A thought...

This is a reminder to me more than anything else! I like real life scenes along with scripture. (Drew was "playing" goalie here, but the ball was at the other end the entire time. He got tired and bored and decided to sit down, take a rest, and wait for the ball to come to him.)

Though we didn't encourage his efforts here in this instance, it reminded me that sometimes when my life seems chaotic and overwhelming, I just need to STOP and SIT and WAIT for the LORD, knowing He is in CONTROL.

Doctor visit

Yesterday I took my boys with me to see the doctor. They mostly enjoyed the train table out in the waiting room, but did get a peek at their little sister and her heart on the u/s screen. They were well behaved and the doctor said, "Thanks for being so polite boys" as he left the room. A mother always loves to hear that!

Almost every time Mike and I go in, the doctor asks how many kids we have at home - and comments about how he's glad we have 2 healthy ones at home. Yes, we are too, but they can't replace Noah or this little girl we've been looking forward to having for so long. He just doesn't quite get it, but I know he's trying. He sees plenty of women who try an try and still have empty arms. He commented on how this affects ones faith. He thinks it might be different (our attitude, our faith) if we didn't have two boys already. All I know, what I choose to believe is that no matter what God is in control, His is faithful, and He is good.

The doctor said fluid is still accumulating, but calculated her heart rate at 60bpm a little faster than where it's been at 50. I asked, "So, what are you thinking?" He replied, "I'm not in that business anymore. I've been wrong the last to weeks, so I'll just plan to see you back in another week." I'll go back in again Wednesday.

**I couldn't resist putting up some pics of my boys from Trent's first baseball game last night. He did super. He had two catches and hit the ball each at bat:) It looked like he had a lot of fun. He played against 2 other boys from church, so it was fun to see them all out there playing together.

Drew, on the other hand, had fun gathering "porcupines." (he really was proud of his pile of pine cones!)

Memorial Day!

We enjoyed a weekend away from the norm and visited Mike's family in Michigan. It was nice to spend time with family.

We went to visit Mike's dad's grave. Our boys had never been there but had been asking what it looked like, so we loaded up in the van and had a nice time remembering and sharing with our boys. He fought in Korea, and was honored by the Boy Scouts with a flag by his grave.

We headed to the parade at noon. The boys huddled under a blanket with their cousins. It was so windy, but they still had a great time (and managed to grab a few tootsie rolls :)).
Then we headed back to grandma's for a cookout and a serious game of wiffle ball. It was so fun...to watch :)

Please keep our niece Rachel in your prayers. On Tuesday she began the bone marrow transplant process. She has been fighting leukemia for about a year now (she is 13 years old). Tue began 5 days of full body radiation, then comes a big dose of chemo, then the transfusion of bone marrow from her younger sister. Then at least 21 days in isolation while they wait for the grafting to take. It will not be a fun or easy road! Pray for no side-effects, and that her body will not reject the donor marrow.

Weekend fun!

Grandma came this way for a few days when the doc told us our girl would not have a heartbeat by Friday...well, when her heart WAS still beating we decided to take advantage of our time together. The boys had fun with paint...and we had fun with a little paint ourselves. We 3 girls went for a relaxing pedicure :)

The boys painted pictures... We enjoyed Trent's soccer...

But, Drew's game was rained out...

Great day...

I picked up some real fish food (we usually just use bread) at Walmart the other day and the boys were so excited that it looked like the food we get at the zoo to feed the catfish. We spent time out in the sun, the boys skipped rocks on the pond, and played on the swing set.

Drew was showing me another rock he found for his "coewection." The pile in my garage, however, is beginning to get rather large, hummm...

Trent was rollin' around in the grass. We are loving this weather!

OUTSIDE!!

After Trent's soccer game a couple of weeks ago, we let the boys play on the playground...just a few happy pics...

A couple Drew-isms...

On Monday we got up and were busy getting Trent ready for school. It was time for the bus to pick Trent up and we were watching and waiting by the front door. Time was getting late and I began to wonder if we had missed it. Trent reminded me that his teacher told them on Friday that there was no school on Monday, but it was not a holiday and I hadn't read anything in the class newsletter, so I did not believe him. So I found the school calendar and low and behold...it was an inservice day and the students had no school...when I told Trent and Drew this, I saw Drew look at Trent raise his hand over his head and say, "PRAISE THE LORD! Trent, you don't have school today!"

Then this morning while we were waiting for our friends to come over, I asked Drew to look out the front door to see if they were here. He came running up to me and said, "I see no sign of them, mom!" I've never heard him say this before...must have been from the Underdog cartoon we got from the library or something.

Crazy quotes from my 4 year old!! He's always good for a laugh!!

Another dollar store find

Drew and I stopped quickly at the dollar store last Friday, and I let him pick out one thing. He wanted to get those capsules that "melt" in water and turn into a little sponge animal. He remembered doing this on vacation at the cabin this last summer and so he wanted to try it again. Here is a look at some good quality entertainment...

Randomness for your enjoyment...

Drew entertained us while we waited for Trent's basketball game to start. And let me tell you, I think he found his calling ;)




AND Mike's experiment over New Year's...a BEARD.

Did he just say that?!

So I'm sitting on the couch checking my email and looking up a new egg casserole recipe, and Drew peaks out of the bathroom and asks, "Mom, can we have something to eat."

"Sure, what would you like to have for lunch?"

He turns back around to his brother and says, "She's awake so we can't steal anything."

Did he really just say that? Now there have been many days when I've walked into the "play room" and almost stepped on a bag of tortillas, Cheerios, Cheeze-its, and various other snacks that Drew snuck out of the pantry while I'm otherwise distracted. Each time this occurs, mind you, they have a consequence. We have a talk about how we ONLY EAT AT THE TABLE. If we take food to the other rooms and make crumbs then we get little ants that like to come and help polish them off for us. They know all this by heart and can repeat it back to me, but it doesn't deter their attempts to sneak in the pantry, hide food behind their back, and run as fast as they can to the play room. I do catch them on occasion and make them put the food back. They also enjoy an nice reminder (the above said conversation) and after an apology and a hug they're off to play again.

Not 5 min. after Drew's comment the phone rang and out of the corner of my eye I catch Drew running down the hall. It hits me as I hear the sound of plastic slamming down onto the table...the OREO's!! I tell Drew to come bring back what he had just taken and sure enough it was the package of OREO's.

Will they ever learn?? Any suggestions, besides feeding them 3 meals a day (ha ha)??

A weekend in the 'ville!

Last weekend we took the boys down to Cedarville,OH to see a college basketball game. My brother Loren helps with the team and so it was fun for us to see him "on the bench" with the other coaches and meet some of the team. (There is a guy from Jamaica on the team, Chris Walker, whose sister was the winner of the 100m in the Olympics.) The boys were excited to see the "BEE." We ate at the best pizza place in town, Colonial, of course! The boys loved that they cut the pizza in squares instead of triangles :) It's the little things in life, huh!


Here is a picture from our LAST visit to compare
Trent was so excited to get a Cedarville hat and t-shirt.





Not sure what is so interesting off to the left, it seems to be holding Drew's fascination in each shot! Oh well.
We did get to hang out with the family this weekend, here is one of my boys with grandpa.

Holidaze

I wanted to post a few pictures of all our holiday fun. We had such a great time with family!! We traveled a lot, but our visits were well worth the miles logged. We hope your Christmas season was filled with joy at the birth of our Savior, and many blessing for this new year, too!

A chance to celebrate

We are coming up on a very important date for our family. If you remember, two years ago this Sunday we welcomed and said goodbye to our third little boy. Noah was such a sweet boy and he forever changed our lives. Because of my involvement in the Christmas musical at our church, (which also happens to fall on the 14th - Noah's birthday) we decided to go as a family and get away a week early. Some friends of ours gave us a gift certificate to a water park in Indy. It was a much needed reprieve. We all enjoyed time as a family, and it really gave me something fun to look forward to amidst the anticipation of an emotional anniversary. So, I say Thank you friends, for your generosity to our family. It was a time to celebrate among our tears.

What a bargain!!

The whole fam was walking around Walmart the other night I came across a great buy! If you don't know, my boys love Star Wars, Lego Star Wars, Clone Wars...you get the idea. They were easily persuaded away from the toys to take home these new pjs. They were on clearance for 3 dollars, so I quickly caved. They changed right away when we got home and were eager to show me their Jedi moves!

PIZZA NIGHT!

Last week I put some ingredients in the bread machine and when I got home from the Y, I had dough! Last Christmas my sister-in-law gave the boys each a pizza kit, which included a personal size pizza pan. The boys had fun making their own pizza!

Drew sure looks guilty, huh!!

We also took the boys to an indoor miniature golf course. They had a blast, though Mike spent more time fishing balls out of the water than actually hitting, I think :) I, on the other, had had quite the streak of 2 shots per hole!! Trent was so excited when he got a "HOLE IN TWO!"






**Note all the 2's under MOM!!**



I asked Trent to take a picture of me hitting, and this is what I got! (it's probably still better than what I would have gotten from Mike. :) Sorry, hon!