Life with boys...

All my life, I grew up with very few boys in my family.

My dad was special. He got all special boy attention because he had three girls and a wife that adored him.

Then four years ago, came my little brother...who is actually, a Beagle/Dachshund mix. Peyton. He thinks he's a little boy and we see him that way. 

 But that's it. 

Now though...

Life consists of mostly all boys.

At least, at home, they're all boys.

My husband and the little guy, we'll call him Lil' B(oy).

It's non stop boy stuff:

Nerf battles, complete with foam swords and bunkers set up all around the house.

Midget basketball which is set up on Lil B's closet door. 

Football in the backyard.

Basketball at the school playground.

Running and chasing balls. (literally...Lil B throws the balls and then chases after it, and tells the balls, "HEY!!! WAIT UP FOR ME!!! WAAAAIT!!!!" It was so funny to watch.)

Attempts to tackle Ryan which leads to Lil B clutching Ryan's leg as Ryan drags him around the house. 

Then there are the times that are just really sweet...

Those big eyes looking up at Ryan to see what he does.

Reading picture books on the kitchen floor while I wash dishes to practice his 15 minutes of reading a day. 

Watching him do the hand motions and dances to songs from Bible School this week, like Jesus Loves Me and This little Light of Mine.

His questions about Jesus.

When he hangs his crafts from Bible School up and says, " God loves me! God loves you!"

His glee when he wins at Uno.

The way he pops up in the morning and his first question is, "Is Ryan awake yet?!"

Then those tough times that just comes with being a kid...

His inability to stay put in his bedroom after saying goodnight, because he has,

 "just one more thing i forgot to tell you..." 

or  

" something i forgot i wanted to show you..." 

or his needs for last minute late night drinks of water.

I can honestly say that we've been using more energy than we have been the last couple years.

But it's been fun.

It gives a new perspective of life to us. 

It's blessed us by showing us the joy of caring for another person in our home.

It's fun to learn new things about him...

as well as he learns new things about us.

a few moments before becoming a mom

My hands are sweaty. 

My hands are never ever sweaty.

My heart is pounding.

I'm at the verge of tears and I'm trying to calm myself down.

Life is about to change for us.

After today, I don't think we'll ever see things the same again.

God is bringing a child into our lives. 

Today.

This hour.

And we're waiting.

Praying.

Waiting.

Every five seconds I'm looking out to see if he's here.

Trying to grab hold of the last few minutes of life before kids with Ryan.

But looking at the future of what life is going to be like with a little boy.

I'm looking out the window...

there he is...
our little boy is here.

ya'll...

To ya'll...

We're praying for all of you.

Even those we don't know yet are coming to us one day.

We've been praying for your situations, your safety, your little hearts.

We're praying for ourselves.

As we put ourselves in a position of parenthood...

Your parents...for a short time at least.

We ask God daily for wisdom, strength, guidance, and love.

That you will know how much He loves you through us.

We've been praying for you for months now.

And even though you may not feel like it, you're a part of our family.

You've got a piece of our hearts.

We're excited to meet you, to hug you, to have you in our family.

We're praying that through this time of your life, you'll grow to know what is love.

Love that is unconditional,

never fading, 

and won't ever leave you.

And guess what? We're not talking about love from us.

We are confidently expecting that through this time, you will leave knowing how loved you are, how special you were made, and how valuable your unique self is because...

God loves you.

And it's only because of His love, that we're able to open our hearts, our lives, our home to you...

Welcome to our family.

We're prayerfully waiting for you.

it's happening!:)

We'll be parents in the next few day.

Here's a quick shot of the kids' room...still trying to figure out decorations and toys and stuff.

So excited and ready! 

Pray for wisdom for us and strength as we begin this new journey!

Our lives are changing in just a few short days.

The kids don't realize how much we've been praying for them.

and now we'll get to see who we've been praying for...

face to face.

Can't believe it's actually happening...

Fairy Tales and Classics

Learning can be fun...

especially when you're imagining 

....that you're Hansel and Gretel...

Or if you imagine 
all the animals that live in the woods.

Or if you look out and imagine you are Laura Ingalls Wilder playing in the prairies...

and enjoy those simple little things like chasing grasshoppers and worms...

Or if you just soak in all the colors and sun that God gave this beautiful earth.

and watch their little faces delighted with the outdoors...

and watching kids play games and use their imaginations...

and pretending you're a lion in tall grasses all around you is just a blast.

I've never done that.

Till now:)

It was fun! 

My imagination was soaring with stories and books that talked about all these things.

God, 

you made things so beautiful.

disappointment

She was perfect.

We were offered this puppy this weekend. She even spent an evening with us so we could bond and see if she'd fit well with our family.

She did!

Saturday, Ryan and I went to Petsmart and Target and all the places we could think of to check for puppy stuff. We made our decision that we wanted this lil girl to be part of our family! We thought of a perfect name for her and were both really excited for this new change in our lives and family. We corresponded back and forth with the people she was staying with, to ask questions and to help us make our decision. I couldn't wait to snuggle with her on the couch.

Sunday we waited all day to pick her up. All I could think about was having her in our home.

Then Sunday afternoon we waited some more. I didn't hear back all sunday.

Finally in the evening, I made one last attempt to get in some kind of contact with the people who had her.

They finally responded back to me.

They didn't want to give her away. 

They made a decision without giving us a heads up, giving us a false impression that we could have her, and let us keep preparing and planning for this puppy. 

Over text messaging they told us, "no."

Can i be honest? 

I was crushed.

I felt hurt by it.

I cried for like two hours.

But all said and done, she wasn't meant to be ours.:/

We're just going to keep praying for the right pup to join our family.

For now, snuggling on the couch with a pup is on hold.

I'm glad I got a sweet man that can handle all the tears that I shed.

Think I'll just spend my evenings snuggling with him for now.

In the stillness of the morning

Sometimes I wake up in the morning, and I have this warm, safe, cozy feeling inside of me.

I'm thankful for the couple hours I have before going to work, the time when I can get some me-and-God time.

The mornings are so still 

and when i'm wrapped up in a warm blanket, 

with a cup of Pumpkin Spiced coffee in my hands, 

and my Bible in my lap, 

I just wish I were able to capture the stillness of the morning.

I guess these pics are an attempt to do that.

I love it when the whole town is slowly waking up.

The birds are still sleeping, the lights are still dim in homes, and cars are rarely seen on the roads.

In my house, only one kitchen light and the dining room light is turned on, and the atmosphere is just...serene. 

Psalm 46:10,

"He says, Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth."

Waffling waffles!

 The SL Highschool's booster club hosted a Waffle breakfast to raise money for the music programs at school.

It was pretty incredible! The waffles were perfectly made and you could go through the line as many times as you wanted. Big old Belgian Waffles made just as good as the ones we ate at Tempo in Chicago. Haven't had a waffled this good since we lived in Chicago!

We met up with some friends that invited us and brought along some other friends to enjoy the sweet syrup and the juicy sausages at the breakfast.

Mmmm, good.

Sweet faces

Spent the morning with these sweet faces.

and as crazy and wild as they get, i still love seeing their smiles.

One of them, Doh Moo, found a dead frog and followed me around with it.

I wasn't happy at all.

Then he found one alive and had both of them following me around.

So i locked myself in the car as he smooshed the dead frog onto my window.

ew. ew. ew.

Therefore there is no pic of the little dude cuz i didn't want to go near him. 

But like i said, no matter how crazy they are, i still love seeing them. 

Public Profession

This morning was pretty cool.

The Karen church had a baptismal service. 

Four people who came to know the Lord and made a public profession of their decision of faith in Jesus Christ as their PERSONAL Lord and Savior.

We are rejoicing!:) 

Two of them are dear friends of ours and through the past year and a half have built a relationship with them and their family.  

 It was a beautiful warm day for a baptism. 

God is great in how He saves through FAITH!