Happy 7th Birthday, Jacob!

It has been a few days since his actual b-day, but I am now able to sit in a quiet home and get to post pics of my handsome seven year old. He is actually spending the week with his cousin who is also seven. I hear they are having fun and the beauty of having four kids means that when he is gone it almost feels like he is at school. Am I a bad mom for not missing him more? I am just happy he will finally talk to me on the phone when we are apart! :)

So seven years has brought great joy from my sweet, sensitve and all boy boy that I have been blessed with. He unfortunately is number one so we learn what to do with him and what not to do with him. The best and the worst for the poor guy.

I love watching the godly young man he is growing up to be. He is so independent, yet still loves to know I am near. He got a bigger bike for his birthday . . . one without training wheels and it has a kickstand. I loved watching with awe as he rode it down the street and back and was so proud of himself. I am so thankful that God allows me to be a part of his life and inspite of me he seems to be turning out okay.

Happy Birthday to my number one! It is hard to believe how quickly the time flies. Always let me "hold you" whether it be in hugs or even in my lap as long as you physically can! I love you my little buckaroo!

Happy 6 Months to Jackson!

I love my children. I am amazed how quickly they can fit so perfectly into our family, that I am not sure what we did before they were around. Jackson is sixth months old and I can't believe it was not too much more than a year ago that I knew he was on his way.

He is so easy going and laid back. I love his one dimple smile and those chubby legs that I want to squeeze all day long. He is so good at rolling around all over the floor, sleeping twelve hours a night, and a champ at eating baby food. Now if we could get a little more padding on the face so that when big sister decides she is done holding him, it won't hurt so much when his face hits the carpeted floor! No worries, it was only like a 6 inch drop but it scared him and me none the less!
Jackson has been such a joy to mother! I look forward to the many changes I will see in him in the next sixth months!

Camp Bonita Take 5!

Side Note: I have tried to post pics on three different times and it is not happening! So here is the post sans photos. Maybe it will work later! Don't you love technology! :)

I am not sure how I am so lucky to get to go to camp with the Belarusian children that come each summer or that I get to go with my church and the 300 plus kids. Oh, and my hubby and Jake get to go too! I just am always amazed at how good God is to us when we go. To put it into words seems to dimish the experience.


This year was harder for me because I left Jackson and the girls with my mom at our house for the week. He didn't like me leaving so much and after the first day, we all were doing much better. I know the girls had a great time with grandma and it was really neat watching how much Jacob has grown over the last year we went. He wants to be with his friends now instead of us! What will this mom do? It is a true joy to watch how he is growing up.


My Belarusian kiddos can steal my heart in a minute and I find each time I return from camp I miss them hanging (litterally) all over me. I miss talking in Russain (poorly) to them and I miss not knowing what is going on in each of their lives (notice a theme).


I just pray that I would not get in the way of the love that God desires to pour out on them while they are here with us. In some ways I am glad that I can't completely do this all on my own or I would get in the way so much more.




So if you are at Beltway on Sunday and you happen to see me with this huge grin on my face, know that it is truly a small glimpse of the joy that I have being a part of something so much bigger than I can even imagine. Bog harasho!

I love how this song translates . . . if I could only find it on cd!

What happens when I am left alone too long!

I just received 75 of the most beautiful pictures of my family. Patrick has been so understanding to allow me to get caught up on my family's scrapbook. While I have only gotten to June of last year it has been such a treat in so many ways I was not expecting.

I love to share the quality time looking at the photos with my kids. I also love that it is all digital and am amazed at how neat it all looks. I have found a fast way to experience the best part of scrapbooking. I never can fully understand what it means to have my past so neatly recorded. I am not talking about the way I do it, God only truly knows how many mistakes and spelling errors are on those pages.

What I mean is when I look over the pages, my memory is triggered. The funny part is it is triggered mostly after I have finished the pages or I would tell the after story of the photos. I look at each page and read for the most part how I was truly feeling at that time. This in turn causes me to look at the extenuating circumstances around those photos and how God's hand has truly been so active in my life. It is almost like I am seeing from God's perspective what I couldn't see when I was in the midst of it. I am not talking about the bad or the good, just my life in general.

It is such a good reminder that while the me in the photos (or behind the camera taking the photos) knew that God was with me, I was not sure exactly where. Now, looking back it is these treasured moments with God I get to have with Him as I ask him the "whys" and "why nots" that allow me to be comforted with something that is hard to describe. The main result of these interactions, conversations I have with the Lord give me the faith I need to trust Him even more today. I am not sure where I will be tomorrow, but I know my God is there right beside me holding my hand through the good, bad, and the everyday.

For those of you who don't have this hope, this confidence in your life that keeps your feet on solid ground when life gets hard. . . I pray that you would ask God to show you where He is right at this moment. In the stillness of the place deep down in your hear,t I know you will find that He is there right now with you,waiting for you to take His hand and walk this journey of life with Him.

I have heard a lot recently about this religion that some may say that I live. One thing that I think is safe to say is that a religion doesn't care about what happened to me, for example, on October 12th, 2009. But my God and my Savior were right there in the midst of that day holding me up and carrying me forward when I didn't have the strength to stand on my own. There are many other days I could share, but I hope that you get the point. A religion may tell me how to live in order to be good person, but my relationship with my God tells me that life is more than just being a good person. It is about experiencing all that He is in this life that He has given me.

Who knew the places scrapbooking would take me? Okay, I must confess I knew and that is what compels me to keep up . . .so all I need to ask you is how do you remember?

I am laughing to myself as I finish up this post. I am not sure who these type of posts are really meant for, I just share what is on my heart. As I finish up a post like this, I wonder if this was really meant for me more than those I want to share with. Hmmm . . . .

Okay, I had to include a page. Just so you can get the full picture and to show off my precious girls!

Girlfriends are great!

People make life fun, sometimes we all can get a little messy, but mostly fun! Sydney's friend was so cute the other day. When I was talking to my friend on the phone, her daughter wanted to get on to tell Syd she had a surprise for her. So the next time they came over, Syd got her surprise. It was a necklace made by her friend Keeli. How cute! She wears it all the time and wants to keep it in my jewelry box for safe keeping. Sydney can melt my heart with her sweetness. Isn't she just beautiful?

This is another picture of Savannah I thought would be cute to post, but I can't remember when I wanted to or why. She has on Jacob's old house shoes. She is also beautiful, the hair going every which way kind of detracts from it at this point, but who doesn't love good bed head every now and then!

Jacksons First Food!

I have waited until almost the last minute possible. It is time for my almost six month old to enjoy some of the finer things in life . . . runny cereal. I thought I might wait a few more weeks to start this next phase of our exciting times with Jackson, but my mom loves to feed babies baby food. Why does that matter you ask? Since she is being so kind to keep him and the girls for five days while we are at camp, I feel I should make her time more fun by feeding Jackson in the midst of all she will be doing. She may change her mind after the five days.

I guess after three first foods, this one is a little anti-climatic. The fun part to this first cereal was the fact that his three older siblings were eating breakfast at the same time. Jackson loved the cereal . . . or the fact the spoon got to go in his mouth. This child has been such a piece of cake. I am glad he was not my first or I would have had some serious reality checks with the tempermant of my other children!

I am also posting a few pics of my friend Jennifer's daughter, Tabitha. She is older than Jackson by two months . . though you wouldn't know by the picture! I thought it would be fun to share the one we took of them back in Feburary. My how time flies.

I also have to post this one of my sweet Syd! She is so good about getting dressed all by herself these days. She normally has a dress on of some sort. But today's outfit was just a little on the funky side. I must say that I much rather get herself dressed like this than to for her to look put together because I dressed her. I have a hard enough time getting myself dressed these days!

Out of the Mouth of Babes!

Okay. I hear so many cute things out of my children's mouths that I thought I might share some of the more entertaining ones from time to time. My first installment happened yesterday at the pool.

"I don't need to go to the bathroom anymore. It was only air" Sydney age 4 1/2
"Mommy, I want to wear something beautiful today!" Sydney age 4 1/2
"Neenee" Savannah age 2 when calling her sister Sydney
"Mommy, those people aren't breathing hard like you." Jacob age almost 7 when referring to the people on a tv who I was doing a workout with

Hope that brings a smile to your face like it did me! Be blessed!

Glad Summer is Here!

We spent our first weekend of official summer trying out our new pool. We had to join a new pool club this summer due to some glitches at our old one. It is nice because it is actually closer to our house and seems to be bigger over all and more entertaining for all my aged kids.

I was so glad Patrick made our first trip as I can be a little "OCD" when it comes to water and kids. I like to know what is going on, if the life guards will actually enforce rules, and what I have to watch out for when the non-swimmers find an unintenitonal way into the water.

Savannh took the whole two hours to decide to swim, Jacob found some friends to play with right away, and Syd was sad that she had no one to play with in the pool. The trooper award goes to Jackson who put on his cute swimsuit and got in the water without fussing at all. He just hung out in the water and watch all the action.

Jackson started doing his first fun trick. He loves to suck on his tongue. "How does he do it?", you might ask? Not a clue! But he sure looks funny when he does it!

He is doing in the picture of him and Savannah.

We had a great time at the pool at look forward to many more fun swims in the future!