Happy Turkey Day

God's Perfect Provision

"I have to have a what?"  Those words flew out of my mouth as the doctor explained to me what was going to take place in the next few weeks.  After all, I had had 3 perfect pregnancies, 3 perfect deliveries, and for crying out loud, I am only 30!  But here I sat, three weeks after I had delivered Sweet Cooper, the sound of his very first cry still fresh in my mind and tugging at my heartstrings. Without even batting her eyes, the doctor told me I needed to have a hysterectomy.  A hysterectomy!  Sure, Cory and I had discussed that Cooper could be our last biological baby.  We know we would like to adopt one day, and so we were considering shifting our focus towards adoption.  But to be told that the very organ that carried your babies was going to be removed, that you would not have the POSSIBILITY to have any more children.....It hits you like a ton of bricks!  As I sat there stunned and overcome with emotion, suddenly God's peace washed over me.  I felt like God was telling me, this was HIS provision for me and our family.  We didn't have to struggle with the questions:  Should we have anymore kids?  When should we shift our focus towards adoption?   How are we going to know? God provided us with all the answers in that single moment.  HE is GOOD and His plan is PERFECT!

So, I covet your prayers.  I will be having surgery next Thursday, November 29. As you know, this surgery will require some recovery time, so I will be out of commission for a bit.  So thankful for my mom and mother-in-law who always come to the rescue.  Some specific requests I have:

1.That the surgery goes seamlessly
2.That I will be still and not push it after surgery (not easy for me to do)
3.That I will keep focused on Christ and his plan through all of this (The emotions sometimes get in the way)
4.That God will continue to provide answers for us considering adoption and His timing.

And with regards to all of this, I wanted to share this that I read in a devotional this morning:

"Give thanks in everything..." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (HCSB), may be one of the most challenging verses in the New Testament, because not everything in life is easy to give thanks for. It's helpful to remember that this was written by a man who had been beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and more for trying to bring good to people by sharing Christ with them. How do I give thanks in everything? Someone sent me this helpful exercise a few years ago: I am thankful... For the taxes I pay because it means I am employed. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have had  more than enough to eat. For the yard that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home. For the parking spot at the far end of the parking lot because it means that I have transportation and that I am able to walk. For my huge electric bill because it means that I have been cool. For the pile of laundry to fold because it means that I have clothes. For exhaustion at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because is means that I am alive. For the mess to clean up after Thanksgiving dinner because it means I have been surrounded with friends. And if there's nothing else to be thankful for, be thankful for Jesus Christ, and that because of Him, all the frustration WILL one day be out of sight.

I have MUCH to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Eve.  Here are three little people I am especially thankful for!

Cooper Lane - 1 month

So, I am very late posting this, but such is life these days.   Cooper turned 1 month old on November 9. He is doing wonderfully, fitting into the family perfectly.  Landry and Eli still love him to tears.  Eli says, at least once a day, "I wanna hold it." LOL  He's extremely alert.  He stays awake much more than Lan and Eli ever did this young.  He is going 6 hours between feedings at night, which is a huge blessing for me.

He's growing like a weed.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 10lb. 10 oz. (25th-50th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (75th-90th percentile)
Head: 15 inches (25th - 50th percentile)

He is our first long, skinny baby.  I have a feeling he'll be chunking up really quickly though ;)

He and I are also growing quite fond of the Moby wrap in the evenings, when he tends to be a little gassy and restless.

What a sweetie :)

I am a glutton for punishment....

So here is my problem.  I get an idea in my head.  It's a nice idea...fun, pretty original, and doable.  But ME, I can't leave well enough alone.  My juices start to flow, and one by one, new elements come to me to make the idea better, BIGGER.  This goes on and on for a little while, until the idea becomes so grand (or at least it's grand in my head), I can not fathom just letting it go. I absolutely cannot rest until I turn this idea into a reality.  The problem is that I sometimes forget I have 3 kids now and one of them is a newborn.  Like I said, glutton for punishment!

So it all started with this banner my friend and I found on Pinterest.  It was adorable and a great decoration that the kids could help make.  She was wonderful enough to buy all the supplies for it.  We took the kids for a nature walk to collect some items for our banner and came back to her house to put them all together.  We found out very quickly, this was a challenge in itself, bringing 5 kids on a walk and then actually expecting them to glue things onto felt.  Ha!  Needless to say, the moms had to do most of the work.  But, the banners turned out super cute and we were very pleased :)

Now my wheels start to turn. Here's how my brain works:  "Wouldn't it be so cute to take a picture of my kids holding the banner?  We could send it to everyone in the family......Oh, but what would be even cuter is if I did it with lots of leaves around....oh and I could put an indian headress on Eli and a pilgrim bonnet on Landry, but what will Cooper be?   A TURKEY!!!  Then I have to dress the other kids in full garb.  Headwear will not be enough."

SO, I drag the kids to hobby lobby to get all my supplies.  I decide today is the day I am going to make this happen.  I spend all morning getting the costumes ready, trying to convince my kids it will be fun to dress up, and stuffing my pockets full of candy to prepare for full-out bribery.  Nevermind the fact that my house was already a complete disaster and I had a gassy baby on my hands.  I strapped the baby to me with the Moby Wrap, distracted the big kids with playdough, and kept on truckin.

 I managed to get the kids dressed with minimal screams and tears, then threw everyone and everything into the van.  We took off to the nearest Nature Trail.  My plan:  Get Cooper set up quickly while letting big kids explore a little, then entice them back with Smarties.  Once they were back, I would convince them to hold up the sign and smile big smiles while I snapped beautiful, glorious pictures.

And THIS is how is actually went down: "Come back!"  "Too Far!"  "Don't Touch that, it could be poisonous!"  "Don't go over there, there could be snakes"  "Oh no! Cooper's crying" (Paci In) "Come hold the sign, I've got candy!" "Eli, put your feathers back on"  "Hold the sign up higher" "Oh Gah Eli, Put the stick down!"  (Paci out, Paci In) "Come back Eli, I've got candy!  Please!!"  "What about m&m's?"  "Cooper's crying again" "Lan, look this way" (Paci Out) "Everybody say Gobble Gobble" "Snap, Snap Snap" (And pray I got something)


Who's idea was this again??!!

And here's what we got:

We'll call it a success :)

I'm exhausted.

Sutterbug

Some random pictures I've taken in the last week or so.....

Lan, rocking her side ponytail, purple cords, and dollar store "Chuck Taylors"

One that will be treasured forever.  Took lots of bribery and PATIENCE!  But we got one!

 Coop at 4 weeks old

 Every home needs a superhero like mine has :)

 Simple pleasures...

Lan and Coop enjoying a little TV together

Ben came to meet Cooper!!!

 Doing a little dance before his bath

And I tried really hard to get them all in this pic, but Eli is not so cooperative when it comes to pictures lately.  Oh well.  These two sure look sweet :)

Special Visitors

We have had a few extra special visitors at our house since Cooper's birth.  Thought I'd share a few extra special pictures :)

Oh, and this was the first picture of all three kiddos together.  A moment in history.....

A Political Post from our Newest Family Member...

A Toy Story 3 Halloween

Toy Story 3 definitely ranks at the top of our most frequently watched films.  Mainly, because we have a 2 1/2-year-old boy who never tires of watching it.  Thankfully, it is one of those movies that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike :o)  

Since we have all watched the movie an insane number of times, we were well aquatinted with all of the characters.  When we asked Eli what he wanted to be for Halloween, naturally he said Woody.  What an adorable Woody he would be!  

Meanwhile, my wheels began to turn.  I had always wanted our family to dress up as a theme, but we just hadn't gotten around to it.  But there were so many wonderful characters (toys) in the movie Toy Story, I was determined this was the year we would do it.  Plus, this year we had the perfect "little sqeaky alien!"  My first task was to talk Landry out of being Minnie Mouse.  I knew Jessie would not be "girly" enough for her liking, so I went straight for Barbie.  I gave my persuasive speech about why she would make a great Barbie Doll and it worked!! (But only if she got to wear a blonde wig. LOL)  I then decided that Cory and I would be the Mr. and Mrs. in the movie....The Potato Heads!!  It only made perfect sense :)

And here we are in all our Glory...

I thought I'd share how I made the costumes in case you want to try it with your family one year.  

Barbie: I struck gold with Landry's costume.  I went to wal-mart in search of pieces.  I happened to find a clearance bathing suit for $1 in the perfect color, and was able to find the exact color leggings at the same time! I don't think that would happen again in a million years. For her leg warmers, I cut a pair of striped tights.  Her belt is a strip of stretch sequins. Easy Peasy!

Woody: We used and shirt and jeans he already had.  My mom made the vest out of canvas and I painted the spots and threaded the edges with embroidery floss.  We used a regular belt, but I found a picture of the buckle online and printed it onto cardstock.  I then glued that shape onto fun foam and placed velcro on the belt and the buckle to attach it.  I did the same for the sheriff's badge, except I attached a safety pin to the back and pinned it on the vest.  The spurs, holster, and hat were all from Dollar Tree.  I threaded the edge of his hat with brown thread.  Oh, and the boots were Landry's old boots that I refashioned to be appropriate for a boy.  Voila!  

Little Squeaky Alien: I  happened to have a sleeper in the perfect color blue.  I had to get the design off the front, which required some elbow grease, snipping lots of little threads.  I printed the planet design on cardstock and hot glued it straight onto the sleeper.  Then, I found a little winter hat and goodwill that fit him perfectly.  My mom was able to take it apart and use it as a pattern.  59 cents well spent!  She then made her own pattern for the ears, antenna, and gloves.  She sewed them all up in a flash.  The eyes were another lucky find.  I happened upon them in the doll section of Hobby Lobby.  They were called frog eyes, and there were only 2 packs of 2 in stock.  I snatched those babies up in a hurry. If I hadn't found these eyes, I think I would have used ping pong balls cut or bent in half, and then colored the black of the eye.

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head: Again, I was browsing in wal-mart trying to figure out the best thing to use for our bodies.  I had thought that a canvas laundry bag might work perfect, but the only color I found was blue.  Then I spotted them....Vinyl Table Cloths!!  They were already round, and it would require very little cutting or sewing.  PERFECT!!  I just folded those babies in half...cut a circle out for our heads...cut each side to fit, and then sewed the sides leaving a slot for our arms to go through.  I used fun foam and felt for the faces.  Cory and I basically free-handed them and then cut them out.  Hot glue did the trick to attach them to the bodies.  Honestly, I was a little intimidated before we started this process, but I was beyond happy with the results!  

We also stopped to visit some friends who made these EXTREMELY impressive costumes last year.  We were so excited to hear they were wearing them again this year so we could get a picture of the whole Toy Story crew!

Here are a few pics of my munchkins, showing off a little.

And I have to give a shout out to this wonderful family and their super creative costumes!!  The Bee Keeper and His Bees.  Have you ever seen anything more adorable?  My friend KB just whipped these little costumes up, like it was no big deal.  Guess what she used for the stripes: DUCT TAPE!!  How ingenious is that??!!  Amazing KB!

I thoroughly enjoyed making our costumes and dressing up with our kids this year.  The kids got a kick out of it as well.  Cory doesn't know it yet, but I plan on us dressing up every year now :)

Fall Family Fun Day!

When Daddy comes home, seems like there is one thing on our agenda: FUN!!!  We have a limited amount of time to see him, so we make the best of every moment.  I was so anxious for him to get back last weekend because I had found a wonderful pumpkin patch online and knew it would be the perfect outing for us.  The forecast projected highs in the upper 60s.  Could there be a more perfect day???

Absolutely NOT!  This day exceeded my expectations.  The kids ran around for hours, jumping on the giant pillow, sliding down the super fast slide, riding the tire zip-line, playing with Daddy in the hay.  And I've got pictures, pictures, pictures, recording this marvelous day.  Our faces say it all :) :) :)

Love this series of pictures capturing Cory jumping over a haystack, chasing one of our munchkins

I had two requests for the day: 1. That we got a picture of all 5 of us (our first family picture)....

2. That I got a picture of my little pumpkin in the patch.

SUCCESS!!!

Needless to say, we'll be doing this again next year!!!