Get your tissues...

This is my dear bloggin' friend... who I feel a SOUL SISTERHOOD with but I have never met. We have talked MANY times though and she was such a part of our adoption ...
WELL... It is THEIR TURN...

You have to see this video :-)

Happy Birthday to MY MAN!

Happy Birthday to my Ted. He is 36 tomorrow (His birthday is on Monday.. the 25th). Here are 36 things I love about him.
1. His heart for Jesus. This man sits at the feet of Jesus daily. He loves the Lord and honors him with his life. He challenges me in this area with out saying a word. I have so much respect for him!
2. His love for our children. He is an INVOLVED dad.
3. He discipline... if he sets his mind to something, he does it.
4. His wisdom. I tend to follow the flesh but Ted is a man who is slow to speak and quick to listen.
5. His humility.
6. His love for me! I know that I know that I know that HE IS IN LOVE WITH ME.
7. His loyalty.
8. His love for education.
9. How after all these years, he still laughs with me (and at me!) ... a lot!
10. His PATIENCE.
11. His faith - this kind of goes back to #1 but Ted trusts and has such faith.
12. His GOOD LOOKS!
13. His grilled steaks - I LOVE IT WHEN HE GRILLS OUT!
14. His heart for community.
15. His ability to remember where I put the keys (ok.. KEY.. our key is broken so I just have this one key). He a lot of times will see it and put it where he knows I will find it.
16. His humbleness in driving the piece of junk that he does. He doesn't complain at all. And this car is held together by gorilla glue.
17. His willingness to put others before himself.
18. His excitement for life!
19. His willingness to always listen.
20. I love that he has walked through HARD TIMES with me and not given up!
21. He has served me... and been such an example of sacrificial love... especially when my mom was sick. He would go and check on her. He took her to all of her treatments and insisted that I stay home with our baby. Until the day she died... he served her. He loved her so well.
22. His commitment to prayer.
23. I love his go-T
24. I love that he is a dreamer.
25. I love to hear him teach.
26. His support (especially recently with my photography bug!)
27. His longing for me to grow as a person.
28. His seeing my heart!
29. His AIR DRUMS! (he always plays air drums in the car).
30. How he memorizes things that our kids do ... he is so in tune with them.
31. His willingness to apologize... especially when I see him do this with our kids.
32. His love for STORY! He loves a good adventure.
33. His longing to be whole. Allowing the Lord to reveal his heart to him.
34. His always telling me he loves me. I hear it through the day.
35. I love the way we are HIS FAVORITE people and he wants to be with us (the family).
36. HIS ZEAL!

I love you Ted. Yes, I am declaring to whoever reads this blog my love for you! YOU ARE MY MAN and I AM SO PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE! I am honored to be your wife! Thanks for fighting for my heart and I pray this next year is filled with blessing! and that blessing being KNOWING MORE OF HIM!
YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!

PICNIC FUN!

We had a picnic out at the Swoboda Farm last Sunday. It was such a GREAT TIME! Here are some pictures from the night.

There were blow up jumpy houses and water slides. The kids had a great time. We have over 100 kids that come to Fellowship Kids each week. A lot came out for the picnic. They had a blast... and there were no injuries. Wait... I think I remember a bloody nose (right Maddie?). AND a wound care issue. Thank God for a sweet family in our church that are both Doctors. :-)

Look at these eyes!

This is a friend of mine... she is having a baby this Fall. I love her shirt!

I've never entered any kind of contest ... but if I did... I would enter this picture right here (below). Is he not adorable? He belongs to a family in our church. I just love his sweet look in this picture. It's priceless!

I actually made it into a picture! That's me with my blonde friends!

How precious is this little girl? She was helping me out with Abel. She fed him his first watermelon... HE LOVED IT!

Here are a few more kiddos that loved them some watermellon :-)

Abel has a new member of his fan club. This 6th grade girl is pretty crazy about our baby boy.

This blue-eyed beauty is one of 6 kids in her family. She's a little love!

I got a giggle out of this little one (below) singing the Happy Birthday song. I asked her "Who's birthday is it?" and she said "Mine". I turned and asked her parents and they said "no, it's not her birthday". It was so cute. She was convinced it was. I was too :-)

This (below) is Abel's buddy. They were both adopted and even share hair care products :-)

All three pastors from our church got into the dunkin' booth. It was so much fun to watch them get dunked. Not sure why all of us "church goers" got such a kick out of throwing a ball as hard as we could at the pastors... BUT IT WAS FUN! The crowd went wild when the pastor went under!

Ted and Addie watched Brother Brandon (haha...) get dunked! Little did Ted know... he was next. Actually he did know. He just really enjoyed seeing Brandon get dunked!

IS IT COLD?

Johnny was talking smack them minute he got in there (jk)... The first person to dunk him... a 4 year old named Savannah. YEP.

This is one of Aidan's best buds!

And last but not least... this is my crazy FRIEND Robin. She was actually doing a little country dancin' when I took this. She's a HOOT!

What a fun evening!

My baby girl is growing up...

Ok.. So she's not a baby by any means... but I still see her as my first born baby girl!
Well, she went to school for the first time today. I almost cried taking her in.
She is in 2nd grade and we have home schooled exclusively the past 2 years. We did some enrichment classes at Thursday school (where I teach).
This year, we have joined a co-op and she is going to school 3 days a week (only until 12:30) but it is a change. She will be away from me for 12 hours a week (who's counting). I love my time with her. I just knew it was time for more structure in mine and her life. On her days to be home schooled, they tell me exactly what to do with her. HOW GREAT IS THAT?

My dad had me do a picture like this on the first day of school EVERY YEAR... all the way through school. I am doing this in his memory and to honor him. I will take a picture of Aidan tomorrow ... it will be his first day of Thursday school. He is a BIG KINDERGARTNER this year! Time flies!!!

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Several people say to me "I don't know how you do all you do." Well, I can't. Ted has talked a lot to me lately about keeping first things first. My first things are JESUS, Ted and the kids. I adore all of these FIRST things but I sometimes let second things take over my life.

I have so many second things that are constantly calling my name. Photography, stationery (which I am not longer really doing), being an adoption advocate, RELATIONSHIPS (w/friends... which seems to be a third thing right now and I miss it so much), PEP Moms (which I missed the first meeting because I was going back to first things first), Mentoring young girls (Tori and Samantha, I have NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU! Just waiting til the dust settles from LIFE), LIFE Group (which I love and laughed my head off at last night... sorry other members, I was struggling from a HUGE case of delirious laughing)... etc.

I use to even read blogs and have time to be a part of on-line support groups... that seems like a distant memory.

PS - Is anyone else BAWLING watching the Olympics?
Last night when Shawn Johnson won the gold and to see her parents embrace in the stands... OH MY. I could hardly stand it.
Then now with May/Walsh and May spreading her mom's ashes... OH MY.
I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT

We have a little problem... Aidan lost his first tooth (WHICH I AM PUMPED ABOUT).... but we don't have a dollar to be the tooth fairy. Sorry if you didn't know that she or he isn't real. I'm guessing since the tooth fairy is a fairy, it's a girl... but who knows :-) It's 9pm... do we go out and get a dollar?

Our kids know we are the tooth fairy. No fun huh? We are "those parents" that don't do the Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy thing... We do give them the money still to reward them for losing a tooth (How did that get started anyway?) They get gifts at Christmas but we really try to focus on the gift, Jesus. And I have no idea how a BUNNY got to be involved in Easter but we don't do the basket thing. Though we do the egg hunt at church (which is so much fun). AND WE TELL THEM NOT TO TELL THEIR FRIENDS. We explain to them that their friend's parents will tell them when the time is right :-)

All that to say they still expect the "tooth fairy" to show up! Aidan said to me as he was going in to go to bed "Don't forget to find a dollar." How cute! He knows I never have cash on me (Ted doesn't either).
Surely we have 4 quarters or something!



Here's a picture of our boy with his missing tooth! YEA AIDAN!





Also... I think Avery has been inspired by Michael Phelps (is that his name?). He's the Olympic swimmer (if you've been in a hole somewhere). She got in the pool tonight and started swimming laps. We joined a community pool this summer and usually she is all about play. Tonight, she got in the pool and just started swimming laps. It was precious. Ted and I were cheering her on like she was Michael (or Michelle - ha) Phelps. We were so proud of her! No picture of that... believe it or not, I do not bring my camera EVERY where we go. (ok, I have it 90% of the time... but not tonight).

So Many Emotions...

Well, I have to share a story with you ... but first, AVERY IS RIDING HER BIKE! I am so proud of her! I thought to myself yesterday morning... it's so sad that none of our kids know how to ride a bike. They are on their scooters all the time. Well, low and behold (what does that mean anyway) Avery tells her daddy that she wants to learn how to ride her bike after church yesterday. SHE GOT IT. She is riding on TWO WHEELS today. Now we realized... she needs a bigger bike. She is almost 8 and she is TALL.

Today, on the home school front, in our home economics class (not really... I just like to name every day things we do), Avery made us lunch. She is all about the kitchen and she is all about decorative food. She made SHAPE LUNCH.... Wait, that's home economics PLUS math! YES... CHECK and CHECK. She is so sweet!
Aidan is movin' right along with phonics and played on starfall.com (GREAT WEBSITE) for a while this morning. We still have math to do today.

Now for "the story"
Yesterday, I experienced THE WORST moment in my parenting history (which is about 7 3/4 years long). Ted was out cutting the grass and I was inside working on lesson plans. The older two were inside with me and the younger two were outside with him. (Abel loves his outside swing). I got finished and went outside to say hi to Ted. While I was out there, I got Abel out of the swing and brought him in. I started doing a few chores around the house and Ted came in and said "Tracie, you have to come and see this" (no, it was not a bear - haha - see post below). So I go outside and Avery is riding her bike. I rejoice with her and then think... I have to take pictures of this. So I come inside. As I am inside I am doing a mental check of where all the kids are. Avery is on her bike. Abel is now sitting in the front yard. I saw Aidan... Where is Addie? So instead of grabbing my camera. I call out to Ted.... "Where is Addie?" He said "I thought she was inside." I come inside calling her name. She sometimes will fall asleep in her bed if she is feeling the need for a nap. I go in her room. No Addie. I look in her bed, Avery's bed, then I walk into Aidan's room. Not in his bed either. I go to my room... not in our bed either. I call her name. NO ADDIE. My stomach drops. I felt sick.
I go back outside and say "Ted, she is NOT in the house". He starts screaming her name. I start screaming her name. So many things flashing in my mind. Ted walks next door and looks in their pool (again, my stomach drops). She wasn't there. He knocks on their door (because she loves going to their house). Not there. One little girl that was in our yard went and knocked on the door on the other side of our house. We went across the street to Gail's house (good friends). NO ADDIE. By this time, I can hardly breathe. Her precious little life flashing before my eyes. Aidan is hysterical ... crying... WHERE IS ADDIE? (He loves her so much). Avery is level headed just like her daddy and is doing a check list ... where could she be. I can tell Ted is feeling sick too.
I come back inside and look in closets and touch the beds to make sure. How could I miss her? Our house is NOT BIG. She is NOT HERE.
I imagine the police at our house and news reports (yes, I am a bit dramatic but it was SO REAL). It was the longest 4 to 5 minutes of my LIFE!
As we are inside, Aidan says "Mom, I am going to look under my bed". I thought to myself "that's silly" but I said "ok". I am frantic at this moment and then I hear the most precious words "MOM!!! MOM!!! I FOUND HER!!!" He found her. Under his bed. ASLEEP. She crawled under his bed and fell asleep.
The funny thing is, when I was cleaning, I went in his room probably 4 or 5 times and thought... "Aidan must be looking for something" because the storage boxes that hold some of his toys were out from under the bed and he has asked me earlier if he could dump his toy box. He had put the toys back but the boxes were out from under his bed. He has bunk beds and I would have never dreamed she was under there. She was all the way up against the wall.
My reaction is one she will probably never forget (she might have to "re-live" it in counseling one day :-). I was crying SO HARD. I held her so tight and kept saying over and over. THANK YOU GOD. THANK YOU GOD. SHE IS OK... THANK YOU GOD. Then I just kept saying "Do you know how much I love you?" Then Ted came running in and I broke down even more.

All is well. Made me realize a lot in those minutes... what really matters in life!!!!
Thank you JESUS for these treasures you have given me! Especially the treasures kept under the bed :-)

We Laughed... We cried....

Before I tell my TITLE STORY POST... today was our first day of home school. We are easing into the school year. We went and got new school supplies ... along with the rest of our city ... at Wal-Mart last night. The kids were so excited. You would think I was buying them ALL TOYS. They were just giggling and thrilled about cheap notebooks (not even trapper keepers... remember those?), paper, pencils, etc. Aidan was busting out of his SKIN to start school. He was so excited!!
We started our day with a BACK TO SCHOOL breakfast. Eggs and Bacon.... YUM. Then, we hit the books. Not too hard though.... We finished by lunch and then headed to the Mountains! FIELD TRIP on the first day!


Our kindergartner :-)

Our 2nd Grader

They all still have on their PJs :-) Aidan has on his Hulk PJs... Love the Hulk face he is making. People often ask me what I do with our younger children during the "school day". Well, you see Addie back there. She was coloring. I got her a few little work books. Abel was upstairs with Daddy. He was working from home this morning.

After lunch, we went to the Mts. We laughed, we cried, we fell, we pinched, we had to change clothes, there was blood, sweat and tears... but we HAD A BLAST. We laughed so hard when we left that I thought I might have to change my clothes too :-)

Here's how the day went down....

It started OH SO SWEET...
The kids LOVE going to the Mts.... It's all about the ROCK THROWING. I had such a great time sitting on the BIG ROCKS...just delighting in the kids and Ted throwing rocks. I, of course, was taking pictures.

I love the adventure that comes out in Aidan when we are on trips like this. He was the ultimate in exploring! It was too cool.

This was Abel's first time to the Mts. He loved it. He will really enjoy it when he realizes he can THROW the rocks. I constantly had to keep the rocks out of his mouth!

Abel clung so tight to Ted. It was a precious sight! He feels safe in his Daddy's arms.


Let the falling begin. Aidan fell into the water. He loved that he was soaking wet.

Avery fell in too. But you can tell by her face... she was COOL with it. (The water was COLD). but she laughed... good sport!

Addie fell too. But before she fell, she stuck her head in the water. IN THE FREEZING COLD water. Not sure why she just did. The reason she is crying here is because she just fell and during the fall, she lost a shoe. YEP... it went floating down the river... we could not find it because it went down in some rapids. (and I loved those shoes...BUMMER)

SO PRETTY!

We decided to get in the car and go to a flat area. We get there and we take the stroller out for Abel to sit in. Ted takes Addie to the bathroom and I have Abel next to me and I am just watching Aidan. I am laughing at him and loving how ALIVE he feels in this setting.

He was ON TOP of the world... jumping off of rocks... ALL BOY!

Again, with the HULK FACE... TOUGH KID... right?

Right about this time I hear "Tracie... Tracie, Tracie, Tracie". It's Ted. I look towards Abel AS HE is falling OUT OF THE STROLLER. Yes, face first on the gravel. I felt so bad. He is such a climber and he wasn't buckled in. He does a face plant. That's gonna leave a mark...

Then I hear Ted say "Bear"

PAUSE... ok.... this is where the wires in my brain get crossed. I see Abel. I am picking him up... his nose is bleeding. I somehow get Sharks and Bears mixed up and think "OH NO... clean up the blood... the bear is going to smell the blood and come after us!". All I can do at this point is react... I PINCHED TED. I grabbed his arm so tight and said "Gather the kids... run to the car... go go go". Ted said "Stop!" (telling me to quit pinching him). I was pinching harder (not even realizing what I was doing). Aidan by this time sees the bear (who is across the river... it is close... but NOT THAT CLOSE). Aidan (who was hulk just a minute ago) is now CRYING. HARD. Avery starts running and wipes out in the parking lot. Abel is crying (as blood is running from his nose). Addie... not sure what she was doing... knowing her, she was enjoying every second of it!

We get to the car and I start wiping up the blood with a wipe, looking over my shoulder, hoping Avery is not bleeding as well. (Great, more blood to attract the bear). Aidan is crying even harder now. Then we get in the car. I realize ... that is a baby bear, not even a HUGE BLACK BEAR (but I know... if a baby is there, the momma is close behind). I also realize it's not blood that the bear smells... it is food. As we are all in the car, Ted and I look at each other and just BUST OUT LAUGHING. BELLY, GUT LEVEL, PEE IN YOUR PANTS start laughing. I started telling him how I realized it was sharks, not bears, that are attracted to blood... which made him laugh even harder. We are all in the car ... buckled in... and other people are getting out of their cars to get a closer look at the bear (ok, now that is crazy!).

Meet the bear...

Even tonight as we crawled into bed, Ted started laughing and I knew what it was he was laughing at...

It was such a great time!

AND on the way home we got the best news! Julie's mom's cancer had not spread and was completely removed when she had her surgery. PRAISE JESUS!

Swim Swim and Swim some more...

We had done a LOT of swimming this summer. Our summer is sadly coming to an end. YEP... we are starting school on Monday. I can not believe I will have a Kindergartner and a Second Grader. I decided to go ahead and get started with school... we home school ... We are taking a late vacation this year so I thought we'd get started a week early so that when we take a week off... we can do it guilt free :-)
I'm actually looking forward to being home more... We hit it hard this summer. It will be a nice change.

Tonight we went with the Mazons to their pool. We ate dinner out there and let the kids play. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. The kids played SO WELL together. Fun times! Baby Kaler was having tummy problems. Nothing a little bouncy walk in the parking lot couldn't fix. I was loving me some Kaler :-)

WATER FIGHT!

How's this face ... a little competition....

Not sure what Ave was doing but this is SO HER. I just loved it!

The dads and the babies :-)

Ebony and Ivory

MG and Addie going off the diving board... too fun!

Love Ave's expression here... Aidan wasn't far behind her.