Engagement Pictures Are Back!!!!!

Sometimes I am not super patient......anyone who knows me, knows that when I decide to do something, I want to do it right then!!  For example: redecorating a room.  I make a decision of what I want and I go shopping.  I just want to have every bit of it completed that day.  I don't like to leave things half way done.  Haha....and so waiting for our wonderful photographers to finish editing the pictures felt like an eternity!!!  Reality was, they were super fast and turned out exactly the way Sabrina (and me) had envisioned them!!!!  Yay!!!!!!

Sooooo, without further adieu......

I LOVE this one!!!!

I really LOVE this one.....

Totally Love!!!

Adorable!!!

One of my favorites!!

Totally Love!!!  And yes, he is tall!  ;)

Love!

Adorable!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!

Totally LOVE!!!!

 

 

They had to choose from over 100 photos, which ones to use for their engagement pictures....I'm so glad that it was not up to me!!!  I would still be sitting there, trying to whittle down my list! 

 

What I especially love about these pics are the props used in some of them.  For example, in the ones with them sitting with all the 'stuff', many of the items sitting around belonged to Sabrina's great grandmother!  In fact, the white sweater she is wearing is also hers!  I can remember my grandmother wearing it more than 40 years ago!  Sabrina loves anything vintage and that's the look she was wanting to portray in their pictures.  I think they pulled it off perfectly!!!  And a special 'thank you' to Jake for wearing the hat!!!  He wasn't sure about it but it made the pics perfect!!!!



Thoughts On A Monday

Spring time means "busy" at our house!  Taking care of the yard (almost 3 1/2 acres) after a long winter means there is a lot to do!  Spring means school is almost out and there are many end of the year projects due.  Spring means a wedding is just over a month away!!!

 Lacrosse is just finishing up for Thomas.  His team had a rough season this year.  They had trouble finding a coach so they ended up putting our local boys with boys from other towns.  In the middle of the season, we had a boy on his team, take his own life.  There are no words to describe the pain and heartache you feel as a parent when you hear something like that.  He was also in Thomas' class at school, so it was someone that he knew quite well.  That has been a very hard thing for Thomas to work through.  Years ago, when we lived in Oregon, a father took his two little children out for a walk and ended up shooting both of them and then himself.  The little boy was also in Thomas' class at the time.  Hard things for a child to understand and work through.  Losing his little brother a little over a year ago has weighed heavy on his heart as well.

As a child, I never knew anyone who died.  It wasn't until I was married and we were expecting our first child that Scott's grandmother passed away.  Now all of our grandparents have passed on but I was an adult when I first experienced death of a loved one.  These are hard times our children are facing.  The world is such a different place than it was.  More and more killings, school shootings, etc. are all things our children have to worry about on a daily basis.  We try to help them live without fear.  We do our best to talk with them and try and alleviate unnecessary worry.  It's tough. 

We have a couple of children who suffer with mental illness.  What a learning experience that has been!!  You never understand it, unless you live it 24/7.  My heart hurts for them and the trials that they go through.  How much easier their life would be if they suffered from a noticeable physical disability!!  People could see it and understand but when you look completely 'normal', it's hard for people to imagine what you are going through on a daily basis.  We sometimes wonder what our life would be like without the many challenges we experience as parents.  I definitely would not have the compassion and love that I do for those with mental illness.  The life lessons we have learned, helping care for someone with these challenges, are a blessing.  I tend to look at the world a lot different than I used to. 

Sorry, got a little off track there but just something I have been thinking about lately......

Levi and Tanner are wrapping up the track season!  It was the first year for both of them and they really enjoyed it!  Tanner is our long distance runner and Levi does sprints and relays.  They have both done very well and we are proud of them for trying something new!

Vanessa is involved in the RAD (race against drugs) program at the school.  The older kids have all had something similar in 6th grade but the program at this school is intense!!!  They have songs, skits and dances that they have been working on for several weeks/months(?)!!  We are excited to see the final performance at the end of May!!!

All the Little's are doing well!!  Life is pretty easy for them right now!  School, church, playing outside!!  I love looking out the window to the backyard and watching the 4 of them playing together!!!  They have some great adventures!!

Olivia is doing well!!!  She is 11 months!!!!  She has two teeth on the bottom and two teeth on the top!!  She is almost sitting!!!!  She is enjoying tummy time much more than in the past and she especially loves going outside!!!  She is full of giggles and smiles!!

"Oh, They Say When You're Married In June....."

She said YES!!!  Sabrina is getting married in June!!!!  Our world just got a little more crazy (is that even possible???)!!!  We couldn't be more happy for these two!!!

 

Our favorite photographers did their engagement pictures last night.  This is just a sneak peek!!! We can't wait to see the rest!!!

 

We love Jake and are so thankful he came into her life!  They are just right for each other!!  It will be so fun to watch them begin a new life together!!!

 

CONGRATULATIONS JAKE AND SABRINA!!!!



Spring Has Sprung!!!!

The weather is starting to warm up!  The grass is turning green!!  The trees are starting to bud!  The ducks are back!  :)  The birds have started singing again.....Summer is right around the corner!!

We have two boys running track!  Another boy is playing Lacrosse, one girl is involved in RAD (Race Against Drugs) and has all sorts of dance/play practices that go along with the program and we have a handful of Little's that are busy playing outside and having all sorts of great adventures!!

Look at this little Princess!!!

Happy Spring!!

Doll Baby!!

She's getting so big!

 

 

She loved wearing that dress!!!  It was perfect for putting in her mouth!  :)  She able to finally wear her cute little black patent shoes with her dress!  First time her tiny little feet have fit into a pair of shoes (they are size 0....newborn)! 

 

 

Last week, I also took these cute pictures of her sitting in her little bouncy seat!  We attached her toys to it so they don't fall off and she loves playing with them!

 

I love those little hands!! 

She was having all sorts of conversations that day!!

Lots of singing that day too!!  I wish I would have taken a video instead!!

 

 

 

We are enjoying Spring Break with our kids until April 7th!!  The school that they all attend gives them 2 1/2 weeks of break!!!!  We're praying for warm, sunny days!  Plus, we'll be re-doing braids for 4 girls (3 of ours and 1 of Levi's friends from school).  Each girl takes 10 hours, which I split into 2 days, so 8 days of vacation are spent watching lots of movies.....I have a feeling this time I will be able to memorize every word/song from Frozen!!!  Haha, we love that one!!!!



Life Is Good!

Life is good.  Life is always good.....busy, crazy, exhausting but we are so blessed.  Our Father in Heaven knows our needs and never leaves us hanging.  I wish I had more time to devote to my blog because it's important to me to have life documented but quite honestly, it gets pushed to the back burner all the time!

Sometimes I wish I had someone who could follow our family around, a videographer(?) to make a record of what we're doing and the craziness of our lives.  I'm guessing if I ever watched a movie of  a 'day in the life' of our family, I would be exhausted just watching it!!!!  Hahaha......

I just re-read that last paragraph and literally laughed out loud!!!  I typed that yesterday morning.  Let's do a little review of yesterday......

By 8am, I had showered, and was completely ready for the day, had done a load of laundry, picked up the house and had 8 kids out the door to school and was just getting the baby ready to head out the door to the Dr.  Oops, take that back.....7 kids were at school, one was at the ER getting stitches in her heel!  Vanessa was dancing in the kitchen before breakfast (we do a lot of that at our house.....) and hit her foot on the corner of the dishwasher and sliced open her heel!  She required 6 stitches to close it up!  Whew....anyway, took Olivia to the plastic surgeon who will perform the surgery for her eye openings, picked up the kindergartner, fed her lunch, did more laundry, went back to the kid's school to watch the pep assembly (because I heard a rumor that the Varsity basketball team was doing a 'dance-off' against the girl's varsity team).  There was no way I was going to miss that!!!  I will see if I can post the video....oh my.

Anyway, brought 2 boys home, helped one with homework, picked up the next 3, took Tanner to track practice, dropped of 2 girls at their church activity, came home and started dinner, got Thomas out the door to Lacrosse practice, I sent Scott to pick up Vanessa from dance try-outs at the school and pick up Levi from basketball practice, then I sent Scott to pick up the 2 girls, he dropped them off and headed back over to pick up Tanner from track.  Everyone was home, except Thomas at this point so we ate dinner, dropped the boys off at the church for youth activities, cleaned the kitchen, helped the 4 littles get their laundry put away, fed the baby, got the first 4 in bed, got my exercise clothes on, exercised on my TreadClimber for 25 minutes, then my TurboSonic for 10, then 30 minutes in my sauna, showered and got the next 3 to bed, finished cleaning the kitchen, got the baby ready for bed after she ate and was in bed by 10!!!!!  Whew!!  That's a record for us because many times it's closer to 11 and since I get up at 5 everyday,  11 is just too late for me to feel like I got enough sleep!! 

Just another day in paradise!!
Here are a couple of pictures of our sweet Olivia just to brighten your day!

Where are your teeth, sweet baby???

 

Look at those cute teeth!!!!

 

 

 

Happy Thursday!!!

Sunday....And Coming Home!!

Sunday Sabrina had a great time attending a local church.  The entire meeting was in Creole, so she understood very little nothing.  At one point a lizard crawled across the stage during the sermon and caused the Pastor to jump!  Haha, she got a kick out of that! 

After church, she was able to spend the afternoon at the baby orphanage!  So many sweet babies to love!!!  She enjoyed being able to love on the babies for a few hours! 

Monday morning they all got up early.  Breakfast was at 6 and then they left the house by 6:30 to go 12 miles to the airport.  They were hoping to get there by 9!!  Apparently with 14 million people in Port Au Prince, the streets are very busy early in the morning while they all wait for a tap tap (taxi). 

She made it in time and then went through 4 different security stations/immigration and had an hour to spare!  Once they arrived in NY, she had about a 5 hour layover for her flight to Portland.  Thankfully one of the men she was traveling with was a United Club member, so they got to wait in their lounge and have a few snacks!

She finally arrived in Portland just after midnight and since security was closed, once she collected her bags, she had to wait until 4 am to get back through security and head over to her gate for her 6:30 flight.  Needless to say, when I picked her up, she was ready for a hot shower!!  She was exhausted but knew better than to take a nap, so she did laundry and hung out before she had to go to work!

It was so fun to go through her pictures and hear the stories behind them!  I will have her go through them and post some here so you can see the beautiful people and country where she was!!! 

We're so thankful to all those who helped donate supplies for her to take!  They go through them so fast in the clinic and every little bit helps!!!

Saturday Update!

Saturday morning Sabrina worked in the clinic all morning, counting pills.  In the afternoon they left and went over to one of the other ministries that has a lot of stands (like a market) to barter.  She loved it!  She was able to buy some fun things! 

She sent a text that said: "I seriously love it here!  It feels like I've been gone for more than a week!  I decided the guy I marry is going to have to be real flexible because I pretty much want to travel and help in clinics for the rest of my life!  No joke.  Can you be addicted after 1 trip??"

And another text: "We have so much! I just want to like up root the whole family and let them see this kind of life!  The people here are so happy with nothing!!!  I got a video of boys playing soccer....Every boy has multiple rips and holes in either his shirt or pants and their shoes are almost completely falling apart.  Most of them have crocs on that were worn down so much you could hardly tell what they were!"

She sent a text that said: "I just had goat for dinner!"  Haha....turns out that the son of the people that own the guest house where she is staying, told them they were eating goat with some cat.  He had a totally straight face, but finally tells them it's just goat...like that's a relief or something.....they were talking to his mom later and she was cracking up...it was just beef!  Whew!!!

She sent me a text today that she just got home from church.  A lizard crawled across the floor in the middle of the sermon and they had to catch it and put it outside.  I asked her how big it was.  She said it was only a little gecko but the pastor jumped out of the way and so they put it outside!  Haha, yeah we don't have that problem at church very often......never.  :)

I got the email from the airline today to check her in for her flight tomorrow!!  Just a teensy bit excited to confirm her on the flight!!!!!!