Puppy!!

We have been casually looking for a dog for about a year. We were very specific to the breed we want. We LOVE Phoebe's breed: Australian Shepherd mixed with CattleDog (we think). We want a dog with high family values, a protector of the property, heard the chickens, and be great with kids.

Then, Phoebe died. We were so sad and it was really hard to be home with our Bobby. I wanted that little protector. We began looking more aggressively. We looked at rescues with no luck.  There were many puppies available but they were not willing to let us adopt.

Then we began to look on Craigslist! And we found the perfect little guy!

1st day. He is 6 weeks old

3rd Time's A Charm

There's this little thing in your knee called the meniscus . . . it acts as a cushion and shock absorber in you knee joint. Mine has torn twice! Just before that, I had to have a surgery to remove a Plica.


During this time, we have had an incredible amount of help! A good friend set up a Google Document for people to sign up for time slots that Bobby would be working. It's been an overwhelming, humble time.

With 3 pregnancies that led to bedrests and 3 knee surgeries, I have had a great deal if "down" time. This has been a humbling and frustrating time! I love my job. I love to be a wife and mom. Not being able to fulfill my role is really difficult, and so many times.

I wish I could end this post with some great epiphany of what God has taught me each time, but I don't have that. Although, I have had a unique opportunity to be in prayer for people each day.

We are praying this is the last surgery for a while, at least!

Mommy Fail. . . Mommy Redeemed

That one time I SHOULD have gone to the ER. . .

I feel like parenting is a constant battle of, "Am I overreacting?" Kids fall ALL the time, they get bumps, bruises and scraps. How do you know when it's time to go into the ER?

I can write this night out and laugh now. . . the night of, I couldn't!!

We got home from Bible study late one night (9:30pm). I get the girls a piece of toast and send them to bed. I tell them I will be in as soon as Jeremy and I check on the baby chicks. I see a string in the chick area and tell Jeremy to grab it so none of them swallow it. Too late! He grabbed the string but it was already digesting in a chick's stomach. He runs up to get a pair of scissors.

*At this point, I hear Heidi-Rae crying in the house*

I can't pull the string out. I cute it as close to the beak as possible. Figure I need to just cut it and check on her in the morning to see what's going on with Heidi-Rae. As I turn to head back up, Heidi meets me at the coop, trips, and bites through her lip on the step of the chicken coop!

Jeremy close up the coop as I head to the house with a bloody mouthed 2 year old! We stop the bleeding and get cleaned up. I give her some Motrin and decide since the bleeding stopped quickly we didn't need to go in. I had her sleep in my bed. She was up about every 3 hours in pain.

Fast forward 2 days, she's really complaining that her lip hurts. I text a photo to our family doctor. . . I hear the answer to the question. . . YES, I should have taken her into the ER. He said anytime there is a puncture through skin, take them in! OY! We couldn't tell if there was an infection. I rinsed her mouth about 5 times a day and applied antibiotic ointment for 2 days and it was clear! Phew!!

Well, for the future. . . I know!

Show Love. . .

In my opinion, the single most important teaching of Jesus Christ was to LOVE PEOPLE! He asks us to love. To forgive, to give grace, to show more people love. I feel like this is a simple command, although sometimes it such a hard command to live out.

I had to have *another* knee surgery! 3rd surgery in 7 years! More on that later. . .
The week before we had the "unplanned" opportunity to serve quite a few families!

Bobby Aunt came to visit from Idaho, we got to go to dinner!

My grandparents came to visit from Vermont. 

We spent some good quality time with Jackie and her girls! 

The next few days, the kids had 13 friends rotate through the house for playdates and sleepovers! It was such a fun week! 

I will say, this was one of the times that living our Galatians 5:13 was easier. To cook, play and, serve spend time with friends was awesome.  It was a great way to spend the 2 weeks leading to surgery.

Update: About a week after I wrote this post FB was offering to show you the words you use most often in your posts. The larger, the more frequently used. . . The largest word is. . .

Man's Best Friend

Our first photo with Phoebe and Monica

"They" (<--- Whomever "they" is!!!) always say, "A dog is man's best friend." We are not big animal people. By that I mean, we don't enjoy animals sleeping in our bed or feel like they should be treated as a human. But, HOLY COW. . . We were not prepared for the grief that comes with losing a pet!! We have always thought Phoebe was the BEST dog! Many people in our lives felt the same way.

She blended in to our family so well. She tolerated the many, many events we hosted at our house. She house trained in a few days when we got her at 3 years old. She let kids do anything!! One evening, we were eating dinner and heard her quietly whining under the table. . . We look to see our niece, about 3 year old, with her finger in the dog's eye socket!!! A simple whine to let us know she was uncomfortable. She went on a few little vacations with us, saved us from a rattle snake this past summer! She was protective when Bobby wasn't home. She slept in the kids bedrooms, came to get me when they woke up in the middle of the night. She was just such a great companion!

We were incredibly sad to lose her. It hit Bobby and I hard the night of and many weeks following. The kids were ok the morning after she was hit by a car, but as the weeks have gone on, they noticed she wasn't there and missed playing with her.

She will be hard to replace!! We have a puppy now. Post coming soon!

Fire Family

There are different types of "family" that come into in life. Our fire family has been one of those. Our guys live life together for half of the month, it only makes sense to become friends with their wives! I have seen some pretty cool things happen when us fire wives pull together and create that family environment! We can go months without seeing each other, and pick up where we left off at a station gathering, community event, birthday celebration, holidays the station, supporting one another when theres a huge, lengthy fire assignment, or when life throws curve balls we don't know how to catch. It's be wonderful to belong this type of family.

Plus, you get so many cool photos!

2011

2013

2014

My Tribe. . .

Ya know that saying. . . "It takes a village to raise kids." How true is that statement! I have just had my 3rd knee surgery. . . With 3 pregnancy bedposts and 3 knee surgeries. . . This whole staying in bed thing is just not fun! The first few days are nice to catch up on sleep and rest my body. . . But, I'm over it but this point. We are praying this is the last surgery for a while, my knee heals properly, and no more tears occur!

Being down, means I need help with the kids when Bobby is at work. . . The tribe God has equipped me with has been incredible!! The amount of time they have given to my family is sacrificial!!! I can't explain my gratitude, nor can I thank them enough.

Next comes the praise for my husband. he has taken both parenting roles, housekeeper role, AND still works 72+ hours in shifts a week!! He is truly amazing. His heart to serve us has me choked up!

Cheers to "taking it easy," getting though the next few weeks and proper healing!

Capri turns 4

Capri choose chicken legs, sweet potatoes, green beans, and monkey bread for her 4th birthday! It has been such joy to teach her preschool this year! I have a passion for teaching preschool! I got to use all the projects and curriculum I made when I was teaching on my kid! It was a really cool experience. For her pre-kinder year she will attend the preschool where I worked. I have requested my favorite teachers! Prayerfully she gets one of them! I think her sass has calmed down a bit. She has a compassion about her I yearn for! She is always the one to remind me of the rules and be sure everybody is following them. She loves to be dressed up and go play in the mud with Jeremy, the perfect combination, if you ask me!

Capri's 4 acts of kindness:

1. Make Jeremy's bed for him one morning.

2. Make a bag of diapers and wipes to put at a public restroom changing table.

3. give a gift to someone who has helped us. She choose the receptionist at the Time Share. 

4. Make cookies for Daddy's station.

Jeremy turns 6

Jeremy choose Ribs, macaroni and cheese and broccoli to celebrate his 6th birthday!
In all my years dreaming of being a mommy... it was always to 5 and under! I feel like infants through kindergarten is my niche... We are stepping into uncharted territory! I am ready to take the bull by he horns (the literacy of that phrase scares me a little) and help my little boy grow into a man after God's heart! His Daddy is a great example of a family man. Jeremy is always by his side, morning the law, fixing the chicken coop, cooking, playing sports, etc. His memory amazes us. He memorized over 30 Bible verses for Awana this year.
Bobby was working on his actual birthday, so we went to the station to have Chick-Fil-A... Bobby bought silly string, invited his partner's kids and ambushed Jeremy! It was epic! They also got donuts for dessert!

Left: Silly string Ambush
Middle Top: WE walked to the store, they all got to pick one thing to buy... carrot, apple, and pear!
Middle Bottom: Daddy had donuts and candles!
Right Top: Capri wrote a chalk board note
Right Bottom: Friends celebrating at the station

Jeremy's 6 Acts of Kindness:

1. Take coffee and donuts to Grandpa's work site.




2. Make paper airplanes for Dillon and Drew

3. A surprise he wouldn't tell me about..... It was a paper that said "I <3 <3 <3 <3 Mom" 4 hearts for love!! SO sweet!

4. Give oranges to the neighbors. Didn't get a photo :(

5. Send dessert to a family at a restaurant. Red Robbin

6. Make lemonade and banana bread for our next door neighbor, Marlene.

Heidi-Rae turns 2

We had a little family dinner at the house to celebrate! I didn't get any photos from the dinner! GAH!!
But here are some cute ones from the friend Bday party at Romp-O-Rama!

This little girl gives us a run for our money. She is witty, sassy, and knows how to play her audience. She can emotionally read people, it's pretty impressive. Because of that, she is quite concerned if she thinks you are hurt, mad,  sad, angry, etc. She picks up on it and asks how she can help.  We are quite impressed by her vocabulary and understanding of situations. She is a Mama's girl all around, it makes my heart sing! Next year, we will start acts of kindness on her birthday!

Mary Poppins

The kids LOVE Mary Poppins! A local dinner theatre was showing it. Papa took Bobby, Jackie and I to see it. It was superb! One of the best plays we have seen. We had to take the kids the next week. They were captivated!

 

The "Meet and Greet" after the show was really fun.

Capri was asking Mary how she could fly and have magic...
Mary responded with, "I only have the power that God gives me.
You have it, too, you just have to ask Him."
*swoon*

Our Sweet Heidi-Rae

Look into those sweet eyes! The make this Mama heart just melt! 

Last year was a crazy hard year, health wise, for Heidi-Rae . . . and parents. It started with being admitted to the PICU with pneumonia. Her blood test 2 days after she was released showed highly elevated white blood count of 1.1 Million, normal is 200k. This is assumed if you have an infection. However, she was getting better from the infection and the blood count was much higher then even a normal infection, normal infection would have been 500k. From there we had to have monthly, sometimes every 2 week, blood tests. It's so difficult to hold a one year old down while she is getting a blood draw. There was one test that took an hour and the blood clotted so we had to redraw it 2 days later! It was heartbreaking. About 1/2 way into the year, Heidi's hematologist died of a heart attack. So, so sad!
We asked to be referred to a hematologist at Loma Linda. With a lot of prayer we went in and came out with answered prayers!!! The blood tests were down significantly (although, still high) and the doctor said we could stop the blood tests and check back in with her in a year!! We were incredibly thankful! I realize there are parents that have much, much worse health conditions the are dealing with and I don't want to seem like I am down playing them. I am just thankful to be in the clear. All Glory be unto God for hearing our prayers!

This is after one of the hour long draws...
She deserved the whole basket of lollipops!

Birthday Party for ALL

We did it again! WE had  combined birthday! I know I say this every year.... But  love it! With all of our birthdays within 15 weeks of each other, it would be incredibly stressful to throw 3 separate birthday and the occasional parent birthday celebration! The kids love it, friends and family appreciate it. 

This year, we invited the kids' close friends and cousins to Romp-O-Roma. Believe me when I tell you this place is so FUN!!!! They are an indoor playground with 3 stories, trampolines, pretend city, and a ball room with shooters!! The pictures show how much fun the kids had! 

The Fab 4

Pretend City & Dance Class

Totally parent involvement

CAKE time!
I made little cake balls with edible gold glitter!

The children LOVED Them!!

We will still celebrate each kid on their birthday and have grandparents over. Jeremy and Capri will being doing their Random Acts Of Kindness! Heidi will start hers next year. Stay tuned! 

Halloween 2015

Flower Girls Dresses

The girls from our wedding wore these dresses. . .

8 years later. . . 

MY girls can wear them!! 

SO much joy seeing them wear these dresses!