Teenager in the making....

Dear Lord, PLEASE HELP ME with this child .. She is going to be the death of me.

 I found this pic on my phone and I am sure this is the face she wishes she could do to my face. I do love her dearly but we are going to go toe to toe for years to come. All I can say is my Mom survived my teenage years so there is some hope.

Easter with our " Adopted Family"

We were invited over to Marc and Shelly's for Easter lunch ( well actually I think I may have invited myself , that's how good of friends they are)  with the entire Haarala gang. Kids got to die eggs ( thankfully because I never did that with them), we hid candy eggs and we ate more food then we really needed to. It was a fabulous day.

You maybe wondering why we have 2 pics that look almost exactly the same. Well you know girls and we had to get the best pic possible ( I could of posted more but decided not to go over board).

Lauren absolutely LOVED getting to hang with her bestie Emma as well as the older girls. 

This is the entire gang of kiddos.  As well as the only pic of Walker and Hayden we could get. Even this one was so hard to get them in. They told us they had way more important things to do then take pictures.

No words for these 3 clowns. Just kidding !! This was the only pic we could get them to take.

All in all it was a wonderful day with our " Adopted Family".

Happy Easter 2012

Elijah

This sweet child has been in thoughts and prayers daily ever since I heard the news that he has "restrictive cardiomyopathy" . In non - doctor terms.. he needs a heart transplant. No words can even express my sadness. It has taken me days to process this. I have done more research on the internet and its a flipping scary diagnosis.

 For those of you that don't know, I was in the delivery room when this soul came into the world.  He will always hold a special place in my heart. As will the entire Auxier family. When we lived in Portland, we met the Auxiers at church and hit if off immediately. We spent holiday with them. Stayed with the all the kids when Jeff was lost in the woods of Oregon eating bugs ( just kidding, that story is a whole other post). Anyway I was pregnant with Lauren and Elijah was only like 3 weeks old.  I LOVE Jeff's wicked dry sense of humor ( made the man spit water across a table one time, I still laugh when I recall that dinner conversation). As you can tell I LOVE LOVE this amazing family. We may be in Texas but we still love them like family.

For some reason today , I have shed many a tear about Elijah. As well as what Kimmee and Jeff are going thru as parents.  This is my prayer today...

Tender and compassionate God, you are our steadfast companion in the joyous times of our lives. When we rejoice, you celebrate with us; when we are anxious and afraid, you offer us a relationship where we can find courage to face the unknown; when we weep with sadness, you are our comforter. Help us, O God, to believe that you receive us as we are, and help us to entrust ourselves, with all our many struggles and hopes, to your faithful and abiding care. Amen.
− Unknown

Please continue to pray for Elijah, Kimmee, Jeff, Ed, Mary and Luke.

http://loveforelijah.wordpress.com/

First the Tooth Fairy... Now Easter Bunny

Lauren walks in and says , Mom, most bunnies hop on 4 legs.. But the Easter Bunny walks around on 2. Can you explain that to me ? ( I knew what was coming ). I said well its how the Easter Bunny is..
Lauren:  Mom, I mean really its a little creepy to think about a furry bunny walking around the house leaving Easter Baskets..
Me:  couldn't help but laugh.
Lauren:  You have to admit it is creepy. Mom, I'm thinking its like the tooth fairy.
Me : what do you mean ?
Lauren: Well you and Daddy are the tooth fairy. So I'm thinking you are the Easter Bunny as well.
Me: yes we are
Lauren: ( long deep breath).. I am so glad that you are because the thought of a big furry bunny coming in the house is just WRONG ..
Me: I'm sad that you are getting so big.
Lauren:  Its OK Mom it happens..  Also , I know for sure that there is no Cupid because Daddy has no romance skills.

This girl cracks me up. I hate that she is getting so grown up.

Slumber Party !!!

 Walker asked Lauren to sleep in his room. Which is HUGE because he never wants anyone to sleep in his room.  Trust me Ken has asked numerous times and the answer every time is NO Daddy.  I sat outside the door for a few mins and listen to all the giggling.  Warms my heart !!

Why?

Way to much illness has been too close to home lately.  Way to much stress to close to home. Way to much sadness.  I would really love some good news. I pray multi times a day , ( My mom has a sign that says, Hello God, its me again.) I am thankful God is patience, because if not he would be extremely tired of hearing from me. 

 The other day while in conversation someone told me that we shouldn't ask God why things happen? That we should  just except it and then you would be at peace with the situation.  

1) Elijah Auxier - a dear friends 11 yr old son needs a heart transplant.
2)  Friend from HS 7 yr old son died in a freak accident.
3)  Lauren has a friend from school with leukemia.

This list could go on and on. How can you help but ask why?  Yes I do believe that you have to have faith in Him that all will be OK. But how in the world could we say to any of those parents in these situations, to not ask why ? 

My prayer is for some good news very soon. I feel like I have been consumed with sadness. My heart has been so heavy for all of these families , from the stress of unemployment, and just the day to day stress of the kids. 

Toothless

Walker has lost a total of 4 teeth and they are all right in the front of his mouth. We keep calling him " Toothless" which he doesn't like much. Anyway the other day he finally lost one that was just hanging my a thread. It bleed and bleed like crazy. He was not happy to say the least. He was trying to convince me that he couldn't go to school, " with a bleeding body" . Well we got the bleeding to stop and off he went to school. But not happy at all about it. I emailed his teachers to give them a head's up. Once he arrived he was totally fine . Mrs Oliver was able to get him on video to show me proof that all was well.  You have to admit that he looks so cute with all those teeth gone.