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Well things are moving along here. We signed a ton of papers on our girls last week and the only thing we are waiting on for our boys is to get the baby's social security number. Its taking FOREVER!! We do have a target date of March 31 so please remember us in prayer for that date. I would love to have this all done on that date and move forward as a family.

We have run into some problems with sending our foster son home. It may take a little longer which brings me to a tough decision. Our license will be expiring soon and we wont be renewing it at this time. Also I think the girls need a sense of permanancy to the family which cant be achieved with the wait and see game in foster care. I may have to have our little guy moved and it breaks my heart but it might be the best thing for our family as we transition into being a "forever" family. Plus there is going to be ALOT of attention around the children in the last week of March we have parties planned and gifts planned and big adventures to celebrate our first few days of being a "real" family. I would hate for him to get lost in the mix or feel out of place. Its a hard decision and one Im still trying to decide about. Dh and I have talked about it and he said to bring to him whatever I come up with and we will discuss it from there. Please pray for us during this decision as well.

Other than that everything is going great. Jonathan weighed in at 8pounds 2 oz and 20 inches long at his 1 month check up. Which means he gained a pound and grew a half a inch. YAY!! He is a good baby. He wakes up about once a night to eat and be changed and thats about it.

Im getting all our homeschool stuff together and trying to finish paying off library fines I racked up over Christmas. Note to self : NO LIBRARY TRIPS BETWEEN THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS!! LOL

For Karly (8, 2nd grade) so far I have:

Saxon 2
Spelling Workout B

Im waiting on:

Zaner Bloser Handwriting for second grade, the one right before cursive.. I dont remember which one it is and I dont feel like going to look it up right now. I ordered it at the beginning of Feb and have not seen the payment go through yet so I really need to call.

I am going to pick up before April 3 (our official homeschool start day):

First Language Lessons

For Kelsie (5, kindergarten):

Saxon K

Explode the Code

Saxon Phonics

Im waiting on

Zaner Bloser Handwriting  for Kindergarten

For both girls I will be getting

Leading Little Ones to God

A fun history activity book (informal for this year)

A fun science activity book (informal for this year)

I cant wait to start!!! LOL

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My two year old is playing with his four year old sister and there is a "monster". Well the two year old "shot" the monster with his toy rifle and his sister breathed a sigh of relief, "Praise God!" she sighed twice! Im still laughing!

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Well we are closing out Feb. and my resolutions from January are still staring me in the face. Im really hoping (I cant figure out how to spell hope-ing!! I have spelled it three times and Im too lazy to look it up...*sigh*) to get back on track in March. The baby and I are coming to terms on a sort of schedule. One lady at church said to me the other day that she thought I was the type of person who would already have his feeding and naps and all scheduled in. LOLLOLLOLOL here I thought my church family knew me! I have become some what more organized since becoming mommy to 5 and 6 children, but a schedule is something I truly struggle with. I am getting ideas about when baby needs to eat and sleep so thats helping. My problem right now is every time I get one room of the house cleaned the rest goes to the dogs. I cant figure that out!?!?

Well I better step off now and start my evening routine. Helps me to get up a little easier in the morning.

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Well January has come and gone. Unbelievable! As we move into Feb I wanted to stop and see how I did on my goals for January. I was doing really good up until January 12. Thats the day I brought home my bouncing baby boy! I have not been so good about getting up at 6am. I grab snatches of my Bible during the day. My other Bible studies are on hold. I am back in Psalms for my daily reading. I pray whenever the house is quiet, sometimes I have to pray in the bathroom. The past week I have only threatened to change my name from mommy..once. Last night I am ashamed to admit I did not hear the baby cry. When I finally heard him hubby was searching for the middle of the night bottle I keep by my bed. I woke up and took over. We have made an arrangement that he will get up with baby on Friday night. We are quickly learning I dont do well on four hours of sleep every night. :) I would not trade one sleepless night for my beautiful baby boy. Am I rambling? LOL

My five year old fosterson C will be heading home in the next few weeks. (Hopefully) His mom has started unsupervised visits. I really like her a lot and we have met for lunch on a few occassions. He will do great at home. Adoptions are clipping along at a steady pace. Slow, but steady. Still waiting to hear about final dates. Praying desperatly for this month!!!

Well thats what is going on with us.

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Here the little guy is on his first day in his new home. We brough him home on Thursday.

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Well I finally got to hold my little boy tonight. I got to feed him, burp him, and change his little diaper. He is not eating well. I got him to take about an ounce, but it was after an hour. Apparently thats the most he has eaten in one feeding. We are praying that he will still come home tomorrow.

He has a detention hearing at 11am tomorrow morning where he will be formally remanded to fostercare. If he is discharged we should be able to take him home after that. If not I will have papers in my hand declaring me as his "mother" and I will be able to go up there for all of his feedings and try to get him to eat more. He snuggled right down into me and seemed pretty happy. DH held him for a few minutes but when he started crying I had to have him back. I think he needed to burp. So he burped slept for a little while and then ate quiet a bit. He is so teeny tiny. I really want to bring him home tomorrow so please pray that the Dr. releases him when he does his rounds in the morning.

I will update tomorrow.

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Well I did not get to read my A Wife After God's Own Heart book this morning. I have yet to actually do my Bible reading..although the kids are on quiet time and I am going to read in a moment. Dont worry though. I had my time with God...I prayed and talked to Him a lot this morning. Wanna know why my day is so off???

Jonathan David born at 8:36am. He weighs 7 pounds 2 oz and is 19.5 inches long. Isnt he beautiful. We should get to bring him home Thurs. We are hoping to adopt him with his brother our two year old little guy.

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I love Elizabeth George. I have a few of her Bible studies and devotions. I bought this one a good while back and have been meaning and meaning and meaning to read it. I usually get the study guide to go with the book, but the book store I picked it up at did not have the study guide. I found it for like $4.40 online somewhere so as soon as I figure out where () I think I will go back and order it. I read through chapter 1 of the book today though. Its basically an introduction to the study. In order to be a godly wife you have to first be a godly woman. We can read all the books we want and talk all the talk we want but if our heart is not right with God nothing we do regarding our husbands will make us a godly wife. She gives three steps for spiritual growth.

1. Discover through reading the Bible what God says about your life and how he wants you to live it. Read and pay attention to the teachings in the Bible.

2. Discern through studying the Bible the meaning and implications of what you are reading. PRAY!

3. Do through heartfelt obedience what you have read and learned, discovered and discerned.

She talks about a time that she wrote a letter of commitment to God. Her covenant with Him to seek to grow. She included "Needs Improvement" areas of her life as well as "Sin Areas".

I spent time this morning and wrote a letter of commitment to God. Its tucked safely away in my Bible ready for me to reread at a moments notice. It was an awesome experience to write down my commitment to God. I suggest you try it.

Im looking forward to this Bible study. I love my husband so much and want to be a blessing and a helpmeet to him.

Did I bless my husband today or hinder him?

I think I blessed him today. First of all I got the tree all "undecorated" and ready for him to take down. Our old tree I had no trouble taking down but this new "pre-lit" one is kicking my behind. LOL. The kitchen was clean, something I know he loves coming home to. Also, because he worked late I had the kids fed when he came home. The idea was to have them fed and then bathe them while he ate so we could have Bible time and the kids could go on to bed....plans changed though because he wanted someone to talk to while he ate so I talked to him and then he did baths for our younger children while I read a few chapters of Little House In the Big Woods to my older girl. We then read the Bible and the children are all safely and snugly tucked away. He's comented a couple of times already though about how much I accomplished today! I would say today was a blessing day! :)

Oh yeah one more thing I did to bless hubby today. He is having some difficulty with his financial aid for school. Today we got an important letter and I typed it word for word on the computer and emailed it to him in case he wanted to work on it on his break at work. He was really grateful for that.

What are some ways you bless your husbands? Or if you are still at home your fathers?

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My oldest girl got Little House On The Prairie Season One for Christmas and we watched the first two episodes. The second one was called Country Girls and it is where Mary and Laura start school. At the end Laura recites this essay and the whole time all I could think of is, "thats the kind of mother I want to be." Is my smile the last thing my little ones see when they go to sleep and the first thing they see when they wake up. When I am "bone" tired. (ok have I ever been bone tired??), do they know about it because of my complaining? How many times have I dissapointed them because I was too tired to do something for them. When they are sick do I do everything for them or complain? See I want to be this mother. The one below. I am asking God to change me from the inside out so that I can be a godly wife and mother. I think I will keep this recitation close to my heart so I can remember what a mother does.

Laura: (Reciting her essay) "My Mother." My sister Mary is going to tell you how Pa brought us west, and how hard he worked. And I don't mean to take anything from him by saying Ma worked plenty hard herself. Still does. She cooks, cleans, sews, and cares for the lot of us, Pa included. I remembered once when I was little, coming down with the fever. Ma stayed up beside me all night long. I slept some, but she, never. Whenever I'd open my eyes, she'd be there, smiling, holding a cold cloth to my head. Now, with Mary and me "sprouting up," which is what Ma calls it, if there's ever the littlest noise in the night, Ma will come climbing up the ladder to the loft to make sure we're all right. I reckon there's times when she gets bone tired, but you'd never know it. Her smile is the last thing I see before I close my eyes and the first thing I want to see in the morning. She's been selling eggs to the mercantile to earn money for a new dress. This morning, Mary and me found out she made dresses for the two of us instead. That's because she loves us. That's the kind of mother Ma is, and that's why we love her so much.

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Well as Christmas day approaches rather quickly I am faced with the dilema of not having any idea how many people will grace our Christmas table. Will my cousins visiting go to have Christmas with my grandparents or with us? Thats four people. Will my brother's girlfriend come with him? One person. Friends from Tampa are supposed to be coming in that morning for a few hours. Will they make it? Thats two. For sure it will be myself, my husband, my five children, my Mother in law, my Father in law, my sister in law, my mother and my brother. I guess I will plan for 20 and just enjoy the leftovers if we have them. :)

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Finally! I can see some Christmas around this house. It took a long time to get to this point. We finally got the tree up and decorated yesterday. Now I am working on decorating the kitchen and getting our new table set up. Im so excited about our new table. We bought a six foot folding table at Sam's Warehouse the other night. We also bought two boxes of folding chairs with four in each box and four sturdier folding chairs..for us sturdier adults. *Ahem* I am excited about the table for many reasons. 1) Our family of 7 has been crowding around a 4 person table for a long time now. It will be nice to be able to push the chairs in after the meal, to not have to trip over chairs that dont belong at the table, to not have the massive chair search five minutes before dinner, to let our little ones experience life off of the box! 2) We can have people over! We can actually fit our family around this table, plus we have a four footer we can add to the end adding room for at least 4 more people. Its like a leaf for the table. 3) Assigned seating. Right now its a grab the first chair you see type of life around here. DH calls it musical dinner chairs. There is always left standing who has to search out their very own chair. Im so excited! Oh the price of our new table and chairs? Not the 1599.00 dollars you see as the special for the month in the furniture catalogs, that only seat 8! No siree. My table and chairs all together cost...250.00 dollars. I'd say thats a savings!

So, gather the kids and come on over. Im looking forward to outgrowing this table with family and friends!

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So I was pretty jealous of the attention Amy was getting for her emergency room visit, and I thought, "Man, if she gets Avian Bird Flu she will have waaaay to much to blog about so I arranged my own trip to the ER via our four year old boy!

We went to see the jolly fat man on Friday when the girls got out of school. Hubby had the day off and we were enjoying a nice family day. We saw Santa, ran into Payless for new shoes for our 2 year old and our 4 year old girl, and had a brilliant idea. I would run down to the toy store and finish up the children's shopping and hubby would hang out with the children at the indoor play area. We would then go to the craft store so I could finish getting Christmas decorations and then a nice dinner out. I came back from the toy store to find the four year old boy sitting by hubby. When I glanced down at his foot I noticed a lump around his ankle that was HUGE! Wendi, remember my stunt called falling off the sidewalk in highschool? It looked just like that. I panicked as hubby said, "Aww we'll just put some ice on it." Ummmm.....NO, we must go to the ER right away! Right now! (I was thinking of Amy and knew I wanted some of that attention) :) Actually hubby says Im just a hypochondriac. This from the man who cant watch ER the television show because he thinks he might have whatever the patient of the day has. LOL Long story short, we spent a lot of time in the ER to get an ace bandage. The end. Nobody was coughing, so I could not get Bird Flu, no matter how hard I tried. The little guy is up running around acting like nothing ever happened. Hubby has informed me unless the child is squirting blood there will be no more ER visits...dont worry I dont think he really means that....and all is right with the world. Well except for my littles not being able to do much of anything the rest of the weekend because I NEVER want one of my children hurt again!! If I wrap them in bubble paper that would be sufficient dont ya think?

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Five years ago today I made a vow to keep for the rest of my life. I am so thankful that I made this promise. You see..I married the love of my life. My Mr. Steady. The one I turn to when I need to laugh, cry, or vent. He makes me happy just being by my side. I could go anywhere with him and do anything with him. He is my rock. He is grounded in God's word and talks to God daily. He leads our family with confidence and strength. I am so in love with this man, I think my heart will burst!

Happy Anniversary, Honey. I hope we have many more years together!!

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This was written awhile back on my other blog. My baby is now 2.5, my 4 year old is 5, my 3 year old is 4 and we have added the older sister and a new boy who is 4. I think for the next few days I will copy some posts about our family and foster care from my old blog.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

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I just had this blog post about family time and then I hit the wrong button and it is GONE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I will have to post tomorrow. Im exhausted. Night-Night!