Can It Be????

I THINK fall has finally made it to Alabama!!! It has been in the high 70's the last few days and after weeks and weeks and weeks of mid 90's it has been glorious!!! It even spurred me to get the fall decorations out and buy these wonderful white pumpkins (my current obsession) at Publix!


Yesterday afternoon was spent outside running around and playing catch and such...

Can we say "I'm almost 2!!?" She has become a little more demanding and whiny as she inches closer to that wonderful age:)

It takes talent to push a lawnmower while holding your juice cup...

a smile:)

love his sweet profile...

it was windy

Samuel wanted to rake up all our pinestraw but then decided to pretend to be a rocker

Fall makes me so happy!!!!

That's What He Said!

Here are a few funny and a few not so funny quotes from Samuel...

While praying one night...
"Dear God, please take the snake out of my heart." (we interpreted this as please take the sin out of my heart...it was so cute that he said snake though instead).

While playing legos with Jeff's dad last weekend...
"I have a headache....(pause)...a CONFUSION headache!"

While playing outside yesterday, he pointed to the ONE tree in our yard that has some leaves falling and changing color...
"That's an October tree!"

After choosing to disobey an instruction I had given him, he was told to go sit in timeout to which he sassed back at me...
"Why are you so mean? Why are you treating me like a...a...a DOG?!" (nice, huh?)

And here is the one that is still making us laugh!!!

While talking with one of his teachers a few weeks ago (this was a particular busy week for Jeff and he was out of town one night and home late a few nights)...
"My dad has not been staying at home lately."
This cracked us up because it made it sound like we were separated or something!!! We cleared that up with the teacher real quick:).

Life

Whew! This week is kicking my butt. Why is it that after a few days away, we are always brought back to reality QUICK???!!! After 2 doctors visits, some xrays, and several trips to CVS to fill prescriptions, I hope we will be on the mend soon. Samuel has pneumonia and has been pretty miserable (until today thanks to the booster shot he got yesterday) and the rest of us are starting zpacks to get rid of our coughs and congestion. He will probably miss this entire week of school and the girls were out today. My plans of getting things done are definitely not happening and that's okay. While I am frustrated at all the sickness, I am thankful that I have been forced to stay home and spend quality time with the kids and actually do some cleaning around here (that I inevitably put off for errands and more fun things). Yesterday we made bead necklaces and built towers with blocks for hours. We also have watched a LOT of tv since Samuel has been so miserable. And I have to say, it's been nice to let the kids sleep late (instead of rushing to school in the morning) and not have to rush out to carpool line in the afternoon! Kind of makes homeschooling sound appealing although I have no idea how or when I would ever be able to teach Samuel anything with the girls running around and screaming at each other all the time!

I wanted to update on other things with Samuel as well. I know my last post about him and my sadness at what he is facing might have been a bit vague. I didn't mean it to be. There is nothing that is huge or dramatic happening...it's just more of a realization that his smaller struggles are a problem and need to be dealt with. My natural tendency is to just put things off and not deal with them and hope for the best. For the first few years after we brought him home, we focused on his heart (he had a hole in his heart) and some of his more overwhelming developmental delays. Since we have moved to Tuscaloosa (2 years ago) we haven't done much besides the neurofeedback (which did help some). After the horrible year he had last year in 1st grade, we decided for him to repeat and for the most part this year is going SO MUCH better! He has so much more confidence, is more mature, and has a great attitude towards homework and school in general. His reading and writing have improved leaps and bounds since last year. However, his inability to focus, follow directions, listen, keep his hands to himself, and to stop talking at appropriate times have not gotten any better. These are the things that will probably not ever get better and will put him at a disadvantage as school gets harder again. These are the things that need attention now and the things that are a result of 3 years in an Eastern European orphanage. There may be some ADHD going on, but we believe there are deeper neurological things that are going on as a result of such a rough start in life. However, there are so many great therapies that we are looking into and about to start and I have a lot of hope that things with Samuel are only going to get better. The dairy free/gluten free diet is going well so far. We are going slow at it and will hopefully be free of all of those things within the next week...so I can't tell a huge difference right now, but we will see. We are moving forward with formal testing and evaluation through our school system (finally)! I am hopeful that through this we can get him a good IEP and some other modifications that will make his time in the classroom easier and better! I am a bit nervous about all the meetings and the stress of therapy, appointments, etc. etc. It is going to take a lot for our family to make all of it work (financially, emotionally, physically, and mentally). I wish I had family close by to help, but thankfully we have lots of college students around who can help with the girls while we work with Samuel and go to therapy and meetings. If you think about us, we would appreciate any prayers for perseverance, endurance, wisdom, patience, and miraculous development for Samuel's little brain! We knew when we started this journey with Samuel nearly 5 years ago, that it would not be easy. But thank goodness, we were sure of our calling. God made it abundantly clear that Samuel was to be ours....whether it would be easy or not. We are privileged to call him our son and we are privileged to help him overcome all that he needs to overcome. More than anything, we love him so much and can't imagine our family without our energetic little guy!

Road Trip

This weekend we took at road trip to Durham, North Carolina. There were 2 reasons we went....first was to see my brother and his wife and second was to see Alabama play Duke. We went with my parents while Jeff's parents stayed with our kids. I know it seems like we have been able to go a ton of places recently without kids and that is SO NOT NORMAL! It has been so fun and such a blessing though to be able to get away some. We are thankful:).

The campus of Duke is so pretty so that was our first stop on Friday. We went to the chapel and took lots of pictures (sister in law Erin was actually in a wedding Friday night so she missed all of our touring that day)....













Then we drove over to another famous spot the Duke Gardens. It is a beautiful place even in September when most of the stuff is not in bloom. Of course, more pictures were taken:)...













Saturday was GAME DAY! Jeff was excited to be able to go in Cameron Indoor for the 3rd time. You see DUKE is Jeff's second favorite team...he loves Duke Basketball and has since he was a kid. So last year when Alabama won the Football National Championship and Duke won the Basketball National Championship he was in sports heaven. I had never been inside and apparently most BAMA fans had not either because there were a lot of them just sitting in seats taking it in. We love ourselves some sports tradition!

Jeff's idols growing up were the guys who wore these numbers in the 90's...

My brother played football for Duke so even though he grew up an Alabama fan, he of course stayed true to his alma mater:).

Finally, we got to spend time with Erin! We had fun tailgating and walking around the sports area of Duke!

Then it was time for the game. As you can see, there was actually more RED than BLUE in Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke is not exactly a big football school but it's getting better. This was a big game for them and I think it was fun for a few minutes for them:). There were a ton of BAMA fans and we kind of gave the Blue Devils a beating.

Coach K was honored at half time for his recent winnings of the world basketball championship. Pretty cool stuff! That's him in the blue polo talking with the abc girl apparently.

The only damper on the weekend was that Samuel got sick while we were away. I feel so bad that Jeff's parents had to deal with him. He is still not feeling well and has a high fever. We appreciate Lanny and Donna taking such good care of him and the girls so we could get away for a few days:)! We had a great time!!!

A Little Pick Me Up!

There are some things that just put me in a great mood, and one of those is easy projects!!! After being a little down yesterday, today has been much better! Thank you for the sweet comments and those of you who even texted me or emailed. I am so thankful for all the encouragement and love I get when I post about hard things. God is sooo sweet to me!

So, back to the project.

I took myself on over to Hobby Lobby to grab a few items I needed to make a nifty little earring holder. I got the idea from the KEVIN AND AMANDA blog. If you haven't ever gone to their blog, you totally should. Even though they are Auburn fans:)! Ha! Seriously though, she is kind of like an idol for me. She likes to do so many of the same things I do (crafts, decorate, bake, photography, create cute blogs, etc) but she does all of them so much better!!! So anyway, got the idea from her blog and decided to go for it. I don't know if you are like me, but I am forever losing earrings. I love this project because it was QUICK AND EASY! Be still my heart:).

Supplies :
8 x 10 Frame
picture hanging wire
thumb nails or a staple gun

I decided on an open back frame from Hobby Lobby because they were half off this week. If I had felt like driving to the gross Walmart I could have gotten a frame for $3 to paint or something...however, because I got one at Hobby Lobby (which is a much more pleasurable shopping experience), I got to skip that step:). I went with a rustic looking frame because I thought that would look cool with the wire. The frame was $7.50 and the wire $1.47. I already had the thumb nails...

I just wrapped the wire around the thumb nail several times and then pushed it in harder to the frame. It seems pretty sturdy but I guess time will tell:)

And here we have it!!! Seriously, the easiest and quickest project I have ever done!

Rambling

Life seems a bit crazy right now for some reason. The fall always seems to catch me off guard with school starting, big football weekends, Jeff being away a lot at night, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, I find myself feeling unsettled and sometimes frazzled by feeling behind on so much...or even just feeling like I'm not doing anything real well. I feel like this post might not make sense and it's probably going to be all over the place...so bear with me:).

Our Women's Bible Study started back up this week (today) and it was so good. We are studying Luke. So this past week, we read the first chapter and God just really did such a work in my heart. I mean Luke 1 & 2 are such familiar passages and yet I feel like the Holy Spirit just really brought the words to life this week. Reading about how Elizabeth was blessed to get pregnant after so many years of being barren and how Mary was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. It just gave me such awe-filled wonder again realizing what a God I serve. The events He orchestrated to bring His only Son into the world to save us were and still are beyond incredible. The way He was so kind to finally grant Elizabeth's greatest desire...to have a baby. It just brought back so many precious memories of remembering the way God granted my deepest earthly desire. The way He used such pain and heartache and frustration to bring Samuel, Ellie Kate, and Abigail into our lives in such amazing ways. Today is the 3 year anniversary of my miscarriage. The day almost slipped by me but then my close sweet friend reminded me that today is her 1 year anniversary of her own miscarriage and then I remembered. My heart hurts for her and it hurts for the babies that we lost. I really will never forget the emotions that surrounded such a broken dream. If I let my thoughts wander, I find myself getting a little angry but mostly just sad that any of my friends have to go through the pain of infertility and miscarriage.

This afternoon was hard because we are realizing that Samuel needs help. He is struggling so much and it just makes me sad. It makes my mama-heart heavy to realize he is not normal. He is not going to just grow out of this. His brain is not working right because of his first 3 years spent in an orphanage. It makes me sad that I can't simply just give him an instruction and expect him to follow it. It makes me sad that nobody seems to understand or be able to help him. And it makes me tired to think of all I need to do to get him the help he needs. And that is where the rubber meets the road for me. I find myself getting frustrated with all of this and it's mostly because in the deepest crevices of my sinful heart, I want an easy and comfortable life. I want to believe that because I know and trust that God is good that it will mean He will make my life easier.

So, after I tucked the children in bed I came down to a quiet house (Jeff is teaching at the weekly meeting) and knew I need to hear from the Lord and be reminded of the truth. I got out my trusty Jesus Calling book and my Bible. I went back to an entry that was from June and just let Sarah Young's words (that are written from the perspective of Jesus) wash over me...

Taste and See that I AM GOOD. This command contains an invitation to experience My living presence. It also contains a promise. The more you experience Me, the more convinced you become of My goodness. This knowledge is essential to your faith-walk. When adversities strike, the human instinct is to doubt My goodness. My ways are mysterious, even to those who know Me intimately. Do not try to fathom My ways. Instead, spend time enjoying Me and experiencing My goodness.

And then I read some of God's holy and true word...

"Taste and see that the LORD IS GOOD; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8

And it brought me back to the awe-filled wonder of this morning and meditating on all that God has done for me through sending His Son, Christ. God IS good because He sent a mediator and a Savior for ME. Life is not going to be easy but I'm thankful that I have the promises of God to meditate on and remind me of the character of God who is also my Heavenly Father...the One who lovingly plans out every course and twist and turn and bump in life into a story that is good and gives Him glory!

So, now I am going to post below some recent pics to catch up a bit:)....

Catching Up

Last weekend, we had a big game here in town when BAMA played PENN STATE. It was also Jeff's birthday so I decided to have some friends over for a pre-game cookout. We had a fun time doing that and then going to the game and watching the Tide roll over the Lions!

fun cupcakes...

family photo op (it's a little blurry but the kids look so cute)...

Jeff's parents came down:)

some of the kids in their cute gameday outfits
(you will notice that EK had already changed out of hers...this is after she had already changed once into a princess costume too)

The next 2 pics are from a week or so ago when we went to visit our sweet nephew and cousin again. We also got to see Jeff's grandparents while we there. It's always a treat to see Nonnie and Gdaddy! They were so excited to meet baby Davis. And Ellie Kate was so excited to see her baby cousin again!!!

"New" Stuff

I have a disease that Jeff really really really hates!!! I don't know the name for it...but it makes me want to rearrange furniture all.the.time, redo things in my house, reorganize all.the.time, make old things look new, make new things (sew, craft, photos) etc. etc. etc. You get the idea! If I had the funds, I could really do some damage each month fixing up my home:).

SOOOOO, anywho, my grandmother gave me an old brass lamp to redo. I have been wanting to do a lamp for a long time so I was so excited about this project. What's so great about a spray painting project, is that you get to see results FAST! This is good for me because I'm not exactly patient when it comes to projects:). This is a big lamp and after the spray paint and cute shade from where else but Target...my total cost was about $25. Not exactly cheap, but a new one this size even at Target or TJMaxx would have been more like $40. And it's always fun to say you did something yourself (at least for me it is)! Plus, I actually needed a new lamp in this room:).

So, here's the before in all it's brassy glory...

primed and already looking better...

finished and in it's new place in the family room...

I picked out some sort of textured spray paint at Home Depot and I think I like it. I debated on whether to do brown or do like an ivory color...as you can see, I chose brown:)

Now, moving on to the kitchen. As I said before, my aunt gave me 6 chairs she wasn't using anymore, and a new to me oil painting to put somewhere. It fits perfect in my kitchen on the only long wall. To refresh your memory, here is a before from not long after we moved in (we have since painted over the lovely yellow 90's faux finish)...

And here is the after! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it so much. I'm so happy with the contrast. The table was a hand me down from my parents and while it's a great sturdy solid oak table, it just has not been my favorite piece...just not quite my style...but it was free so we have just dealt with it. Well, now it looks so much better with the leaf in it and the white chairs! Thanks Lisa for being so generous to us with the chairs and painting:)

excuse the sippy cup of milk:)

excuse the coffee cup:)

There...now I removed all cups from the table:)

FREE pears from my parents house (they have some huge trees on their property)

Yay!!!