Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I did not realize that it has been almost a week since I posted anything! Well we are all doing good. Sam had a great birthday. Friday we stayed in all day because Chloe was running a low fever and had a runny nose. Chloe was better Saturday morning but then Emma started with a fever. When Emma started running a fever I started looking for spots because I was sure that it was her turn for the chickenpox. We picked Jeremy up from the airport about 12:30. He had a great time but we were ready to have him home. Emma continued to run a low fever Saturday night and Sunday morning. I stayed home with her from church and she slept most of the day but her fever was gone by about noon on Sunday. By Sunday night she was acting like her normal talkative self. Monday was back to school for Jeremy and Sam after a long weekend so it was hard for them to get back in the swing of things. Friday afternoon I called Pleasant View Christian School and asked to be added to their sub list. I got a call Monday asking to sub for 2nd grade for Tuesday. I was really excited to get a call so soon. The best part is that Emma was able to go with me because, are you ready, EMMA IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!! I have been working extra hard with her the past few weeks but I did not mention it because I know I have posted a dozen times that she was potty training and we all know how that turned out. Emma was able to go to the three year old class. I was a little nervous because she has only been accident free for about a week and I was not sure how she would do in a new environment. She did great and did not have an accident. She was so excited to finally go to school. It was also really good for me to be in the classroom yesterday. I was kinda nervous because I have never taught 2nd grade and I was used to kids much younger, but I really enjoyed it. It actually made me realize how much I love teaching. We also got some exciting news about Samuel. He has been accepted into the Encore Program at his school. This program is for kids that demonstrate a higher level of learning and advanced intelligence. I am just so proud of him. Well I better get going. I have a ton of laundry to get done, but before I go I have a funny story about Sam. Since his birthday I think he thinks that he turned 15 and not 5. He has been saying things that sounds like a teenager. The other day we were at the store and he was looking at something and just talking away. I was doing something with Emma and he turns to me and says, "Excuse me Mother but our you even listening to me." Well this morning they were about to leave and Jeremy asked Sam if he wanted some cereal and he said, "No, I think I will stop for a biscuit on our way to school." We just started laughing. Well here are a couple pictures from yesterday. Chloe would not stay still long enough for me to get a picture of her that was not all blurry. I really miss my camera:(

Thursday, September 24, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL!!!

Today is the big day! My little boy is 5 years old. I can barely believe it. It seems like yesterday Samuel was this little baby boy being placed in my arms and capturing my heart. I know I have said this hundreds of times but Sam is such a sweet tender hearted boy. I am so proud of him. My kids birthday's are always filled with a variety of emotions and I have really been thinking a lot about Sam and Chloe's birth mother. This is Sam's first birthday with Chloe and I am humbled and a little overwhelmed that I have both of this woman's children. When we adopted Sam we did not have a whole lot of information about his birth mother, just the basics of her life. When we adopted Chloe there was so much more information about her and her life and most of it was about after her first child (Sam) was adopted. I cannot even imagine the heart breaking decision she made to give him up for adoption. From Chloe's paperwork you can almost feel her pain because she wanted to keep her daughter but because of her circumstances she once again made a loving sacrifice to give up her second child. It was and has been financially hard on us adopting both girls in one year but at the end of the day I am so thankful that after all the sacrifices Sam and Chloe's birth mother made that both of her children are together. I am sorry I did not mean to go into all of that, but it has been been on my mind this week and I guess it just spilled out. We are staying in most of the day. Sam has his spread of trains and cars all over the living room floor. I am going to make his favorite lunch and then we are going out with some friends tonight for supper. Oh, I forgot to mention that Jeremy made it safely to Dallas. He hates being away on Sam's birthday but I hope he has a great time of fellowship and renewal. Well I better get going. Have a great day!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

We took Sam last night to the Old Chicago Pasta and Pizza restaurant for his birthday. He had a great time. We came home and had birthday cake and he opened his presents. He got a new train and a Cars helmet to wear when he rides his bike and his new scooter that my parents got him for his birthday. The scooter has not arrived yet and I know he is going to go crazy when he gets it. Our morning started out very early. Jeremy is leaving this afternoon to go to Dallas for a conference that is being held by our denomination. Another teacher from his school is going to take him to the airport after school so I had to take him to school this morning. Samuel has been up the past few nights coughing and yesterday evening he coughed so much that we decided to keep him home today. He was a little disappointed because I made cupcakes for him to take to school for his class. I sent the cupcakes with Jeremy to give to Samuel's teacher so his class could still enjoy them. I kept a couple cupcakes here for my kids. If Sam went to school today I was planning on meeting him for lunch and then bring him home, so it at least saved me another trip to Nashville today. Our plan for today is to stay home and get some rest. All three kids have a runny nose and Emma is also coughing a little. They are not running a fever so I have not called the doctor yet. I am just going to watch them and see how they are feeling in a few days. Well I need to get everyone down for a morning nap. They are all getting crabby. I may join them this morning for a nap. Here are a few pictures from yesterday and once again sorry about the quality of the picture.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Wow the weekend went by fast. Samuel had a blast Friday night sleeping in the tent. They were really roughing it though (not really). Jeremy ran an extension cord to the tent and set up a TV and DVD player so they watched movies and ate cookies most of the night. Sam did not fall asleep until 10:30 and he woke up at 6:00 the next morning. Jeremy was still trying to sleep so Sam stood outside the tent playing. I asked him what he was doing and he replied "Oh, I was just listening to the birdies sing and listening to the breeze". What? He is so funny. Saturday was filled with errands and we actually postponed Sam's birthday dinner. Jeremy is leaving Wednesday so we are doing Sam's dinner and cake on Tuesday night. Yesterday was church and then last night we had our church picnic. It was rainy but the kids and I went to eat and then came home. Jeremy stayed a little later playing football with some of the guys. I did not get much done around the house this weekend so I am trying to catch up this morning. The girls and I have a few more errands to run this afternoon but that is about it for today. Well I started potty training Emma (AGAIN) about a week and half ago and we are finally seeing progress. The first week I was literally taking her potty every 10-15 minutes and she was actually going each time. I think she is finally catching on and she has done really well. She still has an accident at least once a day but it is better then going in her diaper all day. She is also starting to tell us when she has to go so I guess we are on the right track. It is a little disheartening that I will be starting this whole process over again in about 8 months. Well I called the service department concerning my camera and I actually need to send it in somewhere for them to look at and then they will try to fix the camera. So I am not planning on having my camera back anytime soon:( I have actually thought about buying a cheap one to get me by for a few weeks. On Saturday my friend and her girls brought my girls some purses and handbags that they do not use anymore. My girls loved them but Chloe took a special liking to ALL of the bags. All weekend she was occupied by the bags and she had to have all of them on her arm at the same time. I used Jeremy's flip camera because I had to take a picture of our little "bag lady". Here is the picture even though once again the quality is not great.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Here is a picture of the girls today. The quality is not great but they are still cute. We have had a good week. Yesterday the girls and I went to the grocery store and then I came home and got the laundry done. Today we stayed home and I started going through all the kids clothes. I am getting rid of so much stuff and I still have several boxes in the garage filled with clothes that the kids cannot wear anymore. I am going to take several bags to Goodwill tomorrow. We have to go to get some papers notarized tomorrow and sent to the lawyer for Chloe's adoption. We are also having Samuel's birthday weekend this weekend. Tonight he and Jeremy are camping out in the backyard and then tomorrow we are taking him out to eat. He is so excited about camping tonight but we will see how long they stay out there tonight. Well I better get going. I need to make supper. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday Jeremy took the kids most of the day so I could have some time to myself. I went to Target to try to get my camera fixed. We found that we had bought a 3 year warranty for our camera so I was pretty excited. When I got to Target they said I needed to call this number and make sure that we registered the camera when we bought it. If we did not register it then we would need the original receipt and who knows where that could be. They said once I called the number the warranty people would tell me what to do next with it. So it was not as easy as I thought it would be to get a new camera. The kids are all well for the time being. Sam was throwing a fit this morning that he wanted to stay home because he was tired, so that was not pretty. Emma and Chloe are both awake but they are still laying in the bed. It is supposed to rain today so we are staying home. Well I got a call yesterday from the childcare center and the lady was very excited to meet with me. She wanted me to come in Thursday for an interview. I was also very excited until we started talking about how much it was going to cost for the girls to come with me. They only give a 20% discount on employees kids so I would be spending over $200 a week on the daycare and would barely be making anything. I still agreed to meet with her on Thursday but last night I could not sleep because I kept doing the math in my head and I knew that it did not make any sense for me to consider this job. I actually got up and sent an e-mail saying that I would not be interviewing. I have a feeling it would be harder for me to say "no" if I actually went to the center and saw how amazing it would be to work there. I was also already freaking out because training would start on Monday so I would need to find childcare for the girls next week and Jeremy will be out of town part of next week so I would have Sam two days. I am pretty disappointed but I guess it just did not work out. Thank you so much for praying for me about this. Well the girls are ready to get up so I guess I cannot keep them in the bed any longer. Here are a few more pictures from last weekend (I told you I took a lot of pictures:)

Friday, September 11, 2009

There is not much going on here today. We are all kind of sleepy today. Poor Sam was so tired this morning. I am not sure how we managed to get him up and out of the house this morning. Chloe seems to be fine this morning. All her spots are starting to dry up. She was a little fussy last night and woke up several times a few hours after she went to bed. I am not sure what she was crying about but she did not wake up anymore during the night. Still no signs of chickenpox on Sam or Emma so I am hoping they will not get it. We do not have plans for the weekend. I think we are going to stay home and just relax. I may get out with the girls to exercise but I am still not sure. I may wait until Jeremy gets home this afternoon. Well before I go I have a prayer request. I know that many of you prayer for us and I am so very thankful, so I thought I would share one on my behalf. I have been thinking about finding a part time job. I have been back and forth about it the past few months. There is a new childcare center being built in Clarksville and I sent them my application yesterday. I have had the application since April but I have been torn on what to do. The center is opening in two weeks so they may not even want to hire me but I sent the application in anyway. I have been looking into childcare centers because that is what I love doing and I am hoping that I can bring the girls with me for free or a very reduced rate. So I am asking that you will pray for guidance on my behalf. I enjoy being home with the girls and I guess I am feeling a little guilty about wanting to go back to work, so that is also a struggle. We still have a lot of adoption expense that I would love to get paid off and we are just not making enough to make much of a dent in that debt.

Well here are the last of the pictures I will post from last weekend. We had game time Saturday night and both Sam and Emma tried to jump rope. It was pretty cute. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I think Chloe is finally on the mend. She did not have any new spots this morning. Yesterday every time I looked at her belly she had a new spot and they looked pretty gross. Emma is not showing any signs of chickenpox but who knows if she will still get it. Chloe has been acting like she feels OK and has been a pretty good patient. Heaven help me if Emma gets this because she is not a very good patient. Well the girls and I have just been staying inside but I need to make a run to the bank in a few minutes. I am hoping that once I get out of the house I will be motivated to get some things done around here. I am still trying to recover from the weekend and a new weekend is upon me already. I just cannot seem to get motivated. I also have a horrible headache today. I think it has to do with all the tobacco barns around our house that have been filling the air with smoke. The last two mornings I thought it was foggy outside but as soon as I opened the door I could barely breath from all the smoke. I guess I need to just get used to this headache because the tobacco smoke will be around for a few months. Well here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Chloe has the CHICKENPOX!!

Well when Chloe woke up this morning I knew I needed to get her to the doctor. Sunday night when we got home she was feeling better but I noticed that she had a few little red spots showing up on her belly. They looked more like little bug bites or a rash. We have kept an eye on her and the spots yesterday and I noticed that she had a few more spots has the day went on yesterday but they did not really look like chickenpox spots. Well this morning she had four more spots and the ones she had Sunday and Monday had turned into little blisters and were extremely red. I was not sure what the doctor would be able to do if it was chickenpox but I needed to make sure that it was not something else that was connected with the diarrhea this weekend. So I called the doctor's office and they got me right in to see her doctor. He looked at her belly and did not have a doubt it was chickenpox. She had the chickenpox vaccine when she was came home but they now the chickenpox vaccine is given to kids when they are one and then again at 5 years old. The first shot is only 70% effective in keeping kids from getting chickenpox. Thankfully since she had the first shot it is a mild case and should not get too much worse. Some of the blisters did look a little infected so he gave me an antibiotic to make sure it does not get worse. Her ears were a little red too so the medicine should clear that up too. Now we have to keep the other kids away from Chloe the next few days. Sam should be OK because he has had both shots but Emma could still get a mild case of them. So please say a prayer for us. Here are a few more pictures of the kids from the weekend.

Monday, September 7, 2009

We have had a wonderful but exhausting few days. My parents and my Uncle Mike (who lives in Michigan) arrived at our house Thursday night. We went out to eat and then came home and talked for a few hours. We got up Friday morning and my parents, uncle, myself and the kids headed to our family reunion in Eva, TN. Jeremy had a white water rafting trip with our youth group so he was not able to go with us. On the way to the reunion we stopped in Big Sandy, TN to visit my Grandma and Grandpa's grave site. We go visit their graves every Labor Day weekend and my mom puts new flowers down. This weekend is always bittersweet because we love seeing all our family but we miss our Grandparents so much. Labor Day weekend was always about being with my Grandma. After we visited their graves we stopped in the town square of Big Sandy (which his not very BIG) and let the kids play on a red caboose they have in the middle of town. I guess it is on the site where the old train station used to be. My uncle and mom had so many stories to tell about the times they spent in Big Sandy with their parents. The picture below are from our time in Big Sandy. I still have not gotten a new camera but I used my mom's over the weekend and then uploaded them before they left. I actually have a bunch of pictures from the weekend that I will be posting over the next few days. We left Big Sandy and headed over to the reunion which is held at Lakeshore United Methodist Assembly in Eva, TN. They have the reunion there every Labor Day weekend. The kids had so much fun playing with cousin. We went swimming and played in the sand down by the lake. Chloe was not feeling well on Saturday so she kinda had a rough day. I am not quite sure what was wrong. She had a low grade fever and diarrhea on and off all day. She woke up Sunday and seemed to feel better and when we got back home she was back to her cheerful self. My sister and Isabel were able to come this weekend and it was so nice to see them. Sam and Isabel played hard all weekend. We got back home last night and my parents and uncle headed back home this morning. We are all pretty tired but we actually took the kids to the zoo for a few hours today. It was way too hot and way too crowded, so we only stayed a few hours. Everyone (except me) is taking a nap right now. Well here is the first round of pictures from the weekend.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Some of you may have already read this on Facebook, but here is the conversation between Jeremy and Sam yesterday on his way home from school.

"We were on the way home from school today when Samuel asked me to roll up the windows. After I did, he asked me, "Dad? Why did Jesus die for our sins?" That's a great question, but one I hardly expected from my almost five year old.

I explained as simply as I could that God wants us to live forever with him in heaven, but that we are supposed to be perfect first. I explained to him that we all mess up, and that no one is perfect. We gave some examples of his disobedience and treatment of his sisters. He agreed that he messed up sometimes. So I told him that Jesus died for our sins so that we could go to heaven to live with God.

I went on to explain in child-like terms that if we let Jesus live in our hearts, then we can also go to heaven and Jesus will help us live the best we can. I asked Samuel if he knew what "live in our hearts" meant. Samuel explained to me that Jesus living in his heart meant that he messed up sometimes and needed Jesus to help him. It was at this point that I realized this might be over his head, but at least the seed was taking root. I told him that when he was ready, he could also ask Jesus to live in his heart.

At this point, Samuel just started screaming, "Jesus, do want to live in my heart?" over and over again. With tears in my eyes, I asked Samuel why he wanted Jesus to live in his heart. He told me it was because he wanted to live with God forever in heaven.

So my four year old began praying by himself.

"Dear God. Would you live in my heart, please? Because I mess up a little, and I'm a bad boy a little, and I want to live in heaven with you forever."

I'm not sure what that does for your theology. I call it child-like faith.

As Samuel began calling our parents and telling them, his version shortened to something like this: "Hey, I asked God to live in my heart. And he said, 'Yes!'"