Adoption Update

It looks like "our girls" got adopted! Yea for them and their forever family, :/ for us. BUT the week before they got adopted, I found another sibling group. Here is what happened: "Babe! I just found another group we could adopt if we don't get our girls. Their names are ________ and they are ________ and they happen to be THE MOST adorable kids I have ever seen!" (Seriously, they are so cute it is unbelievable)!

So anyway, I wanted them the moment I saw them. Unfortunately in the adoption "game" you always have to keep your guard up. You are never guaranteed the kids until months into the process. Aren't we in the process? NO!!! We will be submitting the application tomorrow. Along with the 15 some odd page application, we have to photocopy our whole life, (marriage license, insurance, etc) and submit pictures of every room in the house. Joy. So yeah, we can't get too excited and in love with certain kiddos until all that is taken care of. BUT that doesn't stop me from praying for these kids and dreaming about them! :)

I REALLY wish I could put their picture on here to show y'all how cute the really are, but I don't know if that is allowed. Sorry, but I promise you are missing out! :) They are just the cutest!

I will post the pictures of our house tomorrow. I took SO MANY pictures of it being built, but not many of it decorated. :) Ok, so you have seen pictures of the master and kids' bedrooms, but that was about it. Tomorrow, you will see the whole shebang! (We are going to paint the living room, so that will change soon).

Till tomorrow! ♥ TK

Lord, Blessed Be Your Name!

Thank You Lord for the safe delivery of
Luke Edward Long!

3lbs 4oz 15 inches long (or about, lol, I may be off a little)! He may have a long road ahead of him, but the doctors say he is very strong. The next 48 hours are crucial, so please be in prayer for him! Doesn't this picutre melt your heart?

We have faith that he will have a long but healthy road ahead of him, BUT we also know that no matter the out come it is all for His glory. AND, as Kempton Turner always said, "I feel great cause of Romans 8:28!" Mary and Joe, rest in that!!! :)

Oh You give and take away- LORD BLESSED BE YOUR NAME! ♥

Please Keep Praying!

UPDATE: TODAY (AUG 28) AT NOON CENTRAL TIME, LUKE WILL BE BORN. PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY!!! THANKS ♥ Paul and I will be in Kemah enjoying a mini-babymoon, but I will keep you updated on here from my phone. The updates will have no post title or pictures, and they will only be about a sentence long- be sure to check back for updates! Keep on praying! :)

Update from Mary's sister, Kristin:

Mary is in the hospital and will not come home until the baby is delivered. She is 30 weeks now. Her water broke, her fluid level is not good but not at an extremely dangerous level. So, if she can keep from getting dilated or loosing any more fluid, she will stay put until he is born. Some people have stayed in this situation for a month but her doctor said that normally when your water brakes the likely hood is that the baby will be born within a week. For now, she has to wait day by day to see what will happen. She is very uncomfortable and is having back labor pains.

They are giving her steroids to develop the babies lungs and each shot increases his chances of being better off. She gets the second dose today at 5:00. She is very upset about not being able to care for Andrew (I year old) at this time. You could be praying for Mary – remain in stable, healthy condition as well as her emotional/spiritual state now and in the future. New baby Luke – remain in his mother’s womb and to be strong and healthy at delivery. Andrew to be cared for and not too distressed over his mommy being gone or unable to hold him. My mom, Paula that she will be physically, mentally , and spiritually strong to care for Andrew. The whole family – all grandparents and siblings to be supportive of Mary and Joe at this time.

Urgent Prayer Request

PLEASE PRAY for this sweet little boy's baby brother and Mommy. She is 30 weeks pregnant and her water just broke!


Look at that sweet face, how can you not pray for his family? :)

Exhausted

Where do I begin? Whew, I am exhausted!

I have been meaning to post for days, but have been too busy/tired.

Before I get started, I have a MAJOR Praise report! One of my very good friends, Erin, recently accepted Christ as her Savior, and this past Sunday got baptized! I was blessed to attend! I am so excited to have her as a Sister!


Now back to business... here is how it all went down...

Saturday I went out to run errands- 2 hours tops I told my hubs- I returned 5 hours later. This was not a fun shopping trip to say the least. Half way through I had to get Starbucks because I was about to pass out from low blood sugar, (BTW, don't say, "aww poor baby" sarcastically as I am sure you already did. lol I really am not a fan of Starbucks and would have much rather wasted my money and caloric intake on something better, but oh well. lol). Anyway, on my way out I decided, on a whim, to buy Meet the Robinsons. I had seen it once babysitting, (meaning I had not given it my full attention). The whole way home I was wondering if it was an impulse buy that I would regret. NO WAY! Paul and I cried numerous times, and it is a must own if you adopt your children! While I was watching it I made scripture art for kid's room. Well, one of them took me the whole movie, and so I watched it again to finish the second one. :) Darn, right? :)
Scripture for the cow room, (obviously, lol)

For the bird room! :)



Sunday I went to see Erin get baptized, then when I got home at began painting the bird room. I painted two walls brown, and two walls were left plain. They will be pink, but if for some reason we get a boy, I didn't want to have to repaint, so I am waiting. :) Late that night I kicked the gallon of paint spilling half of it onto our brand new carpet...
My sweet hubs half way through the clean up. I told him to show how big it was with his hands, but the flash picked up the water so you can see it for yourself! lol
The saddest victim of all... the carpet recovered...this little birdie may be forever changed by the incident.
Flash makes this hard to see, but either way- can you tell a difference? Barely? Me too. :/
Can you see the difference better here?
Painted with two new members of the bird room...
The new clock...
Close up, without flash so a little fuzzy.


Monday I painted the cow room, and today I hung everything up. Here is my helper:
How cute is that? :)
Panoramic view of the finished product. :) Well, ALMOST finished product. I will be adding white picket fence from the floor to where you would put a chair rail. I CAN'T WAIT!!! :)
One view- this looks 10 times better in person- pics do no justice!
Closet view
The other two walls were painted the same brown as the bird room. Can you tell the difference in color?
Another view... out to the hallway...
This will not be here forever, just until I get the furiture to put these things away/on display.
♥
No flash to avoid glare.... Mommy, Aunt Tracie and (her/his second) Cousin Lauren swinging at the Creek. Mommy is wearing cow clothes, and it is in a cow frame, (one of my favorites of us for sure)!
Recognize these from the Chick-fil-a kids meal? My mom and I had so much fun collecting them! She gave me money one day to go up and buy 10 cows. We had fun opening them all to see if they were new ones or ones we already had. I have 14 of the 20, and about 15 duplicates too. Out of those 29, I did not get ONE of the golden cows. Hmmm. lol



As I was writing this, my aunt sent me this pic of my brother and me from his graduation. Yesterday was his first day of COLLEGE! I can't believe it!
Love it! (Except for the vein in my forehead and neck- what's up with that? lol) Thanks KK!


Nothing new to report on the adoption or the book. Please keep the adoption process in your prayers, and you will be the first to know when there is something to know! :)

Down Right Sinful

My mom says that I can justify anything, so my justification for this today is that today is 3 years since Paul asked me to be his wife- that deserves a celebration, right? ;)

My FAVORITE dessert is the Sinful Sundae at Outback Steakhouse. The last time I got to indulge in it was my 22nd birthday a year ago. Why so long ago? THEY HAVE STOPPED CARRYING IT! Are you kidding me? I was so upset!

Now if you are not familiar with the Sinful Sundae, it seems very easy to make yourself. Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream wrapped in toasted coconut, drizzled in Hot chocolate with whipped cream and a strawberry. Really simple. So simple, why not do it myself since they no longer carry it- so I did! :)


Preheat the oven to 325F and bake for 12-15 minutes (according to a recipe online)...
FAIL! This was after 6 minutes... they would have been black after 12! Geeze! So...
I put a new batch in for 5 minutes and they were perfect! SO, bake coconut at 325 for 5 minutes! :)
Add Blue Bell ice cream and hot fudge, and voila! Sinful Sundae! Ok, I don't like whipped cream, so I left it off, but it would have been even better if I had some strawberries! AND, notice that while this is a sinful treat, I did not eat a sinful amount! ;) It was awesome!!!!!!!

You are welcome over anytime for a visit, and we can make some sundaes while you are here! :)

Special Day

Paul is 29 today! But that is not the "special day" I am referring to.



My baby brother moves into his dorm at SHSU today! But that is not the "special day" I am referring to.



No, today was Glo Glo and Ju Ju's "special day with Mrs. Tricia!" If you have been reading my blog for awhile, then you know these girls! These girls have a very special place in my heart! We like to have "special days" where I take them one on one or them together and spend the day with them. Now, this is not babysitting- it is just a special day. BUT if Mommy happens to get some free time out of the deal, then that is just icing! :)

Glo Glo and Ju Ju swimming at "Mrs. Tricia's Mommy's House." They missed "Mrs. Tricia's Mommy," and "TaaTurr," (Ju Ju's pronunciation lol)!
Bryan, she is SO your daughter! Glo with her new love Sammie!
Much better Glo! Sweet smile with Sammie!
Ju Ju LOVED Belle! Sammie was more her size, but Belle put up with her, so they were inseparable! lol
I got her to smile pretty Mom and Dad! How? Forget cheese, make her say, "cookies!" (little trick I learned from Steven Leonard). :)
"Writing" a note to TaaTurr!
One of my FAVORITES of them of all time!!! :) At McDonald's Play Place.
How did Jersey like today? He was beat! :)

L♥VE

So many people my age are getting married and having babies. I LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at the pictures of both events! :) In looking though, it makes me so thankful that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband! (The reason I am writing this blog is because what I mentioned above- because I was looking at all the pictures- BUT I JUST realized that tomorrow is his 29th birthday, so I guess this will kill two birds with one stone. ;) Tomorrow he will turn 29, (oh my!), and Friday will be exactly 3 years to the day since her popped the question! ♥)

Back to the post... I had a list of what I expected in my future husband, and I was told I would never find that in a man-my expectations were too high. Well, Paul EXCEEDED those expectations 100 fold and I am just so blessed to be called his wife.

Our children are going to be so blessed to have him as their Daddy! It was really cute... the other day, we watched Abby and usually I do all the work when we babysit. However, this was the first time we babysat since we officially began the adoption process. He jumped in and was sooo hands on with her! It was really cute because I know in his mind he was preparing himself for the future, (not to mention Abby is so cute- she is just irresistible! You could be in a terrible mood, but you would HAVE to be around her, she is so much fun)!

Anyway, Paul and I are ready to be parents, but we still put each other first. I look forward to being a Mommy, but I really look forward to having Daddy by my side through it all! :)

8♥21♥06
8♥21♥06
4♥7♥07
4♥7♥07
4♥09 2 years of wedded bliss, and 3 years of bliss in general! :)

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you more than you will ever know!

Big Sister Room Phase 1

I am so bummed that my camera is acting up. I killed myself last night setting this all up, and my camera decided to not work. Then today it finally charged, and now the pictures it takes are not 100% clear. Buying a new camera is not on our list right now, and I pray that we do not have to add it. :/

I am sitting in Big Sister's room as I type, and I am taking it all in and dreaming of what could be. Jersey and I are sitting on her uncovered mattress, (did I mention he has to be with me all the time)? lol

Even if we do not get our girls, and lets say we get boys, I can pack up all this birdie stuff and put it away for a future girl. That is why I am not painting her room, or buying bedding. Hence, the name of this post- Phase 1. :)
See what I meant about my camera? Ok, here is her uncovered bed :) with the pillows I painted, a new lamp I painted and the painting above...
When I first made the above the bed painting, it was eh. So I redid it on canvas. I like it much better! :)
The lamp- it is a touch lamp. All she will have to do it lightly tap on the base and the light comes on. AND it has 3 different settings which is so nice at night when you want a little light, and you do not want to light up the whole house. :)
Her self and book shelf (sans baskets)...
This was a natural wood shelf which I painted white, painted the inside pink, then of course added the birds and flowers. On the shelf are birds and flowers, (duh), and I will continue to buy these for her. I was raised with collecting, so this will be fun. :) Oh, and since the inside is pink, it makes the wall behind it look pink too. lol (wall will be brown later)
I also painted the sides of the shelf. :)
The sides of the cube book shelf. I have pink baskets that go in the shelf, (which were not pictured above). They are a different pink, so they may clash. Come over and give me your opinion so I can buy new ones if need be. :)
These birds, oh these birds. If you remember from this post, I REALLY wanted to buy birdie stuff from Hobby Lobby, but had to practice restraint- these were the culprits. I saw these birds months ago and really liked/wanted them. They would not fit in anywhere in our house, so it was just one of those items that you like but would never buy. Then the other day when I was browsing for ideas for this room, I came across them again. I HAD TO HAVE them now! YEA! I had a reason to buy them! They were originally $25 a piece, but that day they were 50% off- so 2 for the price of one! :) We LOVE Dave Ramsey, so I knew I couldn't get them then- even if they were 90% off. BUT since I was an obedient wife, I was able to buy them later in the week! :) Delayed gratification is hard, but it is still gratifying in the end! ;)
I LOVE THEM! Close up of course- they are 2 feet tall +/- and over 1 foot wide. (this wall behind them will be pink, think of how nicely they will pop then). :) I am going to paint two walls pink, (this one and the one behind the bed), and the other two walls brown, (the closet wall and the one behind the shelves- which will really make those pop too) :)
Some decorating ideas to share- a friend and I were shopping together to get all this stuff. We found REALLY cute stickers that were must buys, and she suggested framing them. So here is one (I also have a pink birdie circle framed)... (ignore the flash reflection)
And here is another... this one is really cool because it looks like it is hand sewn- it looks like an antique or something. I also have a bird one like this one too.
Sorry this is so dark, but look at Jersey. This was where I found him when I was painting. :) So cute!



Don't forget to check out my new post on my other blog! :) Please continue praying for our little girls. ♥ Thanks!