2 weeks down.

Well we have had two successful weeks of home schooling. The first week seemed so easy, but mostly it was just reviewing. This week we did a lot more but still a lot of review.

We celebrated Solomon's birthday at Busch Gardens on Tuesday and I was reminded of how fortunate our family is. Not only has God blessed us with four beautiful children but with finances to enjoy lots of activities. Growing up my parents struggled paycheck to paycheck just pay the bills. I am grateful that I had parents who worked so very hard so I could enjoy the things I loved. And now I look at my life and pray my children will grow up with a  sense of need, NOT want.
This has been the topic of my prayers this week. Daily I hear people (myself included) saying I "need" this or that. When actually we have everything we need and much much more! Our urgency for things has put our country in a state of want rather than need. I say this not to make anyone feel bad but to explain the joy God gave me with just $20 this week.
While at Busch Gardens I was waiting for the boys to get off a ride and saw two grown men having their picture taken with Big Bird and Elmo. These two were with a group from Orlando for persons with physical and mental disabilities. One of the men was in a wheel chair and the other had major malformation of his face. Anyway I could see the joy they both had while having their picture taken with these fun characters. I watched from a distance for about 5 min, until the Lord prompted me to but them a picture that had been taken. When the men and their caregivers saw the pictures they were ecstatic. The one care giver told me all they wanted while visiting Busch Gardens was having a picture with Elmo. It was such a joy for me to see them smiling and laughing. I took pictures with them and shared in their excitement.
This week God has brought both of these men to mind daily. I will continue to pray for them both and I will so grateful for my healthy God loving children.
Thank you Lord for your blessings in my life!

Day 2 Down!

Well we are off to a good start. Day two of home school was as productive as day one. I know that the first few weeks will be light work for the boys but it is nice just to ease into things.
We have family in this week and Labor day weekend so, having things lighter these weeks helps out.
I am so very excited about homeschooling this year. I believe God has called me to this and I cant wait to see how he changes our lives.

WOW 3 years?

I can't believe it has been 3 crazy years since I blogged. I guess I need to keep up a little better. I had stopped blogging because I wasn't sure how much was too much to share regarding our adoption. I was afraid of people looking down on us and our family for our choices. I have since learned it doesn't really matter what other think. God is in control and we have followed His leading in trying to do the best for our family.
Since my last post we have moved to North Port Florida and are currently attending a great Church.
 Marcus has moved to an independent living program to help him get ready for life beyond high school. He will be a senior this year and hopes to join the military after graduation. We think this is a great opportunity for him!
Solomon will be in 1st grade this year, and after a year at private school we David and I decided home school will be the best option for our family. I am looking forward to learning and teaching him and Josiah this year.
Josiah had a wonderful Pre-k year and will start home school this year as well.
And as many of you know we have a baby now. Isaac is 15 months now and growing too too fast!
I hope to keep the blog up better this year sharing my experiences in homeschooling.

Pictures

Catching up!

Sorry it has been so long since I updated everyone. The past few months have been very difficult. I actually started another blog without names, pictures in hope that I would feel more comfortable expressing our life when I realized it is the life God gave me and I should not be ashamed but excited to give my daily, weekly or monthly testimonies. They may not always be sweet and fun, but it is my life. My hope is that families who have either adopted or are thinking about adopting will find my blog helpful and helpful in their journey.

So since I last blogged we have moved to Sarasota. Wow what a change. We are getting into a grove, Marcus started football, Solomon starts pre-k and I am excited to get some one on one with Josiah.
I am so thankful that we were finally able to move to Sarasota. We were in Orlando while David was either commuting or staying in Sarasota. During this time I was dealing with behaviors from Marcus that I could not handle alone. Davids dad stepped up to the plate (thank goodness) but Marcus really needed Davids strong hand and guidance. So here we are. Since moving I thought finally things will get better, of course just when you think that they get worse. Raising a teenager is tough but loving a child who has the background Marcus does is even tougher. I don't know if he really does not care or if it is just a front. Sometimes I feel like he just thinks of ways to make me mad.
I was given a WONDERFUL book by my friend Beth about training a child. I have had this book for almost a year and never opened it until this week. I think God was laughing at me and saying I told you to read this. It has made a huge impact on how David and I will continue to parent not only Marcus but Solomon and Josiah also. There are so many great ideals and most importantly it is Christ centered. We have already started implementing things that are helping.
One issue we have trouble with is every time we ask him to do something he always ask WHY. Now most times he knows why and it is his way of disobeying. So now IF he completes the task with out question or comments I explain, however if he questions or comments I completely ignore him. So far so good. Lets hope it continues to work.
As for Solomon he just had his 4Th birthday. I can not believe he is four already. For those of you who did not know, David and I were told we could not have children. After many doctors and research we found Pope Paul IV and we were able to conceive using there Creighton Model approach. We got pregnant however had a miscarriage on August 11 2005. One year later on August 11 2006 Solomon was delivered. God had many blessing in store for our family and we just had to be patient and learn to trust him. Anyway Solomon is growing and learning and is super excited about starting school on Monday.
Josiah is our "all boy" child. He is into everything and does not stop. He is talking more and more and loves to swim. I have never seen a toddler swim like him. He can swim the length of the pool without coming up for air. Maybe he is the next Phelps. LOL

As for now we are just trying to survive the stage of life we are in. We know God is faithful and his plan for our family is better than any plan we could have for ourselves.

Also let me know if you do not recieve our snapfish.com photos each month and I will add you to the list.

October 2009

Now for October 2009. October was all but typical for the family. Kelvin and Quinton gave their lives to the Lord at the beginning of October and both of them were Baptised at the ocean on the 11th. God has shown us and the boys what a great God we serve. He is proving to these boys that HE is all they need and if they will open their hearts and let him in He will heal their hurts.

And of course Halloween was lots of fun. Solomon was a Pirate and Josiah was a Cowboy. His guns were longer than his legs. We trick-or-treated around the neighborhood and Josiah instisted on going to every house his big brother did. It was adorable.

September 2009

Wow, I guess time flies when you are having fun. Over five months have passed and I am WAY behind to say the least. So I guess this will be a long one.
Lets start with Sept. 25, 2009 or as we called it Gotcha Day. Marcus moved in! We had fun picking up all his things and moving them into his own room. Then we had a small dinner with family to celebrate. Of course it took some persuading to get something besides pizza. LOL
Marcus is was still playing football so Saturday was spent at his game. Then Sunday of course included Quinton and Kelvin, who have become permanent on Sundays with us. What a busy house we have on Sundays. God has blessed us.


























On a funny note we learned a very important lesson this week. When Solly refuses to sleep check on him often. David found him in Jody's room covered on Poo. Not only was he covered but the room was covered. Carpet, bed, blinds, shoes, dresser, and even inside the drawers. Guess we will be more observant of him at naptime.
Little Josiah has learned to use a fork and prayed by him self at lunch for the first time. It went somthing like, "mama, dada, amen. How precious the first prayer from our baby.