Egg in it!

My brother's family came and spent the night with us this past Friday. He brought doughnuts for all the kids for breakfast. The next morning we were getting ready for church, so I told the kids to go eat the last 3 doughnuts for breakfast. The last 3 were filled donuts. Matt and I were upstairs getting ready when Carly came running up to tell us some urgent news. "There is EGG in my doughnut!!" "Egg?" we question. Oh, this girl was totally convinced there was egg in her doughnut. Then I realized it was the filling. I proceeded to tell her that it was kind of like pudding, but there was no telling this girl otherwise. There was egg in her doughnut! So, she went back downstairs, ate all around the center, and then got ready for church. I am guessing I will never buy her a filled doughnut - because these crazy doughnut makers stuff them with egg!!!!

Meet Haoua

This is Haoua. She lives in Burkino Faso. She is part of our family. How? Through Compassion International we have been sponsoring Haoua since March. You see, we had an Aquatic Center Membership. We used the membership all summer and then didn't really go during the winter. I decided to cancel that pool membership. At the time several people from our church were going on the annual mission trip to Burkino Faso. Right after that I read the book Crazy Love. Through all that God showed me that instead of holding onto that monthly membership money, I was to use it to change someone's life forever! And I think it has changed us even more! I told the kids and Matt all about Compassion International and what they do. And I explained how we could help a child who lives in a home with a dirt floor and no running water. Everyone was on board! We decided to sponsor a child from Burkino Faso since that was so close in the kids minds and they had seen pictures of church members there helping those in need. Then the girls automatically said it had to be a girl and she had to be 5 1/2 like them. So we started looking at the sponsor children listed. Then we picked a number - 29. The child's birthday had to be on the 29th like Harper and Finley. And we were sponsoring the child right when Channing was born. I found a couple candidates, and read their profiles. As soon as Chloe heard the words, "visually impaired" she immediately said, "THAT ONE!!" She knew that Haoua needed medical attention. She knew that Haoua needed a family to love on her and her family. So that is how we chose Haoua. Well, shortly after Channing was born, we got a letter from Haoua. It was neat to see a picture she drew and to hear from her. Come to find out, she is one of 5 kids!! She is the 4th in the line up - Girl, Girl, Boy, Girl, and Boy. Isn't that neat?! It has been such a blessing to know that we are helping her. Please pray for Haoua and her family. I also have the opportunity to help out during VBS at church and I was so excited about Haoua, that we decided to sponsor 2 children with the change the kids brought every night. Their names are Simon (from Burkino Faso) and Maydarlene (from Haiti). We just started getting things from them too, so we will be working with the kids during Awanas this year corresponding to them. Please pray for these children as well. If you have a chance, check out Compassion's website and look into changing someone's life!

www.compassion.com

My little Pinocchio

I took Channing for her 4 month check up and the Dr. said that her fat creases were not symmetrical. She wanted her to have an ultra sound to see if she had hip displasia. So last week, I took my sweet smiling baby for an ultra sound and then they wanted to x-ray her. And lo and behold, she has mild hip displasia! So off to the Orthopedic Dr. we went today. I was a little surprised at her apparatus. She looks like she has on lederhosen. Matt said she looks like a puppet. So she is our little pinocchio! The point of this thing is to keep her hips turned out so they will grow the right way. Luckily for us, the mall was right across the street, so we went and found some cute onesies so it doesn't rub on her skin and irritate her. She has to only wear it for 6 weeks, but we have to keep going back to the Dr. to get the straps adjusted. She doesn't seem to mind it at all. I even put her down for her nap and she didn't care. Now, she probably won't be able to roll and she just showed me last night for the first time that she could roll from her back to her belly (I guess now I don't have to run out and get that baby gate yet!) My sweet Channing is such a trooper! I love her so much! She just now has "strings to hold me down" :)

Warning

Warning - due to the craziness of our lives.......the next several posts are not in chronological order! In fact, they are all jumbled around, pretty much like my brain lately. But I think you will be able to figure them out! We are starting to get several projects done around the house and are feeling much more settled, so I will have to start posting some pics of all our work in progress! I hope to start getting better at blogging, but busy is an understatement for this family!

10 YEARS!!!

10 years ago, on July 7th, we got married!! I cannot believe it has been 10 years! I must say that I am quite please with my choice of partners! So to celebrate the joyous occasion, we went Jet skiing!! I found a groupon for this several months ago, so I wanted to surprise Matt with an adventure. He always comments how he has never ridden a jet ski. He was quite funny driving it. And I can't believe how SLOW he was! We cruised about 15-20 mph all around the shore looking at all the nice houses on Lake Norman. A couple of times he got up to around 40, but he liked cruising, which I did too so we could just talked and looked around. But he would go fast and then completely let off the gas! So then we would go flying forward. I finally gave in and said I would drive. (I didn't want to because he made it look hard). Boy oh boy, did I take him for a ride!! I liked going fast!!! Therefore, he had to pry me from the driver seat. I am usually the cautious one, but on a jet ski, Matt takes that title. It was lots of fun, and spending time with just him and not having to take care of anyone else was nice (well I did have to take care of Matt, but I know that I will always have to take care of him :)

It was a very relaxing day. And we also got to go out to eat and a fast trip to IKEA. I love spending time with my best friend. He sure has made the last 10 years (well 13 years we have been dating) VERY INTERESTING!!!! And I guess we have a lot to show for 10 years of being happily married....... 5 kids :) So here is to the next 10 years of getting closer and closer to my sweet hubby! I love you Matt!

Potty Training #4

And here we go again! Another child in underwear! We always start off with a pack of panties all wrapped up and the excitement begins as we lock ourselves in the house for a few days. Finley LOVES being a big girl like Carly and Chloe. So she was more than happy to put those panties on and get to work staying dry. Now she isn't quite at the point where she will tell you every time that she has to go, but at least she can stay dry and I take her every hour. So I must say, I am quite proud of you Fifi. You did a great job sweetie!

She really liked the ones with doggies on them ;)

Channing's Dedication

On Father's Day, June 19th, Channing was dedicated. She was actually dedicated with Bella too, one of Finley's favorite babies in the nursery! I love that our babies all have been raised in church and hopefully that will make good decisions and come to know the Lord when they are ready to make a change in their lives. I know that they are all loved by everyone there and that they are seeing the love of Jesus through them. We pray that we can guide them and direct them through life and give them the tools they need to make good decisions as they get older.

After the big dedication, Channing was just worn out and Sydney was more than happy to hold her! Sydney absolutely loves baby Channing and will do anything to get her hands on her!