You Gotta Have Friends...

I've never been one to have close girlfriends. In high school most girls really got on my nerves. I was never really part of the girly cliques. Even as a college student, I pretty much stayed to my self. I had other things to worry about, a baby, a job, classes, husband, etc. Now as an adult, two kids and another on the way, I'm starting to have real adult girl friends. Friends that I can call and just talk to, or have over, or drop kids off at their houses, etc. Real friends. Christian friends. Good moms. Nice people. Praying friends. Godly women that I can trust and that I'm growing to love. God has blessed me at a time when I really needed it. I've needed these women during the past few months. God is so good.

Free Giveaway...

Hey, there's this site that I read, Pho For Five, that has really good adoption info, plus, she's started doing free giveaways about once a week or so. I get an extra comment for linking them, SO here it is! Check it out though, it's a good site. I don't always agree with what she writes about or her opinions, but that's okay! She still does have a really good knowledge of adoption issues.

Puppy Love

We have two dogs. Skillet is a long haired black & tan miniature dachshund and Lulu is a short haired reb boar miniature dachshund. At this time last year we didn't have Lulu. We had our beloved Sassy. A yorkie. With floppy ears that we rescued from a puppy mill. We loved her. She was the first pet that we bought together as a family. She disappeared last year right before Thanksgiving. It was a sad sad time for us. I still tear up when I think about her. She was the spunkiest and sassiest of all dogs! We got Skillet as a puppy and he and Sassy were the best of friends. He'd never been without her until she disappeared. After her disappearance, he got very depressed and territorial, which is completely unlike him. So 5 months later, we brought home Lulu. Now she has never been without Skillet. Where one is, the other is close by.

Last night before our Bible study started I was getting some last minute cleaning done. Brent had taken the kids to karate and the house was silent. Except for Skillet out on the front porch howling at something. Finally it go so bad, that I went out there and called him to come him, then I called for Lulu b/c she wasn't right there with him, but she didn't come. I immediately knew that she had probably gotten locked in the garage, b/c she isn't tall enough to set off the sensor and can get in at the last minute! As soon as Skillet got into the house, he raced for the door leading to the garage. He knew she was in there. I opened the door and he tumbled out to find his beloved. How sweet is that? They are so sweet together. I think they are soul mates!

I didn't have a picture of them together, but aren't they sweet?!

Staff Leadership Conference

I just went to a Making It Work leadership conference with the other staff members of our church. Absolutely amazing. We heard Dr. David Platt speak. Awesome. He preached on Romans and of Paul's ministry there. He had the first 8 chapters of Romans memorized and preached like no other. Very very awesome time. He challenged us to not be doing church, but to BE the church. I'm tired of settling. I want awesome not just good. The ladies ministry in our church has lacked to say the least the past couple of years, but this year, it's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the women of our church this year. We've already gotten off to a good start with the bible studies, but we have several other things in the works for serving the community and reaching each other and ministering to other women in our community! So just keep looking for the news on what God is doing in this ministry that has captured my heart!

Naia has company today. Our neighbor went to our boys' school today to help out with the vision and hearing screening and I'm keeping Caleb so she could go. They're playing so good together. We went to the park this morning for a little bit. Then we came home and made homemade playdough which is probably one of Naia's favorite activities to do. Now they're just playing with their new pink & green playdough and being so incredibly good!

Yesterday I had one of those heart stopping moments in the adoption world. I was waiting for Naia to get dropped off from school and my cell phone rang and the number was one that I didn't recognize. Let me rephrase that, it was a number with an area code that I didn't recognize! And that never ever happens on my cell phone! Ever. Needless to say, I got really excited, but alas it was just Naia's school calling b/c the person picking her up that day wasn't on the okayed list! Man, I really thought it'd be good news from Dillon! That's okay though! Really. Although I wouldn't mind another heart stopping moment this week!

The Life of a Stay at Home Mom

Whoever says that staying home with your kids isn't "real" work, is sadly mistaken! School has started and we are going at full speed right now. It seems that after the Labor Day weekend, that everything falls into the fall routine. We started with the kids' after school activities last week and new Bible studies started as well. Xavier is taking karate. So far he's really liking it. We're making him make a one year committment to it. He did soccer two years ago and then part of last year. He finally decided that he didn't really enjoy it any more. That was fine with us! We didn't enjoy it either. He played Upward basketball last year and loved it. But it only takes up about 8 weeks in the winter and he wanted and needed something a little extra to do during most of the school year. So we've started this. It's really neat. It's christian based and he's learning Japanese!

Naia is becoming a ballerina! She started dance classes last week. Whether or not she ever becomes a skilled ballerina, she looks adorable in the outfit! Too cute! She did gymnastics last year, but it really didn't amount to much more than her running around turning flips for 45 minutes. So we're trying something else this year. So far she's loving it, if for nothing else than the outfit!

I started a new bible study at our house last week. We're doing a study by Leslie Parrott called You Matter More Than You Think. Our first session was last week. It went really good. After all the storms here last week b/c of Gustav, we only had 2 people show up, but this week is looking very promising. During the study we're supposed to journal about things, and I'm going to use the blog for this purpose, so if I bore you with the small details of our daily lives, I apologize!

Nothing has happened on the adoption front. We've not heard anything, nor has anyone else in a few weeks. Right now we're pretty disappointed. Not necessarily b/c we don't have a referral yet, but b/c there seems to be no activity right now in the referral department. We shall continue to wait though. And we have plenty on our plates to keep us busy in the meantime! Also, since we're obviously not going to travel in the next 4 months, Brent will get to work full outage at the plant and that will help in the finance department!

Football season has started. yay.......I actually don't mind it too much. I just get tired of watching several games on Sunday plus Monday nights, plus another week night. It just gets to be too much. But it does mean that fall is here and for that I'm happy! (Brent just informed me that there will now be not 1 but 2 Monday night games......!)

I guess this doesn't really have to do too much with being a stay at home mom, so I'm going to add just a little bit more.....
Naia started back to school last week. She goes 3 days a week now to a mother's day out program at a local church. She loves it. I love it. I used to use those days to have mommy time, but this year, since I know we will eventually have a baby, I'm using my time working at Xavier's school volunteering in his classroom. I worked there 2 days last week. On my 3rd day, it was grocery day. This week, I have a conference to attend with the other staff members at church and on Wednesday I'm sitting for a neighbor so she can volunteer at the boys' school for the day. It's a busy time for us, but if we're not busy we're usually bored, so I guess it works out well!