We had a garden last year.

It was not very successful.

Lots of plants. Lots of bugs. Not a lot of harvest.

This year we planned and prepared, moved to a different location (side of the house) with better soil and less bugs (and kids), tilled the ground, brought in good soil, and are praying for success!

We have three 4’x22′ rows with about 16 or 17 different things planted, from fruits and veggies to herbs and flowers. I look forward to taking more pictures as things sprout and begin to grow. Here is what we have so far:

My dad came over with a truck load of top soil. Thanks Daddy!

All of the kids helped spread the soil around to all of the beds.

This is Miss Rosemary. She was the only one left at the garden center. No one wanted her because the rest of her branches were damaged and broken. But I knew she’d survive with a little TLC. 🙂

I love lavender. I’ve never thought about lavender for anything but fragrance until Master’s week when the chef I was working with made lavender chicken. It was delicious!

Unfortunately, by the end of the day this strawberry was gone, thanks to a hungry little bird. I’m going to have to put up some netting over my strawberries.

I’ve heard horror stories about how difficult it can be to grow tomatoes, so I’ve never tried…until now. I’m not scared. 🙂 Afterall, I’m the only person in my entire house that will even eat them!

And this little cutie is the first sign of success. This little sprout is the first of over one hundred seeds that were planted to spring forth out of the ground. Hopefully by next week, we’ll have hundreds of these little sprouts!

Week One pic from our 2010 garden. 🙂

~audrey

I’ve been determined to do better with my dinner preparations. My biggest problem is waiting too late to get dinner started and then the kids are starving, aggravated, and all up in my space while I try to cook.

Yesterday afternoon, the kids played outside for hours. They were practicing a “concert” that they were going to perform for Josh, me and our neighbors. They had small tree limbs for drum sticks, empty plastic flower pots for the drums, a Hannah Montana microphone that did it’s own singing, and of course, Owen rocked out on the air guitar! It was precious.

But before the concert could happen, the kids had to eat dinner. I started cooking around 4:30. I set the table with my spring place mats and my favorite paisley cloth napkins. There was a sweet little potted plant in the center of the table and I even set the silver wear and drinks at everyone’s seat. When the kids came in to eat, they gasped! With big smiles on their faces, one by one they asked, “Can you set the table like this every day!?” I was over-joyed that they loved it as much as me. It was so relaxing to cook dinner, set the table, and wash every single pot and pan in a calm, quiet house before Josh even got home from work. To end a perfectly lovely night, our neighbors brought ice cream cones (Drumsticks with the chocolate and nuts on top) for the kids. It was a great reward/thanks for their excellent behavior, and of course their sweet performance in which they did their own little renditions of Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the Revelation Song. Joshua ended the concert with a prayer. It was absolutely precious, and I don’t think our neighbors know the Lord, so that made it so much more special.

Today we have more cleaning to do, friends are coming over with their slip-and-slide, and we have church tonight.

This spring weather has made me feel like I’m on happy pills. I’m loving it.

~audrey

1. I’ve lost five pounds!

2. I’m amazed at how much better I feel when I have a pedicure and my legs are shaved.

3. My two year old pooped on the potty three times yesterday, so I told him how proud I was of him. His response: “Fanks Mommy! Can I have a fousand dollars?”

~audrey

It’s funny to me, how my desire for another baby comes and goes. The yearning never really goes away, but the urge to take matters into my own hands is what I struggle with. We should find out in the next two or three weeks whether or not we’ll be getting “our girls”. If the answer is no, which I have a feeling it will be, I am more than ready to get pregnant again.

The time has come.

I would like another baby…please, Lord?

As I sit here waiting for my big pot of Monday morning coffee to brew, I think about all the joys of pregnancy, newborns, breastfeeding, that ‘new baby smell’…it’s all DIVINE! I cherished every moment of my pregnancy with Owen because it took us over a year to get pregnant with him, but I never for a minute thought it would be my last. With the thought of a fourth baby, I know it could possibly be my last and I look forward to it even more.

I just received news yesterday that a dear friend just found out she’s pregnant with number six (NO, it is NOT Ashley!!). Well actually, her name is Ashley, but it’s not Ashely B….just to clear that up! hahaha!

Yes, I still need to lose weight…desperately. And no, I don’t really want to be pregnant or sick for Anna’s wedding in July. But I do want another baby; soon, preferably.

All in God’s timing.

Happy Monday! It’s Spring Cleaning for me all week long!

Jesse has 35 days of school left! 35 days until I can throw my alarm clock away and fully enter the world of home schooling with all three of my children. 35 days until we begin another fun-filled, relaxing summer with days by the pool, trips to my mom and dad’s, and lots of play dates with friends that we don’t get to see nearly enough during the school year.

Summer, we’ll see you soon!!

~audrey

This has not been my idea of a good Spring Break.

Every year, for the past six years, I have worked for a catering company during Spring Break/Master’s Week.  For those of you not from Augusta, it is Master’s Week.  The Master’s is the largest professional golf tournament in the world, as far as I know.   Golf patrons from all over the globe flock to Augusta, Ga for the tournament every year.  There isn’t a hotel room to be had.  Augusta natives rent their houses out for anywhere from $3,000 to upwards of $40,000 for the week, depending on where your house is located and how many people it can accommodate.  I cleaned a house during Master’s week last year that rented for $30,000 for the week.  INSANE!

Anyways, I work for a caterer in the evenings and my nights are usually over by 10:00pm.  It’s great.  There is definitely big money to be had if you live in Augusta and stay in town for Master’s week.

My first night at “work” was set to be Tuesday.  This is what I woke up to Tuesday morning:

I had what the doctor thought was pink eye.  He called in some eye drops to the pharmacy and I used them like crazy Monday evening/night.  I knew my eyes felt like they were getting worse, but I thought it was just a combination of allergies and pink eye.  But when I woke up Tuesday morning to puss and swelling, I knew something was not right.  I immediately got the paper that came with my eye drops.  Of course, it said “If you experience burning, pain, or swelling, discontinue use and see your doctor immediately.”  Great, here we go again.

I called Ashley at 6:45am and she agreed to come watch the kids while I head to the early clinic at my doctor’s office.

Sure enough, he confirmed that I was indeed allergic to the drops and ended up having to prescribe me steroid eye drops to bring my eyes back to normal.

Did I mention I’m home alone with six wild and crazy children all week as well??  Have you ever seen the movie Flicka?  If you haven’t, you must see it.  It’s a great family movie.  In it, the young girl talks about watching her horses being let out into the pasture for the first time at the beginning of spring.  They take off into the fields with reckless abandon; not a care in the world, just the excitement at what lies ahead.

That perfectly describes the children in my house this week.  They have spent up to seven or eight hours outside each day.  Not a care in the world…with the only exception being “when do we eat next”.  Needless to say, they sure have been sleeping well.  It makes me look forward to the summer in a cautious, nervous sort of way.  If indeed these foster children are still with us during the summer, I have a lot of careful planning to do.

Light, summer school work, trips to the pool, picnics at the park, visits to the library, weekly crafts or activities to keep things exciting.  I’m going to have to plan, plan, plan, like my life depends on it….because my life does depend on it!  My sanity depends on it!

We finally received a good rain last night, so I’m hoping now that the pollen has been washed away, my allergies will finally calm down and I can enjoy the spring weather before the temps shoot up into the 90’s.

I must go now so I can get the kids ready for a play date at the park.

Happy Friday!!

~audrey

I’ve decided to try and do Sister’s hair myself.  I couldn’t find a single appointment to get her hair done before Easter and I want her to feel beautiful, so I’m doing it myself.  This could either be brave or completely crazy.

The funny thing will be the expression on her family’s face at visitation Monday when they find out I did it myself.  Knowing them, they’ll love her hair, but when they find out I did, they’ll find something to complain about.

I’ll take some before and after pictures to post later.  I can blur her face for privacy.  🙂

~audrey

This seems to be the pattern in my life right now…  UNFORESEEN Hitches.

I suppose I ought to start FORESEEING, or looking for, the hitches.  It might make my life a little easier.

I called the children’s DFCS caseworker on Thursday morning around 10:30am to confirm that they would be picked up from my house around 3:00pm.  To my shock, the caseworker had not even heard from the relative that was suppose to be taking them.  I’m told they will try again next week, but my gut tells me this “family member situation” may fall through altogether.  It’s so sad to see generations of family members messed up and dysfunctional.   Please know that I am not talking about the usual ‘dysfunctional family’ stuff.  I’m talking about major issues (typically illegal issues), that once they’ve seen their parents do it and their grandparents do it, they see it as the norm and go on to repeat the same mistakes and suffer the same consequences.  It’s so incredibly sad.

The silver lining is that the children are still with us and are just as happy and healthy as ever.  I will continue to pray that they will move in God’s timing and not a moment sooner.

I suppose there’s a chance they will end up going to their family next week, but I’m certainly not banking on it!

~audrey

Just when I thought I was getting good at expecting the unexpected, I’m thrown another curve ball.

I got a call this afternoon from the children’s case worker with DFCS. Barring any unforeseen hitches, the children will be going to a relative tomorrow afternoon!

I have a ton of laundry to do and I need to make sure all of their things go with them, preferably clean.

I feel like I kind of lost my last shred of hope in regards to our girls after hearing about my supervisor’s conversation with their case worker and this relative that is still holding out hope. As a result, I told my boss to go ahead and consider us “open” for another placement when these kids go home. However, she stopped me mid-sentence and said she has not given up hope and still thinks they will be coming next month. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I’m so tired of the ups and downs.

I didn’t expect to feel this sad that these kids are leaving. I will miss them terribly. Each one is so different. I feel like I’ve given Sister a new confidence and identity in who the Lord created her to be and where she is to place her worth. Little Bear is so sweet as he follows me around babbling, “Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma,” with his big brown eyes staring deep into mine.  He hugs me so tightly, as if he knows I’m not going anywhere and he’s safe with me.  And sweet Baby Bear; his soft curls and contagious smile.  I’ll miss those slobbery kisses every morning as I open the door to his room to see him standing up in his crib with a big gummy grin on his face.  I will miss these kids.

The craziest part is, we could potentially start all over again in a few weeks.  Whether it be with our girls or other new foster children, it’s never easy and it’s never comfortable in the beginning.  It’s so stressful.  The sleepless nights, discipline issues, meeting the new birth parents, getting into a routine.  It’s exhausting for the first two weeks or so.

But, we’ve done it twice already, so I suppose we can do it again.

This is totally random, but Owen was in my bed this afternoon because he said that was where he wanted to take his nap.  I came into the hallway to check on him and I smelled poop.  (**uh-oh**)

Sure enough, he had pooped, taken it out of his underwear himself, smeared a little on my bed in the process, flushed it, and washed his hands.

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THAT KID?!

~audrey

The good news is, everything went excellently in court yesterday. Many truths came out and everyone involved is surely looking out for the best interest of the children. I believe mom got a bitter taste of reality and was finally put in her place. They will be going to a relative soon if everything goes as planned.

The bad news, or potentially bad news, is that my boss spoke to the case worker for our girls and found out that the relative who wanted to take them and was denied has moved to a different home and asked for a new home evaluation. If that home evaluation is approved everything will be over and the girls will go to that relative. Ultimately, I know that would likely be the best scenario for the girls; to remain with family. But my heart aches at the thought of them never joining our family. We should know within 30 days how things will end up.

We’re trying to be realistic. We don’t want to sit here with our house open (no foster children), waiting for two little girls that will never end up coming. However, we also don’t want to jump into another placement when these children leave, only to find out that our girls are on their way and now we don’t have room for them! Why does it have to be so complicated? I’m still clinging to hope that these girls are meant to be ours and we will hear good news in the end. But either way, I know that God’s plans are to prosper us and not to harm us and we will have peace with whatever the outcome.

Time to get in the shower and pack for our picnic in the park with Jesse’s class. 🙂 They have a field trip to an assisted living facility and then a picnic in the park. It’s suppose to be our first 80 degree day today! Yay!!

~audrey

Please pray this morning as our foster children’s case goes back to court.  I’m pretty sure there is no chance the children will be returned to their parents yet, but I’m praying that some negative things that have been going on will come into the light.

“MOM” is very deceptive and manipulative and it is hurting ‘sister’ terribly.  She is thriving here and we love her very much.  I know she will eventually go home, but I pray that she will be going home to a Mom that has grown up because of the circumstances and is ready to really be her Mom and love her the way she deserves to be loved.

Also, please continue to pray for God’s timing in the arrival of our little girls.  There are currently no open foster homes for our current foster children, so I don’t know what would happen if we were to get a phone call that our girls are ready to come today.  It doesn’t make me nervous.  If God has brought us this far, He will be faithful to complete this awesome miracle for our family and our daughters.

Please pray.

~audrey