WE ARE STILL HERE... JUST BUSY HAVING FUN...

 Our family and my sister's crew at the Blue Bell factory tour...

 Izzie and Jo... they make me smile...

Sara Beth, Izzie, Anna and Jojo

I have to be honest, my heart is a little sad...

We just said good bye to my sister Beth, Theron and their 4 kiddos.  They stayed with us for 6 days and it was an absolute delight.  I really don't remember the last time we had that much time together to just hang out and let the kids play to their hearts content.  It was such a treat... They are really easy to have around...

They are in the middle of an RV trip across the country... And we are so grateful that they included OK in their travels... but for now I miss them...  I will post a few more pics from our time together... Lots of posts running around in my head... so much has happened... exciting news... but I have been too busy enjoying my sister in the last few days... Praying you are all well!

We are on board, Lord!

(Christmas Eve 2011)

 Levi is now right around the same age little Miss Hope was the day we found out about her and hours later loaded up the kids, bought a car seat, and headed out for the two hour drive to meet her and pick her up...

 Here she is the day after she met our crew.  I am not sure if I ever posted any pictures of her from those early days.  I know I didn't post them at the time because I couldn't, but now I can't remember if after things all settled down and we knew she would really be ours if then I posted some???  Anyways, she had some cheeks on her:) 

I will never forget how she took to Greg immediately, and wanted nothing to do with me...

I will never forget the kids, later that first night crying and asking, " Will she ever like mommy??"  (I think they had watched my heart grieve for Samuel for over and year and just really wanted this new little girl to WANT to be by me:) 

I will never forget the kids arguing over who could stand by me as we walked through Walmart with her the next day... They were so happy to have her here with us...

I will never forget wondering what on earth she was thinking coming to our home at almost 10 mos. old...  I just wanted her to feel loved and not afraid...  (I think she felt a little smothered in love:)

I will never forget about 10 mos. later, riding in the car and staring at her in the rear view mirror... her calling out my name, "Mama, Mama!!!"  and having the distinct knowledge that she knew NO DIFFERENT  than that I was her mom, Greg was her dad, and we were her family... and she was perfectly content in that alone.

  We look at her and see and know her whole story, about her conception, her sweet birth mom giving her up for adoption,  her first 9 1/2 mos of life, her coming to us, the months of waiting and uncertainty, and the rest of the story since then...

It is such a sweet blessing to be able to look back and see and feel the Lord's faithfulness... Adopting Hope has been such a sweet gift and wild ride for us.  And I am so thankful for the Lord adopting us and calling us as His own... We are fully His... just like Hope is fully ours! 

Wow, what a reminder that amidst life's uncertainties (aren't there always uncertainties in life, or am I the only one?? :)... The Lord sees the full picture, He sees all the details... the ups and downs... the twists and turns... He loves us and all that has and will come our way has been sifted through His hands...

Oh that we can just sit like Hope in the car seat of our life and let the Lord drive us and lead us.  Oh, that we can just sit back and trust Him fully and enjoy the ride.  Oh, that we can just sit, know, and say, " There is my Heavenly Father, He is in the driver's seat and I KNOW that He has it under control and has the BEST plans in store for us!"  Oh, that we can just leave worry and concern on the side of the road and jump on board fully for where the Lord leads us... 

This is my prayer today! We are on board Lord... You lead... we follow:)

This was our first Christmas with Hope... Anna was over the moon!  

NEVER DULL AROUND HERE...

This would be what Hope's high chair ended up looking like after a meal during Christmas Break... Thank God that she didn't get hurt... Yes, it did collapse while she was in it eating.  Par for the course for Hope, she just giggled... She is one tough little mama:)  It was beyond repair.  Looks like we are in the market for some type of high chair or toddler type chair...

Hope and sweet baby gourd, as the older boys like to call him.   I am not sure how the kids come up with the nick names that they do.  Hope is totally at the stage where she gives us the cheesy grin:) 

 Man, when I look at this picture, I am in awe of how God brought both of these 2 little ones into our family.  He is so good to bring us to the point where we can look outside of ourselves and our comfortable box of how we expect our life to go.  I am so thankful that the Lord had worked on our hearts and was opening them to adoption years ago. 

These 2 are becoming better buddies every day.  Levi, just laughs at Hope's antics and she is pretty smitten with him:)

This spoke to my heart...

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If I am to be honest...  I am a better mom to littles than bigs...

Maybe not better, but it certainly comes more naturally to me...

Tonight we held a family meeting and discussed all the things we want to do in the coming year... some very basic like ...

Have a family game night (Jo's idea)

When we are all home and the weather is nice to play a family sport outside.  (Caleb's idea)

Lift weights (Lou and Greg's idea)

Go to bed earlier (My idea:)

Be kinder to each other (Anna's idea)

But then we tried to get more creative...

Have one new family over for dinner every month...

Random acts of kindness each month...

Be better about writing cards or letters to loved ones...

Eat out of the pantry and freezer this whole month ... (only buy fresh fruits/veggies and dairy:)

Wow, the new year has me wanting to start afresh in many ways.  My personal list will hopefully help to focus me and keep me more accountable to the things I want to change or improve on. 

 Honestly, when I look at our 3+ years here... A lot of it is a total blur... After losing Samuel so much of our first year I was just trying to manage my grief and accomplish the basic tasks of schooling and caring for our kids.   I look back and my oldest had just turned 11.  Fourteen is a whole new ball game.  We laugh and call him our man child... He is part child; still free spirited, sensitive, fun loving and funny!  But then there are so many ways that he is completely a young man.  And I have to admit there are many times I am scratching my head as to how to best handle new parenting situations. 

I love being a parent... Besides my Savior and my Greg... my children are my highest priority and I love being a mom.   But I would be lying if I said that there were not times that I was frustrated with my kids or my parenting. 

This post totally spoke to my heart today.  In 2012 I want to serve God better.  I want to do a better job as a wife and mother...  Will I fail?  For- sure!  We all will since no one is without fault.  But this post was the perfect starting point for me in this new year. 

I have never really struggled with raising my voice and yelling... but this year I want to actually speak gently.   I want my kids to listen to what I say, and not be tempted to tune me out just because of my tone.  I don't want to lecture my kids out of anger... Shoot I don't like being lectured to:)  

Courtney  writes in this blog post...  "When we as moms go on a long rant about something the child has done wrong – we may feel better because we got our feelings out – but our child has not been brought any closer to wisdom and understanding."

I don't want to just get my feelings out... I want my words to point my children to their Savior.  I want my words to draw them closer to my heart and the heart of God. 

Please read the rest of the blog post... I think you will find it totally worthwhile...:)  Here's to the fresh start of 2012:)

http://womenlivingwell.org/2012/01/introducing-the-gentleness-challenge/

Answered prayer...

It is a great day for a wedding!

We are praising God for the answered prayers for another Christian mate for our embryo donor mom.  (She was widowed over 3 1/2 years ago... hence the reason we were blessed with her embryos and as a result our Levi!) 

Our hearts are overjoyed for her and her two kiddos! 

I am thanking God for the gift that she is to our family.

I am thanking God for blessing her today with another companion to share this life on earth with...

I am thanking God that He saw fit to bless the both of us this year with such happiness, such amazing  healing gifts in this precious baby and new husband...

He has brought much beauty from the ashes for both of us...

I praise Him for His faithfulness! 

Lord, you have done some pretty amazing things in 2011... what a great way to end the year... the joining of these two lives... It makes my heart sing:)



CHRISTMAS VACATION

 ENJOYING THE LIGHTS AT RHEMA WITH GRANDMA HINTZ AND THE COUSINS

 OUR FAVORITE PART OF THE LIGHTS... THE TUNNEL... THEY EVEN HAD MISTLETOE HANGING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TUNNEL THIS YEAR... I THINK WE EMBARRASSED THE KIDS:)

 HOPIE WITH THE HOOTSPA AT SILVER DOLLAR CITY... She is such a ham...

 IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY ... THE WEATHER IS UNREAL RIGHT NOW...

WHAT IS IT WITH THE GINORMOUS SUNGLASSES??  :)

We were so blessed to get the chance to go to Silver Dollar City yesterday for the first time.  We had some sweet friends treat us to such a fun day.   The weather was perfect.  Anna, by far gets the bravery award... She loved the roller coasters more than any of our boys.  One of the neatest things was the total emphasis on Christian values.  They even had a nativity in the parade... no Santa... just Jesus!  The lights around the whole park at night were so pretty. 

We also just got done celebrating Christmas with my in laws and Greg's sister Lisa and her daughters.  The kids had an absolute ball with their cousins.  It was just for a few day so it went by really fast, but it was sure nice for them to be here with us.  We rarely get that much time with Lisa, so that was a real treat, to actually have lots of time to visit.  I was thankful to have her listening ear:) We really appreciate them taking the time to drive all the way up here from Houston...

We are enjoying our last few days of Christmas vacation... since it is back to the grind next Monday for us:)  We have cherished the extra time with Greg and home:)

What a great day!

CUDDLING WITH MY SNOWFLAKE BABY... BESIDES MY SAVIOR... ONE OF THE BEST GIFTS OF THIS PAST YEAR FOR SURE!!!

What a sweet Christmas Day the Lord blessed us with... I am so grateful...

The kids and I were up late Christmas Eve... after church last night we did IHOP with our small group friends... Lots of laughing and good fellowship:)

Then Greg went back to church for the late services and the kids and I went home for chocolate fondue, new snugglies (either jammies or slippers:) and a movie...

I of course fell asleep on the couch watching the movie and the kids, (Lou, Caleb, Anna  and Jojo) watched all of "It's a Wonderful Life".  In my tired state I thought that 132 minutes meant an hour an a half... so it went much later than I was expecting...  I was just not thinking... Oops...

The movie had just finished when Greg walked in the door at 1:45  CRAZY!!!  Surprisingly they all got out of bed quickly for church this morning.... I was proud of them...

After church we opened our family presents...The kids loved all of theirs and I was amazed at the thought that Greg put into the presents he got me this year... we never do a whole lot for each other, usually something small...

He got me the most beautiful snowflake necklace... (Sometimes babies that are born from frozen embryos are called snowflake babies:)  Then he had bought a soft snowflake throw and snowflake cups from Levi to Anna and me... just precious... so thoughtful...

Then we had a few families over for a mountain dinner... it was sort of an experiment, but I think went pretty well... basically you have rice and everyone brings all sorts of toppings for the rice... anything from meat, to veggies, to nuts, to pineapple... it actually tasted really good and was a different way to celebrate Christmas that is for sure...

I was totally overcome by the Lord's goodness to our family today... I was so thankful to be able to celebrate with friends who are like family to us... what a gift... Especially when you live far away from all family...

And to be surrounded by my husband and kids was all I could ever want...  (except of course another little 3 year old boy messing around with us all day... can't wait for Heaven to enjoy that ) It was a beautiful Christmas...