FIVE.....

Amidst all the chaos in this household, a certain girl in this family turned FIVE last week!

I'm not gonna lie.... I've been in some serious denial about this birthday!  I've been telling her for months that we are counting her years backwards from now on, and she was turning three this year.  She loved to taunt me that she indeed was turning FIVE!  She wouldn't play along with my game, and I'm a little bitter!  Love this girl to pieces, and I know that with being FIVE, comes another forbidden subject in this house..... kindergarten.

This girl is beyond ready to head off to school every day.  I know what this means, though, cause I remember when two certain boys in this house started kindergarten, and it feels like yesterday.  From this year on, time will fly, and I know how fast it's going to fly!  She couldn't be more excited, though, and I will try to hold it together and be excited with her! 

 Ally girl, you are loved beyond comprehension!  We are priveledged to call you our sweet daughter.  You've taken on a big roll this year, the roll of being the BIG sister in this house, and you have come through it all beautifully!  Ella Grace thinks you are the best thing in the whole wide world!  She follows your every move, and I'm so thankful that you roll with it, and don't get bothered by that!  So very proud of you big girl, and I guess it's okay for you to be FIVE now! 

Overdue.....

This update has been long overdue, so it's time to fill you in on what's going on in our world.  When I last left you, we were flying out for an interview, where we interviewed with a wonderful church in Oklahoma.  The interview process here was for a music ministry position.  Through the weekend, we really felt like God kept confirming over and over to us that He wanted us to wait and to continue seeking a pastor position.  It was very difficult to come home with this realization, as we had pretty much all but packed up the truck to move.  Before going, we really felt like this was where God was leading us, and we were both surprised that it was not where He was leading.

When we got home, we were contacted by a church in Oregon.  We went down there this past weekend, and met some more very lovely people, but we both knew very quickly on that this was not the  place for our family.  The church is 99% senior adult, with no other children/youth at all, and we knew that this was not going to be a fit for our kids, or for us.  It's hard to understand this process, but we both feel that if God has definitely not made it clear to us that He wants us there, then we need to continue to wait upon Him.  This might not make much sense, but we know without a doubt that this is what we need to do.  We both came home feeling very overwhelmed and sad..... we know that He has a place for us, somewhere.

 We are officially down to no income coming in, but over the months God has blessed us through our adoption tax credit refund, a huge, generous gift from our church in town, and several others who have given to our family.  Each gift has been deposited into our savings, in anticipation of this day coming, and now it is here.  The Lord has continued to supply all that we NEED, and we are trying to be wise with what we have and how we use it.  I can't begin to tell you what an amazing God we serve, and how He constantly reminds us that He loves us and will never leave us or forsake us. 

Thank you for praying for our family, for asking us how we are doing and for loving us through this time.  We are so blessed to have so many who care for us and love us, and we are so thankful. 

We called our rental company, and our house had not yet been rented, so we are able to stay in our house, boxes and all!  We officially got Allyson registered for school today, since school starts next week and she's going to be a big ol' kindergartener.  My dear, sweet husband is applying for everything imaginable, and we know that God will open the door He wants for us to go through....

AND,  my sweet son just brought me the last chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk, just because he loves me, so I know we are going to be OKAY!!!!

Too busy

Climbing mountains (at least the boy half of the family)...

Swimming with cousins.....

Celebrating birthdays a little bit early.....



 Sliding down slides.....



Jumping off high dives....

Loving the splash park......

Body surfing.......

Snuggling with Papa..... 

Having rootbeer floats with Great Grandma......

 Visiting with Papa and Grandma.....

and lastly, trying to find some time to do this.......

to find any time to blog around here.... I promise a more thorough update is coming, but please remember us in your prayers as Brad and I are flying this weekend for an interview at a church....



Wordless Wednesday.....

Brought to you by the letter...... P

I'm interrupting the Summer Catch Up posts to show you how we are currently spending our days......

We have had a successful trip to the potty for several days in a row, now, so we are working on our potty training skills!  We've made up our own sign for using the potty... picture wrinkling up your nose and waving your hand in front of your nose, saying "SHOOEEEYYY" like we do after stinky diapers, and this has become our sign needing to go!  She has told me a few times BEFORE she actually goes, and now she's telling me sometimes after she goes, but it's all steps in the right direction!  Sometimes we have to sit for a while, so we sing songs.....

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout.... here is my handle, here is my spout"

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out"

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain"

 make faces.......

this is how she really feels about the whole thing!

 fake cry.......

pretty convincing, huh?

 and sometimes she claps and  claps and tries to trick Momma that she already went!  Fun stuff, I'm tellin' ya!  But her favorite part is the hand washing after she goes.....

(and flicking water on the mirror)

So, if you try to call, or need to come see us, you might find us a little occupied, but we're having fun!

{Have I mentioned how stinkin' proud we are of this girl???}  no pun intended!

Summertime...

Time is flying by, already this summer!  It's hard to find the time to post and keep everyone updated on us!  I feel like we have blinked and the first 3 weeks of summer have flown by!  I think I'll go back to week 1 and try to update, so I can go back and see what we've done when I look back.

Week one was filled with the annual city-wide garage sale, day at the beach with cousins, cousins sleeping over, meeting friends for breakfast, who were here from OKC, and Jacob getting his annual checkup with immunizations so he can be ready for 6th grade in the fall.  I was pretty proud that I got his scheduled before it was time to go back to school, I'm usually so bad about scheduling the immunization appointments!  We made over $200 at our garage sale, and I was able to re-stock Caleb's entire summer wardrobe, since he outgrew everything he owned!  I was also able to add a couple of outfits to the girls wardrobes and a couple of new outfits for Jacob (since he gets a little tired of hand-me-downs), as well! 

This first pic is actually of Jake and I on the last day of school.  We wore our matching school shirts one last time... I served as the PTA Treasurer for Jacob's last year of elementary school, and although I enjoyed serving his school, and meeting lots of fun ladies that I worked with, I was HAPPY to be done with my job and hand the books onto the next victim volunteer!

The boys and their cousin, Joel,  after enjoying their first of many sleepovers this summer!  I love that they are all so close in age, and that they get along with each other (mostly!). 

Our friends were here with a misson group, and had time to meet us for breakfast on their last day in Seattle, so we ran up to meet Jim and Brook!  I babysat their two boys back when all of our boys were little, and it was so fun catching up with them.  Brad and Jim served together at our church in OKC, and Brook and I were very close as friends and staff wives.  She is one of the funniest people I know, and it was fun to get together and laugh and talk about how much the kids have grown up.  We hope they come back sometime with the kids and stay for longer!

We found a little pool at Walmart and decided to get it for Ella Grace, and yes, she LOVES it!  She could and does spend alot of time playing in the water!  Her big brothers always make sure to add a few buckets of hot water to her pool, so that she won't get too cold.  They are pretty amazing big brothers, if you ask me!

Lots of popsicles are being consumed around here!

I will update more of our fun summer soon..... we've done lots of fun things already, and I hope we can make it last!  We had lots of things on our summer list, and we've already done lots of them, so I hope we don't run out of fun things to do!  With four kids, it's so important to keep busy and get out of the house a couple of times a week, or the kids start fighting and Momma goes a little nuts! 

We are still not sure what direction God is leading us in.  We still have our resume out there, and are praying that He will open up doors soon for us.  We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of friends and family during this time of the "unknown".  I can't even begin to tell you, and we pray that we can be that kind of blessing to others, and will never forget this time in our lives.  We appreciate your continued prayers and we continue to wait upon Him to open something up for us. 

Wordless Wednesday

{Welcome Summer}