My prayer for Goob

Another thing God gave me this weekend at the conference was a scripture to pray over Goober....a life prayer. When I told him that I was going to pray this in hopes that he would strive to become like the man described in the scripture he said " I already know what kind of man you want me to be.... like DAD!".

Psalm 112-ESV

112 ^[a] Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
    who greatly delights in his commandments!
² His offspring will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches are in his house,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
    he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
⁵ It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
    who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶ For the righteous will never be moved;
    he will be remembered forever.
⁷ He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
⁸ His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
⁹ He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever;
    his horn is exalted in honor.
¹⁰ The wicked man sees it and is angry;
    he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
    the desire of the wicked will perish!

Look at this little man GO!!!

 Hanging out with "her papaw". 

Kisses from CC

This is what "too much fun" looks like....in the middle of Christmas, in the middle of the floor, for 3 solid hours!!!

This is what waiting out tornadoes on Christmas looks like....several were spotted around us that day and one large one went through a city about 30 minutes from my parents home.

 

Ignite

This weekend Adam and I attended a Discipleship conference at our church. They brought in several speakers from all over the US and we enjoyed getting to know more of our church family. For some reason I felt as if the whole conference was geared towards discipling our own children, especially my boys. I know that was not intentional and definitely not the "focus" of the conference but everything I gleaned and wrote down was for my Big Man, my oldest son.

We already know that Goober has asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life, but we were failing him (and so many others) in helping him consistently learn and grow as a Christian. He does attend a christian school but it is absolutely the parents responsibility to be the best disciple, example, leader for their children. Now when I say we were failing I don't mean that we weren't speaking to his heart, teaching him to pray, reading the bible and centering our home around Christ. However, we weren't being as intentional as we could be and were somewhat denying Goober several growing opportunities.

Here are some notes I took down....writing things out and regurgitating them always helps.

**Goober needs to go on a mission trip with us and SOON...needs to see us putting our words into actions, needs to see those that truly hurt, needs to love on them
**Goober needs US to keep him away from too many stimuli....another reason we don't do anything electronic but the Wii.
**Goober needs to be a part of discussions where he can tell us how he thinks God would respond in different situations.
**Goober needs to see us in our "spot of service" at our church and find his own spot of service. He LOVES helping Adam greet on Sundays, so there is a start.
**Goober needs to see us giving generously and be expected to give his own money that he earns.
**Goober needs to write thank you notes to the leaders at our church....his sunday school teacher, our pastor and many others. He also needs to see Mommy and Daddy doing that too.

Basically we need to disciple him through our actions and words but also through intentional conversations at home. Being a disciple means "come, hang out with me, see how I live life, see how I love Jesus.....come with me on Sunday but also come along on Tuesday and Friday". It also questions "if you invited someone along to follow you, to be discipled by you..... would you have to change your everyday life or "act" in order to show them how you follow Christ?"

It really was a great conference and I am still digesting lots of things.

Oooohhhhh GGGaaaaawwwwwdddd

Saturday I drove to Austin (3 hour drive) for a 1.5 hour meeting. It was mandatory in order to host our upcoming district meet. Adam had so much fun with the kiddos at a science center and kept me informed with photos all day long. The first photo was proof that he had buckled Baby Boy in to a cart....something that I overly obsess about :). When I got home later that night I asked me two older ones what the best part of their day was and this was their answers....
Goober ( my sweet sensitive boy)- ....when you came home Mom :)....melt my heart.
Ribbit (my sassy little thang)......when you left Mom : /....I took it as a compliment to Adam :).

Ribbit has also been looking for God lately. We keep talking about how he is everywhere and how he lives in Mommy, Daddy and Goober's heart. In a very high pitched voice she will say "OOOOHHHHHHH GOOOOOOOOODDDDDD...sounds more like GGAAAWWWDDD"...and look around for him :).

We have been dealing with a lot lately for our adoption. It's almost like Satan is trying his best to keep our adoption of baby boy from becoming final. Today we were told that our 4TH COURT DATE is now not going to happen. I've stopped asking for days off because I just have to retract it the next day. This means lots of communication between us, our attorney, Baby Boys attorney, CPS and our adoption agency....apparently they all don't know how to contact one another so that leaves Adam and I to be on the phone and email all day. It also means more paperwork and more stress.

We want this adoption to happen so bad, so soon for several reasons.
1-we have been in this adoption for almost 1 year......thats a long time waiting to be legally recognized as your son's mother....letting others (cps) make decisions for you.
2-WE REALLY WANT him to turn 1 (on feb. 24th) as a Harvell....with a new middle name and his first name spelling changed. He won't remember it but its something that Adam and I have our hearts set on.
3-Baby Boy has to have surgery on his eyebrow soon. We have been watching a mass get larger and larger on his face and a pediatric surgeon confirmed our thoughts. However, we want this surgery to happen when Baby Boy is legally ours so that WE get to call the shots and we are recognized as parents to make decisions and be with him.

Wonder what I got for Christmas? Well I always talk about how I love the kids separated plates and how it keeps the food from running all together. Sooooo...Adam found me big girl plates that are separated....like cafeteria trays :)

One of my favorite pictures from this years christmas ..... ready to go to church with Papaw and CC.

1st Annual Gingerbread House Contest.....boys vs. girls. OF course the girls won :).

Look at that concentration...gotta get that gum ball on there just right.

The boys went big....a double decker house!

The Winners.....can I add that my children stayed up til 9:30 that night....2 hours past their bedtime....and only went to bed after Ribbit got a spanking.

Princess Time

One of Ribbit's bigger gifts from us this year (her want) was a princess tea party with mommy. She earned it with behavior stickers from school.

There is a super cute place about 20 minutes from us that has all kinds of princess costumes and a SUPER CUTE tea room ...all for little girls. While we were there I got a little carried away in all of the girliness and bought Ribbit a little christmas dress....that will also serve as a longer shirt with tights as she grows. I also bought a little tykes manger scene from there. We had a great time together and she talks about it all the time....I think this will become our birthday/christmas/any reason to celebrate gift for a while :). (especially since mommy gets a cupcake out of the deal).

This is the final dress she picked out...with jewels and shoes and a wand.

And its now complete with wings!

Showing me her shoes...she tried on EVERY pair there...no exaggeration....but she wore the Cinderella light up shoes for the tea party.

 My little princess in the dress up area.....waiting for her hair, make up and nails to be done.

The tea room...super cute!

Picking out her pink nail polish....when the nice lady finished her nails she immediately kicked her shoes off and put her feet in her hands. A pedicure was not part of the package but the nice lady obliged :).

Hair done, glitter on, crown on...now picking out her pink lipstick.

and pink eye shadow!

When the nice lady asked her if she wanted a glitter star or heart on her cheek she said "hmmm...both!" ..so she got Both!!!

How do we eat our cupcakes with these fancy gloves on?

Thank you for bringing me mommy!!!

Now, can we PUH LEASE eat some cupcakes?

It was a very FUN FUN FUN time and I can't wait to take her back!

Downton Abby

There are only two reasons why I don't blog. Its either A-I'm dead tired and when the kids go to bed I curl up beside Adam on the couch, he rubs my head and I go to bed....or B- because we have found a new series we love and since we have Netflix we watch one episode a night...the latter is true this time. We were already pretty obsessed with Season 1 of Downton but now we have access to Season 2...and holy moly is it just as addicting....best part is-no curse words (except bloody....is bloody considered a curse word to the British?) and there is no lovey dovey crazy stuff....its mentioned but never portrayed.

Ribbit has decided that we no longer are smart enough to come up with our own conversations. So she will say "Okay Mommy you say nofing"....then I will say " mommy, I love you" and then you will say "Ribbit, I love you too". This happens for 1/2 of our conversations that we have each day...most of the time if I don't respond the way she wants then she will encourage me to try her version better or if she needs to hear an I love you :).

We had a BIG pep rally at our school on Friday for Homecoming and all the students participated. Goober's group was cheering for the Fidelitas House so loud that I knew he was going to loose his voice. He and his friends were shouting and stomping and shaking shakers...it was soo cute..he kept hiding from Adam and I so that we couldn't get a picture.

Mr. Man is into everything...climbing up into the dishwasher, up onto the fireplace....figuring out baby gates, etc. He is starting to refuse baby food so he now eats lots of vienna sausages, bananas, crackers, baby pasta pick ups, yogurt melts and some fruit....he loves apples!!! He also has learned how to clap and thinks he is just the best thing ever when he does :).

This next month is extremely busy and I am pretty overwhelmed by everthing that needs to happen before we leave for our cruise....leaving your life for 5 days is pretty hard...especially leaving behind your two youngest...I don't fear that they won't be taken care of...but I have pretty bad separation anxiety (right Dad, Mom and Adam???) and leaving Baby Boy and Ribbit for that long is making me super anxious.
I also dont' want to leave my students for 4 days...well I do in some ways :)...but I will miss them and I get worried about having a sub for art....its why I make myself go to school unless I am super sick...its hard to find a good sub for art...one that knows enough so that you aren't having to leave busy work. I am using one of Goober's friends mother....she seems confident and SWEET enough so we shall see what I come back too :).

Alrighty, enough chit chat....pictures...thats what everyone wants anyways right?

Here is a video of my dad playing his guitar and Goober playing his violin....sweet times!

A good summary of our vacation...Goober reading, Baby Boy with my dad and my Papa drinking cokes one after the other :). 

My brother...isn't he lovely?

Changes

Adam and I both agree that over the past month the kids have all changed and grown up so much.

Ribbit is talking in much longer sentences and notices more and more around her. She corrects us A LOT, for things such as "big girl and little girl"....if I say "dinner instead of lunch".....if we contradict something we said or she heard earlier. She is also becoming much more loving telling us how much she loves us every hour and reminding me that we are best friends.She also tells us every morning at breakfast how this is not our home anymore and that Alabama is. She says " but papa get so sad when I leave him and then he is happy when I come back :)"

Baby Boy is pointing at everything, which is great because now we pretty much know what he wants. He also started waving one day in IKEA...i tell you that place is magical :). He just started waving to an older lady and she said " he must know i am a grandma". He waves with both hands at the same time and gets so excited about his new hand motion.

Goober, although he didn't change as much is also going back into his loving side...he kinda goes through cycles where he wants to be held, tickled and cuddled...and then its back to normal little boy where you have to wrestle him to plant a kiss on his ear :).

Speaking of Ikea we headed there the day after we got back from Alabama. We needed major organization ....the kids rooms were getting out of hand. So in the last 4 days this is what we have done.

1-Cleaned out all 3 kiddos wardrobes...like massive. Separated into summer/winter wardrobes and then packed up everything they had outgrown. YARDSALE SOON!
2-Went through all toy bins and sorted toys---this took years since we have toys likes legos, games, tea sets and other things that have several parts.
3-Bought organizational furniture for the 2 older kids and got everything in them with other toys packed up for YARDSALE!
4-Got Christmas taken down (well 90%, outdoor lights are still up :) (hint hint Adam:)).
5-Adam and I picked out a new headboard at Ikea that has storage in the headboard, it also has some width to it so we can put pictures/lanterns/candles behind us.
6-Made new window treatments for our room--not 100% done
7-Adam cut down our bed. It used to be like 5 foot high with tons of storage underneath it...so much so that we kept our christmas tree underneath it :). But with kids, that couldn't get up there on their own and I had a heat attack when they got close to the edge because it was a long way down. Its now about 2.5 feet off the floor with storage underneath.
8-Cleaned out the tupperware cabinet and my jewelry cabinet (all the women know how big a chore these both are!!)

Other than that we just went grocery shopping for lunchbox items at Sams, unpacked from our 10 days of travel, put away laundry, normal household chores and played like none other :). A VERY PRODUCTIVE 4 days. Tomorrow we return to reality...8-3 job and having to wear non-stretchy pants, make-up and coming up with hairdos that don't look like a massive hairy animal on the top of my head.....: /


Still catching up on pictures...story of my life.

Praising the Lord during our Advent reading.

I am just too cool for school.

I have very talented art students. One of them made this awesome cookie cake for Adam's graduation....its archaeology tools and a scroll  on top of a graduation cap:)

Here Daddy....Happy Graduation!!!

Ribbit got an early christmas present while Lolly and Captain were in town for Adam's graduation.  She jumps herself into long naps...we like it.

He sits like this during Yo Gabba Gabba and dances along.

Oh I could just eat those toes!!

AU FAMILY

Look who else we got to see over the Christmas break...we normally see all of these couples 1-2 times a year. We are fortunate enough to see the couple to our right about 4 times a year since they also live in Texas!

I love comparing all these pictures to see all the parents reacting to their kiddos, the attitudes of my kiddos :)

All the babies were checking everyone out!

And we are done!!!...but we finally see Ribbit's face :)

And....the best one of the 10!!  Let's see how many babies are in next year's picture :)

That drive....

The hate I have for the drive from our home in Texas to our families in Alabama has now officially surpassed my hate of ketchup. Like I would eat straight ketchup (i just gagged) if it meant I would never have to be a part of that drive again.

When we are here in Texas we want to be here, we love everything here..my job (1 in a million), our home (love love love our home), our church (our family) and all that entails.
However, when we are driving there and are in Alabama we want to be there so bad. I'm begging God to either calm my spirit and give me a love for that heinous drive or to give Adam a job closer to Alabama if not right smack dab in the middle of it.

Our house looks like a tornado came through and all the blessings/trash/decorations/newness of Christmas is everywhere. When we got here at 6 this morning we made a playpen out of our luggage and furniture to corral the kids. I put down tons of pillows and blankets, popped a bottle in Little Man's mouth and handed the remote to Goober (netflix only). I then laid in the middle of that playpen for 2 hours in and out of consciousness. Adam went straight to bed...he drove the last 10 hours straight. Then the kids and I ventured our for lunch and two stops at two different grocery stores...we were out of everything, including diapers and formula :).

Our visit to Alabama was wonderful. Unlike other trips there were only a handful of people that we didn't end up seeing. We received way tooo many nice gifts and blessings. The kids had lots of fun and of course were asking us when we could go back the whole way here.  The whole "want and need" gift giving went great. They still got wayyyyyy too many things but I wasn't disgusted and I felt like they didn't get the "gimmies". 

It was also nice to take naps during the day and go out by ourselves some. We actually got to have about 3 or 4 dates...I am not sure if I am counting our romantic dinner at Cracker Barrel with my brother as a date :).

Goober remembered the cost of 2 gifts and revealed those to the 2 recipients....he thought he was super funny and fortunately both of the recipients did too :). He also fell asleep one night with a big wad of gum in his mouth. He claims to not have known what to do with it so he just held it in his hand. Yeah, you can imagine the mess that he and the bed were in the morning. He got lots of beyblade equipment..lots of books and football things.

Ribbit was charming and whiny...her usual self. She told me that she loved me a lot during the trip and reminded me of our best friend status. She had a hard time sleeping but then again we all do when we aren't in our own bed....and when our older brother is encouraging the bad behavior :). She got lots of princess things, stuffed animals and cute clothes. She has not stopped carrying around her build a bear Hello Kitty....except for she calls it "Hello Cat".

Little man did really well for teething and being sick the whole trip. He had every adults attention and got lots of snuggles and bounces. He got a walker and has been scooting everywhere. He also got a mobile for his carseat...that has helped out the car ride a lot!!He started pointing during our trip so now we know exactly what he wants. He also starting wrinkling his nose when he laughs or smiles.

Thats all I can recall for right now....I'm feeling the medication I took take effect and we have lots to do tomorrow.....thank you notes/bank deposits/laundry/cleaning out the playroom/superhero costume gathering....i'm tired just thinking about it ;).


Santa makes us a deal. He will come visit us early if we make him his favorite peanut butter reindeer cookies!

He had fun at dinner that night....those two dots were cracking me up!

Test tasting Santa's cookie!

Santa left each child a note encouraging them in their strengths and reminding them to love their family and to obey :). Did you know that Santa's favorite instrument is the violin?

Unwrapping so fast that I couldn't capture it :)