Tuesday, March 31, 2009

We Got The Call...

Last Wednesday our Placement Coordinator called us.  She had a 20 month old boy that she needed to place and asked if we would take him.  I told her that we were licensed for a 2-3 year old little girl but she informed me that we could easily change our license to accommodate the little boy.  I told her that I wasn't sure it would work.  We'd have to get another crib and he would have to share a room with Brody, who will be 11 months in a few days (not too sure about messing up his schedule at this point).  


Mark was at work so I told her I'd get back to her once I spoke with him.  

When he got home he told me that we should take this little boy in; that we'd make it work.  I called her back and she had already placed the little boy with a family (who can only keep him for 2 months, then he will have to be placed in a new home - poor guy).  

Our hearts were affected and we decided to change our license (which was a seamless process). So we're now licensed for 2 children: 1 male 0-2 yrs and/or 1 female 0-4 yrs.  

The next day at work Mark was relaying the events of the previous day to a co-worker.  She offered to give us a crib and a car seat.  It turns out that her mom recently closed her in-home daycare and needed to get ride of a few things.  

So Mark came home last night with a really nice white crib (all of Brody's furniture is white), mattress, and car seat.  What do you think God is doing here?  I am so excited to see what's going to happen with all this...

If you think about it please continue to pray for our family and the child(ren) who will be placed with us.  Also, we're in the process of looking for a house to buy...pray that God brings us a house too!  Now we definitely need a little more room! :)

-Alison

Monday, March 30, 2009

Laminin

Will you take 9 minutes to watch this - its really quite amazing.


Monday Musings


For Today...Monday, March 30th, 2009

Outside my window...trees with budding leaves.
I am thinking...that I need to dust upstairs before Mark gets home.
I am thankful for...the patience I am experiencing today - this is rare.
From the kitchen...tonight is fried rice - I love my wok.
I am wearing...jeans and a Chargers shirt.
I am creating...a refreshed business.
I am going...start reading a new book this week (hopefully).
I am reading...the book of Proverbs.
I am hoping...that the weather stays so nice so we can go fishing this weekend!
I am hearing...Cinderella.
Around the house...toys everywhere!  Emma has friends over.
One of my favorite things...the beach.  I really need to go by myself soon.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study, hanging out with friends Tuesday, in-laws arrive on Friday.
Here is a picture that I'm sharing: I am craving this so badly right now...

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Praise Post!

I feel like I need to Praise God more for all the blessings I have.  Here are just a few things I am thankful for this week:

For my husband (and kids).  Mark is by far the best husband any gal could ask for.  He swiffers, plays with the kids because he really enjoys it, supplies me with large doses of sanity when I need it most, and loves me when I look my worst.  I am blessed. 


My best friend, Lindsay, for bringing out the 13 year old 8th grader in me and making me laugh hysterically.  I am so thankful for our years and years of friendship.


For Eve, who surprised me with Starbuck's on Friday morning; that was so sweet and I really love hanging out with her.  I really appreciate our friendship and hope we continue to grow closer.


For AnnaMae, who I consider my sister here in SD.  (Doesn't she look super cute in this pic?!)


For my crockpot, which both makes my life easy and make me look like even more of a fabulous housewife. :)
For mini M&M's.   I adore those little things.

For my sisters, whom I love and miss and want to spend a long weekend with very soon, just us girls!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

An Award!!

I have been MIA for a while because my BFF, Lindsay, has been in town since Sunday.  She just left this morning :( and I'm missing her already!  I get so busy with the daily happenings of my life that I sometimes forget how much I miss her!  Linds and I have been BFF's for 14 years now and to commemorate that we discussed a future post that I will be working on, so look for it some time soon.  :)
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While I was away I received this little baby....

Photobucket

Yup, my humble little blog has received its first award!  Thanks Amanda, for listing my blog as one of your faves!! :)

The rules of this award are to share 7 things you love and 7 bloggers you love.  This is way too easy!

7 things I love:
-Jesus
-my wonderful, honest, loving, loyal, sexy husband 
-my sweet children
-my family 
-good friends
-nature
-naptime 

7 blogs I love and read often:

Be back soon!   Have much to share!

-Alison :)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Frustrated

I called our placement coordinator on Monday because I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that we still don't have a placement.  

She told me that since we have been very specific about the child's age (we requested a 2-3 year old little girl) that it might take a while to receive a placement.  Then she asked where we are located in the county and said that actually she expected that we'd get a placement really soon because there is a need for English speaking families for 3 year old little girls.  

Am I being super impatient or is this taking forever?  I have given this to God and He knows how discouraged I am....especially since we have been ready to serve in this way since October. We jumped in so excited and ready to meet this need in our community but didn't expect it to take this long.

Please pray that I would be at peace regardless.  That I would trust God's plan.  I am fully aware that I can't see the whole picture but sitting here idle is driving me crazy.  

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Wordless Wednesday: For Megan (Emma & Fun B the Clown)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patty's Day!

My Mom and her husband, Larry, came to visit this past weekend.  We had a great time hanging out with them. On Saturday we took them to the beach, which is what we do when anyone comes to visit since most of our family and friends don't live 15 minutes from the beach like we do.  :)   The weather was so nice; it was overcast and was nice and cool, perfect for a walk.

My Mom and Emma had a great time together!

And I had a great time chatting it up with my Mom...its been a long time since we spent uninterrupted time together - we even hit up Target and did some shopping, which was fun.  

Here are the guys (I love Brody's expression...the 'I-smell-a-fart-face' has become his fave). :)

Believe it or not, Mark (my very resourceful husband) rigged the camera up on a box of wipes to take this picture and I think it turned out so good (considering)! :)

Here are me and Miss Emma - she was pretending to be grumpy.

And my little family...I am so blessed!

Later that day during our Target excursion my Mom picked out a new Fancy Nancy book for Emma and Target just happened to have the matching outfit that Fancy Nancy is wearing in the book!  Emma was so stoked and she's been wearing it daily (Mom, she now loves the fancy necklace's)! :) Thanks Mom and Larry for a fun weekend!


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I remembered that today was St. Patrick's Day at about 9am after checking my Facebook and seeing all the 'Happy St. Patrick's Day' posts.  It crossed my mind yesterday as I was making out the dry erase calendar that hangs over my desk (its been that kind of month...I JUST changed it from Feb to March).

I decided to teach Emma about St. Patrick's Day and we had lots of fun!  Penmanship today was Irish-themed with words like "clover", "lucky", "leprechaun", "green beer" (KIDDING)! 

Emma opened the fridge to find that a Leprechaun had gotten in and turned her milk green! She kept saying, "those sneaky leprechauns!"!! :)  Then I told her to go wash her hands after breakfast in her Dad's bathroom and this is what she saw:

She said "Mom...a leprechaun peed in Daddy's potty"!! :)  It was great!

I'm off to get some sushi in honor of St. Patrick's Day!  I realize that sushi has nothing to do with the Irish, but I look for any opportunity to have sushi!  :)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Monday Musings

For Today...Monday, March 16th, 2009


Outside my window...a beautiful day and one I hope to get out and enjoy.
I am thinking...that I am a bit overwhelmed with so many options.
I am thankful for...my sisters and mom, who I constantly bounce ideas off of.
From the kitchen...pork roast with veggies in the crockpot.
I am wearing...my pj's, but need to change.
I am creating...a new weekly schedule.
I am going...to sort things out and try to relax.
I am reading...the book of Proverbs and really enjoying it (there are 31 Proverbs so I am reading one chapter a day).
I am hoping...to meet our foster child this week.
I am hearing...silence.  Its naptime.  ahhh.
Around the house...mostly caught up.
One of my favorite things...sushi.  Hands down.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study, organizing before we have visitors next week.
Here is a picture that I'm sharing: Emma and Daddy playing Old Maid - Emma's fave!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Distractions

This week I am taking a break from "Monday Musings" and "Wordless Wednesdays".

I have been so busy, that I just haven't had the time.  I have some things (good things) going on in my life right now that have kept me distracted.  But I'm here to share the latest!
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In Emma news:

Yesterday we had to run errands and Emma dressed herself.  She does this often and whether it works or not is hit or miss.  Yesterday it was borderline "hit", so I let her wear what she had chosen (which was a shirt that had a pink sea horse on it and jeans that had all these hot pink patches with flowers).  She completed her ensemble with a purple sparkly jeweled necklace, a strawberry shortcake bracelet, and her sparkly princess shoes (similar to the ones below).  

We hadn't been in the car for 5 minutes when Emma let out a big sigh and said, "Its hard being a princess!".

That about sums it up folks.

Here she is after a princess birthday party she went to last week:

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In Brody news:

We have a crawler people!

This milestone has made my life crazy!  But Brody is the cutest crawler I have ever seen!  Think bear cub meets sumo wrestler.  Classic. 


This is one of the only ways I can contain him (Mark actually came up with this idea):


Doesn't he look thrilled?:
Brody is 10 months old this month and I can hardly believe it!  He is the sweetest little boy and is really into cuddling with his mama right now.  I am savoring every moment!
  

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Mac-N-Cheese Nostalgia

For years now I've told Mark of the different meals that my sisters and I used to eat growing up.  My Dad cooked a lot of the time and although he made some really good stuff (at one point he dreamed of being a chef and opening his own restaurant), he also made some...interesting concoctions.


Today Emma was really wanting Mac-N-Cheese for dinner and as she was asking my mind instantly jumped to my Dad's version of the American classic.  

My Dad used to make us Mac-N-Cheese, but he couldn't just make it according to the directions on the box.  He had to tweak it - because heaven forbid we eat something out of a box that didn't have some added ingredients to make it more hardy.  So he would add a can of tuna and a can of cream of mushroom soup (not sure if this is original, but never heard of anyone else fixing it this way).

My sisters and I LOVED it!

I made "Mac-N-Cheese with Tuna" (as we used to call it) for dinner tonight and Emma gobbled it down.  still kid-friendly.

Mark wasn't as thrilled.  Turns out its not really his thang.

As I ate, I just thought about my childhood and all the good memories I have.  I missed home and the way things were back then.  It feels like such a long time ago.  

Once I have our scanner up and running I'll have to post a few pics from back then.  I was an 80's/90's kid all the way! :)  

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Words Are Needed

I know that typically my Wednesday's are "wordless", but today I just feel an inner stirring of discontentment and words are needed for me to sort through it.  

As some of you (family and friends) may know we have decided to stay in Southern CA.  This was a big decision and an enormous leap of faith on my part. 

If you know me personally, you know that I can be controlling and have always envisioned my life going my way (which rarely happens, hence this blog...my record of letting go of control and letting God direct my paths). This is an ongoing struggle for me.  I am independent, strong, willful and stubborn, which I had always viewed as definite strengths - and at times they are - but these characteristics have also been the cause of stumbling and hard lessons learned.

For the past two years, maybe more, I have been learning to be led.  

This was a new concept for me (and believe me, still so difficult).  About a year into learning to be led I was encouraged by a book, which I had ignored to read a few years prior to moving to SD at a pivotal point in my marriage.  A time when we were both losing and in danger of massive failure.  By God's mercy, we ended up in SD, immediately began attending a healthy church, made some great friends and started anew.  I finally got around to reading this book last year, and it completely changed my view of why I was created and for whom I was to serve. It took my liberal, contemporary views of wifehood and scrambled them into an almost unrecognizable version of who Alison was created to be. 

I was far from it.

And I longed for it.

I began on a journey of servitude towards my husband and God that I never dared embark on before (vulnerability is not my forte).  And yes, I have failed more times that I can mention. But I continued on and purposed to be the Godly wife I was created to be.  Much of that meant surrendering my will and learning to trust and follow my husband.  

Over the past few years I have been tested in this area like never before.

{Back to staying in Southern CA.}

I have been wanting to move back home (Central CA) since we've been in Southern CA.  I talked about it daily. I got in touch with a realtor there so that I was in on the real estate happenings when it came time to buy a home. I inadvertently brainwashed Emma into saying things like, "I can't wait to move back to..." and, "its so much more fun in...".  

So you understand that it was no secret what my plans were.

Mark, however, was under tremendous pressure to find a good job back home in this terrible economy when he had a perfectly good job offered to him here in SD that he was excited about.
  
I continued to press on with what I wanted.  I continued to discourage him.

I'm not sure how or when it happened but the Lord spoke to my heart and made me realize (I actually think it was at Bible study a couple of weeks ago) that I serve and honor Him when I serve and honor my husband.  Even if that means that I don't get what I want (or what I think I want).

I prayed about it...  and I mean on-my-knees-prayed about it (you know its REALLY serious when that happens) and finally came to Mark with what was on my heart.  I basically gave it over to him.  I told him that he was placed as the head of our family for a reason and I trust him to make the best decision for our family.  

He was (visibly) relieved.  And he decided.  And I literally watched the stress fall from his shoulder's as he told me that he really felt it was best for us to stay.  (He was going to forego it all to move us back home because he wants me to be happy more than anything.)

And I was humbled.  Thank you Lord for your provision over my life by giving me this man.

Oddly enough, I felt relieved too.  Not because a decision had been made, but because I had allowed him to do what he was called to do: Lead.  

So now a whole new slew of stress has entered our lives as we prepare to really establish ourselves here and I'm trying to process it all.  Our largest source of stress: buying a house. Although it is a great time to buy, houses down here are still expensive (especially on one income, I will probably have to return to wedding planning...thats a whole separate post); there is a lot of competition by other prospective buyers and multiple bids on one property.  

*sigh*

I am feeling overwhelmed by that and the other things happening this year: foster care, Mark transitioning from one job to another, me (probably) starting to work part-time again, homeschooling Emma, leading the Orphans Care Team we started last year at our church, in addition to many other things we are involved in.   

If you think of it, please lift us up in prayer during this hectic time.  

I know that my worries and my stress are small compared to others who are struggling with sickness, the death of a loved one, losing homes or jobs and I almost feel guilty bringing my worries before God.  But I know that He cares about the details and for this I am so thankful.

-Alison

Wordless Wednesday

Monday, March 2, 2009

Monday Musings


For today...March 2, 2009

Outside my window...perfect weather - as always.
I am thinking...that I have lots to do but little motivation to do it. It must be Monday.
I am thankful for...the dishwasher.
From the kitchen...counters need cleaning.
I am wearing...a t-shirt and pj pants.
I am creating...plans for the week.
I am going...to possibly have coffee with Eve tonight and looking forward to it.
I am reading...The Shack and I have mixed feelings about it.
I am hoping...to get the ball rolling with our plans.
I am hearing...Emma working on penmanship and the hum of the fridge. 
Around the house...need to dust and put laundry away.
One of my favorite things...my crockpot!!!
A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study, getting together with friends, signing Em up for soccer.
Here is a picture that I'm sharing: One of the many ways I spend my days - having tea parties with my sweet babies (and Molly the dog).  I love my job!!