Day 31

So today was a pretty emotional day. I had some events over the weekend that started the emotions a little and then today we had our second meeting for the women's Bible study. Whew! Beth Moore really knows how to dig deep inside and get things stirred up! Although the Bible study is on DVD, today I felt like Beth was sitting in front of me and solely talking to me! Man did she hit the nail on the head! I know now, that God has placed me in this Bible study at this specific time in my life. Wow, God is amazing! He knows exactly what I need and when I need it! He even placed some great friends in my life that were available to me today to make me feel a little better! I was able to spend some time with Jennifer after the Bible study to talk about it some more....Thank you Shane for allowing us to have that much needed time!!!!! It was refreshing. Then I had two other great friends send me text messages to check on me and see how I was doing. I was empowered by the love of Christ and felt His presence in me though my friends. My day just kept getting better. Our friend, "Sisa" took us out to eat Japanese for dinner. Japanese food always makes me feel better! ;) It was great spending time with her and catching up...and of course we had many laughs. Ahhhh laughter! I needed that! Thank you Sisa for dinner and lending your ear! Looking back on the past three days, just amazes me. I truly have some great friends to carry me through the tough times! I am so blessed to have each and everyone of you in my life! I love you all!

Day 30

Today was Mr. Bill's birthday! We went to the Kreiling's house to celebrate with them and have some yummy Cold Stone ice-cream cake.

We are so blessed to be included in the family festivities! 

Day 29

Today we went to see some of our friends play basket ball for Upward. We really enjoyed seeing our friends and spending the day with them. The Kreilings/Nystroms are a very special part of our lives and we are so thankful to have great friends like them!

They boys looked really good playing basketball. I am so proud of what they have achieved this year!

Day 28

Today was a lay around in jammies kind of day. We hung out, watched movies, and worked on our puzzle. Gabriella enjoyed wearing her monkey snuggie that "Sisa" got her for her birthday!

Day 27

Today the house was filled with laughter and giggles of little children all day! That sound never gets old! Gabriella had two little friends over and I had the pleasure of watching Pierce as well. Here, Gabriella is showing him how to play a game on the computer. I cant believe how much the both of them have grown in the past couple of years!

Day 26

If you know me well, you know I LOVE FREE stuff!!! ;) On Wed. I scored this awesome kit for school in the mail for free!  

I got 2 DVDs, a CD, and teacher/student workbooks on Shakespeare! I am super excited and cant wait to start Gabriella on it!!!!

Day 25

Today we made bouncy balls! YAY! Some of them even glow in the dark. It was fun and messy! ;)

Gabriella's hair is a hot mess!!!!! UGH! I really want to cut her bangs, but she is trying to grow them out. So this is what I get to look at all day!

And here are our beautiful bouncy balls! ;)

Day 24

Today the women at Rockfish Church started a new Bible study. I'm really excited about it and cant wait to see what God wants to show me through this. We are doing Fruit of the Spirit by Beth Moore. I love Beth Moore!! We meet in the morning and they have childcare, so Gabriella gets to spend some time with her friends. After we came home I made "fried"/ baked zucchini. It was pretty good, but of course Gabriella would not eat it. Now surprise there!

Day 23

Today we walked into church and this little fellow was hanging from the ceiling. Only in Fayetteville/Fort Bragg!

Day 22

Ok, so it seems that I am a little behind. lol I have been in a funk for the past few days and just didn't feel like updating this. This post is for Saturday. We had a little get together at a friend's house. There were four families there. We just had some good food and good fellowship. All the kids had a blast! Here are some pictures of Jhet Jhet trying to shot me with a marshmallow gun. ;)

Day 21

Talk about a blast from the past!!!! I found these albums in the attic. Two of them are the Beatles with two record a piece in them....kind of like our box sets today. And the other one is John Lennon. I LOVED John Lennon. When Gabriella saw them and I told her that's how we used to listen to music she was in shock! LOL I told her we didn't have ipods or CDs. It is amazing how much technology has changed over the years. Does anyone still have a record player out there? I'm curious to see if these albums still play?

Day 20- part 2

I even painted each little bolt silver. Man, I must have has a lot of patience back then!

Call me crazy, but I was (and still am) very proud of this. Maybe one day I'll take the time to finish it.

Day 20

So as you know, I have been cleaning out the garage and attic. I have come across a lot of things I forgot I had!!!!! One of my favorites was something I started 20 years ago!!! Can you believe that? 20 years? Anyway, I started putting this model truck together. I have always wanted a truck ever since I could remember and at the time, this was as close as I was getting to it! ;) While putting the rear view mirror on, I got glue all over the windshield. This made me sad and discouraged me from ever finishing it. I was all about PERFECTION and the visible glue just ruined it for me.

I painted each and every detail. When I got the kit everything was that teal blue that you see. I guess I have always had a love for crafts, but used it in different ways.

I painted each piece of the motor and glued it all together. I even knew what the parts were! ;)

Day 19

Gabriella woke me up this morning demanding breakfast. She wanted me to fix her pancakes with peanut butter and syrup. Thank you Shane for introducing this to her. The next time she's demanding pancakes early in the morning, I'll have her call YOU! ;) heh heh

Day 18

For the past two days I have been cleaning out the attic and garage, trying to declutter! It has been a long and slow process!!!! I still have a ways to go, but it is starting to look nice! We should be able to start parking in the garage again by the end of this week! Wahoo!!!! Oh how I miss parking in the garage!

Day 17

So I'm a day late posting this....sorry guys! This is harder to keep up with than I thought! ;) Last night was game night at Jennifer's! Thank you Jennifer for opening up your home to us ladies! It is always nice to get out and have some good laughs. We missed you Karina!!!! ;)

Day 16

Just wondering if I'm the only one who still has their Christmas decorations up. Heh heh

Day 15

Gabriella hasn't been feeling well off and on lately. She has been feeling sick to her stomach and having pains in her side. Today she ran a slight fever. We both are a little worried of what the outcome may be. These are some of the same symptoms she had when she was having trouble with her kidney. :( For now we are just keep track of when she is not feeling well and see how it goes. This evening she was feeling worse than usual. My sweet Patty boy must have sensed that she was not feeling well and decided to keep his sissy company for the night. It is very rare for him to sleep in her room.

We are here for a purpose!

If you have ever questioned that you had a purpose or questioned why you went through some rough times in the past, read this poem! It is awesome and has really made me think about why God gave me the birth parents I have and how He sent a loving family to rescue me from that life and to love me for me!

Awesome Poem by Russell Kelfer 

You are who you are for a reason.
You're part of an intricate plan.
You're a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God's special woman or man.


You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You're just what he wanted to make.


The parents you had were the ones he chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom designed with God's plan in mind,
And they bear the Master's seal.


No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into his likeness you'd grow.


You are who you are for a reason,
You've been formed by the Master's rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!

Day 14

We have Pierce tonight!!!! I just LOVE him!!! He has grown into such a sweet little boy!

The sound of little boy laughter is filling the house and it makes my heart smile!!!!

Day 13 part 2

Just wanted to share pictures of Gabriella's new do!

Here Michele has stripped the color out and getting ready to add the purple!

Now that is purple!!!!

Here it is blended in with her hair. I actually like the purple!

Gabriella is rocking it!!!!

Day 13

So yesterday was a very interesting and eventful day! First we went and got Gabriella's hair dyed. Pics of that will be in my next post! Then we rushed to dance followed by a trip to Wendy's with some friends.  The last time we went to Wendy's we found a chicken nugget in the shape of a heart! What a pleasant surprise! This trip.....not so much! First we were waiting for our food and that took FOREVER! While we were waiting we noticed that the ice cream machine was dripping, one plop at a time. It was so funny that i couldn't resist to take a picture! I was pleased with my picture for the day. ;) But the night got even funnier! Who would have thought that you could have so much fun in Wendy's. Heh heh I was then asked if I would like to have regular chicken nuggets since the spicy ones needed to be cooked. Hmmm, let me think about this.....hard, old and crusty chicken nuggets or freshly cooked spicy nuggets? I'll wait please! Then Gabriella's cheeseburger was wrong! She wanted ketchup only and she got mustard only. So I had to take that back. The sandwich maker and the order taker got in a little tiff about that. Dude, just remake the cheeseburger already! I don't care who made the mistake!

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? You cant pull one over on me Wendy's!!!! I am one smart cookie! ;) I found a non spicy chicken nugget at the very bottom! *sad face* Well Jennifer and Shanie obviously don't know me that well! I was "dared" by them to take them back up there and them if there was something wrong with this picture....so I did! ;) But first I had to wait until the mean sandwich maker wasn't up there. She was a good sized woman and I was scared! The order taker was such a trooper! Bless her heart! I took them up there and she giggled and asked if I wanted her to fix me some more. I said no and told her we thought it was humorous because I was offered regular nuggets earlier.

Oh and it gets better folks! I sit down to find that my drink was empty. I was slightly embarrassed and didn't want to go back up there. So Sierra graciously offered to take my cup there and get a refill. I took the lid off and..... there was a bug in my cup!!!!! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?! Since I had already drank the whole thing, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I'll take a new cup please!

We all know how I am about tomatoes!!!! BLECH! Wouldn't you know that Wendy's tried to pull one over on me again!!!!! Didn't I say earlier that I was one smart cookie??? You really cant see it on this picture, but there was a tomato seed on my lettuce!!!!! Not cool!!! SO they just took the tomato off a sandwich that was already made. We were all laughing so hard! Once again we told the nice order taker lady. She again politely smiled and asked to make me another one. by this time I had given up on eating. lol No thank you! Jennifer finds it funny that I don't like tomatoes, and decided to rub her tomato all over her face and saying how good it was. I was about to hurl! Then the manager (a man, might I add) comes over and asks us where we live!!! Really??? Um, yeah. I was like why do you what to know? Come to find out something was wrong with the main waterline and 75% of Fayetteville had no water. He was just trying to let us know...ooops.

It was now time to go. On the way out I found my spicy nugget!!!!! It was on the floor next to another table!!!! It must have ran away when I wasn't looking! Hmmm, I think it will be a while before we visit Wendy's again! ;)

Day 12

Today I made my first loaf of bread!! I got to use all the wonderful things I got for Christmas. I was excited to use my new kitchen tools! ;) It looks a little wonky......

But it sure does taste good!!!! YUMMY!!!!

Day 11

We are ICED in! YUCK! I got bored and made deviled eggs......now I just need to find someone to help me eat all of these! ;)

Day 10

We got more snow!!!!!

And yes, even home schoolers get snow days! ;)

It took a while, but Patty finally went out to play in the snow.

He's getting a little more curious.

Gabriella is getting ready to peg him with a snowball!