How did we get chosen to have you?

What a blessing you are sweet baby boy.

What a gift you are to this world

and to my life.

Where did you come from baby dear?

Straight from Heaven, right to here.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Pow!!!!

He shot his sock off...lol

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Have you seen this movie?...

We watched this movie today as a family.

This is a GREAT movie and

a must see for parents.

(I wouldn't recommend it for young children

because it has some police scenes with violence.)

Here is some info about the movie...

Four police officers attempt to put their faith in God after a sudden and unexpected tragedy transforms their lives forever. Produced by Sherwood Pictures, the Christian production company behind such popular films as FIREPROOF and FACING THE GIANTS, COURAGEOUS follows dedicated cops Adam Mitchell and Nathan Hayes as they work with their partners to keep the streets safe. But when these devoted peacekeepers face the challenge of fatherhood, both their faith and devotion to family are put to the ultimate test. In the aftermath of a devastating calamity, they are faced with a difficult choice that will ultimately come to define their lives. Fortunately, a wise mentor appears to help them understand that man's ambition and God's will aren't always in perfect harmony.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Pics From Brookelyn's 2nd birthday...

Brookelyn enjoyed a wonderful party on the 22nd

at chuckie Cheese with her family & friends.

Brookelyn & her mommy.

She wasn't to sure about Chuckie.

She is Barney's BIGGEST fan.

She LOVES Barney.

Brookelyn and her best friend Hailey.

It was just a fun,fun day.

My blankie....

Z loves his green Santa blanket. It is probably his most favorite thing in the the whole world. He drags the poor blanket everywhere. It's just precious.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Just Today...

Just Today...Monday Jan 16th
Out side my window... It's 52 and cloudy
The time is... 3:28 PM
Today I feel...Blahhhh...but it's nice:)
I am thinking...about all I should be doing, but I'm just not motivated today. It's been nice having a calm blahhh kind of day. I don't have many days like this. I feel completely lazy, but it won't last.
At the moment I am thankful...that the weather warmed up enough for the boys to be able to go out to play.
I am going...to finish my paper work for the state. I've been putting it off ,but I promise I'm going to have it done before they come out Wednesday. Maybe later I'll set down and get it done.
I am wearing...a blue track suit.
I wish...my kids could learn to stop running in and out the door(constantly). Every time Z wants to go outside too...grrrrr
I am working on...a To-Do list. I do better when I write down a list of things to do. It helps me not to forget things, but also makes me feel good when I start marking things as "Done".
I am hoping...to receive our state license in the mail this week and I hope that the case worker finishes up the TPR papers so that we can be assigned a TPR hearing. I'm so tired of foot dragging.
I am hearing...Z at the window calling "JoJo" when Z says it it sounds like, "Doe Doe"...it's precious.
In the kitchen..I haven't decided. My hubby just asked "What's for dinner?"...lol
From the learning room...We enjoyed a half day today. I know most kids get off for this holiday ,but mine is homeschooled and had some makeup work to do. I did let him off after a half day so that he could play with the public school kids :) So I'm not all mean.
Around the house...I have a lot to do. I had 6 kids (mine, my two fosters, and three past fosters) this weekend and they did a number on my house. I loved having them. However, they are messy. I try to let them play as much as they can and enjoy their visit without me constantly nagging them about cleaning. But, I now need to do a major cleaning. We have fingerprints on everything...lol
I bet you didn't know...Carter has spent the whole day with MeMe. He is 7 months old now and growing like a weed. He loves Z and Z loves him...it's just precious. Carter gets so excited watching Z play.
Today's picture pick...Well I would be adding a birthday party pic from Brookelyn's 2nd birthday ,but
 I didn't get to take any:( I got to her party and took out my camera. She posed so cute with her little piggy tails,  plastic high heeled shoes, princess crown, and plastic earrings, but when I went to snap the pic I got the worse message ever, "No camera card". Needless to say I was one VERY upset MeMe. Katie had used my camera and forgot to put my card back in my camera. I was so heart broken. But, she is going to have a party with her friends at Chuckie Cheese this weekend and MeMe will be sure she has her camera ready this time. New pics of the little Princess coming soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daily Duties are daily joys,

because they are something

which God gives us to offer unto

Him, to do our very best

in acknowledgement of His love.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Is there a doctor in the house?

I think so!

And he is the cutest lil doctor I know:)

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

What a Legacy...

A couple of days ago I got a phone call from my biological aunt. My dad's sister. As I've wrote many times on my other blog, I barely know my dad & his family. I met my dad for the first time (that I can remember) at age 13. I met some of his siblings for the very first time at my brother Robby's memorial service in 2005. Since then my aunt & I have spoken only a hand full of times. So when her name came up on my caller ID ,I didn't recognize it right away. She left me a message and I called her back. It was so odd ,because she was calling me to see if I could look up something for her on my computer. I don't know why she thought of me, but I was more than happy to do that for her. I'm glad I did. She wanted me to look up my grandmother's obituary. I had no idea that they had obituaries way back then and that you can find them online. Anyhow, I looked it up and made her several copies and mailed them to her.
I never got to know any of my grandparents on my Dad's side ,because they all passed away young. But, this obituary taught me all I ever needed to know about my grandmother. I loved it! What a legacy to leave behind. Oh how I wish I could have known her. I bet we would have been like paper & glue or peanut butter & jelly:)

Meet My Great Grandmother...
IN MEMORY OF MRS. V
Mrs. Erma V, 31, died Sept. 28, 1935 at a Bremen, Ga. hospital following a brief illness. She leaves to mourn her untimely passing, her faithful companion Vergil  and their six children, Cecil, Ruth, Margaret, Opal, Harold and Dorthy; also surviving are her parents Mr. and Mrs. Albert Huey and her sisters, Mrs. Lizzie Whitehead, Mrs. Annie Raburn, Mrs. Ada Moore, Mrs. Burnice Robinson, Miss Ethel Huey; also three brothers, Raymond, Buford ,and Dorsea Husey. The writer was glad and happy to call Erma "friend" in the deepest and truest meaning of the word. Since 10 years of age she has been a faithful member of the Sandy Flat Baptist church where funeral and burial services were held. It might be truly said of Erma that she literally adopted Romans 12:1 as her life's creed, for no sacrifice was too great for her to make on behalf of her family of friends or in the interest and well being of her community. Quietly, unassuming, courageously, she met the various difficulties of life unafraid, unflinching and faced the Grim Reaper at last. Peace to her soul; peace to her memory. Written by one who loved her, Mrs. B. Freeman.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

What a week...

Well, if all of our paper works goes through we will be in for another year of fostering. Fostering has been a blessing ,but also one of the saddest and hardest things we've ever done. We had our home study yesterday and our case worker seemed pleased. She actually approved us for 5 kids this time, although I don't think I'll ever take that many at once ,because I'm already running like crazy with the two I have and they just added weekend visits for them, which I'm not happy about. I feel like I give up Mon-Fri for these birth families and I feel like my Sat-Sun should be MY family time. I've pleaded and I pray they will change it soon. Oh how I pray.
As foster parents we are so limited to what we can share,so I can't share that much on here ,but I can share some. I had court on Z today and the judge ruled for termination of parental rights. It's doesn't mean that it will go through. It doesn't mean birth mom won't fight (because she will). It simply means if Z is meant to be our son that we are one step closer today. I'm to scared to get excited. I'm to scared to make forever plans. We've been here before with Samantha (yes our grown foster daughter) & Bailey ,but in both cases we did not go to adoption. In both cases it really would have been in the best interest of these kids (and looking back today everyone would agree), but for whatever reason it did not happen. All we can do is pray that God's will be done and that regardless of the outcome that our children will be okay and that we will be okay (able to sleep instead of walk the floor, able to live and not constantly worry, able to keep on when we feel like crawling under a rock & dying, etc).
This week has for sure been trying on the nerves. I will be glad when it's behind me. Please pray for our family. We need all the prayers we can get as we try to follow God's will & plan for our family.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

It's That Time Again...

It's time to get back on schedule. It was back to school and back to work for us this week. Honestly, I wasn't excited at all. I have really enjoyed our two week break. We fully enjoyed the holidays. I was sad to see the holidays pass and the decorations come down, but it was time. So here we are just trying to get back to a normal rountine. It hasn't been easy. The kids are still pumped from the holdays.

 Z is still on steroids and ill as a hornet (as my mom would say). JJ our other foster jumped fell off the bed and busted his head open Tuesday night. We spent half the night in the ER getting staples.

We are also trying to get our house ready for inspection and trying to finish this looooong TO-Do list that the state gave us for our yearly foster parent re-certification. You would think after 7 years, they would know enough about us that we wouldn't have to go through the headache of a home study. It drives me nuts...really. I thought I had everything they needed and then they added that my son needed  a last minute health check and statement. Well his doc can't do that until next week.

I had planned to get this done before the holidays, but it didn't happen... We were just way to busy. Then I tried to do it last week...didn't happen, because Z had pneumonia and RSV and the twins had a tummy bug....grrrr. Then this week the pipes in my kitchen busted and flooded the house, that's been a huge pain & clean-up process...grrrrr So now we are set for Monday. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing else goes wrong. My deadline is Thursday so it has to be done or they pull our license.

So that's what we are up to these days. How about you?

Please say a special prayer for our sweet little Z. We go to court next week and we are really hoping that the judge will rule in our favor, so that we can start the adoption process. He's been with us since he was one month old and now we can't even imagine our life without him. We didn't become foster parents 7 years ago to adopt ,but we love Z like he's our own. So pray for him & us. I never know what to expect from Ms Judge and sometimes she blows my mind with her rulings. So I'm a nervous wreck about it. Trust me when I say, it really would be in Z's best interest (not just our wants) for him to remain here with us. Please help us pray about it.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

A Look Back- 2011

I went back through all of my posts of 2011 and created this flash back post. 
 Here is looking back on 2011...

January
January brought more snow than normal for our area and the kids had so much fun (The adults did too). We built snow people. Went sledding with our neighbors, and had a bonfire in the snow. We even made the 6 o'clock  news with  a "Southern Style" igloo that the kids built. We celebrated a very special little girl's first birthday, "Brookelyn Shae". January was also the month we found out that Samantha was expecting a little miracle, "Carter".

February
February was full of love. We celebrated love day "Valentines" with a kid sized party:) We enjoyed heart shaped cookies and cupcakes with pink & red sprinkles. We also enjoyed some warmer than normal weather which meant a couple of trips to the park with the kids. On the very last day of February our precious little Z hit the big half mark! He turned 6 months old.

March
March was the month of new life. Our Mama chicken had lots of baby chicks....which the kids LOVED!!!!  We also found out that Samantha's baby was going to be a boy! A new grandson for us!!!!!

April
April was fun for the kids. We colored eggs, baked cookies, and had egg hunts. We also enjoyed our free passes to Jump-4-Joeys (Thanks Felicia). Spent lots of time with our past fosters. I went public with my photography business and started photographing for others. We enjoyed many days at the park having picnics.

May
In May we started a garden for veggies. Planted strawberries & blueberry bushes. We also planted lots of new flowers and Brookelyn enjoyed watering them everyday with her little pink watering can. We also hosted a Tea party for the girls (Brookelyn & Bailey), just for fun. Hubby & I celebrated 22 years together. We had a backyard visitor that just amazed us all. It was a mama owl and her 4 babies. We watched as she taught them how to fly. Z learned to patty-cake. It was also a month of bubbles, watermelons, Popsicles, and lots of giggles.

June
June was hot. Most of the month was spent in the pool ,throwing water balloons, shooting water guns, or running through sprinklers. It was a water month for sure. We enjoyed a week of fun & learning at VBS. We took a trip to Jelly Stone Park. We added a new foster "Miss Ryleigh". We took a quick weekend trip to the mountains. We attended a party at Snip-its. We attended the Sullivan Family Reunion (My Mom's side). We watched Bay catch lightning bugs for the very first time. Then to top off the month, we got a new grandson. Carter decided to surprise us all by coming 6 weeks early. He came before we even had his baby shower.

July
July was a busy month for us. It started off with a BANG! We enjoyed Homespun at Rockmart. The 4th of July at VR Plex. Fireworks and Family day at Helton Howland. We attended a fun filled family day at New Seasons. We hosted a baby shower in Honor of Samantha & Little Carter. We visited the petting zoo at Pritchard Farm. The Hubby & kids took part in Community Makeover 2011.

August
In August we added another foster child  to our family ,"Keiara". We took a day trip to Collinsville Market. We visited Untamed Mountain. Took a trip to the pasture to see the horses. Took a trip to the lake to go fishing. Took  a trip to the fountains to cool off and play. The twins turned the big 18!!!! Jacob hit double digits with his 10th birthday!!! We celebrated Bailey's 4th birthday!!! We also celebrated Ryleigh and Z (our foster babies) 1st birthdays!!!!

September

September brought us cooler days and more adventures or "Add-ben-tures" as Bailey called it. Our Jacob started a new school year (4th grade). We took a much needed family trip to the mountains with my parents. We visited two apple farms and stocked up on lots of apples and yummy jelly. We took Bailey to BabyLand General (Home of the cabbage patch kids) for her birthday. We enjoyed a rodeo. We took a trip to Uncle Shuck's for a foster family day. The kids really enjoyed the corn mazes, hay rides, pumpkin patch, and marshmallow roasting (Thanks Uncle Shuck for the invite!).

October

October is always a fun month for us. We took part in Twinkle Time at the library and was featured in the local newspaper. We took a trip to the Atlanta zoo. We enjoyed a fun trip to Chuck-E-cheese's with friends (Thanks John & Christy!). We carved pumpkins, made candy apples, and dressed up in cute costumes. We enjoyed a Family Reunion with Hubby's family (His Mom's side). We attended the Tick-or-Treat village in Dallas. We also attended the Hallelujah Harvest festival and enjoyed Trunk-or-treat. Our two fosters Keiara and Ryleigh went home but two new fosters joined our family...we welcomed a newborn little boy named Kellan and a 4 year old named JJ.

November
November was a month full of family, food, and friends. We took part in the 30 days of thankful. We painted most of the inside of our home. We worked on many crafts and tried out some new recipes. We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early with my Hubby's family and then spent Thanksgiving with my side. It was a month full of thankful. We had lots to be thankful for.

December
December is by far one of the best months of the whole year and this one was no different. We read lots of books  with the 25 books of Christmas (Thanks to Katie & New Georgia Library). We enjoyed watching our little elf on the shelf "Elfie" get into all kinds of mischief.  We cooked /baked lots of yummies with the kids. Decorated the house for Christmas and even took the kids to pick out a real tree.  We built a gingerbread house. Attended 3 foster family parties. Had breakfast with Santa. Took part in Hope For Christmas. The kids were in a Christmas play. We also visited Corey & Anna's church to watch their Christmas play.  Katie & Ashley were in the Dallas parade. We took a trip to the mall for a Christmas movie and pictures with Santa.  The kids drawed pictures and wrote a letter to Santa. We watched lots of Christmas movies. Brookelyn took a fun trip to the Children's museum in Atlanta (Thanks Felicia!). We celebrated Carter's very 1st Christmas and his big 6 month milestone. We enjoyed Christmas dinner with Hubby's side of the family and then dinner with mine on Christmas eve. We remembered to leave cookies for Santa and food for his reindeers. . We enjoyed having Christmas morning breakfast with Brookelyn (Thanks Anna!). We celebrated and sang Happy birthday to Jesus on his birthday. We enjoyed our Christmas surrounded by family & friends.

I hope you enjoyed looking back with me. We have so much to be thankful for. God really has been good to us. Now we are about to start a brand new year and I'm excited to see what God has planned for us this year. I hope this will be another year filled with many more precious memory making days.

May God blessing be upon you & yours in 2012.

Email Sandy- mom2five@bellsouth.net