Vacation 2010=)

Family vacation to Monterey!!

Levitating

Ninjas

Me and my Nay Nay

Love his smile!

Cutie

TJ the ninja

family vacation 2010

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Shanay

Markenley

Solomon

Taylor

Living for God

I have been struggling lately with whether or not I am truly living for God..truly...like I should abandon everything and move to Haiti or Russia and care for sick children..only then will I be truly living for God. Am I really doing enough? It's hard with packed days of work and home and family to do more. I feel like God has given me peace today by showing me that I can care for his people here. There are needs here even at our own church and my own neighborhood. By bringing hope into others lives, sharing God with them we can be the hands of feet of God wherever we are. By being there for others, by meeting their needs..even simple needs can be a blessing to others. I am praying that God will open my eyes to the needs of others and to give me a heart of compassion...to show me where I can help. So, for now I will not move to Haiti..or Russia..
Love to All!!

frustrated!!

Once again..ugh...Maybe i wasn't cut out to be a mom. the day can be so lovely then drama explodes. I picked up the book Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline. I think I need to read it again.
The first thing in the book is a poem...

A wonderful woman who lived in a shoe
Had so many children,
And knew exactly what to do.
She held them,
She rocked them,
She tucked them in bed,
"I love you, I love you"
Is what she said.

The very first paragraph asks if you have ever punished your child and then felt guilty about it? The author says she wrote the book to help me change my behavior!

"Once you model self control for your children , they will show better self control than you could ever imagine they could achieve."

Yes, my child's attitude was horrid. Yes, he made awful choices...yes, i think at times he wants me to go crazy. Yes, he is a wonderful kid with an amazing heart, he is helpful and sweet and loving and kind. Yes, he spent years in an orphanage with no parents to teach him right from wrong. Yes, he's hurting and only God knows what's truly in his heart and what damage was done.

He deserves better than me....but God chose him for our family...so God...HELP!!

family photos

Family at Christmas

CRAZZZYY's !! Jess and Markenley

Love those eyes!

cousins eating!

Kirstens Gift!

Super Excited=)

So, honestly, if you had been at my house last week you would have thought I won the lottery...and I sorda' did!! I entered a giveaway on one of my FAVORITE blogs Melly and Me and I won!! Check out what I won here!!
Not only did i win, i was sooo excited that Melly actually commented on my blog! WOW! If you sew, or even if you don't you should check out her blog...buy some of her stuff! I really want to make the quilt "Once upon a time"....I really want to get better at embroidery! Since I don't think i will ever learn to knit or crochet it would be great to have a 'watching the boys play baseball hobby!"
So anyway, the fabric I won will turn into a few quilts for the kids at the boys orphanage!
I am excited to get sewing!

We have all been SICK SICK SICK...but are finally on the mend! 3 weeks of no energy...not fun! I have felt better this week and have started/finished a few projects! One quilt for a special birthday, my spring colored Christmas quilt is now quilted, and new valances in the kitchen! I am in the mood to organize stuff now but i won't because it's late!! I am in the planning stages for all my summer camps at church and that is exciting too!! Yeahhh!

Much Love!
Renee

parenting and stuff=)

Oh what has happened since i last posted...our ever crazy life just keeps getting crazier. But we are blessed (sometimes I have to remind myself of that multiple times a day so i don't go completely nuts!)

Daycare is HARD! The hardest job i've ever done. It is wonderful too. I am exhausted at the end of the day. I am hoping it will get better because the kiddos are getting older...but it's hard!
Some days it's more like I am running a mini hospital ward with all the runny noses..I feel like i can't ever get completely better...it's a vicious cycle. Taking sick days is hard for me, i feel so guilty because I am inconveniencing so many others. The kids are sweet though....when they aren't crying or biting...it's so cute how they interact with eachother. I have one little boy who's one and he is my little police man/daycare helper. He tells me if I've missed something, where the babies need to sit, who's crying, it's cute.

The boys are doing great. I really don't think they have any attachment issues...but that worries me too, am i missing something?
Last night we were at the fabric store and Markenley announces that people in Haiti drink pee. I think that was something he heard on tv....too much CNN.
I don't think Soly remembers Haiti...i'm sure it's inside him. He speaks so well and is a hysterical little guy!
Markenley has been doing great in school and his 'freak outs' are less. He LOVES tv, but we try not to let him watch it much. I was noticing that at times it seemed that tv and freak outs went hand in hand...not sure, so we limit tv. God obviously knew that we were the right family for Markenley since he seems to be a lot like one of his big sisters and we know how to handle behavior like that. NO tolerance for such behavior! He is such a sweet kid.

Shanay and Jess are doing great...they both have boyfriends....UGH. I like both boys...just not too into the idea of boys in general with my girls!! The girls are strong in their convictions...i trust them. We're just trying to make sure they stay on the right path. Really following God's direction. Sometimes boys can confuse us. Maybe I'll share my story of how a boy changed my life sometime. ;)

Taylor is Goldilocks in her school play but still aspires to go to Hollywood and start her career! She is a dreamer, i like that!

TJ is Alex, the lead in Velveteen rabbit! How exciting. He also is starting baseball today, as well as Markenley! (More sitting in the cold cheering on my boys!)

Sharene is turning 21 soon...21 really?? I met Todd when she was 1. She's growing up to be a beautiful woman! I'm proud of her.

Todd is doing good, working hard at church, and being the world's best husband and Daddy.

OK. that's it for the boring update posts...i'll try to post more exciting stuff from now on.

xoxo
renee

Devastation in Haiti

This past week has been such a surreal week. Our world was shaken, literally. Many lives were lost..too many precious people. I can't believe it still. I think back to our trips to Haiti and the amazing people we met. We have seen firsthand the Haitian people, with so little worshiping God in such a powerful way....and now on the news you see them worshiping still when they have NOTHING! God is alive in Haiti. I see our kids standing in the kitchen complaining that 'we don't have any food to eat'. Which means we don't have anything they want at the moment. Alot of these people have NO FOOD. Can you imagine?

We don't know the fate of our children's birthparents. We are heartbroken for them. Will we ever know?

Seeing the images of these orphans is killing my heart. Lord, what are you doing?

I am praying praying praying for many of the children of friends I met in Haiti or through our adoption to get their kids home this week on Humanitarian Visa's. Lord, you are almighty, you can move these children to the waiting arms of their parents. They need to feel safe, loved and get the help to deal with this tragedy they have witnessed.

We are blessed...to bless again.

XOXO
Renee

There are so many orphans....we are blessed tremendously by our Haitian babies...would you consider being blessed too?

Fabric-a-holic

I think my obsession started years ago..but it's only getting worse! I LOVE fabric! I love to dream up things I can do with it. I am really into making purses right now. I LOOOOOOOVVVEE Anna Maria Horner. She has amazing fabric and her family is adorable. Her studio is amazing!!
Melly and Me is one of my favorites!! I have made 2 of her purses recently and they are super cute! The only problem is that the only time I get to sew is in the evening...projects usually getting finished long after midnight.
I am really interested in learning how to do metal stamping so I can make cool jewlery! Just need more time...
XOXO

Emotions

Baby Shanay
Taylor, Shanay, Jessica and TJ...so young...

My kids now!

Tomorrow is a huge day in our family...a day full of excitement and joy and dread and sorrow....the first day of school. Markenley starts kindergarten!! An amazing opportunity that if he stayed in Haiti he may never have been able to experience. How blessed are we, even though it seems our school system stinks right now, that we have the opportunity for our kids to attend school. He is so excited...with his new shoes and new clothes all layed out! I think he will do great, I am a little worried though that he may get overwhelmed at times and am not sure how he will act. At home he will just refuse to obey at times..usually when he is overwhelmed..or unregulated..when there has been too much out of the ordinary going on. This happens so much less frequent than in the past so I am praying that he does ok. We are fully aware that this is a trial situation and if we need to homeschool we will. He is also playing soccer again this year! I am sure he will do better this year since he now understands english!!

TJ starts 5th grade and is excited to see his wall ball, tether ball buddies. I am excited that he will get to walk his little brother to class, something he hasn't gotten to do before:) He is a great big brother. TJ is doing amazing at the piano..a true natural...we MUST get him in piano lessons this year!! He goes online and learns songs himself...he's amazing! He is also into making and editing videos..he's quite talented. His new thing is ventriliquism to go along with his comedy/magic routines.

Taylor is in 8th grade and is right on cue..freaking out about what to wear!! Even though she has a whole new wardrobe nothing seems to look right! She is beautiful and it all looks great!!

This is her last year of Jr. High!! How exciting for her. She admited schools not that bad. =) I'm praying that she has a great year!

Jessica is a Jr. this year...sheesh...where does the time go. This year she's not playing volleyball because she has a part time job at church as the intern for the Jr. High group! She is praying about being a youth pastor so this is a great opportunity for her!

Shanay is a SENIOR...HOW??? WHY??? UGH UGH UGH

I am so not ready for this...tomorrow she will be driving herself and Jessica to school...I don't even get to see them walk onto campus...they will go by themselves....EEEEKKKK

She is trying to figure out her future!! Teacher, social worker, vet...?? Where to go to college? She wants to stay here, I am truly hoping she will but praying for God's will.

She has a job as well this year as the intern in the church's children's ministry. I am so excited to see how God uses this job to grow her...she is a lot like me...more reserved ..Jess is like her Daddy..outgoing and confident. I think this will be a great opportunity for both girls. They were both chosen for the jobs because they are amazing young ladies=)

This is so hard for me emotionally...Shanay is my baby...I don't want her to grow up...then I know Jess will be right behind her..Lord, prepare my heart. I can't imagine that someday my girls will be wives and mommy's someday...my boys will be husbands and daddy's. I love my babies...I pray that they all have a great day at school tomorrow. I love you guys much more than you will ever know.

Solomon is excited for all the kids to go to school because after they leave he gets ice cream!!! He will get to do home school preschool with mommy and the daycare babies!!

At least he's not leaving me!!