Every day, Mom & Dad go to work…

…and our boys go to Tinas!  Lucky them! 

Tina has been such a blessing to our boys, and to our family as a whole!  She loves taking the kids to the library, the movies, the park, out for pizza or McyDs.  At her house they get to play in the yard, or on the tramp or go swimming – can it get any better?!

Here is a what Tina had to say about them today:

Lucky Boys.  Lucky Us.

…and my sister is here to visit, along with my nieces and nephew and my mother.  Yeah!!  Can’t wait!

So in honor of that, I am baking – and I do not bake, as evidence by the fact that even in TRYING to follow the recipe for a breakfast cake I mess up the measurement for the amount of oil.  Dang!  (my hubby starts laughing in the other room b/c right away he knows)  So to fix it Me-style, I sub. the amount of the mistake from the next liquid in the recipe.  Hope it works!!!

Can I get a WooHoo!

We finished our adoption paperwork on Thursday (7/24) and now are just waiting for our Dr. paper work (Wed. 7/30) and our referrals from our friends. 

Now, on to the next step!! =)

So in cleaning out the boys closet yesterday – taking out items that won’t fit for Goodwill, and rotating sizes around; I happened on a box of ‘memories.’  The outfits we brought them home in…their first nuks…the lovies…ahh the memories.  So Nicholas, upon seeing his Mr. Bear gave him the tightest hug…

…it was too cute!  Long lost friend.  Also too cute was tonight after having supper at our neighbors, it was time to run home in the rain.  Brian had Nate and I carried Nick, who clung on for dear life (even though it really wasn’t raining that hard)…but what was adorable, was when I ran through the door, and set him on his feet and he said “Thanks for rescuing me Mom!”  If only I always could…

Nate meanwhile is growing up!  Little big man decided that this walkin’ thing is ok and has been making a go of it all weekend!  Totally cute to see him toddle everywhere now!  Also, he enjoyed his first night in his big boy bed (mattress on the floor) last night and it is working out really well!  Brian and I checked on the boys after about 10 minutes to find Nick out of his bed and sitting on the floor beside Nates just talking to him.  So great that he is so kind!  Tonight however, we had the two of the wiped and neither one has moved a muscle from when we left the room!

Can I just say that I am amazed at how much our Plumpynut story has touched some…and how completely honored and humbled I am by others generosity.  I cannot say Thank You enough!

So, in all honesty, I think my walk with the Lord has taken me to and from his side many times.  I think for most people when your life is going fine and dandy, you let it slip a little more each day.  Then when you life starts getting chaotic and crazy and you feel out of control you try desperately to run back to Him and his comfort and peace.  This is the story of my life.

(I’m opening up here…be for-warned)

When I was a kid, religion was dealt with daily.  Prayers before meals, devotions and prayers after meals, church on Sundays, and just discussion all around.  I took my profession of faith with our church extremely seriously but then as sr. year in HS and then college began, my walk with Christ was put on the back burner.  Fast forward a few tumultuous years to the end of my first marriage, and I was in desperate need of the love and understanding of Jesus.  I started going to my brothers church because he spoke so highly of his pastor – and he was wonderful.  I was back on track.

Moving on to the best years of my life…my relationship and marriage to Brian.  Fabulous, wonderful…so happy.  Communication was and still is one of his highest priorities in our marriage and I love it!  We don’t always work the best together, but we have always been able to talk about anything and have enjoyed doing the same things and just being around each other.

But I just feel like there is something more that we…and mostly I am missing. 

I am reading this book that I found at the library – Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas – which intrigued me mainly because having read my share of relationship and marriage books, this one sold me on “This isn’t a book that seeks to tell you how to have a happier marriage.” (good, because I feel I have a very happy marriage) “This is a book that looks at how we can use the challenges, joys, struggles, and celebrations of marriage to draw closer to God.” (AWESOME, because that is exactly what I’m looking for!).  And let me tell you, this book has been awesome so far…and I’m only on chapter 5. 

In re-reading part of it tonight, I have to share one thing that the author touched on that I feel I struggle with daily… “I have no other choice as a Christian.  I owe it to Jesus Christ to live for him, to make him my consuming passion and the driving force in my life.  To do this, I have to die to my own desires daily.  I have to crucify the urge that measures every action and decision around what is best for me“  Ahhh!  So hard to do!  Such a great reminder!  He says even more later… “We need to understand how profoundly broken this world is.  Sin has radically scarred our existence“  And our Pastor of Music at church says that all the time too… “We are completely incomplete” and “We are messed up people”

…and that is how I feel right now…messed up and incomplete.  After a major breakdown of tears and inner frustration this is were I am…

Searching for more…

Praying for more…

So I know that I am very spoiled…  My husband is a wonderful cook (hey, he actually enjoys it!), and he loves to have a clean house.  He hates to see dishes on the counter so I really don’t even remember the last time I did the dishes.  He loves to hunt, fish and do pretty much any outdoor activity so he is a wonderful ‘trader’ of alone time.  And tonight, he let me mow the whole lawn all by myself.  Just me, my music and the mower…what a gift!

(and I’m going to interject here and say that I think only those with young children will be able to understand why this made me so happy…and for the rest of you – enjoy your ‘me’ time while you can, because once it’s gone, you’ll think it was a dream)

On to a different way of being spoiled…

Because of the storm, our DTV isn’t working for the local channels so I can’t watch my Dancy Dance (So You Think You Can Dance so lovingly referred to by Nick) WHICH I LOVE TO WATCH!!  I had been in dance classes since I was so young until late into HS so I love to watch this show…and I can’t…can’t even tape it.  So, how sad is that…that I’m sad that I am missing a tv show.  I know…I know…

=)

My husband:

Monday morning we woke up to an AWFUL storm (huge trees blown down/ripped out of the ground, our play set bent out of shape, trees on homes & cars, debris everywhere etc).  That afternoon, I was driving back to work from lunch and I thought I heard the car make a really funny noise – sounded like a bleating sheep.  So I called Brian and when I left work that night he met me in the parking lot, and we switched cars so he could check it out.  Nothing.  So in talking today he asks me if I have since heard the noise, and I told him no, and reiterating, told him that there really was a noise and that it sounded like a very loud sheep and his response to me “Well, maybe your ran over and were dragging a sheep.”  Yup, that’s it smarty! =)

My co-workers:

So I am working for a John Deere dealership (GO GREEN!) on their marketing & advertising, but I am training to cover for one of their service clerks who will be going on maternity leave in about 3 weeks…so needless to say, I really don’t know my 4400 from a 8640…but I am trying to learn.  So today I get a phone call from a customer who needs us to do a service call on his “460 Long Tractor” is what I hear him say.  I repeat it back to him and he says that I’ve got it.  So when I bring this information to a technician he gives me a funny look and says “You mean a LAWN tractor” …and I have never felt so stupid.  Yup, I guess that’s it.  Well, it turns out that JD doesn’t make a 460 lawnmower so now they all think I’m all out to lunch.  So,  a different technician calls the customer back to get the ‘correct’ information (after many have had a good laugh – which is fine, as I was laughing too) and what do ya’ know; some Romanian company named Long makes a 460 tractor.  Hah!  That was a good one!

Every year, malnutrition kills five million children – that’s one child every six seconds.

In the countryside, where 85 percent of people live, girls start marrying as young as 11 years old. By the age of 15 most are wed, and by 16 most have already become mothers. The average woman here will give birth at least eight times in her lifetime. But largely because of malnutrition, one in five of their children will die before they reach the age of five. Of those who survive, half will have stunted growth and never reach full adult height.  

This was reported by Anderson Cooper of CNN on the malnutrition of children in Africa.

Having started the adoption process, we have also joined a new small-group at our church, meeting with other families who have either started and finished the adoption or foster care process.  We started meeting as a support group but as of today we are taking that one step further.  We have all obviously been touched by the needs of children here and throughout the world, and we want to, and are called to do more.

Starting today and through the rest of August we are trying to raise money to help children in Africa that are suffering from malnutrion.  

Mothers and Fathers will do anything to keep their children happy and healthy, and the parents in Africa are no different than us.  Please read the article from the link below to read more about Plumpinut and what it is doing for the children in Africa.

Did you know, that $63.00 will provide enough of this life saving food for 10 children for an entire month!! 

Please, let me know if you have any interest in contributing towards this cause. 

100% of any donation will go directly to needy children in Africa.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/19/60minutes/main3386661.shtml

 …it’s a ready-to-eat, vitamin-enriched concoction called “Plumpynut,” an unusual name for a food that may just be the most important advance ever to cure and prevent malnutrition.

PLEASE LET YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW…LETS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

My guys.

Nick & Daddy.

Nate & Mommy.

So swimming at the park today was so much fun!  Nick is amazing in how much he has grown and what he is now willing to try.  Last year, we forced him on the little red slide…to his joy!  And now this year we have grown to the very large and winding blue slide.  So much fun, my little non-stop, full of energy man!

On a more scary note, Nate learned a little bit of healthy fear of the water today…and I can’t get a terrifying image out of my mind.  Brian and I had just done a trade off with the boys…Brian now going with Nick and me staying with Nate in the zero depth area of the pool.  Nathan was less than 3 ft from me…my eyes were right on him and I wasn’t distracted by anything and still, he was sitting on his bottom, lost his balance and rolled backwards under the water.  I was up in a flash and grabbed him, and yet my minds eye still sees him under the water trying to take a breath and getting nothing…  I was so scared but I didn’t panic, because I didn’t want him to feel that I was scared, but I think I was shaking.  Needless to say, he did not travel out into the water for the rest of the afternoon.  Talking it over with Brian tonight, and trying to get it out of my head (he saw it happen as he was walking with Nick and did come back to check on us at the time) and it just shows how quickly something bad can happen…even when you are paying attention.