This summer has been so full of adventures for this little family. Some of them I was expecting and some I wasn't. I'm to the point now that since summer is over, I'm ready for a vacation. I need some time to chill and relax and have some quiet time. It's not going to happen but that would be my wish if I saw a shooting star.

I was really pleased to get to share my life with a decent size group of women over the weekend. It was such a great time of getting into God's word and learning and also hearing other women share their lives and hear the things they have come through and how they are much like me in the fact that they decided to take control over their life and make their own decisions but then paid for them in terrible ways but now God has restored their life and their sanity and they can stand in front of others and share how God has made them whole again. It's so cool to see someone that was broken into pieces and they don't mind to share their garbage with others in hopes of helping them or giving them a hope for their future. God is cool like that. It was such a humbling experience to open that part of my heart up and let things out and have other women come up to me afterwards and tell me how much they needed to hear what I had to say. What an encouragement! Nothing happened in vain and that's what I have to hold on to.
I look forward to being able to share it all again soon. Maybe I'll even be able to share more, depending on the group that will be listening. He will tell me what to say and what to hold back. I trust that completely.
the worship team I was able to put together did an AMAZING job. Those girls rock! I look so forward to doing it again!

What a busy couple of weeks!
Getting two kids ready for school.
Plan a birthday party for those two awesome kids!!
Getting myself ready for school.
Getting the finishing touches done on the worship sets for the women's retreat.
Finalizing the written version of my story to share at the retreat.
Waiting to hear from the cardiologist about how they are going to fix Nate's heart...(wait wait wait)

There seems to be a lot on my plate. It's good though. It's good.

I can't believe I am school shopping for two kids this year. Time sure is passing quickly. I'm exciting for Makenna to start kindergarten though. She's going to do great!
I'm always a little nervous for Isaiah. Maybe because he's a momma's boy. He's going to do great in first grade!

I believe I have decided what I want to do with my life. I'm not really sure how I came across this position in the field I'm looking at going into but I really like what it looks like. The only bummer is that there are only 10 schools in the country that have this program. Luckily one of those is in the state of North Carolina but we would still have to move. Once I talk to advisers and such, I'll post more about it. I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. There's a LOT to do before I commit.

These make me extremely happy!

I've wanted a drum set for years and years. 

I was finally able to break down a buy a set. 

These will come in very handy for the times I need to play that are coming up soon.

They have some personality to them, which makes them awesome. And they sound freaking amazing!

I'm pretty overwhelmed by the events of this weekend. It took a turn that none of us expected.

The inflatables after bible school commencement put Makenna in the ER for the rest of the night. She landed wrong on her elbow which dislocated her radius and broke her ulna. We got to the ER by 8:30pm and left at 3:00am, getting us in bed by 4:00am. They put her in a temporary hard splint and told us to follow up with a pediatric orthopedic doctor on Monday and we were okay with that because of the good splint she had. Well...the doctor she would see Monday actually called me on Saturday morning and said she looked at the x-ray and the ER missed the dislocation and she needed to go in Sunday morning to have surgery to relocate it. What?!?!

So we didn't sleep Friday night. We got to rest some Saturday. Got in bed just after midnight at had to be in pre-op at 6:45. All this with a newborn attached to my side. It's hard to leave him anywhere when I'm nursing him. He isn't a hassle at all. He just takes extra care that only I can give him. I've been able to rest some but I'm still tired.

Makenna made it through her surgery and did SO good! She's such a brave little girl. They were able to fix the dislocation without cutting her and we are so thankful for that. If it didn't work the way it did, they would have had to go in and hold it in place with screws and pins which also meant that they would have to go in at another time and take them back out. I'm glad it didn't result in that and was very simple. She now has a beautiful rainbow cast from her fingers to her arm pit that she will have through her 5th birthday party and start kindergarten with.

Isaiah is in need of extra attention because he hasn't been with us much over the past 2 days. He loves his sister and has been worried about her. It's probably drained him a little bit emotionally and he has been acting out a little bit at home because of it.

I was prepared for the extra attention required of me for a newborn. I was not prepared for the extra attention of a newborn, a daughter requiring surgery and lots of extra care at home, and a son that wants extra attention because of lacking attention due to the extra care given to the other two. That's a mouthful.

I guess I've tried to be too strong this weekend. I want to meet everyones needs and be sure my family is taken care of. Nate has done a wonderful job tending to Makenna while I tend to the baby but I don't want him overwhelmed so I've been trying to let him rest also. I can't pick Makenna up off the couch. She's only 38 pounds. This time 3 years ago I was able to complete the Firefighter Combat Challenge in 5 minutes which made me carry a 185 pound dummy backwards about 100 yards and that was at the END of it. I consider that my biggest physical achievement but after hurting my neck, I can't lift my 38 pound daughter off the couch without hurting.

I need to keep myself healthy. Physically and emotionally. I'm fading a little. I just need to sleep and rest and be really careful about what I lift for the next few days. I go back to my pain management doctor is 2 days to follow up on the last set of injections I had. I'm sure there will be more in my near future. This next set will be around my hair line and that will be the worst of all of them. It's such a weird feeling. And, of course, it hurts.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed, only to get up very soon to feed a hungry baby. But he's worth it <3



Did I mention I want to go to an all you can eat buffet right now? I'm so hungry!