no-shave november {so-long?}

Slow long No-Shave November,
So long.

*Dramatic pause*

Wait...what?
The burly boy just told me he has no
plans to shave.

What's next? Dreadlocks?

Gasp.

Someone help me.


Oh and just so you know,
Nick caved on the shaving thing about 8 days
into it.
(JR, your observation was correct with him)
He has a girlfriend, after all.
Blah. Whatever.

super news galore {yay, God!}

Oh my gosh,

this day just keeps getting better and better.

Yay, God!!

Literally less than an hour after my last post,
I got the mail and there was a letter
from Show Hope!

They approved us for a $4,000 grant!!!

How wonderful is that?

I'm telling you,
God is providing every single nickle for this adoption.
I am in awe of His faithfulness.

In.Complete.Awe.


But, it gets better....

We got our LOA today!!

WAY fast, my friends.
WAY FAST.

Just 30 days since our LID!

Yay, God!!!

grateful!!

Oh my gracious, friends!

Look over at my ChipIn!!

100%, baby!!

Listen, my heart is just bursting with gratefulness.
The adoption community, my blog pals and friends/family are
THE MOST GENEROUS
people I know.

It just blows my mind to think that you all would
even consider helping us on our adoption journey,
much less give as much as you have.

I want you to know that this morning I prayed for all
of you...that God would richly bless you.

Now we need to focus on our money to travel.
Sigh.
Which hopefully won't be a huge amount since only my husband
will be going this time.

I'm happy/sad about that.

But the good news is, we are waiting to hear if we will receive
two different grants that we applied for.

If you think of it, would you please pray for favor in this?

Also,
I have a few t-shirts left!!

8 - Larges
3 - Mediums

Would you consider buying one if you haven't already?

I'd sure love to have every last one of them sold.

But even more than that,
I'd really, really, really like to get that cheesy picture
of me off my sidebar.
I'm sure you agree.
So, please do your part to make that happen, K?

Thank you, thank you!!!
You guys are the BEST!!


But all glory goes to God who is mighty and faithful.
Always!!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I have a funny story that I'm going to put on my
private blog.
You'll want to check it out.
Sorry, I can't put it here.

tree-putting-up attitude

We thought that Lucy was on the mend so we went ahead
with our Thanksgiving plans yesterday.

We had no suspicion that this darling little diva
with her MTM flip would be
horribly sick all.night.long (again) last night.

Poor little cupcake!
She had a 104+ fever that we thought would never break.
Thankfully, she finally got some rest and felt
perky and energetic by morning.

How in the world can kids bounce back so fast?
God's mercy on the parents, I reckon.

Anyway,
I'm grateful she's better (short of a hacking cough),
and hope she sleeps well tonight.

Please, oh please.



But back to our Thanksgiving day...

Had a scrumptious meal.

Then played a vicious game of Pictionary.
And by vicious I mean,
the boys' team was relentless (and most like cheated) in their
quest to win.
The girls, on the other hand, had higher standards.
And truth be told, horrible drawing skills.
That would be my fault.

Thanks for all your comments yesterday.
I was so relieved to know that so many of you are as
repulsed by green bean casserole as me.

And if you must know,
I DID go out this afternoon for some shopping.
It was fun.

And perhaps we'll put up our Christmas tree tomorrow.
Or perhaps not.

I love/hate it.

Why can't it all just miraculously appear?
And disappear?

How about you.
What's your tree-putting-up attitude?

Be honest.
Is it truly fun or do you kinda not like the process so much?

Careful, anyone admitting to love it may just win the opportunity
to come decorate my house for me.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

thanksgiving

Hello, my pilgrim friends!

I hope your Thanksgiving is starting out with a bang.

I know mine has.

*Trying, trying, trying to be thankful*

Lu-bug has a flu-bug (or something) and got up at 5 AM.
Sweet, isn't she?
It's all good though because
I was really hoping to see the sun rise this morning anyway.
(sarcasm font)
Perhaps that will happen soon.

We had a lovely T-giving dinner at my parents' house last night.
It was good but after we left I realized
I had forgotten to have pie.

Who forgets to eat pie?

Today we are off to my in-laws' house.
Much smaller crowd at this gathering.
Hopefully Lucy will feel like going.



Let me leave you with a snid-bit about me.
I know you were hoping for something.
I've never ever eaten that green bean casserole stuff.

I just can't imagine what the big deal is about
mushy veggies in sodium soup.

Oh and I'm very anti-Black Friday.
OK, not really.
I just don't get why anyone would get up while it's still dark
(as I sit here in the dark)
to go shopping.
Perhaps I'll venture out Friday afternoon,
the way our forefathers
intended.
So, for the seven of you who might be reading this,
tell me...

Do you like green bean casserole and
are you a crazy-get-up-at-an-obscene-hour
Black Friday shopper?



UPDATE:
7:18 AM
Look what I just found on the couch.
(Now that I'm wide awake)

they match

The other day on our way home from church
Lucy was giving us the run-down
on which of her friends were in her class.

She rattled off all the regulars...
Chlea, Mia, Taylor...and the list went on.

Then she said,
"Logan was there...but I'm not sure of the name
of the boy who matches him."

Me,
"Matches him??? You mean he has a twin?"

Lucy,
"Yes, his twin matches him.
But I don't know his name."

Oh my.

So funny.

serious fun

Moments before these pics, Kel told Lucy about Charlie (our dog) dying.
At first she just asked logistical questions
such as, "what will we do with his food dish...."
then, she broke down and cried and cried.
Poor little pumpkin.

She bounced back quickly though, thankfully, because she was
breaking my heart.

Then the girls start having some real fun.
I came outside to find them "skiing" on their scooters.
Nice!

Then we planted some bulbs.

Then Mama showed them some serious fun.

I'm sorry but, if anyone ever accuses me of not being adventurous,
I'm going to show them the above pics.
In fact, I think I'll have them printed and framed.
Yes, that's what I'll do.

I can't tell you how great it is to see how far Macy has come.
This once camera-shy girl now lights up
when I take her pic.

The last year has been so difficult for her
but she has made some serious
leaps of progress recently.

Happy, happy!
Joy, joy!

a field trip

First of all,
if you must know...we still haven't told Lucy about our dog.
I know, I know.
Dysfunction and denial on so many levels.
Did you ever see the King of Queens episode where Doug found
out at age 30+ that his parents had replaced his dog
about 4 different times over the years because they didn't want
to tell him the bad news that his dog had died (multiple times)?
Yeah, that's looking like a really good idea to me.

Anyhoo.

We had a really fun field trip today.

The girls, my mom, and I went to see the play,

Alexander and the
Terrible,
Horrible,
No Good,
Very Bad
Day
*the musical*

It was so much fun!!

Why does my head look like it was photo-shopped into this picture?

We didn't eat at Fritz's but Lucy insisted we sit in the train.
(Again with me looking pasted into the pic)

The Christmas decorations were in full force.
Which only reminded me that I need to drag all my stuff out soon.
Sigh.

We had a fabulous day!!

my little doggy

Oh my word, you guys.

You won't believe what I did this morning.
I am just sick to my stomach thinking about it.



I ran over my dog.



Seriously.

My little tiny 10-year old Pomeranian, Charlie.

I was backing out of the garage to take Macy to her math class.
I was going really slow because I saw our big dog.
As soon as I saw that he was out of the way, I went a little farther
back and....felt that I had hit something.


My doggy.


I cannot believe I did that.

And the strangest thing is,
just yesterday Lucy was telling me she never wanted
any of her dogs to die.

Really, she did.

I still haven't told her what happened.
And I'm not sure I have the heart to.


Sigh.

And Nick was so NOT upset (he really didn't like that yippy dog),
he told me that he was going to get some
chalk and draw a little doggy outline on the driveway/crime scene.

He's so disturbed.

Only one of my boys would think of such a thing.

spaghetti thingy

Well last night was a great blog post in the making.

However,
no one involved cooperated.

What's wrong with these people?

Like this one who ran in a ghost-like fashion throughout the house...
yet I couldn't quite capture with my camera the extent of what
was happening.

Or the numerous things that were spilled & knocked over
from playing frisbee in the living room.

I also can't show you with pictures
the evidence of the above male family members

who each used this spaghetti thingy to scratch various parts
of their bodies.

Just to torture me.

But I will show you this sweet child whose
world is all at peace when popcorn is being made.
Because it's so much darn fun.

And if you are wondering where Macy was in all this nonsense...
well, she was here in the thick of it.
The fact that she gets so stinkin' tickled at the boys' antics
sure doesn't help divert them.


Hope your day is filled with love, joy, and peace.

And if you have an itch,
grab your spaghetti thingy.

Just be sure to throw it in the dishwasher after wards,
OK?

adoption update {and more}

We finally have LID.

10-28-10

And honestly, I'm still quite calm about the whole timing thing.

Not sure if that's a sign of my super spirituality or
me feeling like,
what the heck are we doing?

More the latter than the former, I'm certain.

But, oh well.
What kind of faith is involved in doing things that feel safe?

On the other hand,
what the heck are we doing?

Just kidding.
(hee)


So speaking of children,
I remembered something my oldest said to me as
he and I were driving to his college visit.

I asked him to pass me a napkin because my fingers were greasy.
Delicious McD hashbrowns, ya know?
Stop judging me.

He said,
"Mom, just wipe your hands on your jeans."

Me,
"Brenden! I just put these clean jeans on an hour ago,
I'm not wiping my hands on them."

Bren,
"No, mom...you just carefully wipe your fingers on the seams,
then no one will notice."

Me,
"Oh. Huh. Brilliant."

This is the same child who couldn't figure out why his
jeans were so annoyingly short all of a sudden.

Til I asked him what size they were.

34/32.

"Brenden, you wear 32/34. You have on your dad's jeans."






That's it for now, folks.
Sorry, that's the best I could come up with.

I got nothing else.
You get what you pay for.

immediately

One of the first things Lucy wanted to do yesterday
morning when she woke up was work on
her memory verse.

We write them out on little slips of paper, then she can
practice putting the in order.

She loves that.

Problem is,
she starts to depend on reading it instead of memorizing it.
But, I'm thankful even for that!
She's one smart cookie.

"Mom, look at this really big word!"

And don't you love her bed-head, adorned with a headband?

Chic.



Happy Monday, everyone!

23 years

I had a super fun birthday!
Thanks to everyone for all your sweet comments.

.

My party took a turn for the wild
(oh, it always does)
when Lucy lost her balloon in the high part of the ceiling.They tried to no avail to get it down in this manner.
But our resident hero did eventually retrieve it.
Thankfully.
But it found its place of refuge back up there again and again.
Of course it did.

~*~*~*~*~*~

And today we celebrate
our

23rd wedding anniversary!!

I seriously have the most amazing husband ever.
How this man puts up with me,
I'll never know.

But he does.
And he thinks I'm all that, too.


Dreamy.

I love you, honey!!

nothing there except Jesus

First of all,

Happy Birthday, to me!

Shameless, I know.




Moving on.



I absolutely must tell you about two conversations with Lucy last night.

We had a rare night when the boys were gone and
the four of us left at home felt a bit
rebellious and sat at the kitchen bar and ate dinner
in front of the TV.

I know, I know.
Please don't tell Dr. Dobson, OK?

So we were watching All in the Family.
Gloria was having a baby.
Right there as we ate our supper,
she was giving birth.

Really nice.

Lucy said,
"What are they doing to her?"

In a very non-sugar coating response I said,
"She's having a baby."

Lucy,
"What?? How is she having a baby?"

Me,
"They are taking it out of her tummy"
(Very vague...in desperate hope that she wouldn't push further)

She pushed.
(punny)

"How are they getting it out of her tummy?"

Well, for heaven's sakes what have I done here?

"Lucy, it is coming out of...(me pointing to you-know-what)"

She put her hand over her mouth
and giggled profusely.

Girl, it isn't so funny when you're on that end of it, trust me.



THEN....

She insisted I come to her office for a doctor's appointment.

(Thankfully by this point she had forgotten about the
baby thing...or she simply thought there was
no way possible I could do such a thing.)

She gave me a thorough exam.

And as she listened to my heart very carefully,
she announced,

"There's nothing there except Jesus."

Love that!

Then she said,

"OK, you're done. Get up and go away."


Oh, that girl.

bozo

Hello everyone.

I have had the craziest week so far.
I think say that a lot but this time, I really mean it.

Sigh.

Do you have those days/weeks where you totally over-commit
yourself to things?
Yes, that's what I've done.

I tend to forget that there are only 24 hours in the day.

Now my kids are behind in school.
Not by much but enough to make them and me grumpy about it.

Anyway,
I have a picture I'd desperately love to show you, but negotiations
are still in the process.

You see, Nick decided to shave his head.
What is so significant about that is, if you don't know him,
his hair is extremely curly and tends to be fluffy.
So going from that, to almost nothing, is a big deal around here.

But last year when he reviewed basketball game films he was
mortified by how big his hair got as the game would progress.

So we nipped that in the bud.

And for fun, we first buzzed the top of his head, leaving
a nice Bozo ring around the sides and back.

He fluffed it up.
And I took a picture.

It is so hilarious.

But he sternly told me I was NOT allowed to show my
old-lady blog friends.
Sorry, but that's what he calls you all.
He's very mean.

However, last night I asked him how much I could pay him
to let me post it.

He said $20.

That's too much.

But I'll haggle him down for you, my friends.

More on that later.
Hopefully.

Oh and just to be clear,
we did finished cutting off the rest of it.
He's a studly 15 year old...he wasn't about to walk around
looking clown-ish.
Although that would have been worth well over $20.



Tomorrow is my birthday, just so you know.
Presents aren't necessary, but appreciated.
Heehee.

30 days of giveaways

Check out Stefanie's
30 Days of Giveaways!

So. Much. Fun.

And trust me,
it will be really great.
This gal doesn't skimp one iota on such things.

Enjoy!

adopted into freedom

Lucy had a ton of fun playing in the leaves at my
parents' house.

I think I'll put some in a box and give them to her for Christmas.
Just kidding.
(Maybe)

Why can't I find that kind of joy in a pile of dead foliage?
Oh, the curse of being a grown-up.


Listen to this.

A couple months ago Macy entered a contest to draw
a poster, which was to reflect what the Constitution means
to her.

Well, as you can imagine it was a tad difficult for her
since she's just now learning about the great FREEDOM she
has in our super great country.

But, she persevered and drew a lovely poster.

"Adopted Into Freedom"

was her theme.

And guess what.

She got in the top FIVE out of almost 10,000 entries
nation-wide!!!!!

How stinkin' cool is that?!!

As soon as I figure out how to post a picture of it,
I'll post it for you.

meet chippy

Our baby chicks are growing like crazy.
And Lucy's love for them is doing the same.

She brought this little visitor in from the hen house to show me
how much he/she has grown.

His/her name is Chippy.

I really hope Lucy realizes that these chickens will NOT
be welcome into my house for much longer.

Good heavens, I can't keep this place clean with the people
living here, much less poultry.

mysteriously cloudy {a sparkly resolution}

This may, without a doubt, prove to be the most boring
post I've done to date.

But, I press on because I'm here to serve you, my people.

I have a PSA.

Public Service Announcement

Recently I had noticed that my drinking glasses were coming
out of my dishwasher cloudier and cloudier (is that a word?).

I was so distraught...and became more so with each washing.

I pretty much tried everything.

Then my dear husband, who apparently does listen to
my relentless whining (good to know),
eagerly told me about a cloudy-dish-issue story he heard on the local news.

Turns out that they have removed all phosphate from dishwasher
detergents.
Ok, maybe some of you already knew that
(I'm SO not into all the environmental propaganda).

But, eliminating that key ingredient is making glasses everywhere
cloudy.
It's a world-wide crisis, I'm here to tell you.

Well, still in stress over what to do,
I quickly remembered how vinegar seems to cure everything...

so I soaked all my tarnished tumblers in vinegar water...then gave them
a good rubbing with the old dish rag.

Heloise would be so very proud of me because...
that was the answer.

Simple.

Cheap.

Environmentally friendly (yeah, whatever).

So now, I have one more thing to do if I want my
perfect little house to remain as such.

Sure thing.





And this is how I spent the bulk of my Friday night.

driving school

Oh, I don't mean like driver's ed...I mean we have literally
been doing school while driving down the road lately.

Shewy.

I can't believe how crazy-busy we are.

My odometer is pleading for mercy.

Look at that sweet girl...
she works harder at her school work than anyone I know.



Oh and basketball starts on Monday.

My word, is there no respite for a weary Mama?

Apparently not.

No worries, I'm thankful for every minute.
We have a blast no matter where or what we're doing.

But I will get a little time with my man tonight!
He asked me out on a date.
Be still my heart.

We're going for Greek food and I simply cannot wait.
Good food.
Good (uninterrupted) conversation.
Yippee!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thank you all so very much for your kind words and prayers yesterday.
We had a lovely service for Chloe.
The place was packed.
We have so many friends and family members to be
forever grateful for.

100 years...or 14 months {it's a vapor}

Our sweet Chloe's funeral is today.
Her autopsy showed absolutely nothing wrong it her.
They have concluded that she died of SIDS.
As those of you who have been around my blog
for very long know,
I'm really not into doing serious posts.

I like to keep things light.
Very light.

And that's how I am in real-life too.

I guess that probably stems back to my sobering experience
at the ripe age of 6 when my dad was killed
in a tragic accident at work.

I remember vividly my mom taking me
into a bedroom at my grandma's house, sitting me on
the bed to tell me that my dad was gone.

I easily recall all the stupid things people said to me
at the funeral that were supposed to ease my pain.
Like empty promises of going for a ride on
someone's horse was going to magically zap away the
sting of death.

To this day I can't walk into a florist shop and smell what is so good to others,
but a stench to me, without
being jolted back to the time when our
house was filled with flowers
that were meant to make a very young mom and her three little girls feel better.
It didn't work.


I suppose all that and more has left me with no
doubt of my own mortality.

Death became very real to me, before I even reached first grade.

And it's why serious matters tend to make me feel
very uncomfortable and vulnerable.



But as light-hearted as I almost always am,
I take so seriously our need for a savior if we want to
spend our eternity in a
place of glory.
(And not to mention an abundant life on earth!)

Heaven is real. Hell is real.

We ALL will spend our eternity in one place or the other.

And though I'll save you a lengthy essay on how
the Bible has been proven historically and archeologically correct, so on and so on,
the bottom line is,

We all must do something with Jesus.

Accept or deny Him.

Whether we live on this earth for 100 years...or 14 months,
it's all just a vapor compared to eternity.

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here.
But just in case there's one person who is in doubt over where they'll
spend their endless eternity,
I do hope that you will accept Jesus as your savior,
because we simply don't know when our lives will abruptly end.




I love you all too much to not tell you what's true.

no-shave november

October 31 can mean only one thing (well OK, two).
Time to shave one last time before
November 1.

Which officially launches

No-Shave November.

So the boys both shaved last night around 11 PM...

Every year the "after" gets a little more manly.

I'll be sure to let you know how things are come November 30.



My college visit weekend with Bren was super fun,
but I didn't take many pictures.

I did manage to capture this gem while B was
eating pancakes as we buzzed down
the road.

The campus.Evangel University.
We absolutely love it!


And while we were there,
Macy and the girls were at home with Dad,
being quite creative!

Cute, huh?