Hello Again!!

Shel is growing and keeping us very busy this summer! This is her at camp. Don't worry, I went with her!!
Tanner came to visit:
and we had hundreds of these little men lined up around my living room. He kept himself occupied for hours with these little guys.

Grace has been here for a week and I'm still taking pics of their days together.

All is well on the farm. Aaron stays busy helping cut hay around DeKalb.

I'm going to try and keep up with my blog but I'm not making any promises!!!!

School starts in 2 weeks. BIG FAT YUCK!!!

Shel and I are headed to Ft. Polk for the weekend to visit with Tiff, Heath and Tan Man. We have tried all summer to go but Shel's schedule has not allowed for it. So we are finally getting the opportunity. YEAH!! Will post pics when we get back on Monday or Tuesday.

Have a happy weekend.

Pictures over the past year:
Aaron was in a wedding back in March. I know it's unusual to see him lookin all fancy!!Shel meeting her new cousin Jack for the first time.

More pictures later.

We are surviving

It's been a while since I posted. We are surviving and things have finally slowed down a little. We have District Tournament, a baby shower and a dance recital all behind us now. It was so busy the last few weeks that we just lived day by day hour by hour. Shelby is spending the week in Louisiana with Auntie and I am going to get a lot of well needed inside chores done. But I will miss her more than anything. She is excited to be there but she's a little sad about not being home. Auntie has her hands full! Good Luck!

The recital was great and Shelby was awesome!
The tournament was great and Shelby was awesome!
The shower was nice and Shelby helped me soooo much. She's awesome!!

Some of you may not know that I have stage 4 Endometriosis. Aaron and I have been on an infertility journey for a year now. It has been a long and difficult road and our time for trying to have a baby has come to a halt. I am scheduled for a complete hysterectomy July 8th. I have known that this day would come sooner than later if we did not get pregnant. And well we're not pregnant. So plans are in order to hopefully get as much of the Endo out of my body as safely possible. There will be a colon surgeon on scene to assist in the surgery and help to remove the Endo in places that it should not be. We are coping with this as you would assume... day by day. We will never know why the door has been shut to conceive a baby of our own but it's really not ours to understand. We go into knowing that the Lord is in control. And with that said the peace about it is coming more and more. Slowly but surely. I have never been open about our situation but now is as good as any I guess. So the next few weeks I will be preparing for the surgery. There is more to do than I realized. When I sit back and think about all that has to be pre planned it is truly overwhelming. Shelby will be with her bio father the week of the surgery so she will be taken care and will not have to endure all the pre op appointments and surgery day. She is going to Sea World so her mind will be at ease. I have to plan how she will get to and from all the summer activities. I have to fix freezer meals and the house has to be spotless. I am working summer school so my time is a little more taken than it normally would be during the summer. We will get through it and I have a wonderful support system and lots of help from family and friends. Thanks ya'll!! I couldn't do it without ya.

Hope to have pictures for you next post. But don't count on it! HA!

Friends and Dancing

Yesterday we took a break from our cleaning and went and had lunch with some friends. We had the best time. They have a little boy who is about 16 mos. old and loves horses. So we loaded up Lightnin (Shelby's pony) and took him over so little Roman could ride. He loved it! I thought he might would of been scared but he wasn't in the least little bit. He would ride for a little while and then his daddy would take him off and he would throw a fit. He kept saying "horsie, go." It was precious and we enjoyed our little time off from cleaning around our place.

We had costume check Thursday at dance and I wanted to show you one of the costumes. It is so cute.
This is her jazz costume. You can't see it very well but just know it is so cute. And she knows she looks good. All of the other costumes are just as cute but this is our favorite. Then Friday we had recital pictures and we were there for 3 1/2 hours. Oh my goodness it was such a long day. The girls were tired and irritable and so were their mothers. We are glad it's over and are looking forward to the recital June 13th. It's her first recital ever. She just started taking dance this year and she LOVES it. Dance has been her favorite extra curricular activity of all time. For years I tried to talk her in to taking but she wasn't hearing of it. Then this year we went to "The Nutcracker" performance and she fell in love. Finally!

Productive Weekend

I managed to accomplish one thing on my to do list. I took my friend to T-town to help me pick out scrapbook paper for letters I was making for her baby's room. Remember I am giving a baby shower in a couple of weeks and not only will the letters be part of my gift but they will also be used for part of the decor for the shower. Here's what they ended up looking like. I am sort of pleased with them. I was very disappointed in the scrapbook paper choices at 2 of the craft stores. There wasn't anything to choose from so we got to a point (3hours later) where we just had to settle for what was available. The nursery is decorated in a fireman theme and the bedding matches each of the letters. It looks like a weird combo of colors I know but once you see the bedding it all ties in together. Just trust me on it.
These are just wooden letters that I sprayed adhesive on and stuck scrapbook paper on top of and then sanded the edges off. Very simple to make just tedious. The "E" was the hardest letter because of all the grooves that you had to sand off. But I managed to make all 6 letters in about an hour and a half. Not bad for my first project. Auntie taught me how to do this. When we went to visit over Spring Break she had a lot of projects going and one of them was a wooden cross that she covered with zebra paper. It is oh so cute!

I hope to start working on my church bench this week. We'll see how it goes. It's another crazy busy week in our household. I am out of school Friday and Monday so I hope to get a lot accomplished if the rain will hold off.


Be a mom who laughs.

Proverbs 17:22 "A happy heart is like good medicine, but a broken spirit drains your strength" (NCV).

Moms, we need to lighten up, or my daughter says, "Chill, Mom!" Kids are fun! Find ways to bring joy and laughter into your home. Jered is a big hunk of a football player, but occasionally, I have to remind him of the fact that I can still take him. He will make some irritating comment, tease me or poke me in the ribs. I warn him and then I see the gleam in his eye as he takes one more shot. I then begin chasing him around the house. Jered inevitably starts laughing so hard that, when I catch him, he is totally helpless. It is quite a sight to see! Moms are the thermostats of the home and need to keep the emotional setting on joy. Children get most of their first impressions of God from their parents. I want my kids to know that God is a God of joy and laughter. Kids need a mom who laughs.

Charmin Boy

My sister sent an email of my adorable nephew with this message and pictures attached...

Dear Family and Friends,

It has come to my attention that if you have spent more than a penny on my child in his life time than I’m afraid you have wasted your money. Sorry!!! As I’ve told you before, he simply loves our recycle bin…like a gold treasure to him. As you will see in the pictures, there is truly nothing in our house that is considered trash….and I mean nothing!!!!! So for future gift ideas for Tanner think outside the toy aisle at Wal-Mart!! Before you throw out that piece of garbage, remember him!!!

Seriously, as I was knee deep in cleaning for Heath’s arrival, I looked up and noticed “Charmin Boy!” Is this normal??? HA!!! Last year his stocking was stuffed w/tape…this is why! I secretly have to clean out his room, this is why! He is his father’s son, this is why!

Very creative little guy!!!!

He has taped an antenna to his goggles.
If you look very close you will see that he has made a costume out of the TOILER PAPER PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!! Charmin at its best!

Is he not just the most precious thing you've ever seen. I think he's awesome and totally cool.
He is super smart and I'll tell you why. He got in trouble at school and had to write sentences but he was smart enough to hide it from his momma. He got up early yesterday morning and tried to get them written before his momma got up and saw him. Well, he ended up getting caught and so his momma went and had a or another talk with his teacher and they decided it was time for him to go see the PRINCIPAL! Uh-oh! He got 2 licks at school from the principal. He didn't cry and said they didn't even hurt. His daddy said if he was bleeding he wouldn't of cried. Just the kind of guy he is. Tough, I guess. His momma prefers to describe it as severely strong willed. So let's all stop and say a prayer for her. BUT she is thrilled to say that his daddy is home as of last night. Welcome home Heath!

We had another storm blow through our tiny town at 4 this morning. Strong winds, hard rain, thunder and lots of lightning. Thankfully, Bob The Builder came yesterday and fixed our roof so we had a dry ceiling during all the rain. Thank you Lord! We are SO ready for everything to start drying out so we can finish up some much needed outdoor projects. It's supposed to rain all weekend so it's gonna be a while before that time comes. But we are thankful we are all safe and our house is in tact.

Be a mom who encourages.

Today, let's talk about being a mom who encourages her children. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, we find the simple but life-changing directive, "So encourage each other and give each other strength" (NCV). When we encourage our children, we deposit strength in them. We need to be careful to keep their emotional deposits in balance. Many kids are in emotional bankruptcy because constant withdrawals of criticism are made with few deposits of encouragement. Our job is to study our kids and discover their strengths and weaknesses. We need to understand that many times, their greatest weakness may very well become their greatest strengths.

As a child, I was very stubborn. I know. It is almost impossible to imagine - almost. That stubbornness often got me into trouble, but it also made me the survivor of some very hard times. We need to look for the good things in our children and draw them into the spotlight. In other words, become their "encourager" and their "cheerleader." Everyone needs a cheerleader.

Biggest Loser

I want to be a contestant on" The Biggest Loser". Did you watch the finale last night? I did and I ate a "Jethro" (that means big) bowl of ice cream while watching it. Then when I ate the very last bite I felt guilty and decided I wanted to be on there next season. Aaron told me I had to give up the ice cream first. Well, I'm not willing to let that part of my life go yet. Normally, there wouldn't even be ice cream in the house because I fall into temptation a little easier than I should. So I don't buy it but my parents came to spend the night with us this weekend for Mother's Day and brought chocolate AND vanilla! I'm working on the vanilla first while Shel works on the chocolate. Anyway, the contestants on the show didn't even look the same. They were totally different people. It was amazing. I've been looking for the 30 Day Shred video by Jillian but haven't found it yet. But I've only checked a couple of places. So now I'm really on the hunt for it because I'm bound and determined to get 30 lbs. off quick.

The sun is shining today and it's a sight that we haven't seen in a while. It's beautiful!! I am so thankful for it. Bob the Builder is coming back to the house today to fix the roof. YEAH!!

Have a blessed day!


Being a mom is the hardest job on earth and can bring out the best and the worst in you. I know being a mom requires great sacrifice and limitless energy, but to invest your time and best efforts into a child, to watch that child grow and develop, is to be part of the creative majesty of life itself.

Let's Pray
Lord, thank You for giving me children. Help me to be the mom they deserve. I commit to constantly pray for each child and invest the best part of my time and life in them. Forgive me for allowing lesser things to take the place of my role as a mother and guide me to be a mom that really matters.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Baby Kayleigh

This morning after I posted I started updating on all the other blogs I read. I was horrified to learn that Baby Kayleigh went to be with Jesus last night. This family has been through so much. Both of her parents were real estate agents and lost their jobs after she was born. The had to make a decision on whether to pay their mortgage or their health insurance shortly after they lost their jobs. The story is endless with injustice but their faith is like no other. Go over to their site and read up on Baby Kayleigh.