9̊-WInd Chill!!!!!

YES, I had to scrape the bottom of my mommy brain to come up with stuff to do!!!


9̊-but very little snow-while just a few miles north of here, they are literally swimming in snow!!!

Today we:

Slept in,
Did some school,
Watched some TV,
Colored with crayons.
& BEST of all-made Maple Syrup & Snow Candy.

(this is where I was scraping the bottom of my mommy brain!)

A few small mishaps later, we had a yummy treat, & just to make it count for school, we read the two chapters from “Little House in the Big Woods,” that describe the making of that old-fashioned candy!

“Grandma stood by the brass kettle and with the big wooden spoon, she poured hot syrup on each plate of snow. It cooled into soft candy, and as fast as it cooled, they ate it. They could eat all they wanted, for maple sugar never hurt anybody."

Part 9-Huh?!!? I Guess It's True-I Love to Blab!!!

After we returned home, we settled into our new life, & re-established our relationships in the family (you know how it is when a new baby joins the family!).

Ana enjoyed being a big sister & showing her off.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Ruthie’s birthmama struggled once again with an agonizing decision.

(looking back on it, while we were IN Guatemala on Ruth’s Pick Up Trip, Mama Norma was probably just finding out she was pregnant.)

In late July/early August of 2007, we took our usual family vacation

& showed Ruth off everywhere we went.

We spent a few days in the mountains of North Carolina,

visiting Dave’s grandparents.

Incidentally, out of cell phone range.

Several days later, we left the mountains & headed to PA to see Dave’s parents.

As we left the mountains, we got a voicemail notification-& as I began to check it, I realized it was from our adoption coordinator on Ruth’s adoption.

(let me back up & tell you-for those of you who don’t know-a call from your coordinator ALWAYS produces emotion in your life-either “top of the world” emotions or “depths of despair” emotions. After completing one adoption, I was dreading & anticipating what this voicemail might contain).

However, we were still traveling in & out of coverage

& I had to wait a bit longer to hear what she had to say.

While Dave navigated the curvy road,

I listened to a message that would change our lives forever!

She said something like, “Hi, Kim & David (she always called him that!) I now you’re probably still on vacation, but we are calling you with some information we think you might want. Ruthie’s birthmom has given birth last week to a baby boy. We wanted to offer him to your family before anyone else. Please call me back & let us know if you are interested!”

I started shaking-& I told Dave we needed to find a place to pull off the road-that now seemed closer to a roller coaster than a road-ha!!! ha!!!

While he was looking for somewhere, I told him the basic gist of the phone call.

We then called our coordinator back, & got as much info as she had:

A baby boy had been born prematurely Aug. 2.
He weighed 3 pounds 2 oz.
Seemed healthy & was already in foster care-

this was about a week later by the time we heard about him.

BUT……we had to have some time to think/pray about this decision, & Kelly, our coordinator, didn’t want us to accept his referral until a US EMBASSY approved dr had evaluated his condition-being born as small as he was.

As soon as we got off the phone with her, though, I knew.

I just knew he belonged in our family.

We spent the next few days with Dave’s parents-

& sent out a ton of prayer requests for wisdom.

She asked us if we would like pictures of him sent to us, just for Ruth’s sake-even if we decided not to adopt him. She thought it might be good for Ruth to have pics of a sibling. We said sure.

Sitting in a friend’s office, on our way home from our trip,

we opened the file that would change our life for the rest of our days:

How could you say no to this picture?

The picture just confirmed it-I had no doubt…..he was supposed to be ours!

We prayed & prayed-begging God to give us a confirmation one way or another-& you know what? He DID!! In miraculous ways that would take waaaay to long to tell here!

Before we even had the doctor in Guatemala’s official report,

Dave & I were sure that God was saying,

“This is the way. Walk ye in it!” Isaiah 30:21

Most of the rest of our story is at the beginning of this blog, so in the next few weeks,

I’ll go through old entries & link them up for you!

(Here's the link to Part 8, if you want/need to catch up!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, here's the link to FFF-the theme is "Spooky,"

but we haven't dressed up for anything yet-that's tomorrow for us!

My Baby is Growing Up!!!

He joined the ranks of Sunday School at

Northeast Bible Chapel last week!

Can a mom be happy & sad all at once!?!?

Warning-Some *perhaps* Embarrassing Discussion Ahead!!!

Let me preface this blog post by saying:

We have a special INDIVIDUAL love for each of our kiddos.

They each have their own ways of stealing themselves right into our hearts-

the moment we found out about them!

However, they did join the family in different ways,

as I have shared with you before.

(& I’m sure that’s pretty obvious, even if you are one of my new blog readers, since Ana looks dead-on both her parents & our other two look, well, slightly darker, shall we say!

& a beautiful darker, too!)

Anyway…..for the last few months, it has begun to dawn on us that there was something missing from Ana’s Story, when we compared it to Ruth & Natty’s.

You see, since bringing the babies home, we have celebrated their BIRTHDAYS & their “GOTCHA DAYS.”

You see where I am going with this, don’t you?

Ana has only had ONE special day.

& we began to wonder if she needed another special day, too.

Our “Gotcha Days” for the babies have been celebrated on the days we took final custody of them, but we didn’t know how to celebrate for Ana.

(Conception Day? JUST KIDDING!!!! Imagine her trying to explain THAT to her friends one day! Or for that matter, me trying to explain it to any of MY friends……ok, blushing here!!! Ha!)

But, this was not an issue we were really prepared for, & there is very little out there to inform parents how to blend birth children & adopted children-& what kind of emotions the BIRTH children might go through. I share this so that those of you out there who might be considering adopting, will be a bit better informed about potential issues when you do!

Someone needs to write a book some day about birth children with adopted siblings-maybe Ana should! (As you have seen before, she loves to write!)

When we talked some with her, it became apparent that she DID need a celebration of some kind, & yesterday, we finally had a chance to celebrate her “Gotcha Day”-the day we found out Ana was on the way!!!

(& no-yesterday was not that date, but it WAS the day we were finally able to celebrate it, though!)

She had wanted to drive up Pike’s Peak,

but the road was closed at the top &

it was about 10 degrees & blowing snow in drifts of 5 feet!

So, instead, she chose to go to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings-

not as impressive as Mesa Verde-but she still loved it!

Then, we had a late lunch at The Loop in Manitou Springs.

We left the “littles” with Tía (aunt) Shannon, & spent the day with Ana.

She blossomed with all that attention.

It was WONDERFUL to see!!!

She was soooo happy to have her mommy & daddy all to herself.

& while we knew she needed a day like yesterday,

I think we both we a bit unprepared for just how much she benefited from it!

& you know, it was nice to be with just Ana & enjoy her company!

But, we all agreed by the end of the day-it just wasn’t the same with out Ruth & Nat-

Love doesn’t divide with more children-I guess it multiplies!!!

Not Sure Where This Recipe First Came From.......

But I made it last week & it was yummy!!!!

Bannana Bread With Streusel Topping

2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt 2 beaten eggs

1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (5 medium)

1 c. sugar 1/2 c. oil, melted butter or margarine

1/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional) (I substituted pecans-yummy!)

1 recipe Streusel Topping

Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of one 9x5 or two 7x3 loaf pans; set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Set aside.

In another bowl, combine eggs, bananas, sugar and oil.
Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.
Stir until moistened. Add nuts, if desired.
Spoon bater into prepared pan(s).
Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter.
Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes for 9x5 pan, or 40-45 minutes for 7x3 pans or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
If desired cover loosely with foil the last 15 minutes to prevent browning.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove.

Streusel Topping:

Mix together

1/4 c. packed brown sugar and

3 T. flour.

Cut in 2 T. butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add 1/3 c. chopped walnuts if desired. (Once again, I used pecans!)

If a Child of Yours is Fascinated by Something.......

But at the same time, scared to death by the same thing…….

Do you encourage their interest?

Do you push them a bit, knowing their love?

Do you just let it go?

What would be you, my proven wise blogger friends, suggest?

(I am purposely being a bit vague here-just in case said child ever actually peruses this whole blog as an adult-unlikely, I know, but can I keep my deluded fantasy going? Ha!!! Ha!!)

FFF........."Adventure"

I love this.....

Taken at Garden of the Gods

One of the best parts about it is-

look who's leading the pack!

Run on over to Hannah's blog for more FFF!

A few random thoughts on adoption……

When we had our adoption training, at one particular class, we discussed a bit about this aspect of adoption:

The difference between saying your children “were adopted” v. “are adopted.”

Why does it make a difference, you ask?

Well, "adopted" is a verb that happens at a specific time, only once in that particular child’s life.

Which has led me to think about the fact that though two of our children WERE ADOPTED,

& now life has kind of moved on.

I am telling you (especially those of you thinking about perhaps adopting) this because I have a unique perspective on this. We have adopted & have a birth child in our family.

I was also thinking about how much I love to watch “Adoption Stories” on DHC. But, before we adopted, I used to love watching “A Baby Story” on TLC. So many happy memories come flooding back when I watch either show-but the day to day of my life is now-JUST PARENTING. & while both ways to form a family are LIFE-CHANGING,

they have become less significant in my day-to-day.

Now, they are just all my kids, if you know what I mean,

Anyway……one other random thought is that Ruth has started LOVING any talk about Guatemala. Often she asks, “I born a baby in Bamala?!?” Then she loves listen to us as we tell her about how she was born there-& about her Birth Mama & their foster family.

Then I wonder…..will she always love her story? Will Natty ask us to repeat it all? I know Ana loves to hear all about when she was born…..will it bother them that we can’t tell them anything about their lives before “us”-except that they were very loved?

I am not really worried about it…….but I do wonder sometimes what our future conversations hold in this area.

Do you (my blog readers) have any thoughts on any of this? Any insights for me?

Whew....That's a RELIEF!!!

I am back from Ana's "Teacher-Teacher" conference.

The teacher's exact words were, "Ana is a delight to have in my class!"

I am soooo proud of her!!!

(Of course, I *thought* that the teacher would say something like that. But, a mom is always PROUD when an outside observer thinks the same thing!)

I am so thankful to have someone else's imput on places Ana needs improvement. I did find out that: her handwriting needs work......& she needs to practice more grammar skills-& this is good to know.

What she said next, though, made me super proud! Ana is reading & spelling a grade above where she should be & is advancing even since school started a month ago!!!! Woot!!! Woo!!!!

And, the teacher said she is obedient & kind to everyone in the class!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK......now, for a little glimpse into a homeschooling mom's mind. It is such a relief to have some confirmation that you are a GOOD teacher. I mean, how often is it that you as a mom get ANY feedback about your kids. This conference not only boosted ANA'S self-esteem......but, (shhhhhh-don't tell anyone I needed this) truth be told, it didn't hurt MINE either!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But, her conference going well was not the RELIEF I was REALLY refering to in my title!

I felt MORE relief at having made it through my intersection (see previous post). I noticed myself slowing down as I approached it in the snow & really checking for people who *might* be running a red light. I noticed AFTER I had made it through that I had been GRIPPING the steering wheel, & that I had been breathing very fast. But, I made it through!!!! Yippee!!!!

P.S. Did you catch I have a sweet kiddo who is also VERY SMART!?!?

I Am Going to My First Parent-Teacher Conference This Morning!!!!

I am interested/excited/nervous to hear what another important adult has to say about our precious oldest!!!

A couple of things-yes, Dave is probably also going-
but this is MY blog & I am telling you how I feel as a mama!

The school she's attending (part-time) calls this meeting a "Teacher-Teacher"
conference, since they say the parent is the first/most important teacher a child will ever have!
Isn't that cute?!?! I love it!

(P.S.-right now it's sleeting/raining & the wind must be blowing a 100 MPH!-well, maybe not quite-& I have to drive through MY intersection to get to the conference! Please pray I make there & back in one piece! & don't have a nervous breakdown in the process! Remember, the accident happened on a day much like today!)

This Picture Makes Me Happy!

I am so lucky to have both my sisters out here!!!!

FFF......."Orange"

Ok……since our trees don’t generally turn orange in CO, (well a few in town do, but not up in the mountains) I thought I would give you pics of COLOR instead!!

But first, a few recent pics of our kiddos, taken at Casa Bonita in Denver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, to the pics of COLOR!

I love the RED rocks above!

This picture shows the contrast between God's creation & Man's creation.
The tree-a beautiful YELLOW,
& the other side of the highway-
a brilliant feat of engineering through Glenwood Canyon,
on I 70 west of Denver.

Have I mentioned I NEVER tire of living in CO?!?!?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& now, I have a favor to ask:
Could some of you other busy moms run over here & give me some feedback?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& for those of you who might be interested in a bit more of our adoption story,
my Hubby wrote a blog entry on HIS side of last week's story here!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, run on over to FFF for more fun pics!

Thursdays Before the Throne:

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed as of late.

I am a wife,

a mom,

a homemaker,

a teacher,

a sister,

an aunt,

a friend &

somewhere in there……I am myself-just Kim.

With all these hats I have the privilege of wearing,

prioritizing has been a bit of a challenge.

I know this feeling shall soon pass (it’s come before), but for right now,

I have taken great comfort in the following verse:

In the abundance of my thoughts within me,

Thy comforts delight my soul.
Psalm 94:19

How do you prioritize? Give me all the good ideas you have!!!
(Isn't this a great picture?!?!)

What Have You Done For Your Marriage Today?

This has been on my heart lately.

How important do I think my marriage is,

& can my husband tell by my actions where my priorities lie?

What are some of your ideas for making your marriage a priority?

Sometimes You Just Need to GET AWAY!!!!

And on Sunday, we decided to do just that!

Loaded up the kids,

Threw some swimsuits in a suitcase & headed to

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO!

What fun!!!

I Have A GUEST Poster! (Comments Welcome!!!)

"Our Story…Part 8.5"

Dave here. I know this is Kim’s blog, but since this is “Our Story”, I figured I would fill in a few missing details from the previous post.

After finding the tickets for Kim, I pretty much resigned myself to not being able to get down to Guatemala until after Christmas at the earliest. Christmas is a big family holiday in Guatemala, so everyone who lives outside the country is trying to get home for Christmas. Hence the dearth of tickets. Kim flew down on Sunday 1 week before Christmas Eve. Since I already had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off, I didn’t have too long to be a single parent.

I made some arrangements with my boss to work part time and mostly from home that week, and called some friends to watch Ana the one day I had to go in. Things looked like they were going to work out pretty well. We dropped Kim off at the airport, and came home.

Thanks to the incomprehensible intricacies of air travel, the flight I got for Kim was an overnight flight that got into Guatemala City at about 6 am Monday morning. I dropped Ana off at our friend’s house and went into work to take care of the stuff that absolutely couldn’t be done from home. At about 8 am, I got a phone call from Kim. She was obviously excited, exhausted, and overwhelmed. The hotel had no record of her reservation! Fortunately, we had arranged for a cell phone to be available at the hotel and she was using this to call me. After getting her calmed down, I got on the phone with the hotel chain to figure out what was going on.

Once again, thanks to the intricacies of international travel, and since all of this happened over a weekend, the US reservations system showed my wife’s reservation. Unfortunately, the Guatemalan reservations system wouldn’t show it until someone in hotel management arrived in Guatemala and logged into the US reservations server. As Kim mentioned, due to my travel I have a certain level of status with that particular hotel chain, so the US reservations folks called the front desk in Guatemala and got Kim into a room. Problem averted.

After finishing up at work, I started looking for flights for Ana and I to come down to Guatemala. I managed to find some flights on Sunday, Christmas Eve that were on a different airline, but weren’t overnight. I immediately booked them.

The next day, the blizzard hit! I am not exaggerating. It snowed for three days. Ana and I braved the first day to go to Best Buy to get a laptop to surprise Kim with for Christmas, but that was the last we traveled until the weekend. Tuesday night, they closed the roads and didn’t open them up again until Friday afternoon. By Friday, the evening news had reporters at the airport with stories about stranded travelers who were being told they couldn’t get out until some time after Christmas. Fortunately, the snow quit on Friday and in typical Colorado Springs fashion, it was 60 degrees on Saturday.

I got a friend to drive us to the airport Sunday morning (Christmas Eve) and we flew to Houston under clear sunny skies. At the airport, we went looking for a restaurant to eat at since we had several hours before our flight to Guatemala City. Being a typical Colorado Bronco’s fan, I was hoping to catch some of the game. We found a place where Ana could get a hot dog and I could see a couple of TVs. I commented to Ana, “Wow, look at that game, they really are getting snow there.” Then they flashed up the score. “Wait a minute, that is the Bronco’s game. They are playing at home today!” Yep, blizzard #2 hit within hours of our leaving Colorado. Once again, the Lord had his perfect timing.

Turns out that this was the first of 8 weekends in a row when it would snow. While we were baking in the wonderful Guatemalan weather, Colorado was finally breaking out of a multi-year drought. There would even be an avalanche in Colorado that made international news while we were in Guatemala. But I digress.

Our flight out of Houston was delayed for some reason, but it finally took off. We were supposed to land at 10:30. However, due to the delay, we weren’t going to land until about 11:30. I found out later that all the other flights were being diverted and we were only allowed to land because we were an international flight.

Why were they being diverted you ask? I turns out that in Guatemala, Christmas and New Years are huge holidays. Think the fourth of July on steroids and you start to get the picture. There are “official” fireworks every few blocks at midnight, 6am, noon, and 6 pm. In between, there are unofficial fireworks that average folks are lighting off. These things were awesome. If you think you can get fireworks here in the states, you are sadly mistaken. If you could have given these Guatemalans the best fireworks you can buy in the states, they would only use them because they didn’t want to offend you. These things were AWESOME. On New Years, a minute before midnight, there was easily 50 miles of visibility. At midnight, it sounded like a war zone with explosions everywhere. In less than a minute, you could barely make out the neon Coca-Cola sign that was less than ½ mile away due to all the smoke. And it went on for about half an hour.

Anyway, as we are circling around the city to come in to land, Ana says to me, “I think I see fireworks”. I say, “No, there aren’t any fireworks out there”. Then I look out the window and see several from different places. As we are on final approach passing over the slums off the end of the runway, bottle rockets come whizzing past the plane. The pilots get us on the ground and we are hurried through customs. The customs officials wanted to get home for the celebrations.

As we got our bags and started making our way through the airport, it was a bit different than the last time. For starters, I now had a 5 year old to keep track of along with all of our luggage. Secondly, the bottle of liquid laundry detergent we brought burst open during flight, so it was sticky and dripping detergent. Third, the airport was under construction, so the exit was different than it had been just a few months earlier. I slowly shepherded Ana through the now unfamiliar airport until I finally saw Kim waiting for us with Ruth. At last, we were together for good.

And the fireworks were a nice touch too. :)

Our Story.....Part 8

Part Eight……who knew this was going to take so long to write!!?!!


Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long, but, life happens, you know!


Just in case you might need review on the last thing that happened in our “Adoption Story,” the last installment was here!

……….

After we visited-in Oct. of 06-the truly heart-rending wait began!

We had left our precious daughter in another country!

(& yes, for those of you who are wondering if your hearts can be instantly bonded to a child not born in your womb-I say a resounding YES!!!! I know from personal experience, it doesn’t always happen-but in this case it did & that wait from Oct-Dec of ’06 was one of the worst waits of our lives!)

We knew that if everything went well with our case, we should be getting the news she was ours around the middle of December.


We stayed busy in those few months-

I began the Home Schooling venture with Ana in Kindergarten.

We went on one of Dave’s business trips with him-packing the school books along.

We went back east to see family & attend a good friend’s wedding around Thanksgiving.

Then…..after we returned home, I began to get antsy…….I knew the news could come any day.

Finally, toward the middle of the month, things began to happen. We got a call on the 15th of December from our case worker (who now has her own agency & ROCKS!),

who told us that our case was having a slight hang-up that *might* push us into the month of January to go & get Ruth.

Not the call you want to hear.

But, then, it got even more interesting.

She called later that day & informed us that our daughter’s foster family was going on Christmas Vacation & couldn’t take Ruthie with them.

The lawyer would have to turn her over to a

DIFFERENT foster family until we could get down there.

Three caregivers in less than a month-once she was placed in our arms.

Not something you really want to hear. I was brokenhearted for her!

(& heartbroken at the possibility of another 3-4 weeks w/ out her.)

Dave & I prayed about it……& quickly decided I should just GO! On Friday, I spent the remainder of the day searching high & low for a ticket leaving anytime in the next few days (keep in mind, this is Dec. 16) & returning sometime after the first full week in Jan. (when we KNEW her visa should be issued by).

After spending all day on the Internet, there was not a single, solitary ticket to Guatemala City on the airline we needed to use that I could find until after Christmas.

Heartbreak-again!

Late Friday night, after finally accepting the fact there was NOTHING more we could do

……..I sat down & “had it out with the Lord.”

Yes, there were tears.
Yes, once again, there were the questions of

“Don’t you love us?”

But, through the tears……the picture of Christ coming to His disciples walking on the water-

kept coming to mind.

Finally, after a few hours of tears-
my Father gently reminded me of these verses,
from Psalm 107

28 Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,

And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Would I trust that not only COULD He bring me out of my trouble, but that He (IN HIS PERFECT TIMING) WOULD bring me out of my trouble?

(If your heart has ever been breaking because your baby is not in your arms, you know EXACTLY the kind of battle I was doing here).

I finally admitted I had no other choice but to trust.

& then…….I fell into bed-EXHAUSTED!

But-this chapter in my little story is not quite over yet!
(I know, I know, it’s not at all “little” ……..
but, please bear with me-it’s worth it, I promise!)

Dave, (thanks to all his travel) holds a status of some sort
(don’t ask me what) with this particular airline we wanted to travel.

Saturday morning, he got on the phone with an attendant, who, after an hour or so on the phone, was able to find ONE seat on a plane to Guatemala City before Christmas.

It was FIRST CLASS!!!!

(just kidding-it wasn't quite this nice!!!)
It was flying out of our hometown in less than 24 hours!

I went from thinking I wasn’t going to see my baby until after Christmas,
to flying FIRST CLASS & holding her in my arms 36 hours later!!!!

To make things even better, Dave & Ana were able to find flight on another airline & got down to Guatemala on Christmas Eve at about midnight.

Ana met her sister for the first time at the airport in Guatemala City on Christmas Eve while fireworks lit the night sky!

Isn’t that just like our God!?!?

(P.S.-wouldn’t you know-
there are many other little things that show God’s
greatness in arranging our Pick Up Trip with Ruthie-
but there is not room here-
& it might bore some of you-
although I NEVER tire of telling the story!)

“I love to tell the story-
‘twill be my theme in Glory!
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus & His love!”

(I know the words to this old hymn are really more about the story of salvation-

but I can’t get over the amount of LOVE my Savior has shown me in the way He has chosen to grow our family!)

(Oh, & don't forget to stop by the NEW host of FFF!!)

Calling All Other Homescholing Mothers.......

Hypothetically speaking.......

*If* you have ever had a lazy student in your class

(not saying we do here…..)

how have you motivated said student to get themselves in gear!

(like I said…..I am not saying we have any lazy students around here…….

but I am asking *just in case*, you understand, right?!?)

P.S. Have I ever mentioned that while this parenting/teaching job of mine is a privilage & an honor.........it is simultanously

EXHAUSTING some days.... :)

(But, there is no better way to be worn out!!!)

"Men at Work"

Hard hat on & ready to go!

(This one I posted because my 10 YO nephew took it of Natty.
I love how his head is chopped off!)

"Fun In the Sun!" (& A Parent "Fit!")

These pictures were taken at a park in Norman, OK

while we were there for my cousin's wedding.

(Ana & her cousin Abby)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ieyi!!! Yi!!! Yi!!!!

Today has been one of those days.......parenting is never easy......I know, I know!

But today, it's just a good thing they are so dang cute!!!!

Know what I mean?!?

Can I please throw a little hissy fit here? I mean, one of the babies (who shall remain nameless) is throwing one in their bed as we speak.......surely I can, too, right?!? Ha!!! Ha!!! just kidding-sort of!

What in the WORLD Were They Thinking?!!?

"What great creativity!"

I know that's what you're thinking!

Ana & Ruth didn't want to take turns spinning the living daylights out of themselves-

So they figured they'd share the joys at the same time!!!

(minor crisis averted shortly after this picture was taken!)

Happy Birthday to my Mom......& Happy 40th Anniversary to a Very Special Couple!!!!!

Thank-you for your godly example on how to be a wife & a mother, Mom.

& thank you to both of you for showing us how to love one another!

Love to you both!!!

FFF......(Favorite Foto Friday-for real!)

My favorite picture is actually the last one today.

But, I haven't participated for so long,

I couldn't resist showing off how much my kiddos have grown!!!

This (above) was taken in Green Mountain Falls,

CO a few weeks ago.
This (above) was taken last weekend at my cousin's wedding.
Ana was the Guest Book Attendant,
which in her mind,
was almost as good as being in the wedding party
(something she's always wanted to do, but hasn't been invited to do yet!!!)

& finally, this one is truly my favorite,
because for the first time in several years,
all of my siblings, all of their spouses & children,
& my parents were together last weekend!

We had such a good time together!

It is such a treasure to have family you are close to,

you know what I mean?

It can be a rarity in today's world!!!

(of course, we are blessed on BOTH sides of the family-

I guess that makes us DOUBLY BLESSED, huh?)


P.S. It's good to be back to FFF-but can I say it? I am soooo sad to see you, Sarah, bowing out of hosting it for now! Thank you for all the fun you have given us, & we are praying for you!!!!

&

P. P. S. Thank-you to Hannah, for taking it over!!!