Lil' B

I received new pictures of Lil B, our Guatemalan sponsor child, a few days ago.

He is such a cutey. He is just growing up a storm. It looks like he can even sit up with help now.

Yes I am a cutie and yes I know it.

Please continue to pray for Lil B and all the children left in Guatemala. At this point, there is question if Guatemala will open for adoption again any time soon. If they do open up things will be up in the air and who knows how long it will take for the children to come home.

My heart is breaking for all the children who just need homes and someone to love them.

PROM IS DONE

Well we held up just fine while waiting for Annie to come home. We did doze off and on and it was really rough getting up for church on time this morning.

After prom she and friends went to another friends home. The parents were chaperoning an all night party. Ann was allowed to stay until 3:00 AM but she arrived home before 2:15.
GOOD GIRL!

Sounds as if they had a great time and really enjoyed their time together.

I am happy it was a good time.

Blake and I were talking last night, wouldn't be fun to go back and live one night over again? Then the more we thought about it, the more we decided it wasn't a good idea. After all with 12 years difference, I don't think my parents would have allowed him to take me to the prom anway. :)

The one thing that is aggravating, Annie "didn't remember" to tell us about the runway at the school. I guess they announce the couples by name as the walk down and then pictures can be taken as they enter the prom.

I think it was on purpose because she didn't want us to embarrass her. Oh well.

Brandon

While we were taking prom pictures I snapped these cute little pictures of Brandon. He is so adorable.

I think I see my dad way over there.

Yup that's him. Dad come get me.

He is not sure he wants to walk across the grass.
I am not sure it is worth the effort to pick that dendelion.

I think he was really tired. Usually he doesn't hold still for this long!

PROM 2008

Tonight is a happy night but I am very sad.

My baby girl is off to her prom. She is only a sophmore but going with a junior.

Brad is a very nice young man.

It still hurts to think my little sweet pea is old enough to go to the prom.

Ann and Brad

Ann and her close friend, Kiersten

SAD MARVIN

No school tomorrow. YEAH! Jesse invited two friends over to spend the night. I told Marvin to leave them to their "big boy" things. I also told him it wasn't right to expect to hang out with Jesse when he had friends over and to please leave him alone tonight.

Marvin is crushed. So crushed in fact that he is now spreading his own version of "our talk".

He went out to play on his jumble gym (jungle) with Bell Bell.

The first thing he did was find Jesse and his friends and told them , "Mom said I get to do big boy things with you. or you grounded" I said that???

So it didn't take long for Jesse with friends in tow to come in about this. I reassured him I did not say that and once again explained to Marvin that he cannot always have Jesse's attention.

Poor little guy is so upset. Brotherly love can be so painful.

WORDS

Here is the drill:
I have been tagged. If you haven't been tagged and you read this, you are tagged!
You need to answer the statements using words that start with the first letter of your name.
So here goes:
WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Cindi
4 LETTER WORD: cuts
VEHICLE: Caravan (Dodge)
TV SHOW: CSI Miami
CITY: Cambridge, OH
BOY NAME: Christopher
GIRL NAME: Christine
OCCUPATION: cab driver
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Chucks (tennis shoes)
FOOD: candy
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: comb
REASON FOR BEING LATE: children
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Come On!

ARE YOU BORED?

Now that is a catchy title.
I wanted to tell you about a book I have finished reading through twice. There are even spots I have read more than that.
"Get Out of That Pit" by Beth Moore 2007
It has taken me one year but I have managed to get through it twice. Now I have read other things off and on so I am not a slow reader but this is the kind of book you want to enjoy and savor.
When I first saw it at the bookstore I thought it was a "depression" type of book and although it does lend itself to that theme I also discovered it is about so many other parts of our lives.
As Beth explains a pit can be about ANYTHING in our lives. What hit my between the eyes was boredom. Have you ever been bored with life? Essentially every day is the same thing over and over again. We as God's people should not feel this way but if you are honest, everyone has felt that way at some point in her life.
Several years ago a friend and I were talking about cleaning. Both of us are geeks. We sat down to figure out how many times a plate is washed during the year. (I said we were geeks.)
I forget the number but it was VERY high. Almost to the point of being exhausting when you think that YOU are the one who loads and unloads that plate or washes it by hand.
But this book deals with a remedy for the boredoms. The three steps are Cry out, Confess and Consent.
Cry out to God and let Him know just how boring your life feels.
Confess it too. While you are at it confess the thoughts that put you in this place to start with.
Consent is the final step. Accept God's will for your life and get out of that Pit. As you step out of the pit of boredom you can see life in a whole new light.
Be careful not to get too comfortable in your pit. That is a bad thing. You can't see the dirt around you for the dim light and you might find that pit, as dirty and slimy as it is, is rubbing off on you and your daily life. It is not pretty.
Yes you have the same plate being washed numerous times but examine the reasons behind it.
1- God has given you the financial capacity to afford to put food on your plate.
2- God has given you the ability to cook a meal to share with friends and family on that plate.
3- We live in a country where we are not fighting for every drop of water that falls and we are able to wash our dishes thoroughly.
4- God has given us a home to store our clean plates in and a sink to hold our dirties until cleaning time.
5- Although it is just a plate, you can look at it and capture the memories created such as a special birthday dinner, a family gathering, laughing with friends while snacking and the list goes on.
Some days it is really hard to imagine anything but a dirty plate. On those days use the washing as a time to talk to God and ask him to help you remember the good things in life along with removing the bad feelings that have accumulated like the dirty socks in your laundry. (That's a whole other story)
Right now God's will for my life is to be a mother of six children but time will pass and eventually they will all grow up and leave the nest. At times I am scared and lonely just thinking of that time. Other times I find myself wondering what God has planned next for me.
Either way I want to stay out of the pits that come along and rest assured God has a will for my life and boredom is not in His vocabulary for me or my life.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

Psalm 40:2

OUR TRIP TO TARGET

This afternoon we took anyone who wanted to go with us to Columbus for a while. We were looking for a new TV for our bedroom. I have mixed feelings about even having a TV in the room at night but it sure does come in handy in the morning when little feet are up before old feet are! Plus Blake is a sleep specialist he wouldn't dare do anything to disrupt our sleep or keep us from going to bed on time. hehehe
So it turned out Anabeli and Marvin were the only two who wanted to enjoy the day with us.
We went to Target without daddy to allow him to really look at the TVs at Best Buy.
All that to say this. I walked in the door and they had three or four halfsize aisles full of summer junk, oh I meant to say things.
Anway I am trying so hard to pare down to bare bones. It is going to be sooooo hard because I am a collector.
Without even thinking about it I rolled the cart to that area but (Thank God) it was so crowded with other shoppers I couldn't even get down the aisles. While I waiting to maneuver my way down the aisle, it hit me.
I DON'T NEED ANOTHER THING! There is nothing in that area that I could possibly want or "need". Quite the shock.
So I backed up the cart and headed to get the things I really needed like diapers for Jake and clothes soap.
What a liberating feeling. God had convicted me of the mess I was trying to get rid of before I had a chance to add more. As everything comes together, my life feels so much less stress. Every drawer I open is half as full. Every closet is emptying. I even had empty Rubbermaid tubs now!
More free time. More happiness. Less brooding about too much stuff!
I had to giggle to myself as I walked away. My friend, Jesus, has helped me clean out lots of closets and drawers, even some of the real dusty, ugly and locked ones in my heart!

It reminds me of the childhood song:

I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

Where?

Down in my heart.

Where?

Down in my heart.

I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

Down in my heart to stay.

EASTER PICTURES- FINALLY!

Man I am so behind right now on blogging. My nesting is almost too much. The kids will find out just how bad it is tomorrow and Sunday when they will clean their rooms, top to bottom and go through spring clothing to see what else we need.

I am putting on one picture for each child. It was so stinking cold that day. We didn't even wear Easter clothes because we needed winter clothes.

The Easter Bunny didn't visit us until after we got back from my parents for lunch. I didn't want dinner spoiled. Of course I took my camera to lunch but forgot to take any pictures!

Sam acting goofy. He was asking everyone, "Do you want to see me eat this whole bunny in 10 minutes?"

My girls love chocolate!!!

Marvin thought his bunny was too "purty" to eat and then he promptly ripped his little fabric bow off and laughed.

It looks like Jesse is kissing his bunny but he isn't. Well maybe he was because after this picture was taken he bit a good amount of his bunny ears off.

MY GLASSES

I occasionally wear glasses. I don't need them all the time. They are great for watching television, looking at something in dim light and when I am driving. I have prescription sunglasses I wear almost all the time.

A few weeks ago Blake and I watched a movie and afterwards I placed my glasses on my nightstand. I try to keep them in the car and I looked for them the next day. They were missing from the nightstand.

I automatically assumed I had put them somewhere else even though I KNEW I left them there.

My glasses have been gone since. I have searched all over our bedroom, the office, the kitchen, the car. My glasses were nowhere to be found. I have wondered about it but didn't have a clue where else to look.

Today I was cleaning around Anabeli's room and guess what? I found in the closet: candy she is not supposed to have, some of Ann's jewelry and my glasses.

Of course I called her into the room and asked her why these things were in her room. "I don't know."

I explained the candy was not hers. "I sorry."

I explained Ann's jewelry was not to be played in and she was not even to be in Ann's room, especially after the "Fruity Pebbles" spill all over the floor in January. "I sorry"

I explained I had told her never to touch my glasses and it was true she had touched them . "No mommy I didn't touched them, I wored them."

It is so hard to keep a straight face sometimes. So we returned Ann's jewelry, threw away the candy and I took my glasses with me.

If you look closely you see smudged fingerprints. How do you smudge without touching? :)

I AM IN HEAVEN

Oh I am so happy.
I found a new cleaning person. She is doing such a great job. Nothing could make me happier. She is getting all those cute little fingerprints off the walls, finding all those lost game pieces and all around scrubbing my house top to bottom.
I am thrilled because it has been hard for me to find someone to clean around here. Our little town doesn't have too many cleaning people.
My new lady is not only extremely good, she is pleasant to me and the kids, doesn't have a list of "I don't do this" and is a very interesting, seemingly normal person. Sure beats the lady a few years ago who stole from us.
So we are getting everything done. It is wonderful because my nesting has hit hard and it has been hard to feel like cleaning with such a miserable cold.

Second reason I am happy may be jumping the gun a bit but I hope not. I have a pending charge on my credit card that might be Jake's second DNA test. I really hope so. It is a new charge and I haven't used the card since our out-of-PGN-must-buy-clothing stage.

I will post as soon as I know. I am exhausted and heading off to bed. Tonight though is a good exhaustion. My house is looking good and I can sleep knowing every room and closet will be in tip top shape before Jake comes home.

LONG LONG WEEK

This has been such a long week (well actually 10 days) and we are all feeling the effects.

Towards the end of last week, Anabeli came down with a cold. By Sunday, Marvin also had a cold. We didn't make it to church because they were coughing so hard. I didn't want to be the parent everyone was upset with because they brought the sick child to church.

We stayed home. By 10:30 I had a cold. This one IS bad. The kids have snotty noses still and mild cold but man I am misesrable.

I have borderline laryngitis, mild fever, sore throat full of white spots, ear infections in both ears and huge neck nodes. I have been on anitbiotics for a few days and NOTHING is better.

This is four rounds of antibitotics for me this winter. A new record for even me.

Blake got sick on Wednesday night and has a sore throat and cough. He is on medication. Today Jesse developed a cold and we suspect it will go the same way.

This afternoon, Jesse, Ann, Anabeli, Marvin and myself all took a two hour nap on our bed. It is a king size bed but come on.... How many people can really sleep on it? Obviously since we were out for two hours it didn't bother us.

Tonight though my Jay Bird and I hare hitting the town with the two little ones. We are going out to Applebees (his favorite place). Then over to Wal Mart. Why??? I don't know he just asked to go.

Blake is visiting his parents. Sam went to an indoor arena football game with a friend. Ann is watching "prom Night" with two girlfriends.

I am thrilled to be off with my big guy. It has been a few months since it was just Jesse and me. So off we go. :) :)

MY SWEET GUY

Today we were hanging out doing basic household junk and Marvin asked me again how I became his mom.
I said, "God chose my to be your mommy and Anabeli's mommy and Jake's mommy. God chose you to be a K."
He said, "No mommy I picked you to be my mommy. I said, "Nina, I think she will be a good mommy and Nina said "OK Marvin."
So I said why did you pick me? "Cause your a good mommy and purty too."
That is so sweet. I just wanted to cry. How can that little guy be as lovable as he is???
He really believes when he was in "Guatmalama" he "picked me" and even check with Anabeli to make sure it was ok with her. Interesting since they were far apart and she was only two months old when he came home.
Extra grape juice all around!!!! I am such a push over.

We have runny noses, headaches and lots of coughs. Hopefully I will get everything wiped up and be able to post the rest of the pictures that are just sitting on my camera.

Tonight I had to work. Not that it matters to me. Is it possible to get fired from a job you don't get paid for, you didn't really want to do OR care to do? If only I could get fired. I have now tried for 17 years. :)
They have been known to tell me I am fired when I am at the office but before I leave they ALWAYS give me more work. P.S. I think they really do like me. :P

GUPPIES AND WHALES

We were running errands today and as I was putting Marvin into the car he told me he wanted to be a guppy. I asked why a guppy?

"Because they are cute little fish and I doesn't want to be a big fish. Guppies are cool fishes."
As I am putting Bell Bell in the car she said, " I want to be a whale. "

Why? "Cause I like whales. They are big. (Big Smile here) They eat guppies. ( gotta love this girl)"

Marvin then screamed, "Mommy don't let her eat me. "

You know what I want to be? A size 2 good body including a perky chest with an umbrella drink in my hand watching my guppy and whale playing in the sand....

MONDAY RANT

I dislike Mondays with a passion. It is not because of the new week beginning. It is not because I already have 200 things on my "extra" to do list for the week. It is not because we stayed up too late all weekend and I am tired.
It is because I am responsible for taking Sam to school. Blake takes him almost every day except Mondays because he works at a hospital 30 minutes away and needs to leave earlier than Sam.
We had the usual, "My stomach hurts. My head hurts. I don't feel good. I think I should stay home today." My answer is always the same, "No You are fine. Get moving."
It is a huge hassle getting him out the door but most days when he leaves I don't hear him complain all the way to school.
Today I had both little ones in the car and Sam was walking out and hit his head ever so lightly on the door. Of course that meant a trip to dad to see if his eye might be hurt.
Here's the deal. Unless it is hanging out of the socket you are going to school. So naturally he doesn't want to tell me. That made us about three minutes later than usual.
School is the one thing I am on time for, most of the time. To make it worse if you don't get to the drop off line before 8:50 you get caught in the line and it moves really slow. Well thanks to Sam we were caught in the line. Which makes me listen even more to his whines about how I could just go on through the lines and he could "try again tomorrow."
TRY WHAT TOMORROW??? You are required by law to go to school. You can't pick and choose your days. You don't have an option and you sure can't just try and get there tomorrow.
I was so happy when I kissed his little head said "have a nice day," unlocked his door and all but pushed him out!
Give me a break! Next year he is in middle school and Ann will drop him off and then she and Jesse will go on to high school. She will just LOVE his complaining and whining. Ann is NOT a morning person; never has been, never will be. She is like her dad. She would rather stay up all night and get up late. This will be interesting.
On a lighter note, Blake has these word of the day calendars he reads every day. I think he has two. He brought one in to me today for the word of the day.

MORASS- noun. 1- marsh, swamp 2- something that traps, confuses or impedes.

Sentence: For Diane and Oscar, trying to adopt a baby meant getting lost in a morass of paperwork, but they knew it would be well worth it in the long run.

Boy have I been there.

I miss my baby boy. Hurry Jake and come home soon.

OFF TO FINISH UP

We are off to Columbus today to finish up on a few things we still need to Jake. It shouldn't take long and then we are going to Dick's Sporting Goods.
This is the best sporting goods store around.
Sam has decided to play baseball. This will be his first time playing. We need to buy supplies for that too.
M and A are excited about going to Target. I am not sure why but they like to just walk around in the store.
Tonight I will try and post pictures from our trip to Indy.

COLORING EASTER EGGS

READY TO START!

We love to color Easter eggs. We always wait until Saturday before Easter. This year we colored two dozen and they ate all but 5 that night!!!

Choosing what to egg to eat next. They don't usually even dry all the way before they peel and eat.

Peeling the egg.

Jesse was tired from hanging out with friends all night but he was more than willing to help color and eat eggs.

Sam acting silly.

DADDY'S BIG GUY

When Blake is home (not often enough) he likes to read the paper at the table. Marvin was looking at the paper a few nights ago and he looks just like his daddy.

When I said "What are you reading about?" He looks at me confused and says, "I don't know mommy I can't read."

He is so sweet.

I AM NOW A THIEF

It has taken me forever to get caught up enough to sit and post. I have lots of pictures from Easter, our trip to Indianapolis and other things.

Right now I am sitting here stewing. I am now a thief. Just another thing to add to my resume.
I have this junky little cord that hooks from my camera to my computer. It came with the camera and it is easy to use when it works. So we had two when we bought cameras. I promptly lost one within a week or two.

Don't ask me how or where but it is gone and has been for a year. So that left one that I guarded with my life. Only Ann and I download pictures so when I couldn't find it I asked her. She hasn't downloaded pictures since January. So I lost number two. I have turned my office head over heels and I can't find it.

I wanted so much to cry and then I remembered Blake bought a new camera last year and I knew where he put his cord. He hid it when I lost cord #1. So while he was busy tonight I stole it out of his nightstand. I just hope and pray I don't lose it or I am DEAD. I was told to leave it in the box. (I listen so well) Hopefully I will find mine real soon. My rationale is he never uses it so why can't I? See all criminals can justify what they have done. :)

So anyway I wanted to update tonight and hopefully download pictures tomorrow.

I found a "new" favorite song. I am sure it is older but I was listening to the Christian station on the car radio last week and they played Casting Crowns "East to West". I think it has to be the best song for my life right now.

For those of you who don't know it, it talks about how are sins are cast as far as east is to west and asks how far that is.

My favorite part: "Jesus can you show me just how far the east is from the west cause I can't bare to see the man I have been rising up in me again. In the arms of your mercy I find rest. You know just how far the east is from the west. From one scarred hand to the other."

Jesus scarred his hands for us to be free. The east from the west is so far away until you realize Jesus bridged that gap when he died for us. His death and resurrection allows us to cast our sins in the sea and they are forgiven. He doesn't use them against us. Once we ask for forgiveness they are forgotten.

The reason this holds so true for me is I have held a grudge for a while against someone. Now the person would never guess. I am friendly and all but I couldn't forget something that happened a few years back.

This song though has reminded me that I have to forgive just as God has forgiven me. How can I not forgive but expect God to forgive me? I can honestly say I have forgiven. No longer will I hide bitter feelings in my heart because they are gone. I am required to forgive as God has forgiven me and believe it or not it is a wonderful feeling tonight as I have taken yet another painful blistering sore and began to let it heal.

God's life for us is so good!

Matthew 6:14-15 " For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive me their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."