OUCH!

 OK, I am not particularly squeamish!

I mean I have birthed 4 babies - 2 without any pain medication - TWO!

I have been through the LONG and FRUSTRATING adoption process, which if you have NO patience (like yours truly), can be extremely painful and not for the faint of heart!  Heh!

I have seen my fair share of skinned knees, bloody noses, road rashes, cuts, scrapes, stitches, bumps and bruises!

It comes with the territory...

Three boys and two little girls who have, well, three big brothers

Nuf said!

But this...

This was a bit much for even me, a well seasoned Mom of five!

I mean things sticking out of parts of my children's bodies is just too much y'all!

I did offer to pull it out but he refused.

He wanted to cut it out

Oh my!

I was able to get the scissors

and sterilize them

oh yeah and take a pic cause... 

I blog, don't ya know!

But that was it

apres' pic, I HAD to look away!

Yes, this was my eldest 

who wants to be in the military

I guess this was good practice - but for whom???  Sigh!

He managed to get it out...

without me...

AND

he shaved for the first time tonight...

AND

he is finally taller than me...

AND

he will be driving this year...

Sniff Sniff

AND

I cannot bear much more!

My seriously cute little 2 year old who had to be rocked to sleep every single night with his pacy and his blankets and his "Bo" and "Ginger" just cannot be old enough to cut splinters tree branches out of his own foot, shave his beautiful baby face, look down at me AND start driving soon!!!

 Say it ain't so!

Do they make sneakers with heels???

 My first baby is growing up

and even though there is a small part of me that was relieved that I did not have to cut that splinter tree branch out of his foot...

there is a bigger part of me that misses the days when he needed me (ALL the time)

when he was totally dependent on me...

for everything...

24/7

7 days a week

including holidays...

yeah, um, come to think of it..,

a 14 year old who shaves, is taller than me and cuts splinters tree branches out of his own foot...

isn't so bad after all!

Sunday Snapshot - Happy Birthday Charlie

Charlie

If I had to describe Charlie in one word, that word would be...

FUN!!!!

My sweet Charlie likes to have fun and...

MAKE FUN!!

Charlie never takes things too seriously so on the few occasions that he gets upset...

he really gets upset...

but it never lasts long (it never does with boys, does it - heh)...

and our sunshine child is back

ready for the next adventure...

and with Charlie...

there are LOTS of adventures!

Yep, our Charlie keeps us on our toes!

He keeps us laughing...

and shaking our heads!  Hehe!

Charlie, however, is that rare combination of fun and funny

and caring

and compassionate

and oh so sweet!

He still hugs his Momma

Although not usually in front of his friends!

Many times he is the peacemaker in our house...

even though he is usually the one "disturbing the peace!"  Hehe!

and now...

He is 12 years old!!

One year away from teenagerhood!!

Gulp!

To celebrate his 12th birthday, he wanted to play football

with a bunch of boys

a bunch of wild boys who

apparently don't know the meaning of 2 hand touch

or NO tackle

 DAD!!!!!

Sigh!

We had "C" cupcakes

 

and Che*tos

unfortunately we forgot the wipes! Ha!

It was a great day

for a great kid!!

I think I will end with Charlie's own personal signature on his phone

Charlie is...

We love you sweet Charlie Boo and hope that all your days will be

To read more Sunday Snapshots, go here

Tomorrow...

Is somebody's birthday...

12!  Really???

Stay tuned!

The Rest of the Story...

Can't you just hear Paul Harvey's voice saying that???

Hehe!

So, if you did not read Friday's post, you really need to go back to this post and catch up.

Go ahead, we will wait...

OK, now that you are caught up, let me tell you the rest of the story!

On Friday's post, we left off with my beautiful friend Angie blessing us with a pair of blue jeans and a wonderful friend of hers donating a laptop that they were not really using much anymore.

Blue jeans and laptops - an answer to prayer and a confirmation from the Lord.

We have begun to ask...

and He is answering, in some very beautiful ways and through some very beautiful souls

and in answering, He is revealing to us His faithfulness and His desire for us to give it all to Him and just trust that He will provide, that He is working on our behalf, even when we don't see it, He is working.

I see this all the time in the adoption community.  Families stepping out in faith, trusting that the Lord will provide all that they need to bring their children home and He does, over and over again.

So, we asked for blue jeans and boy did we ever get blue jeans.

We asked for a workable laptop and not only did some beautiful family donate thiers but our wonderful neighbors fixed our old one.

He provided and we were completely blown away and in awe of all that He had done.

and then...

Friday night happened...

I was getting the girls ready for bed.

Hubby was at the grocery store - with his coupons - I know - cool right???

Anyway, my dear friend Kim, called me - at 9:00 at night - something's not right - her bedtime is 9:00 - I know not to call her after 8:30 at night - hehe!  

Then our doorbell rang - at 9:00 at night - again, something's not right - it's 9:00 at night - I have already washed all of my makeup off - I am NOT going to that door - EEK!

but Em does...

and calls me to the door - with NO makeup on:)

only to find this

and a car speeding off into the night!

As we bring this envelope into the house, the girls are asking questions - questions I cannot answer.

What is it Mommie?  "I don't know."

Who is it from Mommie?  "I don't know."

Open it Mommie.  "OK"

For some reason, my hands started to shake but I managed to open the envelope

and when I saw what was inside, my whole body started to shake!

Yep, God answers prayers and He is always working, even when we don't see Him working.

Through all the frustrating nights that I was up until one in the morning, waiting for my computer to catch up to my fingers, waiting for my computer to free up enough disk space for me to be able to load it up again with more pictures of children who wait, there are always so many children who wait (sigh), waiting for my computer to restart itself after freezing for the umpteenth time, waiting... 

and all that time, He was working and I just didn't know it until...

I looked into that envelope, that envelope that contained the sweetest note - to Hubby and me -

that envelope that also held money 

lots of money

$700 to be exact - for a new computer - a faster computer - a computer that will allow me to help those precious waiting children AND get a decent night's sleep! Yippee!!!!

Now I was shaking

and crying 

and sobbing

and praising the Lord for the sweetest, most generous, most caring, most faithful group of friends, some of whom I have the privilege and joy of knowing in person and some of whom I have never met in person but feel like I have!

I did not know what to do...

so I prayed

I sat down with the girls and just prayed and thanked the Lord for all that He had been doing while I waited and then...

I called Hubby - at the grocery store - and put him on speaker phone - but we were speech * less...

and then I called the one person who I was pretty sure was behind it all (may I add a word of warning here - do not tell dear sweet Kim J a secret and expect her to keep it - hehe - lesson learned - ha)

anyway, I called wonderful Angie and well just sobbed and then well sobbed some more.

I think I got a coherent thank you out at some point during the sobbing but if I didn't...

THANK YOU TO SWEET ANGIE

THANK YOU TO EVERY SINGLE WONDERFUL FRIEND WHO DONATED.

Money is tight for us all and many of you, I know, are trying to raise money of your own to bring your children home or pay bills or put food on the table or or or...

I cannot even put into words the depth of gratitude and awe and overwhelming sense of thankfulness I feel.  I cannot adequately describe this feeling of complete appreciation for all of you, my wonderful friends, whom the Lord has so graciously brought into my life.  

I praise Him and thank Him for you all, every single one of you.

You are all

and 

I am learning and growing and I have you all to thank for much of my journey and there is just no way to tell you all just how much that means to me - how much you all mean to me.

I am learning to be patient in the wait, learning to have joy in the wait, learning to trust that He will provide and He will provide in amazing ways - through amazing people!!!!

To read other Sunday Snapshots go here