Quote of the Day

 

 

Just another day in my life. This girl cracks me up. Daily.

Just Because

I don't always cook breakfast, but on this day it just seemed like we all needed a little extra love.

Super Saturday

The deck is finished and it is awesome! I can hardly wait to plant flowers in the planters, eat out on the patio and have our first birthday party out there! Saturday the weather was beautiful and we cleaned up a flowerbed in the back yard and decided to tackle the shed! We've lived in this house for 15 years and we've never cleaned out the shed. Seriously. It was a great day to have a burn pile! I'm so thankful for Saturdays in the yard and our house on the lane.

Kindness Matters

I'm tickled for Sheridan. She doesn't really like much about school. She doesn't have a favorite subject and has to think hard for a highlight each day. She isn't challenged by her school work, but does love to read. I wasn't surprised that she made the HONOR ROLL with all As the first semester, and I knew she had gotten a citizenship award for the first and second semester. HOWEVER what we didn't know was about 10 kids in her grade were chosen to receive a special character award.

Recently, one of our local National Guard members won a huge military award that was awarded for many things, but mostly his character. Sheridan and her other classmates were nominated by their teacher and at the award assembly their teacher told why they were receiving the special medal. Mrs Thomas said she always was helping others, not just on big things, but on small things too. I'm happy for her report card being filled with As but I'm super thankful for her character. She's not nearly as gregarious as myother three were at this age. I'm so thankful that she is making good decisions at school and with her classmates. A's will be forgotten, character will not.

 

Finishing touches

 

The weather has been crazy here this week, Tuesday it was 70 degrees, today it was 30 degrees. I'm so thankful for some nice guys who are building our deck. It's close to being the last step of our addition and I'm pretty excited about it.

We've added a lot of seating with benches instead of railings, and some planters...it looks like a real deck, not so much like a mass produced deck. It's fun thinking about boys enjoying our back yard. Rolle is going to be so happy to not be tied up in the back yard, and there is enough yard for running, jumping and climbing. My big kids spent hours everyday in the yard when they were younger and it's one of the biggest reasons we bought this house and have decided to stay here.We're blessed, and I love sharing our house with family and friends.

Paperwork

Lynda from the Resources office has our file! She was awesome on the phone last Monday and sent us a packet of papers to fill out. There were A LOT and we got them filled out, signed and notarized. They arrrived on Thursday and I mailed them back on Friday. Monday was a holiday, so I was hoping to hear from her by now, but I'll call tomorrow to make sure they arrived on her desk this week.

 

I Love Sunday School

Yeah, I'm a church kid that is grown up and I like Sunday School. This is my first time to teach a children's Sunday School class full time. I partner with another lady and it's been nothing but a blessing since the beginning of August. I love that my 2nd graders sit in those little chairs, listen to the story and want to make crafts that remind us of a Bible point. At our church we call Sunday School LCBS, Life Changing Bible Study. I don't know if these kids realize that fact yet, but they are hearing the Truth, every week. I don't know why parents would ever keep a child from the purity of a children's Sunday School class.

We are studying the New Testament and the life of Jesus since Christmas. Last week we read about His first miracle. After we let them tell us how to prepare for a party, I brought out party supplies and some cupcakes. There were only 3 cupcakes. We had 7 kids there. While they were figuring out who was going to get one...we told the story of the party that ran out of wine. The Bible said that Jesus did the miracle so that the disciples would believe. And then we told them that the Bible is written with truth and stories about Jesus' miracles so that they would believe too. Then, I brought out the rest of the cupcakes.

It's the most awesome thing to see the light go on in a 7 year old's mind and it be the TRUTH. I didn't want to teach this class. I didn't want to be tied to a child's classroom. I've thought I was supposed to be teaching somewhere else. I waited for 2 years for God to make the opportunity for me to be there, but He didn't. It must've never been His plan at all because there is nowhere else on Sunday morning where I am supposed to be.

The Hunt

Erin has been voted on by her school to be a sophomore maid on the Homecoming Court. The event is February 8th and we have been on the hunt for a WHITE formal for one week. White dresses aren't in abundance in January. Prom dresses haven't been shipped to formal stores. We've been looking in wedding dresses...for my 15 year old. It's great that Erin has such a slim shape, she looks good in everything, but we're trying to be a little frugal and not. buy. a. wedding. dress.

We have wonderful friends who have let us try on dresses they have. One was a formal that they wore in a pageant. Ashley has let us try on a dress she wore as homecoming queen (20 years ago). Both dresses fit, but aren't THE ONE. We have taken a HUGE risk and ordered a dress from online...from Shanghai. The timing is going to be tricky. We have a back up ready...a beautiful dress that needs some alterations. We'll set a deadline for the dress we've ordered, and hope the dress is still available that is in Russellville if we need it.

The perfect white formal dress...4 weeks to find...in January. Ahh.

Quote of the Day

"This is so good, my mouth is crying."  ~ Fernando Salazar

One of my favorite things is having the table full for Sunday lunch. Richard hasn't been here for a couple of Sundays, so we haven't had company over for awhile. This Sunday we filled up our table with college kids. Something to remember:  college kids are always thankful for a home-cooked meal and they always clean their plates. (It's good for my confidence)

Fernando is from Mexico, he is a sophomore and we are his host family this school year. He calls us Mom and Dad and we know it's a compliment because he loves and misses his family very much.

Waiting

Last Thursday: Had a great conversation with a nice lady in Resources. Our file had been delivered to another county where they will be the ones to re-open our home. She told me we would definitely have to re-do our fingerprints and that we would have to drive to Booneville so they would be sent quickly to their office and help expedite the process. She was sending my phone number and our information to Judy, who is the finger print lady in her office. She wasn't sure if our case would be hers or someone elses' but I tried to convince her not to let our file end up being a dead file and that we were ready to move on this and place some boys out of the system into a home. She was precious, assured me she would be on it and Judy would call me by the end of the day. But so far, no call.

Back to School

After a 4 week break, Christmas, skiing, Student Mobilization Christmas conference and a birthday, Ryan had to go back to school today. We all went to Fayetteville on Saturday and took in a Razorback basketball game. He had media guide pictures on Sunday afternoon and catching up with friends. Last night around 9:00 he called and was having a hard time. The boy loves his family and homesickness had hit. You know, he's 19 years old and he loves his family. I told him it was what we really wanted for him, to love his family and to have wonderful thoughts of home. It's fairly odd that a 19 year old would miss his family, but even more so that he would miss our boring home with the same meals, the same routines and all his sisters. We wouldn't want it any other way.

Saw this today...and wish I had been reminded of it when my big three were my little three and the days were so long...

New schedule

Richard flew out this morning and he's in Dallas tonight. He'll fly to Denver tomorrow morning and back on Thursday. God has really blessed him with some great churches and people to work with. We're thankful for a job that inspires and is making a difference in the kingdom.

Downside: he's on the road A LOT! We have to "meet" every once in awhile to compare calendars so I know when he's going to be gone and where. Yesterday when we talked about January there were 19 days out of the month he's going to be gone!  He's always worked, and for the most part, worked long hours, but not being home for dinner is a big change for our family. Not having lunch dates is a big change for me. I need my QUALITY TIME! Makes me wonder how it will work when we bring in the boys.

I read today that thankfulness is the pathway to God. I'm so THANKFUL for his job.

Passion 2013

Praying for Lauren, Dillon, Trey, Aaron P, Campbell, Tyra and others at the Passion Conference today. Live streaming is just not the same, but the teaching is awesome. May lives be DRASTICALLY changed through the teaching, music and gathering of 60000 people praising the Lord.

 

Making Contact

LONG conversation with adoption specialist today. Frustrated that she neither appologized for not remembering our last conversation in November, nor looking into our case at all since then. She also mentioned that her cell phone doesn't work and she hadn't gotten any of our messages. ...

It was a productive call, I waited while she found our file, sent questions via email to her supervisor, and asked her to call me back by the end of the week with news. I tried to convey that we are ready to provide a home for some children who are waiting and we were willing to do what we needed to do if she could get the ball rolling on her side.

Our family will continue our prayers for little boys that need a forever family, that the process will go JUST as God has planned, and that our hearts will be big enough to love any child that He sends to us. I pray for those that work for DHS, for all children who know what DHS is, and foster families who are taking care of children who have been through so much. We will pray until we have an answer from God. GOD IS FAITHFUL.

January 1st

 

Football held no appeal today as the HOGS aren't involved and there is so much to do getting our house ready. Today I painted, moved a desk, moved the china hutch, cleaned glasswear I haven't seen in years...did 3 loads of laundry, vacuumed most of the house, cleaned Sheridan's room, and continued working on emptying our old closet. Putting up this wall decal was the most satisfying thing today...I've seen it there in my mind for a couple months. I love how it looks!

 

We anticipate another home visit or at least some progress in our adoption process in the next week. Our adoption specialist hasn't returned my calls since before Thanksgiving, but tomorrow I have decided to call around her to get some news. Almost 20 months ago we were approved for adoption out of the DHS through The CALL (Children of Arkansas Loved For a Lifetime). The only problem is that we didn't have enough room in our home to bring in a sibling group, much less one more child. Afer 15 months of trying to sell the house, we decided staying in a neighborhood we love would be great and decided to add on. Our additoin is completed, the bunkbeds have been moved to the "boys room" and we're ready to move ahead in the process. This is a God-thing, and we know it won't be a walk in the park. We just KNOW it's what we are to do. I can't wait to see what He has planned for the Rogers in 2013!

We've been the 6 Rogers for awhile now, but now we're ready to become the CRAZY 8!