My baseball dude

Nathan and I went to an exhibition game at Chase Field on Tuesday night. It was the last "spring" game before the season starts for the Dbacks on Friday. The stadium was a ghost field but Nathan was as happy as pie. We ate dinner and sat closer to the field because it was so empty. We saw Ryan Roberts hit a grand slam which he thought was really cool. He was also in such a great, goofy mood that we took a ton of cell phone pictures of him making funny faces. I enjoyed my special time with him.

Again, quality is not great because of it being my cell phone but I still laugh and enjoy the memories!

Super Powers

Shane and I went to a one day seminar today and it was GREAT!!! So very much to take in, put into action and digest with regards to our own children. I especially love the fact that they had 2 books specific to the needs of two of our children. I cannot wait to get those books and find even more 'super powers'. If you ever have a chance to go to one of their seminars or purchase their books I highly recommend it...some very, very helpful, practical information. Praise Jesus for this amazing opportunity!

Short cut? Maybe just a little...

I have been having a little hair burn out these past few fews so I decided to try something that I have not yet tried and see if it was a quicker way to get hair done and a different style. Below are pictures of Hannah's two-stranded twists with purple, yellow and pink butterfly beads. I did attempt to cornrow a sunburst style along the hair line but I think that needs a little more practice.

My overall thoughts are yes, twists are a little easier. They have a "messier" look to them, meaning they by nature, are not clean, crisps and tight like box braids/cornrows, so that is taking a little getting used to by this perfectionist mother. On a much more positive note taking them out is a BREEZE! So changing this style would be much quicker when I am ready next weekend.

4 Year Anniversary

Maybe a little over shadowed but definitely NOT forgotten. On March 17th, 2007 God open the door of our hearts and home and brought to us a sweet little baby. He was small and had the saddest eyes I have ever seen and we snuggled that baby to death. Jacob and Samantha were "in love" almost instantly and it was great to see them give their hearts and time to help care for him. I remember so vividly the email that came to me on the 13th and just how my heart was broken of the story of these three little boys. I was ready to jump and serve in the way I know best...buying diapers, formula, making a meal, etc. Little did I know that our Perfect Savior had much bigger plans for our family. We never went into this adventure thinking that Nathan was going to ours forever, but through the events of the past 4 years that is exactly what He had always planned. And it is because of our openness to take him into our family that God moved in our lives and we jumped head first into foster care...and ultimately led to our adoption of Hannah. WOW, what an amazing few days in 2007 that changed our lives forever! We love this little boy more and more each day...and while we struggle with helping him deal with some challenges we are committed to him and making him a permanent part of our family hopefully by this summer. God will heal his heart and wounds or at least make us more capable to meet his needs as they come along.

Love you dude!!!

His "chessey, almost angry" smile cracks me up...loving being at the baseball game. He has talked non-stop about is for almost a week!

Surgery

Jacob has been blessed with a genetic issue of in-grown toe nails. Believe it or not we knew this as early as him being a couple months old but didn't do anything about it. Well, unfortunately  when I was trimming them I guess I angered them and off to the foot doc we went. Dr. Coffey, who by the way is a great doc, said the procedure is pretty traumatic for kids and prefers to do it a surgery center. We waited until spring break so he wouldn't miss any school and soccer was over. He was so calm and not nervous one bit...so not like his mother. His toes look pretty good today and hopefully he will be walking normally by Monday.

Accessories

What better way to accessorize a a bald head then head band flowers. I spent a good part of today shopping at Michaels and assembling flowers to make these great head bands for my princess. She has worn each one at least once today. She has a piano concert tomorrow so it will be interesting to see which color she chooses. Anyone who knows how to make beautiful bows and wants to teach me I am open for that too. (wink wink)

St. Baldrick's Event

Here are some amazing photographs of the event last night taken by Rilie Norton. These capture the energy of the evening.

http://riliedeephotography.blogspot.com/2011/03/st-baldricks-event.html

Thanks Rilie for some precious memories caught on film.

I stand amazed

I am sitting here, trying to blog about what happened this evening and I find myself struggling with the words to do the moment justice.

We have a wonderful family in our church who organized an event tonight for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, (stbaldricks.org). Last year the Carl's shaved their heads to raise money for this foundation which helps to fight pediatric cancer...and yes, all the Carl's, including one beautiful Hallie...who by the way had long gorgeous hair. She was a huge inspiration to me as I watched her hair grow back and knowing the amazing sacrifice it must have been to let go of her hair. I am not sure, even in this moment I could part with something that to me represents an huge part about being a woman. I have to admit, although it feels a bit prideful that I LOVE being girlie and my hair is a huge part of that. Heck I change its' color regularly just to try things and be adventurous. She is an amazing woman for sure to give all that up to raise money to help kids.

One year late, she organized a local, "shave your head" event right here in Mesa. Not sure how much they ended up raising tonight but they had a goal of $15,000 and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they exceeded that goal. Since Shane has been out of town on business, and it is St. Patrick's Day after all AND the event was held at a local pub I decided to take the kids to show our support and give them a little Irish culture too. The pub was hopping let me tell you. Live music and the most yummy Shepherds Pie...yummmmmm!

This is all of us waiting for our food inside the pub jammin to some Irish music!

Outside on the patio there was a large crowd gathered for this event. I watched men jump in the chairs and get their heads shaved. Then, 3 newlyweds, all females jumped in the chairs. Each of them had long enough hair to donate for Locks of Love. WOW, to watch these young woman, with their parents and spouses supporting them, letting go of their hair...it was hard not to get caught up in the emotion of it all. 

Here are these amazing young women!!!

It was then that Nathan came up to me and asked if he could get his head shaved for the kids. Seriously, this precious 4 yr old must have been feeling the same energy I was. We went to the table and signed up! As soon as Nathan got started, Jacob jumped up and signed up too. I was so proud of my boys!!!

Such a sweet moment to watch your kids do something totally selfless for other kids just like them. We said our goodbyes to some of our friends and walked to the truck, loaded everyone up and I started to pull away. Samantha yelled, "STOP". I said what's wrong and she calmly said, "Mommy, go back, I want to shave my head too. I had Kyla in my kindergarten class last year who had cancer and lost all her hair. I want to shave my head to support Kyla." Ok, ok, how could I not be proud, but I was like, "Honey, are you sure? You just said to me today how much you wanted long hair. This is a big deal...maybe we can think about it for next year." She said, "No Mommy, I want to do this now." I turned the truck around, parked in the fire lane because I was sure she would change her mind once he realized this was for real. Sweet, AMAZING Hallie talked to her and explained what it meant, how long it would take for her hair to grow back and was she really sure she wanted to do this. And for those of you know know my sweet Samantha, she just started jumping up and down, confident in her decision and said "YES!" Ok, this is where the tears start to come to my eyes. She sat right down, had a huge smile on her face and was really mature about the whole thing. Unbelievable! I am so proud of her, my sons...I am overwhelmed with emotion at their willingness to give up the small things like hair to help other kids. These children are pure of heart...not tainted with the evil in this world. They saw a need and didn't hesitate to jump in. They walked proudly around Target and Bashas after the event telling everyone what they had just done. Not sure what I did to deserve these kids but I stand amazed.

She had enough hair to donate for maybe two wigs...she shaved her hair for someone else to have a wig...I am speechless. As soon as we got in the car to leave for real this time they all asked, "Can we do this again next year?" YES!!! (And, maybe just maybe Mommy will join you too)

There were some others taking pictures if I end up with a few of them I will post them as well. Wow, just amazed....

Thank you Lord, for these children. You have taught me an amazing lesson tonight through my children's choices. My heart is full, and I hope yours is too. They are yours...they are following your leading and acting on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and blessing others in the process. Lord, bless them with supportive friends during this time of regrowth and give them confidence to share their story. Amen

Favorite

This is by far my favorite picture sequence from the game. I realize it is blown out from the flash but I love how crazy my kidlets are. I love how they are just kids..having fun and not having a care or worry in the world. They are living in this moment...no worries about what comes next. I could take after them a little more. Blessed by each one of them every day.

Spring Training 2011

Our D-backs opened a brand new spring train facility in Scottsdale this year. Previously they trained in Tucson an we had never made the trip but with them so close we couldn't pass up the opportunity with it being spring break and all. As always the kids had a BLAST. They were a bit on the hyper side which made me have to be intentional about chilling out. (wink, wink) It was beautiful outside in the night air and such a joy to be together as a family. We were 7 rows  up from the field and in fly ball danger zone although we didn't get any hit towards us. We lasted about 6 innings and then it was time to head home with tired kiddos. The babe got to enjoy some one-on-one time with Auntie Carla who only lives about 3 miles from the facility. So, a few pictures and then this tired mama i going to bed.

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Now that's a deal

What happens when you buy a $1.00, boring, even boyish looking overalls at Goodwill? You go to Michaels and buy bright, beautiful daisy appliqués and make them girlie!!! Thanks to this great idea from my mom, I managed to also save my favorite denim dress of Hannah's after she got into some paint and got it on various parts of her dress. She now has a cute floral denim dress too. So for $4.00 I have created a couple of cute summer girl outfits...that's what I call a deal!

SEE

I have been in a whirl of emotions since last night and again today. I just finished ready "Choosing to SEE" by Mary Beth Chapman. It is a beautiful God story of her life with Steven Curtis Chapman, their journey to adoption, the tragic lose of their daughter Maria in May of 2009 and their new "normal" after. I have never read a more amazing story of real life Christian people. I laughed and of course cried through the whole book. I found myself in a bit of envy of the relationship their family has with God and spent some time reflecting on how we can do a better part in ours. I felt like I was reading my life...sort of. I of course am not married to a pop star, although I do think my hubby is pretty amazing. I haven't adopted from China but I can relate almost to well to Mary Beth's struggle with rejection, worthiness, perfectionism and depression. What amazing strength and courage it must have taken to write about such intimate details of their life. Do we or do we not expect our celebrities to live perfectly, show no weakness. I think we do, and here is a woman, bearing her heart and soul to anyone who reads this book. She actually talks openly about her faith and faithlessness at times...how incredible. To see a woman lay it all out there...she has gone through things I would never wish on anyone and is coming out stronger and more righteous. She confronts straight on the lie that Satan tells us and walks faithfully with her Savior. You have to read this book...you have to. While I do not wish tragedy in my life I do hope to walk the path she is walking with my Lord and be able to have a story to share that will bring many to a relationship with God. If I could talk to her right now it would be to say "Thank you...you took what Satan meant for evil, followed God and are turning it into good."

On a side note...I never looked up the meaning of "Hannah" but she included it her book since their first adopted China Princess is Shaohannah. It means..."gift of God's grace." I wept and wept. My God put on our little girls' heart to change her name when we adopted her and picked a name that couldn't be more reflective of His role in her life...rescuing her from abuse, giving her a loving (although at times flawed family), and hopefully bring her into His Kingdom some day. I cannot wait to tell her what He has done for her...my precious gift of God's grace.

Regular Season is done

Jacob finished his last regular season game this morning. He had several amazing passes that went for shots on goal. One of those passes lead to an assist. He has grown leap and bounds in his soccer ability. We are very proud of him. The team has one more tournament next weekend and then we will be re-evaluating our plans for the fall. What ever he chooses I am so very happy he has enjoyed soccer so much and has become a player of integrity.

PS I was another gorgeous morning in AZ...sunny, breezy and in the low 70's...ahhhhhhhh I love spring!!!

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

We got out and enjoyed this mazing AZ weather with our Mom2Mom group yesterday. It was gorgeous!!!

We played at the park...all three were very brave and doing things I haven'y seen them do before.

That IS a powdered sugar smile for sure!