Hillbillies Fer' a Night!

Who are them dirty faced, ill mannered YUNG UNS?We went yonder to our homeschoolin' Hillbilly "mystery" dinner last night with 40 of our closest hillbilly friends.

Don't you love them there centerpieces? Dirt N' ALL!You got yer vittles from a fine 3 course menu.

Ya' never knew what you wuz gonna get.

I was right disappointed there was no possom stew.

Pinky got a straw with her pig toes and had to eat HILLBILLY STYLE.
My My got no fork with her night crawlers.
Her mama trained her right cuz she had no problems eatin' it with what the good Lord gave her! Granny Clampett would o been proud of me n my kin don't you think? Can I get a YEE HAW?

Isaiah.....

Here are the 2 Jens...Me and my childhood friend-Jen.

My family calls her "OJ" (the other Jen). We have been blessed to be friends since we were about 3 years old. We've both adopted children. Jen is a nurse.

After feeling the call of God-She adopted a boy that was a foster child on her patient load with severe medical problems. He is now 6. This was the first time I was blessed to meet her son Isaiah. A TRUE JOY! A miracle. He also was exposed to many drugs just like my littles in the womb. He has endured much suffering since birth.Isaiah was born with all his "insides" on the outside. Here he is with Aw-Bell as a baby. He calls the 4 babies "his babies." Because of his problems...He needed a small bowel transplant. He's never really eaten or enjoyed eating food-he is mostly tube fed.

Jen and her hubby and other 2 kids took turns staying with Isaiah-sacrificing "self" for this sweet child. He has been in and out of the hospital for years. They thought the transplant worked......It didn't.......
Jen called yesterday to tell me that they had to remove ALL his new bowel...it was destroyed. She has asked for prayer for her family. Isaiah is in unbearable pain and I'm sure Jen is too......of a different kind. The mommy kind-the kind I pray I never have to face.

If he makes it through...He will be listed for another transplant immediately.

Because of Jen and Aaron.....Isaiah KNOWS JESUS!! Praise the Lord for that.

As soon as The Captain heard-HE TOLD ME-"you are going to be with her"-He is such a wonderful husband. SO, As soon as THE CAPTAIN rolls in at 6pm CST, I will be rolling out to 5th floor ICU at The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE...to spend the night holding, praying with and spending time with my dear friend and her boy.

Please join with me in prayer for my dear friend and her only boy. I don't even think Jen knows what a blog is but I HAVE SEEN the bloggy community come together in situations where prayers need to be lifted up-GOD DOES MIRACULOUS THINGS through these crazy computers.

Pray I'll know what to say & that whatever I say will comfort her. Pray that Isaiah's suffering will cease.

I don't know when I will return yet or check my blog again but will you help me spread this prayer for Isaiah? Thank you friends!

"O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief." Psalm 143:1

I WON!!! TWICE!!

Before I take a BLOGGY BREAK for a couple days to take my kiddos on a special "GETAWAY." I had 2 share 2 awesome things I won just this week!

1st, I got an email from Jonathan's mommy Amie aka "HH" my BSIC (bloggy sister in Christ) telling me that out of the BAZILLIONS of faithful readers she has at HEART SMILES-Jonathan drew out MY NAME with his sweet little hand and I won this BEAUTIFUL set of coasters made by this family as a fundraiser for their adoption of Darci in China. Amie & her SIL are also responsible for my Ding Dong addiction so in a way, I DID deserve these!I could have chosen a "non China" pattern but I wanted this pattern to particularly remind me of Amie and so many other moms I know and love who have adopted these beautiful children from China. See....God has placed THE SAME LOVE FOR THE ORPHAN in all of our hearts. Only He led us to different types of adoptions and even different countries. I think its SO AWESOME how HE places these desires and passions within us and we feel called to the least of these. When I look at these coasters, I will think of the children GLOBALLY that need mommy's and daddy's.

And 2nd drum roll please...... I WON MY VERY FIRST BLOG AWARD!

My new friend & BSIC-PAM at "You're Gonna Miss This" has bestowed upon me THE LEMONADE OUT OF LEMONS AWARD. This award means that she thinks that my blog has just the right amount of lemon and sugar to make a perfect summer treat!! And who couldn’t use a summer treat about now… in January…in the mid-west… this same award was given to someone who is showing gratitude or a good attitude ("if life hands you lemons, make lemonade") within their life or blog. THANKS PAM! We met because we had the same FABULOUS BLOG DESIGNERS :)

I am suppose to give this award out to another favorite blog-actually 10 but I just can't find the time to do 10 so I will do my favorite this week.

AND THE WINNER IS......ANGELA!! AT PHOENIX'S FIGHT! Angela makes the best out of her life. Her son Phoenix was born with Cystic Fibrosis and she is just an awesome example of TRUE making lemonade out of lemons-WARNING!!! PHOENIX'S EYES WILL CAPTIVATE YOU!!!

Have a blessed couple of days everyone and we will BLOG TO YOU when we get back!

God's Timing=My Sanity!

Many things have restored my sanity today-obviously God is the ULTIMATE RESTORER :)!

My My-my little dolly requesting I take a photo of her "doing the splits" was the start of my restoration- priceless.Cristi (my person) and Maren REALLY were the main contributors to the return from my PTTD (post traumatic trip disorder) which I was suffering from last night. The main ingredient in this cure was ADULT CONVERSATION! Cristi & Maren drove over 2 hours total to come and visit me-it meant so much ladies-My heart thanks you! Ingredient #2 DONUT HOLES! Since my kids were babies, Each time Cristi visits, she bestows the gift of the donut hole on them. See, we don't have a donut shop anywhere close so this is a HUGE blessing for the kids. NOTE TO THE DONUT HOLE LADY..NEXT TIME BRING MORE DONUT HOLES :)

We were also blessed with ANOTHER, YES ANOTHER visit from Santa! Cristi's son Jordan with his red bath robe, work gloves, Cristi's black shoes and his beard (taped on with scotch tape) made our whole house smile! AND he brought presents for all...even me!! We thank you Jordan!

All the kids with Santa and special guest-Miss Jenna-Maren's girl!

Getting mail makes me happy! Getting pictures and cards from those that God has blessed us with as friends and family is pure beauty! Our Christmas "wall of fame" has grown tremendously over the past week. The most exciting part is seeing the addition of the children God has gifted to our family and friends this year! Also, those who have joined our family through marriage-looking at this wall just plain makes my entire body SMILE!

The last thing to restore my sanity is THE WEB CAM!! Thank you Lord for THE WEB CAM where The Captain can see us and us him to keep us all sane!

AMEN

Cookie Chaos!

Time for the annual sugar cookie EXTRAVAGANZA! I had planned on taking the cookies to our home school group tomorrow for the cookie exchange but since I have to take 1 dozen per kid-there was NO WAY with this crew we were making 72 cookies and staying SANE-even with Crystal here to help.

Taking turns is VERY DIFFICULT for three 3 year olds and a 1 year old. As I've said previously-everything we do seems fairly chaotic but does that mean we shouldn't do it??? OF COURSE NOT! We must live through the whining, pouting, fighting and chaos to teach them to love & share.

They each ate about 4 cookies once they were baked-we have about a dozen left. It has been great having Crystal here to help and play with the kids today. I got a BIG TREAT today I got to take a shower this afternoon with only 1 kid in there with me & no interruptions-WOO HOO! (I RARELY SHOWER WHEN THE CAPTAIN IS GONE-Gross but REALITY)After cookies, I trucked the 5 youngest in for the typical ASSEMBLY LINE BATH REGIMEN-I'll be honest, I was worn slick BEFORE THE BATH :) It was a huge blessing to find that Bean and Crystal had tackled the floury mess in the kitchen and it was sparkling clean after I finally emerged from the bathroom-YAY!Just looking at these sweet pictures makes it all worth it! Thank you God for my beautiful kids and my COOKIE CHAOS!

My Crystal Angel!

"A FRIEND LOVES AT ALL TIMES" Proverbs 17:17

I have been friends with Crystal for over 10 years. She is my sister in life and in Christ. We worked together in a Cancer Center several years before our family moved to the farm. She knew me when I had one child and supported and loved me through each decision to adopt every child.

Although we are separated physically by many miles (5 hour drive), she, like Christ has ALWAYS stuck with me "closer than a brother." She was there at my wedding AND at the birth of every child and endured sleepless nights with 3 newborns in our then 900 square foot house. Crystal lost the love of her life in July of 2005. I was blessed to be able to help Crystal out during some of John's final days when she was physically and emotionally exhausted & he could no longer care for his daily needs. Crystal is SUCH a wonderful friend, nurse, mother, grandmother and child of God. We have endured marriages, births, deaths, teenage daughter rebellion and much more together. God ALWYAS Sends my Crystal Angel JUST WHEN I NEED HER!

Crystal had some time off while transitioning jobs and decided to make the trek to the farm yesterday-I WAS SO EXCITED! WHY YOU ASK? The reason is I am like 12 miles from ANYTHING and when the Captain is away at work I spend 2 weeks each month (every other week) ALONE-held captive by my children. She could go anywhere and see anyone but I am still important to her, she knows I get lonely and SHE DOESN'T HEAR ME when I talk-SHE LISTENS.
So today I am thankful to God for GOOD FRIENDS, REAL FRIENDS, laughter and The Wine and "WOODY'S" Ribs (where THE SAUCE is THE BOSS) and seasalt body scrub I was surprised with last night & for MY CRYSTALYN Thinking I am important enough to hang out with despite 6 screaming rugrats!

Wonderful Wednesday!

I was in the car today LITERALLY from sun up to sun down! My day started at 5:15 after sleeping on the couch (for some reason both Caty and Myah sleep in our bed now) I showered, loaded the car and 3 "girlie movies" and got Tori up & ready-loaded in the car then I got Caty up and loaded in her jammies and pulled out of the driveway in the pouring rain by 6:30. I stopped for the first time to get the girls breakfast at McD's then a 5 minute stop at Grandma's in Leavenworth for a potty break-ME NOT THE KIDS (too much coffee) LOL! Then it was off to Starbucks-got Caty dressed in her shoes and clothes in the parking lot (I was 30 minutes late SORRY TRACIE) to meet a fantastic new friend God has given me through this blog (and just to think 3 months ago, I didn't know what a blog was:) I could have talked to Tracie & her sweet little one ALL DAY LONG!! Her blog "FROM THE HEART" is linked to the blogs I read. We only got to chat for about an hour but boy did it fly by! I can tell we will be fast friends. She & her husband and his brother and wife Renee ALL share the passion from God for adoption. Both of their families will be bringing home special needs boys from the Ukraine! I can't wait until we can get all 3 of our families together someday soon! They have inspiring stories-please take time to read them! Check out their blogs or click to see what IHOP REALLY means (and it ain't got nothin' to do with pancakes!)




Then it was off to Caty's appointment, she did very well for the first half! Then to a fun lunch with a few of our favorite cousins that live in the KC area Amy, Beth and Steve! None of these guys have kids YET so they are all super sweet and very fond of mine! I consider all of them HUGE blessings in my life!


We had to be back at KU for the 2nd part of testing but OOOOOPS we were a tid bit late again-nothing like running through the pouring rain with 2 kids and all their "stuff!" We had a nice surprise there, one of my BEST friends from childhood O.J. (the other Jen) was there to hang with us for a few minutes-I LOVE the saying that "just happened" to be behind us when the picture was taken...AMAZING! Let's put it this way, the 2 Jen's have COME A LONG WAY from our wild teen years together. We both have a love for God and for adopted children-who'd have thought?
For those of you who don't know Jen, she is another AMAZING person-while working at KU as a nurse for Medicaid, she had little Isaiah as a patient-she heard God's clear call to adopt him despite his severe medical challenges and need for a small bowel transplant. She and her husband Aaron & their 2 girls Becca and Taylor have truly sacrificed and showed God's love for him over the last 3 years-they've basically rotated living off and on in Omaha, NE where Isaiah is today and has been for weeks. His little body is rejecting his new bowel. Jenni remains here to work through the week while Aaron spends Mon-Friday in Omaha-He then comes back to work on the weekends while Jen and sometimes the girls head to Omaha EVERY weekend. Please keep this dear family in your prayers, this is such a hardship on the entire family all the way around, physically, emotionally and financially.

Caty was tire throughout the afternoon testing but did okay. They came out with a lot of reading material for me to take home and a lot of websites/resources for me to check out. They basically diagnosed her with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified aka Atypical Autism. Basically what they said is that she has many of the "flavors" of Autism but not full-blown Autism. Most of the ways to help her with socialization and behavior will come from Nick and I using different things on a trial and error basis. They will reevaluate her in 1 year. So, good news and praise there.

Off to bed-we have "BLACK SQUIRREL NIGHT" tomorrow night and must get our rest for the intense costume contest! Can't wait to take pictures and post em!

Blessings to you all! Sweet Dreams!