Catching Catterpillars

I think they found one.

Brooke calls them worms.
The girls had fun catching the caterpillars. If you notice, Courtney has something in her hand that she picks them up with. She is not actually touching them. Silly girls.

Barney's in Trouble

Brooke stuck Barney in the corner. I ask her what he did to have to go to the corner. Her reply was "Him be ugy. Him pull my hair"
This child is a mess.

Dreams are Still Coming True

Sara is home with her forever Family

Anna Grace is coming Home
Sweet Ayla is coming home.
Brady is coming home.

I am so happy for all these family's.

Sara is home with her forever family. Sara has not adjusted well, so pray for her and her family. Her mommy is having a really hard time. I know it will get better. Hang in there Amy. In time

Sara will see how loved she is.

AnnaGrace will soon be coming home. I know her mommy, daddy, and all her family are so happy.

Brady is going to meet his family in a few weeks. He is one little doll. I just love his big brown eyes. I am so happy for Lisa and her family. Lisa was in our travel group when we went to China. Lisa is special to me, because we was on the same journey at the same time for our girls. We leaned on each other during our wait.

Lisa is also the mom to 5 beautiful children. Congratulations Lisa and family.

Ayla is coming home in a few weeks also. I have prayed many prayers for this sweet little girl. I am friends with her sweet mommy Tonya. Tonya has had a tough wait, but I am so glad that she is finally one step closer to holding her sweet Ayla. Tonya also has two other beautiful daughters. Wow three girls. I think they all need a brother. Does that sound like a good idea Tonya?? I am very proud that Ayla will soon be home.

Happy Birthday Caleb

Happy 13th Birthday to my nephew. I hope your day is great. I can't believe you are finally a teenager. Time goes by to quick.

Why does The Cowboy say MOO?

Well I am not for sure the answer to this. My darling Brooke has came up with a joke. We have laughed and laughed at her. You would just have to hear her. I am not for sure what got her saying this. The only two things I can think of are, Courtney and her friends was telling jokes and maybe Brooke heard them. The other thing is a song from Barney that says "Why does the cow say moo?"
Brooke is saying cowboy instead of cow. Brooke started this yesterday and has not hushed yet. Finally today I said "We need a answer to your joke. This is our conversation.
Me: So you want to know why the cow says moo?
Brooke: Uh hum. Why does the cowboy say moo?
Me: Because God made it to.
Brooke: Because God made that cow to moo
So now Brooke is on the roll saying " Why did the cowboy say moo. Because God made it to"
This child is a mess. I told her that one time and she has not hushed. Her grandmother called and she had to tell her. She then had to call her daddy and tell him.
I guess this is Brooke's first joke she has came up with. Which it really is not a joke. I feel pretty sure she is trying to mock the way we was doing jokes in the van. For example why did the chicken cross the road, and all those silly kid jokes.
Brooke pays attention to everything. She has really got to where she ask questions. That scares me. I know I need to start her book about her being born. I think that would help when question times come.
This child melts my heart. She looked at me the other day and patted my face and said "mommy, you so pretty" I am thinking should I get her glasses. She then looks at me and says' I love you mommy". My heart was overflowing with joy and happiness. This little girl has brought so much sunshine to us. I thank God everyday for my little bundle of joy.

Redemption Series

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite Christian Writers. I have read several of her books. I normally don't have much time to read. I started reading the Redemption Series. I have not been able to stop. I am on the fourth book now. Karen Kingsbury has a way about her books that make you feel like you are right there with them. She will make you laugh and make you cry. I have enjoyed reading this series so much. If you like to read I would suggest getting these and reading them. This book I am reading now, makes me just want to hug my children and never let them go. It also makes me not want to have our pool this year.
Kevin even enjoys these books. He has already read this series. He keeps laughing at me, because I keep asking him questions about the books. "Does Ashley and Landon get together?"
Does Luke and Reagan get married? Does the little girl die? Does Ashley have AIDS?"
Kevin says "You are really into these books. I am not telling. Just read it"
Another good book of hers, is Oceans Apart. I made the mistake reading this book before I flew to China. That was not a good idea. It ended up with a good ending, but I had to have tissue through the whole book.

Tired Girl

It is 9:05 and Brooke is still asleep. She never sleeps this late. If she will just do this Saturday morning, that would be great. I had to go in several times and make sure she was still breathing. She must be one tired little girl. She is beautiful even when she sleeps.

Pretty In Pink

Pretty Girl

Being Silly

Sadie and Brooke

"I can't keep this pose much longer"

Serious Look

Rock Island Slideshow

Rock Island Tennessee

We had a nice and relaxing time on our camping trip. The girls loved it. They both had a great time. We had a little bad luck on the trip, but we still had fun. We did not have a water regulator on our pop up. The water pressure at this place was so strong that we ended up with three leaks. We was unable to use our water. That was a pain as far as cooking and washing dishes. We had our best camping buddies besides us, so we was able to use theirs. I don't know what we would have done without them. We planned our meals so that they done some and we did some. That was really nice. We all ate together and it made it so much easier.
We was glad to be among friends. I think somebody counted, and we had 90- 100 people from church camping. I think over half of them was children. You can only imagine the fun all those children had. I have many pictures I could add. I will try to do a slide show later if I have time. I have a good bit of laundry to do.
We also ended up with a nail in our tire, that could not be fixed. We had to get a new one. The trip ended up costing us more than we needed to spend. We still had fun. I am glad to be home.

Do you Reconize this outfit???

Brooke's Gotcha Day outfit. It still fits. WOW

Safety City Slide show

Catching Butterflies

Amy, one of my blogger friends is in China now getting her little girl. She is having a very hard time with Sara. Sara don't want anything to do with Amy. Please pray for her. She is really struggling with this. It is very painful for her. You can visit her blog at http://catching-butterflies.blogspot.com

Prayer

As many of you know, our family has been under a great deal of stress lately. I have felt physically and emotionlly drained. I try to do school with Courtney and my mind is a thousand miles away. Brooke will want me to read her a book, and I can't concentrate. I just have felt really down.
God helped me in so many ways last night. We was getting ready for bed. Brooke and I went to Courtney's room so that Courtney could say her prayers. Courtney was saying her prayers and thanking God for her mommy, daddy, ETC. Brooke interupted Courtney's prayer and said " Grandma to"It was so sweet. She was telling Courtney to be thankful for Grandma to. When Courtney was through praying, Brooke said " I pray to" I said "you want to pray in here" Brooke did. Brooke starts praying and I could not believe my ears. Of course her prayer was not in complete sentences, but we knew exactly what she was saying. She said "Thank you for mommy, daddy, sissy, uh uh grandma, grandaddy, mawma, papaw, uh uh uh" She stopped for a minute and this is the part that really got me. I could not help but cry. Brooke said "uh, help Austin, help Austin's mommy" I am not for sure what the rest of her prayer was because I was smiling and crying. I told Brooke that was the sweetest prayer. I ask her if she would go to her room and pray again and let me tape her. Of course she was all for that. She loves to be videoed.
She went to her room and I was able to get some on tape. Of course it was nothing like when she prayed in Courtney's room. Children really listen to our prayers and everything we say.
God helped me to think on the good that was going on in our life. Many things went through my mind. Here is this two year old, who is praying to God. This little girl that might have never known God, if God had not placed her in our hearts. As I thought about her prayer, I knew that had to touch God. I can just imagine him smiling at this sweet little girl. I also thought about our blessing. I am giving my girls the best thing in life. For them to know God, and to know that God and prayer changes things.
God did not stop with Brooke's prayer last night.
This next part of the post may seem silly to some of you. Some may think we was being silly for what we prayed about, but I don't. We have a little parakeet, that is our pride and joy. This is not just any old parakeet. This parakeet talks, plays ball, and loves us all. He says all kinds of things. Most parakeets don't talk much, if at all. Last night after the girls said their prayers, I was going to check my email. I noticed that Perky was not acting right. I got to thinking, and did not remember hearing perky chirp much. I started looking, and Perky was swollen up double his size. He was just sitting. He was not flying. He would not eat a cracker from my hand. I know my bird and I knew he was very sick. I yelled for Courtney. When Courtney came in and saw the bird she knew that he was sick. Courtney is crying her eyes out. I told her we could pray. Like I said I know some probably think that is crazy. We prayed and ask God to move on the bird that he would feel better. I also told God that I really did not need my bird to die right now with all the stress I have had on me. Perky still did not act right. It was killing me seeing my Child so upset. We decided to pray again. Within 15 minutes after we prayed Courtney starting yelling. She was like " MOM the swelling is gone down" I looked and sure enough the swelling was down some. Courtney, Brooke, and I was praising God. I knew that the bird was still not well. I did not want to discourage the girls from rejoicing, but I knew if God did not move completely that the bird would die. I wandered if he had a seed stuck and could not swallow. I mean his throat was swollen so bad. I told Courtney we would pray one more time and that she needed to go to bed and rest that God would take care of Perky. This morning we got up. The swelling is gone, Perky is chirping, Perky is eating, Perky is flying, Perky is healed. I know that you might find this strange, and many might think that nothing was wrong with the bird. That is exactly what the devil likes to tell us. I know that Perky was very sick and that God came to his rescue. God did it for us. My children will never forget this. Maybe God saw I needed some encouragement, and he used my bird, and my two girls to lift me up.

Silly Girl

Silly Little ladybug.
Miss Smiley

I am so tired of posing!!!
What a tongue!

Playing with the play food.

Happy Times

My sister and my Nephew
Sweet Kisses
Playing around

This is some pictures of my sister and my sweet nephew. God has really helped me to commit things to him. God is going to take care, and work out this situation we are facing. Please don't forget to pray for us all tomorrow. I know I need extra strength tomorrow . I have never had to face anything like this before. If I have ever been to Court it has been for good. This scares me to death. I get so sick when I think about tomorrow. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Happy Easter

Little Brooke
Holding Hands

I found one.
Twins

How Sweet!
I found another one!

Ring around the Rosie's

My Two Little Darlings

China Families meeting their children