Today was the day! God is good! I feel so free now that this is over. We are not looking over our shoulders any more. He is ours and we are his. Thanks be to the Lord! 

This Day

Today is the day! We go to court in about 2 hours to finalize the adoption of our son, Cody. I am really nervous and excited and relieved at the same time! Its been such a long and painful haul. God is good and He will guide and protect us this day!

Blessings!

Cybil

Home Sweet Home!!!

Well we are home from our long weekend away camping. Our house always seems so big after a few days in the camper.  We love to camp and deffinately dont get to go as often as we want.  The weather was perfect! Jeans and sweatshirts the whole time! We are hoping that next weekend is the same as we are going camping again. I try to make it easy by having the camper always ready to go.  I have a fully stocked kitchen full of utencils, pots and pans, and small appliances that never leave the camper.  I do the same with dish towels and bath towels except that I wash those and return them right away so its always ready. I am currently working on getting enough blankets and pillows so that those dont have to be hauled back and forth as well.  We are thinking about getting a place at a campground that is about a half hour away and leaving it there for the whole season next year.  It would be our "summer place" LOL!! We would be able to get away more often when things are already there and waiting.  We'll see yet.  I know the kids would love it. I think I would like it too. 
My son had a great time as he won the 13 and under fishing derby! He caught a 10.5 inch bass as well as the top prize money of $38.  My daughter, Aubrey, had the lead for quite a while, but he caught a larger one.  The bitter sweetness of the whole thing was that He caught the winning fish with Her pole! Ouch! A good lesson learned for sure!

Blessings!

Cybil

13 Days and counting....

Thirteen days and counting before we head off to court for the adoption finalization! I had to go and see the caseworker today and look through our sons 5 inch thick file. Yuck! I was especially sickened by the letter that my husband and I personally recieved from the family and the letter that was specifically written for Cody from his family.  They must assume that I know nothing about what they did to him and how they treated him because the letter spoke of unselfish love and a desire to do the right thing. Its all a lie meant to make themseves look and feel better.  So irritating........ but alas, I cannot tell them how I feel the next time I see them at WalMart (which seems to be all the time) because then they will see the hypocricy flowing through my viens. How will I invite the sad lot to church after I have told them what I really think of them? I am hoping that after prayer and forgiveness I might actually one day be able to make that invitation......God knows. Cody and I were in the camper today getting it ready to head out for the weekend and he asked it had a basement! So cute and sweet!

Blessings to all!

GOOD NEWS!!!!

2008 w/ Madison at her 5th grade Graduation!

God is so good, He's so good to me! About a year ago my 38 year old, physically fit husband had to have 3 stents put into his heart. God was so good to us and walked us through a very scary process! For Joe, its genetic and really cant be reversed by lifestyle change, although we are trying to keep it from getting worse by watching what we eat and getting plenty of exercise, etc. Today was his one year check up and the Dr. was thrilled with his blood work results and said everything looked and sounded really great! THANK YOU JESUS!!! I need that man so much more than I realize and God knows this.

Perfect Peace

Before Surgery

Today was one of those days when, in the evening, you look back and shake your head in wonder. I recieved a call from the school at 10:30 that Aubrey (9) was having pain in her side that was making her cry.  She had said her side hurt when she got up, but I told her to go to the bathroom and get dressed for school. In other words: suck it up, your going  to school sweetheart! I got to the school and saw that she was in deffinate pain as she could'nt even stand up straight. I called the Dr, who was no in, but the nurse was skeptical because there was no vomiting or fever. Mothers intuition, better yet, the Lords prompting took me to the ER where it was confirmed that Aubrey had appendicitis. An hour later she was in surgery and I was in the waiting room eating Arbys that my husband was so sweet to get for me.  I felt no worry or anxiety which is shocking.  God was in control and I knew it.  What a peaceful day even though it was completely unexpected.

Reality Check!

I detest it when God shows me things in my life that need to be "checked". Initially it is very painful and then very humbling or even shameful.  I am not one that naturally loves critisim or being shown that I am wrong. I haven't actually met anyone who fits that personality type, but I do know those who handle it with much more grace then I do. Maybe I will ask them how that comes about....maybe not. Anyway, today I had my two older girls try on all of the jeans in their closet after we had a terrible morning before school. (my 6th grader assumed that last years jeans would fit and when I told her to lay out her clothes for school the night before, she didn't try them on...bad morning) After finding that only 1/3 of the jeans still fit, I decided that we would go for a walk to work off the pot roast supper and to help the girls get back into a healthy mind set. They are both a very health weight for their age and normally extremely active and athletic, but have gotten a little lazy in the last month with school starting. So, off we went on one of the wooded trails at the park and boy was I bookin it. I wanted to see them pant and beg for mercy. TREE ROOT!!!!! I tripped and went sprawling on the ground and boy did it hurt! CHECK! The girls stood over me looking at me like I had lost my marbles. It took both of them to help me to my feet. I was so pathetic. God showed me painfully that I wasn't listening. He showed me that my girls are just fine and dont need me badgering them about clothes that dont fit and getting enough exercise. For crying out loud, basketball season starts next month! Sometimes I get on a kick and just wont listen to reason....... thank you Lord for the tree roots in my life, painful as they are. Tomorrow morning they will be even more painful!