Ten Rules for Moms in the Summer

Okay, so I was thinking about what to post today and with the summer being here and both kids home all day everyday finding time to think is hard to come by:) But I thought it would be fun to make a Top Ten Rules List for moms during the Summer Months. Hey we are always implementing new rules for kids during the summer so here are a few for all the moms out there.

1. You are allowed to take a shower, with the understanding that your 7 year-old may knock on the door to ask if "friend" can play inside and "friend" is at the door with son, also know that your 2 year old may fling back the curtain just to say "HI!!!!!!!"

2. You may not use the restroom unless you have at least one guest present, (most likely your fiesty little china girl who wants to put on mommy's make-up.)

3. You may have Ice-Cream, but only if you are willing to share your scoop with everyone in the house.

4. You may only watch TV if it involves Zack and Cody or the Wheels on the Bus.

5. You may take a relaxing dip in the pool if you are prepared to be bombarded by splash balls through out your entire leisurely soak.

6. You may not talk on the phone unless you can carry on 2 conversations at once, one on the phone and one through lip reading and hand motions.

7. You may take a nap, but only in 5 minute intervals. Your kids need you after all.

8. You must listen to your children, even if it is the 10th time you have heard-"I'm Bored!!!"

9. You are allowed to catch up on scrapbooking, reading, and cleaning but only with helpers.

10. You may go to sleep at night, but only after you have completed all the tasks mentioned above, after all it is your favorite job and we know you would'nt have it any other way!!

One Year Since our Referral

Today is the one year anniversary of our referral for Charlotte. It was an exciting and scary time all in one. I wrote about that day last year on our Adoption Website and I copied the post here.

Hey Guys,I have been wanting to share a story with you all about our referral but needed to wait a little while for everything to sink in. But I wanted to share with you how God has worked in our lives and through this journey. So here goes. When calls started the last week of June, we had not heard anything. From going through previous batches I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Charlotte was not in the batch. I was sad, but since the day I turned this entire process over to God he has continued to bring me peace throughout. So I cried and prayed and hugged my husband and prepared for another 3 month wait. That same night I received an email from a member of our yahoo group. She said she felt led by God to contact me. She was praying for all of us waiting and the picture of my family on our website kept coming to her mind. She searched her favorites list and found our website. She really felt that God was telling her that Charlotte was being prepared for us, she didn't know if that meant now or not but she had to let me know. But still no phone call. The next day one of the special friends I have made through the yahoo group e-mailed to let me know she had gotten a call. I was really excited for her family but still no call for us. So I knew it was not meant to be even though we had been praying to get to travel together. That Thursday I was sitting in the movie theatre with Ethan waiting for Surf's Up to start. I had just silenced by cell phone when I felt it vibrate. I looked at the # and it was a 703 area code. I could not believe it. It was Lauren and she was giving me info on a little girl. I was in total shock. I called my husband and told him to meet me at home when the movie was over to open the email together. Now don't get me wrong Surf's Up was a great movie, but boy was it ever LONG!!! I did not want to tell Ethan yet, since we still had to read the file, get Dr. opinions and pray over this little girl. My husband and I finally got home and opened the e-mail. Wow it was so much to wrap our heads around. You have this picture of what your little girl will look like in your mind and then you actually have a real picture. Doubt started in on us immediately, can we really do this. Can we go through the surgeries with her, how will Ethan react, what will our families think and on and on. Now I will back track just a little, a few days earlier (before the call) I asked Jay to write an update for our website. In his reflections he talked about the song Bring the Rain recorded by Mercy Me. I even wrote a post about the song and how it was really speaking to our hearts. We lead worship at our Church and started practicing the song. On the Thursday we got our call we had Praise Team Practice. We were going through Bring the Rain and the sun was shining. All of a sudden I looked up and it was raining, with the sun shining. Jay and I looked at each other and knew that God was nudging us. I also during these couple days talked to another family, who adopted little a little girl last November with a cleft lip/palate. She was so wonderful. She really helped me see that we could do this. It is so awesome how God puts people in your path for very specific reasons. We continued to pray and over the next day God calmed my heart and I knew that this was our Charlotte. Jay knew too, and before we even met with our pediatrician we had already made our decision. It is so wonderful to know that God chose her and crafted every moment of our journey this far and will continue to do so. Every detail scripted so that we would know his plan. We would know without a doubt that he had given us the desires of our heart. We can't wait to see what the rest of our journey will bring. We know that we are going to blessed beyond measure by this little girl.I wanted to reaffirm for all of us that God is in control of our journeys. He has already chosen our children and he will reveal them to us in his perfect timing. How Great He IS!!!!! It is so hard on certain days to wait, but I sing over and over in my mind

"Bring me joy, Bring me peace, Bring the chance to be free, Bring me anything that brings you Glory"Jay and I pray for all of us everyday. And we can't wait to see what God has in store for each of our families.

The phone call came on a Thursday and that weekend was full of emotions for Jay and I. It was so much pressure to decide if this was our Charlotte, if this was the child God had chosen for us. After a night of praying we knew she was, and thank goodness we realized it. Our lives are so blessed by having Charlotte in it, I don't know what we would do without her. She is perfect for our family. June 28th will always hold a special place in my heart. It is the day I saw my daughter's face for the very first time and fell in love with a very special girl.

Update on Charlotte

Well, we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I hope:) Charlotte did have a very high fever in the night, but I was able to bring it down with motrin. So far today she has been a little more herself, following me around the house and playing more. Her temp has stayed around 99, so I am thankful and hope that each day will get better. I think I mentioned in a previous post that she ended up getting a virus on top of recovering from the surgery. So she has been a pretty sick little girl and mommy a pretty emotionally and physically exhausted little girl. We have appreciated you prayers and hope you will continue to pray for her feeding issues and that she will feel like celebrating her birthday on Sunday.

Our Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

This was too cute to pass up!!

Pay it Forward

A few weeks ago and bloggy friend of mine, Cheri, put a post on her blog about sending a pay it forward gift. She said that the first 3 people to comment on the post would get a gift in the mail and the only stipulation was that you passed on the love on your own blog. So that is what I am doing. I have 3 pay it forward gifts ready to go and I will send them to the first 3 people who comment on this post. All I ask is that you pay it forward as well. Happy Commenting!!! And thanks to my sweet friend Cheri for her kind gift. I was so excited to see a package in my box!

Another Blog...

I am doing a summer bible study with some of my blogging friends (Hey to the 3 other C's) and another friend of mine here in town (Hey Chelsea.) I am going to journal some of my thoughts on another blog. You can check it out here www.noothergodbeforeyou.blogspot.com.

Look Who's A Birthday Girl!!!!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!!!!

We can't believe that she is already 2 years old and has already been home for almost 8 months. Unfortunately Sha Sha is celebrating her birthday a little under the weather still recovering from her surgery last Wednesday and having caught a virus on top of that. Needless to say she has not been a happy camper as of late and Mommy and Daddy or a little exhausted but hopefully we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We will be celebrating Charlotte's Birthday on Sunday afternoon with family, so look forward to pictures soon.

Praise Report:

Charlotte had her very first bites of Ice Cream on Sunday!!!! She is also taking milk from a spoon and has enjoyed some Tropical Smoothie so things are looking up on the eating front. She still hates the syringe feedings but only 2 weeks left of that. She will make it, I just hope that Mommy will too. LOL!!

Photo Session

Last Saturday before heading to the beach we went to Richmond to have some family pictures taken by a wonderful photographer that works with Celebrating Adoption. I found out about this group of photographers through by blogging, adoption, friend Carla. We would have loved for Carla to be our photographer but Alabama is a little further than a one day trip-LOL! Anyway our photographer Stephanie posted a couple sneak peak pictures on her blog. Click Here to see those. She was great to work with and I can't wait to see if we got some good shots of all of us.

Beach Photos

We are home:)

Hey everyone,
Wanted to let you know that we are home from the hospital. Charlotte is doing okay, but struggling with eating. We are actually having to use a syringe to feed her, which really upsets her, but she cannot have her bottle and she cannot get dehydrated. So she is weak, and still in some pain, but we are seeing signs of life. One blessing is that she is sleeping sooooo much better than her last surgery. She will also let us comfort her and wants to spend lots of time on mommy's lap. But still keep praying for her and for her eating. She is also running a low-grade fever, so pray that will go away and the antibiotic will kick in on that. Thanks so much and I will post more more pictures from the beach later on today.

At the beach and prayer request

We just came home from the 3 days on the Outer Banks of NC, here is a sneak preview of some of the awesome pics I got. I will post more later, my real reason for the post is to ask for your prayers. Charlotte has her palate repair tomorrow at 10am. We would greatly appreciate your prayers. I will post more when we are home. Thanks and enjoy the pictures.

All About Ethan

This post is all about Ethan. Jay and I are always saying how proud we are of Ethan and what a cool kid he is. But it is really neat when we realize that other people see Ethan that way too. Ethan got 2 awards at the awards ceremony at school. The first we knew about, he got 75 points in Accelerated Reader this year. That means he read over 150 books and took comprehension tests on them. This is no easy feat, as each book is only worth 1/2 a point if you answer all the questions correctly so he probably read more like 175 books. The 2nd award was a PE ALL-STAR award. He was really excited about this!! The PE teacher chooses one boy and girl from each grade level for this honor and Ethan was the 1st grade boy, isn't that so cool. Ethan is just really an awesome kid, I know I am biased as his mom but it is so great that other people notice him too. He is tough, and all-boy on the outside, but he has a very caring, sensitive soul. I can't wait to see what God has in store for Ethan, and how is going to use our special boy.

The shirt says it all.....

Today is the last day of 1st grade for Ethan, I can't believe it. It is also Crazy Hair day, that is why we have a BLUE MOWHAWK. Unfortunately for Ethan we are having family portraits taken on Sat. so the mowhawk comes off tomorrow. It will be fun while it lasts!

Wordless Wednesday

Orange Belt

Not only did Ethan get earn his Orange belt this Friday, he was also honored by Master Jung. He got a special prize for being the "Best Testing Student." He received a new summer uniform, a value of $50, mommy was happy:) And Ethan is a super kid!!

Things Charlotte Likes

Charlotte loves to put on Ethan's Socks, play with balls and get piggy back rides from her big bro. They are really becoming good friends.

Pretty Toes!!!!

One more cute video

Beach Video

Beach Day

We had a wonderful day this weekend at the beach. Charlotte and Ethan both enjoy the water so much, and I have always loved the beach as well. It is not Daddy's favorite but he always goes with us and enjoys it once we are there. He said as we were leaving, do you remember when we were young we just got to sit and watch TV while our Moms got everything ready for the beach. Everything comes around full circle. We had a wonderful, relaxing day.