Banana Bread

I am so excited!!! So excited that I'm putting off everything else I'm suppose to be doing just to share this with you! Yesterday, I found a package in my freezer that looked very much like banana bread. (I told you about my Memaw's banana bread in her post and how obsessed I am with it.) Well this morning I was talking to my mom and told her that I must have some that she made because Memaw hadn't made me any in awhile. Then she asked me if it was wrapped in foil and I said yes and she said, "Well, that's some Memaw made then. She always wrapped it in foil first. I may have given it to you but she gave it to me first."

Yay!! Who knew when I talked about finding some in a freezer somewhere that it would have turned out to be my own!

1, 2......3!

Well, so here it goes....for about 3 years now my husband and I have felt the push to do something pretty drastic. God has been telling us that we are suppose to be doing more with our family and our life. Something that will knock our socks off with blessings but cause others to question us, look at us, and worry about us. Something that is so not of this "world" but through Christ alone will be possible and fulfilled. Are you curious yet? :)

We have decided that we are going to adopt a third child into our family from Ethiopia. Yes, we have two amazing, smart, beautiful (on and on and on) children already, but God is not finished with our family yet. He says we need to do more....to love more....to take care of more....to be His hands and feet more. So we begin. We are just beginning this journey of acceptance letters, home studies, paper work, travel, shots, planning....loving. And I mean that sincerely. I don't even know if we will receive a boy or girl (we are not specifying) but I know that I already LOVE them. My hearts pounds every time I watch my kids play and picture another one right in the middle of them. My eyes tear when I watch them with their daddy and know that another child is going to get the blessing of feeling that love, comfort and safety from their daddy. To say I'm excited is putting it mildly. Do I think it will be easy, always fun or without risk? Absolutely not. But I can tell you that obedience is freeing and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity.

Alright....there you go. A new season has started for our family and life will never be the same. Praise the LORD!!! :)

Tattoos

To say that my mother-in-law hates my tattoos would be an understatement. Loathes, despises, grieves over...that's more accurate. But one thing that I have realized about the one on my ankle especially, is that people are nosy. They want to know: is that your birthday? Is that one of your kids names? What does that mean? You see, the tattoo on my ankle is one that I got while training for the Chicago marathon last year and on the front it says Phil. 4:13 and on the back it says 26.2. Hubby and I got them together to not only remind ourselves of why we were running the marathon but that through Christ alone, we would be successful. We also wanted a forever reminder that we did something amazing together, as a team, and survived. So to have this embedded into my skin forever is a constant reminder to myself that God is always with me and will help me through anything but it has really turned into something else completely that I never could have imagined. It is also a witnessing tool. The last three times I've gotten my toenails done, the technician has asked me about that tattoo. "Is that your birthday?" "No, it's a scripture verse." "Scripture?" "Yes, from the Bible. It says that I can do anything through Christs' strength." "OH...you believe in Bible?" "Yes I do, very much so."

One time I even was able to get out of my technician that he goes to a Buddhist church in my town and how hard it is for those who attend because my town is predominantly Christian. We got to talk about Buddha and how he's different from Christ but it's really hard to get them to open up about much more. I don't know if it's so ingrained into their culture to be cautious talking about God or if they get so many people talking to them about it that they shut down. What I do know is that I will continue to get my toes done, I will continue to tell people about this scripture and what it means for me, and I will forever be thankful that I chose it. God is surprising in what He uses to get His message to people and if that means it's something that is loathed by my mil, then that's okay. She my hate my body art, but she loves me and she loves God and that's the bigger picture.

And yes, I love her too! :)

Has God surprised you in ways that He gets His message out there?

'Smore please!

First 'smores of the season!!! YUMMY!!

When the boys are away, the girls will play!

Friday night into Saturday this weekend our boys went hunting so that meant....girls time!! Princess and I love girls time just the two of us and did some really fun things. First, Friday night, we got our warm drinks and curled up under the covers and watched a movie together. Then she got to sleep in my bed all night long which is always a major plus for her. :) Then, Saturday we got up and cleaned her room really well together. So after all that hard work, we let the fun begin. We met up with my mom at "The Back Porch" restaurant which is a sandwich shop that is perfect for a girls day. Then just the two of us went and got our nails done.

They had chairs just her size! And she got to drink a Dr. Pepper...spoiled indeed!

I got a wonderful lavender spa pedi and she got her toes and fingers painted. It was wonderful! The design of choice: polka dots! Aren't they cute?

Next we headed over to the mall to play Lights Out Golf. This place is so cool. We always have so much fun and it's a perfect thing to do on a cold day.

And we discovered her fingernails glowed!! :)

We met up with the boys at home and enjoyed a quiet night watching T.V. and laughing and talking together. Now if the Colts can win today, it will be the perfect weekend. :)

Tummy Ache

The other day my sweet, girly, pretty little Princess was having all sorts of tummy issues. While we were driving around doing errands my Little Man kept informing me that she was giving off toxic fumes in the back seat. So on the way home when she hit me with astounding news that "my tummy hurts" I wasn't real surprised. What did surprise me was what I found when we got home. See, earlier in the day when I was doing research on some things, Little Man brought me a jar of pickled okra. We LOVE pickled okra around here and eat them like crazy. He asked me to open it and asked if he and Princess could have a few. Absolutely! Well....when we returned home (less than 3 hours after the snack) and I got into the refrigerator, this is what I found......

One lonely little okra floating all by itself in a very empty jar. They ate the whole dang jar of okra! And she wonders why her tummy hurt! So I put it back into the fridge, got her some pepto, (my car was already toxic, I didn't want my house to be also) and looked forward to eating that one lonely little okra at supper. Did I get to? Absolutely not! Little Man got home not long after that, ate it and then handed me the empty jar and said with a smile, "Here's a jar for our collection!" Umph....next time I buy pickled okra, I'm hiding them. Not because they can cause a tummy ache, but because I would like one myself thank you very much! Seriously!

Little Man's birthday

So I'm a little late posting about this but better late than never. Little Man turned 9 on September 26 and we had a great birthday party for him if I do say so myself. He is becoming quite the CSI fan and I can see this kind of work in his future. He loves trying to figure out the crime before the show has ended...he gets this from his mom, I'll admit it. So for his birthday party we had a CSI party where there was a crime committed and we needed all the kids or "recruits" to help solve the crime. I got three neighbors to agree to be our suspects and the kids had to go interview and fingerprint them to see if they could figure out "who done it". I set up our front and back yard as the crime scene with yellow tape and all. We were going to originally going to do a murder scene but Little Man decided a burglary would be better since there were younger kids coming. He is such a sensitive little guy about stuff like that. It's one of the many reasons I love him so but we'll get to that later. For now, here are some great pictures that my good friend Michelle took for me. Thanks Michelle!!

Our only witnesses

The crime: my stereo was stolen from my garage and then vandalized. Oh the horror!

Every guest was fingerprinted and then deputized once ruled out as a suspect. You can't be too careful when working a crime scene.

Even the birthday boy had to be fingerprinted

Some guests couldn't give an alibi but I cleared them anyway solely on cuteness

Once everyone cleared the initial tests, we split up into two groups and handed out their forensic kits. We looked over the crime scene and then they were sent on their way to start interviewing the suspects.

I can't say enough about our neighbors who agreed to participate in this party. They really hammed it up for the kids and were absolutely awesome. We are very lucky to live in this neighborhood.

After the criminal had been found (it was the bald guy....Bad Michael!) we relaxed with cool drinks and these amazing cake pops that my mom made. Yummy!!

Next came presents...

An idea Little Man had for his party was to have a shirt made specially so his friends who attended could sign it. This was a great thing and one I'll be using again...he'll have those signatures to help him remember this party for years to come!

So that's that! Everyone had a fantastic time and I can't believe I now have a nine year old!

And, just because he's so darn cute, here's a picture of my nephew Kadon.

I've always said that when Little Man was born he filled a hole in my heart that I didn't even know I had. I always liked kids but was scared to have my own. But when I laid eyes on that precious baby boy, I fell in love and it's grown daily since. He makes me laugh, he is so stinking smart, he's talented at just about everything he tries. He loves sports but can be sensitive when needed (just ask his sister...he kissed her on the head today for absolutely no reason), but will kick your tail if he feels threatened or if you're threatening anyone he loves. He loves me and his daddy, he loves his family and he loves God. I knew at a very early age that he had a special heart for the things of God and I think he will do great things for the kingdom as he grows. He is a shining light in my life and I am truly blessed that God gave me this amazing gift to raise.

Modern Stone-Aged Family

Halloween for us this year looked a little different than it has in the past but we still had loads of fun and they got lots of candy. My family went as the Flinstones this year which was really fun because we've never dressed up as a family and especially not all in the same theme. Saturday night we went to Boo at the Zoo and checked out all the animals and even got to watch the lions get into their treat boxes. We did this last year and my kids had so much fun so we knew it was a "must" this year.

Here are my little Pebbles and Bam-Bam watching the feisty monkeys

The whole family...we got lots of attention...I can't image why

We had originally planned on going with my sister and her kids but when we got there, there was about 1 million people there and so we didn't think we'd get to find them. But I finally spotted a mad scientist and Lightning McQueen crew chief in the masses of people.

On Sunday, we joined up with our neighbor down the street and decided to go trick-or-treating at grandparents houses. They always love seeing the kids dressed up and the kids not only got to trick-or-treat on their block, but they got to pass out candy as well. It was the best of both worlds.

I was finally able to find a way to make Pebbles bone stay in her hair so I had to get a close up. Isn't she the cutest little stone-aged girl you've ever seen?

Happy Fall everyone! As much as I try and ignore it, it's here and I might as well enjoy it. My summers gone :( but God's beauty still shines through the changing seasons. May He bless you today!