The book club is meeting at my house tonight.  I’m making chicken salad on croissants.  Thankfully, it’s also Sam Bailey’s birthday today, so the big boys are going out with Sam and Mr.Stephen for some birthday fun this morning.  That will give me just the time I need to clean the house for this evening.

I attended a Welcome Tea last night at Kelli’s house.  It was for new moms entering Classical Conversations this year.  CC is our homeschool co-op that helps us give our children a classical education at home.  If you homeschool or have young children and have never been introduced to the classical model, I highly recommend you read Leigh Bortins new book The Core.  However I must warn you, you’ll have a hard time putting your kids in public school after reading it.  Excellent book.  Even if you have children in public schools, it is a great tool to help you strengthen your children’s education at home or during the summer.

I got a call yesterday afternoon from our agency.  I should get one more call this morning to let me know if we’ll be getting two new foster babies.  Only two this time.  A little girl and a little boy.  She couldn’t remember if they were 2 and 1 or 3 and 1, but either way, it seems like they would be a great fit!  It was still up in the air yesterday afternoon when I got the call, so they may not be coming.  I’ll keep you posted.

Have a great day!  Make a list of things you’d like to get done and see how many things you can cross off the list by the end of the day.  I actually made a HUGE list of deep cleaning and re-organizing tasks that I’d like to complete before school gets in full swing.  I’ll share the list with you later and let you know how the progress is going.

~audrey

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous.  By far, the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever attended.

But now to the good stuff.  🙂

Remember this post?  Or how about this picture from this post:

In both of those posts, I had gotten up to about 210lbs.

Needless to say, when I went to the Carolina Weight Management Clinic at the beginning of June, I weighed a whopping 215lbs. I was miserable. Completely, utterly, miserable. I was wearing a size 1X. Yes folks, that’s PLUS SIZE! It was very depressing and I felt completely defeated.

I hit the ground running and began to lose weight and feel better immediately. The first week I did a fast. I consumed five protein shakes and two quarts of water each day. I lost 8.9lbs the first week! By the time the wedding rolled around, seven weeks later, I was down 20lbs and two dress sizes. I now weigh 195 and wore a size 14 dress to the wedding. That is still a long way to my goal, but I’m thrilled to be comfortable in my clothes again, back into normal Misses sizes, and well on my way back into single digit sizes. Best of all, I’ve really changed my worst habits. I drink mostly water now. I get Starbucks no more than once a week, if that. We rarely eat fast food anymore; even my children. It’s going great.

I’m now doing the “modified fast” which consists of two protein supplements and one normal sized healthy meal a day along with two quarts of water.

I will keep you posted, but probably not weekly; maybe monthly.

Here are two pics from the wedding 🙂

with my sweet Momma

and a sweet picture of my dad with my boys:

~audrey

I’ve really enjoyed the last two months with Josh and the boys. It’s hard to believe it’s been two months since our last foster children left.

The boys and I have been in a pretty good routine with pool days, a little school work, keeping the house clean livable, and the normal church commitments.

When I was a child, I can remember moving my bedroom furniture around several times a year. Dresser, desk, and bed. I always did it by myself. Never asked permission. I liked little changes that felt like something new. I don’t know why our flesh longs for newness so often. Why can’t we just be content with “the same”? Ironically, I’m not fond of big change; only small.

Lately, I’ve been craving some small changes around my house. I’d really like to get in the garage and tear it to pieces. Our shelves have lost their organization, my “laundry station” is a wreck, and apparently the garage floor has recently become the place to throw things when the door bell rings and you weren’t expecting company, so you throw the big stuff into the garage and the rest goes in a closet! I’ve been wanting to paint my china hutch white and change out the old bronze hardware for elegant, crystal knobs and pulls from Hobby Lobby. I’m thinking if I buy one knob a week with my 40% off coupon, I’ll be able to finish the hutch by next summer! HAHA!

My living room is boring me as well. It’s so dark. The walls are khaki colored, my window treatments are brown, my couches are brownish, and of course my carpet is brown. Yuck! I do like brown, but the walls need to be more exciting. I don’t really have any ideas yet…partly because there will be a lot of furniture to move and seven window panels to take down before I could even get started.

I recently purchased some really great throw pillows from ROSS for $5.99/each. They are cream and brown zebra stripes and the fabric is raw silk, which makes them a little dressier than the poor, abused pillows that came with our couches.

One of the biggest issues I have with my husband our house is unfinished projects. I just need to start tackling them one at a time, starting with the smallest, which at the moment would be my bathroom.

Well, I rambled on much longer than I anticipated. The bottom line is, I would like for most things in my life right now to stay the same, but I’m ready for some little changes.

Now, it’s 2:00am. I had two glasses of sweet tea at dinner and here I am, wide awake at 2:00 in the morning. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??

My best friend from high school/college is getting married in ten hours…more on that later.

good night…or shall I say morning.

~audrey

I honestly didn’t think I’d ever have to write this post, but deep down, I always knew that our adoption of the girls was hanging by a thread…no thanks to the broken system called the Department of Family and Children Services.

Here is what went down yesterday:

We’re providing respite care for another foster family in our agency at the end of the month. That basically just means we’re babysitting their foster kids for about 24 hours. My case worker had to come by the house so I could sign a paper stating what we’ve agreed to and that we have room for their two foster children.
After I signed the paper, she said,

“I have bad news. Chatham County called and they’ve discovered that the girls have family members living in Augusta and apparently they are just as crazy and dangerous as the birth parents. They no longer feel it would be safe to move them here. I’m sorry. It’s over.”

I was kind of numb for a few minutes. After she left, I teared up and literally shed one tear. I’ve known all along that this adoption has been on sinking sand. Between the girls’ family history and the unreliable people at DFCS in Savannah, nothing was guaranteed. But still, I’ve held onto hope, decorated their room, buying a few pieces of clothing here and there (on clearance of course!), and we’ve been praying for them by name daily for months. Here are some other thoughts and emotions I’ve encountered over the last several months:

As much as I looked forward to the girls coming, I also grieved over the thought of never being pregnant again. Josh always told me we could have another baby after the girls got here, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted six children. I also grieved over my foster parenting “career” being over. Once the girls got here, we wouldn’t be able to foster anymore because our house would be full. It didn’t feel like it should be over yet. We’ve only helped six children. It’s only been a year. As the news of the girls sunk in, the Lord began to give me hope and even joy. The girls will end up exactly where God intends them.

We are now an “open” foster home again and could get another placement any day now. We can still adopt! We can continue to pray that the Lord would lead us in whatever direction he wants our family to go. Whether it be to adopt from DFCS, adopt a future foster placement, or I can get pregnant again!! It took us a year to get pregnant with Owen and nothing guarantees that the Lord intends us to have anymore biological children, but at least I feel that door has been opened again.

All I know is that I have an aching heart for children; hurting children, needy children, foster children, orphan children, and now I know that my ministry to these children can continue. God is so good. His mercies are new every morning. He is my tower of refuge and strength.
Today, I will pack up all of the girlie clothes and items that are in the foster children’s’ room and return them to their rightful rubbermaid bin. We will no longer refer to that room as “the girls’ room“. Instead, it is a wrapped gift, unsure of what it will hold next.
I’m quite excited about what the next several months will hold. God’s word says He works all things together for good to those who love Him, and in my dictionary, “all” means “every, the whole of, the greatest possible”…it means ALL THINGS!

That is exciting.

Time for a cup of coffee.

~audrey

Kind of like the ticker at the bottom of the screen on news stations that keeps going and going and has great little snipits (ooh, spell check didn’t like that word!) of information. That’s all this post is going to be…

*The boys are in swimming lessons for the next two weeks. Jesse cries everyday because he’s scared of diving in seven feet. I’ve already told him, I don’t care if he learns how to dive, but he does have to try everything else. He seems to be rather paralyzed with fear once the class starts. He’s actually an excellent swimmer and quite fearless when he’s not pressured.

*Jesse recently asked me, “Momma, is that place behind your knee called your leg pit?” That kid never stops thinking of the next thing to make us laugh…although I think he was serious with that one!

*I gave our foster agency a fair warning: If you don’t give us some more babies soon, we’re going to resort to making our own! …yes, I really did say that. However, I’m pretty close to the girls in our agency, so they took it lightly, just as I intended. 🙂

*Josh has been offered a worship leader position at another church and it has turned into one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make….still undecided.

*We’re officially through with our kids’ birthdays for this year. In the last month, Owen turned three and Jesse turned six. Good grief that is crazy!! Kristy, it really is true: One day they’re a baby, the next day they’re in kindergarten!

*God blessed Josh with a good summer bonus and we were able to pay off three debts in full! Three steps closer to DEBT FREE!!

*My dad rejoined the reserves for four years in order to get his full military retirement. As a result, he’ll be leaving for Iraq in March. That will be strange.

*I had a dream about our little girls last night. They had brown hair, brown eyes, and beautiful olive skin. They looked like twins. Lord, does all of this dreaming and nesting mean they’re coming soon?? My heart aches for them to be home where they belong.

*I haven’t swept my kitchen floor in a week. That might be a record for me. But in my defense, we’ve hardly been home long enough to do anything! We’re coming straight home after swimming today, Owen will take a nap, and I will do some serious cleaning. I’m looking forward to it already.

*I’ve been in the mood to repaint some rooms in my house. I think I’ll start in my bathroom since it’s small…I just don’t know when. 🙂

Happy Wednesday.

As strange as it sounds, sometimes I still can’t believe these are mine. God is so good. (Liza, this picture is for you! More to come 🙂

~audrey

I feel like I’ve posted stuff about my weight, and how I’m finally ready to DO something about it, one too many times. Mostly because I never really ended up doing much about it. I’d get motivated and disgusted with my weight, write a big post about how I’m starting tomorrow! I’d lose seven or eight pounds and then never post anything about it again….because I didn’t lose any more. haha.

SO, this time, I haven’t posted anything about what I’ve been doing lately with my journey to get healthy and skinny again. I don’t have time, right at this moment, to give you all of the details but I will tell you that I’m about to go weigh in this morning. This is my sixth week on the program I am doing now and today marks TWENTY POUNDS! I’ve dropped two dress sizes already and I feel amazingly better with those first twenty pounds gone. I’m still taking it ten pounds at a time and trying not to get overwhelmed with the big picture and my ultimate goal.

It’s very encouraging that people are starting to ask what I’m doing and how much have I lost so far.

It also feels great to shop again and I am excited about the dress I bought for Anna’s wedding next weekend. If I can find a good ‘before’ picture, I’ll post it with an updated picture after the wedding. 🙂 I’m not quite ready to confess how much I weighed when I finally got serious and started losing, but I’m sure I will by the time I post pictures in a week and a half or so.

~audrey

Last week we were at church waiting for Owen’s Sunday School teacher to arrive. Owen has been so sweet and funny lately; even more than the usual.

I said to Owen, “Did you know Mrs. Jenny has a baby in her belly?” (Mrs. Jenny is his teacher.)

His response, “Yeah…but Miss Amanda has a bunny!!”

Miss Amanda is one of our babysitters who has lots of animals at her house: birds, fish, dogs, cats, and a bunny…there may be some I’m missing.

It was funny to me that Owen esteemed a bunny, that he can already see and touch, much more worthy of awe than a baby growing inside his teacher’s tummy…which he can’t yet see….in fact, she’s not even showing yet. I’m sure it will get more interesting as her tummy gets bigger.

However, I fear it will inevitably bring on a multitude of embarrassing moments as he will then be asking whether or not everyone with a protruding gut has a baby growing in their belly.

🙂

~audrey

Our pastor’s message yesterday was very challenging and I feel it is something everyone deals with at some point in their lives, if not continually for some.

It is the topic of being unequally yoked. I loved the way it was explained and presented and I think you’ll agree…

“Do not be unequally yoked (bound together) with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

The word fellowship means “joint participation toward a common goal”. I’ve always thought of this verse as pertaining to marriage or dating relationships, but in reality it is addressing all relationships; even those with family. For the last several weeks, there has been a real yoke propped up against the stage at church. Yesterday, our pastor gave a great example of what non-believer relationships do to our relationship with Christ. If you and a non-Christian friend are “yoked together”, it is like your head is in the yoke facing north and the non-believer’s head is in the yoke facing south.

Above all, we are called to choose Jesus over every other relationship we have.

At this season in my life, this was not a difficult word to hear. My life is rather sheltered right now as my children are young, we homeschool with other believers, and have many commitments at church that keep us busy. However, there are still times when I have to examine my friendships and determine whether or not they are encouraging me in the direction that I need to be going.

It’s a lot to think about.

Happy Monday! 🙂

~audrey

Owen’s 3rd birthday was June 22nd and we had his party on the 19th.

I was flipping through my Family Fun magazine at the beginning of June when I saw a great idea for Toy Story themed cupcakes.  Owen LOVES Toy Story…and Woody, and Buzz, and everything about the movies.  He can watch Toy Story 1 and 2 in one sitting if we let him.   Toy Story 3 was being released in theaters on June 18th, so I decided we’d have a Toy Story themed party on Saturday, have brunch foods mid-morning, and then we could all head over to the theater (about 2 minutes from my house) and watch Toy Story 3!   Everything went exactly as planned and Owen had a wonderful party.  He even invited two of his best buddies (both named Jonathan!), which made it that much more special.  Would you believe we had 21 seats saved in the theater and all eleven or twelve kids (siblings and Bailey babies included) did great during the movie!  I was so pleased.

What are party pictures without pictures of the food?? I made Toy Story cupcakes that looked like the little green alien squeaky toys, fruit kabobs, sausage balls, and the Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls

I just had to include this picture of my dad. He LOVES kids, particularly babies. He had a blast holding Drew and entertaining Susan, who also enjoyed the attention. 🙂 He’s such a great Grandpa. I know he looks forward to more grandbabies.

Ashley braved bringing all five of her kids by herself because her hubby was busy with school stuff that weekend. The kids had a blas

Nana and Grandpa gave Owen this cute little convertible Toy Story couch.  He had slept with it in his bed every night since his party.

On another note, Owen had his three year well-child check up a few days after his birthday.  His doctor asked about his eating habits.  We’ve always known Owen is rather big for his age, but also know that some of his three and four year old friends are smaller for their age, so that makes Owen look even bigger.  I told the doctor his eating habits are great and Jesse said, “Yeah, Owen will eat anything!”  The doctor smiled and said, “Well, he’s about the size of a healthy four and a half year old!”

The doctor was asking Owen questions about shapes and colors.  He was pointing to colors in a book and asking Owen what they were.  For some reason, Owen struggles with his colors.  Sometimes he gets them 100% and tells you with confidence, other times he looks at you like he’s never seen that color before in his life.  Of course this was one of those days.  Owen kept looking up at me with big eyes, as if to say, Okay, a little help Mom! Owen could tell he was suppose to be giving some answers, so he put a big smile on, looked up at the doctor and said, “I can tell you my presidents!” The doctor laughed and looked at me expecting me to say he was kidding.  I was able to explain our classical home schooling and how the boys learn and memorize all kinds of great material because much of it is put to music, making it simple for even the preschool-age siblings.  Those are the moments that make my heart smile and confirm how much I love educating my children around the same dining room table, under the same roof.

At this rate, the youngest kids in our family should end up being the most well-educated; by default!  🙂

Happy Birthday Owen!   I can’t believe you’re THREE already!  You remain the easiest, most easy going, loving

Where is here; I do not know.

If I can just be honest, I’m in a funk.

Summer is here and is fleeting right before our eyes with little to show for it.  We haven’t had a vacation in two years.  The boys and I spent the first month of summer going to the pool every morning at 10am.

We’d come home around 12:30, have lunch, clean up, put Owen down for a nap, the big boys play games or watch movies while I do laundry, read, and get ready for dinner.  Josh comes home, we eat dinner, go to church for one thing or another, go to sleep, and get up and do the same thing again.  Every. Single. Day.

Since our foster children left on my birthday, May 25th, I’ve been waiting.  Waiting for what’s next.  Waiting for that long awaited call about our girls.  Waiting for another foster placement.  Waiting for whatever it is that God has for us next.

Last week I got tired of the mundane, so I did a week’s worth of lesson plans and told the boys we’d be starting school this week.  Not 100% of our 2010-2011 material, but I’d say we’re at about 80%.  They were actually pretty excited about it.  I think they’ve been bored as well.

Monday was a holiday so we did things differently than I had hoped because Josh was home and the boys had spent the night with my in-laws the night before.  Tuesday was like pulling teeth, only worse.  By this morning, my house was in utter disrepair, there were toys in every room of the house, school books were all over the dining room table, but had not actually been opened, and everyone’s attitudes stunk.

After spending a good hour putting tons of laundry away, I got an idea.

I went to work cleaning the house.  I spent the majority of the time in the boys’ room and the living room.  I picked up toys, sorted them, put them back in their appropriate bins and boxes, laundry in the hamper, shoes in the shoe bucket, trash where it belongs.  When I finished, I took the boys on a tour of these newly cleaned rooms and then I sat them down.  The rest went something like this (in a cool and calm voice):

I’ve had it up to here.  Your attitudes have been horrible, you’ve been ugly to one another, you’ve made messes in every room of the house and whine when it’s time to clean up.  Every day this week you’ve complained when it’s been time to do school work.  You’ve spent entirely too much time playing on the computer, playing your DSs, or watching movies.  Enough is enough.  From this moment on, there will be no TV, no movies, no video games, and no computer until I see one full week of excellence in your school work, your chores, and your attitudes.

Kind of sounds like something Mama Bear would say in a Berenstain Bears book.

Surprisingly, the boys took it quite well.  With straight faces they said Yes, ma’am, and are now playing wildly, but nicely, in their bedroom.  I can smell dinner in the crock pot and know there is yet another load of laundry waiting for me in the dryer.

Tonight is Putt-Putt family night for our church’s children’s ministry and the boys have been counting down all day.  The truth is, I’d really like to tell them we’re not going, give everyone a bath, and put them in bed at 7:00pm, but that would be really mean.  There are several key people out of the office this week so Josh is carrying the load of many men.  As a result, he’s working late whenever possible just to stay on top of things.

Tomorrow is Thursday.  I need to make bread, finish cleaning the house, and I have my annual OB/GYN appointment in the afternoon.  I fully intend to leave plenty early for that appointment so I can sit in the waiting room and read in peace.  I’m half way through Leigh Bortins new book, The Core:  Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education.  It’s been excellent.  The beginning of the book was so inspiring, I decided to write an article on The Decline of America’s Youth.  I’ll give you the link when its published.

Okay, I feel better now that I’ve gotten all of that off my chest.  Time to vacuum and feed the kids before heading out to play miniature golf in the hundred degree Georgia heat.

~audrey