God Is God

I believe in prophesy.

Some folks see things not everybody can see

and once in a while they pass the secret on to you and me.

And I believe in miracles.

Something sacred burning in every bush and tree.

We can all learn to sing the songs the angels sing.

Yeah, I believe in God and God ain't me.

I've traveled around the World.

Stood on mighty mountains and gazed across the wilderness.

Never seen a line in the sand or a diamond in the dust.

And as our fate unfurls

Everyday that passes I'm sure about a little bit less.

Even my money keps telling me it's God I need to trust.

And I believe in God, but God ain't us.

God, in my little understanding, don't care what name I call.

Whether or not I believe doesn't matter at all.

I recieve the blessings

That everyday on Earth is another chance to get it right.

Let this little light of mine shine and rage against the night.

Just another lesson.

Maybe someone's watching and wondering what I got.
Maybe this is why I'm here on Earth and maybe not.

But I believe in God and God is God.

- Joan Baez

A Bit Ridiculous

I was up in the attic looking for our baby gear when I looked around me and noticed I was surrounded by boxes and garbage bags full of little girl clothes.

The child in only 3!

If I keep this up, we'll be renting a storage space before she's 10!

I pride myself on my ability to get rid of stuff. One of my favorite activities is going through closets and purging. So what's my deal with Josie's clothes?!?!

I started buying little girl clothes the year after Andrew and I got married.

5 years before we actually had a daughter.

I wanted a little girl so bad. I just knew the day would come that each and every outfit I bought would be on my daughter. So I bought and I stored and when Josie came, she was set.

Add that to my obsession with buying things off season on clearance and we had a serious stockpile!

And as God works, she wore the same size for over a year so she actually did wear 99% of the things I had bought.

But of course that didn't stop any of us from buying her more cute clothes.

And when she out grew them, I just put them in boxes in the attic. Saving almost every one.

But I decided it was time to purge. I'm sure God has another little girl in our future, but she will just have to have new clothes.

I pulled out every box and spent hours sorting.

I kept anything sentimental or really nice, but made myself go through each pile 3 times to make sure I was only keeping the things I really wanted to.

Baby V is in the keep pile!

It was fun to remember her wearing all those tiny outfits.

And at the end of the afternoon, I had narrowed it down to just a few boxes.

And the realization that the girl is more then set in the clothes department for this winter.

I started to load up the discards to sell, but God brought a family to mind from our church outreaches so I'm giving them all to their little girl.

It was difficult to let go of those tiny things, but I'm so excited to bless that other family next Sunday!

R is for Recipe

To finish up our Letter R work we followed a recipe.

Josie cooks with me all the time, but I rarely ever read the directions to her. So for this one, I read each direction then had her do what it said.

I picked Darby's Ice Cream Recipe since I've been craving it since she posted it way back in May. We made chocolate and mocha and boy were they yummy!

It's more creamy then normal ice cream and the texture is awesome!

Froggy Went A Courtin

One of my favorite ways to keep Josie happy and quiet is to fill up the sink with soapy water and a few dishes and let her go to town washing.

Last week I went to finish up some laundry while she did her dishes when I started to hear a suck-flop, suck-flop.

And in walked my little froggy.

Not sure why, but it totally cracked me up!

So the laundry and the dishes were pushed aside so we could go practice her frog jumping skills!

Silly Little Froggy!

Move Over Dunkin!

Last week we made donuts for our Letter D activity.

After forgetting the buy the dough 3 weeks in a row and then realizing Andrew used up the last of the oil, I almost scrapped the whole thing and headed out to Dunkin Donuts, but in the end I remembered it's the experience that counts so we did our best with what we had.

They were supposed to be cooked in oil but we were out so I baked them. They would have been much better dipped in oil!

While we waited for them to bake we did our Alphabet Summer work.

Can you tell she really liked the word Dude?!?

And, of course, it's not a donut without some sparkles!

6 Months Old!

Let me start off by pointing out that Little Man has the cutest wrist rolls ever! And those fat hands?!?!

Yum!

Baby V is still doing awesome. He had his first plane ride and was an angel the entire flight and he saw the ocean for the first time which he did not love.

He is still waking up at least once during the night but starting tonight we are going to try letting him cry it out.

He is eating a lot better this week and is loving baby food. I decided to keep him on the first foods until next month since I'm not entirely sure what he has tried so far.

He naps 3 times a day and spends his awake time on his playmat or being held. I'm not sure how to really play with a 6 month old!

We took him to our pediatrician last week and he weighs 14 pounds 15 oz and is 24 1/4 inches long. The doctor thinks he is on the small side for his height, but everyone we see says he's a big baby.

Our pediatrician has been amazing about getting all his records straight. We had a phone conference with her and she had already had two phone conversations with his Cardiologist. They are watching his weight and having us bring him in next week for another weigh in. We go to the Cardiologist in a couple weeks so we will get more information on his condition then.

The caseworkers on the other hand are still seriously disorganized.

One person tells us no visits for 3 weeks, another says they are picking him up in the morning, and another one tells us we have to bring him to the office.

We finally got a hold of a supervisor and are getting a set schedule by the end of the next week.

The plan is still reunification. The parents have shown up to the visits and are moving into an apartment. The caseworker told us that pretty much all parents do the visits the first couple months and it's only after that that we will start to be able to predict if he will be going home or not.

Yesterday he spent the day with a worker from OASIS, which is a privately owned company that is writing up a history and an assessment of his whole situation. She was amazing!

Finally someone who seems to know what they are doing!

She was very knowledgeable and just as concerned as we are about the lack of order in the DFACS office. Yesterday they spent the day having his development assessed and checking on his progress. Today she is observing the parent visit and next week she is meeting with the pediatrician.

I am so very happy that she is gathering all this information. Like I've told all our friends and family, I'm fine with him ending up going home as long as it is the right move. I feel like this woman will make sure that it's a safe and healthy place for him to be and that puts my mind at peace with it.

In the mean time, we are just loving having him here.

Maybe That's "Why Not!"

Our new "Why Not?" parenting plan is working out great.

I've had to catch myself a few times saying no to things that really didn't matter.

But I quickly learned that the only real requests Josie has are about what she wears. Like yesterday she was going to a meeting with Andrew and wanted to wear her recital costume.

We let her and she was happy.

Today she was painting and wanted to paint her fingernails.

I thought about it and decided it's washable paint so why not? And let her have at it.

Fifteen minutes later she walked in like this:

Oh.

Maybe that's why not!

Lucky for her, I was on the phone with my Mom who is a huge supporter of the "Why Not" method and as I told her what happened and that I had to go, I heard her yelling, "REMEMBER WHY NOT!"

And I did.

The paint washed off and Josie moved on to another activity.

No harm, no foul.

So Why Not goes on!

Back From The Swamp

The kids and I spent the last week down in what we affectionatly call, "The Swamp." Normal people call it North Florida.

We were down there to visit the kids Grandpa and Grandma and they were adequately spoiled.

How we managed to cram all that we did into 5 days is still beyond me, but we did!

We spent one afternoon at a nature park. Josie loved it. The rest of us were dripping with sweat.

And I thought Georgia was steamy.

We were there to try my hand at Senior Pictures:

Well, not that kind of Senior!

This kind:

My gorgeous little sister is a Senior this year.

I took these with my stock lens. The next day I scored two new lenses and a Speedlite!

Josie spent time helping my Dad do some screen printing in the garage.

I spent many nights cleaning screens just like this!

We spent a day at the beach.

It was this little guys first trip to the ocean! And his first airplane ride!

And the rest of the time we swam, swam, ate, and swam some more!

And I played with my new camera stuff!

These were taken from 15 feet away! I love it!

We had an awesome week! I wish we could get down there more.

We're already planning our next out of state trip. I hope Baby V likes traveling!

Her Little World

Some of you may have guessed that I'm a bit of a control freak over things being in the right place.

I've trained Josie where things go and she usually cooperates with her OCD Mother.

But one area in her room is totally her domain.

Her headboard.

And she is just as meticulous as I am about making sure everything is where she needs it before she goes to sleep.

I am sure the day is coming where she will trade these things in for an I Pod and Teen Bop or whatever magazine the kids are reading these day, so I wanted to document what is a neccesity for her at 3.

Polly Pockets, Silly Bands, A Brush She's Never Used, A Princess Swirl Light, Bobble Head Monkey, The New Testament With The World's Smallest Writing, and Her Flashlight.

Her Bible and Her Finger Puppets

A Whale, A Glo Bug, Her Lantern With No Batteries, and Our All Time Favorite Photograph.

A Cup and, of course, Her Purple Phone!

We listen to her talk on that phone every night when she is supposed to be sleeping.

I love that little girl!