Thanks for all your prayers...

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers for my family. Here is the scoop....on the way home from LA my sister called to tell me that my grandma is in the hospital. The previous night (nobody called me) she had just arrived home from Atlanta visiting my cousin, she was carrying a piece of luggage up her front porch and something popped in her knee. It was a painful painful pop and made her go crashing down her cement steps to the ground. She banged up her elbow and head from what she says, but the worst is her knee. She had to sit in the snow and wait for parmedics to take her to the hospital. She was admitted Saturday night and I found out about it Sunday afternoon. The doctor said he had to do surgery, but an x-ray showed there was still fluid in her lungs from the pnemonia (sp) that she had a month or so ago. They worked to clear her lungs Sunday and scheduled surgery for Tuesday morning. Tuesday came and she still wasn't in the clear. Finally today at 3:30 pm she made it through surgery. I talked to her after the surgery and she seems fine. She hadn't spoke to the doctor at the point to find out how badly she injured her knee. Previous to the surgery the doctor already told her that she would be in a cast from her hip to her foot for at least four weeks.
These are the moments I literally hate being far away. You can't even imagine what it's like to be helpless thousands of miles away from home. I want to be there and helping take care of my grandma and it isn't possible. I felt this way once before when my sister Holly went into labor with my nephew Tristian at 26 weeks! At that time I was all the way in England. It is the worst and most helpless feeling ever.
My grandma is going to have a long recovery, but praise the Lord she is going to be fine. I worry about her recovery and am working on seeing if she can make the flight out here at all so I can help take care of her.
Funny in at my convention on Saturday, one of the speakers said, "You are always either going into a crisis, in a crisis, or coming out of crisis." How true is this?
As you read in an earlier post my grandma was coming out here while Steve is in Texas to take care of the kids while I am in class three nights a week, well that isn't happening. We aren't sure when Grandma can fly, so I had to sadly drop two of my classes on Tuesday. This was very very hard for me cause if you know me at all, I love going to school. A few people offered to try and help me with the kids so I could go to school, but let's face it, we know life happens. All my friends have kids, husband, or jobs, and it is alot to ask someone to take care of my FOUR kids for about five hours a night. I just can't do it. Also if for some reason I couldn't find someone to take care of the kids and I had to miss school or drop out later, it would affect my GPA and right now I have a GREAT GPA and I am not going to lose it. Steve and I talked long and hard and we know that this is the best choice for me right now. Is it heartbreaking, yes. Is it going to stop me from ever getting my degree, HECK NO! I have plenty of time to accomplish that goal when the time is right. I am keeping my one class, Math, so I will at least feel like I am working towards my degree. I am so close to being done and will be so overjoyed when my graduation day comes.
Again, I want to thank you all for your prayers. I don't have much time right now to post a lot of pictures, but I am going to put a few on here.
Thank you Jesus for taking care of my grandma during her surgery today. I pray that You are sitting there holding her hand since I am unable to Lord. I pray for a peace for my grandma in knowing that she will be ok. I can't find that peace Lord until I know that she knows You and right now she doesn't. I pray that some way or some how I am able to minister to her through this situation. I want to know that I am going to see my grandma in Heaven one day.
Thank you in advance for all that You are going to do.
In Jesus' name we pray...
Amen
Oops...Pics to come in a later post! Sorry!

PLEASE PRAY!!

I don't have a lot of time right now, but needed to post real quick to ask for your prayers.
I am not going into details right now, but on the way home from LA I received some bad news. Please pray for my family right now and when I can I will get on here and post about our great weekend.
I did meet Melissa and let me just say, she is as sweet in person as she is in "blog world." It was a fun lunch and I am hoping we can make a tradition of it!
Anyways, Please keep my family in your prayers. I truly believe that there is power in prayer!
Thank you so much!
I will post again when I have a chance.

A little Pampering...

So this week has been a busy and crazy week as always! I was trying to enjoy my last week before I head back to school this next week. I will be in school on Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs nights this semester. Luckily, I found out that I won't have to go every Thursday night! It is an online class too! I am happy about that one. Don't get me wrong I love school, but with Steve leaving it will be much easier to be gone only two nights a week! He leaves on the 16th of Feb and my grandma flies in that same day! Did I mention before that my grandma is coming out here while Steve is gone? I can't always remember what I blog! Yes, she is coming out here with a one way ticket in case she wants to leave before the six weeks is up! I truly won't blame her if she choses to leave early. So, I have some exciting projects planned out for her and I while she is here. We are going to have a good time together and she will keep me company while Steve is gone!
Anyways, this week I have lost NINE pounds! That was as of WEd, which is not my weigh in day! Hopefully I will have lost another pound by Monday! Since I have been working out so hard and eating healthier, I decided to treat myself a little. Wed. I went and had my hair done, which was needed so desperatly! I mean DESPERATLY! With three kids (now four) I am always last to get taken care of! I LOVE my new hairstyle! It looks great and I love my hairdresser. His name is Erasmo and he is awesome! Then today I go and get my nails done and while I am there I decide to get my eyebrows waxed! I hate plucking them by the way. As I was getting my eyebrows plucked, memories came flowing back of the first time I had them done. We lived in the Azores and my girlfriends all convinced me to go with them to Praia to get them done. It was about four of us and we all payed 4 Euros to get our eyebrows done. I was laughing thinking of what a site we probably were. Four American gals walking down a cobblestone road with BRIGHT RED eyebrows! I miss the Azores when I think of moments like these. I had some great friends and great times while we lived there.
One last thing before I go! I have to make this quick. This week Chelsea was diagnosed with ADD. We started her this morning on her medication and we are praying that this is the proper diagnosis. I drug my feet on this for so long due to it being so overly diagnosed. I am going to blog about it more tomorrow or Monday because I want to take a whole post to talk about it. Please pray for us as we go through this time of trasition. It has made me look at Chelsea in a whole new light. I know that sounds funny, but like I said I will explain more later....
Lord, I just want to thank You. Thank you for blessing me with the means to be able to take a little time to myself. I don't take this for granted one bit and appreciate everything I am able to do. I am so grateful for the family I have and thank You for that blessing. Thank You for my wonderful husband Lord. I am so grateful that you put him in my path each and every day. I don't even want to think about where I would be today if I hadn't met Steve.
Please be with the Church tomorrow as we have our Annual Meeting and make some big decisions as a Church. I want to always give you all the praise and the Glory!
In Jesus' name we pray....
Amen

Loving Weight Watchers....

Sorry to take so long to get back on here! It has been a busy past week. Kids back to school and trying to work in gym time along with appointments had me busy! I love every minute of it though!
I have officially lost 8lbs! I am so proud! It is a little slower than I like, but this is a lifestyle change. I have to keep reminding myself of that when I see small numbers each week. I have been going to the gym at least four times a week now too. It feels so good and I feel much better about myself. I am hoping that I can continue this on once I start school, but we will see. I will at least continue eating healthy, but not sure how much gym time I will get. Anyways, I have been working real hard at getting healthy, so that doesn't leave me much time on the computer very much. It's interesting cause with WW there are Healthy Guidelines that they want you to try and meet each day. Well, dairy and oil is my hardest to meet. I was on WW message board and saw that a lady posted about mixing her oil into a glass of milk and drinking it just so she gets them both in! Well guess what I do now? Yep, I drink milk and oil! It doesn't mix very well, but there really isn't any bad taste to it at all! I get them both in for the day and can focus more on getting my fruits and veggies!
Well, we had a rough past couple of weeks. We were having problems with G's former foster family. It has all been settled now though. It really is a long story and I am not sure I can post it on here, but just know that it all turned out ok in the end. I did alot of praying and my prayers were answered! Don't we serve and awesome God? G's birthday is coming up so we have been doing a lot of planning for that. I don't really think he has had a REAL birthday party before, so we are thinking about having it at Scandia. They have go-carts, rock climbing, laser tag, and all kinds of video games there. G is so excited and already trying to figure out who all he is going to invite. I am so excited for him and can't wait until we celebrate his day! He is going to be 13! Wow! I am going to have a teenager in my home! Soon to follow is Chelsea and boy will I be in trouble!
Well, I am in a rambling mood tonight, but need to get to bed. I haven't been getting much sleep cause my shoulders are bothering me really bad lately. I am not sure if it's the weather or what, but they give me a lot of trouble at night. They say I have arthritis in them, but I think I am TOO YOUNG for that!
Tonight I am going to end my post in prayer as always. My prayer tonight is for G. Court is coming up in less than two weeks. From what the sw is telling me that they will give Mom another six months to work on her plan, but at the same time they will be working on a permenant plan for G. This means adoption. She asked if it was something that we would be interested in and I had to tell her probably not. My heart was broken at first, but there are many reasons right now that we should not adopt. I am not saying this is our final answer, but most likely we will have to see G go to a permenant home else where. This isn't something that is going to happen right away, but just know that within six months he will probably go to a new home, an adoptive one. Please don't judge and like I said it's not final yet, but when we went into doing foster care we agreed that unless we BOTH feel that we should adopt, then and only then we will. We have only had G for two months and I don't think that is long enough for us to make a final decision just yet. I believe we are still in the honeymoon phase, although we have quickly started moving out of it! Not that it's bad, but G's showing more and more of his personality each day!
Lord, I lift this precious child up to you tonight, G. He has the sweetest smile and they biggest heart Lord. I just pray for Your will in his life and ours Lord. If we are not meant to adopt G Lord, I pray for the family out there that is looking for a child. A child to call their own. I thank you each and every day for bringing G into our lives and I pray that during his stay here that he has come to not only know You, but grown closer to You each day. I pray that if and when it comes time to leave our home, that he knows he ALWAYS has You to turn to in his time of need. I also want to lift up his brother and sister to You Lord. It is most likely that these three siblings are going to be broke apart if they are adopted out. I just pray that maybe there is a family out there looking for a sibling group of three so they can stay together. You are an almighty God and I trust in You that everything will work out. My heart breaks for these children tonight, but also for their mother. As a mother, I could not even imagine being away from my children at all, and my heart goes out for G's mom tonight. I pray that some way, some how, she comes around and realizes the mistake she is making in letting these children go. Please be with G's brother and sister tonight with their situation. I am so heart broken over these children. I thank you for all that you have done and all that You are going to do.
In Jesus' name we pray....
Amen

Finally some pictures!!

So I am finally getting pictures on my computer. I have more to put on here, but have to get some work done. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours creating our curriculum for Preschool at Church and now I have to type it up! I am excited about what this year holds for our pre-schooler! I pray each one learns more about Jesus this year!

Things are good around here. I am enjoying relaxing and getting things done around the house. Today I got the laundry room cleaned...that is a big task too! I got up this morning and hit the gym. My girlfriend Shannon and I played raquetball for a half and hour and then I did 50 min on the elliptical. I sure hope there weren't cameras in the raquetball room! It was pretty interesting. We made it more like walleyball! Just hit it wherever and whenever you can! It was a good workout though! I was out of breath chasing that darn ball around. I am hoping to get back again and play soon. I really would like to play more often and get better at it.

So I survived the kids being home for TWO whole weeks! Hooray for me! Don't get me wrong I love having the kids around, but having four kids cooped up in a not so large house can be very trying. They did great and made it outside most days. The last three have been full of rain though. We got hit by a good storm, which started Thursday afternoon and came in big and strong Friday morning. I still ventured out Friday morning to the gym despite the crazy wind and rain. Once I start exercising, I get addicted! I just feel so much better about myself. I am learning to not drop the weight so fast, so I won't gain it all back. It's a tough concept for me to get, but I am slowly getting it. I just want to see BIG results and NOW!

I wish I could post pictures of G on here. He had a smile ear to ear on Christmas morning. ALl of the kids were up by 6:45, well except Jaelyn. We actually had to go and wake her up.

I am so excited because in about three weeks I am leaving for L.A! I go down there for a Premier Rally each year. This will be my second year going. I am actually staying in the Hotel that they are having the Rally in! I can't wait! I also get to "meet" Melissa from blog world in person. My girlfriend and I are driving down, which will take us about 7 1/2 hours. The Rally's are so much fun and so exciting!! I can't wait to post some pictures from the whole trip! We will have to leave by 3 AM to get down there! It's a girl's trip and it is going to be F-U-N!!

Enjoy the pics. Sorry they are out of order as always. I have a few more videos to post on here, but they take very long. I will do that another day!

Tonight I am ending my prayer for the unsaved. Lord I lift up those to You who are not saved and don't know you as their Lord and Savior. You are the best gift that anyone could receive and I just pray that if that opportunity comes up for me, that you guide me through it. I just pray for this world Lord and all the sin that is in it. I want to pray for those who claim to be a Christian, yet really haven't "got" it yet. It is always a growing process and I pray that You show me where I need to grow to be a better Christian to further Your Kingdom. I pray that on Sunday I am able to keep my Joy despite any negativity that may go on Lord. I lift my Church up to You Lord because we don't know where this year is going to take us, but I find comfort in knowing that You do. Thank you for my beautiful family, my friends, and my Church family. I am thankful each and everyday for the blessings I have. I thank You for Your Grace and Mercy and most of all for dying on the cross for me.

In Jesus' name we pray....Amen

Steve playing Chelsea's Nintendo Ds. This kept them occupied for a while

Steve and Tootsie napping....what a tough day....
Jaelyn and her crazy smile..hopefully one day my kids will get past this...

Jaelyn playing with her Leapster that Grandma O. got for her! Thank you grandma...
Chelsea glamming it up.. but check out the hair. Must have lipstick, but can't brush hair..ha ha!!!

Chelsea getting the Nintendo DS that she has been wanting for a while! We put it in a huge box, wrapped it and then put lots of peanuts in it too...hence the mess...
Tyler opening some presents! This child is so easy to please...THANK YOU LORD!!!

Then some healy's. I thought he would be so excited by these, but actually he wasn't at first cause he didn't know how to do them. Now, we can't get them off the kid....


Here are some pictures from the past month or so... A friend of Steve's took him to a Laker game for his birthday. Even though he is not a BIG Laker fan, he had lots of fun. This is Kobe shooting a free throw!

Finally a cute smile from my girl...see why I want her to smile so badly? She just has the best smile in the world...

Daddy and Jaelyn. Not sure what happened to this picture, but I am not happy about it at all...

Steve and his mini-me! These two are so much alike!

Here's my girl! She has major mood swings, but for the most part has a great attitude....most days... She is taller than me and just keeps on growing. She is really thinning out and looking like a teenager. People are shocked when she says she is only 12.

This is Jaelyn at Church. Some Sunday's my morning consist of this face.....

and other mornings it consists of this face.....

Steve playing Chelsea's Nintendo Ds....very interesting....

Still no pictures....

Sorry you are going to have to listen to me ramble on again without any pictures!! I am not sure what is going on with my computer, but hopefully Steve will figure it out soon. I just get too frustrated and give up!

So nothing much is going on here with our family. We have just been hanging out. I am looking forward to the kids going back to school on Monday. It will just be nice to get back into a routine again. They have been doing really well while here at home, but it's good for them to go back too!

Today I got up for the THIRD day in a row (and I am feeling it) and walked for one hour with Samson. Chelsea and G wanted to go with me today, so I woke them up and off we went. G was such a trooper cause I know he wanted to quit half way through, but he hung in there with us. His legs are so much shorter than mine and Chelsea's and we were walking at a fast pace, so he had to go faster just to keep up with us. They were happy they did it though and I am hoping we can go on more walks soon. It won't be anytime soon though cause we have THREE storms coming through here starting tomorrow! I am so excited, we will have heavy rain and high winds rolling in tomorrow afternoon! They are saying the winds could get up to 40mph! Now when we first got here we would have laughed at this, but now that seems pretty windy. Living in the Azores 40mph winds were mild. The Azores always has a pretty good breeze going on. I sure do miss that place sometimes.

G is doing really well. I sit and wonder if I am doing enough for him at times. Like I said previously, it's hard to bond with a 12 year old. He sure does seem to enjoy hanging around me and Steve though, but as for hugs and that kind of connection...well..it just doesn't seem to be there yet. I hug him, but am afraid to hug him too much cause I want it to be on his terms. Just like I don't make him call me mom cause I feel he already has a mom. I guess his previous foster mom makes all her foster kids call her mom. He called there yesterday and I heard him call her mom and I felt such a pain in my heart. Why? He was with her for about six months, so why wouldn't he think of her as a mom. I just think deep down inside that I wish he would WANT to call me mom. I also have been thinking alot about G's future. I should know more later this month because there is a court hearing at the end of January. It is to review his case and I am not sure if they are going to give mom more time to get her act together or call it quits. It's almost been a year that G has been in Foster care. I wonder how long they let this go on? When children are younger they kind of don't understand a time frame, but G does. He knows how long his mom goes missing for, he knows how long it's been since the last time he saw her, he knows how long he has been left in foster care, he knows. I think it makes it that much harder on him. He is just a child, but yet has seen and been through more things than some adults have. I am so happy that he is here. A part of me wants to keep him forever and a part of me believes at this age it would be hard for him to leave his family and he should be with them. I knew starting foster care wouldn't be easy, but I didn't realize how many thoughts would be swarming in my head daily. I love it though and wouldn't trade doing it for the world. This is where the Lord wants me, I know it deep in my heart.

I have been working hard at fine tuning my prayer life. I am actually reading a book called "Teach Me to Pray in28 Days." by Kay Arthur. It is really good so far. I know it sounds corny to read a book on how to pray, but not everyone knows how to pray. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I did not grow up in Church all my life. My husband (boyfriend at the time) is the one who introduced me to Church. My childhood didn't consist of prayer, church, and tithing. Far from it, so I have to learn all these things. Now don't get me wrong, I have been a Christian for ten years this October, but I still am growing. I know I can never be perfect, but when I get to Heaven and face my Father, I want him to say- "Good job daughter, I see you tried to be the best you could be."

My prayer tonight is to pray for 2008 and our future.
Lord I just want to take this time and lift up or Presidential candidates to You. This next President is going to have some tough struggles ahead of him or her. I just pray that they keep You in all their decisions and remember that You are what this Country was founded on. I thank you for the right to vote and the right to be able to have free speech on what I believe. Thank you for the Mercy and Grace You have given me and my family daily Lord. I am not worthy of what I have been blessed with in my life and I just thank You for that. I just pray for Your Will in our lives as we enter this New Year with hope and joy. I pray for a peace in all decisions that we make this year for our future. I am just so grateful that when "I" am not sure, I can turn to You Lord. I want to thank You in advance for all that You are going to do in this next year. Please watch over our men and women as they are away from their families. I pray a hedge of protection around them as they continue this battle on foreign land.
In Jesus' name we pray...in Your gracious name...
Amen

Happy New Year!!!

"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!!!!"

Anyone know this song? This is the song that I was singing this morning as I was taking my walk. The past two mornings I woke up early and took Samson out for a walk. (To earn extra pts for WW) Anyways, it was soooo nice! This morning was very cold and breezy, but I still made it. I love the crisp feeing of a fresh new day and it was even better today since it's the New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and exciting New Year's Eve.

On my walk this morning I was able to sit back and reflect on this past year, but also look ahead to the new year too. This next year will be full of new beginnings, changes, and growing. Not only growing physically, but also emotionally and spiritually too. I am not sure where this year will take us, but I know that as long as I continue to focus on God, it will be ok. Oddly as I was thinking about the year ahead of me, not once did I worry or think about Steve getting deployed. We are in the process of exploring new options (well in Feb we will be) on getting stationed somewhere else. This is something that I am praying about and ONLY want the Lord's Will in this decision. Please pray for us with this situation. As badly as I would like to get stationed somewhere else, I want to be sure G is where he is suppose to be.

G has been doing so great here. It is hard to believe that he has been here two months already. We have really got to know him and enjoy having him in our home. We have grown closer in the past few weeks. You see it's hard to connect with a 12year old that already has a bond with someone else. That someone else, I believe, is his grandma. Having talked to his grandma he found out that his mom is MIA again. His grandma doesn't even know where she is again. G's mom lied to him about having Christmas presents for him and seeing him again before Christmas. I think deep down inside G knew that his mom wasn't telling the truth, but it still hurt. This was some of what I heard on the phone and it all makes sense now. In the moment, I was truly hurt by what he was saying, but how can I blame him? It sucks, there is no other way to describe it. G got the short end of the stick in life and he knows it. I just pray that he doesn't use that as an excuse in life and picks himself up and becomes successful in whatever it is he decides to do in life. He is such a smart kid, absorbs any information quickly, and uses it when he can. I am hoping to be able to give him the tools he needs in life to be able to be successful in life. The main tool I want him to leave here with is a relationship with the Lord. That would make me the happiest foster mamma in the world! Please pray for G and his family. He told me last night that grandma told him his mom only has until July to finish her plan and get the kids back, then they will TPR her. I am not aware of this timeline, but G said that when that happens he is going to live with his grandma. If only it were that easy. There are reasons why his grandma doesn't have him now, sadly I don't think that is going to change all of the sudden for him to go and live with her. Maybe it will, who knows, only the Lord knows what is in store for him. I just pray that whatever the decision is, that it is best for G. In my opinion, and from what G tells me, I don't think that grandma is the best choice for him to go to.

Onto some New Year's resolutions I made....
1. Make healthier choices- now this isn't always going to be easy, but i am getting older and I would like my body to be much healthier. The foods I eat affect my body now and I need to be more aware of that. I would like to stay on WW this whole year, if possible, and see where it takes me.
2. I want to have a more positive attitude- this is hard for me cause I am so quickly to judge and take a negative take on situations. I am going to pray daily to keep a positive outlook on people and situations. I know this will be a daily struggle, but I can do it!
3. Focus on God more- daily, daily, daily...did I say daily? This is my goal for the year. No matter what, I need to keep God above all things and in all decesions, even the minor ones.
4. Start working on my house- this is something that I don't do. Having three (now four) kids on one income doesn't leave alot of leftover money hardly ever (I am being positive about this) So, I hardly get to spend much money on household items. Well, this year each payday, I would like to buy one thing for the house to make it look nice. Now, you might think I am being materialistic here, but I am not, not at all. Things I am talking about are minor things such as, spice rack, shoe rack, floor lamp, new bedding, stuff like that. So, this may be a silly new years resolution, but it's mine, so it doesn't matter. I will keep you posted how it goes. First things first, new curtains in my living room....these are horrible!

Ok. Sorry this was so long! I love being able to journal my thoughts, if you find them boring I am sorry. Hope everyone made some great New Year's resolutions. Here is to a new start, a new outlook, and maybe even a knew attitude!