Psalm 19:21

OK, I had a mini breakdown moment of again begging the Lord this morning. I was dusting the girls' room and sissy was laying in her crib. When I moved to her side of the room she jumped up and reached for me. My plan was to leave her in bed, but I couldn't resist! I picked her up and hugged her tight. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I squeezed her and begged the Lord yet again to make her mine.

We ask you to pray again for court coming up this Monday. Alot of stuff could happen and we could lose her again. We have also applied for what is called "De Facto Parenting" and the Judge will rule on that also. (That is kind of confusing but you can google it. It just gives us a few more rights, because right now we have none.)

My Pastor, Scott shared this verse a couple of weeks ago and it has really helped me in my thinking. "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." It doesn't matter what anybody tries to do, what we all think...Sissy where be where she is supposed to.

As you know, this year the Lord is getting me where it hurts, my family and kids. I am learning to hold them with loose fingers as God is the one they ultimately belong to. I think, at the end of this year will Ivy still be any only child? Will we have 2 kids or 3? Only God knows, but I know that He is faithful and good and that will not change even if I didn't have any. I'm working hard at living what I say that I believe. Please hold us in your prayers this coming Monday and I will post an update.

Elmo /Ivy

This is what Ivy was wearing when I went to pick her up from Lynn's house today. She let her keep it so Ivy went to visit her dad at work like this. She is still wearing it.....so cute!

Ivy's First Trip to the Dentist

Princess crown for her princess clean teeth.

Counting her teeth.

Cleaning them.

Dr. Rose says no sugar bugs!

Chuggin' Along

I know people have been wondering what has been going on with us so here is a little recap.



Matt was gone to Palm Springs for his annual LDI trip. He was gone for only 3 days but it was good to have him back. He let Ivy take his work cell phone last night (against my better judgement.) He thought what harm could she do? Ten minutes later we couldn't find the phone, Ivy (of course) didn't remember where she misplaced it. We kept calling it and it would sound so close! Finally Matt was fishing it out from under the oven in the kitchen. I took pictures of him crawling on the floor with the broom and 2 little nosey girls jumping on him. But I am banned from putting them on my blog. My stomach muscles got a good workout from all of the laughing.

As most of you know, Matt and I switched churches in December. We left Grace community after about a year of praying about it. It is closer to home, our closest friends all go there, but most of all, we had such a big desire to be used more in the local church. We were really beginning to become convicted that we have gifts that the Lord has given us and we weren't using them as much as we would like or should. There are so many things that we miss about Grace but we have loved Placerita Babptist so much! I sang on the worship team this past Sunday , along with my first solo for Special Music. I was so thankful to the Lord for His goodness in guiding Matt and our family. Matt is in the orchestra and taking a theology class on Saturday mornings and we have biblestudy 2x a month 2 minutes from our house.

Ivy is loving preschool! She begs me to let her ride the bus! I explained to her that it is hard enough for me to let her out of my sight to go to preschool but I draw the line at letting a 3 year old ride the school bus. I am not cutting those mother/daugther strings for a long time! It has been hard on her to know that Sissy is gone on the weekends, but it is a good opportuinity to teach her how we take our desires to the Lord and let Him decide.

Lastly, something that I have always struggled with is being too much of an open book. I always share the good and the bad. (aka. Fat Mommy) but I guess that I figure that I don't really have much to hide. The Lord has taught me more about discretion over the last 10 years (mainly through my husband.) and I would like to think that I have learned to be more receptive to the Holy Spirit's wisdom. In saying all of that, I have been convicted over how much I am sharing/going to share about my current/possible future adoptions. I truly have always had good intentions in doing so, I LOVE the prayers being given on our behalf...and please keep them coming!!!! However, the part that I have been convicted about is sharing facts about other people's lives that are not mine to share. Trust me, I never meant any harm in doing so, I was just didn't think it through like I maybe should have.

I am still going to try and talk about court dates, etc. coming up because I believe that I need your prayers but I want to above reproach.

Thank you for your love, encouragement , and prayers. I'm thankful for it all.