Wednesday night at Freed with MSYC

Wednesday night I went over to see the kids at FHU. Mary Margaret and Seth went with me. We stopped at Sandy and Chad's to drop some things off and got to see them for a little while! We then went on over to Freed. It was a nice night. Everyone was having a great time! Scott had been traveling in Arkansas and met me there to go to church. This picture is of John showing Scott his toe. he hyper-extended it playing soccer the first night at camp and had to go the get it x-rayed....the verdict? He will live in pain until it is well!

Joseph and Pa sharing some time together!

Nancy and Gayle

This is my wonderful Mother-In-Law, Nancy and her sister Gayle(Amy's now wonderful Mother-in-law!).

Oliver and Amy

The new couple:) The picture turned out blurry! But...the image is beautiful:)

Adam and Eve

Tasha, while at the wedding, saw these sculptures on the way to the bathroom, she said "Hey look, there's Adam and Eve!" rofl!! Not hardly, but pretty funny!

Funnies at reception

Tasha and Mercedez were adding sugar to thier iced tea.....something we do not do at home(sugar is added while mixing)....Tasha asked Mercedez what the "Splenda" was, to which Mercedez (totally seriously) replied, "It's the sugar with fiber!" LOL....guess we have seen too many fiber commercials!

Wedding pics!

This is a great picture of Chelsea and Jeremy! Next year he will be joining her at FHU! Such a great guy he is!!!


Sarah and Caleb!


This is a wonderful picture of Jennifer and Chelsea! Jennifer was 5 when Scott and I married. Boy, she sure has grown into a great young lady! She was married a year ago! Hard to beleive!


Pa and the boys!


Ben and Jacob. Ben is the same age as Sarah! He is one of the funniest guys! A joy to be around! Jacob just loves him!!

Oliver and Amy's wedding

We had a great time sharing in the joy of cousin Oliver and his beautiful bride Amy's special day!! This is our partial family pic! They were married in Hendersonville TN at this beautiful church building.

Coffee lovers

These were taken yesterday morning. Michael and Seth (claim to be) coffee lovers ....just like Dad!

Cute pictures!

FHU Basketball Camp

Stuart and Caleb had a great week At FHU! Chad was a Coach there too, so the boys got to see him more than normal:) He is a terrific guy and a wonderful example!

I love the picture of Caleb on Stuart's shoulders!!

Amazed

I am amazed at some people!

This morning my guys(half grumbling half happy)left to work with the Williams. They have 750 square bails of hay they have to get out of the field. It is thier livelihood. I know that we live in a world were everything comes from "Wal-Mart" for most kids (and adults!), but frankly that is not where it comes from. There ARE people who still farm....people who still work(the hard way) to get a job done! I was tickled to hear that Josh(our youth minister) said "Preaching is a lot easier than farming!" LOL yep! Now my guys know this!! They know, to a very small degree, what a farmer must do.

Sadie came to get the boys and asked for me to call another boy she was supposed to pick up. To see if he was ready. I called, his momma did not know he had offered to help out. She did not "mind", but said she would ask if he "wanted" to. I am amazed....no wonder the kids today do not understand about responsiblity! To this momma...it matters not if they WANT to, thier word was given. Help was needed and the boys should have gotten up and gone! So says the opinionated momma who did not give her boys a choice....this is true life! You help those who need it....not just when it is easy!!

And what about giving your word? Meaning what you say? It is you! You are your word.

Perhaps my guys (and girls) have dealt with sports long enough that the concept of "teamwork" means something. If everyone on the team decided they just had better things to do...would not be much of a team!

My guys for all thier yapping, they do understand the concept. This week one of the guys friends, Gage, wanted to go to Youth Camp with our crew. I am already paying for a dozen to go, so I said "It's fine if he has the money". They assured me he did, and then told me he did. Last night, Jacob was talking about Gage going and I said I was glad. He then told me how....Gage had $50, Doug gave him some, Jacob gave him some, Mr Harvie gave him some.....so on:) THAT is the attitude I love about my guys! I love in anyone!! I want my children to help each other. This applies to brothers, and in a broader sense BROTHERS. Some neat guys I have here....mine and not mine...

Today

Today is a new day, amazing that God gives us a beginning each day! I begin my day, trying to end yesterday's. Chelsea is on her way home from Jackson and I am waiting for her. I just returned from Walmart, buying breakfast and gatorade for my big guys who are going back to work with the Williams' tomorrow. They are going leave the house at 7am to try to get some work done before the heat does them in! So I bought the makins for french toast and bacon (thier favorite). In hopes that it will raise them from thier beds!

I can remember a time when I only needed 4 hours of sleep a night.....I now need six... I guess a side effect of being 40! I wonder if I will need 12 hours at 80? I do not intend to be raising children at 80, so I will likely be able to sleep that much:) Right now it is a struggle to find my 6! Last night I went to bed early, trying to catch up from a couple of weeks of 4 and 5 hour nights...I slept 8 hours and missed one of the most yuck kids issues ....glad Scott resolved it without me:)

The Truth

I was reading a fellow adoptive mom's blog this morning about portraying our families in only a good light. Hummm....do I do this? In pictures, yes, would rather "remember" us sweet...one of the reason our big family pictures are taken in white. I look back remembering us clean and angelic....lol....two things we are not too often! Like child-birth.....much nicer looking back!

My life and that of my household is not a "picture"....while it is said "a picture's worth a thousand words"....The Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary says there are about 171,476 words in current use....so there are a bunch of words that picture leaves out! lol

Life is not all good....but neither is it all bad.....I just hope for moderation.

I don't think that life after children is ever easy. I would not want to mislead anyone! But I do think life is life....good, bad and ugly! Mine has it's fair share of ALL!!

The picture above was taken last week of Zack....a fairly normal occurance. Not a single smile on his face either. We would likely not want to know what 1000 words he is using to illustrate his feelings right now:) I do choose to not put too many of these pictures here, make for a depressing blog!

Tori Dori

Victoria's thumb has done so well! For my 100 miles a minute child, keeping her thumb together has been a big deal! The doctor said the stitches would not stay in the position there were.....but we have pretty much mummified her hand and it is doing great!! She wanted pictures of her thumb:) Tasha took them!

True Work!

Yesterday the boys went back to help the Williams get up hay. The boys (some happily, some rumblingly) went to help. The boys have been doing "random acts of kindness" with the youth group this summer. Nice things that are not too stressful. But yesterday when Ms. Sadie(in the pic above) called, they needed a deliberate act of kindness. I was so grateful that Josh Schwartz(above also), our youth minister, went too! What an example for my guys!! This time John said, "Hey mom, you gotta take an after picture!!" Was hard to get one, standing close to this group was tough on the nose!! Jacob, John and Joseph worked....and our friend Luke, the blondie.

The Toothfairy

My funny of the day! This morning two of mine got up to have money left by the toothfairy. Seth, who has every single tooth still in his mouth (and should at age 4) came to me and said, "Mom will you fix MY toothfairy?" lol!

This picture is of Ryan and his new smile:)

Fostercare

Years ago, a decade to be precise, Scott and I began fostering. The first two children we had were Alyssa(3.5) and Justin(17mo). Tonight Scott was asked about the children by a man who is counseling(not professionally) Alyssa with her Dad. She is now 14. Looking back I remember her being so lost. So many issues, now I know they were not as serious in some respects as I thought....although RAD was an issue.

We fostered 35 children and these two are the only children who went home to a Dad who gave up everything and worked hard to get them back! We had them in care for nearly 2 years. The only parent we ever had who called for advice after they children went home. Dad called and asked if I could please tell him what kind of shampoo we used, he said that when the children were at our house thier hair was always so healthy and nice, and now it looked bad. I told him we used Suave, but not to use conditioner (it was so oily naturally). He thanked me, talked a while and was gone. This dad not only loved his kids, he wanted them to look nice too. I have always prayed for him. Sure do hope it all works out!

Now I have seen it all!

I was sitting at the computer when Rosie stopped to talk. I looked up and noticed Rosie was playing with a fly!! I told her to take it outside! To which she replied,"He's my friend mom! He broke a wing and cannot fly!" The goofy fly crawled all over her...yuck! I finally convinced her he would be happier outside, even if he could not fly!

Yeah!

Chelsea is going back to Freed Hardeman this Fall! We are so happy!! As a mom, super happy that she will be close enough for me to run have lunch with, or simply be there if I need to!

These pictures were taken over the weekend when Seth convinced Chelsea to cut his hair! Or as it actually was, she gave in to his continualy whining....that boy would be bald if I would let him!! I thought they were cute:)

Basketball Camp

Caleb and Stuart are at FHU basketball camp this week. I know they will have a great time. My neat brother-in-law will be there working this week, so they will have him should they need him.

I bet I asked Caleb 10 times if he had all his stuff together? Clothes, toiletries, towels, bedding?? YEAH mom!! He acts like I have lost brain cells or something. He has done this already this summer....he is smart ya know! Scott called from camp to ask if my sister Sandy, who lives in Henderson with her sweet family, perhaps might have sheets, blanket and a pillow for Caleb who forgot to pack them? hummm...

Thankfully for him, she did! Girly sheets, but an NBA blanket!

Stuart, bless his heart, had his things packed and ready for three days!!

There is a goal to achieve when striving to succeed....but the roads to that goal may be different. In this case, Stuart took the nice leisurely country road, arriving peacefully. Caleb was on the Daytona 500 with emergency pit stops! But to Caleb that is peace! Thus the comment "To each his own!".

I am not Monty Hall

A friend in GA who has a large family once posted something along these lines (I cannot find her exact quote) .....if you come to my house you will see laughing, crying, singing, shouting, anger, happiness, screaming, giggling, good manners, bad manners....all in the first 30 minutes you arrive! Yep, that is about the same at my house! lol With a crew like this there is bound to be differences in attitude and those attitudes are everywhere! While I have heard happiness is contagious....I have some kids with great immune systems!

Last night my tough guys were all in thier room, which is beside the kitchen since they require 24/7 suppervision, they were all three in time out. I must say that while you are in time out it does not serve anyone well to cry, scream or yell...I will let you up when it is time....NOT because you have pleaded. If anything it does lengthen your stay! MOST of my children understand this. As I fixed dinner they yelled "Can we come out?" "If we stay here quietly can we come out?" "How long do we have to stay mom?" "We won't do it again" "We promise, can we come out?" I am always reminded and laugh at myself through thier calling.....Do I look like Monty Hall?? This is not Let's Make A Deal!! This is life. Fun as that show was...life it not about deals!! hummmm....perhaps simple obedience might serve a person well?

The cross

We see crosses on the side of the road, in businesses, in churches, in homes, all are appealing to the eye....all make us thankful...have you ever smiled when you see the representation of our salvation? I do.

Yesterday at church Albert Bromley was directing the Lord's Supper and he talked about the cross in a way I had not really thought about.

He said people make bronze, silver, gold and even diamond studded crosses, people put up beautiful crosses in thier yard and fields, all to signify the cross and it's power. But the truth is ....the cross was not beautiful. It was not smooth like gold, it was rough and splintered.

People in Jesus time did not look at the cross as we do....they saw pain, suffering, and loss. They saw Jesus suffer and die. The image was not comforting, or pretty.

In my life I sometimes forget, just how horrific the cross was. Jesus made the cross, an instrument of his plan. Jesus triumped over evil and used a horrible cross to show us his love.

Satan wants to make it "no big deal" because he is a lies....it was a BIG DEAL....it is our hope, salvation, eternity, the ultimate of gifts to us from Jesus.

I can still look at a cross and smile....smile at the knowledge that my Savior loves me! He loved me that much!

Chelsea, age 18

Sarah, age 16

Stuart, age 16

Doug, age 15

Joseph, age 15

Caleb, age 15

Jacob, age 14

John, age13

Carlton, age 11

Mercedez, age 10

Rosie, age 10

Zackery, age 10

Tasha, age 9

Samuel, age 9

Michael, age 8