Our Day - by Hattie

Dear Daddy,
Mommy says that she promised you that she would let you know what we are up to while you are gone. But Mommy says that I can tell you ... ya know, 'cause I'm such a great conversationalist and all!!!
So, first of all I went to school. Mommy and I ice skated down the driveway to the bus, so while I was gone and Sophie was sleeping Mommy went out and chipped the ice away, shoveled the drive and spread some salt. Aren't you proud of her?
Sophie is



When I came home we had some lunch.





It was all very healthy and all food groups were accounted for - 'cause Pringles are POTATOES and POTATOES are VEGGIES!!!

Don't worry Mommy says there will be tomato sauce on my pizza tonight ... mmmm pizza!

Then Mommy had to change Soapy - she exploded in her outfit. Mommy says no pictures please! While she changed her I found something to do and got stuck!



After she left me there FOREVER while she got the camera, deleted some pics to make room on the disk, changed the batteries and took pictures (while laughing her b'hiney off), she finally got me out. I soon found something else to do.





AMAZING how much fun you can have with an empty bottle and a dryer sheet!!!

Oh, and Mommy also let me push the button on the camera!!! (don't roll your eyes like that. I was careful!)
This is me:



And here's Soapy:



I did a good job huh?!?!?!
I miss you daddy and I love you!!!
Soapy misses you too - nobody tickles her and makes her laugh like you do!

And mommy, well mommy misses you the very most! She loves you like crazy and can't wait til you get home!!!
Love,
Your Girlie

PS - mommy asked me to add this picture since you missed it:



She is so sorry that you missed it!

Picture Perfect Monday - Just Like Her Sis

1,000 words in pictures (and one sentence)!

Little Sophie has a goal - to be just like her big sis, which includes studying every frame of the movie "cars" closely ...




VERY closely,



splashing in the tub,





AND closely watching, so as to someday reproduce, all the dance moves of that water groovin' genius that IS Hattie!!

Anyone Got A Hankie?!?!

My man is leaving for Florida for a week .... This is where I start blubbering like a big 'ol baby!!!!

Please excuse me for a moment ... talk amongst yourselves - I'll give you a subject ...

Rhode Island : Neither Road, nor Island ...

Discuss!!!!

You would think we were in love or something!!!! Ladies, I am gonna need some MAJOR intercessory prayer-in'!!! One mommy, two little girls. I am way outnumbered!!!!

Plus ... I am without my man.

Great, here I go again.

Hankie? Anyone? Bueller?

The Story of Hattie

Alrighty ladies (and gents if you're out there), I have been asked to share our adoption stories - and I aim to please!! Now, for Sophie's story, all you have to do is go back to the very first blog I did - at the time we were deciding to adopt again - and go forward. It is all here in these bloggy pages! For Hattie's, however, we have to go back a little further. OK, a LOT further!!!! I will try to keep it short, but in order for you to really get how AMAZING God is, I gotta go into some detail. So, pull up a comfy chair, grab a drink - maybe a snack - and get ready... here we go:

I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be a mom - there were times when I thought I would NEVER get married and so DENIED wanting children, but it was a big fat lie! I never wanted anyting in life more than I wanted children.
In high school I took one of those classes (can't remember the name of it) about real life stuff. The one where you get to carry a "baby" around for a few weeks and practice being a parent... I LOVED this class. I took great care in picking a name for my little sack o' flour (I named her Laurea Justin - after my aunt and a charachter in the Thorn Birds ... HEY, don't mock, I was 16!), and at the same time I picked out a name for my REAL daughter someday! I chose the name Hattie Grace - Hattie was my Great Grandma and I think my mom thought about that name for me, but it was an "old lady" name and so she was talked out of it. Grace was my grandma's name and also a Biblical term so the name fit the "one family name and one Bible name rule" and I was set. Now I just needed God to bless me with a daughter...

I realized, however, that I first needed to be Blessed with a husband. Believe you me, that was a loooooooonnnnnnnggggggg wait. So long, in fact, that my baby window closed. When I was about 30 I started having "female" issues. Actually I had had 'em all along, they just peaked around that time. I had my first surgery in April and within the next two years had, all totaled, 2 major surgeries, 2 minor surgeries and one PAINFUL procedure. All this on top of the drug therapies, tests, and doctor visits brought me to a place in my faith I never imagined. Since high school I had been "believing" God for my Hattie Grace. So, now was when the lines were tested. I prayed for Him to give me a sign. I reminded Him how very much I wanted children and asked that if I was not going to get them to PLEASE take the desire away and give me peace. Well, that desire never left - if anything it just got stronger. Finally, I came to a place where I had to just trust in His grace (Grace - ya see where I am going with this?) and do what I felt He had been leading me to the whole time. I had to step out in faith and have the "big" surgery. I had been avoiding it at all costs because I had been thinking that He couldn't give me kids if I had the surgery and then how would He fulfill His promise ... oh, silly me!
I had the surgery, effecively removing any chance of having a child - a BIOLOGICAL child. But, I believed God would bring me a child anyway.
I married my man at the age of 34 and we became foster parents. I had another conversation with God. I reminded Him that children would be passing through our house with some frequency and told Him that I did not just want to give the name away. I asked Him to please tell me when Hattie Grace arrived. And, let me tell you my bloggy buddies, He did just that.
We had heard from a friend of a friend that there was a little girl who needed a home. Her mom was a teenager and they were living with HER parents and it was not going well. They were looking for someone to adopt her. By the time we agreed to meet with them, the mother had runaway from home and left the baby there. Let me tell you, the very second they put that baby in my arms I KNEW - I felt God in my Spirit say "this is Hattie Grace" and I knew that she was promised to me. SHE was the child I had been waiting for.
The adoption plans turned ugly though - with her mother gone, there was no one with parental rights to facilitate the adoption. The grandparents were VERY anxious to get her out of their house and wanted us to "just go ahead and take her". We could not do that without endangering our foster licence though, so - in another moment of extreme faith - we had to walk away. For three long, agonizing and faith building months.
At the time we had two little guys in our home who were, let's just say "high maintenance" to the extreme power!!! We loved these guys, but they were a TON of work. One was literally afraid to sleep and it would take me up to 2 or 3 HOURS to get him to sleep at night and it was almost as hard at nap time. His brother was a reflux baby and getting him to sleep safely was not much easier. So, one Friday we were planning on taking a road trip to see my parents and I had decided that I would not bother with a nap and just let 'em sleep in the car. I had just fed em lunch and was cleaning up when I realized that BOTH boys had fallen asleep on their own! Before I had much time to fall to my knees in thanksgiving, the phone rang. It was the baby's grandmother. She was frantic because the baby had been taken into state custody. I immediately started making phone calls. I had no idea who to call or what to ask - but GOD did! I would ask a question and get an answer like "I can't talk to you, but ..." or "I can't tell you who to call, but here is the number of ...". It was SO amazing!! And let me tell you that at the very moment that I got off of the very last call, both boys woke up. They had given me enough time to track her down though and arrange to have her brought to our home the next week (technicalities mandated that we wait till then).
When she came to us she was 9 months old. The state had taken her from her grandparents because she was being severely neglected and possibly molested (thank you Jesus, THAT was not the case). She was angry, malnourished and very antisocial. There are a few things that we are still dealing with today because of the neglect, but she is soooo worth it.
That was in November of 2004. It was a long, bumpy road (mom came back into the picture and knew how to "work" the system) to get to the point where we could adopt, but it finally came. On March 8, 2006, two years ago today, she became our daughter LEGALLY. This was significant because we were told that the adoption process could take up to six months. Ours happened in less than two. It also happened two days before Hubby was scheduled to be layed off from his job (if it hadn't happened then, we may have lost her because of the no job thing), 3 weeks before we moved to Michigan and the day before her big bro Steven was scheduled to leave for bootcamp. And the really cool God touch ... March 8th was my Great Grandma Hattie's birthday. We did not request that date, God just gave it to us because He likes to be creative like that!!! MAN, He is so good aint He?
I hope the story wasn't too long ... I hope that you found it worth the time. I hope that you recognize the God prints that are all over this story. And, I hope that, someday, I can tell this story to Hattie and she will see that there was never a more wanted child in the world and that, from the very beginning, God had a plan for her! Praise Him!!!!!

Hattie Grace - March 8, 2006



Glory to God! Oh how I love this child!!!!!

Time To PARTY!!!!!

For all of you who are visiting me for the first time .... this is who I am:

First and foremost I am a child of the King and my life is dedicated to The One who saves me on a daily basis.



Next in my heart is my WONDERFUL man. He is my very own Prince Charming and my best friend! I love him with all of my heart and Thank God for him daily.



And then, there are my children.

Two handsome men that The Lord gave to me through my marriage. They are strong men with so much of their dad in them they are IMPOSSIBLE not to love!



Two beautiful little ladies that the Lord gifted us through the miracle of adoption. They are my heart and soul and life without them would be no life at all! They are sweet, loving and precious and ... oh, I could go on and on...



And then there is my fRamily ... nope, it's not a typo ... these are the friends that I love like family and the family that I would choose as friends. They are the ones that have seen us through it all! The good, the bad and the ugly. And at the end of the day, they are the ones who will ALWAYS come back for more!



There are also a few things that I am passionate about. I love music - almost every kind, but the songs that rock my world are the ones that glorify my Lord. I love a good movie - old ones (Roman Holiday) as well as not so old (You've Got Mail), all the way to the "new classics" (Passion of The Christ, Facing The Giants, and of course, Finding Nemo!!). Maybe they are only "classics" in my own little mind, but they are STAPLES here in our world!!! I am also passionate about finding a cure for Breast Cancer, which is why I do this every year:



Because EVERYONE deserves a lifetime. My BFF Paula didn't get hers, it is my personal goal to make sure the two sweet angels she left behind get theirs!

So, in a (not so small) nutshell that is me. Pretty much I am just a girl who has been blessed with a wonderful life and started a blog to share pictures of that life with the ones she loves. In the course of it all I have made some pretty cool bloggy buddies - AKA "the Siestas" - and am hoping to make some more!

Feel free to come back any time. I do not promise that it will always be exciting, but I do promise that it will ALWAYS be straight from my heart!!!!!

Let me know ya stopped by and I will be sure to return the favor!!!

Blog at ya later,
Becky Jo

PS - they are giving away a TON of great prizes at blog party headquarters - my personal faves are 17, 24, 45, 58, 67, 101 & 123!!!!

They Don't Make Em Like They Used To

Alrighty, here is a little something that'll age ya...


Hattie was watching Sesame Street a few days ago and saw a little something that had her laughin' so hard she was CRYING (like mother, like daughter!!) and I thought I should share. So I have been trying to find it and have finally hit the jackpot on YouTube:



I only wish I had a video of her watching!!! So FUNNY!

Then, because I was(am) the HUGEST Sesame Street fan EVER - and was totally in love with Ernie when I was a kid, I did a little Ernie search. So many wonderful clips to be found that I couldn't choose ... til I saw this one:



Why would I pick THIS one when there are all of the Ernie classics out there (i.e. Rubber Ducky, Imagination, Banana Phone, etc...)? Well, THIS is where the age part comes in....

I had an audio version of this clip on 8 Track AND record!!!!

Yep, I am that old.

And here I just gave myself away on the world wide web.

So, clearly, I am not only old, I also have lost all hope of shielding the world from this sad fact.

The Jig is up!

More Snow ...

Ok, they said it would happen and I just laughed it off. Last year I could not get enough and they kept saying "just wait", but last year was a light year. This year, not so much. So, again, it has happened...
Me, lover of all things winter and snow ('cept drivin' in it), ME .... I am DONE! I have had enough of the winter thang. I am ready for spring and nice sunny days - not heat mind you, just NICE! The reasons for this latest development in my emotional rollercoaster are two fold:

Firstly, this ...



... is what the front of the house looked like AFTER the snow plow had gone through and Hbby had run the snowblower. Looks nice (sorta) but ever so hard to drive in - which I had to do!!!

Secondly, and this is where the selfishness that is me comes in, I am ever so tired of sorting SOCKS - can I please put the girls in sandals soon?!?!?!
PLEASE?

On the plus side, it is always fun watching the neighbor clear HIS driveway like this:



Then there is a pile in the middle of the cul-de-sac and the neighborhood kids bring out the sleds and play ... OK, I will miss that.

But not the sock thing ... that I won't miss.

At all.

Ever.

Period.

Busy, Busy, Busy ...

Hello my Bloggy Buddies!!! Can I tell ya that I am a busy bee as of late... I am on a couple of committees at church that have had me hoppin the last couple of days. Not to mention that I am in a ladies Bible Study - Jesus, The One and Only by Beth Moore - which requires a LOT of homework. I am not complaining about any of it mind you, just sayin' I am busy... Top it all of with the craziness that is my normal life and .... well, I am B*U*S*Y!!!! It is only Tuesday and I feel like I am ready for the weekend! Here is what has gone down so far this week:

Sunday - Sophie woke up stuffy and green yucky nose again, so Hubby & I made the decision to keep her home from church. Well, I was singing this week, so he was elected to keep the girls. I left for church and was there rehearsing for the morning when it hit me .... WE HAVE COFFEE TABLE THIS MORNING!!!!!! This is soooooo NOT a one man job! So, I call him and tell him to PLEASE get here quick! Being the amazing man he is, he did! So, I sang both services and we did the coffee & cookie stuff and I got a migraine! fuuuuuunnnnn!! Home and to bed for me :(.

Monday - Still with the headache, but not nearly as bad, it was doctor day for the girls. Now, what was I thinking scheduling BOTH appointments at a time of day that was IMPOSSIBLE for a daddy to be there to help me? Hattie is absolutely horrified of the doctor, due to some frightening stuff she had to endure early on in her time with us and after a pretty serious ear infection. So, she began to lose it as we pulled into the parking lot! It got worse from there and that led Sophie into her own little meltdown. It took me and two nurses to get them both weighed and measured! Hattie screamed the entire time the doctor was checking her and proceeded to redress herself - right down to the shoes, socks and jacket - while the Dr. checked her out. Once dressed she plopped herself into the stroller, turned it to the door and thereafter completely ignored the rest of the people in the room. However, she stopped crying so we were able to get to Sophie's check up - 6 MONTHS!!! Can ya even stand it? We talked about the fact that she is most assuredly NOT malnourished in any way whatsoever (20 lbs!) and is growing and developing beautifully. However, she is ALWAYS stuffy and intermittently has the green junk. The doc decided to - finally - put her on an antibiotic. Thank you JESUS, she is finally seeming to feel better and also to be getting some comfort. I had a meeting at church on Monday night, which was the calmest part of my day ... till we left the building to find that it was snowing! Oh boy!
Tuesday - Iceskated down the driveway to the bus and got Hattie off to school and Sophie and I jumped into the car and headed to get Kathy and Evy to meet Jennifer, Mel and Little Jersey at the store to shop for the Easter Carnival at church... and we ran out of time! So I came home, got Hattie, had lunch and we left for more shopping! Came home, got everyone dinner, Hubby came home and I left for another meeting at church. Another calm time, but my mind is reeling from all that I have to do for these committees!!! At one point in the meeting we decided to venture outside to check something and , yeah, snowing ... HARD! So after the meeting I drove home again in the snow - a BLIZZARD I might add!!! I do not like driving in the snow - scares the pajamas off of me! But, I did it!!!!
Tomorrow - Yep, it's a busy one. More Easter Carnival preparations to be taken care of, plus I have to get people together to work on a skit for the carnival, plus I need to get people together to work on the paint scheme and such for the sanctuary, PLUS I need to get my homework done, PLUS I need to show my girls how much I love em AND, I gotta show my man a little love too!
I LOVE my life, but I will be glad for any opportunity to sit still in the next few weeks!
I am sure I just bored ya to tears, but such is my life! Excitement galore! You're wishing you were me right about now, aren't ya!
Blog at ya later!

Picture Perfect Monday - 1st Edition

As if you really needed to see more pictures of my kids.... oh, who am I kidding, ya KNOW ya do ... I hereby present a new little thing that I will be calling Picture Perfect Mondays. In this weekly adventure I will be presenting new photos of one of the girls summed up in (with the exception of this introductory post) one sentence.
This one we will call, Hattie doin' what Hattie does best ... being beautiful! (BTW, that is the title and not the sentence!!)
So, here ya go:












This what you get when, rather than taking pictures from the warmth of the house, you send the camera out with the daddy and let him take the shots!

Official Member Of PCPA

Hello, I am (turns head to the side in utter shame and humiliation)....*big breath*.... a Pretty Cell Phone Addict. It has been seven days since my last pretty cell phone.
And this is where you all clap and cheer for me and tell me how proud of me you are and encourage me to keep up with the program. And I really do appreciate that encouragement, but I must say that I have spent enough time in the pit that is this addiction to know that I do not want to go back .... at least not until the lovely people at Verizon can assure me that the "pretty" phones will also bring to the table, well, ya know ... SERVICE!!!!!
Now, truly, I do not mean to knock Verizon ... we are extremely happy with the service we receive. Hubby is one of the only one of his buddies and brood that can actually get a call out on his cell up where they go hunting (this makes the lonely wife at home oh so happy) so we cannot complain about any of that. However, almost five years and five phones later (I know, that so does not fit in with the "new in two" policy ... let's just say that I have a very cooperative and understanding man that has NOT had a new phone in a while!!!) I have determined that the makers of the pretty phones - mostly the ones that start with an "m" and end with "oterola" - are not necessarily makers of the "charge the battery and have it last/survive children and busy mom/in the back pocket when you fall on the ice and survive/actually WORK for two whole years" phones ... not that I am bitter in any way! They just aren't.
However, because Jesus loves me, all hope is not lost.... I did my research this time. I read all of the reviews and PAID ATTENTION this time. I looked into every complaint that was to be had by the customers who reviewed the phones this time. AND, I actually sought out reviews by Verizon customers this time. And this time I picked a phone for the way it works and not the way it looks. I picked the phone I wanted, we treked to the Verizon store and ... did I mention that Jesus loves me ... it comes in RED!!!!!!!!



Oh yeah ... He loves me! He really loves me!
(He WANTED me to have a pertty phone ...)

29 Things

Ok, so it is leap day ... and I am making up my own rules. 'Cause, basically, this is my blog and i can do whatever I want. Also, I am a big fat baby and I just want to. AND, because I am the mom and I said so!!!!
So, here is how it works.... it is leap day. The one time, every four years, when February has 29 days instead of the regular 28. I am sure you already know what leap day is and I am just rambling, but there is a purpose to be served by explaining... So, seeing as how we have been given the gift of an extra day this year, I hereby institute the rule that there must be a list of 29 things to be thankful for. Here are mine:

1. I am thankful for my health. I have aches and pains at times, but it is nothing that a few years and a few pounds (maybe 50 or so :)) off wouldn't cure!!!

2.My house - I love my porch and my kitchen and my big tree filled yard, plus, seeing as how it is snowing outside and it was about 9 degrees out when I put Hattie on the bus yesterday, a house is gooooooood!

3.Heat - see above! Of course, ask me in July and I will probably be thankful for AC!!

4.Food - Not just because I, obviously,love to eat, but because I like to keep my hubby and children happy and fed!

5.Freedom - I can say what I want and feel what I want and BELIEVE what I want and that is HUGE! I can carry my Bible and where my Jesus hoodies and play my Jesus Freak tunes - LOUD - and feel safe in doing so.

6.Cable TV - ok, this is a stretch, but seeing as how my options on local daytime TV are soaps, Jerry Springer and such, can I just say Thank You Jesus for TLC, Discovery Home, Hallmark Channel and Nickelodeon/Noggin (that one is for Hattie!!!).

7.Cell phones - I need to be able to talk to my "posse" when I want to and when I need to! Really, how did we get along without 'em .... and when did I start using words like "posse"? YIKES!

8.Free long distance - Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!

9.Payless Shoes - I know, totally self serving and makes me look like a spoiled brat. However, were it not for the amazing prices and the beyond brilliant concept that is BOGO, how would I have found the super comfy boots that I wore for Grandma's funeral (and all of the standing afterwards!)? And because I got those boots, Bernadette saw them at church and went out and got her own! That is four comfy feet my friends! Four! What is not to be thankful for in that?!?!

10.La-Z-Boy chairs - Trust me, when you are up at odd hours of the night and need to sit up to feed a baby, but have ample neck support for the bobbing/nodding off movement, the couch just don't cut it!

11.Sleep - for the most part, the La-Z-Boy needing nights are over. Teething has brought some wakefullness at odd hours, but she is usually put back to sleep fairly easily.

12.Orajel and teething pellets - see above.

13.The Internet - Seriously, could I get from point A to B without Mapquest, or make it through the day without my WWW devotionals, or find out what cell phone I want without the online reviews, or LIVE without my Bloggy Buddies?!?!!? I think not!

14.Bloggy Buddies - who would thought that I could make friends that I have never met, keep in touch on a regular basis with friends I've left behind and share pictures with family across the country in a matter of minutes?!?!?! WOW!

15.Non Blogy Buddies - sometimes I need to see a person's face when I am sharing and venting and, ya know, ranting and raving!

16.Email - Again, what did we do before it?

17.Snail mail - sometimes, it is just fun to get a card or letter in the mail (thanks Amanda Jo!!!)

18.Text Messaging - see above and think INSTANTLY!

19.Picture messaging - how else can my Mommy see her Grandbabies at the moment they are doing something sweet or looking cute?

20.My ancestors - Who I am, where I come from and what makes me me. They are my past and, in many ways, my present and future as well!

21.My siblings - I survived my brothers and, though they tortured and teased me to no end, they made stinking sure that no one else ever did!! They loved me in their own cruel ways and made me feel loved - even through the bruises!! I wish I knew Jonita better, but I learned alot from her and love her tons. And Marla, well she was everything I wanted to be growing up - still is in may ways!

22.My nieces and nephews - they were my "practice kids". Especially the AZ bunch who considered our house their second home and would stay days and even weeks at a time! I am sure I got it wrong a few times (Duncan knows what I am talking about), but I hopefully got it right sometimes too!!!

23.Extended family - Cousins, aunts and uncles, etc... They made summer vacations a blast and there are memories that could only have been as wonderful with them in them!

24.Grandparents - I was Blessed in this area immensely! I cannot say enough how very much I loved all of my grandparents - and now that they are all gone, how very much I miss them!

25.THERE fRamily - These people saw me through the hardest parts of my life as well as through the best parts... they still - from across the country - do!!!! My health stuff, my wedding, foster children that they loved as if they were staying forever and the ones that DID stay forever!!! They were my life lines and my inspiration and my sound boards. From day to day stuff, to life changing stuff. From birthdays, BIRTHS, weddings, losses and even death (Paula, Angie and Linda!!) we have been through it all together! I am still here if you are!

26.HERE fRamily - It took a while, and we thought it would NEVER happen, but we are at home here thanks to you all!!!!

27.My parents - Words. Are. Not. Enough. I hope that I show you with my actions how much I respect you, thank you and love you for EVERYTHING!!!

28.My children - Steven - I love you and respect you. I know that you had a hard time letting me in at first, but I am so glad you did. You are such a good man and sooooo much like your dad. More than you know! Chris - You are such a tender heart. You make me laugh and make me cry (toast at the wedding!!) and make me see the world differently. You are wise and loving and, oh so lovable! Hattie - You are my dream come true and SUCH an answer to prayer. You are such a strong and resilient little girl, but so fun and loving as well. Your hugs are the best in the world and come from a place that only you know! I can't wait til you can tell me what you are thinking - I KNOW it will be beautiful! Sophie - you are such a sweet spirit, so serene and peaceful and gentle. You have a light in your eyes that is so beautiful. When you smile - even as a newborn - your WHOLE face smiles. And when you laugh ... I think the angels feel your joy. You are already so communicative and engaging. I can't wait till you get your voice as well! I love all of you so very much and am so proud to be your (step)mom!

29.Hubby - Farmboy... being your wife and mother to your children is what I was born to do. You are every prince in every story book. You are every hero in every romance novel. You are every love song, poem or sonnet. You are all I ever dreamed of and all I ever asked God to bring me, with so many wonderful surprises thrown in that I didn't even realize I wanted or needed! I am so Blessed that you chose to spend your life loving me and so very Blessed that I have the HONOR of spending my life loving you!! When the kids are grown and gone (yes, they will get married someday!!!! Even the girls!) and it is just you and me, on the porch rockin', we can look back and see that all our dreams came true ... and mine came true because of you!!!!! I thank GOD for you! I love you!

These are the things I am thankful for - and I am thankful TO the One who gave them to me!
Have a Blessed day! Tell me what YOU are thankful for!

Birthday Party In Pictures!

Every party needs a theme and this one was ...



The Backyardigans!!!! 'Cause that's the show we love so much - at the least the one choice that Mommy could find in the GIRL b-day section of the party store!! Otherwise it woulda been Diego or Cars!

Hattie waited very patiently while we got ready to sing.



She got so excited to blow the candle out, she didn't even let us finish singing!!!



After singing it was present time - we had to let the pizza, chips, dip and other foods of the "junk" variety, that all of the uncles let her eat, settle!!!



Here is just some of the crowd:



Here she is with Nicole who let her share in the magic that is The Spice Girls (we won't talk about what mommy thinks of the spice girls!!!). The girl was getting her groove on ... wish I had video!



Finally ... Let 'em eat cake!!!



An activity that she shared with the 'Yardigan buddies





She really didn't want the festivities to end, after the cake was served and eaten and the plate was taken away, Hattie decided she needed a little more. So, being the self sufficient and independent four year old that she is, she grabbed the spatula and served herself!!!



And the party didn't end there... apparently all of the junk food (thank you for the bag of chips and gallon of onion dip, chips and cheese dip, fritos and Doritos uncles!!) didn't get along with the pizza and cake in her tummy! Mommy had a surprise when she went to get Hattie up this morning!

I don't think I will show you pictures of that!

However, Nothin' beats a warm bubble bath first thing in the morning!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!

Dear Hattie,
Can it possibly be that you are four years old? The calender says that it's true ... but how can that be when it was just yesterday that you came into our lives? How can that sweet, but hurting baby girl be a four year old preschooler? Where has the time gone? How can I get it back? Everyday you get a little more independent and slip a bit further away from being the baby that needed me so much.



And everyday I am prouder of you, more in love with you and so much happier to be your Mom.
I knew you were sent from God to be my child the first time I held you in my arms. From that moment on you had my heart. I was your Mommy and would go to the ends of the earth for you. I fell in love with you in that moment and that love has not stopped growing ever since.




I have watched you grow from a scared, scarred, angry, hurting, lost little baby who would growl and bite on things in anger (which was completely justified) and frustration into a fun, funny, imaginative, creative, loving, sweet, smart, beautiful big girl in what seems to be such a short time. I am so proud of the girl you have become and the young lady you are becoming. You are brilliant - so smart with letters, numbers, animals and pixar movie & Nickelodeon characters!! You are such a sweet big sister - I am pretty sure that you are Sophie's favorite person in the world. You are getting to be such a loving and SOCIAL girl - this from the girl who, just over a year ago, would close herself off from the rest of the world in any type of social situation. You are becoming such a talker, telling us more and more of what you need and want and sometimes even what you are feeling... I know that that is not easy for you and I am so proud of you for trying so hard. You are absolutely hilarious and I can tell that you like to make people laugh and feel good, I love that about you!



I love snuggling with you when you first get up in the morning and right before bed. I love the way that you won't take a bite of your food til after we have prayed for it. I love the way that you run to the door when Daddy gets home from work. I love the way that you have to know where Sophie is at all times and won't let her out of your sight when there is someone new around. I love the way you say "I love you". I love the way you call me "Mama" for a couple of days after watching the Tigger Movie ('cause Roo calls Kanga "Mama", not "Mommy"). I love the way you stand at the window watching for the bus in the morning and then run down the driveway to climb in. I love the way you say "fishy, fishy, fishy" every morning when I feed the fish - and how you sometimes even hug the tank and tell them good morning! I love reading bed time stories and how we have read your Bible so many times that you have it memorized and KNOW if I say it wrong or have missed a page! Pretty much, I just love YOU - everything about you!



If I could, I would take away every bit of the pain and sorrow that you suffered before coming into our world. I would open your mind and help you to talk and share and tell me everything about your day and what is on your heart. But I would never change, even for a second, who and what you are. You are God's perfect creation and I love you completely, just the way that you are!
I am so vey much in love with you. And I am soooooo very happy that God made me your Mommy.
Happy Birthday sweet girl, I love you!
Love, Your Mommy

Take a Look ...

So, each morning the very first thing I do (after making sure that Sophie is still breathing - IF she wasn't the one who woke me up!) is take a trip to the little girl's room. This time of the day is the ONLY time of day that I have 100%, completely ALL to my self, so this is the way I chose to start it:
I have me some time with God. I pray for my family and friends and give to Him all I have ahead of me for the day. I also have a devotional book that I keep on a shelf above the toity (strange place, I know ... did I mention that I am A*L*O*N*E?!?!?! 'Nuff said?) written by Max Lucado.
All of this to share with you what God - and Max - layed on my heart the other day ... and it still hasn't left. Now, I cannot tell you how many mornings that I read that book and think to myself "self (that's what I call me!), you need to share that with the bloggy buddies!!" and then I leave the bathroom and enter into the realm of Hurricane Hattie, Cyclone Sophie and the chaos that IS my day and I never get it shared. This time though, God has not let me walk away. So, here it is:

"Are you still in love with Jesus? Before you remember anything, remember Him. If you forget anything, don't forget Him....
...Has it been a while since you stared at the Heavens in speechless amazement? Has it been a while since you realized God's divinity and your carnality?
If it has then you need to know something. He's still there. He hasn't left."

This has me stopping to think, remember and realize. I have thought about the fact that my life is such a combination of miracles that I cannot even begin to share them all. I have an amazing husband - he is the very best man I know and is SUCH a man of God that it startles me at times. He TRULY makes me want to be a better person. A more Godly person. And the way that we came together is SUCH a work of God - ONLY He could have done it! And then there is Hattie ... the story of Hattie coming into my life is a long one (I will share the details another time) and is FILLED to the brim with divine promises and follows a trail of crumbs that could only have come from the bread of LIFE! To have her as a daughter is such a miracle. SUCH a gift from God! And Sophie, oh my sweet Sophie! I knew her even before she was born and I was privileged to WATCH her come into this world. And, oh my word, has she made my world a better place. She has a spot in my heart that I didn't even know was there to fill and I cannot remember life without her - or imagine life without her anymore!!! Two sweet miracles. I am their mommy. They are my children. I did not give birth to them, but my HEART KNOWS that they are mine. Sophie - the spitting image of a childhood Hubby. Hattie - so much like a childhood me. Only GOD could bring it all together. Only God.
I have remembered times that I looked into the Heavens - literally - and SAW God! The day that Paula passed away, at the moment she died, someone she knew was taking a picture of the sky. This picture shows a cloud, the sun poking through a hole shaped like a human form. (I sooooo wish I could show you that picture. I will try to find it for later.) It was - in my mind - a picture of my best friend entering Heaven. AMAZING! And once, as a child, we were on a trip to the Grand canyon. I can remember my mom sitting outside the hotel room on the grass and waiting for what seemed like FOREVER for the sun to set. I didn't understand why ... til it hit the horizon. I was sitting with her, holding her hand and felt her gasp. I looked up and saw it. It was like she KNEW that that day's setting sun would be beautiful. And just for her. And finally there was the time that we were on an outreach with Generation Of Promise. This was a youth ministry with kids from 4 to 18 reaching out to the community. We were having an evening off and were barbecuing. The kids were letting off steam and it was, in a word, CHAOS. So, Lesa and I took a walk. We walked far enough way that you could kinda hear the voices of the kids playing in the background - loud enough to be sweet, soft enough to be peaceful - and we stopped and sat. Lesa is an amazingly special person to me. I have shared things - details - with Lesa that I have shared with no other person on the planet. She is that kind of friend. I love her so very much. That evening we shared a sunset, with beauty I had never seen before and have never seen since, that I believe God sent just for the two of us. We both needed peace and God gave it to us then and there. Oh, my friends, He is so GOOD!
And I REALIZED that, truly, if WE do not praise Him, surely His creation will. A flower, a cloud, a child's smile, a sunset, an ocean view, a mountain view, a prairie view ... so many ways that He shows Himself to us every single day! Do we take the time to see it? Surely not enough. But if we look, He is there. He is ALWAYS there!
I will say it again ... He is SO good! Just take a look.

Too Sleepy To Think Of A Title...

OK ladies and gentlemen (ha ha - like any gentlemen read this!!!), it is 2:34 AM. And this is the second time tonight/this morning/this-period-of-the-24-hours-when -all-is-dark-and-most-are-asleep that I have been awakened. This, after not going to sleep until 11:45! The first was a shorter, "say shh shh shh over and over for a few minutes and she will fall back to sleep" kinda awakeness. This one has become a "change the diaper, make a bottle and leave the room so the other bleary eyed parent can sleep" kinda awakeness! Hubby, he took the first one! Tonight was his lucky night! I must say that he really is very wonderful and amazing and AWESOME about taking his turn! THANK YOU JESUS FOR MY MAN!!!!
Why, you may ask, is this awakeness happening? We have been asking ourselves that very question for a couple of weeks now. Why has our good eater/sleeper suddenly turned into one who refuses to open her mouth for the spoon and wakes up at LEAST once a night? Why does our sweetnatured baby go from happy and joyful one moment to Crying her eyes out the next - this is NOT an embellishment (and excuse me, but when are they gonna fix the spell check thingy already ... I am having to use big words like embellishment 'cause I can't figure out if I am spelling exageration correctly. And truly, I am not even sure that I am spelling embellishment correctly... it is 2:39. AM. should I really be expected to SPELL?!?!?!?!)? Well, today the mystery has been solved. I caught a glimpse of her the inside of her mouth. That glimpse made me feel the need to get a closer look, for which I had to stick my fingers in her mouth, pull her bottom lip one way and push her tongue the other and peek fast. And there they were ... two little wite nubs tryng to poke through her swollen and sore little gums. Yes, that's right ... we are teething! This is not fun. I am not liking this. Sophie is liking it even less. I want to cry for her.
Now, with Hattie, teething was not an issue. She would be going about her business and one day you would notice, hey! There are more teeth today than there were the other day. When did that happen?!?!? I consider us Blessed by that! Truly, I do! Poor Sophie is not so lucky - and by that token, either are we, this time around. I love my baby and would honestly take this pain for myself if I could. How I wish I could!
Anyhoo, it is now 2:45 and I think she is finally asleep again. I am going to attempt to get her to bed without waking her or Hubby up ... pray for me (I am all for backdated prayers!!!! And, as I am sure you are reading this at a sane hour of the day, that is what they would be!).
Blog at ya later.
Forgive the typos and misspellings (stinkin' blogger spell check!!) and rambling ... Did I mention it is 2:49 ... no wait, 2:50 in the morning!!!!

Everybody Say "Aaaaaaaaaawwwwww"

Ok, picture day has come and - thankfully - gone. I am always a stressed out mess thinking that I have to do all things necessary to keep my girls happy till the last frame is captured. Well, I FAILED my friend - F*A*I*L*E*D!!!! Praise the Sweet Lord in Heaven, you cannot tell it from the pictures ... except for the lack of choices in shots!
I was more worried about Hattie than Sophie because H is notoriously moody, grumpy and downright yucky on picture day. I was sure that Sophie would do so very well and be her utterly charming and sweetnatured self. Oh, so wrong was I!!! Oh, so very wrong! But, again ya can't tell.

Here is Hattie:




and my favorite



And here is Sophie - to be noted, we had a pretty dress for each girl and BOTH of them refused to wear them ... We did get Sophie into the silky bloomers though:




Ya gotta love the rolly polly chubbiness that is my sweet baby girl!!:)


And, for your viewing pleasure (and if not yours, well, then MINE!!!), here are the two cutest girls on the PLANET:



Oh yeah, them are my girls! How I love them!!!!!

What I Did This Weekend ...

So, Friday night Hubby and I had a date ... an OVERNIGHT date!!! We went to Ypsilanti (yes, that it is a real place)!!! One of our favorite bands was playing there - Casting Crowns!!



It is a pretty good drive away though, so Aunt Kathy came and took care of the girls (along with Nicole) and gave us enough peace of mind that we were able to get a goodnight's sleep. We did not wake up til 9:15 AM!!!!! They had some people there from World Vision and, so, we picked up a "brother" for the girls. His name is Jono (we call him Jo!!) and he is from Indonesia. He is on our fridge and we will be praying for him as though he is right here with us! Hopefully, with a sponsor now, he can go to school and drink clean water and have a better life!!! He shares a birthday with Hattie and we are hoping that the girls can learn a litle bit about giving back to the world through this. Welcome to the family Jo!!!!
We also made a few stops on the way home. No road trip is complete without a stop here:



Comfort food at it's very best!!! It was crazy busy, a very long wait and so-so service, but hey, I got me some heavy duty carbs and had a date with my man ... can't ask for more that that!!!!
He also let me stop at Old Navy and do some shopping for my girls. Oh so cute clothes at rock-bottom prices!! It has always annoyed me that stores bring in the summer stuff in January when I still have another 4-5 months of cold weather to dress for!!! Of course now that I am trying to be a responsible shopper and have a CONSTANTLY growing little one, I am SOOOO appreciating that all of the winter stuff is on CLEARANCE!!! Add to that the fact that by the time I need warm weather clothes for her THEY will be on clearance!!!! Good times!
In other news ... Pray for us today as we take the girls for Easter/6mos./4 year pics. Hattie - who will be four on Sunday!!!!! - does not like to have her pic taken and there is the language/communication difficulty to factor in... Could be a long evening. But, there is pizza for the girl when it is all over!! All wrongs are made right with pizza for that girl!
Blog at ya later!!!

A Valentine's Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a princess (she knew she was a princess, because she was a daughter of the King!) who had many, many friends and a loving family but was still a little lonely. She prayed and prayed and prayed that God would send someone to love her and care for her, but 34 years later, she was still alone. She did not give up though, she just kept praying...
One day the princess had a very bad toothache and the big, bad dentist told her that he had to take some of her teeth out - the princess was VERY afraid of the big bad dentist, but she went anyway and out her teeth came! A few days later the princess and her mommy were at church and a handsome man gave her a beautiful rose. The princess's mommy liked the handsome man but the princess said that he was "just S. Her mommy told her "he is 'just S' now, he will not be 'just S' forever!" The princess thought that her mommy had lost her ever lovin' mind!!!!
Many days went by and she often saw the handsome man, but he was always "just S" ... until one day, the princess's best friend told her that she should be the handsome man's girlfriend. The princess just laughed and told her she was silly. So, the friend went to "just S" and asked HIM if he wanted to be the princess' boyfriend! He said that he did and she told him "then ya better get busy!" After that "just S" sent the princess LOTS of flowers and called her on the phone and sent her sweet emails and did many things to let her know that he liked her ... until one day, she liked him too! Even loved him!!!!
One day the princess realized that her mommy had been right - he was not "just S" anymore .. he had become her handsome prince! And very soon after that the Handsome Prince asked the princess to be his bride, and she cried and jumped up and down and screamed and hugged his neck and said "yes please".
The Princess finally married her Handsome Prince



and they were later blessed with two little girls - princesses themselves



who joined the princes



that the Handsome Prince already had and they became a big happy family that loves eachother very, very much.
The Handsome Prince saved the princess from may things - a VW bug with a propensity for burnt out headlights and a gas tank that would often not open when she needed gas, a small condo with nasty carpets and a hole in the bathtub, a life of plastic Christmas trees, a wish for a family but no way to afford it or have it on her own and, most importantly, a life of thinking that she was not pretty enough or good enough to get a good man to fall in love with her. He loved her for all that she was and she KNEW that he was sent to her by God and she loved him with all of heart - still does, more everyday!!!
And that princess and her handsome prince are living Happily Ever After to this very day!!!!
Happy Valentine's Farmboy!! I love you very much - FOREVER and EVER!!!
Love your Buttercup!!!!

That's My Mommy!!!

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of the woman who gave birth to me ... My Mommy!!!! In honor of her I would like to share a few of the things that make her wonderful ...
So, here it is, 10 reasons my Mom can beat up your mom - not that she would, 'cause ...



10. She is the kindest woman I know. I have only once seen her have a cross word for anyone. And that was at a truckstop restaraunt and my Dad made us wait outside so we didn't get to see the fight ... so, really, all I have heard her say crossly (except to one of us kids when we sassed her one too many times) was "now stop right there"!!! Then the door shut - them inside, us outside! Oh, to be fly on THAT wall (betcha Mom took her!!).

9. She can really hold her liquor - except one New Year's Eve when she went a little too far. She maintains that she "fell asleep", but I say if the pants are either on or off and you are on a bed or other piece of furniture meant for reclining, it is falling asleep, if it is pants HALF on/off and you're lying on the closet floor, it's called PASSING OUT!!!! This only seems bad, but really, it was all very dignified!

8. She really loves her children. We are a PART of her - so much so that if we were, say, at a picnic in the park and someone were to ask her where my little brother was, she may panic 'cause she can't see him playing anywhere ... before realizing that she's been holding him the whole time... in her arms!!!! Quality parenting at it's best ... that's where I learned it my friend!!!

7.She stays calm and cool in a crisis - when I was hit by a flying rock and fell down a mountain with a head injury and had to be driven from the lake back into town to the hospital she kept it together the whole time while keeping me awake and keeping the blood (most of it anyway) off the upholstery. She took very good care of me and made me feel like it would all be ok - which it was!!

6. She always knows when the appropriate time TO panic is ... yep, in the middle of a movie theatre when (in A Christmas Story) Ralphie's dad almost knocked over the Christmas tree. MY mom, jumped from her seat, grunting LOUDLY and reaching to catch the tree that was falling ON THE SCREEN!!!

5. She is very cultered and refined ... Once, when she and I had a weekend to ourselves 'cause the boys had gone off to do ... boy things ... she thought I might enjoy a nice musical. Luckily there was one playing at the movie theatre! So, at about 10 or 12 years old I saw my first musical in a theatre ... "HAIR"! Awww, memories. That was the first time I realized that my mom's face - heck, ANY face - could turn that shade of red!!!

4. She took great care in the choosing of our names ... maybe not so much time in the SPELLING of the names, seeing as how at the age of 35 she called to ask how many "k"s there were before the "ah" in my name .... which is REBECCA! She said that at the time she had had a hard time deciding between the Biblical and anglican spellings. So, after 35 years she had still not made up her mind?!?!?!

3. She also had to look it up when I asked her WHERE I was born! Man, them hospitals musta been passing out some strong drugs back then!!!

2. She may, or may not, have some sort of rubber like substance in her body makeup ... I am guessing yes, judging from the distance she flew after bouncing off a closed glass door in a model home when running to see the pool in the back yard. She also has raised some mighty caring kids, 'cause once I stopped laughing so hard I cried (while all of the STRANGERS standing around helped her up) I did help her to the car!

And the number one reason my mom can beat up your mom ....

In all honesty she is the very best woman I have ever known. She is where I get my blue eyes (even though she says they came from Grandma), my love of God (that woman knows her Bible inside and out!), my FAITH in God (she is who taught me - by example - to pray in all things), my love of books (never knew her to be without one ... and she could read "The Recuers" backwards when we were kids - and again when, as adults, we found the boof in a shelf and climbed on the bed and made her read it to us again!) and my love of life. She is wise - got herself and edumacation when us kids had growed, and had to go all the way to Chicagy to get it!!! She is strong - have you SEEN her six kids?!?! She is good, loving and kind to anyone and everyone, always has been ('cept the lady at the truckstop, and really, she had it comin'!)
I remember her reading bedtime stories to me and the girl nextdoor - Little House On The Prairie - and I remember the girl next door being so amazed 'cause she had never seen anything like that before. And for the rest of the book she came over every night to hear the story.
She is the world's best mother EVER and the best Grandma that my girls could imagine. We are so lucky and Blessed to have her. I am so Blessed to be raised by her - if my girls love me half as much as I love her, then I musta done something right!!!
TRULY, she is everything I ever want to be when I "grow up". She is the wife and mother and woman ... the PERSON I pattern myself after. I know I can feel good following after her because she is so set on following after God.
She is my hero in every way.
I love you VERY much Mommy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

p.s. - She also has the BEST sense of humor, so I feel safe in sharing these stories. She also knows that if I didn't LIKE her almost as much as I LOVE her these stories would not be nearly as fun to tell!!!!


p.s.s. - I am sorry about the glass door incident, I should have picked you up and THEN laughed my fanny off!!!!