Are you thinking about having a vasectomy reversal?

It was a day in February when we went.

I was so excited... Scott was nervous.

We walked in and they were getting

Scott ready for surgery and I

whispered my prayer to the Lord

to guide the hand of the surgeon.

It had been five years since we had a vasectomy.

My obgyn at the time told us we did not need to get

pregnant again. I had a condition that made me throw up the

whole pregnancy so my pregnancy's

were spent with extreme throwing up and hospital visits.

We followed our Doctors recommendations.

In the years to follow we regretted doing this.

So five years later we went back to the same Dr. and asked for it to be

reversed. He told us that it may or may not work.

I didn't hear any of that. I just wanted it reversed.

I knew God was not through giving us children.

The Dr. gave no recommendations on what to do after

we had surgery..He just kinda said

Good Luck.

Two weeks later I was pregnant.

I believe scar tissue is one of the main reason

surgery doesn't work for so many.

Even though this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage

I was pregnant once again a few months later

with Cooper. You can never imagine the feeling

of opening that pregnancy test and it coming back

positive. We were elated and scared.

Family was telling us how crazy we were and we

kept right on looking at the Lord, not them.

On December 28, 2001 Jason Cooper

was our miracle baby. He was such a gift that

the Lord gave to us. We knew the Lord would

get much Glory from this miracle. (Sometimes

He is Glorified more by not giving more children.)

But He chose to be glorified by giving us Cooper and

he was beautiful and perfect.

I have spent the last 8 years in his presence.

He is kind and easy going. He is smart and loving.

He is my Coop!

We praise God to this day

for giving us back what we had taken away from

Him. Our family size.

Since our reversal we have had Cooper, Cullen, Channie, and William

come into our family.

We would have missed out on all of them.

Let that sink in...

What could you be missing out on or who

are you missing out on?

Please consider having a vasectomy reversal.

God will be glorified by your decision and you

will put the control back where it belongs.

And who knows, you could be celebrating your reversal baby's

birthday.

If you have questions about vasectomy reversals email me and

I will give you tons of info:

americangirl1690@yahoo.com

Sweet little Josie-Claire

Josie Claire- our little sunshine!

She can light up the darkest rooms

with her heart-melting smiles.

She has started laughing at us

and herself which I tell her

is a great habit to get into to.:)

She loves her big green pacifier

and she loves to watch her

brothers and sisters play around her.

I have never been around

such a good baby as she is...(Psssst don't tell her

about my post from yesterday.)

She snuggles with you as long

as you want

and she burps like Elf.

She has stolen her mommies heart

forever....

it doesn't hurt that she slept for two nights

in a row..yipeeeeee

Little Ellie-Cate

My words fail me as I try and help you imagine

this sweet girl!

She is so easy going.

People often ask me if she ever cries

and honestly I have to say no.

She is such a precious gift and so

easy to love.

She is learning to roll over

and to smile at us.

She will follow me with her

eyes all around her room.

I can tell she loves me!

God gave her the most beautiful

color of a coffee latte.

I used to say I didn't notice color but now I say

I love the different colors in my home.

God made them all and I love the differences.

My little girl slept for 7.5 hours last night and so her

mom wants to say Thank you~

Happening on the Farms

The art of baking bread is so good for my senses.

Watching my daughter as she fusses over her loaves.

The sun streaming in as she gently lays her bread out to rise.
I feel I have been taken back hundreds of years.

The smell, the sights, the sounds of laughter.

I bet my grandmothers kitchen smelled this way.

Her hands kneading her bread and putting it out to share.

The flour spread on my table like snow on a landscape.

I could gently blow it off but I'll leave it there until supper time.

The sun is going down and the shadows are stretching out

their arms over our farm.

Lantern ready to be lit on the mantel.

Sometimes I just get tired of fake light.

I like watching the flicker of the flame bounce

off my walls. I like seeing my kids eyes through

the candle light.

I like blowing it out at the end of the

night and drifting to sleep in the darkness..

Good Bread and candlelight

life just couldn't get much

better than this!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Every year on Christmas eve We all gather

around Scott as he reads the Christmas story from the bible.

We always get new p.j.'s for the winter to keep us warm and toasty.

I love you guys and I pray the true meaning of Christmas

never leaves your memories.

Why we chose open adoption....

Family, the lines that bind you to one another.

Invisible strings that attach us no matter how far we go.

We had said we would see the birthmom at least twice

a year. Alot of people didn't and still

don't understand our decision to know Lasundra and

to have her a part of our life.

When we talked through having her become family we knew

there was some fear to be worked through.

We knew that if the Lord brought these two little girls into our

life we could bring their birth-mom into our life as well.

We know that sometimes life is not always about the easy road

or the most comfortable road. It's about leaving foot-prints on the road

The Lord has put before you.

Our road was running right into Lasundra's road

and we wanted to travel well with her.

We talk on the phone and we had already saw her when we first got

the girls.

We invited her for Christmas with us and she

came this weekend with the girls full sister Mimi.

I have prayed for the Lord to use His (my) house to minister to people

and sometimes He does it in strange ways.

This weekend we spent two nights and days loving on and eating with

Lasundra and Mimi. We laughed together and she helped comfort

the girls when they were fussy. She gently held them close and whispered

words of love in their ear. When she couldn't get them to stop crying she would

pass them to me and they would nestle and go to sleep.

In the middle of the night she would hear their cries and creep to their bedside

and tell them everything was ok.

On Sunday morning I was making breakfast so I tiptoed to her room and

she looked out from the covers and I gently placed Ellie next to her.

She had the biggest smile on her face as she nestled Ellie.

She looked up at me as if to say "Thank you."

She changed diapers and wiped noses.

She was part of a big family

for one weekend and she kept saying how she loved it.

She said

"I love the way you guys have every meal together."

"I love the way everyone helps run the house."

"I'm going to take back to my house the way y'all do things."

She showed me how to take care of the girls hair and skin.

She showed me that not everyone looks at color.

She loved all of our kids and when she left I was so thankful

for the beautiful memories we shared.

Our girls will have proof of their birthmoms love for them.

(She drove three hours to get here.The longest she had ever driven by herself.)

They have pictures of hands gently holding them.

They will have an answer for their questions when

they get older

and

I will have a friend!

Fear will cause you to miss

out on alot of things.

But if you trust not in yourself but

in the Lord things will turn out just the

way He planned.

Run Run as fast as you can you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man

Keeping up with two three year olds, a four year old, and a seven year old during craft time is a job, So when my friend Kathy asked if she could come over and make gingerbread houses with the kids my first thought was "are you sure?". She came over and spent many hours assembling the frames of the kids houses and rebuilding the houses over again when they pushed them down.:)

She brought over tons of candies all different sizes and colors.

The kids had a major sugar rush by the time she left!

Thanks for time invested Kathy!

Sin

It all started innocently enough.

Marshmallows melting in butter...

ok,

so I can handle that.

But then you added rice Krispies.

It's getting interesting.

( What happens when you're caught with your finger

in the bowl..:)

Then you add peanut butter fudge on top of that.

Things are looking serious.

The hounds are all around at this point but..

I keep slapping them away!

Then chocolate fudge on top of the peanut butter fudge.

This is just turning plain sinful!

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

(I'll go ahead and start now)

What you end up with is three layers of alittle crunch, peanut butter fudge, and

chocolate fudge..

Alitte bit goes a llllllllllllllllong way!

I feel so bad for partaking in this down-right sinful dessert.

Go ahead let me lead you down the path

that has you begging forgiveness as you

taste one of these beauties.

A very special date.

I spent the day with two pretty cool kids. These guys made my day as we went Christmas shopping and out to a restaurant. We had a booth at Red Robin but both boys wanted to sit with me on my side and we all crammed in. I thought maybe they would want to get back on the other side when their food got there but nope the waitress had to put all the food on one side. We were alittle crowded, but you know me, I was loving all the attention these future little men poured on me. These two are so loving and affectionate.

My mind kept drifting to Jo's African family and how proud they would be of him. He was so very sick for the first 18 months of his life. He was in the hospital almost every week of his life fighting to survive. Then he moved across the ocean where he would have open heart surgery. He was 19months olds. It took him two months to recover. So at around 2years old he had to learn to crawl, walk, eat...feed himself he's still working on talking. The words are slow in coming but if you calculate everything he's been through I'd say he's alittle ahead.

People look at him and see how big he is (he's 3) and ask "why isn't he talking." I have to admit I've prayed myself for his words to come but for whatever reason the Lord is more glorified by Jo just the way he is right now. Can I live with that? Can I take Jo and love him just the way God made him. Do I have to have perfection before I consider him a miracle?

Not at all.

Jo is a miracle and he is teaching our family so many things. Life is not always about everything lining up perfectly it's about how you respond to life not lining up.

Cooper is just so helpful. He has an old soul about him that keeps you guessing what he'll do next.

He rushed to open doors for me and every other woman he saw.

At Sam's he wouldn't let me lift anything heavy and he packed my cart and gave the lady

our card and insisted on unloading our groceries so I could get in the car and "keep warm."

I miss some of his gentleness when I have everyone with me. It can get crazy so it was nice to sit back and be taken care of by my 7 year old.

This is one of three dates that I will have over the next few days. My plan (Lord Willing) is to make sure I spend one on one time with my kids. I want to look into their eyes and tell them over and over how proud I am of them and to make sure they know how much

I love them!

The house smelled of cinnamon and sugar

I rolled out the dough and sprinkled alot of sugar,

butter and cinnamon on top.

The kids all gathered around and begged to help with this masterpiece.

Their moods all cheery just because I was in the kitchen cooking something just

for them.(like I don't do this everyday.)

making the biggest cinnamon rolls their

little eyes have seen in along time.

We all sat and shared a hot cinnamon roll

with a big glass of milk..

Life just couldn't get any better than this!

Enjoying the rich fellowhip of friends...

Thanks to all of our friends who have made this season special.

notice Channie's pants...LOL

Interview with the president of our White House

1.What has been your biggest accomplishment- having a successful marriage with Robin.. going on 18 years it gets stronger every year.

2.Who is one of your go to guys when it comes to marriage and manhood? The men at my church and the books, and cd's from vision forum they continue to affirm and challenge me as a husband and father.

3. What is your biggest challenge as a husband? Staying ahead of Robin. when I want to rest on my laurels I can't because she is charging ahead.

4. What is your biggest challenge as a father? Feeding twins at 2.00am... Seriously..., being consistent in how I instruct and discipline the kids.

5. What do you think is wrong with most men today-unsubmissive wives.LOL Seriously.... Unsubmissive hearts, not wanting to be the leader God wants them to be.

6.What would you tell someone who wanted to start being the leader of his home-

assuming he's a christian I would suggest listening to the cd "Women and Children first" by Doug Phillips for starters and find a church that requires you to lead your family. Get around men who are doing it right and you will soon find yourself wanting to lead.

7. What is the challenge of being the father of a large family-sleep... no seriously... sleep...ok moving right along..

8. Do you have a favorite devotion book for your family that you would recommend

Definitely.

Morning and Evening by Charles Surgeon. This is great lessons on Faith this book has changed the way we do family devotions.

8. What is one secret wives should know about their husband- less is not always better!

9. What would be your idea Christmas gift this year- refer to above..

10.What does the upcoming year 2010 have in store for your family?

lets see, birthday parties, boy scout trips, dates with my first lady, a few 5k's, a nice vacation, more instructing, a few tears and lots of laughter.

My prayer is that our family can glorify the Lord more in 2010 then we did in 2009.

I pray we grow in wisdom and instruction as a family to fear the Lord more.

So there you have it folks my witty, charming, sleep deprived husband and fearless leader.

It's an honor to serve with him and under him.

Lessons from the Farm... What is true beauty?

Beauty is probably the woman you love best, but we trust it is the beauty of soul and character,

which sits in calm majesty on the brow, lurks on the lip,

and will outlive what is called a fine face.

Dearest

Taylor, Channie, Ellie Cate and Josie Claire,
True beauty is when everyday
over and over you give yourself without complaint
or knowledge that you're doing so.
Putting others at ease instead of constantly
making others ask what is wrong
because you're quiet and sullen.
Having a cheerfulness that stirs others to be
cheerful by just being around you.
It's caring less about yourself
and more about the people who surround you.
It's your gentle smile and loving words
that draw your real
beauty out.
Things that make you unbeautiful
Don't talk about people
Don't be foolish in your words, the things
you say reflect your father's house.
Do you build him up
or are you constantly tearing his house down.
With misplaced words your fathers
reputation is at stake.
This does not mean you're
talking bad about your father per-se
but you're talking just foolishness and so people wonder what
your father is busy doing besides teaching you good manners.

Learning to Love others
Learning to use our words properly as not to offend others
Learning to lay aside ourselves and being able
to invest in those around us without
expectation of anything,
this is true
beauty.

love,

mom

It's official x2

We went before the Honorable Judge Alan King this afternoon. We sat before him and he declared that Josie Claire and Ellie Cate would be forever called White Girls!

Thank you to the best grand-ma in the world.

For always making the most important things.

For always being on our side and being supportive.

We'll take care of ya when your old....

You look darn good

for 64....

I thought this was the cutest picture.
Ellie always has a shocked looked on her face and little
Josie has a sweet little smile!



We give God the glory and will continue to open our
home and hearts to anyone he might send our way!

A special thanks to Grandma MoMo for the girls cute Christmas dresses!!