The Ballet Recital

After many months of practice and a lot of hard work, the big day arrived.  The day of the girls Ballet Recital.  The girls did so well.  They have both come so far in discipline and technique.  It was beautiful.

Carolyn's dance was done to the song, March from the Nutcracker.

 Carolyn is growing up so much and did a wonderful job.  My beautiful young woman.

 
Elizabeth's dance was done to, Let It Go from the movie Frozen.

Her dance was just lovely.  She did a great job.  Elizabeth has to work twice as hard as everyone else because of her Cerebral Palsy.

The girls both looked so lovely and grown up to me this year.  Sigh.

The girls cousin and aunt thought that the girls, would be getting flowers from Aunt "S" as she always gives them flowers at every recital.  So they decided to give them candy bouquets.  Surprise to all!!!...Aunt "S" had the same idea this year!

Those are some genuinely happy smiles!  They hardly ever get candy!  Thank you so much Aunt "A" and cousin "A".  Also Aunt "S".  You know what they say...Great minds think alike!

So ballet is over for this season and the girls don't start back for lessons again till August.  This will give us a nice break for summer.  A time to get our footing and rest a bit from all the running.

I am so very grateful to God for salvation and my life.  So grateful for my wonderful husband and for all the children God has entrusted in our care to raise up for Him.  God is so good His mercy endures forever!

Girls you did a wonderful job.  You are both growing in to beautiful young women.  We love you so much!

Isaiah 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Blessings,
susan

By Gods Grace

Sorry, it has been a while since I have posted.  Thank you for all the kind notes checking on us and praying for us, with the arrival of the new baby.  Child number 11 for us.  :)

God has been abundantly faithful and gracious to me.  The transition of baby "A" into the family has been seamless.  She is a very good baby.  I can feel God helping me and even though I am tired, I am not exhausted or feel like I am spread to thin.  Baby "A" has had some tummy issues and reflux but seems to be responding well to a gentler formula and medication.  She has only been waking up once a night, since the beginning, so really that is a great thing.  She has grown a lot already and is 16 days old already.

We have taken the summer off from home schooling so we can focus on the addition of the new baby.  We have had to adjust our schedules a bit, "K" is still very delayed and needs me and the toddlers still have some over the top behaviors.

"T" outside chalking up the walk way.  A favorite pastime for all the children!  People keep asking me when am I going to cut his hair.  I just can't bring myself to do it!

When "B" came to us, he had many cavities from bottle rot.  Eight just on his front top teeth.  They decided to put him under to fix them all and to put crowns on his top four front teeth.  Once they got in there they were to bad to save, so they had to remove all four of his top front teeth.  They were able to fill all the other cavities.

I just thought it best to cut out the home schooling, adjust with out stress and have the older children work on some projects that have needed doing around here.  William stripped and painted "deck over" on the pool deck.  He and the other older children also spent one day in their swimming suites washing the siding, windows and porches on the whole house.  The Lord gave me the strength to get the brush and trees on the whole back hill cut back.  William and my dad took a huge load of stuff over to the dump.  The middles and I started cleaning up the flower beds last week.  We still have a few things on our "To Do List" before the heat hits.  The weather here has been very comfortable so far.  One of the things we want to get done is fixing up and putting a new coat of stain on the playground structures.  There is still more work to do out in the gardens too.  There is always things that need doing when you live on a farm of any kind.

When May 1st hit we knew we would be getting baby "A" at anytime.  So we took a few family outing days because we knew life was about to change big time and it would be easier to get out and do these things with out a new born in the heat.

One Sunday we met Tim's parents at the Aquarium.  We have a membership there someone bought for our family.  It always makes for a nice outing.

My wonderful "Bigs" and "Middles"!!

"B" looking into a tank of fish and turtles.

"T" at the sturgeon tank.

My big guys!  You can tell the heat really bothers Antonio here.  He stays cheerful but just melts.

Sweet baby "K"!

My middles are very close to each other, all born a year apart!  So are very bonded!  Look how grown up!

I also took the children to the Chattanooga Zoo for the day.

"B" seeing a camel up close for the first time!

Trying to get a good shot of all them looking at me is soooo hard!

Hello Chimpanzee!

They rode the merry-go-round and William took the toddlers on the train.  He barely fit in the Caboose with them!

So... all is well and God is so good.  We are going to stay in for a few months.  No big plans.  A lot of our commitments are about to end for the summer.  Like Ballet.  The girls recital is next week.  So things should slow down and I won't have to leave the  house much.  Hopefully by the time we start schooling again new baby "A" will be in a nice predictable schedule!

Isaiah 26:12  Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

God be with you!

Blessings,

susan

Welcome Baby "A" !!!

Rejoice with us as we welcome baby "A" into our homes and hearts.  She is a foster placement so we do not know how long she will be with us, as God has all these things in his hands.  Praise God! 

She is sibling to the two toddlers that are in our home "B" and "T".

We were notified of her birth yesterday and called to go and pick her up today! 

We are praying for their mother's salvation and for her to become free from the bondage of drugs.  That God will minister to her and her heart with all of this taking place so close to Mothers Day.

We are praying about the many huge decisions that need to be made in the up and coming months.  Decisions in our family concerning foster care and adoptions.

Jeremiah 29:11-13  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

 

Many blessings on your weekend!

susan 

Happy Birthday Baby "K"!!

It is very hard to believe but Baby "K" had a birthday the end of April.  (Yes, all of the girls in my home have April birthdays!)
 

She came into our home, as a sweet breath of fresh air, about a year ago.  Truly, she is the easiest and most laid back baby we have every had.

 
We have felt blessed every moment of every day to have her here with us.  

It has been a miracle watching her meet milestones and progressing in ways no one ever thought she would.  We were told she might be blind but she has sight!  She is slowly learning to use the vision she has.  We were told her future was unknown about if she would crawl, sit on her own or walk.  She is sitting unaided.  She crawled for the first time independently on her birthday!  She has not stopped!  She is trying to pull up on furniture!  God is amazing good to us all!  All the Glory to God!

We love her dearly!

She loves watching Blues Clues in the afternoons, so my sister made her this Blues Clues cake for her first birthday.  She absolutely loved it!  Thank you Aunt "S"!

It was the first time she ever had cake or refined sugar.  A great hit!

May God pour out His abundant blessings on you all the days of your life and may you dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

2 Timothy 3:14-15  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Love Always,

Dad, mom, Stephen, Antonio, William, Carolyn, Zeke, Elizabeth, "B" and "T"!

Carolyn had a Birthday!!

I am so far behind on things around here right now, especially in blogging!   :) 

But yes...Carolyn turned 15 years old last week!!! 

Carolyn with my dog Pickles, in front of the snowball bush.

She is such a sweet and genuine young lady.  So dear to my heart. 

Carolyn with her dog Princess.

A perfect daughter in so many ways.  We spend so much time together.  I don't know what I would do without her.  She helps me so much around here.  She loves to do all things domestic.  She would rather be helping me with things I am doing, than off playing on her own.  She is very nurturing and mothers all animals and children around her.  We found a poor dead mama possum up on the back hill.  It looked like it died from an infected leg injury.  It had live young babies clinging to its body.  Carolyn felt so badly for them and actually thought they looked cute!  It was on a cold and rainy day.  She helped me get them all warm and dry till we could get them to a wild life rehab lady.

Carolyn is a simple, uncomplicated, young lady, in many ways, very practical but can be quite emotional at times.  Here is a video that Elizabeth took recently.
 

We don't go out to eat very often but take each child out to eat where they want on their birthday.  She did not want to go out to eat for her birthday but wanted to eat home and watch a movie all together.  She wanted Sprite to drink, every kind of chip and dip she could think of and fish sandwiches.  So that is what she got!  We don't eat a lot of junk food around here, so all of the other children thought she was just brilliant!

My sister wanted to surprise her with a tiered, layer, girly cake this year so....tada...here is her very gorgeous cake!

Thank you so much Aunt "S" for always making their birthdays so special!

Carolyn was so happy!  She loved it and it made her feel very grown up and special.

I still can't believe she is now 15 years old.  I know how quickly they grow into adults from this age.  I just want to close my eyes and hold onto these young years.  To cherish each day.

We love you so much, my wonderful daughter!  God has big plans for your life!

James 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Love Always,

Dad, mom, Stephen, Antonio, William, Zeke, Elizabeth, "B", "T" and baby "K"!