We Finally Did It

On October 6th, it will be 28 months since we were logged-in to China. That is a LONG pregnancy! Last night, we finally made the jump to the special needs program! I submitted our application. Richard looked at me in church yesterday and said, "We need to go on and get that application in". I looked at him like he was crazy because he said it so matter-of-fact. Of course, I started crying and submitted the application as soon as I could, just in case he might change his mind! I can't wait to see how all this plays out! Pray that we have wisdom and direction to be able to make the right decisions.

The Good Ol' Days

I know I have been non-existent in the blogosphere, and I don't even have a good reason. I've just been lazy. We've been settling into our school routine of homework and more homework. I'm also about to take over a 2nd grade class for a teacher who is about to go on maternity leave. I'm actually pretty excited about it. It's perfect timing because I will be finished sometime before Christmas and that means before baseball season, which is when things get really crazy around our house.

I have made a new rule that the boys are not allowed to watch tv during the school week. It is amazing how much more time it gives us during the week. I mean, really, how many times can the same episode of Z%ch and Cody be so intriguing?!?!?! In the absence of regular tv, I decided to pull out our old home videos. It was a complete miracle that these movies survived our fire a few years ago. They were all together in a shoebox, in a dresser drawer. That is the ONLY reason I still have them today. What a blessing! I recently had them all transferred to DVDs, but we have never watched them. The boys are mesmerized by them, and so am I. So far, we've watched Bryce's first t-ball game, Cade learning to jump at about 18 months, and Braden's preschool Thanksgiving feast. Of course, these events were surrounded by all sorts of misc. clips of little boys acting crazy. A few things really struck me as we watched them:

1. I really loved my little house that I brought those babies home to.
2. I am still really sad that we lost that house in the fire. (Not that we would be living there...it was tiny!)
3. I miss those preschool years. My boys have grown up WAY too fast.
4. It is amazing how you can see their personalities when they are so young.
5. My boys were really super cute babies ;)
6. They very rarely wore clothes! I swear, in 80% of the videos, they are in just diapers or underwear and sleep t-shirts. It got worse the more of them I had!

The first night we watched them, I went to bed crying. They made me so happy and so sad all at the same time. It was so much fun to see them as babies, but so sad that they are growing so quickly. It also made me long for the days when we lived in that little house. When the boys and I just hung out at home. Don't get me wrong, I know this is tunnel vision. I haven't completely forgotten how exhausting and demanding those little suckers were and how many times I had to lock myself in my closet for a minute of peace on the phone ;) But if I'm going to reminisce, I might as well remember the "good ol' days".

We have only made it through a couple of the videos and we all can't wait to see the rest! It makes me motivated to get the video camera out more often, just to catch the everyday crazy life at out house. One day all too soon, those will just be memories too.

So, since I'm reminiscing...I thought I'd share a few pics of my boys...taken, it seems, just yesterday.

And, of course, there had to be one to snap me back into reality!!! Oh yes...the good ol' days!

Braden Turns 11!

Friday, Braden turned 11 years old. It is always a mystery as to where we'll actually be on Braden's birthday. More than once, we have been evacuated because of a hurricane! 4 years ago, our house burned down the night before his 7th birthday!! It is almost a joke now. Thankfully, this year, we celebrated his special day without incident!!

I have not been a good blogger lately. I need to step it up. Cade starts football in a week, so there will be some fun things to take pics of. Today, Cade is sick with a stomach virus. We've been up since early in the morning in the bathroom :( I'm just hoping it doesn't spread.