The kings heart...

... is in the hand of the Lord. (Proverbs 21:1) Since the inauguration of our new President, I've thought about this verse alot. Then someone on facebook posted this sermon/article John Piper. THIS SERMON (sorry, I had typed out the link and it caused problems for the set up of the page) And I so appreciated what he had to say. I am not, nor do I pretend to be, politically wise. I honestly would get lost in alot of the talks that go around. Its not JUST that doesn't interest me, (honestly though some of it doesn't) and yes I do vote and feel the responsibility for that, I'm just not all that knowledgable about some of it. I doubt it is a surprise to those of you who know me well, but I didn't vote for Obama. If for no other reason, I couldn't because of his stance on abortion. And that really is reason enough. I did watch part of the inauguration and ceremonies on Tuesday (honestly, I couldn't keep my TV on ALL day) and I had Isabella watching some of it with me. I was telling her how we were getting a new president and how we needed to pray for him to lead our country well and to seek God. Just in case anyone is wondering, we have never once said in front of our girls that we aren't supportive of our new president. Daniel 2:21 says that God sets up and removes kings and I believe that this is God's doing. He is never surprised. I think my girls need to realize that and need to respect and pray for the leadership we have.

I told my husband several times on Tuesday how I wish I could be TOTALLY excited about this. The fact that we have our first African-American president, that is awesome. To think that my girls can look and not see racial boundaries like so many have seen or had to deal with themselves. I often wondered if we would ever have an African American president. And with those 2 adorable daughters, maybe now Barbie will start letting the dark skinned Barbie have some major roles in her movies. :) Ok, so that's silly, but after you've watched enough Barbie movies with Barbie and her white friends, and then they put the an African American version of the star doll in the store and your daughter says "She wasn't in the movie." You get kind of tired of it. (And when you try to complain they don't have anyone to complain too) :) Anyway..... I watched people on television who were there celebrating because of the history that was being made, some who had themselves suffered racial injustices. I don't know what that's like, but I could feel for them. And I can think of how great it must be to be a kid and be able to feel like now you aren't limited by the color of your skin. And then I felt bad for black friends that didn't vote for him because they know his policies aren't closest to God's. I felt bad that they couldn't be celebrating as much. And I just still wished that I could be totally excited. That Obama's views were that of God's. But again, I know that God is in control. And we are praying for our new president and our country. Isabella woke up a couple mornings ago and in her groggy, half asleep state she said "You know what Mommy, we forgot something" I said "What?" and she said "We were supposed to pray for "A Rock Obama" :) (That's exactly how she pronounces it) and I said "You're right, we do need to pray for our new president." She then opened one eye and looked at me.... I said "Oh, right now?" and she said "Yes." And so we did, and so we will continue to do. And I hope all of you are doing the same.

A Whole Hand!

My little girl is now 5 years old!! Yes, she is now a WHOLE HAND! I can't even believe it. You know the idea, "it seems like just yesterday...." This year her birthday was on a Sunday, and 5 years ago, she was born on a Sunday. Last night would have been exactly 5 years ago, day and date, that we got the call that a little girl had been born the day before and that her birthmother had picked us. Last night, 5 years ago, was the night my parents came home from visiting friends and we had them come up so we could tell them we were adopting, oh and that they already had a granddaughter. :) We had just had our homestudy visit exactly 2 weeks prior to that phone call. This past Saturday, we had Isabella's birthday party, 5 years ago on that Saturday we were painting the nursery and setting up a couple things thinking we would just be telling my parents we were adopting -- not even knowing that we would have a baby girl so quickly. I thought we were getting a good head start on painting the nursery and painting a small armoire. I had no idea that I actually would end up being SO far behind. As I sit here typing this, Isabella and Amelia are playing tea party and I've been thinking of all the "5 years ago" things. Its hard to believe that 5 years ago today I was frantically trying to get things organized while my baby girl was in the NICU all the way across the country. We had pictures of our beautiful girl, but hadn't held her yet. Its amazing to think about the blessing God has given us in this beautiful girl. I praise Him for the wonderful, perfect job He did in planning this child for us. Her little personality and spirit amaze me on a daily basis -- to be fair her little attitude can frustrate me on a daily basis as well. :) She keeps me on my knees, both praising God for the gift He gave us in her and praying for her to have a heart longing to serve Him and to be like Him. Which is exactly how we named her with her first name meaning "Devoted to God" and her middle name meaning "Gift from God". Thank you Lord!

Now that Isabella is 5, she is old enough to realize what a birthday is and she expects that we should spend lots of time celebrating her. :) She asked us "So, since its my birthday weekend, I can do whatever I want, right?" Kenny told her "Sure, as long as you ask mommy or daddy and we say yes." :) I don't think that's the answer she was hoping for. I think she was pretty well spoiled this weekend. We started with Friday taking her to get her haircut. She's never gotten her hair cut - other than mommy trimming it. I didn't actually plan on it being RIGHT before her birthday party, but with her being sick, it just ended up that way. To her, it was a special treatment to start off the birthday celebrations. Mommy and Noni also got special treatments that day because a chiropractor's office was set up doing free massages that day as well. Sorry, no pictures of that. :)

Friday night, we gave Isabella and Amelia their big birthday present. We told them that in 3 weeks we are going to.............

...Disney World!!! Can you tell that Amelia is excited about seeing Cinderella, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse? We're all pretty excited. I don't think it really sunk in for Isabella at first because she kind of looked at us like we were crazy or like we were teasing her. So in just a few weeks we will be down at Disney World! I'm looking forward to it, we've been talking about it, thinking about it, saving up for it, and now we're finally going to go. We decided to go before Amelia turns 3 because she's free until then, so it makes it a little bit cheaper. I can't wait to see my girls faces when they see things like the castle or some of the princesses.

Then Saturday, we had her birthday party. The day after Christmas we had taken her ice skating, so she decided she wanted an ice skating party. Which I thought was good for mommy, because I didn't have to do anything. They provide the food, the cake, the ice cream and obviously the entertainment. It was fun, but it was our only ice skating party we will do because it was chaotic there and the room was very loud. You live and learn and Isabella had fun, so I guess that's what matters. I think my mom and Meredith got better pictures than I did. In the midst of trying to get things done and not be so chaotic, I was glad they were taking pictures. Plus, I couldn't seem to get in the door way and take pictures of the kids ice skating so alot of mine are through plexi glass. Here are a few anyway:

The birthday girl, concentrating hard on her ice skating -- tongue out and all. She had fun going around without the "walker" with her daddy too. Her favorite part was trying to get and eat "snow"

Other pictures here are my mom helping my niece, Olivia skate. Olivia, showing you just how cold it was. :) Isabella and my nephew Garrett. Papa and Amelia -- Amelia actually skated for a little while, but only long enough for mommy to put some stuff in the room, watch her go around, go get the camera and come back to get no pictures. My dad was sick, but he toughed it out, he didn't skate so he watched Amelia for me. Isabella's friend Makenna with her cousin, one of our teens in our youth group, Lindsay. My friend Shelli with her middle son, Noah. Shelli's oldest son Chase, with the same concentrated, tongue out pose as Isabella. Could barely get a picture of him because he was just flying around the rink. Isabella and one of her little friends from next door, Alaina. Then we have the birthday girl with her cake and blowing out the candles. The adults probably noticed the crazy crowds and the chaos, but the kids seemed to just have fun and Isabella was happy to be the center of attention. :)

To end the weekend, on Isabella's ACTUAL birthday, we woke up to Snow. Now how many little girls actually get a present from God on their birthday. She thought that was pretty cool. Hope she knows just how special (and rare) this birthday weekend celebration was!

Sick Girly

So much for getting some Christmas pictures on here and posting my menu plan, my Isabella has been sick. She's had the typical, 75 degree one day 40 degree the next, cold and cough off and on for a week. Then Sunday, we went to Sunday School and I was copying off some stuff and came back into the room and Isabella was sitting on Kenny's lap crying. She didn't want to stay with the Sunday School teacher. This is SO not like her, we knew then she must not be feeling good. Then she would be fine, then start acting lethargic, fine again with the teens, clingy the next. She also complained of her ear "popping" a couple times. She started running a fever that night and felt SO hot when she crawled in bed with me. I called the drs office on Monday and they told me I could bring her in or wait and see if the fever goes away or if she stops complaining about her ear, and if not bring her in the next day. I opted for waiting. Monday was a day of sitting on the couch with her alot just cuddling - can't complain, I love cuddling with her and its sweet that when she's sick she wants me to be near her, but of course I got nothing done that day. Tuesday she woke up, no fever, acting fine, she sat and cut and glued scraps together as I was sewing. I thought well, maybe she's over it. Nope, she started running a fever again that night, acted all emotional going to bed, then came into our room several times in the night. Her fevers had been pretty high too, so I decided to take her in yesterday. I try to avoid doctors as much as I can. Not that I don't appreciate what they do, I just think sometimes people take their kids in for ever sniff, every fever, every ache and I don't do that. I'm actually very thankful for the pediatrician we have, he doesn't encourage you to come in at every symptom. They obviously say you can, but they don't push it. I like that. I also like that he seems to be on the same page as me with alot of things. I mentioned that she gets the typical colds, but that she really doesn't get sick much and I try to avoid using over the counter medicines. He agreed and said "They will claim to work, but the really don't anyway. They might help for comforts sake, but its better not to use them if you can anyway." He said "You could probably use some peppermint tea with honey and that might help." Silly, but at that moment I was once again so thankful for him because we had been giving Isabella some Herbal Children's Cold Tea that I had gotten at Whole Foods, yet I hadn't personally met alot of drs who recommend anything other than drugs. There probably are more out there, but of the ones I've personally been to and worked for, they laughed off the idea that things like that could help. I mean, why should we try herbal tea when we could fill our kids with sugar and red food coloring from over the counter medicine. :)

I will say this, although I prefer natural alternatives as much as possible, I'm not totally against doctors and medicines when needed. That being said she is on antibiotics for a few days. It bothers me to think about it because she hasn't been on antibiotics since she got out of the NICU, and I'm already hoping her acidophilus will help her some with some of the effects of antibiotics. Has anyone read any of these books at this website: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/antibiotics.htm It has books talking about not using antibiotics, effects of them, etc. I wonder if any of them are worth reading? I don't feel like I'm in an "Antibiotic Crisis", as I said this is her first time on them in almost 5 years. I'm just wondering how to better prepare for the possibility of more sicknesses once she starts school next year. She already takes some stuff for immunity, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

A praise about the antibiotics was that they were free. Since we haven't ever gotten antibiotics for our girls I was wondering how much it would cost, but the nurse told me that if I took it to Publix they would fill it for free. Maybe not good for the idea of pushing antibiotics, but it was a praise for me because I didn't want to have to spend a fortune on medicine.

And along with trying to help her immunity, is anyone else like me and starts feeling like some kind of bad mom when your kids get sick? Ok, maybe its just me. I know its kind of crazy, kids are going to get sick, but somehow as a mom, I don't think anything of it if I get sick, but when my kids get sick I feel as if I've missed something, thought I was keeping them healthy, but must have missed something. Its silly really. I know God is in control of their health not me, its just one of those protective mama things, I guess.

Anyway, thanks for being patient with me. If Isabella continues to feel well today, I will post some pics. I actually started this post yesterday and didn't get to finish it until today. She seems to be feeling better this morning, but she slept until 10! And I let her, I figured she needed to catch up on some sleep and if she could actually sleep through her own snoring (oh my was it loud last night) then I should let her. I just pray she is feeling good by Saturday, her 5th birthday party is that afternoon and its going to be an ice skating party!! Can't believe she's going to be 5!

Yet another infamous thought from Isabella

We were out a little bit this evening. It was one of those kind of cloudy nights, a little smoky looking - kind of spooky. Obviously you can't really see the clouds well against the black sky -- except for right at the moon. As you would look up you could see the light clouds passing by the moon. Isabella looked up and said "What's that smoke? Is God cooking something?" Chuckling, I said "No, those are clouds moving by" .... to a child who was obviously not interested in my answer because she took in a big whiff and said "Oh yeah."

Menu Plan Monday

I feel terrible that my first post after posting so very little over the holidays is going to be my menu plan. This is really for my sake mostly. If I do this then I will keep myself accountable to organize and plan out my week's menu. When I don't plan things just don't run smoothly at all. We have thankfully started the New Year off eating healthy. We had friends come in to see us and she and I enjoyed making nice nutritious meals for our families as well as talking about ways to continue to better health, continuing our goals of being more frugile with the everyday things, etc. I'm going to lump meals together rather than do each day seperately. More or less the I'm doing it per day so if you REALLY just have to know what we are eating on Wednesday, it will be the third item on each list. :)

Breakfasts:
*Brown Rice Farina with Blueberries
*Blueberry Muffins and smoothies (Make them Monday night for Tuesday and Thursday and freeze some)
*Griddle Cakes
*Blueberry Muffins and fresh juiced juice
*Crepes with bananas and blueberries. (I'm using THIS recipe. It looks yummy to me and since my girls love cottage cheese, I think they will love these. I've never made them, but I've made other recipes from her site and they're always delicious, so I'm not worried)
*Homemade "sausage" patties, eggs, & some kind of potato hash brown type of thing (THIS recipe for the sausage. I've never tried it before, but another site that I've enjoyed her recipes) I've never been a big pork fan anyway, but it definitely isn't a healthy choice for meat (in my opinion), but my hubby loves big breakfasts so I thought this would be great to try on Saturday.

Lunch: Lunches are mostly for my girls. I don't normally eat what they eat and I will probably be eating salads or something instead. My girls will eat some salad, but not enough to fill them up so its never a whole meal for them.
*AB & J sandwiches, Pirates Booty, & 1/2 banana for girls. Salad for me.
*Chicken Hot Dogs (to look like octopus) with mac & cheese & peas -- saw the octopus on a front of a book and thought I needed to try it for my girls.
*Leftovers - salad for me
*Ab & J sandwiches.
*English Muffin Pizza (on homemade whole grain English muffins, first time trying this too, but I’m hoping I can make them and freeze some for further easy lunch ideas)
*not sure about Saturday's lunch, probably just some type of sandwich or quesadillas, and Sunday will depend on my grocery shopping since I haven't been out this week.

Dinner:
*Whole grain pasta with sundried tomatoes & mushrooms in light cream sauce. Steamed brocoli
*Leftover chili and cornbread
*Quesadillas with leftover mexican rice & beans
*Chicken, sweet potatoes green beans
*Black bean cakes & salad (Don't have a recipe for the black bean cakes, I'm going to wing it after enjoying the one at Whole Foods so much. If it turns out good, I'll share the recipe, if not, I'll just hang my head in shame.)
*Homemade pizza
*Sunday night after church will be leftovers

Hope everyone has a good week and I hope that its not a week until I post again. :-)