Isn't she lovely?

My mother .. in her college days ... BOY, I miss this lady.

Mother's Day has not been the same since she went home to be with Jesus.

Love you mother.

Reading is fundamental ..

He doesn't even know all his sounds yet, but he LOVES looking through books.
If he could read all day, he would. I'll have to remind him of that in a few years, I'm sure.

Did you know that you can borrow the latest DVD, music, of course books from your local library? You can also borrow learning game systems like LeapFrog!

The key is .. to bring the items back on time ... or you will pay a fine. Not that I know ANYTHING about that. :)

Lazy Days

Sundays are always for family! We go to church, have lunch @ home and hibernate for the rest of the day. This past Sunday we ventured outside and I think we may have found a new getaway spot.

First time in the sand ..

DeClan


Ethan looking out on God's precious waters ...

I'm going to have some dirty boys by the time this is all over ......

We are going to do something different each Sunday after church until football starts again ... that's when I lose my hubby & oldest son to the NFL.

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month

I have volunteered and worked with children in foster care for more than 20 years. Each year gets harder and harder, but when I think about the children and pray for their futures, I know it is going to get better and better.

Fostering parenting is NOT for everyone, nor is it easy, but the children need people like you and me to step in and step up! However we can. You don't have to perfect, you just have to be willing to help and make a difference.

I know that there IS something every single person CAN do ... PRAY!

Pray for the children, the workers, the counselors, the therapists, the birth parents, the foster parents, the adoptive parents and the finances to continue the work that NEEDS to be done on behalf of people who have a very small voice.

To learn about foster care awareness month, just go here.

To learn more about becoming a foster or adoptive parent of children in the US foster care system, go here.

Happy Birthday to me ....

This year has flown by so fast, I simply could not believe my birthday is here. I spent most of the day with my oldest son @ the doctor's office and then we treated ourselves to Happy Hour at Sonic. Two thumbs up from Ethan's neurologist; there's not a better gift out there.

This past weekend hubby & I talked about breaking out the grill for my b-day, but it seemed like the rain was going to roll in, so I decided to shoot for another day to bbq. (my love language) Hubby decided we needed to go OUT for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I reluctantly agreed and off we went. We couldn't really decide what to eat and then I remembered a WONDERFUL Mexican restaurant my sissy turned me onto. YUMMO.This is AFTER we ate everything in sight:) I'm glad hubby vetoed my decision and made us go out to eat. I didn't have to cook or clean up and did I say, the meal was DELICIOSO?

Birthdays mean more to me now because you CANNOT take your life for granted and tomorrow is NOT promised. I want to live each day to the fullest, enjoy what God has given me and be in HIS will for my life.

Biggest for me is celebrating life and time with my family doing meaningful things that will make memories for my sons.

Everyday Happenings 3-2010

Spring Fever has sprung and we were itching to get out today ... We found a park for special needs kids and had a WONDERFUL time in the not so springy weather. It was 80 degrees yesterday ..... today it's 60.

Say Cheese!

Keeping Busy, REAL busy ..

We continue to bask in the goodness of God and watch my son heal. He had a visit to his neurosurgeon and his pediatric cardiologist recently and both marveled at how good Ethan is healing!



If you see him, you have NO IDEA this boy had brain surgery three weeks ago. We started back homeschooling the week after he came home, but this week has been especially difficult, because he knows all his friends are on spring break. I chose not to take this week because we were out of school for 3 weeks and fell behind and although his school said everything will be ok, I do not and know for sure Ethan will NOT want to have school still going on in August.




He looks out his window and sees the boys across the street playing, talking, and laughing and keeps asking, "aw, come on Mom, just one hour", but I know that hour will turn into ALL AFTERNOON and then we will have nothing to show for the day.



We added to our everyday, normally busy schedule with more therapy. It is something he needs, but we will all have to do some adjusting for the rest of this year. Twice a week we will drive to the hospital for OT/PT therapy and once a week he has speech therapy. I can already see a difference. I know it is going to do nothing but help him.



As the fall schedule approaches, we are going to have to start thinking about school for all of them. Son #2 starts kindergarten and Ethan may possibly start attending a new school. I really would just like to get him in one place so he can "sit down". :) Of course DeClan isn't too happy his brothers may leave him, so he wants to go to school too. If they all end up in school, I am gonna have to think about what happens next for me.



For 7 years my children have needed me flexible and needed me home. If they all start school things will be interesting around here.



But at least for the rest of this week, we gonna press on with school and try to have some fun this weekend. Hopefully, it will be a quiet one.

Recovering Well ....

#1 son and Dr. Weprin ... smiles all around!

We had our two week follow up appt and #1 son is recovering VERY WELL! It almost seems like he was never in the hospital! God is SO good. (God was good even when things didn't feel great too).



Praising God for His mighty miracle and a VERY healthy son!

Next week several bloggers will be in Kenya with Compassion International and one of them is Kristen of WeareTHATfamily. God has been doing some amazing things in her and her family's life and this trip to Kenya is no different.

Please join me in praying for her, the families she will meet and the children in the Compassion program that we hope WILL get sponsors THIS week.

**edited to add**
Her first post already has me in tears.

This ole blog o mine ..

I really do enjoy this blog, but have had to be neglectful in the last month. As we prepared for my son's surgery, things around us seemed to have fallen apart. I don't mean fallen apart as in we have no hope, but fallen apart as in schedules are broken, squirrels invading, and every last one of my modern maids going out on strike. First it was the washing machine, then the boys bathroom porcelain throne, then the dryer and two days later .. the dishwasher.

It has been so much easier to TWEET about the goings on of life, because my FB account is connected to my twitter account, so all I have to do is send a 140 character message about this life I live and all bases are covered. :)

But then there are so MANY things I have wanted to say and photos I wanted to add - - I have quiet a few "drafts", but have been able to complete any of them.

So I said all that to say to any of you who stop by or have stuck around (I am so sure I am speaking to all 2 of us) .. I will be back.

My son's surgery (both of them) went extremely well and I plan to blog about the two weeks we spent in the hospital, what God did for son #1 and a whole LOT of things I observed these first weeks of February. It was a lot and sometimes more than I can bear.

I also plan to blog about this teenager who mysteriously appeared at our house this weekend and how I plan to deal with him. It seems like OVERNIGHT ... OVERNIGHT .. the 13yr. genes kicked in and have exploded all over the place. HELP ME!