MDBetter Family

We started the summer with three big prayer items. I had them in a specific order in my prayer journal and that is how we prayed and sought the Lord as we made decisions. The fun thing about it is that the list got turned upside down and everything seems to be falling into place. Here is how our list looked.
1. Natalie’s school for kindergarten - public, private or home school
2. Duffy’s job - keep working the same schedule, reduce schedule or phase out
3. Add to our family or not (This one got skipped in most of the prayer times thinking about we would deal with it next year)
Here is how the answers happened
1. We found out we are pregnant. - I guess we will add to our family and deal with it now. Surprised but happy.
2. A lady at my office turned in her notice which required me to hire a replacement. We hired someone full time which will allow me to phase out of my job. Yikes and Yipee at the same time.
3. We chose to homeschool Natalie for kindergarten. She is high on the waiting list for a great magnet school here in Hendersonville. We are hoping to get in for first grade. After prayer and lots of visiting other schools we chose to pour into Natalie and enjoy this year with her. So far so good. It has its challenges but we (Natalie and I) are enjoying the time and freedom.

I knew when I wrote the list at the beginning of summer that this next year would be a year of change but I really had no idea how much change would be coming. We found this all out in July. It was a crazy month. We are hoping for quiet August. God is good and faithful to answer our prayers and we can honestly see His lead as we try to follow faithfully through these life changes.

Well, tonight I really noticed that I am becoming what my husband has already labeled me - granola. I was recycling some containers, putting away the organic milk and sunflower butter while I was thinking about our school options for the fall. We are not having good luck in getting in touch with the public school for which we are zoned. We are on the waiting list for the local magnet school. And I am wondering - is home school the best option for us? The fall our lives will change dramatically no matter what we decide. In praying I feel like the Lord is saying, “Wait for me, I will show you and you will know when it is time to make a decision”. My agenda driven personality wants to get it all scheduled now. Part of it to is finding my place in our family, our world. Gosh, that sounds so selfish. I don’t think I will publish this.

Well - as you can see it was not exactly an easy summer or easy process. I am publishing this because it is cool to look back and see that God was teaching me to wait on Him. He is good. 8-21-08

Here are some funny stories from the last week.
Last night Courtney accidently peed in her pants outside while we were playing on my new hammock(Thanks to Mike - he did good for my bday). As we were walking into the house, Courtney said, “Oh no, I peed on my shoes too”. I said, “It is good that you are wearing your water shoes”. She said “They are water shoes not pee shoes”. I doubled over with laughter and she looked up at me and said, “Mommy are you peeing?” - Ok more laughing at this point.

Ok Here we are playing wedding

Second time around - Courtney decides she wants someone else to sing

Everyone seems to have a little gas tonight. So as we are getting ready for bed, Mike says, “Gosh, you are tootin’ up a storm”. Natalie responds, “Does that mean I am tootin’ so much I am going to make a tornado?”

We took off on May 31st headed for Myrtle Beach. We spent a week at a great beach house enjoying each other and time to play and relax. Natalie and Courtney really enjoyed playing in the sand and water.
My mom and 7 year nephew went with us. It was Shane’s first time to see the ocean.
Here are the kids before going to see a production show one night.

Some other highlights included riding rides, staying up late for fireworks, no naps, driving go carts, and even catching a small sand shark. We all had a great time. Be sure to see the new pictures.

One day on the beach we buried the kids the in sand and made mermaids and a shark. They had fun and so did we.

Two little mermaids

Two little mermaids swimming from a shark.

One bitten little mermaid and one swimming mermaid.

Two little bitten mermaids and a shark.

Saturday one of Natalie’s toys lost a small piece. Mike superglued the piece back on and put the glue away. A few minutes later Natalie came running into the bathroom crying and screaming. She said, “My fingers are stuck together forever”. She had tried to use the superglue herself to put the eyelashes back on her clay frog. Mike did a great job of trying to calm her down and then we read the superglue bottle to see how to get it off skin. We soaked her hand in finger nail polish remover for a couple minutes and tried not to laugh. She was so worried that her fingers would never come apart. Mike said, “Don’t worry, it won’t last forever just maybe 50 or 60 years”. She did not think it was very funny. I was kind of giggling the whole time and she said, “If it was your fingers you wouldn’t think it is very funny”. Then I told her that I had just superglued Cinderella’s leg to my hand about a week ago and she laughed - a little. She was finally able to separate her fingers and now she can laugh about it. I wanted to take a picture but it wasn’t really appropriate while she was so upset. I don’t think she will be using superglue again any time soon.

Last night as we went in to kiss the girls goodnight this is what we found…
We tried to move Courtney’s scarf but even in her sleep she put back in place. I am not sure what to say about this picture. We were laughing so hard we had to leave the room a couple of times before we finished kissing them. She is always full of surprises.

Then we have our sweet and independent Natalie. As we were trying on a new dress yesterday at a little boutique she said to me, “Mom, you know I am already 5, I can do it by myself.” And then a minute later - “can you help me with the buttons?”. She wants to be so big and yet she still sleeps with her silky bear under her head. 

We are doing our best to treasure every moment that they want to be with us and play with us. We went to gymnastics this morning and then came home to do some cleaning before heading to the YMCA for swimming. The girls are doing so well in the water. They have little fear and really enjoy the water. Natalie got diving rings for her birthday and she played with them most of the time we were there today. She is a good little mermaid.  

Last night during our nightly routine I was reading Pipi Longstocking to the girls. We tried something a little different by saying or prayers first and then getting in bed to read the story. Courtney was quickly bored with the story and started “reading” her own story. She was reading out loud as well. I asked her to ready quietly and she said, “But Mommy you are not reading quietly”. We all cracked up and of course Mike and Natalie were not listening but laughing.Tonight Aunt Diane called. While Courtney was talking to her on the phone she stopped and said, “Hold on a minute. You two stop hitting each other. I have already told you three times”. Then she turned around and kept talking to Aunt Diane. I guess she had already seen that in me a couple of times today. It is amazing the things they copy. 

Natalie had a great 5th birthday. We had family over for lunch and presents. Peanut Butter and Jelly was the choice for the meal. Then in the afternoon we had a party with her friend Annalise Mitchell who also turned 5 this past week. We went to  Let It Shine Gym for a friend birthday party. We had 14 children laughing and flipping for an hour. Then we pizza and cake and ice cream. It was fun for all.Natalie kept saying all day - I can’t believe I am really 5. Her favorite presents were a roll up Care Bear, a mermaid Barbie and a cash register. She has enjoyed playing with all her new toys.Be sure to see the pictures with the link on the right. I will try to get some video added soon. 

Here is a picture from Easter morning. We had a good time at church and dining with family.  

Today was a big day for Courtney and Natalie. For the last couple of weeks we have had a star chart. Every night that they stay in their bed they get a star the next morning. It has been working. Courtney has been staying in her bed. So this week the prize was a big girl bed for her and a booster seat for Natalie. Here are a couple of pictures. (Mike was a little sad to be taking down the crib - it was cute.)