our newest family

I would like you to meet someone..... www.blessingsforthegoodlife.blogspot.com

Meet Makayla

This is Makayla. She came into foster care today, along with 2 other siblings, she is the oldest. They are placed in other homes. As you can see, she is already fitting right in! She is very talkative, and smart as a whip. She is 4, but her birthday is this month, she will turn 5. She knows her birthday, can spell her name, can even add. She kept saying she was glad to stay with us. First she asked if she could stay 2 nights. Then if she could stay 3 nights, then if she could stay longer than that, 1 week...then asked how much longer than that she could stay. Then she said she wanted to stay awhile, and was glad she was staying with such nice people. She was laying her head on my arm while we were watching t.v. and looked up at me and said, "you're the best". She is so funny. Fits right in, and b/c her siblings are both younger than her, 2 1/2 and 1, she gets along great with the babies. Even Zachariah was excited for her to be here.

And this was the best I could get with this wiggly bunch!

Easter for the babies

I wish I'd take photos of everyone's Easter baskets! I had so much fun shopping for Zachariah this year. I found a lot of fun little things, and he seemed to enjoy sorting through all his new stuff. His favorite, of course, was the bag of bunnie marshmellows. You can see him below...he carried those around, and it was not easy to get those away from him! Every once in awhile, with bag in hand, he would bring me another toy for me to open for him.

He was so funny carrying these, and very protective...he DID NOT want to share! :)
He did try to share with his little brother a couple of times. And no, Christian only looks like he is eating one...those are just his hands he is knawing on.

I got Christian the stuffed duck behind him, the rubber ducky, and that toy on his arm.

He LOVES this thing. Little short stuff has figured out how to use his tippy toes to move himself around this thing. He really plays with the toys too...much more than Zachariah ever did.

Easter

Easter has kinda been a drag, as we all have pink eye. As careful as you can be with all these people, but it didn't help, we have all gotten it. It is about to make me crazy.

I am so out of Easter spirit, I didn't even take pics of their baskets, or them digging into them.

This morning, they still wanted to put on their Easter dresses, which I LOVE by the way (Kohl's, only $15 each!) They have crusty eyes, and didn't even comb their hair, but I thought I would document the day anyway. I hope to take some good Spring photos soon....as soon as everyone has clear eyes, and I have the energy and patience to tackle photos of everyone.

The thing about pink eye is it has only seemed to make me feel bad....everyone else still has just as much energy as ever.

Ma'am, can I have a quarter?

I recently watched The Blind Side for the first time the other night. Oh, it was so good, and struck several cords in me. What made me the most emotional, was in the end, when she was showing the shots of the young men, that hadn't been so lucky in life. She said how these men came from the same background as her son, and how he could have easily have been one of them. I thought of my sweet babies. DHS gets a bad rep a lot of times, but in my eyes, they have saved my babies from a life of abuse, drugs, crime, living on the streets...who knows what.

I recently read this post, and it is so well said, please take the time to go read it. It is titled "Living Life with Eyes Wide Open". Because what she said hits home so hard, and brings me tears every time I read it, I want to include 2 paragraphs here...

"When I train pre-adoptive parents, I tell them to consider the part of society that most of us in middle class spend our lives trying to avoid. Those who are involved in drugs or alcohol, domestic violence, mental illness, poverty, and crime. I tell them that becoming a foster parent, or adopting out of foster care is inviting "those people" into our lives-- because "those people" live in the minds and hearts of our children. Our children are "those people".

And so, as time goes by, embracing those that are different and whose lives are glaringly imperfect, changes us. It becomes more difficult for us to tolerate injustice, racism, or intolerance. "Those people" become "our people" and we are forever changed. "

I was also reminded of this bible verse the other day, Matthew 25:40 "the King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." My friend referenced it in caring for foster children. I haven't ever thought of it this way, of them being "the least of these" b/c to me they are just sweet beautiful babies. But, when you think about those paragraphs above....it gives me a whole new look at it. And those words struck a cord with me, b/c I do look at the world differently.

Today, I was in Pine Bluff, and as I went into a store, I had a man come up and ask me for a quarter. Now, there are people in LR that do that from time to time, so I am used to it. There was a time though, I would have just said I didn't have any money, and went on my way.

I dug into my purse and said, how about a dollar instead?, and went on in the store. But I kept thinking about it all through the store. Yes, he did make me a bit nervous, mainly b/c I was alone and he was a man, and he looked rough. He kept sitting there, was there when I came out. There was no coke machine, so I am sure he was just needing money, and was asking different people. And I know there is a good chance it was for drugs or alcohol. I am not naive to that. As I thought of him though, I just thought about the life he probably has. What life must be like to have to ask people for a quarter at a time. What was his life like growing up? Did his mom abuse drugs and alcohol? Was he in the foster care system, with no family that ever loved him like I love my boys? Poverty, drugs, alcohol....are all hereditary in their own way. Did this man even stand a chance from the beginning? I only gave him a dollar. I could have given him more, so this post isn't about that. All I could think about is how just a few years ago, I would have selfishly told him no. My mind would have thought all sorts of things about what he would use that money for, what kind of person he was to ask for it, thinking he was only up to no good. Society teaches us to think this way. I just became very aware of how differently I think now, b/c as in what Sandra Bullock said in The Blind Side, he could have easily have been one of my boys. (now, I am sorry that I didn't quote her in the movie totally accurately, but it was very late at night, and hey, I have 5 kids, so my memory aint so good :) Once upon a time, he may have been a cute little boy that only needed a good home, a family that loved him, thought he hung the moon.

zoo, movies, and my Birthday!

Wednesday we had a great time going to the zoo with friends. You can see that little Miss Lucy is a budding photographer, and you can also see her other photos on her momma's blog

Do you notice Rachel rubbing her eyes? This is a new tick of hers, and I believe is the cause of her pink eye she currently has.

We got to have an overnight visit from Amber, and we had a great time going to the movies Thursday. She ended up spending 2 nights with us, and it was a great visit!

When I got back from taking her home Saturday, they'd been shopping, and had this sign hung up for me.

My favorite part of my gift was the homemade wrapping paper. It was so cool!! It has all 8 of my babies on there.

And again, Rachel has her eyes closed. What is up with that? I asked her and she said, "sometimes the light is bright"....well seems like the light was bright all week long!

Spring Break

Wheh...this Spring Break is flying by! Life in general is just flying by these days. I miss blogging more frequently, but I just can't seem to get time for anything these days. Life is going good, great really. I will share a few things with you, and maybe when school starts back up next week, I can get more regular with my blogging again. We will see.

The kids are on Spring Break right now.

We went to see our family last weekend, and then the kids stayed a couple more days down there. I had planned on resting while they were gone, but I didn't seem to rest any.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 33. Am I really getting that old? My body feels older, but my heart and mind seems much younger. I am still blown away sometimes thinking that I am an adult, and I am responsible for myself, and 5 other little people. I have gotten a lot of cool things, and I want to share that with you...it has been fun, I have felt like I was celebrating all week!

Amber spent the night with us last night. Amazingly enough, adding 1 more child to the mix has not been one bit harder than my normal life. She has been so well behaved....better than when she lived with us, and better than my own kids. It is so nice that when we want to see her, I can just call and ask for her to come over. She fits right in, and always has a good time. It is really special to be able to do that.

I am still on an emotional high from last Friday. In case you missed it, there was a meeting that decided we would get to adopt both boys. Praise the Lord!! I feel so much peace, and so much joy when I look at my whole family.

I am also excited to announce that this week Clay was offered a new job. He had been working part-time, and was hoping for it to turn into something long-term, and it has. It is funny...I hope he doesn't care that I share this. One day one of my facebook friends posted that she needed some part-time accounting work. So, I told her Clay might be interested. So she fb me back to have him call....so he did. Then she fb what day for him to start working. It was really kinda funny....I got him a job on facebook! haha.. It really is all about who you know, huh? lol He loves it, and I think this is going to be great for us.

We went to the zoo with friends Wednesday, and had the best time. It was so nice to be out in the pretty weather, and get to visit with another adult!

My neighbors across the street are having a garage sale today, and my kids have walked over there about 5 times, and have eventually bought every Happy Meal toy and stuff animal they had in the sale. They were so excited about the "great deals" they were getting over there. Now, next week, I will have to have my own garage sale! haha They were really nice, I finally walked over there with them and met them. We have lived here over a year and I have never done that. shame shame.... They are also a foster family too, and I love how you can meet another foster family, and can instantly have so much to talk about! :)

My neighbor gave the kids some Junie B Jones books she had in the garage sale....that was so sweet of her!

Noah is working on a Flat Stanley project this week....that I believe we will have to have finished by Monday. I better find out about that....the week is near the end.

I went to the movies yesterday with the 4 big kids here....and you wouldn't believe how easy FOUR kids felt to me. I had a great time just hanging out with them. I am realizing how much I have been missing my kids, how lonely I have felt with them in school.

I really want to take some Easter pictures of my 5 kids together. I do not have one once of energy to pull that off right now. Are there any volunteers to come to my house, get them all ready, take them to a pretty outdoor location, and then take their pictures? I did have someone volunteer to take family pictures for us, which I really want to do....I just have to coordinate when we will do it....and convince hubby to have the patience to smile through it all. :)

We've had to take Flat Stanley with us everywhere we went. While they were at my parents, my dad took them, along with Flat, on a 4-wheeler ride.