Sea Legs!

Marcus and I went on a cruise last week and we had a great time. It was hard to adjust to being by ourselves, but we managed! We left out of New Orleans on Thursday and arrived in Cozumel, Mexico on Saturday morning. We explored a little and then came back in to watch the Alabama/LSU game. Actually I ended up taking a nap and Marcus watched the game. At dinner that night, Marcus began getting a little sea sick and had to go lay down! He survived and was better the next day. We arrived back in New Orleans on Monday morning and we drove like crazy to get back to our kids! They were glad to see us, but not as much as we would have liked! We tried to hug, kiss and squeeze and they weren't really interested! I guess that is a week with grandparents for ya! Monday night we started getting "sea legs" where you are kinda dizzy...And today we are worse than last night! We had fun though, but are glad to be home!

A month later! Pictures of Caleb, Sarah Elizabeth will be next...

Caleb fell asleep on the way home from me purchasing ferns one summer, how cute!

Caleb had a conversation with the alligator at Original Oyster House, the summer before the hurricanes...

With a sucker at the beach, I bet the sand sure tasted good!

Pappy, Caleb and Daddy at Pappy and Nanny's lake house...

Bubbles, and my sweet baby boy, he has grown up so fast!

We finally got the DSL hooked up a couple of days ago! I never thought they would get it done but it is! YEAH!! The pictures may be old but they are all I had access to for now...

News!! Exciting and... Interesting?

Caleb came home with some exciting and interesting news from school yesterday. The interesting thing was that he came running to the car with a ziploc bag in his hand. The ziploc bag had a pickled pigs foot in it! His teacher had brought some to share with the class and each had at least taken a bite. Caleb said he thought it tasted like hot bacon. He was proud of himself, I was proud that he was willing to try something new. However, I don't think I will be purchasing any to keep for afternoon snack! The exciting news is that his teacher sent home a note and said that he had read a First grade reader! I was floored! He has really been doing well, and is starting to take an interest in trying to read on his own, but this was amazing! Marcus and I are very proud of him!

We also found out that we should be able to get DSL out here within a week or so! That is going to be great, I will finally be able to post lots of new pictures!!!

Pictures!!

Ok, I finally was able to get pictures on the blog!!!!!!!!!

Mom's day out

On Wednesday mornings Sarah Elizabeth goes to a mom's day out. It is a chance for her to get to play with her friends and for me to go to Wal-mart by myself! I know it sounds selfish, but those of you that have small children know that as much as you love your children you also need a little break every once in a while! This morning I was checking the blogs and Sarah Elizabeth got SO excited when she saw her fellow playmates from mom's day out! She would point to them and babble out her version of their names!

ATTACK OF THE RED BUGS!!!

The red bugs have attacked Caleb, shall we say, "below the belt"! Last night we attempted the usual clorox bath, calamine lotion drill and unfortunately, it wasn't very successful. The itching returned several times during the night and at school today! We decided to try the clear nail polish trick tonight after Caleb's bath, that was when the "fun" began! Of course the polish stings a little, and Caleb was ok with that on any bite AWAY from sensitive areas...Sarah Elizabeth offered Caleb a fish bath toy to bite and held his hand as he was making us understand that this was not his idea of fun! It looks like we have a little nurse on our hands, as well as a few red bugs! If anyone has any other remedies we would be happy to listen!!!!

Proud Mama!

This is just a blog to brag on Caleb! He started off this week to begin memorizing his 3rd bible verse for school and and brand new one for bible drills! I am getting overwhelmed trying to keep them straight, but not him! He has completed his first reader, begun mastering his writing skills (after figuring out that getting frustrated about "not being able to do it" and bumping his nose into the couch and causing a bloody nose, wasn't the best option!) Miss Toya actually mentioned that the class might actually be reading by the end of August! That is huge, considering that the first goal date we were told was to be around October or November!

1st bible verse memorized:
The discerning heart seeks knowledge Proverbs 15:14

2nd bible verse memorized:
Avoid every kind of evil 1st Thessolonians 5:22

3rd bible verse that is being memorized:
Many are the plans in a man's heart Proverbs 19:21

Bible verse being memorized in bible drills:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth Genesis 1:1

We are also working on memorizing the first 5 books of the Bible
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Kindergarten Here We Come!

Caleb started his first day of kindergarten this past Wednesday at West Alabama Christian. He has been so excited about getting to go to "church" school! As part of his curriculum, Caleb will be learning a bible verse each week (YEAH, this will help me memorize more scripture too!!), anyway, we started working on learning it the night before school. I really didn't think that he was paying much attention to me, but we repeated it over and over, and over, and over again! The next day I found out that he PROUDLY recited his verse in chapel! "The discerning heart seeks knowledge Proverbs 15:14" My little boy is growing up! We really feel like God is going to do a great work through him one day! (That is our prayer!) We really have such an amazing church family, staff and school that is so dedicated to helping us raise up our kids in the Lord's will.

THE WIGGLES!!!!!!!

Ok, for those of you that do not know, Caleb is a HUGE fan of The Wiggles! He is literally infatuated(sp?) with them! When he was 2 years old we took him to see the concert in Birmingham and he loved it! We decided to take him again this year, however, we wanted it to be a surprise so all he knew was that he had a special prize that we had to go and get. Well, we are driving to the civic center in Mobile and Caleb thinks we are going to some kind of toy store, we walk in the building and there is the booth of Wiggle items, he of course is excited and wants to buy everything! He still doesn't realize what is going on though so we take him into where the concert is going to take place and he realizes what we are doing. Marcus and I had packed his Wiggle outfit (which looks exactly like Maury the Wiggle's outfit) and Marcus then took Caleb and changed him into his costume. We get to our seats (which are on the first riser from the floor) and Maury runs up the aisle right next to us! We are screaming for Maury to look at Caleb, but he totally glanced over him! I then decide I am going to sneak down to the floor level in hopes of getting Caleb closer, I was just waiting for the security guard to come and ask me to leave! (The things we will do for our kids) I told Caleb to run down to the stage and maybe the Wiggles would see him. He started down the aisle and Jeff (The purple wiggle) saw him and asked Caleb "Do you love Maury?" and all Caleb could say was "Uh huh". (By the way, I had the camera and was trying desperately to take pictures of Jeff and Caleb talking but was so excited that instead of zooming I was cutting the camera on and off!!!) Anyway Caleb came back down to me and I sent him right back again to try to make eye contact with Maury. HE DID!!! Maury waved at him!!! I was on cloud 9! Caleb and I went back up to our seats to finish watching the show and all of the sudden Maury is getting ready to do his guitar solo and he mentioned that he had just seen a little boy that was dressed up just like him and wondered where he had gone to! I start hitting Marcus in the arm saying "That's Caleb, they are talking about Caleb!!!!" Marcus had gone off into la la land and didn't realize it!! Marcus came "to" and said "Should I take him down there?" I was like "YES!!" So he did and down they went, they stopped the concert and talked to Caleb! Caleb got on the stage and strummed his guitar with Maury! I have never been so excited in my life! I am going to post pictures as soon as I can get to Marcus' computer!!

History of Me

There are things that I tend to keep to myself. Not that my past (at least this part) is something I had any control over, but it is the part of me that I tend to keep to myself. However, looking back now, I can see how God has saved me from so much. I realize now that God deserves all the glory for my entire life. Maybe I can start here trying to recognize that fact. I was born to a 16 year old girl, Teresa. She was young, neglected, nieve. She had no clue how to be a mother, although she did try a few times. I won't go into all the details of what our short life together involved, but it was very bumpy to say the least. The majority of my life I pretended that that part of my life never happened. I have never been interested in meeting my biological family before, not until I went through a bible study that seemed to slap me across my face about forgiveness. See as a child I never wanted to be adopted, I wanted to be biologically my parents (James & Linda) child. I never wanted to talk about it, I would get upset if my parent's mentioned it! I wanted to be like Paul (my older brother, and my parent's biological son). I believe that I actually hated my biological mother for most of my life. I didn't understand what had gone on, what her weaknesses were, nor did I care. Now with God's help, I can forgive her and actually understand that it wasn't all her fault. She could have made different choices, but I can see more of her anguish now. Teresa died in 2000, I was never able to meet her and extend a hand of forgiveness or friendship. I met my biological Aunt not to many months ago, she is the ray of hope I was always looking for. She was able to make the good choices for her life, she is a christian, and get this her husband is a PREACHER!! She has given me answers to questions, understanding, and even compassion for Teresa. For the first time I understand that Teresa was an addict, from a very early age. My aunt gave me a picture of myself as infant, until this time I never knew what I looked like as a baby! God waited until I could handle the information that I now have concerning my past, and he gave me my aunt to help me process it. I believe that being adopted is the best miracle I could have received from God as a child. There are so many other things that I want to say and then again I don't want to say. So I guess the best thing to do is say Praise God for saving me, loving me and giving me the unbelieveable life, love, family and friends he has given me!

I was adopted at 3 1/2 years old. My parents were amazing (although human!) They put up with a little girl that had every intention of making them choose daily to continue to love me. I guess I wanted to make sure they were in it for the long haul. They were! My mom (Linda) passed away when I was only 20 years old. That made me very angry because I had not long decided to try to be my mom's friend instead of her worst nightmare. She was amazing, she was involved in everything that had to do with our family! She was fiercly loyal and loving. I know now that she always loved me in spite of myself! My dad (James) is still here with me (PRAISE GOD!) He has shown me what love from a dad is all about. I was truly and still am daddy's little girl! My older brother is one of my greatest hero's although he doesn't know it. I admire him so much!

So long story short, Christ saves even when we don't deserve it.

First time for everything!

This is the first attempt I have made at blogging! So I guess what I will do is let you know about our family. First, there is Marcus, he is my husband. He is a complete goof ball! I wouldn't have him any other way though! Really he is quite amazing, next month we will celebrate our 9th anniversary. He is an avid hunter, an amazing father, wonderful husband. I am very blessed to have him in my life. I am a stay at home mom, who never stays at home! I have 2 beautiful children, Caleb is 5 and adores the wiggles and anything musical, and Sarah Elizabeth is 17 months, and a dare devil! Caleb will start Kindergarten in the fall. I am not sure how I feel about that. Some days I am ok and others not...I have really enjoyed having him at home with me this summer.

We are on dial up (not by choice!) so I don't know how easy it is going to be to post pictures but I will try!!!