The first stop on our vacation!

One of the places we went on our vacation last week was Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati Ohio. We had a great time. The kids had so much fun going down the water slides. It wore me out. Joyona was tall enough to go by herself, but still not ready to. Tra, our oldest boy, was just a couple of inches too short to go by himself, but was able to go with an adult. Elijah, well lets just say that he wasn't tall enough and that was okay with him. This was our first time to this indoor water park and we will definitely be back. It has a slide that is big enough for the entire family. We did all go on it twice and we laughed all the way down at Elijah's expression on his face. I wish I had a picture of that.

This is a slide in the kiddie area. Elijah was not sure about it but liked sitting on the top of the slide and watched his brother and sister go down.

Tra loved this slide the most. It was the fastest of the kid slides and had the most water going down.

Joyona, well she liked these slides second to the big slides. She mostly just had fun playing with her brothers.

In the evening there was a story time with the wolf. The kids loved it. Elijah would not take his eyes off of him to take a picture. He just kept smiling really big at the wolf. It was so cute. The kids are already planning our next trip. It was the perfect time because there was no crowd. Hopefully we can make this a little get away for our family once a year, but we will see. For now, we have the memory of a great time and can't wait to see what is next!

Vacation!

Well the love of my life has taken the week off from work. His vacation started on week ago when he came home from work and will end Tuesday morning when he has to go back. It has been a great and relaxing time for us. We have had little trips here and there and have had a great time enjoying each other and our kids. During the next week I will be sharing some of the stories and pictures with you. I just wanted to take a minute and let you know that I didn't fall off the face of the earth yet again. I have just been busy enjoying my man and my kids. I am looking forward to getting back to my routine next week and finishing up the last stretch of school with my daughter. So, I hope you all have a Great holiday weekend and I will be back to share all the fun details with you next week!

Oh Lord, Be Thou Near To Me...

This is the words to a song I have posted on the right side of my blog. I have never added a song here before so I hope this works :)

Oh Lord I come with heart here open,
For in my hour of darkness I'm in need.
Seeking the joy of love unspoken
Oh Lord be Thou near to me.

And the holy voices “Hallelu!”
Ever will Thy reign be.
As I wander through this life,
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me.

Though In this burden of my making
Yet in the shadows still a light
I see Maker whose love is not forsaking
Oh lord be thou near to me

And the holy voices “Halleluja!”
Ever will Thy reign be.
As I wander through this life,
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me.

I have some things heavy on my heart today and this song really ministered to me. I have not been taking my time with the Lord lately and this is hurting my spiritual walk greatly. Because of this I have been trying to make decisions on my own and cannot do this any longer. I need to get back into worship and fellowship with Him and today this song really ministered to me. Anyway, I am also trying to be more transparent in my life so in doing that I wanted to share this with you my blogger friends. Thanks for taking the time to listen to me share from my heart today.

My oldest son :)

As you know I haven't been on here for a while. Things were just going crazy in my life and I had to get some things under control. Well, I missed some monumental things in my life and I wanted to go back and share some of them with you. The first one is that my oldest son Tra turned 5 on April 26th. He wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friends at Chuck E Cheese. This was his first birthday party outside of the family. He had a blast and I learned a lot about birthday parties. Let me just say that I am glad we don't have them every year. Because family couldn't all be there he ended up having three different parties that weekend. Here are a few pictures of his party weekend.

Tra, you are a special little boy. You were the first baby I ever had and you were a little trooper. You always make me smile and you are very creative. You are a great singer and I love watching you change and grow into the young man that God wants you to be. You love your sister and brother and you are very good at sharing your toys. Tra, I love you and you will always be my little boy.

Organization!

I have decided that we have way too much stuff in our house. We have a small house with 5 people living in it and no room left. I have discovered a new show on television about organization and I love it. One reason I love it is because I see people on there that have way more stuff than I do and their houses are trashed. I am sorry to say that this gives me comfort in that my house isn't really that bad, although it needs much work still. Now, I really like it because it is giving me ideas on how to decorate and organize my home and it is giving me motivation to get rid of things that I have been holding onto for a while and really don't need them anymore. So I am proud to say that I am going through boxes and getting rid of things. This feels really good and I am seeing progress in my house and it is beginning to look good too. Most importantly I am teaching my children how to get rid of things that they don't need and to maintain a clutter free home. Now, I need to get things together to organize my kids closets on a small budget. If you have any ideas please share.

The Best Gift!

I have had a busy sleepless weekend but it has been the best weekend and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Friday night my nephew spent the night and tonight a very special little girl is spending the night. The best part of this is this afternoon they were all in our van and we were headed to my parents to celebrate mothers day. My dad fixed us all dinner and it was great! Steak, baked potato, salad and shrimp. It was the best dinner I have had in a long time, mostly because I didn't have to do anything, but it was really yummy. Anyway, at one point I looked back at all the kids in our maxed out mini-van and they were all playing and having a great time together. This brought a tear to my eye, realizing that the Lord has hand picked each one of my children, and even though I don't know how or when He will reveal all the details of bringing us all together to live in the same home with the same last name we can still be together. Tonight was a great night and I hope every mom has a great day and enjoys their families!

Finally :)

Well I must confess that I am a bit excited for this weekends services at our church. Our pastor is going to talk about adoption and is going to interview a couple who has adopted three girls from China. I am so excited as adoption is so close to my heart. My husband and I started an orphan care ministry there about two years ago and we have wanted to talk about foster care and adoption during a service for a while. God is moving and we now have an opportunity. Our pastor is going to talk about both adopting children and being adopted into the Kingdom. I am so excited as I have been praying for this opportunity for many years now. My prayer is that the people will be ready to receive the message the Lord has for them not only on adopting children or helping orphans, but being adopted into His Kingdom and what that means for them. On a more personal note, I am also excited because all of the details have been worked out with our county and we have been in contact with our Lawyer. All the papers are signed and I am just waiting to hear back from her to get our court date so we can adopt our youngest son. She told me on the phone this past weekend that it would probably be the 3rd or 4th weekend in April, of course I am hoping for the 3rd. God is moving in my life so much lately I can't even stand it sometimes. He is so Awesome! Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of what is going on here in my life. Have a blessed day!

Spring Cleaning!?!

Good morning! Today is going to be a great day. The sun is shining, it is above freezing and I feel like some spring cleaning today. Last night I discovered some snow men we still had out for decorations, but no more. I don't only mean spring cleaning my house, I am also going to spring clean out my heart. I was reading heart of the matter online this morning and realized this last week my joy has been missing. I really want it back so starting today I am doing some soul searching to find it again. There has been some things going on in my life that I normally don't let bother me, but for some reason they have really weighed me down. No more! Today is a new day and I am not letting these things take a hold of me any longer. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength", and today I need His strength just to keep going. Thank You Lord for loving me and never leaving me!

Thankful...

I am so thankful that I serve a God that never leaves me nor forsakes me. I am so thankful that when I am weak He is strong. I am thankful that no matter where I go, he is right there beside me. Sometimes He is the only reason I get through my day because He is carrying me through it. I am so thankful that He loves me for who I am, but doesn't want me to stay the same either. He wants me to become more like Him and will encourage me and whisper to me to stay focused on Him. I am learning that He won't yell at me from a distance, but will only whisper to me up close. I want to feel His breath on my face, and feel His arms wrapped around me. I want to be so intimate with Him that I never want to be in a place where He is not there. I want to be so much in love with Jesus that you can't tell me apart from Him. I am a royalty, and it is time I began to live like it.

Check this out...

It has been a few days since I have posted. Things has been crazy with me, but fun and exciting all in the same time. My daughter has finished cheering for upward basketball and I must say that I am so thankful. She has not been into it and we have learned this time that she just is not to be a cheerleader. So, now it is onto gymnastics, which she is really good at. Now, I have another blog and this month I am supporting a family in my church who is adopting. So through out March I will be sharing her story. As you get the chance, stop on by and read her story. As the Lord leads pray for her as many of you reading can definitely relate to her and what she is going through. She check's the blog and is excited to share her story with anyone who will read it. Anyway, I am back and I can't wait to catch up on the blog world and see what has been going on in my blogger friends lives.

Oh, Precious Hearts is my other blog and the address is: http://hisprecioushearts.blogspot.com/