Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Baby

I don’t know what it is about my baby, but he can always melt my heart! Benjamin is definitely the baby of the family and I’m not ashamed to admit it! He is a lot like Jasmine in temperament and he has such a tender heart. Typically he strives for nothing more than everyone to be at peace. He doesn’t like fighting and his heart is gravely wounded when his brothers make fun of him. He loves his brothers and sisters. He’s always thinking. Always. I remember when he was really little and he would take his cars and line them all up in a row. He would get so upset when I would turn one of the cars in a different direction. They had to be just as he had put them. As a baby he was always happy. Benjamin seldom cried. He loved being cuddled and loved on and he still does.

Benjamin will do and or say things that just warm my heart! And then other times he makes me shake my head and laugh out loud. The other day I told him that I loved him. He replied, “I love you too Mommy!.....Mommy, you’re the queen of my heart! AND Jesus lives in my heart!” Oh how my heart swelled. My sweet little boy.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Progress

The house is coming along thanks to some WONDERFUL friends whom have made themselves available to help out. We had an amazing work day here along with Gabe’s birthday party. Kill 2 birds with one stone. :) The dining room is undergoing its transformation and it looks FABULOUS! The kitchen should be ready to paint before too long. We still have a lot to do, but getting this projects knocked out one at at time is such an encouragement. HUGE shout out to Chad and Sarah for coming! And thank you Chad again for fixing my vacuum and using my AMAZING truck to pull the wimpy Texas truck out of the mud. :)

Shout out to Adri and Art and all the help that you were and for getting your wimpy truck stuck in the mud so my AMAZING truck could pull it out. :)

Love you guys!

My Boy turns 10!

He made it. There were many days I wondered if my sweet little boy would make it to 10, but this picture is proof that he made it! I’m a bit wiser for getting him to 10 and though some days I thought that giving him away was a good idea, I am so blessed to have Gabe as my son. I love him with every fiber of my being and so greatly enjoy seeing the man that he is growing into. It is my desire that as Gabe grows and matures that he would continue to pursue a relationship with the Lord.

I’m thankful to the Lord for the incredible privilege He has placed upon me in my life and role as a mom. So many days I feel like I’m failing my kids, but I pray that through my mistakes they may see Jesus in me. I do not want them to think of my as perfect, because they need to know and see the real me. Gabe has been getting himself into some trouble lately and I have had it with the sneakiness. This past week I lost my cool and yelled at him and did not respond in an appropriate manner. A good friend listened to me complain and then called me on the carpet on my behavior! He said, “What a great opportunity for you to grow and learn. I know this is hard, but you are equipped to handle this. You can do this, but you have to be stronger than that. I realize that is easier said than done. But it is possible. I hope you have asked for his forgiveness. In his eyes he can see a justification fro a wrong behavior based on anger over a circumstance. You don’t want to reinforce that. You can do this, Moe, you sure can.” I read that and was a little stunned at the words I was reading because I was so intent on holding onto my anger that I was not allowing the situation to resolve itself. I did go to Gabe and apologize and my anger instantly dissipated. I am so thankful that the Lord used Richard to speak to my heart!!! I needed to hear those very words.

Gabe, I love you!!!! Happy Birthday, I’m so blessed to have you!!!!!!!!

Love to all!

Update

I keep trying to update this and every time I do, my words escape me. Here's the rundown of the past couple weeks.


5/19 Brad accepted the position to go in Chesapeake, VA. We then started informing our friends and family of our future endeavor. As to be expected, it was met with joy and sadness. And to be honest that was felt all the way around. We are so close to having this house "done" and we won't be able to really enjoy it. =( I hate thinking of that because it truly makes me so sad. I hate leaving our church. I hate leaving our house and land. I hate leaving our friends. But I love moving back to family. I love the family holidays that will happen. I love that my man will be able to surf more frequently. I love being able to take my kids to the beach. I love the rich history in Virginia. I love not having Indiana winters!! I love my husband having a job where he will be happy….That's a whole lot of love and hate going on, huh? =) The Lord is good and faithful and will see us through this transition time.


5/23 We had a wonderful church service and afterwards our good friend, Chad, came over and helped Brad grout the bathroom. Justin and Andrew (Chad and Sarah's son) had a blast playing in the creek and having a mud fight with each other. They were FILTHY afterwards and I used the water hose to rinse/wash them off. We went over to the Richardson's for dinner and had a wonderful night of fellowship with them. It was such a nice night.


Memorial Day weekend was spent working on the house. I got teary eyed on Saturday as Pack Rat came and dropped off the canisters so we can pack. Then my good friend, Cindy, came over and helped me stain doors and trim for the house. I was so thankful for the time we got to spend together gabbing and just enjoying each other's company. We were tired Sunday after church and decided naps were in order! ;-) Then it was out to split wood and load it in the wood shed thing. Monday we had another group of friends from church come over and help us some more. Art was wonderful and really helped get a lot of stuff mudded and packed. Adri helped me get things packed up and we got to run to Lowe's to pick up some more materials. We decided that it would really be a shame to not go and get coffee while we were out too. And then we had another pitstop at Big Lots---it was the grand opening. I did a wee bit of damage in there, but it was all good stuff. I got really teary eyed as I started taking pictures off the walls. I think the realization hit again at that point. God keeps hitting me at different times with this move. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not so good. Some other friends came over and they took ownership over our fish and live rock. We'll have to start a new salt water tank once we get settled back in VA.


6/1 Our realtor came over and did a walk through on the house. Oh. My. Word. Brad and I were a bit depressed at all the work that still needs to be done. I did get the pleasure of doing the happy dance on a couple areas that Debbie said needed changed because I told Brad these things needed to be done when we were doing them originally. However, there is still a lot of work. A lot. A lot. A lot.


6/3-6/5 For the past several weeks I had been noticing that when i would turn on the kitchen faucet the water would surge. I was worried about our well and mentioned it to Brad but he didn't seem to concerned. That night I made sausage gravy, biscuits, and eggs for dinner. Right after I started to serve up the kids I went to turn the water on and there was NO WATER!!!!! NONE! NADA! That started our well adventure. Long story short…several WONDERFUL friends came over and helped dig a big hole, then another friend helped pull the well pump out and replace it. The help of our friends saved us $2600! Thank you guys!!!


6/6 My man left for VA and I had a very emotional day. Very emotional. Church was an experience that I will never forget. It was Pastor John's last Sunday preaching as our interim pastor. We usually do the Lord's Supper on Sunday night, but we changed things up a little and had it during Sunday morning service. What an experience in so many ways! Pastor John served each family individually. We walked to the front of the church and he prayed over us and served us. It was an incredibly sweet time. I cried my eyes out as he prayed for us---so many emotions! We were up there as family, but missing my husband, one of the keys to this family!!! I don't think I've experienced something quite so intimate like that.


After church I took the kids out to eat some Mexican and it was just okay. Then we came home for a little bit before heading to a friends house for a birthday party. I love times of fellowship! We had some wonderful food and just a good time. We got home and I got the kids to bed and started my first sleepless night. :(


I'm sure so much more has happened as I write this, but I'm going to close it out for now and I'll update more soon. ;) :)


Love to all!


Sunday, June 06, 2010

This Boy

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Justin is my little nut job. I love him so much for his craziness! He has a mind that never quits working and an adventurous spirit like none other! When he sets his mind to something he goes for it full throttle. He is showing his caring and sweet side more and more often, but we do still have our outbursts of anger.

Tonight we were at a friend’s house for cook out. They have an outside cat, Oliver. Justin loves Oliver. He played over there earlier this week and became obsessed with this cat. He wanted to go back the next day so he could play with the cat again. So tonight the kids (all 10 of them) spotted Oliver. Justin started going towards Oliver and then Oliver darted and went in the crawl space of the neighbors house. Justin was not going to be stopped and followed into the crawl space after this cat! I hollered at him to come out and a couple seconds later he emerged. Victorious. He had Oliver in his arms.

About 20 minutes after that one of the kids came in upset because Justin wasn’t sharing. I was confused because I didn’t know what he wasn’t sharing. Any guesses? Yep, he was not sharing Oliver. He was sitting up in the play set with Oliver in his arms just loving all over this cat. Justin was in heaven. We wound up telling the kids that they had to let Oliver go and just leave him be for a bit. My boy is desperate for a cat.

I desperately want to get him a cat. Unfortunately, his aunt and one of his cousins are terribly allergic to cats. =( Any ideas?? I certainly could use some.