Thanksgiving and a Birthday

We had a special Thanksgiving this year.  It was the first one in our new house.  We were blessed with finding a huge dining room table that filled up our huge dining room nicely just in time for Thanksgiving.  Jacob flew up here to spend a few days.  We had such a good time.  For anyone who can't believe how much time has flown by Jacob will be graduating this year.  I know, right??
The other little girl in the pictures is my little sister Olivia.  She stayed with us the week after Thanksgiving.  Sorry, I still haven't learned how to turn the pics around.  Anyone want to clue me in?

 Next came Liberty's Birthday!  She turned 8!  The only thing she wanted was to go to Build-a-Bear.  Our first solo trip into Roanoke was fun.  We went to a nice mall compared to the wannabe mall by our house.  She had a blast building her bear and we ate at Chik-fil-a.  She also wanted chicken alfredo pasta and a German Chocolate cake for her birthday.  Those are one of the most time consuming cakes you can make.  So after a full day of driving and walking the mall, I came home and cooked.  At 8 years old Liberty is in the 75% for her height and the 95% for her weight.  Oops.  I think our whole family is in the 95% for our weight these days. 

Whirlwind!

Between a new puppy, Thanksgiving, Liberty's birthday and Christmas I have been busy! 
Our new little puppy is far from little anymore.  At 4 months he is towering over Maggie and still has plenty of growing left to do. 

Meet Recon.  As in Recon Ranger.  Guess who named him?  This is Darrell's baby.  He picked him out, named him and has loved him more than he ever thought about loving poor Maggie.  I have wanted a German Shepherd for awhile now.  I didn't think it would happen for a long time but we had some criminal activity on our property while I was home alone with Liberty and we knew it was time for a big dog. 

His favorite things include taunting Maggie, playing rough with Maggie, stealing Maggie's bones, stealing Maggie's food, stealing Maggie's affection and just plain making Maggie's life miserable.  Poor Maggie.  At almost 10 years old she didn't know what to think of him.  It has been fun to watch his ears.  They go from flopping forward to standing straight up to flopping backwards.  Sometimes one ear will be forward and one will be backwards.  He has been a good boy with the exception of many, many accidents.  Thankfully we have all wood floors.  He has learned to ring the bell at the back door when he has to go out.  For the most part. 

Now that I've caught you up on the dog, next time I will cover Thanksgiving and Liberty's 8th birthday. 

Introducing the newest memeber of the family....

No, it's not what you think.

Actually, I don't have any pictures yet.  So, I am taking guesses.  I'll give you a few hints...

My Stick vacuum will get a huge workout compared to its every other couple day schedule.

We had to go make a few new purchases at W*lmart last night.

My precious sleep will be interrupted with freezing temps.

And the next time someone comes prowling around outside my house, they will regret it!

Happy Birthday to You

You constantly forget how old you are despite me reminding you when I tell you to act your age.  Even I have forgot and we have had to count on our fingers.  Well, today you are 44!!  Let's try to get through a whole year without having to stop and think.  

Thanks for being a great husband and daddy.  Thanks for working to provide for us and allowing me to stay home.  

We love you.  

Happy Birthday!

Random Pictures!!

This is what happens when you let your 7 year old loose with your camera!

This was a science experiment.  It should have grown roots.  Instead we just got mold. 

We have been building a fire on Saturday nights for the past 2 months.  Its a fun thing to do that doesn't cost anything. We've had a blast spending time together and enjoying the fall weather.

I think I've got a ton of these pictures of Darrell driving.  This was at Cade's Cove when we went to my parent's house last weekend.

Family Dynamics....My daughter and my sister.  Two cuties.

And the most handsomest nephew alive!  Isn't he a doll? Both my nephew and my sister are 3.  I can't wrap my head around it!

I just had so snap this the other night in our backyard.  The camera definitely did not capture the real beauty.

I know satan hates adoption.  

And I knew that there would be opposition.  

And while it hasn't been that bad, Praise the Lord, it has been hard fighting that opposition.  In my heart I know that if we just walked away our lives would get easier.  

Particularly financially. 

I know that Darrell wouldn't have to work every Sunday to make ends meet. 

I know that things would stop popping up around here that need more of our already strained wallets. 

I know there would be less stress. 

Less emotional kinks. 

And if we keep going?

I know that there will be financial stress.

And Darrell will have to work a lot.

And satan will try and throw us curveballs to spend our money elsewhere.

And I know that stress, anxiety and emotional breakdowns will be prevalent.

This adoption will probably run us between $30,000 and $40,000.  

You cannot face that and not be under a little stress.  

Eventually I will sit down and write out how God has provided because I want everyone to see that He is faithful.  He is a father to the fatherless.  He sets the lonely in families.  

And that is how I know that God is in this.  We are not running in the opposite direction.  We are forging ahead until either God closes the door or I am holding my daughter.  And if God closes the door?  We will still find ways to help the fatherless.  We are called to it.  

In the meantime please pray for us.  The battle before us is strong and hard.  And we feel so weak. 

Home School

(If your trying to figure out what in the world is going on with the window in the background, we haven't finished the trim yet.  Still.  I also have a temporary curtain hanging for privacy.)

We do school at the kitchen counter.  We have a counter height overhang on our island with 4 barstools.  Its a perfect spot for now because we don't have another surface that fits us both side by side.

I love homeschooling.  I love being home.  The schooling part is hard.  School is the last thing I want to do during the day.  But being the good mom I am, we buckle down and get it done.  It usually takes anywhere from 2-3.5 hours for 5 basic subjects.  I need to add some handwriting and an elective soon.  But for now this is plenty.

The curriculum I am using is very self directed.  This can be a good thing.  And for the most part it is a good thing.  Liberty knows the pages she is to finish and she goes to town working on them.  The bad thing about this is I usually just do my own thing unless she has a question.  When I go back and check her work for the day I am noticing a lot of mistakes.  Usually because she isn't reading all of the directions.  We have had to find a balance where I don't have to sit and babysit her the whole time and she isn't on her own 100%.

We always sit and pray over our prayer requests and recite the Lord's prayer together.  I will then go over the directions for Bible.  I intend to go over directions from each subject as she gets to them, but I get distracted and she is very independent so it doesn't always work that way.





I love being able to get laundry and other cleaning done during the day.  You would think that being home my house would be spotless.  I thought it would be too.  It isn't.  I do try and clean the junk that accumulates everyday, but its so hard to clean the toilets when I just did it last week!!

Right now our days are pretty quiet for the most part.  The constant chattering from just one child is more than I can handle sometimes.  Its hard to say what adding another child (or children???) will do to my sanity, but we will cross that bridge later. 

I am so thankful that the Lord has provided an opportunity for me to homeschool and stay home.  I am thankful to Darrell for working so hard to provide for us.