You are how old??!!

He is one week old here, look like anyone we know?!

My precious first born son turned SIX this past week. Seriously?! I can't believe it, but I have never in my life been more proud of a boy as much as I am with this kid. I mean it, I am not just saying it because he is my son...he is one neat boy! Here are some things about my boy:

• He loves (and I am not saying that lightly) football. He makes up his own plays, plays quarterback, reciever and tackle. In fact, this summer would find old games from the nineties on ESPN Classic just so he could watch football!
• He is an avid reader and is reading so much and so well!
• He loves to draw and even write about what he draws, and does very well!
• He is learning about God and beginning to apply that to his life
• He loves playing with friends, especially our next door neighbors Michael and Jordan.
• He loves the computer and video games and knows how to find a game and play them without any help.
• He is a great brother, he does tackle them, but is there to defend them in a moments notice and loves them very much.
• Is hiliarious and gets jokes and tells his own with his own wit and timing!

I could go on and on and on, and we are so proud of him and couldn't imagine our lives without him.

The picture here is the only picture of his birthday that have right now...long story, but some are on my phone, some are on my friends phone. This is from dinner out for his birthday, then we went and looked at Christmas lights.

Wedding!!!

Clint and Hillary saying "I do"

On November 2o, 2o1o we welcomed a new member into our family! Hillary Anne joined our family when she married David's cousin Clint. They got married in this awesome little chapel...a place you wouldn't know that was just off a road, it felt like we were in the middle of the woods! They honored us by asking Andrew to be the ring bearer in the wedding. I was so excited, but so nervous that he would not do it, or turn it into Andrew's hour! But he did neither, he was AWESOME! Actually all of my kids were! They didn't cry, didn't scream, they were great, I was very proud!

Something that is so cool is that being a wedding is just continuing the tradition. Clint's dad Dewayne is Brenda's brother and they are 15 years apart. So when Brenda got married, Dewayne was in his wedding, when Dewayne got married, David was in his wedding and when David and I got married, Clint was in our wedding! Wow! What a neat thing..I wonder if it is going to be carried on?
We had a great thanksgiving afterwords, it was fun to see family again and although Dallas lost, OU won, and that was thrilling! Here is some pics of the wedding, some I used on our Christmas cards, I do saw I think I have a beautiful family!

Daddy and his girl dancing....like my friend said, Fast forward 20 years..um, no thanks!

The happy couple




The whole family!

My sweeties!!!

David's Uncle Dewayne, Aunt Laura and the newlyweds!

Andrew and our ring bearer! Clint read Bible verses and rang the bell!

My family!

When did he get so big?!

Someone who was missing was David's mom and dad and grandma and grandpa...Two days before the wedding, Davids house he grew up in caught on fire. It started in the attic from a power strip that was chewed away by a racoon or squirel. Larry, my FIL was driving up and saw the flames and screamed at Brenda to call 911 because there was a fire. They still have a house, but the upstairs is going to have to be re-done. The attic was a total loss and everything in it, but by the grace of God many, many memorables were saved and the house is still standing. They are going to have to live somewhere else for awhile while things are getting re-done, but they are alive and it could have been so much worse. Thank you Jesus for watching over them and their house. Here is a pic of the front of the house where the attic was...

One month before this, David's grandma suffered a stroke. She slurs some of her words, and gets some words mixed up, but she is over all doing well. Again, it could have been so much worse. So between her not doing a 100%, and the fire, they could not make it. We missed them so much, but it was still a wonderful, beautiful day.

Christmas Cards Galore!

I love sending out Christmas cards! I love sending out pictures of the kids. Every since Andrew was 1 year old, I dressed him up in his Christmas outfit and put him in front of the Christmas tree. Then when Kaitlyn came along, it was more challenging, but still fun! Then, last year the day before I was going to put the kids in their best and put them in front of the tree, Kaitlyn broke her arm and none of her dresses fit over the cast. So, I did a picture of them at Silver Dollar City. It was a great picture, but I am looking forward to putting them all in front of the tree for a picture of the three of them!

This year Shutterfly is giving away 50 free cards to any bloggers out there, and here are three of my favorite!!

Traditional Damask

Merry Modern Collage

2010 Wishes Christmas

I have also loved doing calendars with Shutterfly! I put up a collage of pictures and put everyone's birthdays and anniversarys and give them out as presents to my in-laws and parent. Grandparents love pictures of their grandkids and like to see how my kids have grown over the past year! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to count all of your blessings, I know I have several!

Really behind!!!

Well here it is the week of Thanksgiving and I am just now publishing Halloween!! We have been busy with life and stressful life events! For now I am going to just publish pictures from our Halloween!

Kaitlyn went to the pumpkin patch with her class and then went trick or treating and dressed up in their costumes. Andrew had a fall party that I helped out with. We went to the pumpkin patch with just the four of us and then later went as a family! We painted our pumpkins instead of carving them so the kids could have fun doing that! Then went trick or treating in Collinsville. I realized later that I did not take an individual picture of the kids and the only group one I took on my phone. Andrew was a baseball player, Kaitlyn was a ballerina and Matthew was a cow. But here are some pics, all backwards, but I can't get Blogger to do it any other way!

We had so much fun, I love fall, and pumpkins and colors and the fun things to do!

Trick-or-treating in downtown Collinsville. They shut main street down and we go up and down the shops! It is so fun!

Our pumpkins! Andrew did the big one, Kaitlyn the two little ones and I did the littlest. Andrew did another, but it was out on the porch.

We went on a "hay ride" at the pumpkin patch. The kids had a good time at the Pumpkin Patch at Carmichael's feeding the animals and picking out pumpkins!

Andrew painted a tree at his party. The pic of him and boy is his bff Dylan. His mom and I did MOPS, but didn't know until after the boys started playing together.

The kids at the pumpking patch, I have several of these!

This is at Katilyn's school. Of course Matthew had to tag along in his cute cow costume, he was adorable! We went to the Pumpkin Patch with her class, that girl is her bff Ella. It is so neat that her mom and I are too!

A little of me...

I have been blogging about my precious angels lately (when I blog), and as much as I love them (and I do), I wanted to write a little about my personal life.





We are reaching two years since my precious mom went to be with Jesus forever and what a difference two years make!!!! I never thought I would last two months, much less two years...but I have. Have I done it alone? Never! My Saviour has been there the entire time holding my hand and loving on me and meeting me even when I didn't know I needed someone. Here's the thing, I have been at an arm-length relationship with Jesus. Why? Because I have been in survival mode. I have served Him, loved Him, worshipped Him, but any kind of intimacy with anyone and I was going to crack..I couldn't take it, I couldn't handle it. Not with Him, not with my kids, my husband or my friends. There was just too much I was trying to assimilate. First my mom, then my best friend loses her baby, then I find out I am pregnant, then I have to deal with being pregant and have two kids, then I have the baby, then I have my surgery...just too much. Well this summer I realized one day...where is the smile that would come so easily? Where is the joy in my heart? And who is my two year old daughter and who let her get away with murder? :)


So what did I decide? I need to get back to the basics...with Jesus. I need to know Him inimately, I need to know WHO He is and how do I that..by diving into the Word like never before. So I prayed, God lead me down a way that is going to force me to have a daily quiet time, that is going to allow me to know you and a friend that I can lean on...and God gave me all that. He gave me all that through Bible Study Fellowship. I went to the orientation in May and have waited all summer to go and dive into God's Word. When I heard one lecture I KNEW this is where I was to be. I walk in the walls and can feel the Holy Spirit and not only that my precious children get to hear and learn God's Word! Here's the thing, we are studing Isaiah and although I was excited, I am not an "Old Testament Gal" In fact I thought the OT showed God as a mean God and the first page of my notes I am to read says "we hope that you can see God as a loving compassionate God through this study"...wow! And we have only studied two chapters, but already I have learned so much about Our God. My eyes have been opened up, we need to know this to understand why Christ came. He loved His people so much and worked with them so much, and instead of giving up on Him, He sent His SON! We didn't deserve it, but He still sent Him...God did so love the World and I am beginning to understand that so much more now...and I am excited to see just how much God is going to open my eyes! I already feel like I have a new Spirit that God has given me...I love you Lord!!!





Oh, I have to show you pics of us cheering on the Sooners this year!

School Days=Big Changes in Our Lives

Hello friends!

I so wanted to keep up with my blog better, but golly it is so hard! We were able to get a discount on AT&T and have IPhones, so I check my email from there, so I am not on my laptop as much, but I am going to keep trying to blog more and more!

Well the past two weeks we have had some huge changes in our lives. First my "baby" started Kindgergarten this month! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday that he was Matthew's age, he was a little baby and it was just the two of us. Now he is off and gone from me more than he is with me! We love the school district we are in and feel very good about his teacher and the kids in his room. Andrew and I both had to trust God this year, because his two best friends (and who's moms I became close to) were in the same class. Come to find out two of his other classmates and a friend from church were all in that class as well. The first day he said, why can't I be in that other class. I told him that we prayed for his teacher and this is the teacher that the Lord wanted us to have. (That was really said for my own benefit, because I was wondering the same thing :) ) Precious boy said, well mom why couldn't you pray that I was given that teacher. Hard lessons learned early. But all that aside, he really loves school, loves his teacher and is meeting new friends already. The biggest thing of all was him taking the bus home! Wow! He begged and begged to ride it since LAST year, so I finally let him. He has friends on our street that ride it as well, he doesn't have to cross the street and loves it! This momma was a nervous wreck all day, but God is with him and I do have to say that not waking my little two up to pick up is nice...:) So here are some pics of my baby all grown up getting ready to go to Kindergarten..

Well not only is Andrew starting school, but so is Kaitlyn. She is going to Bloom which is our Weekday Preschool at church. She is going on Thursdays, and then after Labor Day she will start going to BSF and MOPS. I am so excited for her to hear about God's Word over and over again. She is a beautiful ray of sunshine and we have already enjoyed some one-on-one time. Precious girl has never had just me before, so we are taking advantage of it when Matthew is asleep and in the afternoons. Here is my little lady bug on her first day of school:

Little Matthew was sixth months this past week! He is getting so big! He rolls everywhere, grabs everything and is using his arms to around in a circle and putting everything in his mouth. He has tried everything, all vegetables and fruits and cereal. He is sleeping through the nights, and loves his Johnny Jump Up! He jumps and jumps and jumps. The older two love to watch him and jump with him! He is laughing and smiling and is a delight! Here is a pic of him

Well hopefully this is just the start of my consistent blogging. Have a wonderfully blessed day, and may God shine is light upon you!

Our blessed surprise

If you know me, you know that I am a planner. I like to know what is going to happen next week, the next month...the next day! Well a little over a year ago when I got the word pregnant on my test, my plans were blown out of the water. A thousand thoughts went through my head in a moment, but the main was...this was not in my plan! This is not how I wanted things to go
Fast forward 14 months. Here I am with three kids...and I am surviving. Not only that, but I am learning about God's love for me through my precious Matthew. He is an absolute delight. He is my daily reminder that I am not in control, and that when I am mad because my plan doesn't work out, He has a better more perfect plan. I cannot imagine my life without my precious boy. He has added so much to our life. Here is the thing, I haven't done it on my own. Not for a second. God through the Holy Spirit has guided me through times when all three were crying , when the laundry was getting ready to devour me, the toys were all over the place and the walls were crowding in...He has guided me. I have had to lean on him more and more...and I wouldn't if I didn't have my boy. Thank you God for my blessing, for knowing me better than I know myself, for knowing that I wanted this child even when I didn't think I did, and blessing my life with him!
Matthew Aaron is five months old, 26 in long now and 14 pounds. He is starting cereal, and soon baby food. He is so smiley, and so laid back, he can go anywhere! Unfortunately he has already had two ear infections, so I have a weird feeling that Dr. Hall is going to get to see all three of my kids! Again, he is such a blessing....I love him so much!

Wow!!!!

It has been so long since I have blogged. I wish I could say what I have been doing the past three months, but I really can't.

I know I have three amazing children who bring me the greatest joy and cause me everyday to strive to be not only the best mommy each day, but best person each day that God has created me to be.

I am such a person who says, "Monday I will start the diet....Monday I will get the house cleaned..." Well I want to be that person this month. I have been doing a lot of self-reflecting lately...and I want to use my blog as an outlet to keep me accountable and to look back and remind myself of where I was and where I need to be.

So in the coming days I will update you on my family, me and hopefully will begin my month of growth with me and those around me and with me and Lord.

As for now....here is a pic of my awesome family!

Seriously!

I am taking my favorite phrase from my favorite hospital show because of all of the medical drama going on in our lives right now!



First, over the past year David has had abdominal issues and has had a scope, CT, ultrasound and colonoscopy. Everything has come out okay except to show he had a little diverticulitis. Over Spring Break he had a follow up ultrasound, very routine. Well it came up showing something on his liver. So over the next couple of weeks we spent in prayer and trying our best to give over our worries and anxities to the Lord. We had our sweet friends praying for us, and praying over us at our Bible Study. All I could tell the Lord was please don't take away the love of my life, my best friend. I already lost my mom, I can't loose my husband too. I feel as though we grew during that time as a couple, our priorities shifted and our goals to grow our children in the light of God's love was emphasized. Well they did another CT scan and found out that it is a hematoma, a collection of blood vessels on his liver that is nothing. PRAISE THE LORD!! Well that was Thursday the first...



I had been having pain going up and down my adomon for a couple of weeks that was keeping me up at night. I thought I was just adjusting after having the baby and didn't think anything of it. At 1:30 Easter morning I had an attack and it never stopped. David went to church and came back and it was still there, and I was throwing up. So my dad went to Collinsville with the kids and David and I went to the ER. AFter waiting forever in pain, she thought for sure it was my gallbladder and ordered an ultrasound for the next day. I don't know why we couldn't do it there, but we couldn't. So she gave me pain pills and anti nausea pills and sent me home. Monday I went and got the ultrasound (thank you Liz and Michelle for taking care of my kids :) ) and then the run around with the medical field began. We went to the ER at St Francis south, so the ultrasound had to be done at St. Francis, but my dr is with St. John, so I called St. Francis ER to see if I had to go back there, and they said no go to my PCP and in fact they just sent over my ultrasound. So I called my PCP and said I was in pain, had an ultrasound and really needed to see him today, well the lady told me to stop "bugging her, she understood what I was saying"...uh okay! She said she could get me in thirty minutes, so on our way we went. At this point I don't think I would have gone in to see the dr that day if I hadn't called, so people always be your own advocate...anyways I got to the Dr and he read the ER doctor's report and based on my symtoms he knew it was my gallbladder and did a STAT on a refferal to a surgeon. But guess what, still didn't have the ultrasound!!! So I went to the surgeon at 4:00 on Tuesday, and when we got there and filled out more paper work, we saw the surgeon and he was nice and I really liked him, but HE DIDN'T HAVE THE ULTRASOUND, so they had to do their own!!! UGH! Well he took one look at it and wanted it out right away, sent us home and told me I couldn't eat, which was fine because I didn't have an appitite anyway and was told I would have surgery at 3:00 the next day. Well we go to the hospital and I guess it was scheduled so late I wasn't on the schedule, so we had to wait. Then once the ball got rolling, it really got rolling because he upped my surgery to 12:30. So I was wheeled away into the room and don't remember going to sleep, but remember waking up and wanting pain meds...then we went home..don't really remember that either.

So now I am recovering at home, the incision had to be bigger than usual because of the state of it, and that it was nasty and glad he got it out. I am in pain, but it is getting better. I am praying I heal quickly, it has been a lot, first being pregnant, then recovering, now recovering more. Matthew is smiling all over the place and I want to enjoy it, I want to hold my kids and play with them. I am frustrated with where I am right now, I wanted to be done with this, start living my life again, but there is a reason why this is happening, so I am going to use this time to spend with my Lord and relax because I won't be able to for a long time!

I hope that this made sense, i am pretty out of it...

Thanks for your prayers!

Yes I did have a baby!

I have been wanting and wanting and wanting to post about my angel from above, but finding time to get on the computer with three kids is insane! So five weeks later here I am!

Matthew Aaron Stephens was born

Wednesday, Feburary 17, 2010

7pds 8oz

I had a fast and furious labor, which just confirmed to me that this is it! He was having issues crying like Andrew did so they observed him for awhile, but he was fine. He almost jaundiced, but recovered very nicely. He is also my best nurser and is now close to nine pounds! I was very excited about breast feeding I could not with my other two, and even though we have had our ups and downs, it is going very nicely. He is such a sweet baby, such a blessing, after being "surprised" by him, I absolutely could not imagine my life without him. I love him so much!

God is so good. He gave me a peace that only He could when Matthew was born. Even though my mom has not held the baby here on Earth, she is here. I felt her in the delievry room and many times since then. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your love...it is so appreciated! More than you ever will know. I have such a support group, such a core group of friends, over the internet and in person, I don't know what I would do without any of you.

My camera battery is dead right now and when I charge it I will post more...

Happy Birthday Momma!

Today would have been my mom's birthday..she would have been 62...I don't mind telling you because she never had a problem with age. Probably because like me she never felt or acted her age! :)

To remember my mom today I want to smile, not be sad. She was THE funniest person on the planet and LOVED, I MEAN LOVED Seinfeld. She would play this game, how many seconds does it take to name this episode. She quoted them all the time. If there was one thing she loved, it was a good comedy, not a trashy one, but a good honest comedy. She also loved outtakes, she loved when people got so tickled they couldn't stop laughing. So in honor of my wonderful mom I am going to post one of the last Seinfeld episodes with outtakes...also listen to the song, I think it is appropiate as well.

Mom, I love you, I miss you and can't wait to see you again~

Nobody but God

So I have 5 weeks before I hold little boy. We spent the weekend buying carseats (one for baby and one for Andrew), getting the cradle, taking down clothes, and putting together the changing table. Even though these are things that I have wanted to get done and I was glad when they were accomplished, it brought up mixed emotions. Why God? Why am I having this baby and my mom is not here? How am I going to let this precious child know of her wonderfulness, of her love...how? You know how close I was to her, how much we loved taking the kids places together, and now you have left me alone. The whole weekend I just wanted to crawl into a ball and stay in bed. I cried tears in church on Sunday as I fight standing in God's love, His strength and His promises, but feeling anger and bitterness that is constantly there trying to make its ugly prescence known. There are days I don't want to get out of bed and the past two days have been those days, but I know how better I feel when I get out, so out I went.

This morning was MOPS, and as I am fighting off very real dreams about my mom, I get ready. Andrew is fighing me, Kaitlyn is being drama, but by golly I am going! So I get there, put a smile on my face and check in. The girl that checked me in, who I see all the time asked me if my mom was Dena Bonner. I said yes, she said she was her student at Grove and because of her she became a teacher. Okay, more tears, but good tears this time, because I get to remember all the kids she did inspire. Then we go in and there is a panel where are asking questions and this sweet girl asks how do we tell our kids about heaven. I was able to add something that was said and as I was talking realized she was really upset. My friends told me that she just lost her mom right before Christmas.

Wow.

I don't know if what I said helped her or ministered to her in anyway, but it ministered to me. It told me, that through my pain and my grief and my questioning, that God is in control. Period. End of sentence. I can question this until I am blue in the face, but God knows why and if it is His will He is going to reveal it to me, otherwise, keep trusting Him. He is going to meet me every step of the way, even at my lowest point, He will be there. Always.

I just had to share that with you, and put it down in words so I can go back and reread it to keep reminding myself that God does care, He does love, there is a purpose and I am going to be welcoming a new little one in 5 weeks with many people to love him here on Earth AND in Heaven!

Blizzard 2009

Here are some pics of my 3 favorite people in the world playing in the snow. Andrew ran and dove in the minute he hit the snow. My precious girl stayed on the ramp and watched and then Daddy walked her over. She was fine if she stayed where she was and her hands didn't get cold, you will notice that she keeps looking down at them!

When viewing it, click on the pics and you can get a bigger view of them. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Kaitlyn Michelle Stephens

This girl is the light of my life. She has a smile that could light up a room and at 20 months is at my favorite stage. She is "talking", but does repeat things we say. She does say shoes, bye-bye, night-night, mimi(passy), mommy, daddy, papa, grammy, bubba. Her favorite person in this world is her bubba. She usually takes a nap while he is at school and when I go in and get her, I say, "Let's go get bubba" and off to the door she goes. Then when she sees him in line, she squeals, and squeals! She loves shoes and loves to take mine out of the closet and line them up. She also loves animals, especially puppies.

The first week in December she broke her elbow! She was trying to climb up on the couch with us, lost her balance and "landed just right" on her elbow. We took her into the Pediatric Urgent Care and they did an x-ray and put it in a sling. If you even looked at, she would cringe and cry. The minute she had the sling on though she was off and running. She even tried to climb up the couch again when we got home! The next day we went to the Orthepedic and they put a full arm bright pink cast on her! She wore it for three weeks...she was a trooper. For the first week the she did not use that arm at all, but after awhile realized she could use her fingers and started holding things with the broken arm.

That night in her sling!

Then right before Christmas she had a big week! She got the cast off! Yeah and then she got her cut! A lot for a 1 1/2 year old! When the cast came off, she cried so sad. The saw scared her and it was loud. I did video it to remember by, but when I watched it I cried to see her so upset. She has had it off for awhile now and she is still my little climber.

Here is a slideshow of that week, enjoy!

Make a Smilebox collage

Kaitlyn, you are my joy. Thank you for your laughter, for your smiles, hugs and kisses. Thank you for getting so excited when you see someone you love. We are the only girls, so we are going to have so much fun together doing girly things...I love you so much!