Wow! Has it really been 2 years?!

It's been quite a long time since I've last posted. A whole 2 years! I guess I got too wrapped up in facebook to bother posting on here anymore. Well, now I'm on a facebook break and here I am again, lol. I am really enjoying my break. I am getting so much stuff done that I usually put off due to spending time on facebook. I am actually realizing that I am less bored without facebook than I was with it. If I find myself bored, I just think of a task I need to get done and get to it! I can't believe how much I have accomplished in just a week! Here's a list of all the things I've put off due to facebook and have now gotten done:

Planted flowers out front.

Planted a garden out back.

Did lots of yard work.

Cleaned out the Van and washed both vehicles.

Organized kitchen cabinet that I store junk in.

Cleaned out kitchen pantry.

Switched winter clothes out of the girls room for summer clothes.

Designed church bulletin board for VBS (still have to assemble it and put together though...but it's on my to-do list!)

Crocheted a teddy bear for my newest little nephew.

And I am sure there is much more that I am forgetting.

Sometimes I miss being on facebook, because I miss seeing what's up with everyone, but at the same time I am really enjoying being away. I will really have to practice self discipline and self control when I allow myself back on. It's one of the fruit of the spirits, so I better learn how to use it! I'm afraid that I've been so busy catching up on other stuff, that I haven't allowed myself more time to focus more time on God and that should be my first priority. So I am going to try better to focus more on Him this coming week. I am going to try to get more organized with my time so I can make check lists and stick to them. I even downloaded a check list app for my phone! I am on it now!! Here's my to-do list for this week:

• Vacuum out the Van
• Clean bedroom closest.
• Get rid of all old 2005-2009 bills, by burning them out in the fire pit (way too much to shred).
• Steam clean living room carpet.
• Mow the lawn.
• Organized dining room and living room closets.
• Mop kitchen and dining room floors.
• Make Dr. Appt. for Ben's ear (it's been plugged and I've had them irrigated and they still couldn't get it out and I really feel it's affecting his speech).
• Make Dentist Appt. for Ricky.
• Make Physical Appts. for Mark and I.

So that's all I have on my list so far. I am sure there will be more added as the week goes by. I would also love to get back to doing Bible studies with the kids and reading to them every night before bed. I was reading this series to them a few months back and just stopped, so I hope to finish it this time: http://www.dunlopministries.com/free-e-books/Book%201%20Jed%20Cartwright%20and%20the%20Midnight%20Escape2.pdf

The kids really enjoyed the book.

Next week Markie and Ricky go to Kids Camp, so I am trying to plan some fun things for the little ones since I know Ben will not be happy when he realizes they are going to Kids Camp and he isn't. I'd like to take the little ones Strawberry picking and seeing if a friend would like to meet there and let the kids play while we make stuff from the strawberries. And hopefully we'll get some real hot days so that I can take them to the beach. Heman's Family Camp is coming up so I would like to prepare for that ahead of time by making a lot of the meals at home. I found some interesting camping meals that look like fun to try out. I can't wait!

I hope everyone else is enjoying the beginnings of their summer and has a safe and Happy Father's day this coming weekend! Sorry if this posting seems to jump all over the place. I have lots of extra thinking time these days and my mind just runs from one thing to the next! Ha! Well, take care and God Bless!!

God spoke to me through bread

I know that sounds weird, lol. But He did, and here's how. Ever since Mother's day I have felt like I needed to improve certain area's in my motherly love department. I felt like I sometimes have a short fuse with the kids, I don't let them help me make dinner or snacks or anything. I am always telling them no, because I don't want to deal with the hassles or the mistakes they make. And I never want to take them to the store with me (by myself). Then at church on Mother's day the Pastor was reading from Proverbs 31 and it lists the virtures of a women. And I became really convicted. Most of those virtures does not describe me. I want my kids to remember their mother as "When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness." (Proverbs 31:26). I don't want them to always remember by yelling at them, not letting them help me, not going anywhere with me alone. I want to be the kind of mother God wants me to be and the last few weeks He has been showing me that I haven't been. Sure there are times when I am a good mother to my kids and they always have what they need. I do a lot for them, so I am not saying I am a horrible, no good, mother...I am just saying there are certain areas the Lord wants me to work on for the good of my children (and myself).

So anyway....I took Markie to the grocery store with me the other day and was letting her help me. I'd tell her what we needed and she would grab it from the shelf and put it in the cart for me. She was really enjoying our time together, I could tell. Then when we were checking out, we went to a self-checkout lane. So while I was scanning the food, Markie was at the other end bagging the food (we were a team, lol). Then I had to go up to the middle register to give the clerk a check since I had no cash on me. When I came back, Markie had put all the bags of groceries in the cart and I noticed she had the bread on the bottom of all the groceries. I pulled the bread out and it was flat as a pancake! I said "Oh no Markie! You put all the groceries on top of the bread and now it's flat" and Markie said "Oops! I'm sorry mama!" And I knew she was and as we were walking out to the car, I said to her "Thank you for helping me with the grocery shopping, even though you squished the bread" in a laughing tone and I said "This was fun!" and Markie laughed and agreed. Now normally I probably would of been upset that I just paid for 3 loaves of bread and Markie squished them, but like I said, God had been convicting me of how I react to things my kids do. So I focused on the positive thing that she was a great big help and I let her know it. So the next day I am doing my daily bible reading and I am reading in the book of John and Jesus is talking about how He is the bread and many will not eat of the bread He has to offer, but those who do eat of the bread He has to offer will live. And it seemed to me like He was going on and on and on about the bread. And it kept sticking out to me, but I didn't make the connection why. So after my bible study was done, I go into the kitchen to make me some breakfast (eggs and toast) and I go to see if any of the bread was salvageable and when I opened the cupboard, all the bread had risen back to normal! There was no sign of flatness at all! I couldn't believe it! I felt as though the Lord was telling me "Well done, good and faithful servant! Now here's your bread back!" LOL! So that is how the Lord spoke to me through bread. Doesn't seem so weird now, huh?!

Working out

I am trying to get a workout in. I've been doing it for the last 3 days. So far my legs are sore and my abs are sore. I want to work out tonight, but I think I am going to skip it today, since I am so sore all over. In the morning I plan to go for a jog, so that is part of the reason I don't want to work out tonight. I am afraid that if I do work out tonight, I'll be too sore to jog in the morning. I've been trying to lose weight for the last few weeks now. I started at 155 and got down to 151.2, then AF visited and I shot back up to 155! I've been watching what I've been eating, so now I am adding the workouts to the mix hoping that will help keep the weight down. I am tired of feeling fat. I measured my waist and at the beginning it was 37", then I got it down to 35" and AF caused it to go back up to 36". I really hope that everything goes back to normal when AF is done. But I doubt it. Last month I gained 2 lbs from her that didn't go away. I worked to get it back down and as soon as I did, BAM, she comes back with 3 lbs! It is just a battle I tell ya! The only way I've ever been able to lose weight was by having a kid and breast feeding. Well I can tell you I won't be doing either, lol. When you breastfeed, it takes 500 calories from you a day. It is recommended that you eat and extra 500 calories to make up for that, but I never did, which is how I would lose the weight. So I've adjusted my calorie intake. I make sure I get about 1300 calories a day (most days I go over, but not by much, like 100 calories) and then I've been working out consistently the last 3 days which should burn about 100 calories, so that takes care of the extra 100 I sneak it. So please pray for me to stick to my dieting plan, so I can be a healthy weight again. I would love to be around 130-135!

Forgiveness

I've been having a reoccuring dream for about the last month. Last night was about the 4th time I've had this dream. I thought it was God telling me that I still have unforgiveness in my heart that I need to learn to forgive. But then I thought, I've been trying to forgive, prayed about it, and have been avoiding speaking about the incident that is "causing" me to have these dreams. I think my progress on the forgiveness has been going pretty smoothly. So I am thinking that this might be an attack from Satan to keep the incident "fresh" in my mind so that I will continue to dwell on the situation, hendering the forgiving process. So I prayed today that I command Satan to stop in the name of Jesus Christ. So with that said, these dreams should stop. So I am going to do a word study on "Forgiveness", continue to pray, and I will post my results in the next few days.

Truth isn't discovered, Truth is revealed

That is what I learned from God today. I never really looked at it that way before. I knew that what I knew about God was because I have the Holy Spirit within me, but I guess I never really gave it much thought before. But today's bible study really revealed a lot to me today. I know that in order to understand the bible you have to have the Holy Spirit within you to do so. I use to read the bible without the help of the Holy Spirit before I was saved and I just didn't get it. I felt it was impossible to get it. Now I get it. It was revealed to me. It wasn't something I discovered, because it's always been there, it was something that was revealed to me. I think that is why a lot of people claim they have read the bible several times and find it to be full of hate and contradictory or they found it confusing because they tried to read it without the divine help of the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 says-- But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. (boldness mine)

And how do you recieve the Holy Spirit? Acts 2:38 says Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And Acts 5:32 says We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.” So in order to receive the Holy Spirit you MUST repent of your sins (repent as in realize they are wrong, turn away from and do no more), turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and obey Him. That is how I received the Holy Spirit. And my life has been forever changed since then.

I hope this has been able to teach you something, I know I learned from it. I pray that everyone I know and love receives the Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, I thank You today for Your word and the truth that has been revealed to me today through Your word and Your Holy Spirit. I can learn nothing without You! You are continually amazing and I grow in awe of You more and more everyday! Thank You Lord for Your wisdom!

Thinking of God

I haven't really posted much in the last few months about God. And I wanted to get more on here about Him. I am doing a bible study right now called "Experiencing God" and it is wonderful. I am learning so much from it! One thing I don't like about bible studies is sometimes they ask for scenerio's on where God has done something for you or where have you not listened to God and it not work out of you and stuff like that and my mind is always blank. I know I've had those situations and I just blank out when I have to think about them. So I am going to start to keep track. So here's my thinking of God today:

What I've learned about God today:

I've learned that I need to be patient to hear whatever it is God wants me to do. I learned that sometimes I don't like waiting for God's answer, so I come up with my own solution and convince myself that it's what God would want. I need to pray about things and take my time and wait for God's decision. He will always know the right answer. And it shows my dependence on Him.

What God has done for me today:

When I got home from work today I was trying to make dinner and the kids kept coming up to me for stuff to eat. I was getting very impatient with them because I was cooking dinner and told them they needed to wait. Well, we all know how that goes. They kept bugging me and I could feel myself become more and more upset with them. It was getting to the point where I was giving in to them and having a major attitude problem with them like they would just get out of my way and leave me alone. And then I thought to myself and know that God was speaking to me and I started to realize, you know what? I get a small amount of time with my kids everyday because of work and I get home and just want them to go away. How godly is that type of attitude. I need to have some patience, start planning snacks for the kids to munch on when we get home so I can cook dinner and be a kind and loving mother to them since I don't get to see them all day. I don't want my children to grow up remembering that Mom was always in a bad mood when she got home from work. I want to be a godly example for my children. I want my kids to see that I do enjoy them being around. God helped me to stay calm today in a lot of instances where I didn't want to be. He supressed my bad mood and kept reminding me that my kids will appreciate me more if I appreciate them more. I pray that God continues to work with me in this area. And help me to stay focus on the important nurturing part of taking care of my kids instead of shooing them off.

Thank you Lord for helping me be the parent I am suppose to be. I may not be a perfect one but I am definitely a better one when I trust in You to remind me how a godly parent is suppose to be to their children.

Remodeling

We finally remodeled our living room! I am so happy about it! I've waited almost 8 years to have a nice looking living room. We had to finally give in and remodel it when the Foster care agency came over to inspect the house and seen the unfinished living room. We had 2 walls that were drywalled, but not finished and 2 walls that were still the original walls. So we ripped out the 2 original walls. Markie and Ricky helped and they were actually a great help! They had a blast busting up all that drywall! And they helped pick up all the pieces of drywall while Mark and I were yanking it off the wall. So they pretty much did the work that Mark and I didn't want to do, lol. Ben and Charlotte were at my neighbor Debbie's house while we did all that. So after a month of sanding, mudding, painting, cleaning, glueing, sweating, it is finally done! I was going to go crazy if it didn't get done soon! Having 6 people cramped into the dining room as a make-shift living room was not fun at all! The kids would have it a mess in no time, everything was crammed in there, it was hard to clean, hard to put things away, it was just flat out miserable! So, now that it is done I can stop my complaining, lol. I am so happy with how my living room turned out. It's beautiful and relaxing and warm and welcoming! It's everything I ever wanted! The green was a lot greener than I had anticipated, but after getting the the wood ceiling up against it, it looks perfect. I don't have to be embarassed to have company over anymore! YAY! Here are pics of the results!! Sorry that these are not the best shots. My camera flash is broken, so the pictures turned out horrible, but it's the best I can do. Thanks for looking!

Update on Us

It's been a while since I've done an update, so here it is! We are all doing good. Mark and I are doing a bible study at church called "Experiencing God" and it is really good. We are hoping that this study helps us get closer to God and helps us to meet some people at our church since we are still pretty new to this church. I've also been pretty consistant with doing a bible study with the kids. They love it! And it's helping me learn a lot myself. Like for instance, I never knew that in Genesis when God was giving the serpent his punishment for deceiving Eve, God gave the first prophecy of Christ. That was so cool to realize that! We've painted a chalk board on our dining room wall, so the kids can sit at the dining room table while I do the bible study with them. I write their weekly memory verse on there, and they recite it everyday and usually by Thursday they are suppose to memorize it. Markie is pretty good at memorizing it, but Ricky has difficulties memorizing it. I think it has something to do with his learning disability, but I also think part of it is laziness on his part. He can watch TV and repeat commericals and cartoon scripts, but can't remember a 1 or 2 sentence memory verse? So we've limited TV, so that he can concentrate on the more important things. He gets too absorbed by that TV.

The kids are all doing good. Ben is pretty much potty trained, but he seems to go through spurts where he'll pee and poo his pants all day, then not for days. Hopefully he'll overcome that SOON! Markie just finished the Reading Recovery program at school. They feel she has learned to read sufficiently enough on her own to not need that program anymore. She has improved a lot in her reading, I hardly have to help her anymore (except for the big words, of course). Ricky is learning a lot in school. He still has some set backs, but is doing great considering his learning disability. He can add double digit numbers, which he couldn't even add when we got him, so that is a major accomplishment for him. He just has a problem staying focused. He'll do great when he begins his math homework, but after the first 10 problems you can tell his focus declines. We are going to send him to a counselor to see what we can do to help him in that area. Charlotte is tooting along like a big girl. She is learning so much from the older kids, it's making her grow up way to fast for mama! The kids love playing hide and seek and I seen Charlotte standing with her face against the wall, trying to count like the big kids, it was so cute! I have a work out video that Markie likes to play once in a while and do the workout moves and Charlotte sometimes does them too. It's so funny to watch. Ricky has taught her how to say "Thank You", but she doesn't actually say it, she just kind of hums it. She's not going to be a baby for much longer!

I get to go back to work on Monday after a 2-1/2 month layoff. I am happy about it, but at the same time, I enjoyed being at home. But according to Mark, people at work are really missing me answering the phones so they don't have to, lol. And the toner needed replaced in the copier and they told him I was the only one who knew how to change it, lol. Which is true, that thing is a pain in the butt to change (and messy) so everyone avoids learning how to do it. So now that I am going back to work, Mark is laid-off. Go figure! I think it will only be for a week though (I hope). It will be nice to have him home though when I get home from work. Usually it's just me and the kids. So it will be nice to have some help in the evenings (for a week at least).

We are currently remodeling our living room, since the foster care agency says we have to. It's been unfinished for about 7 years now, so I am glad to finally get it going again. The only real problem the foster care agency had with it was the 2 wall that were alreay re-drywalled had a 4" gap by the floor where we were going to put trim up. The lady said she didn't want anyone getting their toes caught in it. OOOOKKKKKAAAYYYY, that isn't really possible, but whatever. The state will pay for $500 of it, so that will help a lot. I am so glad to finally get to decorate my living room. In the 7 years we've lived here, I haven't been able to do much with the living room since it needed to be remodeled, so it's just been kind of blah. Now I get to pick out colors for it, carpet, and I'm starting to buy wall decor here and there so when it's finished I can start hanging stuff up. I can't wait!

Anyway, that's what's been going on with us! Thanks for reading!!

Why we are doing what we are doing

I decided that since I had a little (small) heated conversation with my brother this morning about us changing Ricky's last name and him calling us mom and dad, I decided that I'd post on my blog why we are doing what we are doing.

So, first off, the name change thingy. This is still up in the air. We are going to let Ricky decide what he wants to do, since it is his name. Right now he said he likes Ricky Barton Johnson. But we'll ask him again when the adoption is offical just to be sure. I was thinking of changing his first name to Richard (still call him Ricky), so that when he is older and if he ever gets a professional type job, he can have a professional sounding name. That idea is still up in the air.

Now, onto calling us Mom and Dad. I know a few family members might not think it is right of us to have him call us Mom and Dad, and that's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the beautiful thing about life is that it's our own choice for our own family and pretty soon Ricky will be legally our family, our child. We feel it's important that while Ricky will never forget his real parents, he knows that he has us now. Because in reality his real mom and dad are never coming back. They won't get to be there for him, raise him, teach him values and moral, support him. They can't do that anymore. We have to now. We are the only parental figures he has now. He may be my cousin, but now I am raising him and he is becoming my child. I never knew him before all this, there was no relationship between us before all of this, so it's not weird. It's just the same if I took in a child off the streets and brought him into my home. Everyone would be 100% supportive if I treated this child like my own, had him call me mom and Mark dad, and have him take on our last name. But since he is my cousin I know that some people aren't getting the importance of Ricky feeling like a full fledge member of our family. Not just some kid we are taking care of. We are now all he has in this world as parents. It's important to us that we show him we love him like we love our own kids.

I hope this has brought some light to those who don't really agree with how we are handling this. There's no handbook on what's the right thing to do, right thing to say. I know that other's that have Ricky's brothers don't feel the same way as we do and that is fine. Everyone has the right to handle things the way they feel is right. But as for us, we feel we are doing what is the right thing for Ricky and that's all that really matters.

Thanks for reading!

Another great savings week!

I had another $82 (71%) savings trip to Kroger this week! My bathroom is stocked because Kroger is having awesome P&G sales and I have tons of P&G coupons! Here's what I got:

Kellogs frosted flakes cereal - $2.99 - $1/off - doubled -$0.99 total
Kellogs Special K cereal - $2.67 - $1/off - doubled - $0.67 total
Fuze Drinks $1 - $.25/off - doubled - $0.50 total
Cottonelle TP - $0.99 - $0.50/off - doubled - Free
Jello Pudding $2 - $0.55/off - doubled - $0.90 and got a $1.50 off my next shoping order!
Bounty Basics paper towel $1.03 - $1/off - $0.03 total
Herbal Essence Shampoo & Conditioner -$2.99 - $1/off doubled - $0.99 total
Oral B Toothbrushes $2.50 - $1/off - $0.50 total
Oil of Olay bar soap (2pk) - $2.99 - $1/off-doubled-and $1/off esaver = Free
Cologate Toothpaste - $2 - $1/off - doubled - Free
Campbells Chunk Soup - $1.25 - $0.50/off - $0.75 total
Campbells Select Harvest - $1.25 - $0.50/off - $0.75 total

So my total came out to $116.12 but I actually ended up paying $33.92! I wish my camera was working so I can give you guys a visual of how much I am actually getting for so little money. I will see if I can find enough time to post how I save so much by clippling coupons and watching the sales. It's really easier than you think!

Grocery Savings

I have been saving BIG time these last few weeks at Krogers. I strongly recommend couponing. Mark has always wanted me to stock up on everything, but his idea was to go to Sam's Club and stock up. I didn't like that idea because you buy a few things at Sams and your already up to $100. $100 is all I get all week long for food and diapers and household items. So if I was going to stock up, I needed to pay next to nothing for the things I was getting. So with couponing and watching the sales I have made that possible. Here's the deals I've been getting: I highlighted free stuff in Red.

At this trip I save a total of $87.09

Tide Laundry Detergent: $10.99 - $1 off (doubled to $2) and $0.50 esaver coupon loaded onto my Kroger card = $8.49 I bought this because I get $5 off if I spend $25 in P&G items, and I needed to spend $6 more. So I actually only paid $3.49 for this since I got $5 off!!
Pringles Single packs $2.99 - $1 off (doubled to $2) = $0.99
Cottonelle Toilet Paper 4pk - $0.99 - $0.50 off (doubled to $1) = Free
Ronz Elbow Macaroni - $1.94 - $1 off (doubled to $2) = Free
Minute Rice 1 cup packages (4 cups per pack) $2.29 - $1 off (doubled) = $0.29
Oil of Olay 2pk bar soap $2.99 - $1 off (doubled) = $0.99
Gillett Hydragel Shaving cream for men $3.85 - $1 off (doubled) = $1.85
Old spice body wash $2.50 - $1 off (doubled) = $0.50
2 Old spice Deordorant - $2.50 - $1 off 2 (doubled) $1 off 2 esaver = $1 each
Herbal Essance Shampoo and Conditioner $3 - $1 off (doubled) = $1 each
Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner - $3.49 - $1.50 off = $1.50
Pantene Styler - $3.49 - $1 off (doubled) and free with esaver = actually made $2 off of this!
Crest toothpaste - $2.56 each - $1 off (doubled) $1 off esaver = Free

The total for everything actually came out to $123.50, but I only paid $36.41!!! The coupons alone saved me $54.92!

In this trip I saved $83.17

Here's the deals I got:

Rice Krispies Cereal $ 2.49 - $1off (doubled) = $0.49
Cocoa Rice Krispies Cereal $2.49 - $1off (doubled) = $0.49
Pillsbury Frozen Biscuits $1.99 - $0.40 (doubled) = $1.19
Ronz Spaghetti $1.94 - $1off (doubled) = Free
Ronz Elbow Macaroni $1.94 - $1off (doubled) = Free
Kraft Bagelfuls $2 - $1off (doubled) = Free
Kraft Bagelfuls $2 - $0.55off (doubled) = $0.90
Cottonelle Toilet Paper 4pk - $0.99 - $0.50 off (doubled) = Free
Huggies baby body wash and shampoo $1.62 each - $1off (doubled) = Free
Minute Rice 1 cup packages (4 cups per pack) $2.29 - $1off (doubled) = $0.29
Herbal Essance Shampoo and Conditioner - $2.99 - $1off (doubled) $2 off 2 esaver = Free
Fusion Manual Razor $5.99 - $4 off = $1.99
Duracell batteries 4pk - $3.50 - $1 off (doubled) = $1.50

Kitty is in the Christmas mood!

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 offAnd 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!

The tree skirt!

I found a neat craft online and decided to try it out. The tree skirt we had was one that Pam made us the first year Mark and I spent Christmas together as husband and wife, so we were due for a new one and this one is so neat because it involves the kids.

Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming!

And I haven't gotten much done, lol! I still have all the stuff I bought from Black Friday in the back of the Aztek. I really need to get it out of there and start wrapping it, but it's so cold out there! Heck, it's cold in here! I did get the Christmas card done....but haven't sent them out yet. I am such a procrastinator! Anyway here's what it looks like. I designed it myself and did all the pictures myself. I'm pretty proud of it!

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!

This one is decent, but it cuts her head off and part of her hand. And I think she's missing the bottom half of her body, lol.

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.

Adoption is underway!

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!

Updates

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!!

Parent Teacher Conferences

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!!

Believe

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.

Believe + Faith = Trust & Obedience

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!!

Bible Study Time!

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!