Happy Birthday, Natalie!

God has blessed us with a new little life. And it brings tears to my eyes, as well as thoughts of adding another one of these precious little ones to our clan. Yikes! I have baby-fever! If anyone knows of something I can "take" for this "fever", please call me. I thought that going through another round of terrible two's would be the cure but even now that is NOT working.... :-)(I LOVE you Ally!)

Josh and Amy's daughter, Natalie Ann Cheek made her arrival into the world this morning at 7:33 a.m. and she is amazing. Her little toes and fingers are perfect. Her little nose is perfect and SHE is perfect. And I just want to hold her all the time. It makes me think how little time I was able to spend with Ella as a baby because I had my sweet little Ally to take care of. And how little time I was able to spend with my other neices, Jesse and Elin, because I was too scared and young to really know what to do. I feel like this time, with Natalie, will be so precious to me. I am looking forward to getting to know her "quirks" as well as seeing Ella and my girls merge their lives with hers. What an exciting time for all of us! Thank you God, for bringing Natalie safely to us and for blessing us with such precious children. They are all so special!

Happy Birthday, sweet Natalie! We can't wait to get to know you!

My Broken Heart

My heart was broken....

I had to take Ally to the ER Sunday night. If you have ever taken your child to the ER then you know what I am talking about....your heart aches, your stomach is turning and you know that this will get worse before it gets better.

Last Sunday night, before bed, Ally was lying on the floor and reached her hand up for me to take and help her up to her feet. Well, I did and she dislocated her elbow. Can you see now why me heart was broken??? I felt TERRIBLE, actually I felt more than terrible! (But I am proud that I didn't burst into tears.) Ally, of course, cried and screamed "owee" and held her arm close to her body. When she wouldn't move it, we knew that something was really wrong. And to the ER we went....

The ER doctor assured me that it was common and actually showed me how to pop it back in, because it would probably happen again. (Please pray NOW that Ally will be the exception!!!) Four HOURS after arriving at the ER, we were on our way back home and didn't get to bed until 2:00 a.m. My brain was fried and my heart ached. As tired as I was, I kept replaying the events of the night over and over....

The next morning before I took Ally to the pediatrician to check her arm, I saw Kitty (Amy to some of you) my sister-in-law, as I was dropping Maddie off at school. She has no idea of what had happened the night before. There is something about looking into the eyes of someone you love and someone who knows you so well and telling them something that has broken your heart. I cried...for the first time since our ER visit. I have a problem, one that I admit, of bottling up all of my emotions until it becomes too much for me. But for some wonderful reason, Kitty helps to me release those emotions and to feel "free" from them. Thank you, Kitty for being there and for being unaware of what you did for me that morning when I was feeling so low.

I know that I have said this before...but family and friends, those who know you to your core are so amazing and so special. I don't want to ever take these relationships for granted. I can only pray that God guards these people close to his heart. They are amazing and a blessing from Him.

My heart was broken...but it is not anymore.

Watch What You Say!

:-)Watch what you say.....

I picked Ally up from school last week and noticed that the clothes she had worn to school that day were hanging on her hook in a plastic bag...always a bad sign. She had an accident, which is unusual for her. The story goes like this......

Ella, Ally's cousin, has been having a few potty accidents. So in order to "motivate" her, her mommy and daddy have been sending candy as a treat if she goes on the potty. Well, Ally saw Ella getting some candy after she went potty and Ally asks her teacher, "If I go potty, can I have candy?" Miss Christie answers, "No Ally, Ella gets candy because she has accidents." (Can you see where this is going?!?!?)

Ally takes Miss Christie's comment literally! A little while later, Ally walks into the bathroom and then comes out with a big smile on her face. "Miss Christie, I had an ACCIDENT.....I can have CANDY!" she exclaimed proudly!

While Ally may give me grief at times, with her tantrums, she also brightens my day with stories like this one. She IS a mess and I LOVE it. So, the moral of the story is....watch what you say, Ally might be listening!

Botox?!?!

Who needs Botox?!?!?

As a treat for being good, the girls got some new lip gloss yesterday. They were beyond excited. You can never go wrong with makeup! But, it was inevitable what would happen.....

After applying and re-applying again and again, my sweet little girls looked like that had just had a session of Botox! They walked into the room with their lips sticking out and what seemed to be an inch or two worth of shiny gloss on their lips. They were so proud! Who knew that excessive gloss was all you needed to have those beautiful, full lips we all want?!?!

Bye, bye needles!

What IS that??

Last night, the girls and I came upon something that made us dance on our toes.....What IS that??? I said! The girls were scattering to the far corners of the room while I went closer to inspect....

What is it? the girls screamed again and again, unsure of how to feel. I still wasn't sure; it moved so fast. Then I could see. We had a funny, little visitor in our house. A gecko! "I LIKE Gecko's" my silly Ally exclaimed! "Me too, they are funny." I countered. I sent Maddie to get a cup so we could catch the little guy. Well, you can imagine the sight of us all "dancing" around trying to "save" this Gecko from the perils of our house, after all, we do have a cat! We finally caught him in the cup and the girls were just dying with laughter and anticipation of seeing our unexpected visitor close up. There is SO much excitement in catching a Gecko.

Daddy called soon after and Ally got on the phone and told him what we had caught......"Daddy, I caught a TACO" she said. Maddie and I giggled until we had tears in our eyes while Daddy tried to figure it out.....

What is that?? A GECKO!

Songs and Hugs

I was putting the girls to bed the other night and they were BOTH being very sweet. Here are the stories....

Normally, when I put Ally to bed, we pick out two books to read, say our prayers and then Ally will ask for me to sing her favorite song, "Lord you are" while I pat/tickle her back. (Lord you are more precious than silver, Lord you are more costly than gold, Lord you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares to you.)Well, this night was different. SHE wanted to sing this time. She sang "Jesus loves me" and "Lord you are." It was so precious to hear her little voice quietly sing these songs. It melted my heart and made my night. What could be better than this?!?!?.......

After putting Ally to bed, I was ready for Maddie who was waiting for me in her room. We read another book and she said her prayers on her own. She said "Thank you for Mommy and Daddy, Maddie and Ally, thank you for everyone AND thank you God for who you are. Amen" I look forward to her prayers every night. It is my favorite part of the day. There is always something so sweet about the way she prays and loves God. After her prayer, we were talking and she asked me if she hugged herself, if God would feel it.....Yes! He would! So she hugged herself so tight and then we said our goodnights.

I LOVE the way children think. Their child-like innocence can be so profound. There are many times that I forget to "sing" to God like Ally and many more times that I forget to "hug" God like Maddie. Thank you girls for teaching me as I teach you!

Thankful

I am thankful for my life, my girls, my husband, my family and most of all my Lord who has blessed me with all of these things. My life is full and I need to remember this every moment that I breathe. I was reading an article last night, and I will spare you the appalling details, of the horrors going on in the Congo....Bukavu, to be specific. The disregard for human life, and most of all the disregard for God, is nauseating. I had to stop reading because the stories were amazingly heart-wrenching, agonizing and almost completely unbelievable. (Not exactly the best bed time story.) I keep wondering, how could this be happening in TODAY's world???? It just doesn't seem possible. It reminds me of a blog that my friend, Carol, wrote recently about a book called A Thousand Splendid Sun's , a book about the horrors in yet another nation. There is so much hostility, sorrow and fear going on across the globe and it helps me to realize what an unbelievable life I am living...that my family is living. And also helps me realize that I need to pray more, not for myself but for others. I am thankful for this country and for the freedom with which we are so blessed. It is amazing to me to think of such chaos going on just across the ocean. These people, living in th Congo have no sense of the security and freedom that we so easily take for granted. My prayers were earnest last night for no one in particular, but just for the pain and tears of those less fortunate in a country that is falling apart around them. My prayers turned to my girls who I pray will never feel such pain and never cry such heart-breaking tears. I am thankful for the privilege to pray, for the need to teach my children to pray, and I am thankful for a God who listens. I am so THANKFUL.............