Wow!

Well this blog written my MckMama could not have come at a more timely in life. So I had to post it. I have not posted in a while because things have been crazy. There has been illness, tiredness, busyness, crankiness, etc. I have been literally OVERWHELMED!!! But through it all, God has been faithful and even though I feel like I let Him down, He is holding on to my hand so hard so I can't let go...even if I wanted to :)...so I because I wish I could write as well as her, here is how I feel.

On days when the squabbling, bickering, yelling and whining threaten to overwhelm me; on days when the Cheerio crumbs between my toes and the fingerprints on the windows make my head spin; on days when the incessant questions, diaper changes and maddening repetitiveness of toddler activities send me almost bonkers; on days when I haven't the energy to change out of my pajamas or clip my fingernails, much less anyone else's; on days when I want to bang my head against the wall, or better yet to run away; on days when I wonder what in tarnation we were thinking when we had (two + one on the way) children so close in age; on days when no one will leave me alone; on days like that, it is the sweet small moment in time that flutters in, the genuine little glimpse of goodness that arrives, if only fleetingly, which, like a flash in the pan, makes a bright but brief appearance and serves to gently remind me before it's gone that...

...there is a reason why I do what I do! :)

Because at the end of the day I am raising children for the Father, and they are the joy of my life and everyday do something else that makes me love them more and more. And this little one on the way...even though we still don't know where he/she is going to go, how we are going to afford him/her...this little one is going to add joy to our lives.

Thank you again for allowing me to be real, I am realizing that it is okay to be real..that no one is perfect and we are all in this together..that no one is going to think I am a horrible mom and never speak to me again (yes these are thoughts that go through my head :) ).

If you could also pray...the year markers are coming up. It has been a year since my mom was diagnosed and everything began to go downhill. My dad has a job, but is still living with us, please pray fors that transition and continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy...take care and blessings to you all!

Well...it happened

My baby started school!

Um, can I just ask when this happened? When did this baby,

become this little boy?

Not only have we started school, but we are realizing harsh realities of life, like the world doesn't revolove around him and oh my goodness, I don't always get what I want and I have to do things I don't really want to do. So many hard lessons at such a young age!

Seriously though, I am trying hard to be consistent, loving, Godly and most of all patient...who said that parenting is easy though right! I am still waiting for that owners manual to come in the mail. :)

Love to you all as we start this new adventure in life!

Oh one more thing...my baby baby is walking everywhere! She is so big, 16 months next week...time please slow down!!!!

"Blogger official"

It is so funny that when you have an announcement it is not real until it is Blogger official or Facebook official. Well, I have made my announcement on Facebook, so now I am blogging it.

Two weeks ago we found out we are EXPECTING OUR THIRD!! Yes, third! Shocked?! So were we! It took us nine months to get pregnant with each Andrew and Kaitlyn, bad math, one night later...here we are!!! I went to Reasor's to pick up some things for a camping trip we were going on and thought...it has been awhile, and I did feel sick this week, but no this is not possible, but went ahead and bought the test. I came home said hello to everyone, and took the test without saying anyone, because even though I think I always knew, it couldn't be possible..right! Wrong! I held the test until it said PREGNANT.

And I cried, not at the time happy tears, but oh my goodness what is going to happen tears! I called David in and just looked at him, he walks right by me and has to look at the test himself and goes, "No way!". He then goes through his accountant list...we need a new house, three college educations, hehe! Then he looks at me and goes, " Congrats mommy". Me, I just keep crying saying this can't be happening! Now, I know what we are going to do, welcome a new little one into this world with open arms! I am now thrilled beyond words! My dad is excited, but surprised. We both know my mom would be thrilled :).

I am overwhelmed, excited, nervous, scared, at peace, estatic, loving...and that is in just a five minute period! Seriously though, we have only known for two weeks and although this wasn't something that was in our master plan, our Master had a different Plan! And I couldn't imagine my life without this little one in me. I can completely see our family as whole with three kids, not two, it feels complete, perfect and right. I don't know how we are going to do it, what it is going to look like, but that doesn't matter God does!

I went to the Dr. last Monday and I am eight weeks along, due Feb. 24. So pray for peace, pray for a healthy precious baby to add to our wonderful family and pray that I can take care of two while I am sick with this one. ( and for my son's sake, pray for a boy because he won't even talk about the possiblilty of a girl! :) )

Couldn't wait to share this news with my blogger friends, take care and we will keep you updated!!

My Little Swimmer

I cannot tell you how proud of my little boy I am! He started out at swimming lessons crying and saying he couldn't do it and didn't want to do it. So then when I bought him goggles everything was great, as long as he didn't have to jump of the diving board, but that is exactly what they wanted to do, so he went to the end of the diving board and somone dropped him off while someone was in the pool. Guess what, that is all he talked about! So the next day, he went all by himself and was the first one to go off each day! So here are some pics of swimming lessons and then some at Grammy's pool and in our little blow up pool in our backyard.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What a week!

TGIF never meant more to me before as it did this week! Really through it all I never thought of this as a long week, but when I looked back on it, it was a long week, but a week for God to continue to show is never-ending faithfulness.

Sunday started out great, got to go the grocery store by myself, no husband, no kids...YEAH!! I never realized how calmer and faster it is by myself! Then the next day I go to lunch and realize my check card is not where I put it...no way...could I have lost it, or was it stolen. After searching my house I did not find it, so called and cancelled it. After checking to see if any charges had been made and there were none, I was thinking this was the end...not close. That night I came home from a Bible Study and David tells me there were charges. Sunglass Palace, Chick Fil A, Quickie Mart (for 400 dollars), other Quickie Marts, O'Reilly's....you have got to be kidding me!!!!! We called BOK and found out we were not liable, thank you Lord. But SERIOUSLY! Who thinks it is ok to take a card and use it, to fix their car, at the mall, and tobacco...what gives them the right! I have been so mad, felt so used and so bitter. Especially when later in the week we found more charges!! This is hard earned money, how dare you think you can get a new pair of sunglasses with OUR HARD EARNED MONEY! I would love to have a new pair of sunglasses from there. We have to fix our car, but are we going to use someone else's card...no we are going to pay for it, what gives them the right to use mine! So this has been going through my mind, especially when on Thursday I had to file a police report in Glenpool...I have never been in a police department, filed a police report, but here I was filing one because someone stole my card. (Which by the way we figured it was snatched from my purse when I wasn't looking because I had used it to buy a drink and didn't put it back, but put it on top when I wasn't looking. When I made the report, people were in custody and being questioned from stealing credit/debit cards, so I feel like it was stolen). But then I started thinking....these people need my prayers, not my anger. I could be bitter and mad, but where is that going to get me, no where. So please pray for the people who stole my card, that God would show Himself to them, and that they get caught so they can stop doing what they are doing and turn their life around.

So there was one thing going on, the other was Andrew. Monday was Andrew's first swimming lesson, by the sounds of him you would have thought that I was putting him in a torture chamber! He would only do something if they forced him. Great! So I thought Tuesday would be better, since we talked it up, we prayed we sang songs about always having God with us, that he went underwater that there was nothing to be afraid of. No, Tuesday was no better. He wanted goggles, so he borrowed some from there, but afterwards I realized that water kept getting in them, so Tuesday I went to Walmart and bought him some goggles. Well, I was up all night Tuesday night (more on that later) and just prayed to God, please let me know I am doing the right thing, please be with Andrew, he is in your palm of your hand. I want him to enjoy this, please. Well I got to the lessons and for some reason I just have this peace that everything is going to go great! And it DID! He listened, he went under water on his own, he did great! They wanted everyone to go off the diving board and he did cry on his way, but someone dropped him in off the board and then that is all he talked about! Then today when they went off, he went off all BY HIMSELF!! God is so good! And as he was working so hard, he had this smile on his face like, I did it, it made me cry! Yeah!

Now, Kaitlyn (yes I am not done). Through all of this she has a had a runny nose I thought was from teething, well after being up all night from coughing on Tuesday night, I took her to the doctor Wednesday....ear infection...tubes! Oh glory! Seriously! This is the exact age we took Andrew, so I am not surprised, just hoping we were not going to have to go down this road with her. But we are...so I will keep you posted!

Well, that is all, except for the "have to go to the bathroom now or I am not going to make it" situation I had at the splash pad in Jenks and had to leave my kids with a really nice lady I didn't know!

I am just waiting for the locusts now!

But through it all, God has been faithful: Andrew loves his lessons and begs to go back, we don't have to pay for anything, and maybe now Miss Kaitlyn will walk and not get sick anymore. So even though I couldn't wait for today, God was there through it all and met our every need, even in bad situations! Praise God through whom all blessings flow!

Love to you all!

Our trip to Sea World San Antonio

Well we are back from our trip and we survived. It was more than we could have imagined and more. The kids were awesome, such troopers!



We left at 8:00 on Tuesday morning and arrived in TX at 8:30. We made a lot of stops and let the kids play whenever we stopped so they could get "ants out of their pants". Our hotel had a King size bed and then a seperate room with a pull out couch. Our room had her pack in play, a fridge and microwave in it as well. Andrew loved it, but being on the fourth floor we had to keep telling him not to stomp!



We then woke up bright and early, ate breakfast downstairs in the lobby that consisted of waffles, danish, juice, and many other yummy things! We went to Sea World our first day, fed the dolphins, saw the falmingos and then off to Shamu. It was awesome, I mean the way the people interacted with them, everything was breathtaking. You do a little shout out of Shamu, Shamu...so that was said by Andrew throughout the entire trip. Andrew loved it and could not believe how big he was and Kaitlyn squealed and clapped everytime he jumped up! Then we ate lunch, walked around some more and saw the SeaLion/Seal show. That was Andrew's favorite because there was a story plot and the seals were really funny. We went "home" for the day, but not without a stop to Walmart..don't think I have been a vacation yet where Walmart was not part of the equation! We ate dinner at the riverwalk and walked around the mall, then went to the hotel for bed!

Next morning started out the same, and went and fed the dolphins again and saw the sharks...holy cow! The tank was massive, 300,000 gallons with salt water fish all in it...the lady there said every kid walked up going look there is Dorie and Nemo...I don't think kids Andrew generation will ever know the real names of the fish, I think that they will forever be Nemo and Dorie! We then went and saw the Dolphins, they had people diving from the top of the stadium, swinging, syncronized swimmers, and the whole time Dolphins jumping and swimming! It was a sight to see! Then we went to a water park they have there, and swam and played, Andrew never wanted to leave and I was glad to see Kaitlyn having fun in it, it was her first experience in something like that! Unfortunately we had to leave then, we stopped by the gift shop and bought a t-shirt and stuffed animal for each kid, and said goodbye to Sea World. We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do something like that again!

The rest of our trip was even more fun, if it is possible, we met with family and saw Jordan graduate. I will post more on that later! Enjoy the pics and thanks for taking time to read about our trip!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Something ends, something begins...

Well today was the last day for our school year at SHBC Weekday Preschool. We are going this summer, but it was the last school day of the regular year. Not only that, but it was our last day ever.

In August Andrew will start at Jenks West in the K4 program. He will only be going for 2 1/2 hours, but those hours are going to be without me, in surroundings that I have no control over, and people who will be part of his everyday life..and I have no idea who they are. He has been going to our church for his school, off and on his whole life. In fact, I was teaching there when I was pregnant with him. After he was born, I finished the year (2005), took some time off and then when he was one and a half I enrolled him again (2006). This time I was working at the Grand while he went there, but I knew everyone who worked at school. Then after a year of him going and me working somewhere else, I quit the Grand and started work there full time (2007). But little did I know, I became pregnant with Miss Kaitlyn. So in April (2008) stopped working and didn't go back to work until January (2009) to keep myself busy since mom passed. So he has been going full time for three years. Not only that but he spends the majority of the week with his friends at school, because they are with him on Wednesdays and Sundays as well. Now next year I am going to have to drop him off to a teacher I don't know, with kids I have never met, nor does he know them. I don't like that at all. Ke kept asking, so will Grant be at my new school...will Hayden....or are they changing churches too? (He is having a difficult time deferring between what is school and what is church. He thinks that b/c he is going to a new school, we are going to a new church as well :)). It breaks my heart that everything that he knows and is familiar with will be taken away from him. Although I know that it is for the absolute best and he is going to have the time of his life, I know that it is going to be scary for him, and that makes me so sad...the momma bear in me wants to keep him held up in the house and play forever with him. Ya know?

I wonder as I write this if this is what God feels for us. I mean God loves me 10,000,000,000,000 more times than I love Andrew. Andrew might be afraid and not like what is going on, but I know in the long run it will be good for him and he will be alright. Just like when we don't know what is going on, and don't like what we are experiencing, God does and He knows it is for His best. That is why He wants us to be patient, to trust Him, because He is never going to lead us astray, never going to take us down the wrong path, never do anything to hurt or harm us (Jer. 29:11). Just like I would never put Andrew in harms way, why in God's ultimate love for us would He put us in harms way. Which in turn I can say without doubt that He would never put Andrew in harms way or leave or dessert Him. So even though I am not there, God is. I am so glad that God is in charge of me and my life, I would be lost without Him. You know, nothing has taught me more about my Father's love for me than becoming a parent myself. I know how we would do anything for our children, but look at what at all He does for us!

So as sad as I am about everything, I am covering Andrew with prayers, trusting my child with His heavenly Father, and looking forward to the future with a smile on my face...but I am sure with tears on my face as well!

Here are some pics of Andrew on the first days of school the past three years. Wow, doesn't time fly?

1 1/2 (Aug. 2006)

2 1/2 (Aug. 2007)

3 1/2 (Aug. 2008)

On another note, thank you for your thoughts and prayers on Mother's Day, the actual day wasn't hard because I made it about me being a mom, but the week leading up to it was hard. I missed celebrating my mom on Earth, I missed buying her a card, I missed having a mom to celebrate Mother's Day for...but through the hurt and the sadness I still stand in God's love, His grace and His blessings for my life! Last Friday was six months and I want to thank you all for everything, for reading, for commenting, for being there for me before she passed, when she passed and after she went home. I couldn't have made it through these six months without your friendship, understanding and prayers. You are truly a blessing from our Father! Love to you all!