Toy Room Overhaul

Our toy room is getting a makeover!! I should point out this is in no way shape or form Jeff's idea. In fact he REALLY doesn't want to do it. However I had to empty out the toy room yesterday to shampoo the carpet and my crazy thinking mind went overboard. But... emptying the toy room is a once every 6 months ordeal so while it's empty we might as well....Right?? Right??? Or am I crazy?? Never mind, please don't answer that. Sooo the toy room is now empty....well besides the toys that the girls have ALREADY drug back in there. So I'm posting a before picture and hopefully by tonight I can post a after picture. There are a thousand things I need to get done besides this but sometimes you have to have some fun....wait, this won't be fun...Ummmmm...Sometimes you just have to do what you don't want to do in order for things to get done...Yup that sounds more accurate. Here is a snap shot of the toy room BEFORE

Wish me luck and patience and the ability to accept what I can not change and the ability to not go overboard with this make over. If it were up to me this would take a week and consist of us building new shelves and wall art and maybe painting a whole wall with chalk board paint and all kind of crazy things but I have ONE night... so paint and rearranging will go along way.....I hope. ;)

Something Special

I'm finding that all the moments that seem like "nothing special" are when I find myself in awe of my girls and my husband. All those tiny moments that make me smile. While walking to the laundry room to switch out wash, I spotted Randi and Grace in the kitchen with the radio on dancing their hearts out. While I'm cooking dinner and I peek into the living room to find all 3 of my loves are cuddled up in the recliner together watching a Disney movie. Such sweet tiny moments!! I really wish I could remember all of these "nothing special" moments when I'm stopped in my tracks and reminded how blessed and lucky I am. Turns out that all those nothing special moments are anything but. Soooo here are some random pictures of our very special "nothing special" moments.

Can You Even Imagine

See..... there is this little girl, thousands of miles away, that is tugging at my heart and needing help.

I'm not sure why I feel SO compelled to help her..... but I do. I can NOT get her sweet face out of my mind. I think of her often and my heart is breaking for her. I do know there are sad stories everywhere, everyday, but for some reason, she has stuck with me. I may not be able to do much, but I WILL do what I can. The sinking in my stomach and the aching of my heart after seeing her picture won't allow me to ignore her or forget about her. Her name is Tatiana. Sometime this month she turned 8 years old. Tatiana used to have a family, with a home and a mother to love her. Then Tatiana's mother died. No father was listed on her birth certificate..... and now she lives in an institution.

CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE?? She lost the only person she had, and now she's alone, without a family to call her own. I just keep thinking about MY sweet little gifts from God and how ANY child can be without a family. What if this were Randi or Grace. What if my babies were without me, their dad and all the amazing people they have in their lives. Nobody telling them how amazingly wonderful they are, how beautiful and special they are, nobody whispering in their ear as they get hugged how much they are loved. How different their lives would be, how sad, alone and broken they would feel.  It seriously makes me sick to my stomach to think about.

Tatiana needs a family. She, like every child needs to be held and hugged and kissed and told how amazing she is. Tatiana needs stories read to her, a family to tuck her in at night and to let her know that she is a gift, a blessing! Tatiana needs a chance. How different her life would be if she could get that.

You see. I HAVE to help her. I HAVE to. My heart is heavy and I can't live with that. I know with %100 certainty that there IS a family out there for her. A perfect family that was, from the beginning, meant for her. I do believe there is a divine plan for this little blessing, I just want to help.

This is what I know. Tatiana is in Russia, she is 8, This is her description on the waiting children's list

(Tatiana's birthmother has died. No father was indicated on her birth certificate. Additional photos are available - she makes the sweetest facial expressions and looks a bit shy in front of the camera. She is a good girl, active, assists others, not capricious and strong willed. She was a family girl before living in the institution.)

She is HIV+, before you come to any conclusions , I want you to watch this
http://www.projecthopeful.org/get-involved/truth-pandemic

Because adoption is expensive, because adoption can be stressful, and because Tatiana is an older child with HIV, she is getting passed over. I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS LITTLE GIRL TO BE FORGOTTEN! Please please please help her. Money is all to often the reason adoptable children NEVER find homes. I want to help raise funds for her adoption, basically raising her ransom. That way when the perfect family comes along MONEY is not standing in the way of Tatiana getting home. I've added a "button" (It's at the top right, it says donate, when you click it you will see Project Hopeful and Tatiana's name) to my blog. If your heart is touched at ALL by Tatiana, please considering giving what you can. $1.00, $5.00, $100.00, or whatever you can. Seriously every penny gives this girl some hope!! Right now her fund sits at $0.00 The money will go directly to her adoption fund. I want so badly for this little girl to have a wonderful home, a mom, a dad, brothers, sisters, or any one of those. I don't want her to get left behind or forgotten. I'm really hoping WE can make a difference, a difference for one sweet little miracle that is deserving and worthy of a family.
Please feel free to share and pass this along. I really want it to reach as MANY people as possible. You never know where it might end up and who might end up reading this. I know there is a family for her and they might not know it until they see her precious face and hear her story. So PLEASE forward, share and spread. :)

....once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act. Proverbs 24:12

What I Know to be True

It's so easy to get caught up in "it" all. "It", being whatever happens to be pressing, stressing or consuming my time at any given moment. "It", being school, bills, to do list, events, what we are going to have for dinner, what's on the calender for that day, I could go on and on and on.... but I know NOBODY wants to hear that.  I don't either but I can't turn my brain off so, I'm stuck with it..lol. I'm sure men don't understand this strange phenomenon of non stop thinking, worrying, and planning....or maybe they do and my husband just pretends he doesn't to get out of things...The verdict is still out on that one. Anyway, I'm easily distracted by what's NOT important.

The other day I was watching something or reading something, can't remember. But a doctor was saying that it's nearly impossible for humans to live "in the moment" on a constant basis because our brains do not function this way. We, as humans, are programmed to be constantly predicting, planning and looking to the future. While this is a great function, it has it's down falls. NO WONDER it's so hard for me to sit down and just be. Just be silent, still and enjoy what is right in front of me. I can be having a conversation with my daughter about why we shouldn't roller skate in the house but be thinking about cleaning the bathroom or getting to Walmart.

A week or two ago we were heading home after a t-ball game and a t-ball clinic. We had been there for 3 hours after an already long busy day. It was HOT, all 4 of us were cranky and tired. The kids were screaming and fighting in the back seats, the music was loud and I was about ready to lose it. I looked over at Jeff and he was smiling. What??? Why was this crazy man smiling! I was miserable and about to have a break down and he was smiling. That one smile changed my mood and my thoughts immediately. I didn't say anything and neither did he.  I just smiled back.

We are EXTREMELY blessed. Not just a little, A LOT!! Beautiful healthy children, happy stable marriage, we have everything that we need....everything! So while my crazy thinking continued after the smile, my thoughts (through the screaming, heat and music) were good and were about what matters.

So I'm making a list of things I know to be true. Things I should keep my mind on and concentrate on. Things that are most important and precious to me and things I want my children to know and live by. This is not a complete list at all but things that have been in my head and things I know to be true today. :)

• Family is the single most important thing in my life and where my priority lies. No Exceptions. 
• Kids are a TON of work. They are the only living thing that can suck the life out of you and give it back all in the same moment. 
• Kids are loud, messy, crazy balls of energy all while being amazing, beautiful and life changing
• My girls have taught me so many more lessons than I'll ever be able to teach them. 
• If you are blessed with health, shelter and food or maybe even none of these. You should give back. 
• You have to throw caution to the wind once in awhile.
• If something presses on your heart, do something about it.
• Fun should take priority over many more things than I allow it to. 
• Show compassion when needed, courage when needed and weakness when needed.
• There is no such thing as perfect, not even close. My family is perfectly imperfect.
• Count your blessings often
• Being happy is realizing what you have, whatever it may be, and being thankful for it 

Swimming Lessons

My girls are fish. They love to swim and they are good at it. Jeff and I love the water so it makes sense that they do too. Swim lessons are one of their favorite things. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with being able to wake up and then start getting ready to go for a dip in ice cold water (weird I know, but I guess that's the cool part about being a kid, you don't mind ice cold water first thing in the morning)

Randi and Grace posing before a road trip.

 All the cousins!! Fun times at Papa Bill's and Nana Toni's house.

We've been having fun this summer and I am not ready for school to start at all!! Glad I still have 2 months with by girls before we get back into the school routine. Summers are fun and crazy around here! Just the way we like it.

Grace in Action

Here are some pictures of Grace doing her thing out on the field. 

Pretty cute huh!! She's a great little t-ball player and is doing awesome! Can't wait to see her next year when she's able to play. 

Can't forgot about Randi. :) She waiting patiently in the grass.

On a different note, Mimi got a pool for the grand kids to play in. SUPER fun. The kids love it. Here are the girls and my cute little nephews, Kaden and Mason.

We've been super busy. This week was games, practice, tball pictures, dentist and water park, many visits to the public pool, countless hours spent on the trampoline with the sprinkler turned on and lots of cuddling on the couch with dripping wet little girls, wrapped in towels asking for snacks, drinks and a movie. Yup, that's pretty much our week. 

So that's it, until I figure out how to get the girls recital on here. Hopefully that's sooner than later.

Our Summer So Far

Our summer so far has been crazy. Things are just now starting to get really busy with the girl's activities, but we've had fun so far. Here are a few of the things I happened to get pictures of. I've been trying to get Jeff talked into buying me a GOOD camera. They are like $700.00 though and he's having a hard time swallowing that. But hopefully I can sweet talk my way into a brand new nice camera soon! I need it, I'll use it, and the girls are just busy enough and cute enough, they could make having it fun. So onto some pictures. We did some face painting and it started off innocent enough but before the session was over my girls looked more like boys. SOOOO funny, and just so you know this was THEIR idea, not MINE.

 We spent a little time at the Wild Life and Parks Museum too. That's a great place to spend an hour and keep the girls entertained.

 Now these next set of pictures I hesitated to even put on here, but I did so I have to at least give an explanation. :) My girls have an amazing talent. Really, I've never seen anything like it. They can DESTROY a toy room in record time. This picture is only me standing in front of the door. Their toyroom is 12' x 12'. the entire room looks like this, but I'm sure you can get an idea of how the rest of the room looked.

 And this picture is after HOURS of work. The girls did help, thankfully, but it was still a chore I did not want to even think about. However, now that's it's clean they are doing a super job (with lots of reminders from me) of keeping it clean. Hopefully they keep it up.

 We spent some time with Dad

 Took pictures for their Dance classes. They have been working all year and their recital is coming up very soon. That deserves a post all in itself. But here are some pictures of them.

 And T-ball started. This means we will be spending several nights at the ball park, in the bleachers, and at practices. We love it though and more importantly the girls love it. Here is Randi and her team.

 Grace and her super cute tball shirt. She's in t-ball clinics, so no games for her just practices but still lots of fun! I'll post some pictures of her practice next week.

 Randi at bat!! She's getting great at t-ball and knows how to hustle! Go Randi!!

So we've had fun so far this summer. We're busy nearly everyday and we are all having fun, after all that's what summer is ALL about.  Happy Summer