This is my 500th post!!!!

I am so excited to finally be giving away the FREEDOM scrapbook and the winner is ShaRhonda and I think her blog is set to private now so you might not be able to check it out but I'm not sure about that one! Anyway Congrats to ShaRhonda and I hope she likes her scrapbook. She is REALLY supposed to be the one to win this too because I had Kylan help me add all the names to a hat and he drew her name and then I realized he hadn't added all of them so we put all of them in and shook it up really good and her re-drew her AGAIN! It was meant to be ShaRhonda's!
Look for more little prizes in the near future...one of my blogger friends is doing a Pay it forward post and I'm will be posting more about that soon!

God's chisel

National dance competition-2009

Here comes some major braggin from a proud mama so please just leave tons of comments and tell me you love my braggin...it makes me feel good! LOL! Kenzie is in this dance group in Tulsa called Fearless Force and let me tell you that they rocked the National competition in Branson, MO and won 2nd place! We are so super duper proud of them because it's the first year that many of them have EVER danced and they only started learning their dance in October and when they first competed they only had 4 in their dance crew and now it's 6. We just adore their dance teachers Shayna and Adame...they are sent from God above to teach our kids to dance! I'm not kidding either they truly have a heart to reach out to kids through dance and they have more patience then ANYONE I have EVER seen and they LOVE these kids like crazy! Anyway, if I can ever get the video to load I will add it on here so you can see it but until then you will just have to settle for the photos!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lake of the Ozarks

We are so blessed to be invited to enjoy my MIL and FIL's condo at Lake of the Ozarks in MO. Last year we went and most of the family was able to come but this year all of Kevin's siblings and thier families were there with the exception of Chris' husband Gary (he had to work). We had a great time visiting with the family, playing cards, eating yummy meals, swimming at the pool, enjoying the beauty of MO, riding the waverunner and playing on the boat...Oh and I forgot to mention that Connie and I scrapbooked!!! It was relaxing and we are ready to go back again! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A life well lived.

Today we went to a funeral for a friend of the family that was 96 yrs young and let me tell you she was such an AMAZING woman. When it's your time to go what are people going to say about you? Are they going so say ohhhh she had such nice hair, such a great house, drove a great car, etc.?? I don't want them to say that about me! I want it said that I lived my life for God, they KNEW for a FACT that I was in heaven, that I was a great mom to my children and a wonderful wife to my husband, that I was a friend they could ALWAYS count on, that she faced challenges head on, she loved her family and friends...to me that is a life well lived. Juanita was all of these things and more! As we sat and listened to people talk about her life it was so amazing she really tried to live life to the fullest and live in the here and now and she took advantage of all that life offered her. When friends would ask her to go somewhere her standard answer was, "If you don't want me to go don't ask me!" and I LOVE that answer it showed what a zest for life she had! It was very sad to see her go we KNOW for a FACT that she's up in heaven with her husband Paul and that she's probably super busy visiting with all the friends she has up in heaven and I'm sure she a great big smile on her face just like she always did in life! Juanita's was definitely A Life Well Lived! What is your opinion of a life well lived? Is it family, God, your church, friends, status in your community, money, what REALLY matters in your life? I want to know so please leave me a comment!
One day this week I got onto goggle reader and started reading all of the blogs that I follow and it was the saddest thing a young mommy blogger died and is leaving behind her family and a 4 week old baby...this was so sad to me and it really got me to thinking and then when Juanita died this week too it REALLY got me to thinking about why do we hold grudges against those we love (friends, family, etc.), why do we try to "keep up with the neighbors", why do we do all of these meaningless things??? I know it's human nature but I am going to try to change and become a MUCH better person....I want you to see God in my life! What about you? Has something happened in your life that make you stop and reflect??? I want to see a bunch of comments please!!!

If, for Adoptive Parents

If, for Adoptive Parents
by Vernell Klassen Miller

If you can freely give children your heritage and graft them into your family tree, and if you can point them to their first roots with honesty and gratitude - then you can parent with confidence, knowing you are offering a lifelong gift.

If you hope your children will mature into the likeness of Christ (even more than you desire them to resemble yourself) - then you have chosen the highest goal of parenthood.

If you listen to others describe the births of their children and feel just as proud of the way your children came, then you know the true meaning of "childbearing."

If you look stereotypes, false reports, and myths in the face and wonder what on earth they are talking about; if you can listen to thoughtless words of friends with patience, and say to yourself, I will overlook that: they don't know how it sounds (yet be able to discern the time to speak); and if you can read research and psuedo-research and sense any bias - then adoption has done more than bring you children. It has sharpened your ability to identify with minorities.

If you can step into a type of parenthood upon which society places a "role handicap," and not assimilate that perception into your own; if you have ever looked into the eyes of your child and known that he or she was always yours; if you have at the same time given thanks for another woman with whom you share the title of "mother" - then you can help your child build strong self-esteem.

If your heart swells with pride at your child's successes; if you hold that child when he or she fails; if you do not blame the failure on genetic origin nor blame yourself but "own" it because your child is yours; if you pray desperately for the salvation of your children, saying (like Moses did) that if they cannot join you in God's kingdom, you cannot go either - then you have learned to pray. Then parenthood has seeped into your soul, even if it didn't emanate from your body, and you will never not be a parent again.

If you rise each morning resolving to be an ideal parent but break your best intentions before noon, forced to acknoweldge your humanness and humbly press on; if you offer your spouse and children the same forgiveness you receive from God; if you can point your children past your own sins toward God and his family - then you have truly become a parent. Then your family will be a beacon in a dark and lonely world.

May God go with you, and may you experience JOY!

4th of July celebrations

This year we had several 4th of July celebrations and it all started off with the celebration at our friend Ashley's house on the 2nd of July. She was a wonderful hostess and we enjoyed lots of yummy food, visiting with friends and the kids loved the giant water slide!

On the 3rd of July we went to our friend Christy's house for a homeschool celebration and bike parade. It was so adorable all of the kids decorated their bikes or scooters and then rode around the cul de sac. We had such a fun time visiting with other homeschoolers, playing in the sprinkler and Christy had called an ice cream truck to stop by so the kids LOVED that!

Finally on the 4th we had a party at our house and it looked like it might get rained out but we ended up with a sunshiney day by the time the party started. We ate, visited, the kids swam and played in the hot tub (don't ask me how they could stand the heat) and then we let off some fireworks and watched them all around our neighborhood. The police showed up and told us it was a $500 fine if you were caught letting off anything higher then the roof of your house. WOW that's quite a fine...we were not fined though. They just gave us a warning. The fireworks in the neighborhood went off until around 2am...it was WAY too late and we were in bed and still hearing them!

FREEDOM scrapbook

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Hope you have a great day. We are planning on having some friends over to celebrate and we woke up to a rain storm that's still going. We were planning on swimming in the pool, shooting off fireworks and eating and eating and eating...did I say eating! I hope that the rain clears off and that we can still enjoy tonight. What are you doing for the 4th? Anything special, do you have any traditions?? Please share with me...I love traditions!

Anyway, moving on to the scrapbook giveaway!!! I finally finished it last night and it's so cute that I want to keep it for myself BUT I won't. I think this is my 493rd post so my 500th post should be this week and that's when someone will win this cute scrapbook. Take lots of pics today and hope that you have something to put them in that's ALREADY made up for you! Don't forget to leave a comment so you can enter to win the scrapbook!

Mommy's do you have a dirty little secret????

I hardly ever watch Oprah anymore but today's show just caught my eye. Did anyone else see it??? It was the secret lives of moms and it was fascinating to me and if you didn't see it come to my house because I have it on DVR and we can watch it together and have a good laugh! I see all of these moms at church, small group, from our adoption agency, my home school group, blogs, etc. and I see all of the AMAZING things that they do and I just wonder if I'm ever going to live up to what they are doing. I guess I'm not the only one that feels this way because there were many, many other mom's on Oprah that admitted to these same feelings. Some moms that seemed to have it all together even shared their "dirty little secrets" like one mom wore depends because she drove her kids around to so many activities that she might not make it to the bathroom on time (hello, I would say she needs to slow down some), several moms talked about not bathing for several days or not realizing that their children hadn't bathed in a week (wouldn't you smell that??). Anyway, I was wondering if any of you out in blogger land might want to share your little secrets with me??? If so leave them in my comment section and after I have several comments I will reveal my own dirty little secret that I don't really want to share but I'm willing if you are! You can even leave your comment anonymously if you want to!!!

Noodles and hotdogs=squid dogs

Tuesdays is the day that Makenzie helps me with dinner and I have been encouraging her to make up meals on her own and try to figure out different dinner combinations that her and Kylan might like. This week she came up with the idea of chopping up hot dogs and sticking noodles through them and then boiling them until the spaghetti was cooked. I wasn't to sure about this idea but didn't want to stifle her love for cooking so we took the plunge and made it. They both LOVED it and it was super easy and fun to make. We are now working on some veggies ideas like cooking carrots for a couple of minutes and then putting the spaghetti through the carrots and she wants to try broccoli too...we'll let you know!