September 7th Weekly Wrap Up {MDO, Turning 13 and a Baby Girl}

Some BIG news...
Cruz started MDO!  He is our little busy body and seems to tear the place apart when we are trying to do school so we decided this year to put this little ball of fun into MDO.  He can play until his heart is content and while he's away we can tackle school. We will be finished when Cruzy gets home so we can devote all our attention to him.  He had the best week.

My sweet first born turned 13 on Thursday.  We now officially have a teenager in the house. On Wednesday, Memaw took her to lunch and out shopping. Then on the night of her birthday, we took her to one of her favorite eating spots and she ordered her usual...a baked potato.  Yes, that is all she got!  We spent the evening with good friends celebrating her big day.  Next weekend me and a friend are taking her on a special out of town trip to celebrate her new status as a teenager!  I am so blessed to be able to parent this amazing young lady.  God is doing great things in her life and I am so grateful to God for this precious gift I have in her.

We have felt God's call for some time now that we would not be in our current house forever but we haven't been able to find something we just love.  We both felt the next house would be on some land but we are currently in the city and like the city convenience.  We have been patiently waiting for God's plan to be revealed.  Then out of nowhere something has popped up.  We looked at it this weekend and we both LOVE it.  It has everything we need and it sits on some land (love how God puts just a whisper in your heart and years later reveals that whisper) and it is still considered "in the city". Praying God will show us the next steps to His perfect plan.

The latest in our foster care journey...
We took in a sweet 8 month old baby girl on Wednesday to help out her foster family who was leaving town.  We were told she would be with us for 9 days however Friday her case was heard in court and she got to go home with a family member.  We will miss this precious little girl who quickly stole our hearts.

In our homeschool...
We are back to using My Father's World which Carter and I love (don't know why we did not use it last year...BIG MISTAKE).  Carter is beginning 2nd grade.  We are studying the history of the United States this year.  This week we were studying the Indians and read all about Pocahontas, Captain John Smith and many Indian tribes. We made Wigwams and Teepees.  

Madyson has started back to the co op she went to last year.  She really enjoys being at school those two days and being home the other three.  She is now is 7th grade.

The latest in sports...
Both boys started Upward this week.  Carter decided to do flag football again this year and Coker is playing soccer for the first time.  He has waited for over a year to play soccer and his time has finally come.  He did not seem to enjoy it at first (it was the hottest day EVER) but once he scored his first goal He was off and running.  Our boys love playing Upward.

Things to treasure in my heart...
I absolutely love riding in the car and listening to my children sing along to the Christian songs that are playing on the radio.  They all have their favorites so when their particular song comes on they always want me to turn it up!  Many of their favorites are straight from  the Bible.  Love that they are hiding scripture in their hearts through music.  They all seem to learn music very quickly and if they are anything like their mother, I believe, God will speak to them through music.

God's Love Pours Out

Today is so bittersweet, our first foster placement, a sweet baby boy right out of the hospital, went home to be with family and his siblings.  Although we are sad to see him go, we feel grateful for the short five weeks we got to spend with him, cuddle him, love on him, pray over him and cry for him when we found out he would be leaving us.  As I wash all the things he used while he was with us, I am so joyfully happy that God gave us baby J for the sole purpose of praying for him for the rest of my life.  I will probably never see him again but he has us and so many of our friends praying for him forever. I believe God used this precious baby for us to pray not only for him but for his family, his siblings, all of whom we will probably never meet and for others to see God's love in a precious baby boy.  His time with us has touched so many others in regards to foster care and loving on the least of these. God has already used his short life for amazing things and in furthering His kingdom and I feel so blessed that He allowed our family to get a glimpse of His work.

To Baby J I would say...I gave you my whole heart and loved you as if you were my own. Although you will never know me, you will always hold a special place in my heart and know that our family will be praying for you for the rest of our lives.  My prayer is that you will come to know the one who gives the ultimate unconditional love, Jesus Christ, and no matter what you do or where you go He alone will always be there for you and love you with a perfect love all of your days.

It is with a joyful yet heavy heart that we said good bye to this precious gift, God's gift, this morning, praying that one day we will see his precious face again in glory.


The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

Catching My Breath

God has recently been putting blog ideas in my head.  So I thought I would jump online and see when the last time I blogged was.  WOW!!  It has been a while...a long while.  So I am going to catch us up to where God has us now and what He has been doing along the way.

Update on Mark and I:

Last summer (2012), God started laying it on both mine and Mark's heart the idea of more children once again.  We weren't sure if we would adopt again but we knew He was up to something.  And then the words foster care started jumping out EVERYWHERE!  We started knowing people that were fostering, running in the same circle with people that fostered, reading about things going on with regards to foster care, it was everywhere.  And then we found out our church was going to host its first foster care classes.  We knew then what God wanted us to do so we signed up.  We went through the classes last fall with a couple of wonderful friends of ours.  Cruz was just turning one at the time.  We were approved around the end of July this year.  Two days after we were approved, we picked up a beautiful baby boy that was just 3 weeks old.  Our family loves this little one.  We are looking forward to seeing how God works in this little man's life.

And we are looking forward to seeing what God has for our lives.  We both feel God preparing our hearts (actually giving us strong longing) to adopt again. We just wonder if it will come through the foster system or an adoption agency.

Update on our children:

Madyson will be turning the big 13 this year and going into 7th grade.  Can't believe we will have a teenager in the house.  So hard to believe I can barely wrap my brain around it.  She is starting her second year with a local co-op.  She has made some amazing friends and we could not be happier with the decision we made to homeschool her.  She has grown into an amazing young woman that loves the Lord and wants to follow Him wherever He leads.  We look forward to watching Him work in her life.

Carter turned 7 this summer and is going into 2nd grade.  We are homeschooling him again this year.  He is playing football in the fall for the second year. He is the informant in the household.  Nothing gets by him.  He loves learning about the weather and wants to be a weatherman like James Spann when he grows up.

Coker will be 5 this year and we will be doing pre-k with him this year at home. He loves doing 'his school' as he calls it.  He will be playing his first season of soccer this year.  He has a lot of energy so I think he is going to have a lot of fun playing soccer. 

Cruz will be 2 this year.  He finally learned to walk in June and he has been on the go ever since.  We are starting to see his personality emerge and boy does he have one.  He loves going outside and he loves to eat! And he can throw an amazing tantrum with some head banging to make you feel bad for him!

So that is the update on our family, kids.  Mommy will try to keep this up to date so there will not be all these gaps in your lives that will leave you wondering what happened during those times!!!

What Cruz Is Up To At 8 Months...

Cruz was 8 months old on the 2nd of July.  He is able to grab toys and pull them to him.  He is learning to sit up but loses his balance easily.  He is now eating solid foods.  His favorite toy is a clicker type toy that has an orange cat on one side and a purple bear on the other.  He loves lovies which he has plenty of.  He loves to lay on his back and grab his feet.  He is starting to enjoy being in the exersaucer.  He loves smiling at anybody that will look at him.  He loves sitting in the bumbo.  He loves watching his brothers play around him.  He will sit in his car seat carrier for hours while we are out without one complaint.  He is a wonderful restaurant companion.  He is in a size 2 diaper and is wearing some 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes. He has a very calm, laid back disposition.

Baby Food Schedule for baby Cruz

I have been keeping notes on my phone on what foods Cruz has tried and wanted to get it down here before I forget.  Hopefully I will get this on his 1st year calendar sometime soon! 

June 11: Oatmeal (am)
June 14: Oatmeal (am) ~ Squash (noon)

Squash

June 15-19: Oatmeal (am) ~ Squash (noon) ~ Oatmeal (pm)
June 21-25: Oatmeal (am) ~ Carrots (noon) ~ Oatmeal (pm)
June 26-29: Oatmeal (am) ~ Sweet Potatoes (noon) ~ Oatmeal (pm)
July 1: Oatmeal (am) ~ something from above (noon) ~ Rice Cereal (pm)
July 2-5: Rice Cereal (am) ~ Peas (noon) ~ Oatmeal (pm)
July 6: something from above ~ Cheerios

July 7: Oatmeal (am) ~ Green Beans (noon) ~ Oatmeal (pm)

In addition to baby food, he is drinking 7 oz bottles 4 times a day.

We have now finished up all the veggies. Next up: Fruits

I heart food {an introduction}...

Last night at dinner, Cruz was introduced to solid foods (yes, we waiting until he was over 7 months old).  First food...oatmeal.  The look on his face when he ate his first bite was priceless.  I really think he was thinking...where has this been all my life and why have you people been holding out on me!  He ended up eating two bowls!  He would even grab onto the spoon and stick it in his mouth himself.  He began crying when it was all gone and I got up!  Here is some pics we snapped of the big event.

Lickin my lip

Get in my belly!

Pure happiness!

Cruz has a sporadic sleeping pattern.  He will go for weeks sleeping through the night then there will be a week where he is up throughout the night (for hours).  This being one of those weeks.  Once we put him down last night, we never heard another word from him...I think he was in a food coma!

Weekly Wrap Up {VBS Fun}

Places we went...

All week we have been at Vacation Bible School which at our church is called Summer Quest.  This year’s theme was aviation (which the boys LOVED).  They even earned their “wings” at the end of the week.  I helped with crafts for the first time.  I have always kept the babies or toddlers so this was a new experience for me.  I loved seeing each childs uniqueness come out in their art work.  Our children had a great time (as always) and were extremely worn out by the end of the week.

On Friday, we had family pictures made.  Can't wait to share them with our friends and family.

Saturday, Mark took all 4 children (because I had a meeting) to Lowe's so the boys could make Madagascar airplanes. 

Then tonight I took the 2 older boys to Chick Fil A for a Mother/Son(s) Date Knight. They had to say a pledge to be knights then the cow (who was dressed as a knight) came around and knighted them with his septor. The boys had to draw our family crest.  Of the images to pick from, Carter picked the Bear because it represented faithfulness.  He said that described our family the best.  

Making our family crest

Being Knighted

Being Knighted

There was a sheet called Conversation Starters for Mom that included a list of questions I could ask the boys while we ate. Here are their answers:

What does a boy have to do to become a knight? Carter: Be brave
Who is the bravest person you know? Carter: God and Jesus
Would you rather have super strength or the ability to fly? Both boys said flying
Would you rather be a spider for a week or an elephant for a year? Both boys said a spider
Would you rather give up candy or ice cream forever? Both boys said candy
Would you rather live on the moon or underwater in the ocean? Both boys said live on the moon
Would you rather wear a clown nose or clown shoes to school/work? Both boys said clown shoes

By the answers above, I think Coker wants to be just like his big brother!

In our homeschool…
Things are going to look very different this coming year (in a good way).  God is doing some amazing things that I will share soon.

Things I am working on…

Enjoying every moment with my kids.  I feel like our days are so full of “don’ts” that my mind (and attitude) gets clouded and I forget about what is truly important.  These children are a blessing from the Lord and I need to enjoy the time God has given me with them even during the hard moments of disciplining or days packed with errands and never ending complaining.  I need to purposefully give thanks in every moment and teach my children to do the same.

Conversations to share and remember…
Wednesday I was instructing Carter when he went outside to play that he needed to listen to his older sister who was already outside.  He turned around and said “1^st I am supposed to listen to God.  He’s the one I am supposed to listen to.”  (Can’t argue with that logic!)

Wednesday evening conversation with Carter:  Madyson had a friend over and Carter had been playing with them for quite a while.  The girls wanted some alone time so I called Carter upstairs.  My mother in law was over at the time.  I left the room and Carter proceeded to quote Proverbs 3:5 to his Memaw and say to the girls that they were leaning on their own understanding and not God’s by not allowing him to play with them.  (At least he’s quoting scripture right!)

Things to treasure in my heart...
This week we started listening to Steve Green Hide Em In Your Heart CDs in the car.  By Friday, our children could sing all the songs by heart.  On the way home from our mother/son(s) date knight, both boys were singing ever so sweetly to the songs.  Love listening to our kids sing scripture.