Oh Disney....

Oh my are we starting the new year off COLD!!! We leave Friday for Disneyworld. It can not come soon enough. Stay tuned to my blog for updates live from Disney. However, before we can get there we have to stay well. On my way home Sunday from a day of returns I got a text from the sitter that C'man wasn't feeling well. When I called her he just threw up! I didn't know whether to speed home or go slow. The thought of vomit on the floor just about made me gag!
I guess the germs from my family that all got sick over Christmas must not have been gone by the time we visited my parents on Friday. (the ENTIRE family, spouses and kids, got sick at my parents on Christmas!)  He is not a puker so he's only puked about 5 times. Poor kid wants to drink water, begs for it! But he'll just puke it back up. However since late last night he's been puke free!
I'm wondering who will get it next? I'm going to call doc's office and see if there is anything he can prescribe to offset 'it' should it hit before we leave or while we're gone. I think there is something isn't there? Tamflu or something like that??

Yuck enough of 'sick' talk. I continue to work on my new blog and hope to start using it in the weeks to come. I've greatly enjoyed the blogs you all have shared with me and looking forward to reading them. I will also be posting blogs i read on a frequent basis, if you would like yours listed, please let me know. Not sure if one should ask permission before posting it or not? But since I'd probably appreciate it, I'm going to ask:)

Now time to go clean that darn fish tank.....

School Is In Session

It happened. Our little boy has started school. He's going 2 days/week ALL day and then every other Friday. I hope readers that home school don't flame me. Trust me I don't flame home schoolers. I think there is a time and a place for it. At this point, I don't feel the time is here. I'm confident in our schools here and feel that as a parent I can stay actively involved. I will read books that come home, encourage conversation about what they are learning, and communicate frequently with the teacher. As he gets older I'm sure I'll run in to issues with the public school system, HOWEVER i have to be reminded that laws are put in to place for the kids who's parents don't care, or know better.

I'm sure many of you are probably rolling your eyes thinking how naive I am. But please keep in mind that home schooling is not for everyone just as public schools aren't. If i lived in much more liberal state/area I'm sure I'd feel differently.

Right now I'm more concerned about my child not drinking milk!! You all realize what milk can do to a child! Makes them hyper, the hormones in it, blah blah. BUT while I asked for him to NOT have milk I also know that may not happen. Therefore I will compensate by NOT giving him milk here at home.

The next concern would be if my child is ever required to take the flu vaccine. I feel awful enough for vaccinating what I have, the flu shot WILL NOT HAPPEN. I will fight tooth and nail. But there again, rules, policies, etc are put in to place b/c they have to. But that is one I won't give in. Do you know the flu shot has formaldehyde in it? That's what they put in DEAD people. Or that the H1N1 vaccination is one that we have NO idea what the long term effects could be. 100's of people die every month from complications from the flu. A vaccination will not make a difference.

Again, these are all my opinions.

OK OK without further ado, here are pictures:

Attemtping to do something with his hair while he ate. Of course he could have slept in till 830 today so we were feeling a little rushed. I hope this child learns to eat faster at school. He takes FOREVER!

Daddy having a talk about manners, listening to the teacher and being nice to other kids. C'man listened so intently, seriously.

He said to DH, 'one more kiss' (i didn't get THAT)

When we got to school here he is taking it all in....

Putting his back pack away.

Finding his name, of which i must say he can do:)

Oh for goodness SAKE! Why can't blogger make it easier to arrange pictures. I give up!!! You can put the picture puzzle together:) BUT doesn't anyone know how to make it easier??? GRRRRR

OK enjoy i'm frustrated and need to step away from the computer!

My Little Man

Seems that Mr C'man just can't kick this cold. It'll be 2 weeks this Sunday. BUT he was doing better, cough subsided, nose didn't run, etc till the last couple days. The cough is still loose, but deep. He's not sleeping well at night and his nose continues to run. While the drainage is clear, it's still there. Today he's just laying in the chair watching DVD's.
I prayed last night, like I've been doing faithfully for over 2 weeks now, that God would make it apparent what I need to do. With in 2 min. of saying amen, in came C'man to our room (DH was out late last night planting). I decided that was a pretty good sign that it's time to do something.
I'm further worried about everything b/c of the loss of Little Armstrong, reading about what would have been the 4th birthday of a little boy who died from complications of the flu.
Not to mention the constant rattle in his chest that all the docs so far, have said is nothing to worry about. Just things that a mother/parents worries about.
We're heading in today at 310 and get things checked out. For piece of mind I'm going to ask for a chest x-ray. I think it's time for some more extensive testing, for piece of mind that my little boy is OK. Or that maybe he has asthma or something?? Hopefully nothing. When he gets a cold he really gets it.
OH and as luck would have it, we're heading to my nieces Confirmation tomorrow. The last time we were supposed to go to Minnesota, we had to stay home b/c C'man was sick. Miss A actually was sick too.

Faith As Small As a Mustard Seed

At the request of BFFE, which by the way now has her own blog, I am going to post my testimony that i gave a couple weeks ago. I'm also realizing that God has other plans for me in getting out and sharing this message. If you have a MOPS group, or any event, that needs stories of faith, let me know. My testimony here is very short, well it got kind of long in b/w the sobs of joy of course, but we were supposed to keep it @ 3-5 min. I could expound tremendously if i had had the time. With the help of my Pastor this is what I gave:
My testimony is one of faith that grew through the process God worked in Jeff and my life as we hoped and prayed for a family of our own when it seemed unlikely to happen.
After going through several futile attempts of having a baby naturally we considered adoption. It was always something near and dear to my heart since my sister was adopted. Little did we know that that was how our first child was going to come to us.
I did tell Pastor Sheryl we were going to adopt and the prayers from her and those from family and close friends that knew, began. Those mustard seeds sure took off.
We breezed right thru the adoption process of the home study, interviews, questionnaires, making of our profile book and collecting the references from family, friends, employers and Pastors. I had never felt at such peace as I did when I turned in our profile that prospective birth moms would be looking at. This book held the story of our life from how we met, to our house and what life was like for us. We included important things in our life such as our church, music, farming and our animals. It gave the BM an idea of where her child would be raised and the plans we had for our child. I turned the book in and relied on my faith, that God would place our profile in the hands of the BM He would want for us. This was one of the first times in years that I felt I had given complete faith and trust to God. Maybe it was b/c it wasn’t IF we’d have a child but WHEN.
Within weeks of turning in our profile we were told we had been chosen. WOW the 1 yr wait they told us to plan on was only one month.
Our BM was 6 months along and at our first meeting we hit it off. She was, still is, an amazing young lady who made such a grown up decision. She herself had taken a huge leap of faith and one that was looked down on by many. While we were answering questions of our own from others about the process, she was getting her own set of questions. Like how can you DO this? Don’t you love this child? She would confidently reply that she loved this child but knew she could not provide for him the way another family could. She wanted him to have opportunities in life that she never had, nor ever will.
Not being a Christian herself we really had to make sure we kept God ‘talk’ to a min. and trust that our actions would speak for our faith in God. She couldn’t wait for us to meet her mother saying ‘my mom is going to LOVE you guys and so do I’. At our 2nd meeting we met her mom and hit it off too. It really was just beautiful.
We told her our plans for our son and she smiled with such pride to know that he was going to experience life like she’d never known. Even though she questioned Gods existence she knew that she wanted her son to know who he is.
On December 13th our son, Carson David, was born in to this world. With each push she gave I literally cried to God for strength for her. It was a blessing b/c her labor was quick. I mean REALLY quick. And she did it all without an epidural.
I can not begin to tell you how great our church family was from the moment we told them of our match, lots of clapping and even a few tears, to the first time we brought Carson to church. Joel & Mary Tyler, his Godparents, are true prayer warriors. Apart of the entire process, we appreciated all the silent prayers they offered. Gerane Schneckloth had the most amazing smile on her face the moment she saw us and those smiles still haven’t stopped. The comments of how beautiful our family is and the words of encouragement do not go unnoticed. The church ladies who thru a baby shower for us and all those that attended. That was just amazing. This little mustard seed was in full bloom not only for Jeff and me, but in our families and church family.

Believe it or not, Carson looks a lot like his ‘papa’ Law when he was this age. He and Papa are the best of buds. Checking cows together, fixing fences and eating cookies are just some of the favorite activities for the 2 of themJ I can tell you I’ve never seen Bill happier then when he and Carson are together. I’m sure our church family can attest to that seeing them 2 in person.
Can you see right here how great our God is? What a little testimony Carson is in and of himself?
Just when I thought our mustard seed was flourishing after Carson turning one, I learned God had planted another seed. This one was the surprise pregnancy of ME. You should have seen the amazement when I realized I was pregnant and over 6 weeks at that. Really, this is happening in my life? Listen carefully, statistically speaking, this happens only 3% where you adopt and get pregnant and had been thru what we had. Wow God had me even thinking what the heck.
For the most part, the pregnancy was textbook. Probably the only think in my life that was. Aug 9, 2006 Addison Johanna was born. Our kids are 20 months apart. She is a chip off the ol’ block of her mother I’m afraid. She has a contagious smile and loved to be in charge.
I don’t look back to the years of struggles we had to have our family as dark and sad years, b/c I know that if I didn’t have those years I wouldn’t have the faith and trust in God that I have today. My journey thru infertility is a part of my life. It is who I am and who God made me to be.
The day we were discharged from the hospital with Carson, his BM gave me a special gift. This is what she gave me. It’s a necklace with mustard seeds in it. She had remembered me telling her that I had to have faith as small as a mustard seed. Life is what it is, but in your life it can be so much more when you trust God. This is my testimony of God’s faithfulness.

Oh lets see....

I've added pictures!!!

It's a beautiful day in Iowa. Almost 55 outside and the snow is melting oh so FAST!! To bad it looks like we're in for another active weather pattern. The first snow/rain is for Friday although that's forecasted to go more south of us. The next one, Monday evening/Tuesday. That one they are still watching. Man I'm SO ready to bid farewell to ol' man winter and HELLOOOO spring.

Waiting for C'man to wake up so we can go outside. I went and woke him up but he just grabbed his cozy blanket and rolled over. He is SO not a morning person and once he falls asleep for his nap, he's hard to wake up. Did I mention that he has his binky back too?? About 2 months ago we flushed one down the toilet. I told him if I find a binky downstairs it's going down the toilet. Well you know what happened. He tried to reach in and grab it after HE flushed it but the whirl was to fast and down it went. He cried and cried and actually I almost could have too. He loves his binkies. He's so cute with it too. So a couple weeks ago I NEEDED him to take a nap and I felt the only way i was going to accomplish that was to give him another one of his favorite binkies. He had 2 after the one we flushed but one i snipped the end of, 'it boke' he kept saying, and the other was no better then the snipped one. He wasn't going to sleep well at night either. I figured the heck with it. We were gone that weekend for my SIL's baby shower and being away from home, not to mention the ride HOME on AWFUL roads, I have him a binky. You should have seen his reaction when I pulled out 'the pink binky'. It's more like magenta, but none the less he calls it his pink binky. He was ELATED!

So now the arrangement is that it HAS to stay in his bed. He knows I'm not messing around any more since we flushed one down. He doesn't walk around all day with it, only at night. We figure that when it's time for Addie to bid farewell then he will too. BUT he also knows that he can't go to school if he still has a binky and you know what.....he could have a lot worse. He could still be on a bottle, suck his thumb, not be anywhere near being potty trained, so i just say the heck with it let him have the binky. If it makes my life easier and he goes to bed 100% better, then screw it. Speaking of going to bed, the other thing that helped was I plugged in a nightlight that only goes on if it's dark. He loves that, I love it even more.

At any rate, i have pictures i need to post of us giving the cows hay. On Sunday we all four rode in the tractor to feed the cows. It was fun. Do I have any readers out there that aren't the least bit familiar with 'farm life' (feeding the cows hay, tractors, etc) I'm curious. Don't want to share anything if it's of no interest to anyone.

Furthermore....I need more comments:) BFF-E thanks a million but where's everyone else?? Oh and tell me your remedies again for off setting a headache the day after some drinking. I'm refraining from calling it a hangover b/c i don't think that's really possible after only 3-5 mixed drinks. Is it?? our community center has our St Patricks Day Dinner and Dance Saturday Night. I'm so excited. Lots of DH's classmates and their wives are coming and we have ourselves a babysitter that we won't have to rush home by 930-10.

Thanks everyone!! do drop me a note, or 2, or 3, or 4.....

Huckabee is out

Heard on the radio last night that Huckabee has dropped out of the race for Republican Presidential candidate. I guess I can't say I'm surprised, as numbers weren't looking good for him. But I really do like the man. Did anyone see him on Saturday Night Live?? Priceless. I love the mans sense of humor and his personality in general. More importantly, I agreed with the things he stood for. But McCain is the nominee and I will support him. I do like him but must become more versed in his stance on gay marriage (I really don't like using those two words in the same sentence), abortion, and illegal immigration. I'm thinking that maybe my new friend , 'Doc', might be able to shed some insight on that. Maybe he could post a comment, or two, about McCains views.

I did have my Central Committee meeting last night. We are preparing for our county convention which is this Saturday. While I'm only an alternate, and none of the delegates have called me to attend in their place, I would like to attend (and still can b/c of my involvment on the platform committee). I put a lot of hours into preparing the platform and just feel I'd like to see it thru. BUT DH has decided that Saturday is the day he'll drive to the KS/NE border to look at a tractor. (BFF-E if i didn't have so much going on, I'd had come b/c he'll be going thru York!!) Then that evening I'm selling my purses at a Dance Night for a local school. MIL said she'd watch the kids BUT I'd like to do a trial run for a babysitter that day b/c we need one for the following Saturday. In addition I think C'man as a touch of the flu so who know's who will have it by the weekend.

Speaking of C'man, yesterday while at Maxine's house with Uncle D, Papa, and Daddy, he showed up with an empty bottle of Allergy medicine. DH rushed him home, I called poison control and freaked out. This is the SECOND time C'man has gotten into things under DH's watch. I had DH talk to poison control I wasn't there when it happened I can't answer all the questions they were asking. BUT he's OK. We don't think he got any b/c he spit out the 4 he had in his mouth. But today he seems just a little out of it. DH was up all night too so we think maybe it is the flu. C'man did eat breakfast and 'Bob Bob's' (mac'n'cheese) and now is tucked in bed.

As always drama, drama and more drama!! I have lots to talk about but I'm sure this has gotten pretty long and has enough thoughts and subjects covered that I won't bring in more.

Cake for Breakfast??

I've been meaning to post about this but it seems other things are on the front burner of my mind. But not right now, being that i just downloaded pictures of the incident. So about a week ago I heard C'man get out of bed. DH told him to get back in bed and we thought he did. Pretty soon I heard him slinking down the stairs. Thinking that as soon as he sees no one is down there he'll come back upstairs. Well I'm not sure how much time passed but I thought I'd better get down there and see what he's up to. This is what i found:

Note the plate(s) he's using. He was so proud of himself b/c he saying 'i got plate mommy'

How could i NOT laugh!!

This chair I tell you what. I causes more grief in my life. They both use this to climb up on to everything! DH and I are both over 6' tall so we have taller then average counters. Had he not hauled this chair out we may not have had this happen:) Of course the cake dropped on the floor and when i walked in the door way he told me 'I make no mess mommy, i clean up'The cake pan!!
I think he enjoyed himself. He ate only the frosting off and left the rest.

OK and now I'll try and post a video of it all too:)

Happy Birthday

Our little man, or C'man, is THREE today. I want to share an email I'd sent to my dear friend Laura about the day he was born. I found it while cleaning up files on our computer and it moved me to tears as well as bring back the memories. Three years.....


So a year ago I was sitting here thinking this could be my last day here at work. Will it be today he’ll be born!? Shortly after lunch my cell ph rings…rock a bye baby tune. Oh my GOSH my heart skipped many of beats. Could this be IT!! Everyone that was at work with me, rushed to my office. It was BM's mom, BM's water broke. Come on up he’s coming!! So after saying my joyful good byes here at work I jumped in my car, called DH and said he’s coming!! It’s time!! I’ll meet you at the hospital!! I call mom, laura, ruth, and gosh I’m not even sure who else!!

Once to the hospital I was taken to the delivery room. Not sure how to approach the situation, I quietly walked in and was happily greated by BM and her mom. BM was having contractions and not even feeling them. We conversed the rest of the afternoon. To be honest I’m not even sure about WHAT!! DH made it and we all hung out for awhile. Then towards supper time it was decided we should go grab a bite to eat and let them have some quality family time. BM's dad and brother were there by then. Upon leaving her mom said, ‘go enjoy yourself, this is your last meal as just a couple’. We ate at subway, talking on the phone to everyone we could expressing our excitement. But we inhaled our food and got back to the hospital to find that BM was taking a bath. Her favorite!! We went to put our stuff in the family waiting room where BM's MOM came and said, she’s a 10, he’s coming!!!!!!! So we rushed down the hallway where we listened as our son was being born. Hearing her screaming brought tears to my eyes as I thought a/b the unselfish act she was doing. Going thru all this pain (she had no epidural) to give this child to a family knowing that she may never see again.

We stood in the hallway listening to her mom saying you can do it!! And I was saying push push sweety push!! I grabbed my phone calling my mom and LAURA. (remember that!!) You were the first to hear his cries!!! Yes he came out screaming!! BM's mom, came out and got us and said we could stand in the little room in labor and delivery. We quietly walked in and watched as our sweet baby boy laid whaling on the table to be cleaned up. Boy did he have a set of lungs. It felt like forever but here came BM's mom with our son warmly swaddled in blankets. She handed him to me and said ‘here he is’. I just cried and replied he’s beautiful!! I felt tears of joy and tears of sadness as his birth g’ma laid him in our arms!!

The next 72 hrs were long. But we also had some great time with BM. Times to encourage her in her future plans, thank her for this gift of life, and just how much we cared a/b her. We had some amazing moments that her, nor us, will ever forget. We met all the family, and I mean ALL the family, VERY ackward and will not let that happen again. We left that nite exhausted. I went to my parents thinking I’m a MOM!!

Emotions were high for me. I went from a wife to a mom and wife in less then 6 hrs. I was so happy but so emotionally warn out. Was I going to be a good mom? Would I love him like my own? Would BM be ok? Would he be ok? What happens if he stops breathing? I’m sure ‘normal’ questions and fear.

72 hrs later we left the hospital with our son. He was beautiful, amazing truly a gift from God and BM. We took some final pictures and said our goodbyes to BM and her mom. And then it was time for us to leave. Life began for us as we left that hospital as a family.

God bless BM for her decision. Our hope is that as this one year anniversary is here she continues to be happy with her decision. We are told she has had NO regrets. That she will continue to seek comfort in knowing he is loved and taken real good care of. That family and friends will continue to support her in any way she feels is needed. Not many days to past that we don’t think of her and wonder how she is. But we trust the Lord is taking good care of her and that she is loved by us.

Blessings to you BM. You made our dreams of having a family come true. Thank you!!









Three years ago NOW!!!


Goll it seems like that was just yesterday!! Now i'm off to find his CARS cupcake wrapper thingies that he took off with. Where would a 3 year old take them too?? Off on my mission.....