More Picture Updates

I can't believe that I haven't posted pictures of my BFF's baby shower! Now that baby Will is a month old, it seems kinda silly. I have to celebrate the day right?

It was a fun shower hosted by Jessi in her lovely home. There was food, friends and the little girls put on a play for us. Really all they did was sword fight and kill each other but it was entertaining to say the least.

Over Spring Break Isaac had his "old neighborhood" friends over to spend the night. Isaac has really gone through withdrawal from our neighborhood. He made great friends and enjoyed playing outside all of the time. So he was beside himself with excitement when they came over.

Ben, Josiah and Isaac

They each made their own pizzas and played video games until midnight. Every boy's dream right? The next morning they ate a pound of bacon and 15 pancakes. Whew...not ready for having to feed teenage boys!

Just wanted to add a church get together at Mazzio's. I have said how much I love these people!! They are like family to us.

Next was a field trip with our homeschool group to the Fish Hatchery. This was our first time and a really cool field trip. I didn't realize how many fish we have in East Texas muddy rivers and lakes. The guide even said that the Discovery Channel show "River Monsters" had filmed an episode there. Apparently our local lake have Alligator Gar that can reach up to 8 ft. Ooohhhh and I grew up swimming in these lakes.

Big Aquarium

They had a diver with a microphone that introduced all the fish that were in the tank.

Creepy giant catfish

We also got to fish. Ethan was the only one in our group that caught one

Lastly in this post, Ethan participated in a bike-a-thon to raise money to send a Chinese orphan to a week of summer camp. He worked hard to raise the money and was such a trooper. He ended up biking 12 miles. For an self proclaimed "inside kid", I was proud of him. He reached his goal and this summer he will be getting a call from the orphan he sent to camp. He really hopes it's not during his week at camp

Picture Update

I have been so bad about updating things that are going on. And we have had quite a few things since March. Too many to just update one by one so I will try to do more at one time.

Back in March, a client of Steve's asked us to go to a Maverick's game with he and his wife. If any of you know us, we hate basketball but when it comes to business, we couldn't say no. So, we took off one Friday night to Dallas. It was definitely an experience like no other. Sensory overload and decadence is how I would have to describe it for sure.....

Apparently this guy is famous ? We wouldn't know but his face was always on the jumbotron and everybody had a jersey with his face on it ;- )

We took this pic for the boys.... they had a Tron light cycle that went around and around the bottom of the screen.

Giant Chili's Balloon that floated around that shot out tshirts to the crowd.

There was so much activity going on, we hardly even watched the game. I think its more of a social event that an actual interest in what is going on on the court. Definitely an experience and one we probably won't have again. Unless of course we have to for business.

Now onto something more of our geeky speed. We have a local Renaissance Faire that comes around once a year. It's small and very primitive but we had heard from several people that it was worth a visit. So we loaded the boys and off we went.

My boys marching in

There was rat act. This picture was taken on extreme zoom. I was about 20 feet away ;-) As close as I want to get to rats!

There were knights and jousting. This faire is the only one that has actual contact jousting. It was fun to watch for sure.

We ran into Isaac's buddy Jasper and of course Good Little Spider was there to greet him too.

The boys were able to "sword" fight. They were both itching to get in the ring to hit one another.

And of course, an injury to Isaac's eye.

Ethan felt so bad about it but also was a little proud that he "won" the match.

The boys rode the Crow's Nest with a pirate

Conquered Jacob's Ladder

And watched this man eat fire....

It was cold and rainy but a lot of fun......

These are just from March. I still have more March, April and May to go. I'll try again tomorrow.....

Bona Fide

Well, it's official..... we are certified foster parents. YAY!!! It's truly been a long and exhausting journey full of twists and turns and some tears too ;-) This is such an important step in our family and big changes are a coming. We were officially certified on Tuesday with Buckner but it takes about 48 hours to be in the state database. So that means we may be getting called this weekend for a placement. Friends of ours that went along this journey with us, were certified 2 weeks ago today and have already been called 12 times for placement. Now, of course, they didn't get all of those children but they are now holding, cuddling and loving on a 2 week old baby girl right now. Of course I have been over to her house twice to get in some cuddle time myself.

Although we are anxious and excited to start this new chapter, we are also apprehensive about the changes that will occur in our family. We know that God has called us to care for the widows and orphans. He also calls us out of the comfortable, suburban lifestyles that we have so easily grown accustomed to. It would be so easy for me to sit in my beautiful new home with my amazing hubby and fantastic boys and never look beyond my little world here. It would be so easy to never have to hear about the atrocities that children around me have to face. It would be so easy to shelter my boys and myself against abuse, neglect and the pure ugliness of humanity that it right outside my door. But as much as I would like to shut my eyes and pretend that its not there, it is and we have to do our small part to help. Believe me, I have gone back in forth in my mind if I really want to go through with this. I think it would be naive of me to not mill over the effects of this decision . My boys and me and Steve may be exposed to some real shocking situations; things totally beyond our belief. But through prayer and the desire that God has put in mine and Steve's heart to care for children, this is the only decision that we can make that it right for us.

So, here we go.... we are ready and waiting now.....

I read this verse this morning... I think it will be my support verse through this:

"Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you;

He will never allow the righteous to be shaken."

Psalm 55:22

First Fruits

Our little garden is growing like crazy! I'm telling ya, the raised bed thing is great. Easy to plant, very little weeds, easy to water and I found out today.... easy to harvest.

Yay... we got our first fruit today. It's a large, healthy zucchini. We have several more on the way too. I think the only thing that isn't growing well is the okra. We are going to get a couple of okra plants to grow along side our two seeds that are left. We should have an abundant harvest this year. On the list is:

*Obviously zucchini

*Yellow Squash

*Okra

*Cabbage

*Cucumber

*Red. Green and Jalapeno peppers

*Roma Tomatoes

*Big Boy Tomatoes

*Corn

*Green Beans

*Bush Beans

*Red Potatoes

*Yukon Potatoes

*Red Lettuce

*Sugar Snap Peas

* Yellow Onions

*Green Onions

*Garlic

*Rosemary

*Thyme

*Mint

*Basil

Our fruit trees and grapes are producing like crazy too. Due to crazy winds this spring, we lost a lot of plums but there are still plenty. We should get around 5400lbs of grapes this year and our figs have big fruit already. No apples until maybe next year but everything else give us some great food this year.

Looks like I will be doing A LOT of canning this Spring ;-)

The potato barrels are amazing. They grew so fast and were so easy to take care of. We have yet to see how many potatoes we actually got....

Think Pink.....

Maybe it's because I am turning 37 next week or something..... I have always wanted to do it but never had enough guts. I think I am just getting to old to care what anyone thinks ;-) I said with all of the boys around here I needed a little more pink in my life. Since I really only wear black and brown, now I will have a little pink wherever I go.

Also it was for a good cause. Friends of ours are raising money to go to China this summer for a mission trip. Their 17 year old daughter who is going with her dad for this trip, is striping hair as a fundraiser. Go pink for China could catch on, right?