The day God spilled the Paint

My nephew Caleb sent this to me. Thanks for sharing Caleb. It is beautiful.

The east side of the Carrizo plain, in the Temblor Range, about 50 miles due west of Bakersfield , California. Photo taken by Barbara Mathews, May 14. 2005 Nothing man can do could ever equal the glory of God's creations. The Day GOD SPILLED THE PAINT!
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Little Chef

Kevin decided to play something fun with the girls. They all went to Brooke's room and played dishes. (Of course Kevin rather play a game or some guy thing) Brooke is getting upset every time Courtney or Kevin gets something. (we are working on that) The play food is in the floor so Kevin is using his imagination. Kevin says to Brooke "Brooke why don't you fix us something to eat."
Brooke looks at him and then she runs into the kitchen. Kevin did not know what she was doing. Brooke comes back into the room with a box of Fruit Loops. Kevin and Courtney are both laughing.
Brooke took Kevin serious and she fixed them something to eat. So.....they ate Fruit Loops.
She is a mess.

Strep Throat

Courtney has not felt good for the past few days. Her eyes have been swollen really bad. We thought she could have got to much sun or the chemicals from the pool could be causing it. Yesterday Courtney complained with her neck hurting. She had huge knots it her neck. She woke up early this morning with her neck hurting very bad. Of course my mind was going different ways. Kevin was concerned because of the swelling of her eyes. He did not know if other areas might be swelling also. We finally decided to take her to the Doctor. We had switched pediatricians with Brooke so Courtney had never been seen by this Doctor. Courtney continued to be dragging around, not wanting to eat, and just feeling really bad. She also felt very hot, but we did not check her temp. We got to the Doctor and Courtney had 101.4 fever. The first thing they did was a strep test. ( We never considered that) Well it came back positive. Now I am going to tell you about the conversation.
Dr.. Well it is positive so you have two options. One you can get a shot and feel better tomorrow. Two you can take two pills for 5 days.
Courtney: I will take the two pills.
Dr. O.K I will see if I have some samples.
Doctor goes out and comes back in with the pills. He then opens them and gets a cup of water. You see, he knows most children refuse to swallow pills, because most have always had liquid antibiotics.
Dr.. Ok, here you are. Lets see you take these.
Courtney: I can't swallow those.
Dr. :Sure you can try it.
Courtney puts the pills in her mouth and gags. She puts it in again and takes it out.
Courtney: This taste like plastic.
Dr. Well yeah...... It's suppose to. It is plastic (It was a capsule)
Courtney: I can't do it.
Dr. You have not really tried it.
Courtney: Can you cut it in half or can I chew it up?
Dr. No
Courtney tries one more time and gags. She jerks the pill out and says "I can't do it"
Dr. O.K that is fine. We know what we have to do then. (SHOT)
Courtney: O.K, I will DO IT. I will DO IT.
Courtney grabbed the pill and swallowed it faster than we could blink. Courtney then says "COOL"
Dr. Patz could not believe it.
Dr.. " I can't believe you did that. You did it."
Dr. Patz told us that most kids can not swallow the pill. They gag and end up having to have a shot. Dr. Patz made Courtney take the second pill. We all got a good laugh. I guess Kevin and I will have to deal with it tomorrow trying to make sure she takes the two pills.
Dr. Patz told us that since Courtney could take a pill that we should buy her adult tylenol because it would be much cheaper. You are paying for the liquid. We might have to give it a try. I have to make sure we get these down her first. I do have some needles left from when I had to have shots. I guess I could always show those to Courtney. That would be mean.
I hate that she has strep. I understand why she has been so ill and felt so bad now. Hopefully she will be on the road to recovery now.
Delinda if you read this I hope your two don't get sick since we was around you guys yesterday. I am sure the children was breathing all over each other. Especially since they was showing their Billy Bob teeth. Sorry. We did not know she was sick.

Fun, but late night

I heard about the game called Canasta, and I want to learn to play it. I bought the game and tried to figure it out, but I just could not get it. Kevin had to work this weekend so I did not have much to do. Kelly decided to come show me how to play Canasta. Her wonderful husband Chris, stayed home, put the kids to bed, relaxed, and read a book. (Thank you Chris. I had so much fun.) I fixed this pan full of cheesecake brownies. Kelly did not know I was fixing them and she brings a strawberry cake. All this food for two people. Yeeks step aerobics here we come.
My mom ended up coming down and playing Skipbo with us. I am a BIG ROOK fan. Rook is my favorite game. Kelly and I was both in the mood for Rook. Kelly calls my dad and leaves him this sweet message. It worked. Dad called and he came over and played rook with us. We have a small problem though. Kevin calls me when we are playing rook. My moms says "you better not tell him we are playing rook" Her reason is, Rook is also Kevin's favorite game. The other problem is Kevin and I have tried to get my dad to play rook with us and he just never plays. Sure enough Kevin found out we was playing. My dad is in trouble now. Kevin told him he owes us. I guess my dad better prepare for a rook game next week.
We had a great time. Mom and dad left around 11:30. Kelly and I got on the computer and she showed me some new stuff for my blog. (Thanks Kell)
Kelly's goal was to be home by 1:00. Kevin's radio started beeping. Brindlee mountain had a very exciting call. There was a wreck with multiple injury's. One car was on fire with the person still trapped inside. Come to find out the wreck was involving the same people who had been in a wreck earlier that day. I think they was all fighting and somehow they crashed. They had 6 people hurt. They needed med-flight to fly, but the weather was to bad. I think they ended up with 4 ambulances on the scene. Kelly could not leave because she was wanting to find out more. The phone rings around 2:20. It is Chris. He is worried about Kelly not being home yet. I get a good laugh listening to her communicate with him.
Kelly and I figure we are not going to hear much more on the radio, so she decides to leave at 2:45. I never stay up that long. I am just hoping and praying that Brooke don't wake up.
She does:(
To be able to sleep, I put Brooke in my bed. I dream about blogs and templates all night. I did sleep until 9:00 so I feel pretty good.
The bad thing is I never got to play Canasta. Oh well there is always next week.

Fun Day

Brooke and Bob the Builder
Courtney and Jacob taking a break.
Brooke pressing buttons. She thinks it will move.
Kevin and Jacob playing a firefighting game.
Brooke and ChuckeCheese
Chucke saying hi.
How sweet!!

chuckecheese.com

ChuckeCheese

This is fun
Giving Barney Love

Courtney and Jacob

We took the kids to Chuckecheese today. They had a great time. This was Brooke's first time to visit and she loved it. Chuckecheese came out and Brooke got to say hi to him. Brooke had so much fun. She figured out that we was putting a token in to make the ride go. She also knew we was pressing a button on some of the rides. She would go around and press buttons on the different things. I had to really watch her though. One time she was grabbing this boys tickets out of the slot. I let Brooke wear her Squeaky shoes so it was easy to keep up with her. She even missed her nap to play at Chukecheese. This afternoon she is making up for that. She is so ill. She fell asleep in the van, but did not sleep long.
Courtney had her cousin Jacob to go with her to play. Jacob is visiting us this week. He is a really sweet child. You can't help but love him. I don't know of anybody that could not like Jacob.
Brooke adores him. I think all three children had a fun day.
The weather was so hot today. It was showing 104 degrees for today. We really need some rain around here. I keep hearing thunder, but not much rain. Brooke is scared to death of thunder. When she hears it, she will start crying and run to me. I will pick her up and she clings to me. It makes me wonder if she had a bad experience with a storm in China. I have my answer to one thing. We don't need to go see the fireworks for the 4th of July. I believe it would scare Brooke so bad.

Vanessa update

Vanessa is in a room. That is wonderful. They thought she would be in ICU for two days. I spoke with Brandon and He said Vanessa is very sore. (Which would only be normal)
The Doctor told them that Vanessa was really doing good. I did not call the room because Vanessa was sleeping and she still don't really feel like talking. She is a very strong girl.
Hang in there Nessa. You will soon be home. We love you.

Why do we Blog?

I blog because I love it. I'm blogging to share my part of me and my family in this wonderful, beautiful world. I know that somebody out there likes to read the chapters of our life. Blogging is like a big book with many chapters. These chapters can be about everyday life, our opinions, our frustrations, our happy times, our sad times, our silly times, and yes even our times we want to vent. It is so nice to be able to speak out loud on a keyboard, knowing full well that any one who doesn't want to listen can just press the next blog button which is located in the right hand corner.
Each person that has a blog knows that it is a public thing. Anybody can read it and anybody can leave a comment. Blogging is a place where you can say what you feel or voice your opinions on ANY subject. As I said, it is really like a big book with many chapters. Most of my chapters are about me, my children, and the things in my life. Anytime I blog or I leave a comment it is not to hurt anybody or anything. . You can put what ever chapter you want in the blog. Some people like it, some people don't. That is the same way with a book. Some people enjoy certain books, and others don't. Some people have favorite bloggers and some people hit the next blog button.
It does not matter if you have 1 regular visitor or 100. It's not a popularity center.
I love blogging. If you don't have a blog, maybe you should consider it. Each time you post you have a new chapter. Blogging is a great way to relieve stress. Even if you don't blog everyday you can get enjoyment from other bloggers.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Fathers Day to all you Fathers and Fathers to be. Kevin was ask today if he was glad to be a father. He said he loved it, and that he was thankful to be a father because there was a time that he did not know if he would ever be one. That is so true. There was a time that we just did not know. God has blessed us with two healthy beautiful girls. We are very thankful for them.
Today was a a happy day, and sad in another way. Kevin made the statement that today was the first Fathers Day that Brooke had a father. That is true and today was a great day knowing she had a great father. Today also was the first day that Kevin has had a Fathers day without a father. Looking at that part makes it sad for us. Kevin has been watching tapes this afternoon of his dad. We all miss him. Some days it don't seem real that he is gone from us. It seems like we should still be able to see him and touch him, but we can't. I know that L. D is happy and that he got his reward so that makes it a little easier, but we miss him.
On a happier note I am thankful for my husband. He is such a good dad. In my mind he is the best. He loves his girls so much. He tells everybody he has three girls. (The third is me) Kevin has always took time for his children. Most men don't get down in the floor and play dolls with their little girls. Kevin does. Yes, he had rather play ball, cars, GI- Joes, or some guy thing, but he loves his girls and he does it to make them happy. I'll never forget one time when Courtney was younger and she wanted to play "Brother and sister." Kevin looked at me and said "how do you play brother and sister?" I started laughing and said "you have to use your imagination" So that is exactly what Kevin does. You should hear him when he plays Barbies with Courtney. Being in the medical field he talks medical with the dolls. He will act like they have been in a wreck and he uses all these medical terms about their condition. It is really funny to listen to them. When Courtney was younger it was easier to play imagination with toys. You could act silly and she would laugh. Now she wants the real thing. She wants you to pretend to be going to the mall, or buying clothes, or going on a date with the dolls. Many times Kevin will say "lets play a game instead of Barbies" Some times he can talk her into that.
Kevin does the same with Brooke. He will get in the floor and play dishes and little people with her. Brooke is at a fun age though. You can act silly and she don't care. As long as you are playing with her it don't matter. Kevin is a big family man. He wants us to always be together. I think he is just great. He has always been a help to me with the children. He would do more now if Brooke would let him. She has got much better so he does what he can. If I am ever tired or been really busy and the house has got out of order, Kevin is always there to help get it back to normal. Many days he has washed the dishes for me. I am very thankful for such a wonderful husband. I was told that I have a jewel and that I need to hang on to him. Some people has made the comment that I am spoiled. Well maybe I am, but I much rather be spoiled than have a spoiled,selfish, lazy, and don't ever take time for me and children husband. I hope that made sense. Kevin has soooooooo much patience. Kevin never gets mad. In fact he don't let much get to him. He is very easy going. On our homestudy we had to put something to the fact of what makes our companion mad or what do we not like about them. It was tough. I told my social worker that I guess the most irritating thing I could think of was leaving dirty socks in the floor. LOL I guess you can tell I love my husband. If you are reading this Kevin," Happy Father's Day. I love you."

Guntersville Lake

"Let me down sissy"
Courtney
Just thinking
Family picture.
Daddy and his girls.
Mommy and her girls

We went to eat at Top O the River today. It was good food. I liked being able to see the lake. I took some pictures, but they did not turn out the best in the world. It was like 5 o'clock in the afternoon. All the pictures had shadows. I tried to edit them, but did not have much luck. We had a nice time. If you have never ate at Top O the River give it a try.

Before and After

Referral Picture"I'm a happy Girl"
"I like to talk on the phone"
You can see the sparkle in Brooke's eyes.

I wanted to put these pictures with the 6months ago post, but I was unable to get them to post. I have tried for days to post them and was not able. I finally got them to post today. They are not where I wanted, but at least you can see what a happy girl Brooke has became. She is a very happy girl. Like I have said before she now has life and sparkle in her eyes. We will never know what our babies had to go through when they was oceans away from us. One thing I do know is Brooke will always have somebody to love her, give her hugs and kisses, make sure she is not to cold or hot, feed her when she is hungry or feed her just because she wants something to eat. Brooke will always have a family who loves her and we will do everything we can to give her the best in life. I think of the song by Elton John "Blessed" That is how I feel about both of my girls. They are both blessed.

"I love you Brookie and Court"

I can do it by myself

I am in trouble. Brooke has figured out that she can feed herself and she does not want any help. She kept trying to get the fork or spoon when I was feeding her. So I let her have it. I had some corn and potatoes and gravy for Brooke today. She wanted to feed herself so I let her. She did pretty good. I think she is going to be left handed. I was dreading seeing her clothes and the high chair when she was through. I was impressed. She did great. Maybe our children can do more than we think.
Brooke is talking more and more. If you ask her what her name is she will say "Brooke" She says is so fast and sweet. She will also hold up one finger if you ask her how old she is.
Brooke wants to do everything by herself. I gave her a crayon and tried to show her how to color. She did not need my help.

First Swim

This is Fun
Courtney jumping through the tube.
Brooke laughing

I have not had time to post these pictures. Brooke had her first swim last week. We finally got our pool ready. Brooke loved it. She would laugh and splash water. We made the mistake of getting her out of her float and holding her in the water. She loved that and did not want back in the float. She would kick her feet and splash with her hands. She also would take her face and put it in the water. She had the funniest expression on her face when she would get water in her mouth. She would go right back to putting her face in again. Brooke would probably be easy to train to swim. I am not the one for the job though. I can swim and I love water. I also have a fear of water. I don't think you can be to careful when it comes to having fun in water. It only takes a minute for something to happen. Courtney can swim like a fish. She has been swimming since she was 5. It took me a long time to let her in the water without her floaties on. I know I will be the same way with Brooke. Courtney understood the danger of water and she never went near the pool unless we was with her. Brooke is so different from Courtney. Brooke has no fear. She will play outside and not care if you are with her or not. Courtney always wanted to make sure she could see us. Brooke is also a climber. I told Kevin we have to keep the ladder out of the pool this year. I never let Brooke play outside without me with her, but like I said it only takes a second for something to happen. After Church the children play in the grass by the church. Courtney always wanted to make sure she could see me or her daddy. Not Brooke. She runs and plays and don't look back. Her squeaky shoes come in great for this. Now, if you was to come up to Brooke and try to take her, then she starts looking for mommy or daddy.

Brooke had a really fun time with her first swim.

Young Love

Jared washing the dishes!!!!

First DateFirst Kiss
First time Brooke cooked for Caden

This is Brooke's little friend Caden. These two have been friends from day one when they met. It is so funny how Caden's eyes will light up when he sees Brooke. Brooke loves Caden. She tries to say his name, but it comes out Ka. When we are at church she will see Caden and if he looks at her she will wave to him. One Sunday she wanted to go where he was sitting. She had already started out the pew for Caden. I had to grab her and she was not happy.

I hope you like the humor in the pictures. I could not resist. Caden and his brother came to visit today. Brooke likes both boys, but her pick is Caden. (He is her age)

Brooke had a fun day with both boys. They did not play dolls, but I think they played house. They was cooking all kinds of food and serving me.

Posting pictures

I have tried for two days to post pictures and can not. Is anybody else having problems with this? I know blogger was down yesterday for awhile. I wanted to post some before and after pictures of Brooke on my last post and I have tried and tried and nothing happens.
Is there anyway a setting could have got changed that I need to fix? Any suggestions please!!!!!!!

6 months ago.

Blogger would not let me post the pictures I wanted. I tried for hours to load them and never could get them. I would love for you to see Brooke's New pictures. Click here to see one of the cutest little beach babies.
Six Months ago Brooke met her forever family. Looking back it seems like much longer than 6 months. I am so amazed at how Brooke has done. I will never forget the day we received our referral picture of Brooke. That was a exciting day. A day that we thought would never get here. When we saw Brookes picture we rejoiced. She was perfect. We thought she was so pretty. My heart ached as I looked at her picture. That was my baby and she was oceans away. I wanted her then. I wanted to hold her, kiss her, and tell her how much I loved her. We had to wait 2 more months before we got to hold her. Many days and nights I would think about Brooke and wonder if anybody was there to comfort her when she was scared, or feed her when she was hungry. I was in love with her before I saw her picture. Once I had the picture in my arms I longed to hold he,r and fell more in love with her. We made copies of the picture when we got it. I slept with it by my bed. Courtney did to. She had prayed for a sister for years. She was so excited to finally have one.
December 6, 2005 I held my baby for the first time. Brooke bonded right away. She has really changed since that day. I look at the pictures from Gotcha Day and I see how God took a little girl who was sad and had nobody and he gave her a family that loves her. I look at her today, and see so much joy and happiness. I see sparkle in her eyes that was not there. I got Brooke's picture taken today. I can't believe how she has changed.
Brooke is saying all kinds of words. mamma, dadda, sissy, Court, (for Courtney) Jacob(her cousin), gindaddy,(for granddaddy), Love you, bite, stop, no,dog, cat, duck,cacker,(cracker)
pappy,(passie). There is so much more words she says. She is very smart. She knows exactly what we are saying. She will pick her toys up, put trash in the garbage. She also puts stuff that is not trash in the garbage. LOL
Her favorite food is pizza. She loves pizza and any type of pasta. She also loves MM's and Hersheys candy bar. The only thing that I wish would be better with Brooke is her sleeping. She did good at first, but now she is doing terrible. She will not sleep through the night. She will sleep for like 3 hours and then she is awake on and off the rest of the night. I will go rock her or pat her and she will go to sleep. 30 minutes later she is awake again. I love to rock her and baby her, but it does get old when you don't ever get a good night of sleep. She is starting to let Kevin rock her some. That will help out as far as getting up at night. I hope these next 6 months don't go by as fast as these last 6 months. I still can't believe how fast the last 6 went. I hope you enjoy the pictures from today. It makes me want to go to the beach. (Well I did this post yesterday. I have tried for like 4 hours to post the pictures and I can't. I don't know what else to do)

Good News

Brooke is feeling better. She still has a runny nose, but feeling much better. She has been so sweet to her daddy this weekend. She has gave him love. She will sit in his lap for a long time. Even at church she stayed in his lap for awhile.
The greatest news is last night, for the first time in like 5 months Brooke let her daddy rock her to sleep and give her a bottle. I wanted to cry tears of joy. Don't get me wrong. I love to rock Brooke and baby her. Its just her daddy would like to do some of this also. It also helps me out. Brooke has been such a mommy's baby that she refused to let her daddy get her to sleep. I feel we are making some progress. Much prayer has went into the situation. God is so good to us.
Kevin was all excited. After getting Brooke to sleep he went in and said bedtime prayers with Courtney and she went to sleep. Kevin came into the living room and said " Well I got both of my girls to sleep tonight" Brooke slept until about 2:30. Then she ended up in our bed. She is a big wiggle worm. You might be asleep and feel a ton of bricks falling on your face. You wake up to find it is Brooke's hands, or head hitting you in the face.
I am very excited about the daddy thing. Kevin was hoping Brooke would start being a daddy's girl. (No I am not jealous) LOL Now if she starts totally ignoring me that might be another story. I owe much thanks to my friend AnnaMarie for some great advice on helping Brooke be more of a daddy's girl. AnnaMarie had struggled with some of the same things we had and she gave me some great ways to help the situation. Thanks AM

Wedding Bells

Congratulations Chelsie and Kevin

Look at this fruit and vegetable tray!! WOW!!Courtney, Jacob, and Caleb
Daydreaming
The Wedding Party
Courtney and Jacob
My pretty Little Girl
The Lady's
Courtney, Chelsie, and Kalie

Today my niece got married. I thought it was a really sweet wedding. Chelsie and Kevin are so young. I know, who am I to talk. Kevin and I was young when we married. Chelsie and Kevin are going to the Bahamas for their honeymoon. "WOW" I wish them both the best in their marriage. The reception was really nice. I think the whole wedding turned out great. Courtney was a flower girl. I thought she looked very pretty. I felt kind of bad. Darcie, (Chelsie's mom) ask me to serve at the wedding. I told her I would, but we would have to see how Brooke did. Darcie said she would get a backup in case I could not serve. Guess What I did??? I forgot that I was suppose to serve. Things was a little hectic. I had left Brooke in the nursery. You should see this church's nursery. It is super nice. Brooke loved it. It was like a big playhouse with tons of toys. After the wedding we was suppose to wait in the auditorium for family pictures. I ran and got Brooke dressed in like 1 minute. I came back to the auditorium and waited. Of all things people had already started going through the receptions lines. By the time we got in there the line was down and people was already sitting and eating. I still did not remember that I had to serve. We was halfway through the line when my wonderful husband says " was you suppose to help serve" Yeeks I forgot. I will blame it on my lack of sleep the past three nights. I guess in three nights I have slept maybe 10 hours. That is a little over three hours a night. Honestly I do feel like a zombie. I should not have forgot that though. I looked around and all the tables had somebody serving. They all had a corsage on. I felt better. I guess they did not need me to bad. I never said a word about it. I was to embarrassed. The reception was almost over when I did remember. I would have felt real silly going up and scooting somebody out of their spot. Oh well Life is still wonderful and still goes on.

quick update

Brooke has been sick for two days. She is not eating and not sleeping very much. Wed. night I was up with her all night. She has a really bad cough. She would cough so much that it sounded like she was throwing up. Her nose is all red and has been running really bad. I did not get but maybe two hours of sleep Wed. night. Last night was a little better. She did wake up at 3:30 and wanted to play. I let her because she did not play all day. She would just want me to hold her. She would lay her head on me and say" mama" She has been very sick. She stayed up until 5:30 and then she went back to sleep. I have not been sleeping much. Wed. night I had to hold her in my arms and rock her. That was about the only way she did not cough.
This is a short post. Just wanted to let you know what is going on.