The past week...

What a crazy week or so!! I have had my MRI, got the results, got sick, went camping, kids got sick, cleaned my house...and on and on!!
My results to my MRI came back that I have arthritis...WHAT...I am not old enough to have arthritis, but I do. Also something is wrong with my rotator cup and I need steroid shots for now, but NO WAY!!! I am not doing it. I will drug up on Motrin for the rest of my life and be in pain...no shots!!
So, this past weekend we went camping at Lake Francis and had a blast. We went with our small group from Church and had a blast. We all rented different types of boats and had a good time on the lake. Me and Melissa decided to be crazy mommies and we paddled our way over to this island in the middle of the lake and swung (is that proper grammer) from a tree rope into the lake!! It was a blast. I loved it. It was a 100 degrees up there and it felt good jumping into the lake. After that I thought I was going to go out and swim with my husband, but I KNOW I felt a fish touch my leg and could no longer swim anymore not knowing what was in there with me!!! So I floated around on a raft after that with Tyler and Jaelyn! We had a great time and plan on doing another camping trip again as a group, but maybe more north in the mountains next time.
So, I am patiently waiting on hearing something about a placement. The Lord is truly working on me with my patience. It is not one of my qualities I am sorry to say. I am the type of person that gets an idea in my head and I want it to happen right then. So after getting certified last week and NOT getting a call the next day I started to get in the dumps thinking I wasn't going to ever get a call, but I have been doing my daily devotions and reading my Bible and seeing that I need to let the Lord work and I should sit back and learn to be patient and pray about things. Yes, I have been praying for that little boy that will come into our home one day, but am working on the timing. It may not happen today, tomorrow, or even next year, but I know that when it does, it will be in the LORD'S time......and it will be right.
So here are tons of pictures. Some recent and some not so recent. I had to throw this first picture in here of me and Steve cause I keep coming across it on my computer and think it's cute. Also, I am hoping to take a trip this weekend or next (to take my mind off of a placement...ha ha) to Stinson beach with the family and Samson. Samson had the best time while we were camping. It was a blast to see him swim and enjoy being around other doggy friends. He slept in the tent with us each night at the foot of our air mattress and loved it. He is such a good dog and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!!
Enjoy the pics and I will keep everyone posted when I find anything out about a placement. Thanks for all your prayers and sweet comments!!

I love this picture of me and my husband! It was taken in Ohio at Kris and Mindy's house and I just love it!! Sadly, last week I decided to dye my hair really dark and totally regret it now, but I can change it later in a month or so.
After our HOT camping trip this weekend, I am ready to take a trip to the Ocean this weekend. I just have to talk my husband into going too! I love this beach, this is Stinson Beach in San Fran and is gorgeous. It is only about an hour or so away, but takes a while to drive due to the WINDY roads....and I mean WINDY roads!! All of my kids have got car sick on this trip

Okay, not a word Mindy!!! We got a new addition to our family today....a bird! I wanted to get a bird while Steve was in Iraq last year, but was afraid that he would get mad. He actually agreed to it though! They aren't hard to take care of at all! He is a cutie and sure loves to sit on Chelsea's head. I have finally agreed that we are a one dog family and enjoy Samson tremendously, so I have moved on to birds....just kidding! I am only getting one bird and so far it's not so bad!

This is Jaelyn getting her hair done last week. You can see on the sides how badly she butchered it! The length in the back is after she had already cute some off, it was down past the middle of her back!

Getting her hair blow dried at the Salon!

The final product! It is such a cute haircut, but too grown up for my little toddler!!

My husband working on the putting the grill together. We sure did eat good this weekend!! We had Spag one night, then we had Tri-tip and cabobs the next night! It was soooo yummy and it was very simple because everyone pitched in and did their share!!

The guys swimming with their dogs! It was a comical sight to see. I am not sure who had more fun, the guys or the dogs!

A picture of our campsite. We actually had four in a row, but they weren't directly next to each other. Right behind our tent was a cliff (steep hill) with trails.

Here are the three dogs that went with us camping. In the lead is Goliath, in second is Boomer (Samson's hunting buddy), and of course in last place is Samson. He was exhausted by this point and wasn't trying very hard anymore. Labs don't have much stamina, but we are going to work on that before hunting season this year!!!

I love this picture of Chelsea! She looks so funny in mid air!! The kids really had a great time this weekend.

Jaelyn hanging out on the shore!! I don't blame her one bit!

Chelsea swam her little heart out this weekend and had a great time!!

Steve getting Jaelyn use to the water. She is actually happy to be in the water!! She had a good time swimming with her daddy the whole day, too bad her mommy doesn't like swimming in lakes cause she's afraid of the fish that might touch her!!!

Jaelyn swimming all on her own!! I was so shocked she did this! She did it the first day we were there and then wouldn't do it the second day at all. She screamed and cried, so we just let her play up on the shore.

Tyler swimming and having a blast. Tyler did so great in the water this weekend. He wasn't afraid at all! I was so proud of him. He could have swam without the life jacket, but his mommy is a big chicken around lakes and wouldn't let him take it off!!!

Steve bringing the boat to us all by himself. Steve took off in the van to go get us a boat and didn't think about getting it to us by himself, but he did it! What a strong man I have!!!

Steve and the kids puddling along!! They had a great time in this boat, but let me telll you...it works out the legs!!!

Me, Jaelyn, and Tyler floating around on a raft..with Samson by our side!!

Packing up and going home....

WE ARE CERTIFIED!!!!

YEAH!! My case worker called me today and told me the news. I knew we were really close cause the past two days consisted of getting last bits of paperwork together for our agency! So she called today and gave us the news and we can NOW receive a call at ANYTIME that they have a placement for us! How exciting! Please pray with us that this call will come soon cause I am just so anxious!! We are going on a camping trip next weekend to Lake Francis and what a perfect time to bond with a child!! I know the Lord will work in His timing, so I am just praying that it be SOON!!!
I am just so excited and anxious to see the little boy that the Lord has for us! It could be permenant or just temporary, but we will be ok with anything! I am so excited right now!! This is a hard thing for me to deal with though, not having any control of when the phone call will come and what the situation will be!!
PLEASE keep us in your prayers this next week!!!
Thanks!!!

Rain in July??

So this morning I wake up to this ODD noise at 6:30 this morning (after not sleeping very well due to my shoulder) and I hear rain outside on my window. I had to think for a minute..."where am I?" It doesn't rain in CALIFORNIA in July!!!! Not in the past FOUR years we have been here it doesn't!!! Sure enough it was RAIN!! I couldn't believe it. I jetted out of bed to go and grab my camera cause I had to get a picture of the rain! It was POURING outside! It was very refreshing to see! It was one of the top stories on the local news this morning too! How funny huh? I love rain and NO there aren't any storms with it, but I am just enjoying the muggy air today. The weather since we have been home has really been weird. We are usually in 100 degree weather at this time, but today we will be lucky if it hits 80!! Not sure what is going on with our weather! Either we are going to have a mild summer (doubtful) or we are in for some REALLY HOT weather soon and late into the summer and fall!!

Here is my new phone I got last night! No, I didn't just go get another phone for NO reason. On Monday night I was getting ready to go to Steve's softball game and decided to call my girlfriend (in my car) to see if she wanted a coffee from Starbuck's. As I pull my Razr out of my purse, it slipped right out of my hand and into a HUGE cup of water I had in my van in the cupholder!!! I was sooooo upset! I had just got that Razr in Feb of this year! I loved that phone. Well after much thought, I decided to make a change! I went with a Strawberry Chocolate! I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but now I LOVE it! I have only had it for one day, but I really do like it!!

Guess what is coming in the mail to me today??? Yep, A DYSON!! I am finally getting the vacum of my dreams! People think I am so crazy for wanting this item so badly, but they have no idea how horrible the dog hair is even when you vacum daily at my house! Everyone in the world seems to have one of these except me, so I am now in the DYSON club!!! Even Steve's friend from work that is SINGLE and has NO DOG, has a dyson animal!!! Yeah, I can't wait for it to get here and I will be vacuming ALLLL day today!!!

Here is the bad hair cut! The sad thing is that she was so proud of what she did! She cried when she saw how upset I was and I felt horrible for her crying, but I did want her to know that cutting her hair is NOT ok!! We took her last night to Dixon to get it fixed and the lady did a pretty good job. I am just upset that she now has a too grown-up haircut for a little toddler!!

BAD HAIRCUT PICTURE!!!!... Here is another view of her haircut! I just about cried when I saw it!

A close up! Here is Jaelyn's new hair cut. This is after she has slept on it, but I wanted to post a picture of it on here so everyone can see how short it is now. I am not happy with the haircut...not because her hairstylist did a bad job, but because it is such a grown up look for a toddler! She had to go this short though, due to how short she cut it on the sides. I am still in mourning over her long curly hair, but what can you do? It will grow back soon enough.....right?

Together again!! The twins came over today to play for a while and Jaelyn was just SOOO happy! She loves her friends Hannah and Tess! They actually get along pretty good most of the time! Check out Jaelyn's hair! This is after she had slept on it, but it is starting to grow on me a bit.

This is what I have been dealing with all week with Samson....following me around barking at me cause he has no one to play with. I feel bad for him, but he will soon get use to being an only child again! The kids play with him alot, but because he is still a puppy it's not enough!

Here is my next project next week! My back yard has been destroyed by dogs, so I am on a mission to get this fixed! I have started watering it this week and next I will be rototilling (sp) it! I am not much of a gardner, so this will be a new experience for me. I will keep you posted as this gets greener and more fuller!! Wish me luck with this one!!!

Finally a DOWN day!!

Isn't this just the cutest little outfit you have ever seen? Jaelyn finally wore her birthday present from Aunt Mindy and Uncle Kris to Church yesterday! She looked so adorable!! Thank you Aunt Mindy and Uncle Kris and Alec and Mikayla! I love my outfit~

My Dad and Jaelyn Fishing together! Look how sweet this pictures is!!

Well, things have been busy since we got home last Monday! I don't think I have had a minute to just sit and do NOTHING yet! Between doctors appts and getting my house back into order and finishing up stuff for our license, it has been busy! I now know that something is wrong with my shoulder, but not sure how to fix it. They have started me out with Physical therapy and if that doesn't work, then I am seeing a surgeon (pray for me please) Next Tuesday I have an MRI to see what else could be going on with it, cause they x-rays just showed that my shoulder is sloping or something. I don't even know the technical name of it! So I am really nervous about getting an MRI cause I am kind of clauster phobic! We'll see what comes of that!

So I finished my CPR/First Aid on Saturday and we are now officially able to get a refferal at ANY time!! Do you know how exciting this is? The funny thing is that I know we are getting a boy from the age of 5-10, but other than that I don't have a clue of what he will be like! I am nervous, but excited all at the same time! I can't wait for that phone call! I guess according to our caseworker it won't take long because they get calls EVERY DAY of kids needing foster homes. Isn't that the saddest thing in the world? It breaks my heart everytime she tells me that. So, hopefully sometime this week or next I will be posting about our new addition to our home. The thing with Foster care is that it could be temporary or long-term, just depending on the situation!

Church was awesome yesterday! My little guys missed me while I was gone!! I love it when kids come up to me and hug me and say "I missed you Ms. Brandy!" It just melts my heart! I love my little toddlers and they just bring me joy teaching them about Jesus!! They get so excited to learn all they can about Him! I love it! I couldn't imagine a more better job in the whole wide world!! I wish I could do it full-time as a job! That would be wonderful, but who knows what the Lord has for me as a job! I haven't got there yet! My dream one day would be to open a Christian daycare Center! I would love to do that! One thing at a time though! First I need to finish my degree and then see what happens!!

Here are some pictures just random of us back home. Some are of the Fourth of July and others are just things we did at home. Some of these pictures Jaelyn took! She had a blast shooting pictures of us and did a pretty good job! We got a kick out of the pictures!I hope you enjoy all the pics!! There is alot of pictures from my side of the Family in here! I don't get to see them alot when I am home, so when I do I cherish every moment of it!

A Family Shot!! I love this picture of all of us! I sure do miss this kind of stuff! Hopefully within a year or so we could be closer to home.

What a cute family!! Steve and his Grandma ( Diane's mom) having dinner together! It was a great time together!

Steve's dad posing for the camera for Jaelyn. She had such a good time taking pictures of the family!

Check out Jaelyn's photography skills!!! This is Steve' mom posing for the camera!

My husband is going to kill me for this picture. WHo do you think he looks like....his mother or father? Ha ha!! This is Jaelyn taking pictures still!!

A great picture of Mindy Beth!!! (Taken by Jaelyn!!!)

Me and Mindy in a crazy picture (of me)!! Jaelyn was taking pictures and we were cracking up laughing at her!

My crazy OLDER brother n law!! Hard to believe he is a father of two huh???

Look at these cute faces.....Steve loved being around Mikayla while we were home!

Me and my handsome man on the Fourth of July! You see our matching sweatshirts? We were so happy to load up on OHIO anything gear!! You can't find that kind of stuff around here in California!!

The kids on the Fourth of July! We had a great time watching the fireworks together.

My sister Holly and my nephew Tristian! My nephew is such a character! He sure does know how to give his mommy a hard time!! Don't all kids though??

Mommy and Jaelyn....I am not sure where we were (in Ohio) at this time, but I thought this was a cute picture.

My dad and Jaelyn fishing while we were home! My dad took us out on the boat a few days before we left and we went fishing and swimming with him. It was a good time and I wish we could do this more often! These are the moments I miss for my kids!!

Me and Steve at my Grandma's house for the 4th of July family dinner! We had a great time seeing and being with my side of the family. We don't hang out with my family much when we go home, so I loved every minute of it! My family use to be really close when I was a kid and I miss it so much! Just a picture of the gang.....look how long my cousin Jeff's legs are!!!

My grandma Johnson!! This woman has helped me out so much in my life! I didn't always take her advice,but I do love having it! She has truly helped me get through some REALLY ROUGH times in my life and I will never forget that! This isn't the greatest picture of her cause she had just spent all morning and afternoon cooking for the whole family.....her favorite thing in the whole world to do! She just loves when we are all over at her house as a BIG family!! Even at 70..something years old, she still loves to cook for everyone! Thank you Grandma....we love you!!

I have eight cousins on my mom's side of the family! We were all really close when we were younger and I remember always hanging out at my Grandma and Grandpa's house as a kid. This is my cousin Nikki and her boyfriend (sorry I can't remember his name) She is Danny's sister and we didn't know them too well growing up cause they were always away due to the Military (sound familiar?) Nikki is doing great and enjoying life!

My cousin Jeff and his wife Erin. They were married about Six months before me and Steve (maybe a little more) and have three children just like us!! Jeff is the second to oldest cousin (only by months to my cousin Chas) and was the biggest trouble maker I can ever remember!! He has really grown up, but you can still see the mischief in his eyes!! Ha ha!! He is the tallest man that I know. I think he is like 6'7" high! Him, my Uncle Mitch, and my grandpa are the tallest men I know!!! Now you know where Chelsea gets her tallness from!

My cousin Danny and his fiance' Tara! (Mitch's son can you tell?) They have been together for years and engaged for a while. Their wedding isn't until 2009? I think? They are smart kids and are getting all of their ducks in a row before getting married. She is finishing school and Danny is busy helping his dad in running their own business!! CUTE COUPLE!!! He is the youngest out of the eight cousins!!

My crazy Uncle Mitch and Aunt Karen! They were in the military for 15 years and say they miss it like crazy! He retired out at 15 years after both their parents got sick, so they could move home! Although they both are enjoying their life now back home, they always tell me and Steve that the grass is NOT greener on the other side!! I think I will take their advice.....for now! Doesn't he look like a guy you could trust? Ha ha!!