Kitty, AKA Ninja Kitty (notice the mask-like face) got all decked out for Christmas:
Then she wasn't so sure if she looked good in the hat and decided to ask the human.
She decided she didn't like the hat at all and the human said it made her look fat.
So she worked to get it off
And after she got it off, the human tried to put it back on, but she thought "Don't you bring that hat near me or I'll rip your face off!" and the hat and the human was never to be seen again. Considence? I think not!
Isn't it pretty?! I promise I will get them in the mail sometime this week...honest!! Here are some of the pics that didn't make the cut:
I have no idea what Charlotte was doing here, but I thought the picture was kind of funny!
This one is cute, but I wanted a picture of her full face. And look at those cute wittle, tootsie toes!
Ben decided to relax a bit in between shoots. Cause you know....looking cute is hard work!
This one is cute, but I liked the full body shot one that I used for the card.
Ricky looks like a deer caught in the head lights in this picture, lol.
I was trying to get a picture of him looking at the ornament, but he couldn't resist looking at the camera, so that idea didn't work, lol.
I liked Markie's look in the this picture, but it cut off the top of her head.
Here's that toothless grin. It's inevitable for a youngester to loose their front teeth right around Christmas time, lol. It's only 1 right now though, so she might not have to sing that annoying song, lol.
I don't know what was up with her hair in this one.
Mark and I have completed the 2 state required classes called the PRIDE program. We were forced to do it and was a little annoyed at the short notice they gave us. They told us a week before that we were going to have to drive down to Pontiac 3 times in one week, then once the following weekend. They said it was required by law that we get Foster care licensing. We didn't want to do the Foster care, we wanted to adopt. But that was all tied into the PRIDE program, so when we finally realized that, we were OK. The classes were very helpful. We learn a lot, but some stuff didn't pretain to us, like the visitation. Since Ricky's mom has passed away we don't have to deal with the aftermaths of the visitation. The videos they showed us were some scenerios of how a child reacts after visiting with their family. I know that Ricky only got to see his mom twice when we got him before she passed away and after the first visit (which was very upsetting to some of the boys) Ricky woke up the next morning with hives. But the second visit, which was upsetting too, but ended on a good note and not quite the same type of upsetting as the first time, so he didn't show any reaction to the visit. It was nice closure for him. Anyway the class taught you how to deal with those type scenerios. We really like it. So now we have to fill out tons of paper work (we each have to complete a 20 page autobiography) and gather a lot of info like marriage license, birth certificates, physical records, even our cat's shot records, lol. It's a little tedious, but in the end it's worth it all.
We are going to let Ricky decide if he wants to keep his last name or take on ours. I think he will keep his. I think it would be a hard adjustment for him to have his name change. We asked him a while ago and he said he wanted to keep it, so we'll ask him again when the adoption is final just to make sure. Mark jokingly asked him what he wanted his new first name to be and Ricky said "Richardo" LOL. That is what Mark and a friend of ours (Anthony) calls him. He said he likes Ricky Richardo, lol.
He is adjusting well to us as his new family. He still talks about his mom and still misses her (of course, he always will), but he doesn't show any signs of being upset about anything. He's just a go with the flow kind of kid. He's still young though too, and with his "cognitive impairment" he acts a little younger than what he really is. I say he is almost like a 5 or 6 year old. Markie is more advanced then he is and she is 6. So hopefully with the help he is getting from us and his school, he'll catch up.
I just can't wait until the adoption is final. It has been hectic taking him to meetings and only 1 court hearing so far. They have another one if Feb, but I am not sure they have to be there for that one yet. But once he is adopted, I don't think we have to deal with all that anymore, so that will be a relief.
Anyway, that's where we're at with all of that. Hopefully in the next month or so we can officially call him our son!
It's been a while since I have taken the time to get on here and update my blog. I've been kind of busy and just plain old lazy too, lol. So, I will post as many updates as I can think of. Thanks for reading!!
Well, I had parent teacher conferences today and they went great. Here's what the teachers said:
Markie
Markie's regular teacher said that she does really well. She listens great and is very polite and quiet (the quiet part shocked me, lol). She has a few areas she needs improvement in. She needs to practice writing her letters and numbers. She likes to write a few of them backwards. So I'll be working with her on that. Her speech teacher said she is still working on the F's with Markie and won't be moving on to another area until she has tackled the F sound. Which I thought was a good thing, I don't want her to get too overcrowded with too much at one time. Her reading recovery teacher said that she has improved a lot in her reading. She pulled out a book that she said that Markie read very fluently and thought that was wonderful. She said she has a little problem with spelling out the words as she hears them or says them, that has something to do with her speech. If she says "with" but with her speech problem she actually says "wivh" and that's how she spell it. So she needs some improvement there. Every night I sit her and Ricky down for about 1/2 hour and we go over reading, spelling, math, bible verses, etc. So for right now I am going to focus on her writing out the alphabet and numbers since she gets those backwards sometimes and reading and counting by 5's and 10's, etc. The teacher had each kid color a folder for their papers for parent/teacher conferences and Markie drew some numbers and letters and our phone # (which she wrote the 7's backwards, lol), but I was so proud to see that she drew a big cross (as in the cross of Jesus) on her folder. That made me smile!
Ricky
Ricky has improved so much since he started school. He's IEP teacher said that he is doing good and trying his hardest. She notices that he sometimes get distracted during math which causes him to mess up his math problems because he starts counting...loses thought...begins counting again and by that time he is off base. I've seen this at home too. And he sometimes has a hard time "getting" things. You will explain something to him, he'll "get it" and then the next day he lost it again. I think it's a part of his cognitive impairment. We'll just keep working with him on it. The teacher said that she thinks as time goes on, he will overcome a lot. I know he will because he's got us to help him :) One of the things his regular teacher said made me want to cry (out of happiness, of course) that in the beginning of the school year she said he would just sit back and be real quite and wouldn't participate in class discussions even when she would call on him. Now she says she's seen a real difference in his self confidence and he is a very active person in class discussions and he gets excited about participating. He's come out of his shell and I'm so happy for him. So now, I plan on doing a lot of focusing on Math with him. That seems to be a little difficult for him, but I have found a few systems that work for him. A number line has helped him a lot and the touch point system. I feel kind of bad about the touch point system because I didn't know that it was an actual learning tool and just thought it was some weird way of doing math that Mark had showed Ricky. Every time we would do math Ricky would start the doing it the touch point way and I would tell him not too, because I thought it was confusing...well now I have found out that it's an actual learning tool and not something that Mark made up on his own and his teacher was using it to teach him (meaning Ricky) math. So now I feel like I've been telling him not to do something that his teacher was telling him to do. Oops! Well I know better now, lol.
Anyway, that's how they are doing and thanks for reading!!
Belief is something that we all start out with. We all tend to believe in something whether it be God or evolution. Belief is just something that is engrained in us. We have to believe in something and for me that something is God, God of the Bible, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God's whole Holy Trinity. Here is a study of the word believe as it comes up in the bible. There are way more verses than the ones I am listing, but this is just a general study on it. Red lettering is my comments.
1 John 3:23
And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Believing in His Son Jesus Christ should cause us to love one another and help one another. We should always be willing to help those we see in need. If we shut up our hearts to them, how does God's love abide in us? (1 John 3:17)
James 2:19
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and they tremble.
Most anyone you will meet will claim to believe in God. I know of 1 person who is directly honest with me, that since he doesn't have the faith or that change in his heart that proves believing in God, he chooses to say that he doesn't believe. I respect the honesty. See, even Satan and his demons believe in God. Anyone can believe. That is why there is more to this than just believing. A life changing attitude must occur as a sign on true faith. Anyone can believe, but not everyone has the faith.
1 Cor. 1:21
For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
The world bases belief on wisdom, but God bases belief on foolishness. It appears to be foolishness to the wise people of the world, but to those who believe it's what saves us, it's the very word of God. I can tell you that when I talk to a person that is a non-believer in Christ, they think my reasoning for doing this or doing that is foolish. Of course it will look foolish to them, it did to me once before too. But when you truly believe, you are no longer blinded by your own wisdom. God shows you His wisdom, for He is greater than us and He knows better. I like to think of people as the rebellious teenager who refuses to listen to Mom or Dad. They think they know better and Mom and Dad don't have a clue. Only to find out that the older they get the more they realize, Hey, Mom and Dad did know what they were talking about. Isn't that something!?
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in HIm of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
How can people pray to God if they don't believe in Jesus? Jesus is God, so if you don't believe in Jesus then "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?"
People hear references of Jesus, but how much have they really heard of Him? And I am not talking about reading articles, watching documentaries, or having conversations with others about Him, but actually studying His word and studying Him. you cannot believe in something you have not heard.
And how shall they hear without a preacher? This is probably one of the reasons I get accused of preaching to others a lot. I just get so frustrated when people who don't know the real Jesus, they go off of some word-of-mouth image of Him, instead of just looking and seeking the true Him. Don't let anyone tell you their version of Jesus unless they have scripture to back it up. Every faith needs a foundation to look back to, to make sure someone isn't feeding you a line. Scripture should be that foundation if you are a Christian, or hope to be one. There are many false images of Jesus out today. Make sure you are looking after the true one, but reading the Bible. That's is where you will find the real one. Not the one people talk about on TV or the one your friend told you about, or the one you even made up yourselve, but the one in the Bible.
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession ismade unto salvation.
You have to believe without a shadow of a doubt that Christ was crucified for you sins, raised from the dead. This is the core of saving faith. If you do not believe that Christ died for your sins, then how else can your sins be forgiven or atoned for? There are no works you can do. It's by his wounds we are healed.
This is the message that our Pastor preached on this past Sunday. I thought it was a great message and I am going to do studies for the next few days (or weeks, however long it takes) or each subject so I can get a indepth study going about it. And I am posting each subject as I get done with the study. So I hope others will read this and learn something new maybe? Thanks for reading and God Bless!!
I had orginally started this blog to post some bible studies that I have been doing. I have neglected that part for some time now. It's time I get back to that. I need to do more bible studies. God has blessed me so much with great and wonderful people to help me out when times seem tough. The least I can do is give Him as much of my time as I can. Today I had a Leep and a D&C done. Mark had to go to work and I had to watch the 2 younger ones while I was recovering. My neighbor Debbie watched Ben for me while Charlotte napped so that I could rest a bit. I told her to go ahead and bring him home when Markie and Ricky get out of school, that would give me plenty of time to rest (about 2hrs.). So she picked up Markie and Ricky from the bus stop and dropped them off and chit chatted for a while. Then she went home and called me about 5-10 minutes later to tell me that she wants to take the kids to McDonalds to eat and let them play in the playscape for a while so that I could rest some more. How great is she? I tried to give her money to pay for the kids food, which she refused to take. I really strongly feel like God has given us Debbie to be there to help us when we need it. She has truly been a huge blessing to my family and I appreciate her more than she will ever know. I decided that since I had this extra time alone, I needed to spend it in God's word. So I went through some verses that our Pastor gave us during his sermon and added what I have learned from those verses, so I just thought I would share and try to put this time alone God has given me to help spread his message. So enjoy! And I pray that this really helps others!
This year Mark and I have decided that we are going to make some homemade gifts to give out to the family. I think it's just more special this way and it will save us money! This is a hat I made for Markie using a knitting loom, it was so easy! I am going to learn how to do a scarf and gloves to match it later. I used a whole roll of yarn that cost $5.99, which I guess doesn't really save me much, since I can get a hat for that price, maybe even cheaper, but this is really thick and warm, so I think a hat this thick would cost between $10-$15 at the store, so I did save! And my lovely model is Charlotte.
We took the kids out to the campground today to get some fall pictures. We took a bunch and it was super sunny out. After we got out of the sun and looked at the pictures we took I noticed that there was a smudge on the lens and all those pictures were junk! We couldn't tell while we were taking the pictures because the sun was so bright, we couldn't see the LCD screen on the camera. Bummer. But at least we noticed before we were done, so we were able to get some good ones still. Here they are:
Ricky
Markie
Benjamin
Ben is Mr. Robotnic!
Charlotte
I really love this picture!
I really like how the sun is shining down on her in this picture!
Future Rock Climber! (I hope not!)
Our kitty decided to join us. It actually stayed by us the whole time without taking off. She would explore, but never got to far from us. She jumped in our car when we were leaving and we didn't notice she was with us until it was too late to take her home. Then we drove past a farm and smelled some really horrible poop, but later realized it wasn't the farm, but the darn cat! She pooped on our back seat! Guess she won't be making anymore family trips with us!!!
I plan on taking the kids out to the campground hopefully this weekend to get some nice fall pictures of them. We were out there last weekend and went on a hay ride and I know the perfect spot to take the kids pictures. It's right by the water with the beautiful colorful tree's in the background. I can't wait! I wanted to do it this weekend since it was gorgeous out, but the kids were seperated and we just didn't have the time. But I will definitely try to get it done this weekend and get them posted. I am also taking Markie and Ricky to a cider mill and meeting Lori there, so hopefully I will get some good fall pics there too, but I am not taking Ben or Charlotte, this trip is just for the older ones. So for now, just scroll down to see recent pics and updates on all the kiddos! Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! Thanks for looking and reading! God Bless!!
Here he is camping, he was acting goofy for his brother who took the picture:
And this is his first day of school picture (2nd grade). My battery died after this shot, so this is the best I got:
