Sweet Life in the City

This past weekend was our annual family reunion in Eva, TN and we had so much fun. The kids and I left Friday after school and Jeremy surprised us by coming over on Saturday night. Jeremy was not feeling well and was going to stay home the entire weekend, but decided to join us. The seasonal allergies hit us pretty hard last week and Jeremy, Sam, and Emma were coughing and sounded horrible. They were not running a fever so we just treated it like allergies and they seem to be better. I am enjoying our short week of school but it does make things a little bit crazier trying to get everything done that needs to be done. On the subject of my craziness, I learned a great lesson this afternoon. We have been trying to sell our house for a while now. At first my house was spic and span all the time and especially when I knew we would not be home. Well, we have had a grand total of TWO people come to look at our house. Each time I worked myself silly scrubbing and cleaning until every inch of ...

WOW! I knew it had been awhile since I blogged, but I had no idea it had been since the beginning of July. I am not sure if I should mention everything that has been going on or skip to what is going on right now. I guess I will just hit the highlights. When we got back from Illinois Emma had the tubes put in her ears. She did great for the procedure and we have been earache free since the tubes went in the ears. We made a trip to Oklahoma City on a charter bus and the kids had so much fun. I was a little nervous because I did not realize that there were not any seat belts and that meant there would not be any car seats for the kids. We spent the week in OKC at our National convention. We saw family and friends and had a great time. We came home and had to do one of the hardest things we have ever done, say good-bye to our precious Good Springs Youth. We had a our last Sunday and last Wednesday night and the heart ache was much worse then we ever imagined. I think that is one of the re...

Today my sweet baby turned 3 years old. It seemed like for so long I had these three little babies and now they are all becoming so independent and are just growing up so fast. Chloe is almost completely potty trained and she is becoming her own little person. She is our smily little sweetheart and we are so thankful that she is in our family. She had a fun day at 123 Jump and lots of cake and presents. I think Sam and Emma were more excited that today was Chloe's birthday than Chloe. Well we are finally heading home tomorrow. Our family should all be back together tomorrow night. The kids have had a great time of being with Grandma and Grandpa. They have gone fishing several times and went to a fun children's museum. They are coming home with so much more then I brought with them to Grandma's house and it will probably takes weeks to get them back to our house rules, but I am glad they had the chance to spend some time together. Well before I get going I have a funny story...

Jeremy and I and the teenagers got back Friday night from Orange Beach. It was a wonderful week of being encouraged and refreshed. The weather was horrible while we were down there and the oil on the beach was such a sad sight, but we still had a wonderful week. I left at 6:00 Saturday morning and headed to Illinois. The kids and I are staying here at my parent's house this whole week. Jeremy is in Virginia taking a class at Liberty. He is only 8 classes away from his doctorate in administration and I am so proud of him. The kids have had fun at Grandma's house but I think they are ready to go home. When I got here Saturday Sam said to me "Mom, I am ready to go home." I kind of laughed and told him that we were not going home for 6 more days. He then looked at me with the most serious expression and said "Seriously mom, I am ready to go home." We had a fun 4th of July. We went to a cookout and the kids had a blast doing bubbles and watching the fireworks. We...

Here are the pictures I said I would post last week. There is a picture of Jeremy and I at the Cubs game. One of the kids before watching Toy Story 3 and then one of Emma. Jeremy and I are at Orange Beach with four of our teen girls. It has been rainy and their is oil on the beach, but the worship services has been amazing!!! I really miss the kids and I cannot believe that I will not see them until Saturday!! I also have some other things I need to post but it is late and I need to get some sleep.

There have been several reasons I have not posted since last week but the bottom line is that we have been super busy. Jeremy and I had a great time in Chicago. We spent a day at Lincoln Park Zoo and then went to a Chicago Cubs game, We thought the game was going to get rained out but it started almost two hours late. We ended up leaving the game in the 7th inning because it was already 11:00 at night and we had an hour and half drive back to my parents house. We headed home on Wednesday. On Friday I took Emma to the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor to look at her ears. They did a hearing test on her and it came back that she is hearing just fine but there is fluid on both ear drums. We made an appointment to get tubes in both ears on July 12th. After the doctor we came home and got the rest of the family and headed out to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was just a great movie! I have to admit that I was crying at the end! The kids also loved it and did a great job watching the movie. It was Chloe...

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY, SAMUEL JAE!!! Five years ago (YES, I SAID FIVE YEARS) Jeremy and I woke up early and boarded a plane headed for Detroit to pick up our son. We were scared to death! There were so many questions and concerns going through our heads, "What if he does not like us?" "What if I do not know what he wants?" What if I do not FEEL like a mom?" and the list could go on. We were greeted in Detroit by my parents and my uncle and cousin (who live near Detroit) and we all waited patiently, or not so patiently, for Samuel to arrive. We waited what seemed like forever and the plane finally landed. We waited with several other families who were also picking up their children as one by one the Korean escorts came through customs toting our precious children. Samuel's escort was the only male and he had Samuel strapped in a carrier on his chest. The moment I saw his little head looking around I knew it was my baby (yes, another question, "what if I do n...