A weekend like no other!

A weekend away! An adult weekend away. The kids were taken care of. Nana and Poppi were on duty from Thursday night till Sunday whenever we got home! It was gonna be FUN! It was gonna be relaxing. It was going to be.......(insert record scratching and nice music halting.....)


Here's Leslie and I....shopping.


Here's Chris, myself, Leslie and Luke with our toes in the sand.
That is...until Tuesday evening when a stomach bug (and ear infection) entered my home. Not just any stomach bug. A vicious, doesn'twannaleave, gonnagetyouall stomach bug. 2:30am Wednesday morning, it got Joss. Poor baby! I have never seen a baby so young throw up like that. 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, it gets Jax. This child is just like his mama. HATES to throw up. He was miserable. We think that's it. Recovery mode begins. Beach trip salvaged. Until 3:00 am Thursday morning. Daddy-O is hit. I guess adults are worse. Their poor old muscles can't take the convulsing. He needs a little more recovery time. He tries. Oh how he tries to be ok for the beach. But to no avail. We cancel the trip. We decide to spend time with the besties here. We can still have fun, right. Yep, that is until 2:30 am Saturday morning. Camron is hit. This child amazes me. He throws up, then smiles, then throws up some more. At this point I know it's only a matter of time until poor Caden goes down. Last night, around 7ish, it gets to him. He is just a mess. Up every hour last night. Everyone wakes up seemingly ok today. Camron even takes a few bites of oatmeal. Unfortunately we saw it again. I am praying we are on the road to recovery. It is so hard to see your babies so sick. I am praying if this bug gets to me, I can fight it off quickly. So here are some real pictures of my actual weekend, which yes, has been a weekend like no other!


I have used these so much my hands are dry. They have been my best friend this weekend!


My poor Cam-Cam. The bug has taken him down the longest. Bless his heart!


Sweet baby Joss. She slept most of the day Wednesday and Thursday. She.was.pitiful

With all this said, I have to say, my first instinct on Friday when I realized we weren't going to make it to the beach was "Man, that devil is really doing everything he can to keep me here and keep me from this wonderful weekend we had planned." (Notice the ME, ME, ME....yikes) Only to realize Saturday morning that it wasn't the devil interfering in my plans at all. It was my Good Lord, keeping me here to care for my babies. He knew they would need me. He knew I needed to be home with them to wipe their tears, rub their backs while they threw up, and rub their hurt bellies while they tried to sleep.
Ironic that I was thinking that I was going to get a few full nights of uninterrupted sleep this weekend and instead I have probably slept less than I did when Joss first came home! ALL THINGS JOY, right?!?!
So I'll leave you with a quote from the brilliant Ann Voskamp:
"Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control, let go of my own way, let go of my own fears. Let God blow His wind, His trials, oxygen for joy's fire. Leave the hand open and be. Be at peace. Bend the knee and be small and let God give what God chooses to give because He only gives love and whisper a surprised thanks. This is the fuel for joy's flame. Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will."

thinking....

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. Psalm 127:3 (NLT)

I love my children. No, I mean, I L-O-V-E, want to squeeze them till their heads pop off, love them. The Lord has been confirming our decision for me to be home with them and teach them on many occasions lately. I love seeing God's fingerprints in our daily life regarding decisions we have made.
We don't have extra money. Many of the extras our children experience, I won't lie, are thanks to a very generous Nana and Poppi. I am ok with that. I love my time with my kids and thank God every day that I am able to be here with them.
I know there are some people who want and need to work for their family but we have chosen this life for our family and we are extremely happy with it!

I have fallen off the face of the blogging world...

Not really sure why. I feel like so much has been going on. All around me. Within me. I can't really put it into words quite yet.

For now, here are some pictures!

Daddy-O and Joss being silly!

Such a good student!

Nana took the kids to the science center while I worked the consignment sale! Here are the boys with Tom!

The boys got a build-a-bear car from the sale. As you can see, Joss likes it!

Loving on Grandma Ruth!

Jossalyn and Mercy

God definitely played a BIG part in how these two little girls (and their mama's) came to know each other! I was approached numerous times by friends and strangers who told me my daughter looked like a baby named Mercy (who was also adopted....from Florida....in the beginning of 2011). So, after pondering how on earth could there possibly be another baby as cute as mine, I knew I had to find this little girl! After a few fb messages, texts, and phone calls, (with Mercy's mom, Misty) we had our first playdate....and then some!

Mercy and Joss sharing their love for snacks!

Mercy and Joss sharing their love for EACH OTHER! Awww!

Mercy and Joss practicing for future coffee dates, (if they're anything like their mamas!)

It just doesn't get any cuter than this!

Here we are with our wonderful blessings from the Lord!

Children are a gift of the Lord (Psalm 127:3)

A little of this and a little of that!

We are so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful group of homeschool friends to spend time with. We certainly wouldn't want our kids to be UNSOCIALIZED now would we....;)
Last week we went to the home of a sweet homeschool family from our church. The boys had a BLAST! They have a perfect driveway for riding bikes and scooters! There were legos and cars galore inside! The weather was great! Oh! And dessert! I can't forget to mention the yummy treats! The other moms there even convinced me to sneak away for a solo trip to the fabric store! Can we say GREAT day?!?!


Everyone posed for a quick picture before saying our goodbyes! The kiddos were NOT happy about that!


This was a little earlier when the boys were racing up and down the driveway!


This week we took our first (but definitely not last) trip to ArtQuest! The kids loved it! They are all so creative and love to make things so this was right up their alley! We can't wait to go back!

They painted some abstract art for our playroom!


Jaxon and his buddy, Siler molding clay.


Camron and Caden cutting and gluing!

Jossalyn is 1!

I cannot believe that baby girl is 1! This past year has been a wonderful whirlwind! On this day last year, we had no idea we would be getting a phone call telling us our daughter had been born and we could come and get her. How blessed we have been! Joss is (and has been) strictly walking for a while. She loves to smile when you tell her to say "cheeeeese" (she knows how we roll). She says quite a few words and attempts to repeat most anything we say! She signs milk, more, and all done fluently. I am amazed each day at how smart she is!

Her party was a "Winter One-derland". When I had a second....ok, a millisecond to stop at the party and look around, I was in complete awe at the people who came to celebrate her. Our family and friends have been brought so much joy over the past year! We are so grateful to all of you for your continuous love and prayers!

Here is Joss with her awesome cake! She really enjoyed the snowflakes as you can see!

Here's a little bit of our "one-derland"!

The cake was almost as tall as she was! It was delish!

See, I told ya!

We had a great time opening all her presents! She loved the paper and bags while I admired the goodies!

She got a lot of fun toys and some super cute clothes!

We got her this sweet baby doll and a mini bottle. As you can see, she likes the bottle better than the baby!

We went to Longhorn for lunch after church today to celebrate her again! Of course the birthday dessert of choice is a chocolate stampede! Joss had some icecream! She was REALLY happy about it! Here she is saying "cheeeeeese" with an adorable icecream face!

Our sweet, pooped, birthday girl!

2012

It seems that at the turn of every new year, there are so many resolutions, so many decisions, so many convictions. Often people have a word or a verse for the year. As 2011 came to an end and 2012 began, I didn't think I was going to have either. No reason, I just didn't want to fish for one and didn't feel like the Lord had given me one. I guess that's where patience pays off. No one said you had to have your word ready as the ball dropped on New Years Eve! God began pricking my heart over the past 2 days and my word came to me loud and clear.....

INVEST: to contribute effort to something: to contribute time, energy, or effort to an activity, project, or undertaking in the expectation of a benefit

I often struggle with this. I want so badly to be in God's will with my time that I often end up biting off more than I can chew. A friend said it wonderfully yesterday. She said " God will grace you with the wisdom to get it all done and be productive at the same time. That's His job. Our job is to make time for Him and the rest will fall into place...."

So, this year my conviction turned decision turned resolution is to invest. Invest me....where HE wants me!