End of Times

I have started a great Bible study on the end of times by Irvin Baxter. I have been going with my mom on Tuesday evenings to a pentecostal church not far from our house. It has been really eye opening and I suggest it to anyone who has had trouble understanding Revelations in the past. I have been enlightened to so much information that I am really glad to know and that also makes me so fearful for the ones going through this life as if they have all the time in the world to prepare their souls for eternity. Our life is not promised; our next breath could be our last. Please if you don't have a personal realtionship with our Father Jesus Christ get one now! It is so easy all you have to do is believe that Jesus died for you to be saved and so that you could become princes and princesses in His kingdom! Ask him to change your heart and make it new so that you can have true life and peace with Him.

I love this salvation poem from the kid's Superbook movies. It describes all you need to know:

Jesus, You died upon a cross

And rose again to save the lost

Forgive me now of all my sin

Come be my Savior, Lord,

and Friend

Change my life and

make it new

And help me, Lord,

to live for You

Sweet Cheeks 1 month postop

I can't believe it has been a month since Sweet Cheeks had his last surgery. They reconstructed his head from the ears forward. Shaved his forhead down and removed all the skull in the front and repeiced it together trying to make a more normal shape. Since there wasn't enough skin to do what the doctor had wanted to do he doesn't look as good as we had hoped, but I am not complaining! We still have our sweet lil man and all is well. Once his hair all grows back no one will be able to tell -I think. He is still the sweetest lil guy ever! He loves to cuddle and to lean in for lots and lots of kisses. The rest of my boys were never into cuddling for very long- I had to fight them away from swords and remotes for my time with them. However still sweet, he is absolutely spoiled rotten!! He wants to be held constantly and he is no light weight -pushing 30 lbs- quite big for a 16 month old. He also still refuses to quit nursing. I love nursing and all but it has been 16 months!! I am ready for my body to be mine again!! He is the hardest baby to nurse too- always looking around and letting go and relatching constantly. He won't eat solid food, but instead constantly gives me the sign language for "more" and "milk." I feel like I am one of those crazy people you see on tv breastfeeding til their kids are ten! My boobs are going to hang to the floor by the time he's finished with them! Oh well, I guess I'll put up with it for a little longer and hope food gets more enticing now that he is off all pain meds and antibiotics (which gave him the worst stomach pain and diaper rash!) Thank you God for letting me keep my lil man and protecting his sweet lil life through all of this! Praise God for my many, many blessings!!

New Job Update

I have been working for almost four months now and I must say that although I had serious doubts about working outside the home it is working out well. I work in an office with developmentally disabled clients doing paperwork mostly. I only have to come twice a week (10 hour days) to get in my hours, so I am home with the kids as much as I can be. I wake up extra early while they are still asleep so I can get home before it is very late to spend time with them. My aunt who is homeschooling my cousin and happens to live two doors down offered to take ;my oldest two on the days I am working so that they don't get behind in their studies. She does math and spelling with them for the whole week in those two days and that leaves me to do Bible, reading, english, science, handwriting, and history the other three days. We double up two days and then on Fridays just do one lesson in each. Although I am still extremely exhausted I am not miserable like I thought I would be. It is nice to get away from the house a bit and it makes me appreciate the time I do have with my kids. I don't feel as if I am neglecting them and my job is only ten minutes away. My coworkers are nice and my boss is a joy to work for. I guess God knows what he is doing afterall!! I am still learning over and over to just put all my trust in him. He is always there for me and has the best life in mind for me. I praise him for all my blessings once again. :)

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

Life Flashing By

Life has really been going by soo quickly lately. Everything that I need to get done is slowly piling up. Hopefully by some miracle I will be able to get it all done before surgery time.
We just took another trip to St Louis for a wedding this time instead of doctor appointments and stayed with my baby sister there. Her new baby boy is just about a month old. It gives me baby fever for about a nanosecond and then I remember sleepless nights and all the diapers and think I can hold off for a bit longer ;) I am seriously starting to look into adoption though. I have always wanted to do this but am too poor to afford it just yet. I do want to get the process started though so I know where we stand and can look to the future. I would love to give one of these little blessings from God a home. I could take all the babies as long as I didn't have to physically have them. I am getting too old for pregnancy during the last pregnancy I was 31 and felt like I was 100!! Maybe everything will work out and number six will be coming along soon :) (that is as soon as I get caught up and get through this surgery and become rich and... lol

Family Updates

Hello All, I have not been able to communicate often because life has totally overtaken me lately. We are entering a new season in life and I for one am thrilled. The nice fall weather has been helpful too :) I thought since it had been a while I would give you all updates on what each family member has been up to lately.

Darling-10 has been accomplishing so much this year as a big fifth grader! She is becoming a young lady and although this time of life isn't always the most enjoyable years as a mother I am proud of her and am glad to get to watch her grow up. She is a great big sister (most the time) and helps me run the household as well as take care of all her brothers. She has been asking me to adopt her a sister her age lol. She misses having friends around as she is now middle school age and social activities are getting more important. She sings and is interested in becoming a musician. We aren't currently enrolled in any activities as our dear swim teacher passed away and our piano teacher moved :( We will be finding something hopefully cheap for her soon. She has been a godsend. I don't know what I would do without her!

Tenderheart-8 is busy being busy lol. He is constantly distracted by anything which makes homeschooling with little ones running round very difficult and time consuming. He is super sweet and as his name implies has a very tender heart. He is now in third grade and is doing great. Multiplication and division hit this year and he is flying through it. He is usually nice to his brothers and helps them out whenever he can without having to be asked. He is interested in taking some form of karate this year and if funds are available we will enroll him and probably all the kids. Hopefully this helps him get some energy out during the winter months when we will be inside more.

Wild Thing-5 is as always a handful. He is constantly into something and has been my biggest challenge. He is supposed to be homeschooling this year for kindergarten but I am hoping if I give him a little time to mature he will be capable of sitting still long enough to learn something. So, we are only doing school with him a couple days a week. He also has allergies and asthma so this keeps us on our toes because he is constantly breaking out in rashes or having trouble breathing and of course he won't stay away from the things that bother his allergies.  He climbs, jumps, fights, and is always covered in dirt. I didn't know what having a true boy was like until he came along. As slight as he is he is the biggest personality in the family :)

Hoss-3 just started Pre K this year and he is the biggest kid there. I pray that he won't be a bully as he tends to be when he is at home at times. He is two years younger than Wild Thing but uses his size to get his way. Poor little Wild Thing doesn't have a chance to win a fight against him. He is very smart and extremely quick to learn new things. I will probably school him along with Wild Thing and let them learn together next year. He is either super sweet or super naughty. There is no in between with him. He is always hungry and has been busted many times under the kitchen table with some type of food he discovered left within his long reach scarfing it down. He has eaten half of a cake before!!


Sweet Cheeks-1 is gearing up for his second surgery. He will be about 18 months old when that takes place. He has a very laid back personality and is very sweet. He loves to get kisses and loves all of his siblings. Needless to say he is very spoiled and almost always gets his way. If mommy says no somebody else will do it for him :) Although he is over a year old he refuses to quit nursing which makes it difficult for me to work ten hour days. So he has reverted back to getting most of his meals throughout the night which is starting to catch up with me because I haven't gotten a good nights sleep since he was born!! HE is getting really close to walking and will be trying to keep up with his brothers soon. As for now I am just trying to enjoy the cute baby stage because it is way to fleeting.

Our family is so truly blessed. I feel so lucky to be born in the USA and to be able to have this great family with hardly ever a "real" worry. Praise God for his many blessings on me!!

That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.   Galatians 3:14 (NKJV)

Sweet Cheeks First Birthday Photo Session



My wonderful aunt shot some pictures for me for Sweet Cheeks first birthday. We got these gems in about a half hour session out in my front yard. Although none of these are touched up yet I am more than pleased!! Check her out at "Shoot Me" Photography.  Enjoy!

what's a lil boy without a baseball :)

had this lil diaper cover made on etsy sooo cute!



 

"one" just learned this :)



waving to mommy

  

this is his sock monkey that we did his party around

 

 

you can see how his forehead protrudes and the top of his head is pointed









Sweet Cheeks birthday and craniosynostosis appt

Hello all,
       I have been busier than a bee in a flower patch lately. I have been working my butt off in all areasof life: working, babysitting more, and sewing for custom orders, not to mention 1 husband, five kids, and a dog :). Needless to say I am totally exhausted. I wanted to inform of Sweet Cheeks updates:
       He turned one!!! Yay!! We threw a big outdoor sock monkey party for him at our campground because unlike the other kids I am very well aware how blessed we are to still have our little man in our lives. They all had parties too but this one was special to my heart because at one time we weren't sure what may happen and I realize that if he had been born anywhere else he may not be here right now. For his party, we made a color coordinating candy table. All the candy on it was red and browns to go with sock monkey colors (red hots, connamon disks, suckers, root beer barrels, twizzlers, etc) and I added some coke in glass bottles because they seem to fit the era and theme as well. I also made his monkey cake myself - I used a squre pan and then added a circle on top for the face and cupcakes along the sides for the ears and used the cut off top to make the cake flat for the hat and mouth. It turned out really cute! Tenderheart helped me make "Monkey Munchies" which is a cookie recipe in a quart jar to give out to guests and we put matching fabrics on the llids and tied them on with suede ties. It really ended up super cute although it was extrememly hot! He got to eat cake and ice cream and made a huge mess as every first birthday should be :) I will try to remember to attach some pics later.
       We also hit his six month post op date and so had a dr appt. Unfortunately the dr believes that we need to do a second surgery for the front of his head :(. The last one was only from his ears back and this one will be from his ears up. The measurments from right after surgery to now showed that his head has narrowed again since his last surgery and has also became more pronounced on his forehead. The best way to describe it is cro-magnon ish. We have to get the surgery in the next couple of months because if we wait til his head isn't growing as much they say he won't heal as well and the results won't be as nice. Please keep him inyour prayers!!
    Well I have a lot of other stuff going on but not time to talk now... it's off to work I go!!