"I Love You"

Wednesday Night is AWANA night in our town. The kids have AWANA from 6:30-8pm and my two oldest get to go. This is the one thing they do during the week that is away from Mom so it is a fun and special time for them. Well, they are big enough now that I can pull right up to the church doors and let them out and I don't have to take them inside to help them sign in.

So, this week we pulled up as usual and the kids got ready to get out of the van when my littlest one looks at them and says "Bye guys! I love you!!". It was so cute! She was so excited to wish them farewell and just make sure they knew she was thinking about them! It was a total Mom moment where I felt so proud and so much in love with that cute little girl!

I know that sisters go through rough patches but I sure hope that they end up being best of friends one day and can share their lives together!

Home Improvements

I love home improvements! I love the end result of them and I love that we are finally getting the house how we want it. What I do NOT love is the mess!!!! We have our entire dining room in our living room and front porch right now. ugh!!! We also have a mess in our kitchen because we were trying to get our new gas stove installed. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but we have no natural gas in our area so we had to run pipe lines from the kitchen, into the basement and then to the outside to be hooked up to a propane tank. It has been quite a job! Thankfully, my husband and my dad were able to get the stove hooked up and ready to go yesterday. Now we are just waiting for Wednesday to come so that the LP company can come and install the new tank.

The reason that our living/dining room is a mess is because we were refinishing the original hardwood floors in our house. We put the last coat on last night(it took us a week) and now we are finally ready to put things back together. I am super satisfied with the results and I am looking forward to seeing all of my things in their place and the shiny new floors underneath!

We have a few other small things that we plan on finishing in the near future as well. After 12 years we are finally getting new living room furniture! We have FINALLY picked out the sectional that we want so we will be putting that on order soon. We basically picked out the pieces we wanted and it is going to be a custom fit for our room! We are excited! Lastly, I found the PERFECT area rug at Lowe's so we are going to purchase that after the furniture finally gets here. Unfortunately, it will be about 12 weeks for the furniture to get here. Oh well, that will give us some time to pay down the balance!!!!

We are so thankful that we have been able to get these things done and we are really excited for the end results! Stay tuned for more photos!!!

Baby Fever

I am wondering if baby fever has ever hit you? Have you ever felt it so strongly that it almost takes over your senses and better judgment? I know that sometimes when it comes around that even though we know that it isn't a good time for a baby that we let our good sense go by the wayside on the hunt for that baby fix.

I can't really do that anymore. I can get baby fever, of course, but I can't fulfill it in a biological way. My hysterectomy with my last daughter took care of that for me! LOL! But this weekend I was at the home of one of my very best friends. She cannot have any of her own biological children, so she has been hoping to do a foster-to-adopt for a while now. Finally, after years of waiting and endless amounts of patience it has finally happened! She got to bring home a 2 day old little boy and he is just adorable! I couldn't wait to celebrate with her and meet her little one so I spent the better part of Saturday with her. I got to hold and snuggle and love on that little boy. I am now praying diligently that the adoption part goes through and that he is going to be her little boy forever. Don't get me wrong, I do feel for the little one and his mother, but the circumstances(which I will not go into) make me feel very strongly that my friend is the ultimate place for this little cutie pie!!!!

Now, this little(6 hour) visit put my baby fever into full swing! I wanted to just get a "baby fix" while I was there, but it really made me miss the days of my girls being so little and innocent. My husband and I have always wanted four children and we recently had our adult niece move away, so it has left a space in our home and our family for another. It made me want to run out and fill out every paper I could and take every class possible to hopefully get to bring home a little one of my own. However, I know that right now some of these things just aren't feasible for us. The red tape and the amounts of time required to be eligible for this are just not a good fit for us right now. Hopefully soon, but we will have to wait and see what God's plan is for us.

After all of this, it really makes me wonder why some people don't take this own discretion seriously with their own lives. Why do people have babies when they can't care for them? There are so many ways to prevent pregnancy and I just don't get it. There are so many babies out there who don't have parents who love them. There just aren't enough foster families to go around. It is really sad. So many of these "surprise" babies are just lack of responsibility.

I just thought that I would urge people who maybe are finished having their own children or maybe who can't have their own to consider looking into foster-to-adopt programs. It is a great option and there are many little ones who need love!

I am continuing to pray that one day the time will be right for us and that we will be properly prepared for that situation. I would love to give one of these babies a set of parents who love and care for them!

For everything there is a season

There are many times that I have to remind myself that there are season's to one's life. People come and go throughout your life that make an impact and then life moves on. I think I am at a place like that right now. It's funny because you just "know" it is time to continue on in your life. You don't feel that common bond anymore and it is just obvious. Maybe that is God whispering in your ear that it is in His timing and that you need to keep going. I am not sure. However, one thing I do know.....it is definitely time to start moving onward and upward. No more longing for things I used to have and start looking forward to what is ahead. I am excited about what life will bring my way and I am looking forward to experiencing it!