Super Zane

All of you that know my 3 year old know that he is pretty much Mario crazy.

You also know that he could totally take you in a game.

Seriously.

I don't know if I should be proud of that or seek help.



If you ask him his name he will probably say something like this



Sometimes he's just Mario and some days he is just SOOOONNNNIIIIC!!!

But everyday he is my


And because he loves his mommy SO much he happily allowed me to practice on him for a few minutes tonight before bed, with my new lens.

Mosquitoes and all.

I'm sure the lollipop played no part in his cooperation.



Oh those beautiful Blues


And because I can never decide between color or black and white


I love you Zane Man Mario Sonic House

This little piggie went to the market...This little piggie had faith

On Thursday, May 20th we were at our church for a staff meeting. Our kids were playing house and Jude decided to push a table over for their "home". Zane was standing there watching in his bare feet as the table landed right on his little foot. His foot swelled immediately and began to bruise. I held him as he cried and he soon fell asleep.

I figured we would know if it was serious when Zane woke up. If it wasn't, he would have forgot about it and would be off playing as usual. Well, as soon as I put him down he instantly held up his sore foot and cried out that it hurt. This must be more then a bruise.

I had Jude, Genesis, and their friend pray for him. Such sweet prayers:)

We were able to get a script to go straight to X Ray at the Hospital.

The report? A broken foot. The 2nd metatarsal.

We were told by his Pediatrician that they take these breaks very seriously in young children because their bones are not fully developed, and if not set right he could have problems later on. We were set to see a specialist in Knoxville the following Monday.

As I was talking on the phone to my mom about all that happened she asked me, "Why don't you take Zane up front on Sunday so the Elders and Pastors can pray for him?" Now why didn't I think of that?

I know many of the healings in the Bible were specifically for the unbelievers that were standing by observing. I started to excited at the thought. I told the kids to remember that through their prayers and our faith as a family to believe God for a miracle, God may just heal Zane's foot. I really wanted them to know and see God in an awesome way.

Zane continued through the weekend not ever setting his foot down. He would wince if anyone touched it by accident. His mood was great though the whole time, such a tough boy. He figured out how to crawl around to get what he needed.

Sunday at the end of the service we took Zane to the front and Pastor laid hands on him and prayed for a healing.

James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

Monday afternoon we went to Zane's specialist. They needed to take more X Rays since they didn't have the original from Thursday. The Doctor came in and started talking about how Zane may have a break in his leg which was causing his pain. I was so confused. I asked him what about the break in his foot? He said there wasn't one.

WHAT???

I asked again.

He looked right at me and said (kind of aggravated) "There ISN'T one".

But what about the first X Ray? He said he doesn't know, but what he knows is there is absolutely no broken bone in his foot.

He wanted another X Ray of his leg because he said there could be a break there. They see that sometimes due to the child turning sharply when a heavy object falls on them.
Well, that X Ray came back and again NO breaks! It was a strange feeling of, I knew it! and WOW.

The Doctor suggested a cast for just 2 weeks because Zane still had bruises and he didn't want him to re-injure himself. I agreed mostly because Zane was so excited about getting a blue boot!!
He was hilarious while the nurse put it on. He kept making her laugh by making sound effects as she wrapped the tape. He excitedly wiggled his toes and squealed, "Look, I can walk now!!" He got off the table and INSISTED on WALKING out of the Doctors office. I asked him if his foot was all better and he said yes. I reminded him how we prayed, and reminded Jude and Genesis how they prayed, and Jesus healed him.

Now this may sound like a small miracle, if there ever really could be such a thing. But I believe that God showed up. My children got to witness His power from their simple faith.

I also remembered how God showed up 2 years ago when Genesis was in the Hospital diagnosed with Lemierre's syndrome. She is perfectly healthy today. And the time that while I was pregnant with Jude they found a cyst on his kidney during my first ultrasound. After the prayers of many I went back for another ultrasound and the tech said. "I don't know what they saw, but there is absolutely no cyst here".

What an AWESOME God we have. I thank Him for showing up so that maybe someone that is reading this will be encouraged or even come to know Him for the first time.

I'm thankful that my children will know Who to put their faith in.

I Love God.

Not for what He does, but Who He is.

Because if He chooses to never do another miracle in our lives I will still know that He is in control.

We're Expecting!

Well, kinda:)

Our family just sponsored a 10 year old little girl through Compassion International. Her information will be here in two weeks!!

We sat down as a family today and I asked the kids if they would want to sponsor a child from another country. I told them that for just $38.00 a month (the equivalent of a wii game, for Jude's understanding) we could help 1 child with food, education, medical care, and more.
They happily agreed, and then Jude ran back off to play with Zane.

Genesis excitingly sat down at my computer and browsed all the waiting children. She finally decided on 10 year old Awino Agatha from Uganda.



She was hesitant at first because Agatha has 9 other siblings in her little hut. Genesis didn't want the other children to be left out.

"What about her brothers and sisters, who will help them?"

Hmmmm

She liked that Agatha had similar interest as her like art, singing, and playing with dolls.
That will give them a lot to write about:)

Here's the thing. I grew up in church. So of course I heard all about sponsoring children. Heck, even if you don't go to church you hear about it on TV or at concerts.

Well, for some reason, I always had the idea that when you sent money only a few dollars actually went to the child. I also thought that they really didn't care about letters you may send since they couldn't read them anyway.

After researching Compassion International, I learned that is so far from the truth. Over 80 percent of your donation goes to the child. And they LOVE to receive your letters. Most of them keep them for years and even memorize every word.

Check out this awesome story. Watch to the end, and have tissues ready!
(Scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music player)



God has really been shaking my world this past month. I have so much to share, but will wait for the right time.
Until then, I will leave you with some great reading found on these blogs:

Kisses from Katie

We are that family

And a great book - "Crazy Love"

Double Digits

Ten. Count them, all your fingers. That is how old my first born is today. TEN.

That's three short years from being a teenager.

Five years from driving.

And lets just stop there, I don't even want to think about the rest.


Genesis. Her name simply means "Beginning"

She was our beginning. Our first little bundle of joy. And now she is 10. Wow

We love you so much Genesis. You are sweet and kind. You love to give and create new things. You are are wonderful big sister to your brothers, they miss you terribly when you are not around. We are blessed to have you in our family.



Thank you God for such a wonderful beginning.

Winter at it's finest

I was really hoping to get some good shots of my kids in the snow today.

I had to pull out all the bribes. You can't really blame them for not being overly excited being that it was only 10 degrees outside.

AND they couldn't wear their jackets.

Bad mommy.

It's all about "The Shot" hehehe

OK, so we were only out there MAYBE 10 minutes and they had many layers on.

The funny thing is, they were in tears within 5 seconds. Seriously. BUT, later that day they had no problem throwing themselves down the snowy hill for almost an hour. The whole time getting snow in their clothes, freezing their little toes and fingers.

I guess my camera just can't compete with a flying saucer.

I think my camera is a ton of fun :)

















And this is what Zane thought about it





I hope you are all enjoying your winter as much as we are!

Our first snow fall in Tennessee

We heard earlier in the week that we may have a chance of snow on Saturday.

When Friday came the percentages were almost at 100%. They said the first flakes could fall by midnight.

Genesis was so anxious that evening to catch the snow falling.

She thought that it was only going to fall for a short time then melt quickly and was afraid that she might miss it.

I'm pretty sure that she came into our room while we were sleeping about every hour and asked why there was no snow.

I reassured her that it was coming. Now go back to sleep!!

To be honest, I probably looked out my window at least 5 times in the middle of the night looking for it too:)

Around 6AM Genesis came in again, I told her to just go sit out in the living room and watch a movie.

A few minutes later I looked out my window.

There it was.

Falling softly from the sky and starting to lightly dust the ground.

I went out to the living room where Genesis was watching TV with her back to the window and said, "Turn around".




I woke the boys up, put on their new (Thank you April!) winter jackets and we all headed outside.



Nothing like a snowball fight before sunrise



Later on Daddy joined in



The kids spent most of the day outside. We didn't have the right kind of gloves, just the knit ones, so they would take a break once in a while to come in and put their gloves in the dryer. Then back outside they would go.

After lunch Guy made us "Snow Ice Cream"

Fresh Snow (yes, we stayed away from yellow snow)
Milk
Vanilla
Sugar







It was a wonderful, snow filled day.









Even Sage loved being outside









Our house







Genesis said she was copying Jude's face :)



And now, enjoy the view















Cannot wait for our next SNOW DAY

Jude Man turns 5 today

Five years ago we arrived at Labor of Love Birth Center in Lutz a few minutes before my Midwife. I delivered Jude less than 1 hour after arriving. My wonderful big boy came into our lives at 10.1 pounds and 21 inches.





Jude was such an easy baby. At 3 months he was sleeping from 7PM-7AM every night.
(That is probably one reason I got pregnant again so soon! Haha)

As a baby, he always had a smile on his face.

One Year Old


Two Years Old
(You can see his eyes starting to cross here, he got his glasses soon after this)


Three Years Old


Four Years Old


And Today


Jude,

I love you so much! You have more energy then all of us put together. You can't stay still for even a second. I cannot wait to see what you are going to use all that energy for when you grow up. You drive us crazy always asking if it's time to eat. We will have to take out a loan to pay for grocery's when you are a teenager I'm sure. Every night you ask me to come see you before I go to bed and kiss you, and pray for you. You have always been a momma's boy and I couldn't imagine my life without you.
Happy Birthday Jude Man
I love you



We celebrated in FL while there for Thanksgiving weekend.
Kara made him a Little Big Planet cake.


Of course no birthday party is complete without pin the tail on the donkey.




Papa's turn


Zane blew out the candles before Jude even opened his eyes! LOL


Take two


Of course Uncle Luke had to get him the biggest gun he could find


Happy Birthday big boy!

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.