Self Boys

Deep Breath

2012-01-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

Deep breath is exactly what I did before this post. It is crazy how when I have the most to share on my blog is when I don't blog. It seems so overwhelming. It is exactly like when you haven't talked to a dear friend in a long time and you need a minimum of 2 hours to catch up, but it is hard to find that time.

At this very moment I am sitting at my Mom's house blogging because someone is looking at our house. Our house is up for sale. We have lived in our house for four years and we love it and we especially love our street. There are about 16 kids my kids ages. It is wonderful. We know as we get closer and closer to bringing our sweet girl home that we will need a little more space. I always said I wanted 5 boys when I was growing up and now we are having 5 kids, but not the way I had always thought...much better. Our family, of soon to be 7, needs just a bit more room. The funny thing is that when our house sells we are planning on moving on the same street as my parents and my sister. We are really excited about it, in its own little cultish way (wink). Jeremy grew up in the same neighborhood as his grandparents and loved it. Our goal is to be in this "new"house for a good long while.

Not only is the house for sale, but Jeremy and I leave for Haiti in 11 days. I have so much to do next week to get our stuff plus everything the boys will need for the 6 days we are gone. We are going for a bonding visit. We will meet Schella and have her with us for a full 6 days and nights. I feel like it is going to make this process even more real, even more hard, and lead us to lean into God and His faithfulness even more. Thank the Lord for Kimberly and Lindsey who have hooked me up with everything besides formula and diapers for Schella while we are there. A friend of mine said she has seen them drop off a baby with a bottle with the adoptive parents at the hotel and leave. Needless to say we are bringing everything!!! I am so thankful for my in-laws, my parents, our good friends Kat and Kenny, and our intern Leo from Brazil (he has been living with us since July) for helping with the boys while we are gone. That is a HUGE job in itself. We will be updating the blog and Facebook/Twitter while we are gone! Lots of pictures and videos!!

Please say a prayer for us if you think about it. For our house to sell and for the upcoming trip!!

Also, the new church is going AWESOME!! So much to be thankful for!

What is a blog post without pictures ;)!

Roll Tide is all I am sayin!

So thankful for this crew!!

One of the failed Christmas card pics!

I liked it, but Jeremy doesn't really like his head cut off.

This is a better depiction of this crew!

Just in Case....

2011-11-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

I have been a huge slacker (at least on my blog), so just in case we aren't friends on Facebook or you don't follow Jeremy on his blog. It has been one of the busiest times of our lives. Crazy adventurous, but busy. I will add a few of my own thoughts to Jeremy's updates :)

4 Life Changing Realities for the Self Tribe in 1 Week

Personal always impacts professional. Personal always influences ministry. Personal joy spills over into life in general. And, we've got some personal joy to share. Actually, we have 4 Life-changing Joys to share:

1. Ella-We signed an adoption agreement to be matched with Schella...We will call her Ella. She is 10 months old. Her parents were killed in a car accident. Her grandmother had her and she got sick and died. Her aunt, who was 9 months pregnant, brought her to the orphanage we have been working with and they contacted us. We are so thankful God has chosen her for our family and chosen us for her. Seriously, I went bananas when we found out this is OUR girl. I am so excited and can hardly wait to meet, love, kiss, her in February. Jeremy and I will be going for a week. I never thought we would get a baby, but I am so happy. Please pray that she gains weight and stays healthy. She only weighs 13lbs.

2. In my loudest Dave Ramsey style scream, WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!! We began the journey of becoming debt free in June 2009 and after 2 years of living within our means through a monthly budget, operating with an envelope system using cash, and focusing most "extra" income on snowballing debt, we are debt free of all consumer debt! Yes, we are done! The most critical moment in the last two years that I can think of was the moment I said OUT LOUD, "I will not borrow any more money." Life changing! Thank you, Dave Ramsey and thank you, Jesus! Now, on to baby step #3:) Living like no one else, so later we can GIVE like no one else! We are crazy, sold out Dave fans!! Take it or leave it, but it is who we are now. We got to call in on Friday to do our scream on the radio. We checked the boys out, did our family scream, and then celebrated with a treat of course!!

3. We launched a new church this week! Well, sort of. We merged two existing churches together to form one new church (The Church at Lake Travis) and our first item on the agenda as a new church . . . SERVE. We cancelled our first regular Sunday worship service to do something that God may indeed receive as worship more than what we normally do. We raised money for orphans in Haiti. We are pumped about what God is doing and what he'll continue to do! Our first worship gathering will be this Sunday, November 6 at Tex Arts next to Chair King in Lakeway. On Sunday we had our first worship gathering and it was no short of AWESOME. I am so humbled and honored to be able to be apart of starting this new church. I pray that God would use it/us for His Glory!!

4. In the big scheme of things, I'm not even sure if this qualifies as a "life-changing" reality, but Ashley and I (and a team of others from our church) completed a half marathon this past Saturday. We ran in the Chosen for Adoption race and it was a blast! More to come on lessons learned... Jeremy is going on to run a full in April. Yeah I am not doing that. I truly do love to run, but I am good for a 4-6 miler. It was fun training and actually accomplishing something I never thought I could do. I will probably do it again next year just because I love running for the cause.

So, all that is really great stuff and it has been fun, but there are some things that I feel like I have neglected because these things have been going on. I have backed way off at the boys school. I am really feeling convicted about not engaging in those relationships through their school. I know we can only do so much, but I really feel like it is important. I also have been not engaging my neighbors like I have in the past. I love my neighbors, but when the boys are playing outside in the afternoon I have taken that time to do other things inside. People are more important than anything I do or accomplish and I never want to forget that!!

What does God think about Race?

2011-10-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I watched this video recently and thought it was so beautiful. If you have a minute it is worth it.

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

Its On Like Donkey Kong!!!

2011-10-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

It is finally official that as of November 6th Free Chapel is merging with Commons Church to start a new church called The Church at Lake Travis!!

This has been a decision that has been covered in a lot of prayer, thought, and long conversations. All the questions have answers here: www.freechapelaustin.com

I feel like CHANGE is the key word in the Self household this year, between adopting and a church merger. I am excited to be following God on this crazy ride!!!

The Boys and Adoption Update!!

2011-09-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

Things have been a little busy since my last post. School has started and just now, week 4, am I getting into the groove of after school homework, bath time, and dinner. I have no idea why it takes me a little while to get my act together.

The Self crew is doing well. The boys are enjoying school, Grayson is enjoying not being in school, the weather is 105 degrees today, and I have loved getting to have coffee and lunch with my friends during the day when I only have one at home. I am trying to be positive about the heat. Just go with it.

About the adoption....we ARE still adopting. Jeremy had a really hard time accepting the fact that the door just might be closed with "A". We have both prayed, talked, prayed, and talked about what our next step should be. As of right now, we applied with the orphanage that works specifically with our agency for a girl between the ages of 18 months and 3 years old. We should be getting matches of possible girls next week sometime. It is exciting and scary. We feel this is our next step and we are walking down that path by faith. If by some sheer miracle something comes up with "A", then we will most definitely pursue her as well as the little girl God gives us. We are officially crazy, but you already knew that!!!

Days of Thunder

2011-08-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

Adoption Update

2011-08-22T15:55:00.001-07:00

Here is a letter Jeremy shared with our church family and prayer partners. It explains everything.

Do you ever have one of those days where all signs point in the opposite direction of where you are headed?

This past week had, not one, but two of those days!

On my way out of town for vacation I received an email from the Haitian pastor who had invited me 4 months ago to train top-level Haitian pastors in Biblical spirituality for one week this coming week. The email stated the conference had been cancelled due the fact that they had not raised enough money to host all the pastors. Sign number one.

I was still planning to go to Haiti, because MAIS, the organization we partner with in Haiti had some things I could help with. In addition, I had a very important meeting scheduled with the director of the orphanage from where we want to adopt a little girl.

A little back story...

Since May we have wanted to adopt a particular little girl from this orphanage. We found out after several weeks that she had a mother, a father, and three siblings. The mother had dropped her off at the orphanage because she couldn't care for her. The orphanage director tried to contact the mother, but could not find her. He did find her father, however. He asked the father at that time if he would be open to the girl being adopted by a family in America. He said yes, with the condition that he could receive updates about her well-being, etc. The next step was to find out how to go about adopting her. We found out the orphanage she was in was not accredited by the Haitian government and it had to be for children to be able to be adopted from there.

Now, fast forward. I was going to sit down with the director to discuss moving her to an accredited orphanage, so we could adopt her. In order to do that, we would have to have her mother and father's signature on papers to transfer her. I was going to be able to work on some of those details this coming week.

Then this afternoon, I received a call from our contact in Haiti with some bad news. Sign number two.

Yesterday, evidently, the girl's father made a decision (changed his mind) that he does not want her to be adopted. We don't have all the details, but at the end of the day, I cancelled my flight to Haiti. (The fact that tropical storm Irene is headed straight for Haiti this week also helped my decision. Maybe Sign number three?).

I know many of you have prayed and prayed for us and for this little girl who we want(ed) to adopt so badly. I felt like I should update you.

So . . . questions . . .
A. Are you still going to adopt from Haiti?
That's the plan at this point. We will continue working with our adoption agency moving forward in the process. We have a completed home study with the state of TX. We are submitting paperwork to the U.S. Immigration department to be able to adopt internationally. We will know more after we are approved. The adoption process has many setbacks and is an emotional roller coaster, but I have to be honest and say it is so worth it.

B. Will you adopt a different little girl?
Yes. We are very open to this. We know God will give us the one He wants us to have.

C. What are you going to do this week instead of going to Haiti?
I am trying to figure that out right now. To change flights last minute is very expensive. And, I have a speaking commitment this coming Sunday at one of Free Chapel's sponsor churches in Palm Beach Gardens, FL (I spoke at a different church in Miami today), so I may end up staying here this week. I'm not sure at this point however. I will keep you posted.

Got more questions? Email me.

I was headed to Haiti this week and all signs pointed in the opposite direction, so I'm not doing my plan...I wonder what God's got in store? It's always better than our plans!

I love you, friends.

Jeremy

School is Back!!

2011-08-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

The first day of school was today. We came back from our beach vacation Saturday night and started school Monday morning. We literally hit the ground running.
These pictures were taken before school. The boys were super tired from staying up late all Summer and getting to sleep in. Let's just say they don't love getting up in the 6's.

Grayson did not want to be left out of the picture taking.
4 years old

Blake 3rd Grade

Tyler 5th Grade
His last year in elementary. It makes me feel OLD!!

Sam 1st Grade

Group Shot!
What in the world is Blake doing?

Loving

2011-08-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Jeremy makes fun of me for always sharing how much I love certain products or even what a deal I have gotten on certain things. I only tell if someone asks, but anyways, it is just how I roll.

I am loving the Method Cucumber All Purpose Spray!

If I had to choose one make-up product that I couldn't live without, it would be mascara. Hands down! My favorite mascara is Lancome, but really I choose not to spend 30.00 bucks on mascara. This Rimmel mascara coming in at 8.00 bucks does the trick! I really really like it!

Round Rock Express Baseball Game

2011-07-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

We have a college couple (boyfriend and girlfriend) that help out with Free Chapel Kids and they babysit for Jeremy and I. They had 6 extra tickets to a Round Rock Express baseball game at the Dell Diamond. We had the best time. It was extremely hot at first, like sweat rolling down my back, but then as the sun went down it felt great outside. The stadium has two playgrounds, a pool, a rock climbing wall, and plenty of grassy areas. The boys sat in their seats until the 5th inning, which I thought was pretty impressive. It was also Kids Eat Free night, so the boys had a 2nd dinner. We stayed the entire time and it was a blast. We will be doing this again!!

Thanks Tori and Nolan!!

The boys stalked the pitchers and catchers in the bullpen until they graciously gave them two balls.

They give out glow sticks and paper fans.

How nice is it to lay in the grass and eat a hot dog at 10:00 at night?

Sorry

2011-07-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had my Summer reading list in the previous post. One of the books I had to delete. I was in the middle of reading it and it has some very inappropriate things in it. I am sorry for even recommending it. The others are very good! :)

Summer Reading

2011-07-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

Adoption Update

2011-07-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Please be praying for a very important meeting on Monday August 22nd. Jeremy will be landing in Haiti that day. He will be meeting with the orphanage director, our contact Ruben, someone hopefully from our adoption agency, and hopefully A's dad. This is a pretty strategic meeting with finding out what we do next. We need either A's dad to release parental rights or the pastor to go file abandonment papers for the Mom and Dad. Then we can start the process of moving her over to a different orphanage that is set up for adoptions. We pray that God would swing the doors WIDE OPEN if this is His will.

This week Jeremy and I did 8hrs of training with our agency. We went through The Connected Child by Dr. Karyn Purvis. What is crazy is that just the day before Jeremy sent me a link that Dr. Purvis had done. We were honestly looking at it about something going on with one of our boys. Dr. Purvis is a great communicator and she is an advocate for children from hard places. It was really good.

Here are some blogs I read and I love:

Jen Hatmaker: She lives here in Austin and just brought her daughter home from Ethiopia. She also will go and pick up her son in about a month.

The Livesay's Blog: They are missionaries in Haiti. They are living Isaiah 1:17.

Katie: Every time I read this I am inspired to action. Wow!!

Training

2011-07-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I are running the half Marathon for Adoption in October. We are trying to get a bunch of friends to do it with us. Our training doesn't actually start until the end of August, but we both want to stay up on our running so we don't have to start over. Last Saturday and this Saturday we ran 5 miles, but during the week we run anywhere from 2.5 miles to 4 miles depending on the day.

Anyway, here are a few things I have learned on my long....er runs:

1. I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to be ready to run at 5:45. I am not a morning person and it takes a while for me to wake up.

2. I need coffee and at least half a protein bar or half a banana before I go.

3. I need a great fast paced playlist.

4. It is best for me to wear a hat because I sweat like a crazy person. Sweat dripping down my face annoys me to no end. It's either a hat or a Richard Simmons headband.

5. We ran on Hwy 620 for the fist time today. I love and hate it. I hate that I fear for my life, but I love the long stretch of road. I think I need a neon vest.

6. Jeremy runs faster than me, so I don't even try to compete with him. Whatever!!

Grace

2011-07-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about my husband Jeremy yesterday while he drove a boat across the Lake to teach our four small boys how to wake board. It isn't Father's Day, his birthday, or even our anniversary. I was just thinking about how he loves me more today than he did 14 years ago when we met. I know it is a choice he has made, not a feeling, but a choice and probably not an easy one at that. I was reflecting on all that we have been through, nothing tragic or even close to it, but just the normal married life stuff. The stuff that easily creeps in and pushes spouses farther and farther apart. The stuff that when you ask someone "What happened?" they actually can't put a finger on it.

I am incredibly thankful for God's grace, because we both know that it is only because of His grace that we are able to love each other on a daily basis. It is only by God's grace that we are able to become a united front in parenting our boys. It is only by God's grace that we started Free Chapel and by His grace that we haven't screwed it up.

grace, grace, God's grace,

grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

grace, grace, God's grace,

grace that is greater than all our sin!

Cow Appreciation Day!!

2011-07-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't LOVE Chick-fil-a?
Cow Appreciation Day is super fun for the kids and its FREE!!!

How Cute is Micah?

The Mills and the Self's (minus Ty and Blake)

Gray and Sam

Product Review

2011-07-09T10:18:00.001-07:00

I love to share a product when I find something I really like.

Here is the background:

I had all my boys by the time I was 29 and around 30 I started having acne. It was so weird for me, because honestly I dealt with the occasional break out when I was a teenager, but nothing like I have had the last three years. My OBGYN said it was probably hormones and women do experience break outs in their 30's. I also went to my Dermotologist to see what she thought. So over the course of about a year and half I have been on antibiotics, prescription topical medicine, the birth control pill, proactive, skin medica, and many other over the counter face wash lines. The antibiotic worked the best, but it is a short term thing and it can't be good for your health to be on antibiotics for very long.

I also tried the pill for about six months, but recently went off of it because I don't need it and I couldn't tell that big of difference in my break outs. I also started using this:

It is Go 360 Clean and I use the orange one, which is for acne. It comes with a scrub brush that you apply it with. I have seen a huge difference in my complexion! Jeremy and my sister have even noticed the difference.

Where we live!!

2011-07-09T09:33:00.001-07:00

First of all, my pictures are out of order, so sorry about that!

We LOVE where we live. Two things we have enjoyed this week are the lake and the Lakeway 4th of July parade. The parade is one of my favorite things we participate in as a church. This year we partnered with Greenscapes Landscaping who pulled our trailer. We gave out cold water bottles, candy, and doggy treats. People especially love the doggy treats!

The Greenscapes Truck

Tyler and Hudson

Johnny, Me, Dad, and Derek waiting to go!

On Friday evening we went to our friends dock and rode the Jet Ski and of course we love the trapeze!

Tyler

Blake

Jeremy and Sam on the Jet Ski

Back to the parade! Grayson all decked out in red, white, and blue..and green!

All the kiddos in the back of the truck!

Finally...

2011-06-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

...I got my lamps. Woohoo!!! Love them!!

Remember this post about the collage? I originally wanted turquoise lamps. Right away I started searching and I totally found numerous lamps that I loved, but they didn't quite fit in the budget. Since we started our adoption process, all house stuff kind of came to a halt, so for my birthday I asked for lamps. You know Donna totally delivered!!! My mom bought these lamps, painted them, and put new shades on them. How awesome is that? To keep true to my turquoise, I spray painted a tray that I had. Love, love, love!!!

Crazy Hair Day at VBS

2011-06-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

The three oldest boys attended VBS at a local church this week. It was awesome. This church hits it out of the ballpark with VBS. My boys loved it. This day was crazy hair day.

I absolutely love seeing kids worship and learn about God all week.

Alexandra

2011-06-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

We talked with our contact yesterday in Haiti. I am not sure if we have said yet, but we found out recently that Alexandra has a biological mom and as of yesterday we found out she has a biological dad. The pastor of the orphanage has been trying to find the mom for a couple of weeks and apparently found the dad. The good news is that he said he is okay with Alexandra being adopted. He asked that he would be updated periodically on how she is doing. It is such a bittersweet thing for Jeremy and I. The sweet part is we feel attached to this little girl already and we want her with everything in us. The bitter part is that I am so sad that she has a mom and a dad that can't take care of her. I just cannot imagine being in their position and I cannot imagine saying "yes I am okay with another family taking my child to another country forever." Jeremy tries to reassure me that the culture is different there and I will probably never understand it. Ruben (our missionary contact) told us that they are like a lot of Haitian couples that keep having babies, but have no plan as to how to take care of them. Next week the pastor and Ruben are meeting with the mom and dad to talk about the adoption. Please keep us in your prayers as our adoption journey continues.

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

Happy Birthday to....Us!

2011-06-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Wade, Lindsey, and I all have our birthdays in the same week of June. How crazy is that? Honestly, I don't really like to think about why that is or even broach that subject with my Mom. Let's just say that I have heard her "joke" about it with her friends and I was very embarrassed at the tender age of 12.

Moving on. So we decided to take it old school, circa 1992 to be exact, and just us five went to the movies and Outback. Can anyone say "Cheese Fries"? We had a great time and laughed a lot! We did miss Kimberly, Derek, and Jeremy.

On my actual birthday, we went to Schlitterbahn. No kids were invited, which is ironic because we talked about how much our kids would love it the whole time. I felt kind of bad, but just kind of. All in all it was fabulous.

*You will never see any pictures of us at Schlitterbahn or me in a bathing suit for that matter. You are welcome :)

Why?

2011-06-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Why in the world do I let my boys use my camera?

(Action shots on the trampoline taken by Tyler)

Caught

2011-06-03T03:42:00.000-07:00

I have been up since 3:55 and I couldn't go back to sleep. I have had no problem sleeping the last 3 weeks, mainly because I have been emotionally exhausted. I feel caught. What I mean is that I feel caught between my everyday life and the future.

Three weeks ago Jeremy came home from a missions trip to Haiti and the rest of my life will never be the same. He showed me a picture of a beautiful 5 year old girl and said "I think she should be in our family". I honestly had to ask him if he was serious a million times over. It turns out he was.

Jeremy and I went to a conference about a year and half ago and that is where I first started feeling God opening up my heart to adoption. I have always thought adoption was so amazing for someone else to do, but not me! I knew I wanted four or five kids since I was young. I have four, stair step, beautiful, blonde boys. We were good. Our plate was full and overflowing! I looked at Jeremy at that conference with tears rolling down my face and said "You need to get me one of those babies from Haiti!" Guess what he said? "No!" He wasn't being mean, but I know at that moment he was seeing dollar signs. He's logical, I am emotional. I get it.

God's timing is perfect and He is showing me this everyday because He knows I need to be reminded. For two years now we have been digging our way out of debt. We are huge Dave Ramsey fans, not because we love his financial knowledge (even though we do), but because his principles which are God's principles on money have CHANGED our lives. This Fall we will be debt free. My point is that we weren't ready a year and a half ago when I was all for it.

Jeremy and I have talked about it every few months since that conference. He struggled with it. He full heartily wanted to be an advocate for the orphan and the widow and he wants our church to be advocates for the orphan and the widow, but actually being on the front lines of that was hard for him. He told his story at Free Chapel a few weeks ago and you can listen to it here: www.freechapelaustin.com.

In January our church does 21 days of prayer and fasting and Jeremy prayed about adoption everyday during that time. At the end of that he still didn't know. I honestly kind of thought adoption for us was a door that closed. Our youngest was turning four and I just felt that we were coming into a new stage of our life with our boys. For some reason I never pushed Jeremy about adopting. I can be pushy about stuff, but not this. I have learned over the last 12 years of being married that if we both aren't on board, then it isn't going to work. Having a child or adopting a child is way too big of a decision to be trying to rope my spouse into.

Back to being caught.

The morning after Jeremy and Tyler got back from Haiti he shows me her picture. He also didn't know her name or anything about her.

Let's pause right there. Does my husband even know me?!? I love details. I asked him a million questions which he had no answer to. Just a picture. (Oh, by the way, the little boy in the picture above is from the same orphanage Alexandra is in. For now, we aren't posting any pictures of her online).

Ok...Now, the whole week after that all we did was try to find out more information about her, tell my family, find an adoption agency, and research more information than I ever thought I wanted to know about adoption and the country of Haiti. I have never seen Jeremy like this. I keep looking at him like "What did you do with my husband?" I say that just because I can't believe how his heart has changed specifically about adopting. God has changed it! I have no other explanation.

It is so cool how God uses the body of Christ to do His work for His glory. We have some close connections to the orphanage that Alexandra (that is her name by the way) is at. I am really jealous that Jeremy and Tyler have both gotten to meet her, but I am thankful for that as well. Anyway, we have a friend that is a missionary in Haiti that has been helping us communicate with the pastor that runs the orphanage. The pastor only speaks Creole and our friend speaks English and Creole and several other languages. Slowly, but surely we are finding out more information about her.

In the mean time, we have started our journey with an adoption agency. Again, God is so good. We had no idea how to go about picking an adoption agency. I follow a girl's blog that has adopted from Haiti and I emailed her and she referred me to another girl that is in the middle of getting her son from Haiti. We are using the same adoption agency. This agency only does adoptions for Texas families who are adopting in Texas or from Haiti. How awesome is that? And, they just started the agency in October (remember God's timing). We love them already. They have been so encouraging, sweet, and helpful.

Jeremy and I feel like it is Christmas morning everyday. I personally have been an emotional wreck. If you know me at all, I am not a crier, but I will cry over just about anything lately. It's all good, happy, thankful tears. The support of our family, friends, and church family has been undeserved. Our boys are excited to say the least. When we found out Alexandra is 5 years old, Sam said "We will be twins!!" with every ounce of excitement he could muster. It was hilarious and sweet!

We are pursing Alexandra with everything in us and we hope and pray that she will be ours one day, but she isn't ours right now. I am anxious to get to the point in our adoption that she is ours, even if that means having to wait to bring her home. And of course, we are praying-praying-praying that she will be able to come home quickly. The adoption process in Haiti can take from 24-30 months. I pray for Haiti's new President everyday. He has the ability to make adopting from Haiti shorter. There are many families that are waiting to bring their children home. I will never understand why it takes two years to adopt children from one of the poorest countries in the world.

I hope you can understand a little bit by what I mean by feeling caught. I am actually okay with it. I know God has so many things he is going to show us through this faith walk.

James 1:27

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:

to look after orphans and windows in their distress."

*This is by far the longest post I have ever done on my blog and I am sure I forgot a lot of things. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me. I will be trying to update the blog through our adoption journey.

**Please excuse my grammar and how I write. I am not a writer, but I did want to share our story so far.

***This post is dedicated to Kelly. Thanks for being such an amazing friend and for encouraging me to write the beginning of our adoption story on this blog. I love you.

Tylerman

2011-06-01T06:30:00.001-07:00

Tyler and Gray at Tyler's 4th Grade awards ceremony. Tyler was voted by his classmates as "Most Musical". Tyler is an excellent student and the boy loves school. We are so proud of him!

Doesn't Gray look happy to be there? Well, you should have seen my face! Gray was terrible. So terrible I had to get up and go in the back with him. So terrible I had to threaten him that he wasn't going to his own family birthday celebration. Proud parenting moments!

Little Sneak

2011-05-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

This would be Grayson. This would be Grayson sneaking into my purse and getting my camera. This would be Grayson taking 25 pictures in the changing room at Old Navy.

Yes I let him. He was totally preoccupied. You can thank me later for sparing you from the other 24 pictures.

Blakester

2011-05-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

This week Blake had his 2nd grade awards ceremony. We are so proud of him!

Copy Clown

2011-05-25T18:37:00.001-07:00

We love our boys' elementary school. They do a little program called the Kindergarten Circus. It is the cutest thing ever. Sam was the "Copy Clown". Blake was also the "Copy Clown" when he was in Kinder. His role was to come out after every act (all 26 of them) and do something funny while they set up for the next one. For example, after the horse act he came out with a pooper scooper to clean up after them. Then after the elephant act he came out with a HUGE pooper scooper. He did a great job!

Waiting to start the show!

The HUGE pooper scooper!

The End!

Mema

2011-05-25T18:31:00.001-07:00

My Mema and my aunt came to visit us in Austin for a week. It was so fun. My Mema is 77 years old. She was super nervous to fly, but it all turned out great. I think she was probably exhausted when she got home. She is hilarious and such a trooper to hang out with our whole crew.

This is her with all the kids except my niece Ann Marie who was napping.

Oh No He Didn't!

2011-05-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

This was the e-mail I received when I got home from having dinner last night. (I don't have a smart phone by the way)

"I love you and will call you after we get tyler's leg stitched up at the Brazilian army base. On our way now..."

Oh, yes he did! I got a call about an hour or so later. Thanks babe!!

I am kind of kidding, but I did talk with Tyler and he was great!!

I just got a text from Tyler saying he wants to stay in Haiti a year and skip the 5th grade!! There you go!

Check out Jeremy's updates here!

Haiti, day 2

2011-05-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

Check out Jeremy's blog post today.

I talked with Jeremy last night. He said Tyler is exhausted. He isn't sure if it physically, mentally, or emotionally, but he is tired. I think he took a 3.5 hr nap yesterday. I am sure it is hard to take in a country like Haiti, especially at the young age of 10. I am praying like crazy for the whole team.

Haiti

2011-05-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Please keep Jeremy and Tyler in your prayers as they go to Haiti this week on a missions trip. They leave tomorrow and get back on Saturday. I know God is going to use them in a mighty way. I will update you throughout the week.

I love Austin!

2011-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons we love Austin is the food. They have amazing unique restaurants. Not only is the food good, but most have outdoor seating and a lot of them have live music. I am all about the experience. Anyway, on Easter evening we (21 of us), went to eat at Verde's. We all ate outside, the food was good, but the best part was this fenced in field. Our kids ran and played like crazy. You can bring your own balls, balloons, and whatever else you want to play with. It was so nice to have dinner and the kids could be loud and get up and play and come back. Loved it!!!

Every now and then...

2011-05-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

...these boys sit down for more than 5 seconds.

Go Gray!!

2011-05-02T10:55:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday our family served at Springfest. It was fun, hot, and did I say hot. The jousting station is where Jeremy and I, okay mostly Jeremy served.

Grayson begged to have a turn. I wasn't even sure he could pick up whatever that thing is called. Jeremy just told me it is called a lance. (He totally googled it) Gray did AWESOME! We credit him having three older brothers for his ability to hold his own against a 6 year old.

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I took all day.

The boys said they looked like rugby players.

Our Easter Rocked!!!

The End.

A little bit of Easter

2011-04-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

You know you have all boys when the theme of your eggs are:

1. Superheros

2. Sports

3. Camo

FYI: We have never, I mean ever, in the 10 years that I have been a parent dyed eggs at our house. I am not so much of a paint, play dough, sand art, dye eggs kind of mom.

These two boys did wonderfully dying eggs and to my surprise it didn't end up being a disaster!

Today...

2011-04-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Tyler got a haircut. Have I mentioned my hairstylist comes to my house to do our hair?I love it.Blake has Pioneer Day!
Blake lost his 3rd tooth. Tyler is 10yo in the 4th grade and has only lost 6 teeth. Blake is in 2nd grade and almost 8yo and now has only lost 3 teeth. To put it in perspective, a girl in Blake's class has braces and almost all the kids in Ty's class have permanent teeth and some have braces. And while we are mentioning braces, I get mine off in about 7 weeks. So happy!

Servolution

2011-04-18T08:14:00.001-07:00

Every year the week before Easter Free Chapel participates in Servolution. We get out and serve the community! Jeremy, the boys, and I look forward to it each Spring.

I made Nest Egg Cookies and boxed them up to invite our neighbors to Easter Service.

Saturday we gave out cold water bottles at the City of Lakeway's Easter Eggstravaganza! We also did a little egg hunting as well.

Parker and Gray trying to be patient as possible to grab some eggs.

Don't you love my child with no shoes and a Dillard's bag for an Easter basket.

Here are my excuses why: 1. I need Jeremy to grab our lovely Pottery Barn Easter baskets from high up in the garage. 2. We had 4 parties this weekend. 3. I can't do everything.

The Blakester who loves any type of competition. He really wanted the Golden Egg.

Thumbs Up

2011-04-16T14:34:00.001-07:00

This is Sam. My third born. Happiest child ever. Should get in more trouble than he does because he is always smiling. Thumb sucker.

Sam has been sucking his thumb since he exited the womb. Seriously. He doesn't have to have a lovie or a blankie. He is a solo thumb sucker. Tyler was also a thumb sucker, but totally stopped when we took his blanket away. Jeremy and I decided not to push it, even though we wanted to so badly. Sam started Kinder this year and we thought he would stop once he started school. Not so much. Sam is a SUPER CONFIDENT kid. He could care less if someone makes fun of him.

Out of the blue a couple of weeks ago he wanted to make the chart below, wear a reminder bracelet, and put tape on his thumb. He has had a hard time, but for the most part he has completely stopped sucking his thumb on his own.

Here is the funny part. We promised him a toy if he could go all week without sucking his thumb. Of all things....Lots-O-Huggin Bear. Really??? $54.00 Really??? Smells like strawberries???

He loves it!

Hands Down

2011-04-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hands down this is my favorite veggie mix. I eat it all the time.

red/orange/yellow bell pepper

onion

1 can of pineapple, drained

garbanzo beans, drain

olive oil

400 degrees until roasted

You gotta try it!

This is a before shot and I forgot the after shot :(

Spring

2011-04-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

It doesn't get much better than Tulips and Easter!

Project Mode

2011-04-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

I saw this awesome photo collage on Under the Sycamore blog. I think hers looks better, but she is a professional photographer and I am clearly not.

I have been looking for something really big to go over this black piece of furniture in my dining room, but everything big cost some major bucks. I loved this because it was super easy and inexpensive. The boys actually LOVE looking at all the pictures. Now I am searching for a pair of turquoise lamps to go on each side. I followed Ashley's directions: 111 photographs cut 4x4, hot glue them to your wall (yes, you read that right), start with the middle photograph and eyeball your rows.
I wish their wasn't a glare. It looks a lot better in person.
I will make sure to take a picture of the finished product once I find my lamps!!

Have a great Monday!!

Hello Houston

2011-04-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a short hello and then good bye. We drove 4.5 hrs to Houston today for Jeremy's Papaw's family reunion and back. Let's just say I was glad to get home just a little while ago, not because of the reunion, but because of being in the car with our sweet, precious, loud, whiny, and sometimes stinky B.O.Y.S.

Here are some highlights:

1. Gray (3yo): "You just got owned!" "My bottom hurts." "I'm thirsty" x 100.

2. Tyler (10yo): trying to lay down in the back seat which he shares with his brother. And lets not forget all of the Justin Bieber quotes.

3. Jeremy (33yo) Singing 90's worship music at the top of his lungs. I actually said "you like this because this is when you came to know the Lord" which he responded "they didn't have music this good then, this was way later."

4. Sam (5yo) Has spent all week trying really hard to quit sucking his thumb. We had a little regression. My mom said "Maybe he splurges on the weekends!" Maybe so!

5. Blake with his favorite food of all time!!!

Here Goes...

2011-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

I really want to start blogging again, 3-5 times a week. I have plenty of excuses why I have been so terrible lately, but I will not even bore you with those. Hopefully I can branch out from just blogging about the boys (whom I adore), but I have other interest also. I know its hard to believe, but I do! I like to run, shop, decorate, and steal other peoples ideas from their blogs on anything and everything from crafting to parenting.

So, here goes....

Bring It!

2011-02-27T13:17:00.001-08:00

This is Blake and his BFF Luke. Luke lives across the street from us. They are like two peas in a pod. They love to work out and play hard. This was after a Crossfit workout.

School Play

2011-02-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

Back in September, Tyler tried out for his school play. I had no idea what a big deal it was to actually make the school play. This is very typical of me. I had people congratulating me, on Tyler, in Target. Again, no idea.
So from September to February, the cast has been practicing at least 3 times a week or more. They had three shows and we bought 18 tickets to spread between family and friends.
The play was set in the 1960's and had a number of Beatles songs throughout the play.
Tyler did a great job and he loved it. It was a great experience. Oh yeah, and please don't challenge us in Beatles Trivial Pursuit because we will win. :)

I heart Chick-fil-a!

2011-02-27T12:57:00.001-08:00

I love Chick-fil-a for SO many reasons, but our favorite thing Chick-fil-a does is family night. Every Tuesday Night is family night. Kids eat free and they always have something fun for the kids to do. This is a product from the balloon guy. He can pretty much do anything with balloons.
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend going when Lowe's or Home Depot come. All you hear is hammering all through dinner. That is enough to send anyone over the edge.

Can you tell....

2011-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

...I live in a house full of boys.

Honored

2011-02-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, February 5, 2011, the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Awards Banquet.

Free Chapel was nominated along with 4 other local non-profits for the "Shining Star" category.

Chamber President Laura Mitchell announced that Free Chapel had received the award! She went on to read the following description of Free Chapel which is flat-out humbling:

"Free Chapel is a young church with a lot of heart that serves their community in radical and meaningful ways! In the past year Free Chapel has served breakfast to LTISD teachers and staff of Lakeway Elementary, assisted with the community Egg Hunt at Easter, joined with LT Love to distribute lunches to kids in need with the summer lunch program and hosted the inaugural Heroes Day for the Lake Travis Police and Fire departments and on their 2 year anniversary, Free Chapel hosted a food drive for Lake Travis Crisis Ministries. Lastly, the church supports Pastor Jeremy Self as he serves as a Director for the chamber Board. Free Chapel no only serves the community locally, but is intentional about making a global impact, as well. Congratulations to Free Chapel!"

We are so proud to be members of the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce and are thankful to have received this very special award.

And, WAY TO GO, Free Chapel! You are doing what God called us to do...be a light to your community! I love being your pastor!

Ann Marie Mills

2011-01-12T08:16:00.001-08:00

Ann Marie Mills
6lbs 15oz
20 inches long
4:30 p.m.
We are so excited about Ann Marie. It was a long day at the hospital, but totally worth it.
She is perfect. Lindsey is doing great.
Did I mention that I love having nieces?

Lindsey looked Asian when she was born and I think Ann Marie does a little also. :)

Papa and Mama Don! This is #10 for them. 8 boys and 2 girls.

One of my Favorites

2011-01-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite Christmas presents I got.
An antique red door.
I love it.
(honorable mentions: kitchen aid mixer, kitchen aid food processor, and coffee mugs from Williams-Sonoma)

December

2011-01-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

The picture we put on our Christmas card. This was one of the very first ones. Why we kept going, I have no idea.

Tacky Sweater Christmas Party! So fun.
Our friend Kenny totally had candy in the stocking on his sweater that he was handing out. And yes, that would be Wade in the background who wore a tree skirt and won best Tacky Christmas Sweater. Really?
Sam and Gray with Santa. Sam says every year that he is going to pull his beard. I would die.
All of my boys in plaid.

Oh yes they did!!

2011-01-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

My dear parents, bless their hearts, took all 9 grand kids out for a Christmas celebration. We, as in myself and my siblings, couldn't have been more thrilled. Jeremy and I caught a movie and dinner with Wade and Kimberly. Linds and Derek had a Christmas party they had to go to.

We met the grands at the Galleria to take a few pics around 2:30 and then we picked them up at 7:30 from Papa and Mama Don's house. The first stop was Big Top Candy Shop, then pizza and a movie. Can you imagine? I think it wore my parents out, but the kids had a blast.

Did I say that they are 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 1, and 1 years old?
Mom and Harley have to stick together since they are the only girls.
All in the back row.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love how many pictures I have of this day? Jeremy took a lot of video and I need him to show me how to do it. We will be way into 2011 if I wait for that.
This first picture cracks me up, because the boys are struggling so much. They are so anxious to come out to their stockings and presents.

We did a very light Christmas this year and it felt so good. The boys got stockings and one "bigger" type gift and then a joint gift. They loved it. As a Mom I get wrapped up in the emotion of wanting to buy them everything. So, I had to ignore the emotion and welcome the logic. Jeremy was on cloud 9 and to be honest the boys didn't even know the difference.
Tyler was opening his "bigger" gift. An itunes gift card.

Around 10 we went down to Lindsey's for our big family Christmas. It was so much fun and crazy. I will have to put a video of the noise level when all the kids were opening gifts. It is comical. Also, I ate so much, bordering on gluttony.

Randomness

2010-12-15T04:07:00.000-08:00

This is the craziest week, but we love it. This is the boys last week of school before Christmas break. They do some seriously fun stuff this week. For instance I would love to join Blake for pajama day in my pajamas, but that would probably embarrass him and scar him for life.
Besides going grocery shopping with all four of my boys, I am very excited about them being out for a couple of weeks. Here are my blogging plans....

Posts I need to do over Christmas Break:
1. The boys wrestling. (This has been an adventure in itself. I even have some video, not that I know how to put it on this blog.)
2. Christmas fun including Advent, School activities, and the Big day itself.
3. Church planting. I have been reluctant to talk much about our adventure in church planting, but I think it might just be time.

I will leave you with this.

Now what makes a child do this? And, for that matter, what makes a mom let him do this just so she can address her Christmas cards?

Great Article

2010-12-15T04:02:00.000-08:00

My sweet husband sent me this article and I just loved it. If you are a parent, you should check it out. Jeremy and I love a good parenting book. Lord knows we need all the help we can get. Honestly, when I stop and think about what my number one priority right now is, it is raising my boys to be Godly men full of integrity and love towards others. Isn't this what we all want? Enough from me, just read it!

"Top 5 Must-Read Parenting Books" -- My new blog post for those wanting to cut through the clutter. Click http://peterhaas.org/

Thank you Goodwill

2010-11-16T12:49:00.001-08:00

Just recently we got a brand new Goodwill about 2 minutes away. The Goodwills in Austin are really great. I am not sure why, maybe because they are big on philanthropy in this city. Anyway, I found this coffee table for $18. It was oak with an orange painted top. I actually bought it to paint and resale it. I brought it in the house to stage it for pics on Craigslist. I just can't do it. I love it way too much.

this is our "front room", supposed to be office

a little distressing never hurt
On another note, my sweet husband will be taking a little trip with all four of my boys next week and I am going to repaint our entire living/kitchen area. Yes, I will miss the color that it is, but it has been three years. I need to lighten it up a bit. I will post pics after. Oh, and I would love to decorate for Christmas while they are gone. Maybe, if I work really smart, it will happen.

Give Thanks

2010-11-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

I always like to do a little something to emphasize how thankful we are this time of year. The last two years we have done this little guy. But now that my boys are getting a little bigger I thought we would change it up a bit and try this.

We are putting what we are thankful for on this piece of packing paper. The boys are loving it. It helps that three out of the four can write.

Baptism Video

2010-11-10T11:20:00.001-08:00

Around Here!!

2010-11-10T11:16:00.001-08:00

This is in my yard all the time. Give or take a few kids. Love it.

October 31st

2010-11-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

We had the busiest Sunday we have had in a long time on Halloween. We had church, lunch and baptism at the Lake, and then at 4:30 we had several families start helping us cook hot dogs. We provided dinner to our neighborhood before trick or treating. I don't love Halloween, but I do love that people actually get out of their houses to be in community with others. We met a lot of new people and hung out with the ones we have known longer. Our boys had a blast just hanging out in our cul-d-sac with their buddies.
Most of the picture are from before or right at the beginning of the party. I start talking to people and I forget all about picture taking. I need to get better at that.

Okay, I love Parker and Gray, but just look at their friend Grace. She lives right across the street and boy does Grayson love her.

Yes he did!!

Getting ready for our friends to come.

This happens everyday just without the costumes. Boys, lots of boys.

Thankful

2010-11-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Dr. Cash Lewis, Jeremy, Tyler, Jackson, and Lexi
Jackson and Tyler are best buds and it was so awesome that they were baptized on the same day.

It was perfect weather.

Jeremy was dunking Tyler then my battery died. Hopefully someone got a good shot of him coming out of the water. :)

On Sunday, Jeremy had the privilege of baptizing Tyler. It was so meaningful to Tyler and to Jeremy and I. As parents, we want nothing more than our boys to be sold out for Jesus. I am so thankful for new life in Christ and that as a parent I get to share that with my kids. I have seen people get baptized my whole life and it never gets old.

Football Baby!!

2010-11-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Last week our two older boys had wrestling practice (um yeah I will explain later), so Jeremy and I took Sam and Gray to a Fall Festival thing at Jeremy's office building. People kept saying "Texas and Alabama, what???" My favorite part was that Gray would just say "Roll Tide" in his little raspy voice and serious face. My other favorite part was that Sam kept saying his armpits hurt from the pads.

Seriously????

2010-10-09T10:23:00.001-07:00

Project Mode

2010-09-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have had three out of four of my boys in school, I have focused a little more on my house. I go through times when all I do is work on the house and then I get tired and do nothing. Another factor is money honey. If you know Jeremy and I you know we have been "Dave Ramseying" it for over 18 months. Thank goodness for blogs that give me tons of ideas.

The above bench was raw wood and $3.00 at a garage sale.
I painted it with paint I already had.

I made this Fall wreath and it took me way too long to do. (4hrs)
It cost me $6.00

Jeremy and I bought this armoire 11years ago from a friend right after we got married. It was an orange wood color. I just revamped our "front room", supposed to be an office, playroom/t.v. room. Again, painted it with paint I already had. I was totally shocked and in love with how it turned out.

Oak end table+white paint+new knobs

$5.00 Orange garage sale find+white paint

This dresser was black. My mom painted and stained it. Now it is my sofa table.

This piece was a garage sale find for $10.00. It is pretty old and had several
coats of paint on it. I used the same color as the armoire. I am not keeping this piece. I am selling it on Craigslist. I just have to put two more knobs on it. I think it would be super cute as a changing table in a nursery.

I have one more to show you, but it will have to wait, because it isn't ready yet.
Jeremy hates that I put how much things are, but I am inspired by others that do this and it has helped me stay on budget. Please do not take it the wrong way.

This is how I roll

2010-09-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Party Sam!!

2010-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

This boy turned 5 about 12 days before his actual party, but it was totally worth the wait. I think we had about 50 people at the house. He has never really had a big party. He is my very social boy and he was eating it up.

Hanging out with Honey and Jessie before the party. The boys were about to bust a gut for it to start.

Brand new bike from Mama Don and Papa!
This was in my yard from 2:00 pm on Sunday until Monday night. The boys played on it at the party 3-5pm, then until about 7:30. Jeremy put it back up on Monday after school and the whole neighborhood came over to play that afternoon. It was so worth the money.

RTR!

2010-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Lake Travis Game

2010-09-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

Lake Travis High School is the high school in our school district. They have been state champs 3 years in a row. This whole town wears red, black, and white for the Lake Travis Cavaliers. I am not lying. They are totally supported. Their first game was held at the University of Texas Stadium this year. It was HOT, but worth it. Our boys loved it.

Blake and his friend Ryan making fun of the Cavalettes (The dance team)

Dear Lord, please do not let my boys ever be a huge football player that eat me out of house and home. Thanks.
The Crew

Rewind....to the beach! Happy Birthday Blake!!!

2010-09-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why my pics are downloading weird. But this was Gray at Blake's celebration. Not a happy camper.
Blake and Sam

Happy Birthday Sweet Blake!
Blake turned 7 while we are at the beach. It was so fun.

Tyler is too cool for school.
This boy asks and gets a pair of running shoes every birthday. He is all boy. He loves Nike!!
His first ipod.
Checking out all his new tunes with his Paul Frank skull candy earbuds.

Happy 5th Birthday!!

2010-09-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

Sam started his morning off with a donut and his morning coffee (milk)!!

One and Only...

2010-09-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

...from 7:45-2:45 at least. Gray and I have spent a lot of time together since the boys started school. He is a great errand runner, but we needed to have some fun last week. We went with some friends to the Children's museum. He loved it.

Picasso

Kayak Fishing

Doctor

Scientist

Astronaut

First Day of School

2010-09-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Tyler starting 4th grade!

(He has 12 girls and only 7 boys in his class)
Blake starting 2nd!

(His best bud is in his class)
Sam staring Kinder. This picture is so him. He is a nut.

We love, love, love all of the boys teachers. We are so blessed to be a part of a great school.

Zzzzz...

2010-09-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

This cannot be comfortable!

Bieber Baby

2010-09-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Tyler is my artsy kiddo. He loves music, movies, and pop culture in general. If you know him at all you know that he gets a little obsessed with things. Right now it is Justin Bieber. I think he wants to be him. He looks at his hair in the mirror a lot and struts skinny jeans often. The funny thing is that Tyler is the oldest, so all of his little brothers know all the words to most Beiber songs and they even adopt some of Tyler's fashion sense even though they would rather be wearing Under Armour.

Loves

2010-09-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Blake is 7. Two of his favorite things are his Papa and Golf. Put the two together and he is beside himself. He goes all out to play golf. The visor, the polo tucked in, the golf shoes, and his clubs.

Toes in the Water, Toes in the Sand

2010-08-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

(We arrived at 5:30 and were in the pool by 6:15)
Vacation was wonderful this year!! We loaded up the boys and took a 13 hour drive to Seacrest Beach. I love Seacrest. We had a wonderful time doing nothing but swimming, eating, reading, and relaxing. Thank you Mama Don and Papa for coming with us.

All of my sweet boys!!

One of our favorite things...

2010-08-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

(Our bike ride to the candy store)

.....about the beach is riding bikes. You literally can drive up to your beach house and not have to get in the car again until you leave. Our boys love it.

Papa likes it also.
Riding at Rosemary Beach. I almost fell off of my bike taking this picture.
Sam rides a bike all the time at home, but we borrowed our bikes from a friend and they only had two kid bikes, so he had to ride with Gray in the carrier. Now that is a workout!!

Sweet Tooth

2010-08-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

How blue is that ice cream? Cookie Monster Ice Cream. Only at the beach.

Vroom Vroom

2010-08-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

The boys were so excited to drive the go-carts at the beach this time. Waiting in line.
Blake was super serious about his driving.
This is a bad picture, but Jeremy and Gray went together on the fast go-carts. Grayson had his lovie and sucked his fingers the entire time. The boys and I were cracking up.

Summer Lunches

2010-07-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Recently we partnered with the Summer Lunches program in our community. Summer Lunches provides lunch and a snack for kids who get free breakfast and lunch through the government during the school year, but may not have lunch during the Summer. I knew immediately I wanted myself and my family to be involved. So, I e-mailed a bunch of my friends and we all brought items to make 70 lunches plus a snack for these children. This is the second time we have done it this Summer.
Making 70 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Getting ready to stuff the lunches.

Jeremy and I had the opportunity to go with a group to actually pass the lunches out. I loved it. We went to neighborhoods that are not even 5 miles from my house, but most people do not even know they are there. The lady driving would just honk her horn and kids would start coming out for their lunches. They come Monday-Friday, so they know the lunch truck is coming. So kids would ask for 6 or 7 lunches for their siblings. Others aren't allowed to come out because their parents are at work, so we would leave them on the door step and soon as we would pull away they would crack the door open to get them.

I love that God invites us to be on mission with Him. This was so simple, and yet so meaningful not only to the receivers, but to the givers.

Just Do it!

2010-07-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

My boys are continually showing me the differences between the sexes. This is a perfect example. They love to workout, even though I think they just really love to sweat!! We workout inside a lot in the Summer because Texas is just plain hot. The boys love to join in. Oh, and for some reason you cannot workout with a shirt on!!

An Unlikely Pair

2010-07-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

Spider Man and Anakin Skywalker

Finally

2010-07-17T09:57:00.001-07:00

Blake will be 7 in a couple of weeks and he finally lost his first tooth. He was the last person in his class this past year that had not lost one yet. My boys take forever to lose teeth. Unlike Tyler who will let his baby teeth hang on by a thread for months at a time, Blake pretty much pulls his own out. He was very excited!!

Buddies

2010-06-17T16:19:00.001-07:00

Parker went to the dentist and brought Gray back a mask.

Harley is 1!!

2010-06-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Wade and Kimberly had an Austin Tea Party for Harley's 1st Birthday. It was so adorable and girly. Too bad their were only 4 girls and about 13 boys.

Harley and Uncle Jeremy. I love this girl. My only niece.

Gray and Parker
Micah, Lawson, Tyler
Jax and Blake
Making aprons.
I loved the sign.
Don't you just love the mini cupcakes in the mini mugs?
So Fun for that Sweet Girl!!!

Schools Out!! Hello Summer!

2010-06-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

The month of May was so incredibly good, but very busy. It has made us long for Summer. Tyler and Blake both had an amazing school year, but we are ready to bust out of our routine and enjoy some time together.

Jeremy went to Tyler's award ceremony and took this with his iphone. (Tyler, Mr. Hicks: Principal, Ms. Rockenstein: teacher)

This is Tyler at his field day event. His teacher (we adore her and I wish I had a picture of her and Ty) e-mailed me this picture and said "He is so cool, even doing a sack race!"

Sam, Gray, and I attended Blake's award ceremony and ice cream float party. I was sweating like crazy trying to keep Sam and Gray calm during the presentation of awards.
Blake and Mrs. Gonzales

Happy Memorial Day!!

2010-06-05T12:32:00.001-07:00

Date Night

2010-06-05T11:53:00.001-07:00

My sweet boys gave me this card for Mother's Day. Each boy had 20.00 to take me out on a date with them. I went on all my dates last week and I LOVED it. Rarely do I get one on one time with each of my boys. I hope I get this gift every year.
We drew out of a hat for the order of which they would take me out. Gray was the 1st one. He took me to Learning Express and to Yogurt Planet. This is him showing off his cash for our date!! (And yes he got a haircut which made me cry and is a story for another time).
We were at Learning Express for at least 1 hour. He picked out a ball of goo/slime that makes "tooting" noises when you put it back in the container it came in. Such a boy. He kept saying he got a "tooter thingy".
Eating his yogurt! Gray makes me laugh. He has a raspy voice, so everything he says is super cute.
Blake took me on a date to see Shrek: The Final Chapter. We had candy, popcorn, and soda. It was a great treat. Blake loves the whole date thing. He actually doesn't even love movies, but he knows that I love to go to the movies. He put on way too much cologne and dressed up (he loves sporting Under Armour), so he wanted it to be special. I loved it.
Sam took me on a dinner date to Chili's and then we went to Target. I knew his date would involve food. This boy loves life and is always happy.
He sat across from me for about a minute and then moved to my side of the booth. It was so fun just hanging out with him and enjoying our dinner.
And last but not least, Ty man took me shopping. This is us in the car before we hit the mall. He, like Blake, tried really hard to make this date about me and not him. So sweet. Tyler is 9 and I am loving our conversations about big kid stuff.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!

2010-05-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

I love these boys!! We had a very relaxing Mother's Day. My boys gave me a card with money in it for each of them to take me out on a date. Sam wants to take me to Chuck E. Cheese. I don't know about that. Very cute!! Jeremy gave me my favorite thing..money (i need running shoes, a bathing suit or two, and the list goes on)

We were going to go out on the boat, but it started to rain, so we all went to the movies. My crew can put away the popcorn!! It was a real treat for them and me.

Lovin Austin

2010-05-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about Austin is the eating. They have so many awesome restaurants. Most of the restaurants have outside seating with live music and play areas for the kids. We have at least 5 restaurants in our area Austin that have play scape's. Seriously it is great to be able to eat your food and let your kids go crazy on the playground. It is just peaceful!!

Jeremy's day off at P.Terry's. Best Chicken Burger ever!!
They have a sandbox for the kids to play in.
Beautiful Austin Day!!

Fun with Cousins

2010-05-11T12:11:00.001-07:00

I love that my sister and sister-n-law live in Austin by us. It is so easy to get with them and the kids always have a blast. Last minute last week we decided to take the boys + Harley to the fountain at the mall.
Um, Micah found the mud. Lindsey never would have let Parker do this.

We went early and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

Love this!

2010-05-11T12:05:00.001-07:00

Who is the photographer?

2010-05-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

Thats who!!!

All photos by Sam (4)

Birthday Party!!

2010-05-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a Birthday party for Gray and Parker. Gray and Parker are only 5 weeks a part in age. We felt like 3 was a good age to have a joint birthday party for them. Jeremy and I do not do birthday parties for our boys every year. We have family parties, but never a big party. This year Tyler and Blake have decided to have a few friends over for their parties, but Sam and Gray are going to have a bigger party this year. Sam's is this Summer and he is already planning it. Anyway, it was great. Lindsey and I had a lot of fun planning it and the boys had a blast. We did an animal invitation that read "Attention all Party Animals", animal cupcakes, and animal type goodie bags (pen, notebook, box of animal crackers, animal stickers). I am sure Lindsey will have better details on her blog, so check it out if you want to know more.

These pics are in backwards order, but I don't have the patience or time to redo this blog entry. :)

Sweet brothers with the Birthday Boy!!
I had to sit in the back on the way home because our van was packed.
Matching "3" shirts from Etsy!!
Papa and Gray.
Waiting in line for the Zip Line.
I can't believe Gray is almost 3! (May 31st)

Most of my pictures were blurry. So frustrating. Not sure if it is me or the camera!
Sam loved this place.
Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, and Zebras! These were really fun to make.

Boys+Swimming=Happy Boys

2010-05-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

My boys absolutely love to swim. They always have and I think always will. We went to a Birthday party on the lake on Saturday. It was great. There was a playground, petting zoo, sand volleyball, basketball, a sandbox, but no worries they made a bee line to the lake and never looked back. They did come out once to eat. It was cold water. Their lips were blue and they were shivering, but they swore up and down it wasn't cold.

Lake Austin

2010-05-03T18:05:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year in Austin. The weather is perfect and we are so blessed to live by Lake Austin and Lake Travis. A couple of Mondays ago we took advantage of the nice weather and went out on the boat with the family, without kids. We scooted down Lake Austin (the water was freezing) and docked at Hula Hut. I ate so much creamy jalapeno ranch with my chips. It was ridiculous.

Wade and Kimberly with the 360/Pennybacker bridge in the background.
I think this was right before my Mom got soaked. She looked like she had just ridden Thunder Mountain at Six flags. We laughed until we cried. And of course Wade wouldn't let it go. Thanks Mom for being a good sport.
Jeremy and his crazy driving. The reason Mom got wet. She hates getting wet.
Wade and Dad checking out the huge houses on Lake Austin.

Silly Boy

2010-05-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Gray looks so much like Jeremy. We ask him who he looks like and he says "Uncle Derek" which is funny because that is my sisters husband. Anyway, he has been going in our closet and putting on Jeremy's stuff lately. We even caught him in the closet with Jeremy's iphone the other day.

Easter 2010 (Very Creative Title)

2010-04-08T06:56:00.001-07:00

Gray and Sam both got umbrellas. Do they need one? No! Does it hardly ever rain here? No! Are they good weapons? Yes! Do they flip inside out easily? Yes! Were they worth $1 at the dollar store? Absolutely!We hide their baskets, so keeping them inside their room until time to come out gets a little crazy!! (I have no idea what happened to Gray's shirt)
I also have no idea why my pictures are all blurry!