My baby boy....

Well it happened last Sunday, my baby boy turned 16. The time has truly flown by. He is the last of our homegrown kiddos. My baby boy. did you ever have one that just was made to be the baby of the family? Well Alex is ours. He came into the world quickly and then settled right down. I never had to get up in the night to feed him, he slept through from the day he was born. He just loved to be loved, the other kids ,especially the girls adored him. And rightfully so, he smiled and went with the flow. He is still a very laid back kid(too laid back at times ahem). Any way he was a perfect fit for this family, we celebrated it on Saturday and then on Monday his dad took him to pick out his cell phone and when he is ready (meaning he has read the manual) his dad will take him for his permit test. I can't even believe he is old enough to start driving. He plays basketball ,soccer and will do track in the spring. He still loves to play almost anything. if you come with younger kids he will get his stuff out and play right along with them, video games no problem,blow up army men in the sand pit you bet. He really likes getting fire crackers, the boys play by the hour with them. We live out in the country so no worries. Ever see a tomato get blown up? Yeah well here it happens on a regular basis.
I am going to share the background story of Alex because it is so wonderfully God. Seventeen years ago we were leaving evening church service and our Daughter Sara said"I know what I want for my birthday next year" "we just celebrated your birthday and you're already thinking about next year?" (her birthday is December 10th) She says "yes" "I asked God for a baby brother" Dan and I were dumbfounded, we told her that she would not be getting that for her "gift". she was not swayed," I asked God for a baby brother for my birthday." well the new year came and life was crazy and long about June I realized I wasn't feeling all that great, and guess what I was expecting and due in December, 3 days after Sara's birthday. The closer it got to her b-day she started saying she didn't want him to share her birthday. Well at this point in time he was going to come when he came. Her birthday came and went and I went into labor on the 12th had him that afternoon. Sara was here for his birthday and she said "I wish he had been born on my birthday" Man make up your mind.
Never underestimate the power of your childrens prayers. Get them on board in prayer with you. God has done amazing things for our family all because our children have prayed in faith believing GOD would answer. We named him Alexander it means defender of the people, we believe God has big things for Alex. since he was 2 years old he has always said he was going to be a marine.
Be blessed ....

The Children......

the children were all nestled snug in their beds with visions of tool boxes and pillow pets danced in their heads......

Grocery shopping...

So yesterday Dan and I went grocery shopping. He was willing to go and drive so hey who am I to say no. We went to a bigger store for our shopping....you know what that means... we spent way more than we would of if we had stayed close to home. So you ask how bad could it be we spent my whole months worth in one trip. This is pretty typical of my husband, he feels like we are not ready for winter unless the pantry and freezer are full. So he shops and buys some things that I would never consider. You may ask what could that be

one cheese in a can...

two avacadoes

three packs of cheese

four cans of soup

five cans of tuna

six chicken breasts

seven boxes of crackers

eight cake mixes

nine boxes of cereal

ten frozen patties

eleven fresh vegetables

and twelve cans of MT. DEW


Oh yeah there it is our own twelve days of Christmas....

And honestly if you think I'm kidding about the amounts, I'm not. We have cereal everywhere in the pantry, we had four un-opened boxes before we went so I really have 13 un-opened boxes...any one want to come for breakfast? Oh wait we didn't get any milk... ugh!!!

So should we get snowed in we have provisions and really all that matters is if we get snowed in I have MT DEW a woman has to have her priorities.

A Very Blessed Thanksgiving....

We celebrated our family Thanksgiving a little early. Our son Aaron was home from California so we had our family in on November 13. we had 22 people sit down for a dinner with all the trimmings. It was wonderful although it took me several days to recover, I was exhausted. We are completely blessed. God is so good to us!!!!!

Also as you can see by the last picture our son Aaron is now engaged!!! He asked Casey to marry him while home and a wedding in September 2011 is being planned. Very exciting. Her grandparents own a golf course that they both haved worked on, so last Saturday they went for a walk together and when they got to the 18th hole, Aaron got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.....AWWW how romantic :)

We had him ask the blessing for the meal on Saturday and then he held up Casey's hand and told everyone the good news.

God has truly blessed us as a family. We were so thrilled to have all 9 of our kids with their husbands/boyfriend/girlfriend sit at our tables along with grandparents and a close family friend to share in our joy. This week we will have dinner with Dan's family and 5 of our kids.

November is here....

I will show you all my grandson Owen who is 8 months. He is super cute. He is also a very good baby. He is a smiley guy and the spit up phase is finally starting to get better. I know that having had 9 I would be used to it but ummm yeah...not my thing. When we hold him and it's starting to you know come out we all get grossed out and give him back to Sara. She can't believe how we act, but can I just say when it's your kids you have to clean it up, but for anyone elses' it's optional.

So it's November. Is anyone else as excited as me? I love Thanksgiving. This year we are having all our kids in on the 13th. Aaron is flying home from California that weekend and so we will have all 9 of our kids, 2 son-in-laws and 3 grandchildren, my in-laws and hopefully my Dad. talk about a full house. I can't wait, have been planning a menu, and decorations for the 3 little girls to make. He is coming home the 11th to the 14th, it was so much cheaper to fly home that time then at Thanksgiving. We are just happy to see him , then at Christmas he will be home for 2 weeks.

Also it is OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD time I will be running the relay center at our church for the week. Am believing for the most boxes we have ever collected. I am excited because I have actually had some people sign up to help me. We have started filling our boxes here.....have you?

WE have a little movement on our adoption. Praise the Lord we have an approved homestudy. If you had told me that would take 5 months I would have thought you were crazy. But on Oct 15 we were approved and on the 27 we were notified by USCIS that we would get a finger print appointment. So we are moving along; very slowly but moving. We will work on the last of our dossier paperwork and just wait on God to move forward. But Operation Joy is still underway.

The kdis have adjusted very well at their new school. They were both allowed to play on the soccer team and basketball starts next week.

QUOTE

" Do all the good you can,

by all the means you can,

all the times you can,

to all the people you can,

as long as you ever can."

John Wesley

Biblical aplication;

" For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance , that we should walk in them." Ephesians 1:10

October Is....

Beautiful.....

Awesome......

Gorgeous.......

Busy.....

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH>>>>make sure you take care of yours....., : 0
( did I say that?)