Happy Birthday!!

Seven years ago today it was Mother's Day, my first mother's day as a mother. Because it was seven years ago today that Matthew was born. He has amazed me each year as he has become smarter and more inquisitive. He loves to learn. He is finishing up 1st grade and is already done with our school districts 2nd grade spelling curriculum, is at a middle of 2nd grade reading level, and is excelling in math (go figure!). He is already adding multiple digit numbers including carrying (there are 3rd & 4th graders at my school that can't do that). He is starting to multiply single digit numbers. He enjoys reading the Bible together as a family and reading Bible stories.
As I was going through college and as Aaron and I began our married life, I wondered if I would be able to have kids. I loved children and dreamt of the day that I would be a mother. God was very gracious and gave us Matthew right away and I will always be thankful for my wonderful baby boy.
I LOVE YOU MATTHEW!!!!!!!!!!

HE IS RISEN!

He is RISEN indeed!! Thank you Jesus for dieing for our sins and offering us your free gift of salvation. John 3:16

She's Five Already!

I can't believe my little girl is five already. We have enjoyed celebrating Alisha's fifth birthday today. We didn't get to celebrate quite how we wanted because Matthew is sick, but we had a good day anyway. Alisha and I went shopping together in the afternoon and bought eggs to color tomorrow and stuff to make cupcakes for her party tomorrow. The red dress in the pictures came straight from Germany (Thanks Aunt Nikki!).

Please Pray for this Dear Friend of Mine

Read here for more info.

Please join me in prayer for this family and their adoption process. Please pray that God would allow J to come home very soon. Please a comment of support here or on her post to let us know that you are joining us in prayer for this young boy to come home to join his family.

Reading with Rosco

Since March is reading month, the Alisha's preschool had a Reading with Rosco program. I took Matthew, Alisha, Brandon, and Ashley. Beck needed a break and Kevin has been really crabby lately, so I had Aaron keep two of ours and I took two of Beck's to give her a little break. The kids had a blast. Rosco did balloon animals, magic tricks, read stories, and did some activities with the kids. Then all of the kids got a free book and a goodie bag. It was really fun. Now Beck and I are working on getting Brandon and Michael into preschool in the fall. This will Michael's second try at it if he gets in. Please pray with us that the boys would both qualify for the free program and that they would do well in it once they are in. Michael has improved a lot since he came home, but he is like a rollercoaster. He has his constant ups and downs. Today has been a pretty good day for him. But he usually only has at most four good days in a row. Please pray with us that he would continue to improve. Pray that he will bond with us. He says he loves us, but sometimes it doesn't seem like he is really bonded completely with us.

A spring trip up north

Matthew climbing a tree. I remember when I was a kid, my brother and I used to always climb trees together. Now I watch my son as he enjoys the same thing. Thank goodness for a Carhartt jacket that can withstand the branches scraping against it.
Matthew teaching his cousin how to shoot his BB gun. He was very good at telling him all about gun safety as he showed him what to do.
Three of my kids and my nephew on a log in the woods.
The woods looked more like fall than spring. But it sure was beautiful.

The kids enjoyed hiking through the woods.
Some of the kids sitting with Papa by his favorite tree looking out over the creek.
Hiking through the fields. It was amazing how many anthills there are. You normally can't see them all because of the weeds. But the weeds are all dead and knocked down, so the anthills were everywhere.
Hiking through the pines. We planted these pines as little tiny seedlings and spent several summers mowing the weeds down around them. Now they are huge and beautiful.

Kevin riding on Papa's shoulders in the pines.

Haircuts

Well, Kevin is 17 months old now and other than a trim around his neck and his bangs, he hadn't had a real haircut. His hair is nothing like Matthew's was. Matthew was desperately in need of a haircut by his first birthday. Kevin's hair is taking its time coming in. But anyway, we took him to the barber for his first barber shop haircut on Saturday.

He got real upset at first, but only because he saw that Matthew and Michael had gotten suckers and he didn't get one. So once he got a sucker he was a happy camper. Michael had a few meltdowns at the barber shop because he kept wanting to be next. But he just needs his hair buzzed off all one length and we can do that very easily at home (and save the money). However, a three year old doesn't understand that reasoning and desperately wanted to get his haircut. So I thought all day about how I could make his haircut at home special so he wouldn't feel so left out. So when we got around to cutting his hair in the afternoon, I asked Matthew if he wanted to cut his brother's hair. Of course, what almost 7 year old would turn down an opportunity to use the hair clippers. So Matthew and Michael got an exciting time of bonding as Matthew cut Michael's hair. Aaron cleaned it up some when Matthew was done, but Matthew did a pretty good job for his first try (and for being so young).