Let's Play Ball!

It's here! It's finally here. The season where all life seems to cease and I pretty much live in my office and the car. Angel's team this year is 'THE GIANTS'. That will be easy to show support for because we have lots of Giants gear to wear to the games. Alliah's team is THE DIAMOND GIRLS. Now with this? I don't have enough diamonds to show enough support for my daughter *hint, hint Larry* No...just kidding, I sorta' do! LOL So the difficulties began after both Angel and Alliah's team meetings. Angel has practice Mondays and Wednesdays. Alliah's is Wednesdays and Fridays. The Wednesday practices are at the same time, but on opposite ends of the city. If Larry's not working then we have no problem. But if he is? One kid will be dropped off early and the other will be picked up late. To top it off, Angel and Alliah have Awanas on Wednesdays. I don't know when those kids are gonna have time to eat! As for me and Gracie...we will be playing taxi for sure. I know I've seen a bumper sticker around somewhere that read, "Mom's Taxi." I'll just add, "she pays so her kids can play." Hmmm....maybe I'll tattoo that on my kids arms so they can be more grateful for what we're doing for them! Uh, not.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

I woke up so thankful for my family this morning. Like I shared yesterday, we're having a really tough time right now and my family has surrounded us with love and concern, making us feel so loved and supported. Yesterday, I just called my mom to 'check in', seeing how her day was. Before I knew it, she and dad were coming over and offered to bring dinner. After watching kids all day long and dad working all day, too, they both came as fast as they could and just sat with us, watching tv, playing with Gracie. We didn't really do much of anything, but they were there. My sisters call/text/facebook (LOL) letting me know how much I'm loved, saying they're praying for us. I may be able to share what's going on in tomorrow's entry, but for now there are details still unknown, so I simply ask for you to pray for us. We need strength, peace and assurance that "this too will pass." So, thank you Lord for my family. When you created me, you knew exactly the family I would fit into and need. And for me, my family is perfect.

Prayers

Hey all. For those of you who read this blog regularly I'm asking for your prayers. I don't feel like going into detail, but I need the Lord to touch my heart, my mind, my spirit, my body. Going through a tough time right now and I could use all the prayers I can get. I need the joy of the Lord to be my strength. I need His peace, which passes all understanding. I need my mind and my heart guarded and protected. I just need Jesus right now.

Winter Cleaning

Yesterday was a momentuous day! You all know that we moved into a new house last November. Well, I'm sure you can relate when I say that even after putting all of our stuff in the new house, there were still boxes left unpacked filled with MORE stuff that needed to be put away. Now I'm not one to hang on to junk. I have absolutely no problem throwing un-necessary items away. My kids don't like this fact at all. Niether does Larry. I was hoping that most of the junk could be thrown away, given away or recycled, but I had Larry and Alliah to help me. The two hoarders. Those two like to keep every piece of paper, every little thing that they "might" need later on. I don't know how many times I said, "No, we don't need that...THROW it AWAY!" All afternoon I heard, "Aw...we need to keep this" and "Ohhhh, look....we gotta put this away." Nope. My theory is that if we haven't used it in the last year (six months if I could get away with it) then we don't need it. Yes, there are some sentimental things we should keep, but they can go overboard. I'm all for keeping photos and drawings the kids made at school, but rusted out barbecue forks? Toys the kids played with when they were three? A hundred pens? A phone book from 2004? Nevertheless, we got it done. The boxes were all sorted through, and everything that we kept was organized in storage bins and put away. We found clothes that WE USE in boxes that were not unpacked yet. I found all my shoes, my purses, more of Grace's clothes, extra bed sheets and more blankets. You know, the important stuff. I KNEW I had stuff missing! So I sit here so thankful that we got the job done. Next is the front yard. We've got plants to plant, grass to put in....then to our home office. It never ends!!! :D

Meet The Parents

Here's me and baby Isabella *aka Gracie's BFF.* Me and Isabella have a special bond. She calls me "Fish" everytime she sees me because I cross my eyes and make 'fish lips' everytime I kiss her. My mom and dad always say how much she reminds them of me when I was little. They say she has my looks, but my brothers 'tude LOL


This pic of Larry and Grace makes my heart skip a beat everytime I see it. Grace LOVES her Daddy and, let me tell YOU, her Daddy loves her back. I love seeing the sparkle in his eyes when Grace does something that amazes him (which is quite often). They are buddies. They are definitely in love :D

My Angel

Baseball season has arrived! A friend of our has a sign in her house that reads, "LIFE STOPS FOR BASEBALL." That has become our family mantra as well. Angel is an excellent ball player. We're hoping that will be his ticket to college!


So this morning I came downstairs to find my son looking like a teenager. This is totally unusual for Angel. The boy doesn't like to brush his hair. *Hmmm...what's going on here?* Anyways, I grabbed my phone and snapped this pic of him.


Here's the front view of the new hair-do. I was blown away when I saw my son standing in the kitchen. Did he have to use a blow-dryer? There's lots of gel going on, and I THINK hairspray. He's 10-1/2 and growing!

Alliah My Love

Everytime we go visit Larry's family in Fresno, Alliah and Diane are always being compared to one another. They do look alike, and they even have the same temperament. They are both super athletic and don't give up on anything easily. Being like her Tia Diane is a good thing.


Here, Alliah sits with her cousin Alexis at Dennis the Menace Park. These two girls definitely know how to have a good time together.


And here is a picture showing just how beautiful my Alliah is becoming. Each day it seems like a little piece of baby face is gone. She's becoming so charming and is growing more and more lovely each day.


Alliah loves walks. She loves anything to do outdoors. Here we stopped for a rest on our walk around our neighborhood. There are lots of trails and Alliah loves that we haven't discovered all of them quite yet.

Gracie Girl

Party Time! Here we were celebrating Isaiah's 2nd Birthday. It was a "Yo Gabba Gabba" party and was so much fun! Grace enjoyed all the refreshments, along with gal pal, Lucia.


I couldn't help but capture this pic of Grace. This morning was the first time she turned and smiled when I said, "Say Cheese!" She didn't say it, but she sure knew what it meant!


Thanks Old Navy! We went to Old Navy to get the kids some shoes. We saw a sign in window that said, "SHOES $10 SALE!" and the tires on my truck came to a screeching halt. In our "browsing" me and Larry found these shades - in my baby section mind you. Again, we couldn't help ourselves and HAD to try them on Grace. She loved them. Doesn't she look adorable?!

Nicole's Little Men

BABY ELI
My baby sister Nicole has two adorable sons. This is Elijah. He is my big ol' teddy bear. I call him Papa Joe because he looks so much like Corwin's dad, Joe. This little boy is the sweetest thing. He is so loveable and you just wanna sqeeeeze him every time you see him. He has most most adorable laugh and loves to cuddle. And you should see him jump! White men CAN'T jump compared to this little guy. He has a special piece of my heart reserved just for him.

ISAIAH
And this is my Isaiah. Yes, I said MY Isaiah. This boy stole my heart the minute I saw him. He is one of my favorite play partners in the whole world. He is 2 years old now and can talk a mile a minute. He repeats everything he hears and is smart as a whip. I can't help but smile, even now, as I think of him. He is sunshine on a cloudy day. And when he's not that into you, he'll let you know. But give him about 5 minutes and he's all over you with his ooey-gooey love. Such a sweetheart!

Adoption Postponed

Larry and I went out to breakfast this morning. We found this little diner called 'The Nifty Fifty.' It's a retro little place that plays 50's music and, better yet, their prices might was well be out of a menu from the 50's. Good food, great price. So, there we sat. Enjoying coffee, awaiting our pancakes, eggs, and bacon...oh so good. While we were waiting for our food I decided to check my voicemail. And there it was. Our social worker called and said there had been some mix up on the finalization paperwork we signed on January 21st. Apparantly, another "somebody" was supposed to sign the paperwork before we did and our social worker jumped the gun and missed it. Now we have to re-sign it all again and wait another two weeks for the new papers to process. I cried when I heard the message. My heart was so set on being DONE! I told almost everyone in the whole entire world, only to follow up by SMS and facebook that the date has been changed. Urgggh! It is so frustrating. What made it worse was that I received a phone call on Tuesday confirming our court date on Thursday. I had planned a family portrait sitting for Thursday afternoon, wrote the kids' teachers so they would be excused from school...yes, frustrating! Larry was my rock this morning. He kept assuring me the adoption IS going through, just a few days longer. I was so glad he was with me when I listened to that message. I was even MORE glad when our social worker called me back. I didn't want to talk to her. He spoke to her and handled the whole ordeal quite nicely. And our poor waitress! I was in such a good mood when we arrived at the restaurant. I was looking forward to my breakfast and a good day at work, full of smiles. Then she comes to refill my coffee and I'm in tears! She just patted my back and said, "Have some more coffee." We finished breakfast, with me breaking down every 15 minutes or so. So, here I am...sitting in my office...waiting still. God must be trying to teach me a lesson. I must need to learn something through all this waiting. Patience? Trust? More patience? Whatever the lesson, God help me to learn so this all can be overwith. I trust you God.