Bonds between boys, but girls still Rule! :)

Just before the new year, we took a partial family trip to Arkansas to attend a wedding.  While none of us really wanted to spend the money, neither did we realize how much fun we'd all have taking a road trip together.
Alicia was unfortunately unable to go with us as she believed her work schedule would not allow her to do so.  She so graciously agreed to stay behind and dog sit the furry kids, and I  trusted she would do great on her own as a young adult.  She did as wonderful of a job I believed she would do too...Thanks Alicia :)


Our first morning began getting a late start out of Kansas City, however, we were all thrilled to get the heck out of "Dodge".  It was really no surprise to us girls how long it would take us to get to our destination, with one pregnant woman on board along with my pitiful aging bladder we made many bathroom stops.  Big shocker that the only two men in the family would find some well deserved bonding time as they utilized these precious stops along the way.
Jason needed a back crackin' and poor pregnant Amanda's belly was just too big to accomplish this task, so good Ole dad in law happily took on the task of completing this mission, and I quickly took out my phone to snap a picture.  LOL (you never know what will make my blog boys...haha)

Of course after  hours on the road, the wonderful Arkansas sign was followed with a sigh of relief as we were getting bored.  My one and only hope from visiting Arkansas was to meet the famous "Duggar" family from the reality show "19 kids and counting."  You can find it on TLC if you're interested in following a good clean, happy, and admirable family. I unfortunately did not meet a Duggar. :(

Upon arriving in Rogers, Arkansas, we would soon come to a quick reality check that our hotel we were staying at would be hosting a youth convention filled with Pentecostal preteens and teenagers.  The place was a mad house, and our sanity was quickly challenged when we struggled to get to our 7th floor hotel room as the "free range" running teenagers pushed every button and played on the elevators.  All the same, they did make for many distracting conversations such as  "where could they have possibly purchased those thousands of jean skirts all the girls wore?"

Either way, we were not detoured as we spent most of our free time visiting many many stores in the area.  Our first stop, was a cute and fun store called "Dilly Dally", and yes we dilly dallied for quite some time.  The boys were off playing with all the gadgets and gizmo's they could find just like little boys do in a candy store.  Us girls laughed and enjoyed watching the boys nearly brake *ahem/ lose parts of toys when they fumbled around with things maybe they shouldn't have been touching.  haha.. (I promise I won't tell beyond this blog) ;)

The shopping center was adorable, and the boys were such great sports when we stopped at a Maternity store to buy Amanda a dress for the wedding.  (Heck, at least they had each other to keep them company while us girls did some fun girl shopping.)  

Then we were off to a coffee and tea shop where Alex and I purchased the best blended drinks I've tasted in years!  YUM YUM ... the boys needed a well deserved 'candy shop stop' and here are just a few morsels that caught their attention.

Yep, a candy store dream come true was what we chalked this place up as.

Next, we agreed to have lunch at a Pizza shop Michael had picked from "the Best of the Best" places to eat in Rogers, Arkansas.  mmmm mmmm mmmm, it WAS the best pizza we had ever eaten too!

Before we devoured the yummy pizza..
we're

All smiles

But, as usual, all good things come at a very costly price!  Not long after our tasty lunch, all of our stomachs began to rumble.  I am not exaggerating when I say we were gasping for air, clenching body parts that make for an awkward and terrifying speedy ride back to the hotel.

Amanda and Alex gasped for air as Michael put the "pedal to the medal!"

And laughing was for sure prohibited or there may be a costly mess I was NOT cleaning up...lol.. TMI you say?, well, you may not want to venture onto my blog and read about the crazy life we live.  

Thankfully we arrived to the hotel in the nick of time and no one seemed detoured by the hundreds of teens that were dominating the elevators.  The boys just quickly made way to the first floor lounge carefully and most assuredly taking the fastest baby steps I've seen men take.

Yes, the Pizza parlor made this trip the fun adventure it was meant to be, and has made me far more thankful our grand baby is promised to be a girl.  While boys may be lethal and appear dangerous, they are a hoot to have as entertainment.

Not long after returning to Missouri on our trip back to KC, I saw this sign...

Which reminded me of my roots.  Heck, I grew up with a family of all men and there should never be a 'shock and awe' factor left when my husband and son-in-law get together.  Frankly, I am glad they are so close and they put on their "happy faces" that they are married to GREAT women :).

We really had a wonderful time....Oh, and the wedding was nice too. :)

A look at 2012

I am looking forward to this year of blogging.  My wonderful cousin Roberta inspires me with the blogs she so wonderfully posts and the beautiful blog site she keeps.  She helped me a ton last year set up my blog site that I love coming to.  I love looking over all the pictures of my family.  My mom, my daddy, and the few pictures I have of me with my four brothers.

Thanks to Roberta, I printed all the blogs I posted last year and had them turned into a book.  And while I didn't finish my memoir of my childhood, I truly wanted to keep the painful yet heartfelt moments that have shaped me into who   I am today.

I may take some time to go back in time and revisit some of those moments, but today I just want to focus in on up and coming events we are looking forward to this year.

One, is the birth of our granddaughter we are over the moon about.  She is due to arrive on the 22nd of May, 2012.  With prayers and anticipation, I would be lying if I didn't admit my selfish hope she brings her beautiful face into this world on May 19th which will be my 43rd birthday.

I can barely contain my excitement as I know Amanda and Jason will be such wonderful parents and I will be a far better grammy than I ever was a mommy.

For Christmas Alex and Alicia bought them their first piece of baby furniture...a baby swing and bouncer.  They too are so excited to be Auntie's and is such a warm fuzzy feeling to anticipate this long and awaited arrival of baby Nora.

Michael and I have also begun the process of potentially opening our home to Foster children.  I'm terrified I admit because I know the work involved in raising more children.  While it's not confirmed God is calling us in this particular direction, it won't hurt to tap our feet in this water while we wait patiently for Gods approval.

What I do know, God has blessed us greatly through so much adversity.  The blessings are hard to overlook as Michael and I have made it through a near ended marriage, the tumultuous teenage stage with our own children, and the difficult crossing of teens into their young adult life.  Sigh, hard work...lots and lots of tears, prayers, counseling, parenting classes, marriage classes, more prayer and even some crying out impatiently for Gods intervention.  It's all such an overwhelming thought to know God would choose us to give of our lives in this way.

No, I don't feel the support flowing from every direction but our lives are not meant to please on lookers.  Our life doesn't have to make sense to others, heck, it rarely makes sense to me.  What I do know is every time we take a step into unfamiliar territory of serving, Satan is not far behind to trample on our confidence, our hopes, our dreams.

However, even if God doesn't call us to serve in this manner, He will know we obeyed the stirring we heard to move in that direction and trust in His guidance to direct those steps.

I sure love the Lord!

House filled with Hope

I have spent the past month or so doing something I so love to do....working with teenage girls. Sure, it was the most difficult time I have ever had as a mom, and yet I so love my daughters and am so proud of the young ladies they are becoming each day.
The House of Hope is a wonderful Christian, not for profit home created to help troubled teenage girls. The director, Miss Marilyn is a retired Social worker who founded this home and has so graciously allowed me to come in and work with the girls there.
I couldn't be more thrilled to give some of the abundance of free time I have by volunteering there. Usually I assist the staff member who is paid to supervise and work with the teenage girls. However, the staff members expressed the love and need for someone just like me to come in and assist them so they can better serve the girls. PERFECT!!! Exactly what I want to do! I don't need financial compensation to fill a void where I am needed and the burden is not placed on my shoulder (A priceless position in my opinion).

There are currently six girls at H.O.H. and a handful emotionally at that. S just turned 16 and is on "phase 2" in the program. The girls work through different phases before they are sent to "home phase" which is actually time for the girls to be reunited with their parents. On Phase 2, you are allowed to go home for the weekend as be with your family yet, the girls are still in HOH's custody. Phase 2 allows the girl more freedoms than the lower phasers. She is trusted with more responsibilities such as verbal contact with other girls in the house. If the girls are on a lower phase, they are not allowed to speak to another girl in the house at any time. Even on phase 1, which C is on, one is not allowed to speak to any of the other girls. C is given one 5 min phone conversation with her parents once a week, as well as a personal 30 min visit once a week from her parents. All contact is monitored by staff on this phase, but the girl on this phase is just thrilled to see and speak with their family member. K-1 is the one who reminds me most of myself. She is 15 years old and is on "orientation phase" even though she has been at HOH for months. K-1 has 4 older brothers and lost her mother last year. She has spoken of her responsibility of taking care of everyone else and seems to have lived a life of coming and going when she pleased. She's a tough little cookie, but K-1 and I are pretty bonded because of our similar links. I'm hardest on K-1, yet she so looks up to me as a motherly figure. I don't take this position of mine lightly and encourage K-1 to keep looking forward as best she can. (She gets bored pretty easily) Orientation phase can last as long as the girl who is on it chooses it to last. This is the phase where they have to accept responisbility for their actions 100% of the time. This is also the stage where there is no contact with the family until they reach Phase 1 in hopes of encouraging each girl to press through the tough times to reach Phase 1. None of the girls on Orientation phase are allowed to speak to other orientation phasers at any time. K-2 has been at the house as long as I have. She is a black girl and truly brave to ask me to cut all of her hair off. (I had never cut a black persons hair before) Oh, K-2 is beautiful inside and out, and her hair is simply adorable sporting the short afroe look. K-2 was adopted, and while I don't know any of these girls stories personally, I know they are so loved by their parents for investing in their daughter's as they have. T, is 14 and is just a brave little girl. She came to HOH a couple of weeks ago and has shown herself to be a tough little cookie. The one night I was left to care for these girls on my own, T became horribly sick in the night yet never complained or cried how much she wanted to go home. (I would have for sure) I feel a special bond to T just because of her bravery at such a young age. K-3 is the youngest girl I have seen at HOH yet. She is 12 years young and seems to be hurting terribly. She came to the house just two short nights ago and last night had an understandable breakdown as she recognized the confinement she is in. I miss these girls when I am not around them....I look forward to the next time I will be able to go and see them, but I also recognize I have a family as well.
My husband is so supportive and proud I am working with these girls, and I am so proud he is willing to come and play games with them to fill up the girls freetime on the weekends. Michael is such a great guy for all his support at HOH. I don't know what this year holds for me, for Michael, or for my service at HOH. But, I thank God every chance I get for allowing me this opportunity. What a blessing it is to be in these girls lives.