What I want:

What I want: To travel the road less traveled. To live on a farm, either here or there. To have the walls painted sky blue. To have a craft room. painted yellow. Yellow makes me smile. It's just a cheery color. To have my husband home at night. To be a stay-at-home mom. To cloth diaper. To learn more about my kids. To not complain. To eat all organic. To study more of The Word. To know Him in a much deeper way, not the superficial way. To be more artsy. To see the world in color, not black and white as most see it. To be a better wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend. To be more creative. To experiment more with food. To go. when and wherever we want. To not be judgmental. To get a tattoo. To continue to have this fire burning in my heart and not let the enemy put it out. To ramble on and on and on and on.

Woah!! It has been a super long time since I updated this! Well here goes; it shouldn't be too much. :)

Gabe is now 6 and has just this week started 1st grade. Hicks Academy is in full swing. He is doing great!! We hit another milestone yesterday 08/17/2011: he lost his first tooth. Milestones with him are few and far between, so we relish in any of them. The tooth fairy left him $2. He was so excited to add to his money jar. He $4 closer to his Star Wars Lego set he is saving for. Gabe is such a story teller! Right at this moment he is telling me about a robot mouse he built and keeps hidden. He feeds it cheese to keep it quiet so we will not find it. That is just one of the stories I have heard since I have been home for oh just about 3 hours. I have no idea where he comes up with it?! He has a great imagination!

Hannah just turned 3 last Saturday. She will soon start school at the Burkett Center. This is a little sad for mommy. Our baby girl is growing up! She will be going to school outside of our home so she can get the therapy she needs. Hannah has advanced so much over this last year! We are super proud of our Hannah bug!! We are in the process of getting her a push chair/wheel chair. I never realized how expensive these things are! The one we really hope to get her is called a Special Tomato chair and it's around $4,000. We are praying that Medicaid and our insurance will cover most of the cost. If not you may see us doing a "Get Hannah a Chair Fund".

Sarah turned 1 on July 29. She is our little chunky monkey! She has such a personality. She babbles and squeals whenever she sees or hears us. She is rolling over and pushing up with her hands. She is not crawling yet, but maybe in the coming months. Sarah is showing signs of whatever Hannah has, to which we still have no diagnosis. We will meet with a new team of doctors in September. They will be working with Dr. Lose, our genetics specialist and Dr. McGrath, our neurologist. Hopefully we will uncover some answers when we meet.

I have started a little crafty hobby thing. Don't know what to call it. :) Crafty business maybe? The name of this little endeavor is Sweet Birdie Art. I haven't done too much except start a Facebook Fan Page and an email address. You should check it out on FB. If you would like anything please contact me via FaceBook or email: sweetbirdieart@gmail.com. I would love to create something for you and your family! :)

I will try and post on here more. I can't make any gurantees to the frequency of said postings, but I will try to update at least once a week. I am a wife, mommy and full-time employee outside of the home. (hopefully that last part will change in the coming months) I really want to be a stay-at-home mommy, but God has everything planned.

Hope you have a great Friday tomorrow and a great weekend!

Where has the time gone?

I have not blogged since January!! The first month of the year! And here it is December, the last month of the year. A ton has gone on since last post. Last post we announced we were expecting.

Sarah Eden was born on July 29, 2010. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz. 20.25 in long. She is absolutely beautiful! She is adored by her big brother and big sister! She is a mommy's girl at the moment, but daddy says that will change.

Gabe turned 5 April 22nd and in August we started homeschooling. It is going great! We joined Agape Academy. Gabe is doing awesome! His favorite subject is math. He loves to memorize his Bible verses. He has the biggest imagination! He loves to play superhero and he gets us all involved.

Hannah turned 2 August 13th. She is doing great! Therapy is awesome! She got new therapists this past summer and she started speech therapy along with everything else. She still has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, she always will. She is definitely going through the "terrible two's". She is very vocal about things and will throw a tantrum at the smallest things!

David and I both turned 30 this year. I still don't feel old, am I supposed to? David is still the most amazing man of God. We celebrated 8 years of marriage on November 23. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in this upcoming year!

I have turned my sewing hobby into something. I have started making and selling key fobs and applique shirts. It's been pretty fun so far. :) I will soon be setting up a website to get the word out. If you would like anything let me know!

We are praying about several things, including adoption. We want a big family and we believe God is calling us to adopt. We have prayed and talked and prayed some more. We hope to adopt within the next year or two. We've been talking about the possibility of adopting a baby boy or a toddler. Gabe wants a brother he can play with now. David said a few weeks ago he thinks our next child will be adopted and he will be about 2 or 3 years old. We don't know who God has chosen as our son, but we pray we get to meet him soon.

Most everyone knows my heart for Africa. I believe that is where our son is. We have been praying for so long and we will continue to pray on this. I ask that you please pray with us. Pray for guidance and discernment.

We are also praying about doing some mission work in 2011. We are wanting to take the whole family with us. I know that sounds a little crazy, taking a 5 year old, a 2 year old and an infant on an international trip, but that's what we hope to do. We want them to be able to be blessed with sharing God's love to others also.

Our God is an awesome God! Look forward to some more amazing things soon! :)

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Isaiah 52:7 ESV

Answered Prayers

Oh my! Where have I been?? I have not posted since October! Well a lot has gone on since last post. Holidays, new baby(niece), adoption talk and ...........BABY NEWS!

Yes we are expecting our 3rd baby. We are so very excited! We had our first ultrasound yesterday and got some pictures of our sweet blessing. This is answered prayers! We were wanting to have another baby, but we had to let God control that part. He is the one who gives life. Our due date is August 11, 2010. I know that is super close to Hannah's birthday (08/13/08).

I have been nauseated of course and super tired! My clothes are beginning to get a little snug, but I am no where near as big as I was with Hannah at this point. Nothing major right now.

In other news, Hannah has started sleeping in her Pack-n-Play at night & she is going to sleep on her own! This is MAJOR!! She still wakes up crying in the middle of the night, but normally goes right back to sleep without us having to get her. Now if we can only get Gabe to sleep in his room, then we will have our bed for a few months before new baby arrives.

Also, we have had some discussions on adoption. David and I feel God is calling us to adopt from Ethiopia. We have some major things to do before that day comes. We are continuing to seek God and His purpose for our lives. Please be in prayer with us on this and with new baby.

I am going to get better at updating, especially since God has us on a crazy journey! (Which we are super excited about) Have a great weekend!!

P.s. Please be in prayer for the people of Haiti! Seek God during this time and see where He leads you. Maybe you can get involved in some sort of relief effort!

Swimming against the Current

Swimming against the current. That's what we have decided to do. (In a sense that is what all Christians do day in and day out.) We have begun to gather our resources, look at our options and make some huge life-changing decisions. The road is not going to be smooth and easy(it never has been), but we will be in it together with Christ leading us. No specifics just yet, that will be another day(and another post). We do ask for your prayers!! They are going to be greatly needed! Pray for guidance and perseverance. Pray that we have our hearts, eyes, and every other part of us open to what our Lord is telling us He wants us to do!

On another note: I have begun a little sewing endeavor. If anyone would like anything please let me know! All profits from your purchase will be used towards our secret project. (know that it is a great secret!!) and now a few pics of what I will be selling:

Pillowcase dresses(and yes Hannah is crying)

I have many different fabrics!

Tutus

Hannah's ladybug tutu

Appliqué shirts

Bleached shirts

I will have many more things one here soon(ex. burp cloths, blankets, cloth blocks) Let me know if you need anything, I will be more than happy to create something for you! Thanks and HAPPY MONDAY!!

I am thankful for having freedom and the ability to worship when & how I choose. Not everyone has this right.

P.s. Sometimes God doesn't ask us to take a step, He asks us to JUMP!

Shhh! You'll wake the babies. :)

Right now it is super quiet in our home. Why? Gabe and Hannah are both asleep. This doesn't happen often so I'm very much enjoying it! I am on vacation this week and have not done very much of anything. It's been raining most every day, but that's ok. At least I'm at home with the family! David has taken some time off, too, except right now he had to go in to close tonight. He is off the rest of the week!

My birthday was last Friday, Oct. 9. I did take that day off also and it was nice! We had a very good day of doing nothing. Sunday David was able to come to church with us (he normally works, but was able to close on this day) which was AWESOME! He hasn't been to a morning service since Easter. After church we went to his mom's for my birthday lunch. We had super yummy food! His mom always lets the birthday person choose the menu. I chose chicken, pinto beans, cornbread, baked mac&cheese and pineapple casserole. We had carrot cake with cream cheese icing, which was so good!

Today has been a super lazy day and I think I need to get up and do something. (like clean) I did buy a new shower curtain the other day to celebrate fall. It's cute. That's about all I've done this week. Oh well that's why I'm on vacation. To do nothing. :)

On another note: Gabe and I were watching a video the other night about orphans in Ethiopia. Gabe asked why the kids were called orphans and I explained they have no mommies or daddies, that they live in a home with others and are taken care of by nannies. He then asked if we could get him a new brother that doesn't have a mommy or daddy and let him come live with us. He said he would love him like he loves Hannah and he would share all his toys and his room. He then wanted to pray that God would send the children mommies and daddies to love them. How amazing that God can stir the heart of a 4 year old with a simple video! God has been touching mine and David's heart, too. Through simple little things: stickers on cars, videos sent to us in emails, songs, meeting adopted little girls at the park(this happened yesterday & yes this little girl was so cute!) Who knows where God will lead us? Only He does. What we will do is listen to Him and continue to pray for His guidance and provision.

I have joined a new women's small group and we are reading Me, Myself, & Lies by Jennifer Rothschild. So I think I will go and study today's section while I have quiet time. Happy Wednesday!

Things I'm thankful for: 1. God's mercy, 2. sleepy, rainy days, 3. VACATION! 4. sleeping babies.

Have a good rest-of-the-week. :)

Yes he is wearing my old gown from HS graduation. He found it today & decided he was going to play wizards. too funny!

my baby girl getting her beauty rest.

These next 2 are from our last trip to the zoo. Aubie was there & Gabe just had to have his pic made w/ him. No we are not Auburn fans. Gabe didn't know who he was. We also got to see them feed the tiger(they didn't feed him Aubie, Daddy asked.) :)

Gabe was so excited!

This is from a few weeks ago, but I just love watching my babies sleep! and yes they do sleep in the bed with us. Both of them! When we have more babies we will have to buy a bigger bed. Does anyone know if they make anything bigger than a king? just kidding!

doc appts

2 weeks ago we went for Hannah's appointments with ophthalmology and neurology. Both reports were good. Dr. Hein(eyes) was very excited about Hannah's progression! He said she was doing so much better since he last saw her.

Dr. McGrath(brain) wants to do a muscle biopsy in 6 months. He said this will give us answers to what is going on with our baby girl. He made it 6 months away due to flu season. He doesn't want Hannah anywhere near the hospital, even for a routine visit until flu is over. So that means waiting until next spring, which is fine with me. Hannah is doing great! She has become Miss Attitude! I love her little personality that has blossomed! Gabe is doing awesome, too! He is growing up much too quickly.

I love this time of year! Leaves changing colors, crisp air, football and all the holidays that go along. We have begun discussing costume options for Halloween. Hannah will be a ladybug, which I am making, and Gabe wants to either be Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender or Superman.( but his mind changes daily) Either way, I think we will probably make his costume. I can't wait to get started!

I think I'm off to bed. It's 1:15am and Hannah is still awake. Maybe if I lay in bed with her she will want to go to sleep. Maybe?

Have a great week!!