SOO PEACEFUL without the...

BOYS!

The Captain and the boys went to the farm show yesterday in the big city to look at tractors and farm stuff. WyWy came home disappointed that there was "NO SHOW". He was expecting "lights, dancing cowboys and racing combines." Poor guy! He & Bits DID however come home with cow pokers, although we have NO COWS so needless to say "THERES BEEN A WHOLE LOT A POKIN GOIN ON!"

I told the girls we could do WHATEVER THEY WANT and here is what they picked.

1. Go out to Breakfast

2. Go to Wal-Mart (sad I know)

3. Do crafty stuff together

The girls & I headed out early for a fancy little breakfast at a little cafe. It was just us and 4 older gentlemen in the whole place. And out of those 4, only ONE asked why we weren't in school :)

Makes me realize JUST how quiet it is with only the females in our family present!

They all picked out bird houses ($2.27) to paint and were quiet for over an hour painting their creations!

And we got some other goodies at Wally World to make us perty!

We did our toes..

Applied our mud masks...

And had a GREAT GIRLS DAY!

I look at these faces and think "WOW, how blessed I am how &  how much fun we are going to have together over the years to come AND HOW MANY SNEAKY things will they try to get by with?" LOL

Love this expression on Aw-Bells face as THE CAPTAIN hangs up their bird houses outside today.

I also LOVE the creativity and differences in their personalities and the way they decorated them.

MyMy wanted "the whole family" of birds to know it's welcome in her house!

Looking forward to MANY MORE YEARS of girl days, girl trips & girl time in our future!

Because GIRLS RULE.. BOYS DROOL!

The Captain WINS-BEST HUSBAND EVER!

I KNOW it's not the gifts that matter at Christmas but The Captain REALLY spoiled me this year. FOR ONCE, I was completely surprised at his wonderfullness!

When it comes to him shopping for me, it is USUALLY a Last minute WALLY WORLD RUN!

HE PLANNED AHEAD, WAY AHEAD!!!

And I owe him, like FOREVER!

I had been salivating over this BEAUTIFUL necklace from SCARLET ROBIN for months. Jen makes some super unique stuff!

A necklace that could actually FIT all 8 of our kids names on it.

I FOUND IT IN MY STOCKING CHRISTMAS MORNING!

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!

He and I woke up before all the littles and THIS is what I saw..

A precious glider for Baby Bakers and I to rock in, some PARFOOM (not from WallyWorld) AND a flip video camera!

AND THAT AIN'T IT!!!
He saved the best for last!
Inside this card, Inside my stocking was this message

"CALL THE NUMBER BELOW TO.....

TALK TO YOUR NEW CLEANING LADY!"

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!
She is coming today to do a walk through of the house with me!

My house is always picked up and clean but its my BIG FLOOR and dusting that are a huge challenge.

God has been so good to me, and our family and I am so thankful for The Captain every day!

He is on MY GOOD LIST for a VERY LONG TIME!

Loss of a Baby or Child? ADVICE?

I received this picture long ago from a friend as I was mourning not being able to have a biological child. She gave this picture to me as encouragement that Jesus was HOLDING my future child/children and had them "all picked out for us" in HIS TIMING. I remember my heart being SO SAD during that time & this "lifting me up". It still hangs on the mirror in our bedroom.

BOY, has GOD BEEN FAITHFUL to our family and filled our home to the brim with adoption from foster care, private adoption, 3 different sibling sets and giving us the blessing to carry a child through embryo adoption.

But today I look at this picture differently as the oldest had a 20 year old pregnant friend who was doing GREAT last Monday at her OB check up, went into labor Thursday and when she got to the hospital, her precious one was already gone....

I see Jesus holding her little one in His arms in heaven.

I come to you all for advice as I KNOW many of you have suffered the unbearable loss of a baby or child.

1. HOW CAN WE encourage this young mother in the weeks, months and years to come?
2. What helped you get through it?
3. Are there any books, websites etc.. that I can send her for strength?

And please say a prayer TODAY as she lays her precious one to rest as I type .

3 DOWN...

She had ONE in the middle of the night last night and it went SMOOTH AS SILK so I thought the same would be true for this mornings feeding...NOT!!

She bit, punched, kicked, ripped at my shirt and basically "went bonkers". We were both in tears. I layed her in her bed, she cried for about 20 minutes, I went back in and tried "THE EVIL BOTTLE" again and she took it-TWO DOWN. She has spit up twice as much with formula.

I have been nursing every other feeding and it seems to be working ok. She was agitated all afternoon until I nursed her at 2pm then she slept.

She had # THREE bottle before bed and I hope and pray she sleeps..and I do.

It has been 7 hours already since the last feeding OUCH!

It's okay sweetie, WE CAN DO IT!