Sweet Christmas

Justin and I are at home this Christmas Eve night for the first time ever.  Since we have been married we have spent every Christmas at my parents house.  JUSTIN wanted to be home for Christmas morning this year so we are leaving for VA tomorrow.  We have had a very busy but wonderful Christmas season. I have not posted in so long and I cannot upload any pictures at this point but Samuel and I have a sweet conversation tonight that I want to remember. (Justin went to the house we are building to get Samuel's Christmas gifts so I have some time to waste)  When I put him to bed this was our conversation.
S- aww I love you Mommy
me-I love you too Samuel Merry Christmas
S- Mommy why to we get presents at Chistmas
me- Remember that the wise men took gifts to baby Jesus when he was born so we give gifts to celebrate and remember his birthday.  Baby Jesus is very special.
S- Yeah Mommy He helps us if someone falls down and gets a boo boo He will help them too
The children sang a song at church yesterday that I had never heard and I LOVE it!

Verse: 
Never was anyone like Him, never will one be the same 
Tiny babe, an Infant King, Savior, we worship and honor the power of His name 

Chorus: 
He came special delivery, wrapped up in love, bound by a promise, sealed by a dove 
And filled with the spirit, carried by grace, you knew where He was goin', by the look on His face

I am so thankful tonight that the true meaning of Christmas lives in my heart.  
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MOVING

I came to Olivia's today and she just helped me print my blog.  I cannot wait to see the book!  I am so excited about it that I thought I should get back to the blog.  In case you have not heard, Justin and I are moving to Lbg in two weeks!!!! I still cannot believe that everything has worked out to bring us to this point.  We said many  prayers over many months and we feel like we should go.  We are nervous, excited, scared etc. but trusting God to lead as He always does.  The children are changing so much.   Annalee just started crawling and pulling up on Tuesday (while I was at the dentist) :(  She says ma ma and is definitely my girl.  Samuel is Justin's little buddy and is under his feet from the moment he walks through the door.  We have a busy couple of weeks ahead!

Love No Matter What

We have had a sweet Valentine's Day today. We ate dinner with candles and Samuel was very excited about lighting them and blowing them out. He thought it was a birthday so we sang "Happy Valentine's Day" to Justin when he came home from work. We gave Samuel a card that sings "You Are My Sunshine" and he and Annalee loved the music. After supper he played with the play dough we gave him and cut out heart cookies. Annalee was asleep by 6:20 tonight!





I read No Matter What to Samuel today. He did not really understand the book but I held back tears the whole time. Mom gave the book to me when I graduated from high school and now that I have children I really "get it" Justin always gives me a little alone time at night and tonight I started thinking about my family. I don't talk about it much on this blog because I know what everyone will say.... but it is HARD to live away from them. I miss the daily interaction with everyone and I miss just knowing they are a phone call away or a mile down the road. So tonight I thought about my family... Mom, Dad, sisters, Grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins and I smiled and cried thinking about growing up surrounded by so much love and support. Debi Gliori writes, " But what about when you're far away? Does your love go too, or does it stay? Look up at the stars They're far, far away. But their light reaches us at the end of each day. It's like that with love- we may be close, we may be far, but our love still surrounds us... wherever we are." So from Gates County to Lbg to Rincon, GA and all in between I LOVE YOU!!!

Pictures, Books, and Budgets

Here are a few pictures over the last several days. We have enjoyed playing outside in the warmer weather and we have discovered that Annalee LOVES to swing. (She takes after me :))Samuel is a lot more independent these days and can climb, slide, swing, etc. all by himself. He is too sweet giving me butterfly kisses. The last picture was taken one day when Justin came home late from work. We had a long afternoon and Samuel said, "Mommy hold both babies" So I stopped everything and rocked my babies for awhile. A girl at school said to me yesterday, "You have your children forever but you only have a baby for one year" :(





Two other things....
Have you read the Snowmen All Year and Snowmen At Night books to your children? They are OUTSTANDING. I think they are my favorite books that I have found working in the library. Check them out! They have hidden pictures too that are great for older children.
Justin and I are getting on a serious budget. I am going to attempt to make laundry detergent soon. You can go to www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm for the recipe and directions. I have heard that it is great and super cheap. If you have any budget ideas send me an email beth.johnson@pcs.k12.va.us and I will share them with everyone.

Annalee's Monthly Pictures

These pictures are not in order and for some reason I uploaded the first month twice. Anyway, here are Annalee's monthly pictures. Deanna sent these stickers to me and they are much cuter than the signs I printed for Samuel. Thanks Deanna! We have enjoyed taking her picture every month and watching her grow.
Some things about our baby girl:
-She is rolling over both ways
-She still smiles with her whole face
-She constantly needs attention and wants us to talk to her
-She only laughs at Samuel
-We just started feeding her a couple of weeks ago and she now eats baby food three times a day
-She has more rolls than we can count :)
-She is the happiest, sweetest baby I have ever seen







In other news, sickness hit our house again last week. Samuel had bronchitis and an ear infection, Justin had bronchitis and a sinus infection, Annalee now has a cold, and I have been taking Advil Cold & Sinus around the clock. Somehow Justin and I managed getting our house straight this weekend for a realtor to come see tonight. We are ready to sell but a little nervous about where we will be going. (This is still up in the air) She told us that she thought it will sell very quickly. We are asking God to lead and we know He will.

Seven

years ago today Justin and I said "I do." I know everyone uses this song but I have had this in my mind this weekend and this is exactly how I feel about Justin.



Happy Seven Years Justin- I Love You!

We have had a relaxing weekend. Mom took Samuel to Lbg on Friday and I hate to say it but he was so excited to leave. He has been stuck in our house almost every day since we came back from Christmas. Leslie and Robin took him out yesterday and today he got to go to "Gam's church" (he loves Page's Chapel too :) ) I tried to talk to him this morning and all he said was "bye bye Mommy" I can't wait to see him tomorrow. We have enjoyed some special times with Annalee. She is still so sweet. Don't you love those chunky cheeks and blue eyes. We do!

Adoption

With January 20th, the day Samuel's adoption became secure, quickly approaching my mind has gone back to that special time two years ago. I was so relieved to hear that he would always be in our arms. We celebrated all weekend. Justin's family had a big welcoming party for Samuel and we had a special dedication service for him at church. That week was one of the most exciting weeks of my life. Samuel was the child we had been praying for and I finally was able to understand the purpose of infertiliy. I was thankful that God had called us to pursue adoption and I was amazed at how he worked all the details out so perfectly. The valley that I had just left behind now had so much meaning and the mountain top experience was so sweet.
When I look into those deep brown eyes everyday I am overwhelmed by the gift of adoption. I am so thankful that someone chose life for a tiny heartbeat and that the baby that she gave birth to pulls on my clothes and says, "I love you Mommy" Samuel- We will never forget what a miracle you are. We love you more than words could ever describe!





Thinking about adoption. I am adding another blog to my blog list and this is one of my favorite blogs to read. They have three biological children and a little girl from domestic infant adoption and now they are waiting for a child from China. She talks a lot about God calling them to adoption. I wish more Christian families would open their hearts to adoption. Our social worker told us that there is a great need for more willing families. What a wonderful and rewarding mission work! Check out Beyond Our Wildest Dreams.

Sleep

Annalee has slept GREAT for the past two nights. Once again, I am in awe of the the power of prayer. I know God has helped her/us. I asked the church to pray for God to help her sleep on Sunday morning and Sunday night she only woke up twice. The night before we had been up with her every hour sometimes every thirty minutes. I don't know how people make it one day without Him. No matter how big or small the problem Jesus always comes through.
Here are a few pictures from today. Annalee loves her special teething rings from Mom and Dad. Samuel told me he was putting his duck in a car seat on the back of his car today. (Moving the car inside was a great idea) And for some reason Samuel loves to walk around in this hat of Justin's. He looks at me and says, "Mommy take a picture" every time he puts it on.

Better Times

We have had a much better weekend and I am so thankful. Annalee is improving everyday. She is probably at least 75% better. I uploaded a few pictures from our weekend. I watched Justin and Samuel play ball outside yesterday and I smiled the whole time. Samuel loves to throw down the bat after he hits and then he wants you to tackle him. I think he has baseball and football confused :) I love the picture of Annalee and Justin. She constantly smiles at us as long as we talk to her. She starts screaming now the minute you turn away from her. I said to Justin this morning, "She needs constant attention and always wants to talk" Justin smiled and said "She is just like her mama" :) DeWayne and Lisa came over last night with their little niece Alannah. Samuel loves to play with older children. They ran around the house laughing all night. And just for memories... Samuel and I went to church this morning and this was our conversation.
Samuel- Where are we going?
Me-To church
S- Why
M-Because we go to church to worship God and Jesus
S- I petted Him
M- Who Jesus?
S- Yeah when He was in the manger
I love my two year old!

Annalee Update

Annalee seems to have turned the corner with RSV and we are so thankful. She had about 13 oz of formula during the night and is breathing much better this morning. Thank you for praying for her. She is still not 100% but better. Now if we could just get her to sleep :) No seriously.... Last night the longest she slept was 1.5 hours.
I am starting the famous (around here) 17 day diet today. The first 30 pounds of pregnancy weight just fell off and I was hoping the last 8 would too. However, Leslie told me to forget it (I love how honest she is about everything) and she has been right. So.... I am starting the diet. Just thinking about it is making me want sweet tea and stuffed crust pizza. We will see. Again thanks for praying for my little family and please continue.

Hard Day Happy Babies

Being sick and taking care of two sick babies is not easy! All three of us were so happy to see Justin walk in the door. I still cannot comment below each picture but there is one of Samuel sharing his blue blanket with Annalee. He has been really sweet to her today because I told him that she is very sick. He said "don't cry Miss Priss" and handed her his blanket. The first picture is one of Annalee that I took tonight. She is such a happy baby even when she is sick. The ER nurses could not believe how much she smiled at them even though she was struggling to breathe. I know... I know.... she looks just like Justin :) Goodnight!

Quick Update

Annalee seems about the same today. Samuel's stomach is upset and I now have a horrible cold. We are in survival mode at our house. Justin came home for lunch but is getting ready to leave. We have had a LONG morning. Please keep praying for us.

ER Trip #2

We just came home from the hospital. When we got there this morning Annalee's oxygen level was 92 and they took us to a room. They gave her a different breathing treatment and her level increased to 98. We are now home with new breathing treatments every 2 hours and were told to watch for any changes. They said we should see some improvement in 7 to 10 days. Keep praying for her.

RSV

Samuel and Annalee both started getting cold symptoms the day after Christmas. Annalee took a turn for the worse on Friday night and Sat. morning we took her to the ER. She tested positive for RSV. I could not believe how quickly she went from having what we thought was just a cold to struggling to breathe and not drinking anything. They sent us home with breathing treatments and steroids and told us to come back if we could not get her to drink. Thankfully, we have been able to get her to drink an ounce her and there but nothing substantial. PLEASE help us pray for our baby girl. They said Samuel probably has RSV also but it is not as bad on older children. Annalee is only 4 months and they told us it could take a month to get out of her system. I know God can touch her. Right now she does not seem to be doing much better.