Multitasking

He cooks with a baby on his back. She peers over to see what he's doing and he gives her a small nibble.She loves being there. He has carried her around with him since she was old enough to hold her head up. She has walked this property with him many times over while he does his chores. At the end of the day if she is fretful he will put her in the back pack and take her everywhere with him.He calls her baby..

Little people all aound him smelling his cooking and excited about the food in the pot. My black beauty.
He measures and stirs and I look on and have to smile at our life. I smile at the man he is becoming.I smile at his multitaking abilites.
I'm proud of him. I cherish these years that I have his heart. I read something the other day that made me think of him.
Once the boy had come safely into the world, she realized how her prayers for him had changed. It was not for life and a strong body to hold it's treasure she prayed, for he had these; he was a sturdy, shapely baby from the first. It was that he might be caring and useful in this world.Such a short way could she go with him on the path of his life; only a few years she would have his hand in hers. For a few more years he would have his hand in hers. For a few more years he would walk beside her; then he would be a man going his way alone, but if it were a way of kindness, the memory of tht first day would always fill her with joy. 

My years with him are slipping away.

He's hard-working and is as dependable as the sun coming up. He's forgiving and loyal. He loves computers and riding four wheelers. I have never heard him gossip or say anything mean about anyone else. He over looks things. He's long suffering and for that I'm thankful..He's very opinionated on things that concern his older sister like her dress or her friends. He loves to listen to sermons and then come and tell you every litte detail.
 

He loves Italian music and to set a nice table and when he cooks the music can be heard through out the house.


Some people have asked about Tuck and why he's not on my blog much and well he's 15 and he hates having his pictures made. I have to catch him when he's not looking..He's around though.
I couldn't do the things that have to be done without him. :)

Our secret island

The view from the porch overlooking the bay as the sun sets deep into the water.

We are on a three day holiday, get away from the world, if you will . The house beautifully sat next to the gulf as if it was the watcher of the water. The porches wrapped the house many times over and I couldn't help but to sit for hours out there, usually with someone in my lap, overlooking the bay with the wind gently reminding me to slow down and take it all in. I obeyed.     

Until we found a secret beach.

We made our way along the moss covered rocks and there before us was a private beach. We dug and collected shells and drift wood. I went and  sat on an old tree trunk while my children played and splashed on our deserted island. I watched in amazement as they took in God's beauty and I was breathless as I took their small frames in next to the ocean. The wind blew and the spray from the bay would tickle my face and I never wanted to leave this spot. This moment in time. Sharing this small island wondering what it would be like to be shipwrecked here with just my family. 

Their feet bare and their smiles contagious.

One by one their collections filled my pockets till I couldn't hold

another shell. My mind racing with the memories being shared on

this island of ours. Swimming in the waves way past dark. Hearing their

laughter roar above the breeze. Begging to stay for awhile longer.

My heart begging for them to never forget this moment in time.

She looked at  me through stands of hair that she couldn't keep out of her face. I looked at her with eyes of wonder and amazement that couldn't hold back my love for her. I love the smell of the breeze and salt on her skin. I love this pace with them, no where to be, nothing to do but walk this sand with them and keep them safe.   

Share this time, this place with only them

Who am I to anyone?

I'm someone pretty special to this crew of mine. I'm fussed over by this family of mine like I was the queen of England. I deserve none of it, I assure you, but their love treats me as if I'm the only shell in the ocean or mamma in the world. I'm loved and I love them.

It's all his fault you see. He started it some 18 years ago. I was younger then and so was he but he keeps our love blazing. Don't tell him I said so but he follows me around like an old hound dog, he always has. I love  that about him. I don't mind him following me, I leave lots of crumbs :)  

You know what else I love about him? Its this. Look in this picture. One man, three little lives. He always has

some little person in his lap or holding someone. He's always fixing a toy or running a bath. He loves to sit and have them all pile up on him. He is a daddy and not just any kinda daddy but one they love and adore. He takes them to movies and to arcades. He buys them ice-cream and junk..He has them singing so loud in the car some silly war song and he does it all so easily. So natural. He reads to them and tucks them in at night with a drink. He worries and fusses over his girls. He's protective over them.  

He is a husband and not just any kinda husband but a husband who takes the time to make sure

I feel special and honored and I do

Like this get away, he insisted we take this trip, which would be my advice to you

. 

Find a secret beach and tip-toe your way barefoot

until you're there. you'll know.

slow down, breath in your loved ones,

Eat good food, stay up late,

and

by all means build tons of memories...

because I'm all about the memories :)

"I want to be a dentist mom"

Channie mae went to the dentist.

She loves the dentist.

 She even told me that she wants to grow

up and be a dentist.

Her Dentist loves Channie mae.

She gets spoiled at the dentist.

Coming home with a huge tube of tooth paste =) that is rather

annoying if you ask me. The thing is bigger than she is

and of course she wants to carry it around with her

because she loves the dentist and everything

about the dentist.

Her dentist told her to brush her teeth really good

so she wanted to show me what good meant

so I thought I'd show you what good meant in case you

wondered. I have always wondered, but not anymore,

because Channie put me straight on good. =)

She loves brushing her teeth and does it often.

Especially when she comes home from her friend,

the dentist. Now he's starting to annoy me after

she has asked to brush her teeth for the tenth time

tonight .=)

She loves to gargle and swish

She loves to brush and floss

but most of all she

loves all her goodies

I'm not sure it's normal for a 4 year old to wake

up and say

"mom, can I go back to the dentist?"

I feel kinda strange saying

"No, Channie, and if you ask again your gonna be in trouble"

once a year is all I can handle....shew... 

Amazing Grace

They came to church.

A family,

celebrating life, but not just any life.

 Baxters life.

A little baby born on the 16th day of August.

This is his story told by me;   of the night he was

born and his first Sunday at church worshiping

with his family 

You might not ever notice the little boy

under the red blanket

but we notice.

His name is Joseph Baxter and he weighed 4lbs

when he was born. We all knew that Baxter would

be born special. Spinal Bifida would be his calling in life

and his family stood ready to help him live his calling out.

 We, his church family, stood ready.

Just as the night he was born we were  

together in a little room praying and pacing the halls of the

hospital while he was being born. We searched the faces of

the Doctors and nurses that went past us hoping for some news

of Baxter, but none came.
I kept looking through the glass in the door

leading to the operating room and with my own heart raw with emotions wondering

what they must be going through.

I couldn't wait to see this little fellow. This little

 guy who we've all been praying for.
Ya see
 Our church is a praying

church and every Sunday we prayed for Baxter, weeks

and months before he was even born.

He was born and Baxters dad came and got us

and said "you can see him if you hurry."

We hurried.

We huddled together around a little

bed in the nicu while they finished cleaning him up

and we stood as close as you could get to each other.

Amazed,
 life was before us.

Not totally perfect in the world's view
 but

we knew totally perfect from God's view.

He has Trismoney 18 along with spina bifida.

No one knows how long Baxter will bless us with

his presence,
only the One who created him knows,

but in the mean time his parents share him with us.

He was released from the hospital on Friday and on Sunday morning

little Baxter was worshiping with us.

Fragile,and very frail, he was there. He was prayed over

and loved on and tears were scattered throughout our

little white church and I'm sure he heard us sing.
I'm sure he heard his mama sing

and felt her warm hands as she kept him safe under that little blanket.

We stayed for a long time after church, everyone wanting to linger with this family.

 They went to leave and once again the men of our church

never fail to amaze me.
They were putting kids in car-seats on one side of the van

and helping Baxter and his mom in on the other side. 
At least 4 men holding bags

and helping this family.

No one leaving until

all doors closed and the family was safe inside.

Until Baxter was safe.   

Once again

It reminds of why a church family

is so very important.

A church family is a gift

from the Lord.

 and a great privilege for me.

Bottle it up.....

The weekends always go by way too fast. The lay in bed and sip coffee

and wrestle with our children kinda weekends end way to soon.

 The babies are teething

and a little virus is running it's way through the walls of my home and yet I'm so

content not to miss one single moment with these loves of my life. Coop

told me God made him better because of the prayer I said for him.

I remember. I held him close and whispered a prayer before my

Father on behalf of my son. Lord bring his smile back and He did.  

Oh, thank you, Lord for healing. Thank you for the comforts of home

that we take for granted.

Sunday afternoons are good. The pace is slow as we travel home from worship.

Some still recovering, spirits kinda low.

We step into a book store and everyone cheers up. The laughter can be heard I'm sure throughout the store. The smell of new books mixed with coffee mixed with their

laughter should be bottled and sold.

It should be bottled and put on a shelf for

when they're all grown and my life becomes kinda boring.

I can un-cork that bottle and relive the moments

of pure happiness and joy of the little people in my life.

 I sit on the floor and watch them. Thankful I have them all here right now.

Knowing they're getting taller and watching them grow before

my eyes and remembering in the back of my mind this season is passing

way to fast and I ask God for grace because I know I'm going to need it as they

start making their own way in this world.

 

But right now, right this minute, I'm sitting in a book store with the gifts the

Lord has graciously lent to me and I watch my husband as he looks at their books

and holds babies and smiles at me.

I watch my son gather books about cars.

 I watch my daughter as she holds handfuls

of books and reads each back cover to me and begs me to help her

pick just two. Her love for books is contagious. She has a deep passion for 

great literature and I love watching her in a book store. 

   

The weekend over and he travels back to work and my house a mess.

I start over.

I start over a new week.

I start a week that I will never be able

to get back and so I purposely plan

to enjoy every single moment! 

Date Night

Scott and I have date night on Thursday's and this week we took a few extras with us.. We were invited to the local skating rink for two rounds of laser tag and skee ball...for Asa's birthday.

                                                                   Happy Birthday Asa  

The tokens came out of the machine and they were gone in a blink.The kids

running all over the place, me running behind them trying

to keep up.

They look like brothers.

These guys had a blast shooting and running

from game to game.

Channie had fun playing the skee ball machine. She didn't much care

about throwing the ball she just wanted the

tickets.:)

I think the dads had more fun than the kids.

All the tokens were spent and

the tickets were added up,

and our prizes were

1 dip stick

1 sour fries

1 multicolored ball

The fun was priceless though and our kids

had a blast!!

 Building memories that will surely

be around years from now.

Date night was quite exciting.

Not much romance, not much time alone, but none the less an

irresistibly charming night.

Lets go down to the river and pray....

They sit together in the pew and as I look around at our church I feel so blessed

just to be a part of this incredible body of Christ. As my children sit in this little white church they are surrounded by friends who love them, who love us. They are surrounded by three elders and their

wives who love the Lord and direct and take their job as shepherds seriously. 

One of the things I love most about our church is that every Sunday the men walk the aisle
in a single file line standing together and bringing communion back to their family.
Breaking bread and passing a goblet to their wife and children. I could tear up just about
every time I see these men standing in a line waiting their turn because I know these men, I know
their love for their family and for the Lord, I know how serious they take their
responsibility as husband and fathers. These are the men who prayed for us
on our adoption journey and when we brought our kids home these were the men
that loved on and continues to love on our children.
 These are the men that dug a grave for our son so my husband
wouldn't have to.
These are the men that have spit up on their suit jackets because
they're dads and they're involved. 
These men...
 So it's always a moving experience.
I know my own husband and how this one act has
changed him.
 Giving communion to his own family.

This morning we had a new family join our church and I was excited for them.

Because being a part, being accountable, being accepted,

being protected by a healthy church

is an amazing thing.

 

We were also having a baptism and as Zac slipped into the water,

his new family was there waiting for him when he came back up....

and we prayed...

Things we love part 2

We love our Lovey-Duds wrap, it is a stylish wrap that holds our little girls

front, back, or on our hips.. The girls fall asleep in it and it's a great time

to talk to them and let them be a part of our chores.

 Taylor would rather be carrying a baby around

while she cleans.. and as you can tell Ellie-Cate loves the ride. The girls have a cold this

week so they need a little more attention and our wrap has been a huge blessing. 

I love sink baths..

 I can finish up supper and watch them play and splash. They're close at hand and I don't miss one smile.

 My kitchen sink has held the water for all my children's baths and I love the memories of their tiny

bodies fitting in my sink.

Without fail when I start the girls sink baths, I'll have 

a four year old asking if she can take one too..:) 

"You're kinda big now honey"..

"I can squish up"..she said..

I love block towers and boys. With the heat outside we spend a little more time

indoors and I love to see how they keep themselves busy. 

I love the whispers of a little girl at supper time

trying to pull me down so she can tell me something.

"mamma, give me your ear"

"Yes, Channie-Mae?" as I come close to her.

She wraps her arms around my neck and whispers,

"You're the best mama in the whole world"

"Thank you Channie,

 you're the best four year old in the whole world."  

sigh....

I love boys on fast cars. Everyone got one of these cars for Christmas last year. They are designed for inside use on hardwood floors..They hold up to 220lbs and they are fast and lots and lots

of fun...The boys dress up like race car drivers and they race around our house and it just about drives me crazy but I endure because the fun factor is HUGE....and last night when Scott came

home Cullen said, "Dad, we had the funnest day! Didn't we mom?"

 Scott said "What did you do?"

and he said "We raced and raced and raced"

I love a little girl who's not afraid to play

with the boys!

AND

As promised, we are publishing our bread recipe that

we L-O-V-E..

 French Bread Recipe:

(For the the dutch oven bread, we doubled this)

5 1/2 cups flour (we used white)
2 tsp. salt
2 T. yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tbs. oil (we used coconut oil)

(Pre-heat oven and dutch oven at 475*)

Whisk together two cups flour, salt, and yeast, add oil and water. Mix on low 30 seconds.
Mix on high 2 minutes. Add remaining flour and mix. Knead 8 minutes (or two minutes if you're using
a Kitchen-Aid or Bosch). Grease a bowl and place dough in, grease top of dough and cover. Allow to rise
for about 45 minutes-1 hour.
(After this step we lightly punched our dough down, and placed it on a large cutting board covered in cornmeal. We formed our loaf and sprinkled cornmeal all over the top and sides of loaf. Make a slit about 1/4 an inch thick about 3 times across the top of the dough.Carefully!!! Take the dutch oven out of the oven and place about 2 Tbs. coconut oil in hot dutch oven.
Place your loaf in, cover, and allow to bake for 30-45 minutes. The bottom gets done quicker than the top so you may want to check on it about 2/3 of the way through.)
Punch down, divide in half, recover and let rest 10 minutes. Grease cookie sheet, sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape loaves and slit tops of loaves about 1/4 inch deep diagonally about 5 times each, Let raise, covered, for about 30 minutes. Bake at 400* for 20-35 minutes, depending on how crusty you like your bread.



So there you have it..A few more things that make our house run..A few more things that make my children smile and in return make me smile.:)

The rich soil of love

The morning is early and my little girls are up with the sun.

They are busy about their day before I've  had my first cup of coffee. 

Cloth diapers and striped socks are

a must around here.

Hair done for the week not without a few tears though.

Fighting colds and teething seem to keep them

occupied well enough but my arms seem

to keep them happy.

 They look at me as if I can make all wrongs right. 

With just simply picking them up and bringing them close

they are comforted and my work is slow in getting done because I

have more important things to do.

Comfort my little girls who seem

content to sit in my lap all the day. I look around at all I need to do

and the Lord gently reminds me to take care of the least of these.

My children..

A quick trip outside before the heat takes over the grass green beneath them

and their eyes as brown as the dirt that lay beneath the grass. The soil in them

makes me want to plant love so deep that the roots take them over.

Love roots..

The love so deep that they will never remember a day without

me.

The love so deep I can't remember me without

the two of them and I like it that way.

My life forever better because of the great kindness of

my Lord.