The Crew!

We had our crew over the other night and had a good time.It dawned on me that I didn't have a picture of just the kids so I grabbed my camera much to the dismay of the crew!
These are six very different people with six very unique personalities, so having them all together is always very interesting and you can always count on a great time!

The picture says it all!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mike and Kennedy. My sister Kelley took this I believe the day after Kennedy came home. When I look at this picture it reminds that with God anything is possible!
God had laid adoption on my heart again in 2004. For the next two years I tried to explain to Mike this wasn't me it was God. When I first went to him it was a flat NO!!! After that he would just look at me and say "God has not put this on my heart." I didn't understand any of this. Not only did I know without a doubt that God had placed adoption on my heart again, He had given me a vision of a little toddler girl in all places a exercise class I was taking at my church! I was getting older and growing tired of asking Mike. Then one day I heard God speak audibly to me. He said "go to Mike and tell him that you are my messenger and he will listen." I was like "great he is going to think I have lost my mind." So I went up to Mike told Him what God said and he looked at me and said "OK." I about fell over! I was excited but I was also a little bit perturbed! I thought "that's it? Over 2 years of begging, pleading, asking and that was all I had to say?"
It didn't take me long to realize that was Gods plan along. His timing is perfect and if Mike had said yes the first time I asked him we would not have blessed with our Kennedy or this precious picture of a daddy with his new baby girl and as you can tell by his face totally in love!

Living a Life of Excellence

When I am going through a hard time or things are not going my way, it is very easy for me to take a dip into my pity pool! Poor me, poor poor me. Nothing is going right,I try so hard, WHY ME???? WAH!!!!!Isn't that pathetic? Good grief. It is during these times that I need to remember how blessed I am. Why is it so easy for us to focus on what is going wrong in our lives instead of what is going right? I have no idea but I don't believe hanging out in the pity pool is what God had in mind for our lives.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to make some changes. I am changing the way I react to certain things. Like with my husband, when I know I am right and he is wrong but he thinks he is right, I let him keep thinking he is right! ;) How I react to my fears, my insecurities, parents who decide to stop their car, dress their kids and feed them breakfast in the drive thru drop off at school, drivers who pull out in front of me like they are going to miss happy hour at Sonic and then come to a crawl and there is not a single car behind me and everything else that drives me nuts. Some of these things may seem silly, but if little eyes are watching and little ears are listening then it is a very big deal!
I decided to live a life of excellence. Of course the moment I made that decision is when satan decided to throw me a curve ball every time I went to bat. I would be lying if I didn't fess up and say that more than once I felt like giving up. But giving up is not an option. God never said it would be easy but He did say to trust Him in everything.
God has been very good to me during this change. When I felt like giving up He kept me going. When I wanted to argue with Mike about something He helped me keep my mouth closed (that one was hard!) When I am fearful of certain things going on in my life right now, He calms me down. After a couple of weeks I realized doing all of this was becoming easier.
Now for those of you who see me often please don't think I am walking around with a halo over my head and that my little horns are not going to pop up once in a while! I have a very long way to go but I have come a very long way and the point is I am making a conscious effort to change. Like today when the mom parked her car got out and talked to her kids in the drive thru drop off, not once did I roll my eyes or think a bad thought! Baby steps I tell you!
When I go to heaven and I see God face to face I hope He will smile at me, reach out His arms and give me a hug and say "I knew you could do it." Oh that would be so amazing!

The Old-er Mom

I walked up to the school today to pick up Kennedy. She usually walks home with Cameron, but sissy was sick today. As I walked up to the school I saw all these moms standing around. I am guessing they were in their 20's & 30's. They stood around in their little group talking about their day while the kids where at school and how they can't wait until their kids are a little older and they can do this and that by themselves. I just stood their waiting for Kennedy and thinking to myself "are you kidding? They grow up way to fast! They don't stay little long enough."
The door flew open and the kindergarten class flew out along with the two teachers who are both friends and have taught all my older children except for my oldest. I am sure they wonder if this is it.
Kennedy came running to me with a huge smile on her face yelling "mommy!" Whatever worries I may have go away when I see her face. She sees I have her princess umbrella and even though only two drops have fallen she is so excited and opens up her umbrella all the time grinning and talking a mile a minute. She puts her tiny hand in mine and we walk home.
Tonight I thought of those young moms and their conversation. I remember when my boys were younger there were days, that I had those same thoughts of wishing they were a little older and could do more for themselves. True, those thoughts usually came out of exhaustion but they also came from being young, naive and a tad bit selfish.
Being an older mom has made me want time to slow down, actually I want to have some of it back. I want to know then what I know now. That time goes way to fast. We go way to fast. Most of us are over committed and don't realize it until one day your youngest son is getting off a bus after serving in Iraq and your youngest daughter who came into your life at two and half years old is now in kindergarten and so happy that you brought her princess umbrella to her.
Being a mom is a honor no matter how old you are. We should treasure every cry, laugh, lost tooth, boo boo, snotty nose, the 1,000 pictures they bring home from school with the glue or paint still wet, staring you awake when your in a dead sleep, every hug, every kiss and every I love you. God has blessed my life in so many ways but the greatest blessing is being a "momma." They give me hope for the future, Faith that I can get up every day and be the best mom I can be and they make my heart feel a love that is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I am the older mom but my six blessings keep my heart young!

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

Older Waiting Children in China

I am hoping to help these wonderful children in China find a home before they age out. If you have ever considered adopting please consider an older child. They have so much potential, they just need a loving family. Please pray that these children find their forever family. For more information on these children please contact Marci at marcisk@asiadopt.org

George desperately wants a family. He is a sweet boy who has seen his friends get adopted and he enjoys practicing his English. he has quite a lovely idea of what a home and family might be like. Let's help him find a family of his own.


Sherry is a shy girl with a sweet smile and demeanor. This may be her last chance to have a family due to her age.


Julia is intelligent, cute, polite and enthusiastic. She was born in 1996, so will age out of the system if she doesn't find a family to work quickly for her.


Skyler is quite the artist, He's talented, speaks English, is 13 and is anxious to have a family. He is eager to succeed in life and with the right family he will.


Gina is a sweet and independent girl who is interested in learning. She is bright and a good student and likes to read, ride bikes and play sports. We have video of her reciting the ABC's in English.


Please help us find homes for these precious children! Even in tough economic times, children still need families. If each of you who views this blog tells 10 people about these children, the word will spread far and wide and perhaps we can find the right families. Thanks for all that you do! Marci

Can you say "MAMMOGRAM!"

Earlier this year I posted about my mammogram experience. I received a lot of emails about it so I thought I would post it again since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have relatives and friends who are survivors and I have lost friends to the disease. As a matter of fact a friend of mine who lives in another state read my post and thought she should schedule a mammogram. Guess what? They found a lump! But they found it early! I pray someday there will be a cure. So go get that Mammogram!


I had my yearly mammogram today. I have mine on or close to my birthday. Kind of a present to myself. I have no clue why but I thought I would share this very worthy but awkward experience with you.
Don't get me wrong I am soooo grateful for the mammogram or as I like to call it the "boob crusher". Every time I stand up to those very flat plates that are getting ready to smash my girls I wonder who "who came up with this?". I thinketh it was a husband who was mad at his wife. Anyway it had to be a man
Ok, first of all you can't wear deodorant before you have one. The one time you are going to sweat like a pig and you can't wear deodorant! When you arrive at the radiologist they hand you a gown and send you into a very small room where you are told to undress from the waist up. They now have this little cape with one snap in the front. I felt like "Mammogram Woman" I mean you already feel like you are on candid camera and now you have to wear a cape. The cape ended up being a good thing. The old ones well lets just say more often than not the "girls" ended up in the wrong holes!
A new thing I experienced today is they now put these pretty little band aids on YOUR nipples. Ok, like that isn't awkward. Supposedly this gives the Dr or radiologist a focus of which way the boob is pointing. I found this to be very concerning. Your a Dr. and you can't tell which way the boob is pointing without a bandaid on it? I see my x-rays and I know which way they are pointing! Personally I think the tech puts them on for a laugh.
Ok, Cape pulled back, band aids on now you step up and the tech grabs your boob and moves it around on this cold glass plate like it is play dough. They shape it anyway they want too. Then you are suppose to lean toward the glass back, relax the shoulder opposite of the boob that is being flattened like a pancake, hold your breath and pray to God you do not pass out! Then you hear those dreaded words "we have to take that one over again." Of course you do. Let's not forget there are the many different poses. You kind of feel like you are getting a boob mug shot! When all is said and done you and your cape go back to the tiny room where they offer you deodorant, get dress, go on and pray that no lumps are found.

SAVE THE BOOBIES! THINK PINK!

Anti- Adoption

I thought I had seen everything until I cam across an Anti Adoption Blog. I have to say that nothing surprises me very easily but this one, well it made me sick. As I read it I could not believe the horrible, ugly things they were saying. Let me put it this way, for every wonderful, awesome, beautiful thing we say about adoption they say the opposite and are just as passionate. The thing that made me sad was the hostility and anger and it made no sense. I am for everyone having the right to believe and say what they like, right or wrong, but it has to make sense.
In their opinion they believe abortion is better than adoption. That all of us who choose to adopt are using children to fill our own selfish wants and needs. That we are liars when we say how our lives have been blessed by adoption. We manipulate and use birth mothers. My eyes could not believe what I was reading.
I know very aware that a very small percentage of adoptions fail, that there a small percentage of people who adopt thinking that adoption would fill a void and there have been birth mothers who have been lied to an used and on that note visa versa. The world is made up of different ideas and views.
But honestly to believe that it would better to abort a life or leave a child as an orphan in this world possibly exposed to abuse, sex trafficking, hunger, left out in the elements, sick, living in fear every day of their life, than to bring them into family who loves them and wants them more than the air they breath, well that just doesn't make sense to me.
I am pretty sure that those who believe this way have been hurt or raised to believe this way. I am going to pray for a change of heart.