Adoption...and other stuff

for some reason writing on this blog, which at one time brought me a lot of joy...has turned into a chore. Why? there could be so many answers to that question...probably the first one would be...i have four children and i'm worn out all the time. yep....that probably sums it up :) however, at this particular moment...i am alone (yes, you are reading correctly) a-l-o-n-e. this doesn't happen very often. i am sitting in my parents living room. grey, the twins and my mom are sleeping. my dad and rylee are at the church for a rehearsal of some kind and me...i'm sitting here alone...in the quiet, just me and my thoughts. so i thought i would share some.

i am still basking in the joy of the adoption of our son, Grey Matthew, who we adopted this last thursday. i feel like our family is finally whole and complete. it is a fabulous feeling and i feel so very blessed. i have an amazing husband and four beautiful, healthy children who were ordained by God to be ours. we have amazing parents and siblings. i still have all four of my amazing grandparents! our friends are the best anyone could ever hope for! we love our life in Houston and our church family! and most importantly, i have an amazing God who shows me love and grace every day of my life. life is not easy, but loving and being loved has to be about the greatest thing God has given us. so, you see, i feel amazingly blessed this holiday season!

on a different note...today is my baby brothers birthday. he is 24 years old which is soooo hard to believe. i will never forget the very first time i saw him in the hospital. he was so tiny that he fit in a stocking. needless to say, he no longer fits in a stocking :) he is a college graduate and works for a production company and i am soooooooo proud of him! so, happy birthday, bubba!!!! i love you!


to anyone reading this blog right now...may your christmas be filled with family, friends and most importantly the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

our first return home...

i really wanted to post some pictures of our adventure home but i left my chord at home.....bummer! so, i'm unable to post pictures. sorry to those of you who thought you would see pictures.

good news....our house is fine. our electricity is on. huge praise!!!!!!!
bad news....our fence in the backyard is in bad shape as well as our trees took a pretty bad beating. i will post pictures as soon as i am able.

we are heading to rockwall (my parents) on wednesday and then will head back to houston with the kids on friday.

hurricane ike......"we no like"

the above picture of my children was taken at galveston this summer. it's crazy to be seeing much different images as we see the devastation that hurricane ike has caused. obviously, galveston got the brunt of the storm. seabrook also has so much damage...we have many church members who live in the seabrook area as well as our minister to children. it looks like our area (clear lake city) didn't get quite as much damage as was anticipated. however, there are still 5.5 million people without power in the houston area and many of those are clear lake. we also have a church member who had part of their roof collapse and has severe damage. a friend drove by our house and the church and it appears that ike had mercy on us. there is still a lot of debris on the roads and they are asking houstonians not to return as of now.

when we are able, kyle and i are going to head back in to clean out the fridge and get some more clothes. when we left they were anticipating the storm to hit closer to corpus. so, we were thinking we would only be gone for the weekend. things certainly changed.

through all of this difficulty and devastation there will be many opportunities for ministry. we are looking forward to helping our community and surrounding areas as much as possible. as of right now...we have no idea when we will be able to go back home. schools are closed until further notice and we don't know when power will be restored.

prayers are appreciated during this time as there are so many reeling from the effects of ike. hopefully, the body of Christ will band together and shed some major light in our community and as He always does........He will make His name and renown known!

thank you for your prayers, support and concern for our family. we are thankful that we are all safe and that we still have a home to go home to. i will keep you updated :)

i know...i know....

it's been a LONG time since i have sat down and blogged.  excuses....let's see.....i'm tired, i have four children and i rarely even have time to return phone calls or call family and friends.  ok, but those are just lame excuses.........it would only take me a few minutes a night if i would actually keep up and not have to write a book.  so here are a few quick updates.

rylee just finished her second week of kindergarten and is thoroughly enjoying herself.  she seems eager to learn and has met lots of new friends (of course :)  kyle and i both shed a few tears on her first day...by the second day it was more like "see you later.....".  having one gone during the day definitely changes the dynamic and is a little easier.  definitely less sibling rivalry going on.........

kade and lily started preschool on thursday.  they go two days a week and lily was soooo excited to bring home some homework so she could join her big sister :)  they continue to grow like weeds and it's been so fun to watch their personalities develop.....they are twins, but sooo different :)  they do have a special bond that is neat to observe.

grey...what can i say? he is an angel :) grey will go to mother's day out on tuesdays only.  i'm so excited to have a day to myself.   he continues to be such a great baby and has brought so much joy to our family.  he was the missing (and final!!!!!! :) piece to our family puzzle.  he's getting around pretty well.  mostly he does a wierd army crawl where he drags his legs behind him :)  he is pulling up, saying and waving bye-bye, clapping and saying mama and dada.  

on a bummer note...my purse was stolen last friday.  if you've ever had a wallet or purse stolen, you know what a nightmare it is.  got the bank stuff situated...still have to get my license and social security card replaced.  (yes mom, i know that you told me not to carry it with me......you were right, ok!!!!:)  

ok...that's it for now.  i will try to write a little more often.  thanks for reading!!! :)

so much to catch up on......

the kids and i left thursday, the 19th to head to sunrise beach where my aunt and uncle live. we got there every year for my mom's side family reunion. as always, we had a fabulous time with family, jet skiing, boating and tubing. so much fun...and i LOVE my family! i wish i could see them more than once a year. my pop turned 85 on the 19th. he just finished a memoir and gave everyone signed copies. it is a priceless treasure from my amazing grandfather who graduated from tx a&m and became an ag teacher for 35 years in the same school district. he served his country in world war II and has been an amazing husband to my mammaw for 60yrs this year and has been a devoted and loving father to five children. there are 12 of us grandkids and ugghhhhh...a lot of great grands :) can you tell i love my pop and am very proud to be his grand-daughter? :)

upon leaving the family reunion we came to rockwall for the night. on sun. night the buses came to dallas and picked rylee and i up to go on to youth camp in colorado. 16 hours later we arrived in colorado and after about an hour stepping off of the bus, my allergies went crazy!!!!! ughhhhh..i was miserable. i couldn't breathe and i've never sneezed so much in my life. there was cotton from cottonwood trees flying everywhere. it looked like snow. i'm assuming that is what i'm allergic to. anyway, after three days of misery i discovered a God given thing called claritin d and afrin nose spray. woo hoo..................i felt better on thursday and friday :)

youth camp was amazing. two girls from our group entered into a relationship with Christ, which was the hightlight of the week. the focus of the week was on God's love for us, our love for one another, community. i could go on and on about things that God showed me but i would be writing all night. i'll just sum up that i came away wanting to LOVE more, give more and serve more.

my babies turned 4 on tuesday! it was hard being away from them on their birthday, but my parents made a BIG deal over them :) we are having a party on july 5 in waco where we will officially celebrate their birthday. they are getting so big... i was soooo glad to see them and grey. it's nice to have a break but hard when your separated from your kids.

we are in rockwall tonight. i'm recuperating from the trip and then the kids and i will head home tomorrow. i'm still not feeling well. i'm sure it's a combo of allergies and lack of sleep. i took a 3 1/2 hr nap this afternoon and woke up feeling like doodoo. is that how you spell it? oh well. you get me.

i leave you with a quote from Gandhi...i hope you find it as challenging as i do.

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

these words are sad and challenging. God, may we truly understand what it means to live like Christ. help us to know the true meaning of love!

can't think of a good title :)

i took grey to the doctor yesterday.  he had to get three shots and blood drawn from his little arm :(  the reason for the blood is....apparently the state cannot find his newborn screening.  therefore, they had to do a new one yesterday.  ughhhhhhhh!  frustration abounds when it comes to the state!!!!!!!  anyway, my sweet friend Kristi (mom to 4 yr old triplets) kept my other three yesterday afternoon while i took grey to tx children's and then meredith came to get them from kristi's and brought them home.  grey and i got home around 6pm.  it was a longgggggg afternoon and we were both worn out when we got home.  i'm soooo grateful to kris and mer for taking my kids...thanks guys!!!!!!!  love you both :)  

it has been a busy week.  been gone a lot from the house. today is laundry catch up day, then we are going swimming at kristin's apts.  the kids are super excited and i'll be glad to get a little sun :)  hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!!    

Ode to Julie...

today is my sweet friend, julie's birthday!  i'm sad i can't be with her, but sooo happy that we got to spend last weekend with them.  julie...you are an amazing friend and i am sooooo blessed to have you in my life!  i hope your day is amazing and you know how very special you are!!!  and now i will "blog sing"....

happy birthday to you!  happy birthday to you!  happy birthday, dear julie!  happy birthday to you!

I LOVE YOU!  :-)