Sunday, December 27, 2009

GENEROUS Santa

Apparently Santa didn't think I was taking nearly enough pictures w/ my ol' point n' shoot camera, (or perhaps quality was the issue) so he generously presented
me with a receipt that one of these was coming my way:



Additionally, he must have thought that my little girlies were being shorted on the amount of footage we have of them vs. the volumes that we have of Xian and again, generously had this wrapped up for me:




AND YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW A LOT OF MY KIDS BEFORE..... !

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Xmas '09

We had an enjoyable Xmas this year! We're so very blessed! I say that first and foremost as to not sound ingracious when I say that I was terribly lonely this year...
YES, I'm so happy that T is back.
YES, I'm so blessed to have healthy children!
But, I was nonetheless a little melancholy that we were alone. My memories take me back to SD with a houseful of people. I can't help it.
**roll over bottom of slide show to stop it & see caption**



Saturday, December 19, 2009

Xmas parties


Mim's party was really adorable... all the little pre-schoolers singing of God's love and the true meaning of CHRISTmas! This is her teacher.


Lil's fun, too.... highlight was the pinata (don't know what that has to do w/ CHRISTmas, tho'?)


Xian's band concert... He is right under the "P" w/ the big hair!



The girls sang in the kid's choir at church.
BTW, Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

baby Georgia



My cousin and his lovely wife from SD were in town last week to welcome their new baby into the world. They named this precious babe Georgia.... quite a miracle child. She came to them via a surrogate. My Lily LOVED giving her a bottle and just taking her all in!

We wish this new family of THREE the very best that life can offer.


Monday, December 14, 2009

LB 2nd place Reflections Winner




My little arteest won 2nd place out of ALL of the Kindergartners at her school (almost 300 kids) in a Reflections contest entitled, "Beauty Is..."

She created a little work of art known simply as 'Flowers.'

Her school had a reception for all of the top winners and now her piece is onto the county level... yeah LB!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I love these ladies





I should have a picture of the wonderful ladies who donated all of this great stuff for my friend V!!

I had to take a couple of pix of what these great ladies provided! We also got $82 in cash.

I'm so excited to bring all of this to her!!!! She'll get her toaster oven next week hopefully (see below).

HUGE thanks to my dear friends Esther, Su, and DeAnna for their contributions, too!
Vicki was moved to tears - again - when I told her of what you all had done! She said, "well, I've never" and "God bless you all!" over and over.

Ladies, thank you all so very much!!!

I'm blessed











A few updates since I last wrote regarding V.

I got to visit her at her “house.” Suffice it to say, I’ve never been so happy to come home to my comfy abode! I am SO blessed!!!! (Pictures above are: Ms. V & her dog Lily Mae and her house.)

She was embarrassed to let me in and started apologizing before I even got over the threshold. To say her house is small would be a gross understatement…. There were a lot of bugs and even though she tries, this is not a place where any human should have to live! She is so desperate to get out of there. I’ve tried several local tax-credit and subsidized housing communities, and the rent is either too high or there is no availability. The search continues...

I took her to a place called Warehouse of Hope where she’ll be able to get some food staples and maybe some clothing – another eye-opener to me. God placed me in another humbling environment while sitting there with others waiting for their free food & diapers: this could have been me. If circumstances would have been different in my life, I could be the one there receiving! Most people I know well are just one or two paychecks away from being there. Lord help me NEVER feel ‘superior’ to anyone in any way!!!!!!!!

Today my wonderful Bible study ladies did a food-drive of sorts for her. (I'll post these pix in the above update!!!!!!!) AND a big bag of clothes, AND a winter coat, AND one blessed soul is going to donate her toaster oven!!! Additionally, 2 other friends sent me money for her and another lady sent a box of clothes! How wonderful is all of this?! I’m so psyched to bring it all to her! With the money, we'll be able to help her with several of her bills this month! Thank you so much ladies!!!! Also, big shout out to a friend, Jeff, who sprayed her house for bugs inside and out. I’m sure he’ll NEVER again offer to help me out :) :) :)

Please continue to pray. Even though all of the above items are wonderful donations, they are but a band-aid on a big, gaping, hemorrhaging wound called poverty and right now, I don’t think there is an “answer.” The next step is to get her food stamps and Medicaid. I can’t imagine that she won’t qualify.

I’m thankful that God is using me in this way! I’m thankful that even though these circumstances are FAR from pleasant, I can serve and teach my children to give and then give some more even though we may not “feel” like it.




Tuesday, October 27, 2009

hurting friend

I’m writing in desperation right now, so things may come out jumbled and incoherent, but I feel like putting down my raw emotions, so here it goes.

God put a woman I’ll refer to as V in my life about 1 ½ years ago. She works at a store we frequent. First there was just casual, topical exchange, but as time went on, and as she grew to dote more and more on my girls, our conversations lengthened. I knew she was a loving person by how many customers stopped to chat with her and give her a hug. V has suffered from a chronic, life-long battle with tremors.

One day many months ago, she opened up a bit more than usual and told me of her relationship (or lack thereof) with her grown children. They won’t speak to her or take her calls. I wondered about that, but didn’t pry. She said the only other family she has in the area is her sister who lives close by her, but is in terrible health.

One day I saw her in the parking lot having car troubles and offered her my help. She said she had just had her car in the shop and felt like she’d been ripped off by them. I gave her my numbers and told her to call me if she needed anything.

Another day, in the store, she told me that she had tried to kill herself the week prior. She took a bottle of pills and drank liquor and really did not want to go on. She lives by herself, has minimal contact with anyone, has a dead-end, low-paying job, no insurance, etc. and just couldn’t take it anymore. I asked her to promise me that she would call me before she ever tried anything like that again. She agreed. She needed some financial help right then, so I paid a couple of her bills and a friend agreed to pay another one. I then loaned her a little bit of money to help her buy groceries.

Several months have passed since I have seen her and then last week, there she was again. I have wondered about her every time I frequent this store, but never ran into her. Last week she looked and sounded awful. I knew there were major troubles again… health, money, car, etc. I again gave her my numbers.

She called me tonight in dire straits. She had fallen due to her tremors, was taken to the Dr. and prescribed more meds which she can’t afford to go p/u…… she has NO food in her house and then proceeded to tell me she doesn’t have a stove OR a working television.

I write all of this to ask the few of you that I know read this to pray for her (and for me.) Pray that God would intercede where needed in her life. She just recently rededicated her life to Christ. Pray for me that I’m able to help without judgment and/or question, that I’m open to whatever God will have me to do in this situation, and that my kids will be touched and moved to be selfless by witnessing all of this.

I’m going to pick her up tomorrow morn to get her scripts filled and to get her groceries…. will update after that.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Disney on Ice











I was so thrilled to be able to take my girls (and Xian) to Disney on Ice (DOI).

Several years ago, my mom, my SIL, & I took my nieces and Xian to see DOI... it was so great to watch it thru their eyes! I'm thankful to have the chance to see it now thru the eyes of my lovely daughters!

They LOVED it... it was precious. The characters they love to watch on TV and in movies were right in front of them!

Mim's new haircut


I just LOVE it!!!!

Thinking that before we leave for Thanksgiving vacation, we'll go even shorter.

LOVE YOU, M!!!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mims singing

M has learned some cute little numbers at pre-school... must share them with you!


Birthday's bite

YES, I had a b-day a week ago or so… YES, I’m too old to mention how old I am... YES, I truly hate getting older! I did, however, get to celebrate my dreadful day w/ some good girlfriends!

He's back........ (well, almost)

After nearly 20 months of T living in Florida, he is FINALLY COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!

At the beginning of his post-AF journey, we were initially psyched about the idea of moving to FL to join him. We never anticipated the bottom dropping out of the housing market and for the ATL area to be hit so hard! The second half of these past 20 months was spent job-searching for T to get back here. Much heart break, frustration, and questioning was happening!

Finally our prayers were answered and T got a great job with another gov’t contracting company. He’ll be working at the FDIC in downtown ATL. No weird hours AND no deployments!!! He’ll be taking public transportation (bus) down there, so as to avoid the heinous traffic! We’re hoping he is back by Halloween! So, we've taken down the worthless 'for sale' sign and are going to thoroughly enjoy being a reunited family again!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

ATLANTA FLOODING







It started on a Sunday night. Literally, a deluge! I’ve never experienced anything like it before! Give me snow/blizzards/white-outs/ice/wind, etc. any day over never-ceasing rain!

Water started seeping into our basement late Sunday night. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I debated about started to wet-vac it out then, but decided it would most likely be worse the next morn,……..? SO, on Monday morn (of course no school for the kiddos) I hesitantly walked downstairs. I was met by a room that was totally saturated in water! Not just any water – brown & red water!!!…. Thankfully the carpet & padding soaked up the majority of it. I was blown away, however and did NOT know what to do first. Thankfully a friend showed up w/ her neighbors and we started ripping out the carpeting and padding. It was a nasty job! After that was done we noticed what was most likely the cause of the flooding in the basement… a year ago we were treated for termites (yet another southern pleasantry). The exterminating company drilled down into the foundation to apply the chemical to kill these pesky critters BUT DIDN’T SEAL THE HOLES BACK UP!!!!!!! There were 1” round holes every foot around the perimeter of the basement. Water was still coming up thru the holes… that was where the brown/red dirt was coming from!

Needless to say, I got that exterminating company out here right away and they (believe it or not) admitted to their negligence, filled the holes and we came to a settlement for them to repay me. Meanwhile, we’re still living in total chaos down there. All of the household stuff is in the garage. Hoping for reconstruction to begin (and finish) this week.

We were blessed to have Samaritan’s Purse help us with some of the demolition & clean up. What an amazing organization! FEMA – another story! What a joke! I think the federal gov’t should just continue to bail out the people who really need it – crooked bankers & car companies instead of people living with black mold infesting their homes…. UGH.

Overall, we’re just blessed that the damage wasn’t worse!
As of today, we're done!!! :) The new carpet is down, the walls are fixed - YEAH! Now, if only I had all brand new furniture to load back into the room.... :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

MAX out the cuteometer!!!!

Pre-school fun...

The older two weren't the only ones to start school recently... our 'baby' started pre-K.
She loves her teacher and is the first one up in the morning, so excited and ready to go to school!





I have a new 6-yr-old


We were so blessed to have T’s parents and sister here with us to help celebrate LB’s 6th birthday!

Granted, I went a little over-board. It was a bit too much work and the budget was a bust, but fun was had by all and, well, how many times do we get to celebrate one turning 6???

Oh, how I love this child with all my heart and soul. Every year when my girls celebrate b-days, I cannot help but think of their birth mothers who loved them SO much that they a) chose life for them and b) knew their situations and their hearts enough to place them up for adoption! I’m so thankful for these women and hope they know, in their hearts, they made the right decisions and how loved these children are.

Happy Birthday my darling... we LOVE you!!!



















Sunday, September 13, 2009

While I'm Waiting

Nothing much to say except THIS is where I am now... as well as where I've/we've been for the past 18 months....
(working on the 'peaceful' part)... :)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

1st day of school

How come when I was in school, the time dragged and dragged... year after year. It seemed as if I would NEVER make it to my senior year in High School.

Now that my kids are in school, the years are whizzing by. I vividly remember when it was Xian that was starting school. In fact, I was reminiscing last night about it and ended up finding his Kindergarten teacher and sending her pix from yesterday’s first day of school.

Yesterday, LB started Kindergarten and Xian started 7th grade. Mims won’t start pre-K ‘til September. They both had wonderful days. LB’s details were sketchy, but I could tell she enjoyed it. She has a male teacher that came very highly recommended to us. He seems amazing! Xian has an aggressive schedule. He was placed in advanced math, so I’m hoping that I’m smart enough to help him out with it! I met all his teachers and was impressed with all but one… (nearing retirement, I think.)

Although I’m going to miss our lazy summer days, I’m happy the schedule is here and the kids will be learning again.