And They're Off

Off to the races, that is what it feels like here.  We have started school and have eight days behind us,  headed for lap 9 of 170 of them.  No, I am not counting down, it is just so amazing to watch the days tick on and next thing you know they are starting a new school year.  There is something so special about getting back into the swing of the school year.

Each year I keep surprising myself as I open up a book with the new grade curriculum for each child, "really, is this how old they are now."  Sierra is now a junior, and our time with her is quickly going by.  Surely, she won't sneak out of the house as fast as Alex and Latisha did but if so, wow!  This will be a new adventure for her as she is taking a college course.  Sierra is considering going to college and this will give her a glimpse into college.  She only attends class for a couple of weeks then the rest is mostly on line, but it is still a new adventure.

We opted out of homeschool coop this year.  It just seemed like last year was such a struggle to stay caught up in our lessons.  Danika really enjoyed coop but is filling her time with more youth activities.  This is her second year in youth, yep, there went another sigh for this mama.  Cassandra started school the day the books came in the mail.  I had to stop her until I was ready but now she is a bit ahead and she loves that.  She is such a go getter.  Aidric is thrilled to be doing daily preschool lessons.  It is totally not necessary but he insists.  He wants his school time too.  I am so thrilled to watch him saying his abc's and now counting into the 20's.  He tries so hard to keep up with the big kids.

Our sad time came with Isabella's "school."  We have had an amazing friend, Alli, come for the past year to work with Isabella.  She is starting her own school and will not be able to work with Isabella except for a little here and there.  Alli, will be greatly missed by all of us but especially Isabella who runs around the house with such joy when Alli shows up.  I tried to really down play her moving on because I really am hopeful she can still come occasionally and am really excited for her next adventure, but there was definitely a little sadness as we sad goodbye today.  Cassandra on the other hand tried to keep making it like she was never coming back.  Alli, I so wish you the best and a huge thanks for your help and love for Isabella.    (Alli, if you read this focus on your school and no worries about us. :) )

For me, life is good and I love teaching my children.  I am so blessed to be able to educate my kiddos and look forward to this next year with great expectations.  Things are busy as we get back into the swing of things, but I love the schedule and watching my kids learn.  Have a great day and God bless.

Alicia

Aidric with a sample of his hard work! Doesn't he look so proud?

Isabella showing off her new braces.

Cassandra with her books

Sierra took a selfie before she left for her class.

Payton

It is with great sadness that I write this next post.  Life sometimes just doesn't go exactly as you would like.  Brent and Latisha went into their first doctor appointment at 12 weeks.  The doctor could not hear a heartbeat so asked if she could do an ultrasound.  The ultrasound showed a little baby 9 1/2 weeks with no heartbeat.  Latisha and Brent had no idea anything could be wrong and were totally shocked and extremely heart broken.  The doctor tried to find any movement but couldn't.  Latisha said she couldn't see much through her tears but was fully aware of what was going on.  There was a possibility that the dates may be off, so the doctor said the ultrasound was pretty clear but if she didn't start miscarrying that weekend then she would schedule another stronger ultrasound at a specialist.  She told them of what to expect and different procedures they could choose to help things along.  The weekend was long and they stayed home from the family reunion, just the three of them, trying to sort through everything.

When Latisha called me I was devastated.  I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.  But we agreed that if there was any chance for this baby we would pray and seek God's favor.  We reached out to our close family friends and asked for their prayer.  I explained the situation to the kids as we drove to the reunion and we all cried, but we prayed and believed God for His best.  

The week went by slowly but Latisha felt God with her all week and knew that God was working all things for good.  I was so proud of the way she handled the situation.  She was scared and full of emotion, yet so strong. Her trust was in the Lord.  I know this isn't about me, but as "Grandma and Mama" my heart was breaking for both my unborn grandbaby and for my daughter and her hubby. 

 Friday arrived and Brent and Latisha went in for their ultrasound.  David and I stayed at the house with August and waited.  I received a text confirming our worst fear.  Although we are greiving we feel such peace knowing that this baby is with Jesus, the almighty, our God and Savior and redeemer. We will meet this little person someday and love on him or her.  We know that this baby was and is a life, a life that meant something, that was created in the image of God.  We will spend eternity with this child in heaven with God.  Life is a miracle, the fact that any of us make it to the point where we are now, is a miracle.  So, it is with sadness but hope that we say goodbye to this child till we meet again.  Thankfully at the last ultrasound they were able to get a picture and they named the baby, Payton Mateo.  Payton was a name they both liked, but couldn't decide if it was a boy or girl name.  Since they do not know the gender they thought the name perfect.  Mateo was chosen because it means God's gift, and truly this baby was God's gift. We love you Payton and look forward to seeing you.  Dear Jesus, please give this child a big hug from Grandma and Grandpa.  

May God be with you.  God is Good and is working all things together for good.  

Alicia

Family Reunion

It had been a couple years since our family was able to make it to the annual family reunion on my dad's side.  My dad comes from a family of 7 kids and in the past the family reunions have been quite large.  Unfortunately as the years go by fewer and fewer of us are able to make it to the reunions.  This year was small but it was still nice to be able to see those who could make it.  My grandma was there and just keeps getting more and more petite every year.  She is still just adorable although she has slowed down quite a bit and is forgetful.  Grandma still has her hair up and gets it done every week.  I just love her.

There were a couple cousins there that I haven't seen in several years.  One I haven't seen for probably over 15 years and now he is all grown up with his own little girl.  I talked to him but I wondered if he even knew who I was.  Then there was my youngest cousin, who is actually a year younger then Alex.  They grew up together and were good friends even though we only got together once or twice a year.  Family is fun and it is a shame that it is so hard to get everyone together.  I understand, because we haven't been able to make the last couple years.  What a blessing it is to get together and watch our families grow.  The weather was lovely and we had a great time playing volleyball.  Hope your weekend was lovely.  God bless

Alicia

some of our family watching the festivities 

Cassandra was so happy to win won of the prizes.  I beautiful quilt
my aunt made.  She slept with it that night

Aidric also got a gift from our TF friends whose house we stayed at
on our way to the region.  This huge Thomas train tent.  He
was thrilled and even spent the night in it.  

Happy Birthday to My Hubby and More Updates

David is another year older.  I am often amazed at God's timing.  David was a premie.  His mom often tells of how she used to cut diapers in half to fit him.  Being born early put him in the grade above me, which means he graduated a year ahead of me, finished college a year earlier, and we were able to have our own baby that much sooner.  We celebrated David's birthday a little early in order that most of us could join in the fun.  I am so thankful that God has blessed David with another year.  David's love and heart for our family is so precious.  He works so hard to be a good provider and godly father.  We are truly blessed to have him in our lives.

When David's birthday comes and goes I know that school is around the corner.  I set goals for each summer, probably unreachable goals, but it is good to dream big.  Now that his birthday has come and gone I feel the pressure to accomplish a few more things before school is in full swing.  Some of that has to do with things we need to do and get for Isabella.  It has been a hard last couple of months for Isabella.  She had a couple fairly large seizures, many doctor appointments, testings, and little accidents here and there.  I hate seizure, enough said.  We have seen several specialty doctors, and started with a new physical therapist.  I have had to go through Isabella's "story" and condition at least five times with different health care providers and it is draining emotionally.  I wish I could just record it and push a play button for them "no complications in her pregnancy or birth, developed fine early on, started obvious concerns in development about a year, nonverbal, grand mal seizures this often and this is what they look like, unsteady, sensory seeker........" Each doctor has their own questions in addition to the big ones but I get weary in reliving it so frequently.  The story is very sensitive, personal and emotional.  We are still in the process of getting another MRI in addition to all the other testing.  Then there is Isabella's lack of physical stability.  She has a tendency to trip over things and occasionally her own feet.  I wonder if I should put her in a bubble or padding all around her body.  The other day my Facebook profile showed me a picture of Isabella at a year old.  It was a precious pure picture, a picture before therapies, specialists, testings, seizures, and complications.  It was my baby Isabella pure and simple, the little girl I still love with all my heart without all the drama.  A part of me longs for that simple time, but God is in control and growing us as a family and in our walks with him in ways I never expected.  There is such peace in knowing that God is with us and loves Isabella even more than we do.  Life doesn't always take us down the easy path but with God it is all good.  Now game on, let's see what we can accomplish before the start of school.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer and accomplishing the things you had planned.  May our Lord and Savior bless and keep you all in his loving hands.

Alicia

Look at this little man, enjoying the party

Daddy getting  little help from his little helper

Cassandra made Daddy a collage of pictures

Sierra made a man cave sign for his office

The lovebirds

Danika got him a great movie and Oreo's.  He had recently been
at a youth event with Danika and he was disappointed to see an empty
Oreo box, so Danika took care of him

I got him a rock with our family name engraved on it.
I actually surprised him, it is something he has wanted
for a long time.

Brent and Latisha, and Alex and Ivy got him a metal table
to put his grilling supplies on when camping.
Good times

the photo that popped up on my Facebook, what a cutie

Still such a cutie, she keeps carrying this Shirley Temple dvd
around, I wonder if she wants to watch it 

off exploring and still has that tippy toe walk.
She is getting braces that they have informed us she will
hate but will hopefully help her stop the tippy toe walk.
At the top of the stairs is a box of mega blocks that she
likes to dump out and throw down the stairs.  I don't know
why but it makes her happy, just that sensory seeking thing.

Baby Updates

The summer weeks have been passing by so quickly and hopefully so is the heat.  As I have stated before I don't care for high temperatures and this summer has been pushing the limits.  One of the best part of our summer has been watching our grand babies growing in their mama's bellies.  Both mama's are doing great and enjoying their new little miracles.

Ivy is now in her second trimester and feeling great.  She is getting a cute little belly and has such a lovely glow.  She and Alex had their first look at the baby in an ultrasound and we even got a picture. In just a few weeks they will have another ultrasound and hopefully we'll be finding out the gender.  Fun times ahead.

Latisha is reaching the end of her first trimester.  Things have been going well.  She has occasional nausea but is excited to see her belly starting to shape as the new life in her is growing.  She has had to find a new provider as her doctor no longer delivers.  Next week is her first appointment and they are very excited to hear the baby's heartbeat.

We look on with amazement as our children are increasing our family and blessing us with grand babies.  Will it be two boys, two girls or one of each?  Guess we will have to wait and see.  God has been good and we look forward to the future.  As time passes so quickly, very soon we will hold these new babies and then watch them learn to walk, talk, run, learn their a,b,c's and 1, 2, 3's, drive a car, fall in love, and come to know the Lord as there Lord and Savior.  We look on with great excitement to these two little ones.  They are going to be the best of friends.  God bless you all and have a great day.

Alicia

Ivy at 15 weeks

Latisha at 11 weeks.  Take note of that adorable little hand reaching up to Mama

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

Don't you just love a good wedding?   What makes a good wedding is up to the viewer, but watching two people commit to live together in holy matrimony till death do they part is a good thing.  We have been blessed by being invited to several weddings this year, each with their own flare, beauty and mishaps.  As women, many of us tend to start planning our wedding at a young age.  We think about the colors, the dress, the line, the ceremony, the groom, the venue etc...  I love big weddings but I also enjoy small weddings.  It is a celebration of love and hopefully a love based on shared faith and love in God.  We have been to outside weddings and inside weddings this year.  Inside weddings are wonderful because you can control the weather, but outside wedding are generally so beautiful.  So much time and effort goes into most weddings and with it is, a helping of stress and maybe a little drama to dot the path.  The outcome of all the preparation is hopefully a beautiful wedding.  The wedding is only the start, the marriage lasts a lifetime.  I look at these lovely couples embracing the mystery of marriage and pray that God will bless and direct their marriage.  The wedding is but a day the marriage is for life.

 May the joy for all of us who are married not end on the day we say "I do" but continue to the "death do us part."  Today is another wedding for us to attend and this past week we have two new engagements.  There is still love in this world.  God is good, have a great day.

Alicia

I finally got to use my birthday present quilting frame to make a quilt for one of the bride and grooms.

the finished product.

Happy Fourth of July

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July.  We are truly blessed to live in this country and I enjoy celebrating the birthday of this nation.  This year we decided to go camping for the holiday.  The weather was wonderful, the scenery beautiful, and we had a great time.  Going up to the mountains is a great get away.

We really enjoy going to the lake, walking around the city, and getting some amazing ice cream.  On the fourth we went and played at the beach.  It was very busy at the beach and apparently many others had the same idea.  There were lots of activities and the kids were having a great time.  We had found a nice quite area where there weren't many people.  Unfortunately, there was a group of ladies that had decided to have a photo shoot.  These ladies in their red, white, and blue very tiny "swim suits" thought this same area that we were at would be perfect for their not so child friendly (or adult for that matter) photo shoot.  They were very proud of their outfits and used the flag they had with them for some very inappropriate photographs.  I personally felt it quite disrespectful to our nations flag and I was saddened to see the display they put on in front of my family.  We packed up and headed back to camp.

Our Fourth of July was still a great day.  We went back to camp, had naps, then a barbecue, followed by a trip back to the lake to watch the amazing firework display.  This has to be up there with one of the best firework displays I have seen.  They shot the fireworks off from a platform out in the lake and the fireworks felt like they were cascading around us.  The park had some patriotic music in the background and all felt well in the world.  I can't express how thankful I am to all who have served in our military and have fought for our freedoms.  Thank you, Lord, for blessing our nation and please keep your hand of protection over our country.  Psalms 33:12 says "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!" Dear God, please be the Lord of this nation. Here are a couple pictures, enjoy and God Bless America!
Alicia

We did our own fireworks before we went camping

first day at the beach

Ice Cream Ally definitely one of the kids favorite places

August enjoying some red (strawberries), white (the pancake), and blue
(blue berries) pancakes Fourth of July breakfast 

The sun setting over the lake, getting ready for the fireworks

our group ready for the show. Sorry, I was too busy enjoying the show,
I didn't get any pictures of the actual fireworks.