I've been busy

I can tell it is almost summer because we've been soo busy!

Here is a little of what we've been up to:

planting, watering and admiring all our flowers/plants

 Just attended the MentorKids Kentucky banquet (where I used to work) It was weird to have NO kids with us.  Check out the ministry that God is using in Owensboro at MKK.

We got to go visit our sweet friend and her twins. 

Yes, she has two of these precious noggins to kiss!

 

My friend Rachel has been baking entirely to much at my house lately, resulting in gaining 5 lbs to my already post-baby hips.  thanks Rach and Liv : )

but seriously, this stuff is awesome!

Chex cereal, white almond bark, powder sugar, yellow cake mix & pink sprinkles for good measure : )

 enjoying family dinners

ahh...eating lots of this...soo yummy!  Nina made this for my birthday, white choc. strawberry cake roll!

 

I finally started back to my first photo shoots since having Liv.

And no, I haven't removed my Jototes tag yet...I can't. 

It's just as cute as the bag! : )

 Speaking of Livingston, here she is playing with her Nana.

She really is a cutie pie!

We've also been playing lots....teaching these kids what it's like to grow up in the country!

Aren't they the cutest little farmers?!?!? 

Trying to fight the most horrible of enemies...THRUSH.

Seriously, it's the bane of my existence and I pray we are almost through with it forever. 

I'm tired of this medicine, abnormal feedings for Liv, washing bras/sleep nursing tanks everyday and boiling pacifiers. BOO for thrush!

 We are trying to cram as many play dates with our good friends before they move this summer.

It's going to be hard, but we've survived living in separate towns before! 

 Feeling loved and blessed by all my special gifts/celebrations for my 31st year.

This was a tea cup picked out by my the Man and the kids (well two of the kids).

I think God knew new mothers needed rest. No matter how quick I'd like to be moving all day long...there are rest breaks built in every three hours (at least...sometimes sooner) nursing this sweet baby. It's so good to have to sit down and enjoy all her fresh newborness that is quickly waring away.

 

Again, I just enjoy being with my family and being outdoors.

We've done that as much as we possibly can in the last several weeks.

 Living up flip flop weather. But sadly, these little ladies need to be reduced to around the yard flip flops. They've been muddy from planting, semi-spray painted green when I painted our old patio furniture and stretched out from too much use. 

Good bye old friends.

Hmm...now which black flip flops will accompany me for the next summer or two?

Thankfully, due to having God's Word on my phone and the Lord helping me find spare minutes here and there...I've also been spending much needed time with Him.

And I needed it for sure.

I hate to complain but I've noticed being this busy has kicked my booty the last few days.

I'm falling asleep doing things....reading, blogging or working on a project. 

Hopefully, I'll catch up to this new pace and bounce back quickly.

I have some new projects I've been working on. 

My first....

This was, my first. The very first time I received a card on this day from my husband. The first time I woke wondering about the baby in the room across the hall. The first time on this day that I jumped out of bed to go mix up a bottle and hurry into the room to peak over the crib. The first time that I would snuggle a sweet babe in my arms and for at least this day...mother a child. Feed him, love him and treat him as my own on this very special day.

Yes, this was my first Mother's Day as a Foster Parent.

And we were doing respite care.

We were helping another Foster family out by watching sweet Baby "D",

an adorable 5 mo. old baby boy. And of all weekends to start with our very first foster placement, it was Mother's Day weekend. We absolutely loved this sweet guy and couldn't believe how easily he transitioned into our home since we never had met him even before this weekend. He was sweet, flexible and everything we hope our "longer term" placement to be! He even sleeps through the night.

There are many moments I'll remember from that weekend, but one will stand out to me as long as I live. You see Baby "D" was such a pleasant baby... really, he was always happy. Unless, he was unhappy and I mean UNHAPPY! He would go from nothing to 60 miles an hour with his emotions. He didn't really cry, he screamed. Well, we had a great morning Sunday and got all ready to attend church at Scott's mom and grandmother's church. It started later than ours so we got to relax and hang with Baby "D". I didn't want to put him in a nursery of EVEN MORE people he didn't know. He listened to the worship songs and fell fast asleep before the pastor got up to preach. I was a nervous wreck he'd wake up screaming (that is when he mostly did it). But he didn't he slept the entire service. As they played the invitation song, I started to become emotional. All I could think about is how I loved the feeling of this sweet sleeping child in my arms and how even more must his own mother love & miss him. She should be holding him on Mother's Day, but something (most likely sin...hers or anothers) kept her from her beautiful son on the day celebrating their relationship. I felt defeated and sad.

but then I heard more deeply the words being sang....

Victorious one, in you I stand.

then a few more verses..... and then the chorus:

Jesus, you are love

JESUS, YOU ARE RIGHTEOUSNESS

JESUS, YOU ARE LIGHT

JESUS, YOU ARE HOLINESS

AND YOU ARE MINE.

I don't have to feel defeated because GOD is VICTORIOUS over every sweet child in this world and I don't have to feel sad because WE HAVE HOPE.

I have hope.

Baby "D"'s mom can have HOPE because Jesus is our righteousness, he is our holiness and he is our love. All we need is HIM!!!

The last thing that put me over the edge (well my tears over the edge) was a Special Needs woman who was down at the altar praying. A woman sitting in a different part of the congregation from where this woman had gotten up from rose and met her there. She put her arm around her and the Special Needs woman in childlike love laid her head on the woman's shoulder. They prayed for several minutes like this and the tears just poured out.

That to me was a clear picture of what Jesus meant when He said " Feed my sheep."...at least part of it. What can we do to feed His sheep? Who can we help? Who can go to so they have a shoulder to lay their head? Who can we mother besides our own biological children?

Since it is still National Foster Month, I want to again ask you to pray about how you can help in this huge NEED in our communities.

Oh how I long to share Baby "D"'s sweet, adorable face. But alas, that is the Foster curse for a Photographer Foster Mommy like me. I will share this most special picture because no one could ever tell who this child is...

The Man snapped this picture of this most precious site. I think I will always cherish this photo. It symbolizes the first time I celebrated Mother's Day...not just to honor my amazing mother or my fabulous MIL or the grandmothers who have taught me so much, or my sisters who are wonderful mothers or all my great mother friends, but because it will remind me of one small child I got to mother for one weekend.

Hoping you all had an amazing moments like this one.

Go SEE it!

I almost left this post as just this: the photo and the title to go see it. But I couldn't do that...well, because I like to talk and share my opinion way too much! : )

This movie was most everything I hoped it was! My friend knows the real family and shared how they were a Godly couple. I wish the movie shared more about spiritually how their faith impacted their decision to adopt this boy into their family and how that impacted their faith. But it was still a GREAT movie. It's obviously, for teens and up only. It has some language and very graphic scenes regarding drugs/violence. Coming from a work environment that spreads light into the local "inner city" kids fostered my excitement for this film. I was soo thrilled that it put a positive light on caring for the fatherless! I know God will use it to spark Christians to think about the deserted, abandoned, and needy children right here in our little town.

Scott and I sat at Beef O'Brady's after the movie debriefing everything about it. I said this definitely might make some people think about fostering, mentoring, and even adoption. He said he hoped it actually does. We talked about how we are so moved by compelling stories like this one...but only moved to talk about it. Not moved enough to actually ACT. We NEED the church to ACTIVELY pursue the fatherless in whatever ways they can. Here are a few ways we can reach out and lift up the fatherless:

Adopt

Mentor

Coach

Foster

Lead a Scout Group

Volunteer at a local Youth Center

Get to know Fatherless families

Invite and help Fatherless families to get involved in church

love your neighbor

Support churches and ministries that support the Fatherless

SPEAK up for them (share awareness and encourage others to get involved)

Open your mouth for the mute, For the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9