Summer 2012!!

 Well we started off our summer with some very exciting news!!! On May 23 we found out that we would be having a new addition!!! Our "Junior" (what the girls want to call the baby) is due January 25th, 2013!! We should find out in September if this precious baby will be a "Jr" (we don't have a boys name picked out yet) or a Lillian Michelle (we will call her Lily). We can't wait to hold this baby in our arms! God has truly blessed us!

 We had a lot of Birthdays this summer!! Here is Emma and Mady at Emma's 5th birthday!!

 The girls enjoyed playing on the deck in their kiddy pool.....and water mellon too! : )

 We went to Lake Bensons firework show! It was hot but lots of fun memories were made!

 Here is Leah at her 6th birthday! My babies are growing up too fast!

 Sweet Mady cakes! I love her grinch smile. : )

 Mady at the fireworks in Garner, we brought our pillows and blanket to chill on while we waited for it to get dark.

 We took a couple trips to Pullen park. The girls loved the boat ride!

 They love spending a few days with their Mimi and Pop pop!! The water slide is perfect for a hot day!
They also spent a couple days with their Grandma and Grandpa.......they are so loved and spoiled by their Grandparents! Tim and I are so thankful for such wonderful, godly, and loving grandparents that our girls have! It truly is a blessing.

 Here's Emma at Lake Benson.

 We celebrated Daddy's Birthday!! He turned 34 this year! I remember celebrating his 25th birthday!! Time certainly has gone by quickly! So thankful for this man and the 9 years that I've known him. : )

 I celebrated my 29th birthday this year! For my birthday we went to the beach!! I LOVED it and so did the girls. :) It's funny but all I could think about on my birthday, was that in one year I turn 30!! lol....I have no idea why that number scares me so much! 30 is so young!!! Right?!?!? ;)

  Well the dog daze of summer are almost over for us, and I think we are ready for the fall! My favorite time of year! The picture below is our "new" school room for this year. We will start school next Tuesday July 24!! We are starting early so that we can take some time off when the baby is born and still finish school in May. : ) Leah will be starting  First Grade and Emma will be starting Kindergarten! Can't believe they are both old enough for school!! I have no idea what I'm going to do with Mady!! I will have to give her some school work too! She has to do whatever her sisters do!

 Ready or not school year 2012/2013 here we come!!!

The end of Kindergarten, The beginning of Summer!!!

We celebrated Leah's sixth Birthday a couple of weeks ago! I can't believe she is six! Seems like it was yesterday that we were at the hospital waiting on this little bundle of joy to come into this world. I went into labor on Wednesday April 26th at 8:30 pm........she was born on Friday April 28th at 2:27am!!! The funny thing is, she has always taken her time with things, very calm, more reserved, and patient! I love being her Mommy and watching her grow. I love her gentle, nurturing, loving spirit. She has always been the same. We asked her what she wanted to do with Mommy and Daddy for her birthday. She chose to go ice skating! So that's what we did! We had so much fun!

This is a picture of Leah on her first day of Kindergarten, August 15, 2011. We were practicing our Indian poem......she loves Indians! : )

 Leah's first Library card.....

Their favorite hats...mine too! ;)

 One of her first phonics papers....

 Cooking class.....it's always interesting : )

 Our sight word tree...

 Pledging to our flag...

 Art class...fun and messy : /

Pumpkin patch field trip....

 Her first story that she wrote all by herself....

Her favorite books are Junie B. Jones.....I think they are one of my favorites too!

We arrived at the last day of school today! It was bitter sweet for me....I am so glad to be done for the Summer, yet at the same time I can't believe she's done with Kindergarten! It kind of scares me at how fast time is going by.



In one-hundred-and- eighty days of school, Leah has learned to read, write all letters, write sentences and short stories, punctuation, over 100 sight words, adding up to the sum of 10, subtracting, how to count by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's to 100, basic word problems, coin value and counting, and much more! I am very proud of her and all her hard work!


 I am thankful that God has given me the ability to home school her and teach her these things! We are very excited about our summer break. We are also looking forward to the first grade this fall......and the new student in Kindergarten! : ).....now what to do with the preschooler?!?!? : )

Leah is a very sweet girl, all my girls are, but, Leah is a very sensitive girl. She LOVES to have one on one time with Mommy. She LOVES to drink "coffee" with me and talk my ear off, she LOVES to go on walks with me and talk...... I love it too......she loves the little things, she loves words. : )
Her last reading assignment was to read this card I wrote for her. She lit up with joy when she read that she had completed Kindergarten...and so did I! : )

May 14th, 2012...DONE with Kindergarten! : )

He is risen..........April!!!

My girls on Easter morning, the sun was a little on the bright side = )

Leah Elizabeth~ 5yrs

 We had a good Easter celebration with our family and church family. I am so very thankful that He is risen, He has concurred death, and has given us the free gift of salvation! I hope and pray that all my girls will get saved, but not only that, that they will have a wonderful relationship with Christ and will serve Him all the days of their life~ "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4

Emma Grace~4yrs

Madelyn Kate~ 3yrs

Mady and her awesome hat, reading on the way to grandmas house! = )

Leah Elizabeth

 My sweet Leah girl will turn six-years-old in two weeks!! How in the world did six years go by this fast!! I love this girl! Thank you Lord for her sweet and gentle heart.

Madelyn Kate

Madelyn Kate 

 She is so funny!! The faces this girl can come up with!....She was excited to find her Easter present! They do a scavenger hunt at Grandmas house every year. They are each given their own clue cards to find and the last card they find will lead them to their present! They love doing this every year!

Sweet girl

Emma Grace, she sure can cut some looks! 

 Oh Emma, not sure what to say other than she's pretty cute!! = )

Train ride at Pullen Park!

Leah Elizabeth~ My soon to be 6yr old.= )

Madelyn Kate~3yrs

 She was so happy to be on the train! It was such a beautiful spring day today, that we decided to go to Pullen Park in down town Raleigh! It was a lot of fun! They have train rides, a carousel, a kiddie boat ride, paddle boats that you can rent and take on their little lake, a big playground, and more!! We had a lot of fun there today!

Pullen Park Paddle Boats

Leah's painting! ........."Garden of tulips"

Leah is participating in her first "Home School Recital" this Friday! She will be singing a song with her Daddy, "You are Holy" by Michael W. Smith, and will be submitting this painting that she did as her art piece for display! We are very excited! She LOVES singing with her Daddy while he plays the guitar! I might be a little biased but, I think this is the best piece of art I have ever seen! =)

Sweet Sisters!

I wish this picture would of came out a little better.....I love their expression! They really do love each other!! =).........Oh the fighting they do! But, for the most part, they truly love each other and would do anything for each other. Watching them and their special bond that they have as sisters makes me wish I had a sister!! It really gives me joy to watch them grow up together and to know that they will have each other the rest of their lives.

"Sisters touch your heart in ways no other could. Sisters share... their hopes, their fears, their love, everything they have. Real friendship springs from their special bonds."

Is God More Than Enough????

 When  taking Emma to her Doctor today to have her cast removed and her arm put in a sling (Phase one of recovery) I found myself in a interesting conversation with my four-year-old. She asked me a question that I myself have often worried about and wondered the answer to. Emma: "Mommy, what if God doesn't heal my arm? What if I can never move it like it's suppose to?..............After a few seconds of silence and holding back my tears of fear.....I had to say one of the hardest things to her.......He may not Emma, God may choose to not heal your arm. But, you have to understand that even if that happens, that God is more than enough for you! You don't need your arm to be "normal" to serve God! Then I was overcome with a little guilt and fear......Is God really more than enough? What am I going to do if He chooses to not heal her arm?!?  Then I had to stop and think back over these last almost five years, and remember all the miracles He has done for us.

 We started the journey with Emma's arm on May 24, 2007. The day she was born.
Miracle #1: When Emma was born, she was stuck with in me. The Dr's were trying everything they could to get her out in time. She was loosing oxygen and we were about to lose our girl. I remember laying there in great pain, I realized that something was wrong, really wrong. She was not coming out and she should of been out by now. The Dr's and Nurses were frantic! They had already gone through all the "procedures" in the book and nothing was working. I laid my head down  and prayed. I said " Lord, I know I can't do it! I have no strength left, but, I know You can! Please help me!"...and with that prayer was the first miracle, Emma was immediately born!!!
Miracle #2 : We were told once they stabilized Emma, what had happened to her and that we should prepare ourselves that she may never move her arm. Four months later, she moved her arm for the first time!! God showed us that second miracle! Miracle #3: When Emma got older we started to notice that her arm was getting weaker. There was no specialist in this entire state that could help her! The only Pediatric Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Injury Specialist was in Texas!!! They would fly up to Charlotte, NC twice a year to do free clinics. They did a scan of Em's shoulder and thought that she would benefit from a Muscle Transfer Surgery, but we would have to fly down to Houston, Texas! Our Medical Insurance would not pay for anything out of state....we felt hopeless! There was nothing we could do but wait and pray. Pray that God would provide a way even when there really seemed to be NO way! We just kept driving the distance to Charlotte every six months to make sure she was doing okay. One day after coming home from the long trip, I felt very overwhelmed and worried! To be honest I even felt a little bit of anger. Nothing hurts worse than seeing your child suffer and there's nothing you can do about it! So I came home and got on the internet and decided to google Erb's palsy doctors Raleigh, NC.....then miracle #3 happened....her Dr. popped right up! It just so happened that Emma's Dr. Had just moved to the area recently and started a new practice just for pediatric Brachial Plexus patients!

 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.~Psalm 63:8

There have been lots of miracles in Em's life! I had to go over them to remind myself, that HE is faithful, HE does love us, and HE is in control and has a special plan for her. He loves her more than I do, she belongs to Him!!!

We were told before Emma had the surgery that it would not fix her arm, it would just slow down the process of internal rotation. Her arm is going to slowly turn inwards and one day she may have no use of it. In the mean time we are trying to do as much as we can to give her the most function in her arm.

I know that  God is in control, it's hard as the stubborn human that I am, to give it to Him no matter what!
So when Emma asked me that question earlier today, I had to remind myself of His grace and that God is more than enough even if He chooses to  not heal Emma. HE is more than enough!

"But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen." ~ Phil 4:18

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, 

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."~ Psalms 103:8