. What is your something? What is God calling you to do today??? Don't be afraid, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline," 2 Timothy 1:7. Step out in FAITH and see the blessings the Lord has for you!!!

Clearview's Next "31" event...You're Invited!

I want to invite all Franklin locals to attend our next "31" event at Clearview.

http://www.clearview.org/adults/events/127/2011/01-30/womens-31-event

Gwen & Suzanne from 147 Million Orphans are leading a class. You can come and hear their story and get your adoption questions answered!!!

When: Sunday, January 30, 2011

From 5:00-7:30pm

Where: In the Children's Worship Room

What: Food, Fellowship, Fun, & Classes

Cost: $15 for your Food and 2 Classes

Registration ends tomorrow, Monday, January 24th!

Update

This time around was SO much easier than the first! The first surgery was at a surgery center and this one was at Vanderbilt. I believe that location can make all the difference! The staff was great...didn't hurt either that I had friends who were advocating for me before I even arrived. I learned that the "nerve blocks" they did the first time around did not work which is why I was in pain so much the next day and why they had to put me under general anesthesia which was not fun coming out of. This time the nerve block worked and recovery was SO much better.

The doctor was able to pull out the broken bone graft which he described as working more like a joint on the side/top of my foot (I guess that explains the pain :-) and replace it with bone from my tibia. One blessing is that he was able to remove 2 of the 3 screws from the original surgery. My physical therapist called them deck screws. They started at the back of my heel and prevented me from being able to rest my foot on any hard surfaces like the coffee table. It was not a super big deal, just annoying and I am grateful it is a thing of the past.

My doctor feels that my recovery should go a little faster this time around. I will be on crutches for the 6 weeks and then in a boot for another 3. He said I would be back in a regular shoe in about 9 weeks.

I will be heading home this morning and my kids are ready. Hayley wants to care for me. Rachel has been super helpful to take care of things around the house with my mom. Ryan told Brent he needs to protect me and he can't do that while I am at the hospital:-) I am sure I will have Whitney and Jordan in the bed reading books and snuggling with me.

Thank you for all your prayers! I know I have had many prayer warriors praying us through the last several months and we are SO VERY THANKFUL for you! Blessings to you ALL!!!