Beach Pictures

Goats and a Horse

I took Abby to see some baby goats and a horse today. It was fun. She said it was for her homeschool homework...gotta love it! That's all I've got tonight.

Can you tell I'm a little sleep deprived?!

Easter

Blessed

Wednesday night we welcomed an adorable baby boy into our home! We don't know how long he will be here, but we do know it will be long-term foster (so, probably 6 -12 months at least). Everyone is enjoying him! I have lots of help from all three kids. Cara is especially helpful and is actually very good at taking care of him.

It is an amazing/overwhelming in a good way feeling to provide a precious little life a safe place. We just want to shower him with love and give him a good start no matter how long he is here.

For those who have asked or wanted to ask the question, "Aren't you afraid to get attached and have to give him back," our answer would be a great big, "of course." I almost wanted to hand him back to the social worker last night because I knew how quickly we would love him and that we would get attached, then I remembered all the reasons we decided to do this and I knew that for now, this is the right thing to do, so we will. We will love him, we will rock him, we will play with him, we will do everything with him that we have done for our kids. He will be a part of this family for however long we get to have him.

I don't think I can put pictures of him on the blog, but boy is he adorable!

Home

I knew we were home when the doorbell rang loudly three times at 8 am today. I thought, "Who would just keep ringing the bell??" I thought it might be the neighbor boy so I stayed in bed. It just kept ringing so I hopped out of bed hoping to not wake Abby because she had not slept well. I think she got too much sun yesterday because she is fine today. Anyways, it was our new friendly neighbor. He had our mail. We actually forgot to ask someone to get it, but sure enough he noticed we were gone and he got it for us. He even took a box I left out for the UPS man and a package on the door for a customer. OH WELL...he was trying to be helpful!

Everyone was up by 8:10 and our day began. The neighbor boy was here by 10 and they are still playing. I finally met his mom today. She actually left him here for a bit while she ran to the gas station. I yelled my name out as she drove off ... strange, or maybe I'm overprotective? He's a cute little guy and he and Jake enjoy playing together. I asked him who he lives with and he said, my Mom, my sister, my brother and my Dad and Step-Dad used to live there too. Hmm? I'm assuming not at the same time. He seems to like it here and is pretty comfortable. He is easy to please and polite too. Always tells me that whatever I'm making smells good :).

So, anyways, we are home. I had the post-vacation blues this morning when Jeremy headed back to work. It was fun to spend time with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece. They are here for a few more days and my other brother, sister-in-law and niece are on their way! Can't wait!!Oh how we try to get a family picture with everyone looking at the same time!! It's a challenge!

Can You Find Jake??

In Charge

When I was growing up and my parents would leave for a night out or a trip away they would always leave me in charge of the money. I liked this job because my brothers had to ask me for the cash :).

Well, tonight I went out for about 2 hours and I asked Cara to remind her Daddy of a couple things that he needed to do. For some reason when a cute 5 year old tells you things that need to be done at the end of a long day it just doesn't sound like nagging :). She looked at me and said, "Am I in charge??" I said, "SURE!" She got this crazy big smile on her face and thought for a little bit and then said, "I can't believe it...I'm in charge!"