When I'm Not Doing Laundry...

Spring

2010-03-19T23:52:00.003-05:00

I love spring. I actually hate winter...not winter really, just the cold that comes with it. I don't like to be cold. I would spend every minute of everyday on my couch huddled under a blanket cat napping from November until March if I could. When the weather gets cold, I want to hibernate. I think I might be part bear.

My kids were out of school this week for Spring Break. It was the coldest, grayest spring break I can remember. Then today...temperatures almost reached 70 and an awakening happened. I took 3 to the park, made a quick run to Target, and came home to continue readying our house to go on the market. Yes, we are moving. Again.

We have been going through our own personal winter for the past 15 months. My husband's business decided to close its doors, and left him freelancing in a very difficult economy. Somehow, our lights have stayed on and bellies full. I really don't know how, but for the grace of God. And I mean that. The grace of God. He has shown up in ways that I can not fathom. Food from our neighbor at just the right times. Gift cards in the mailbox from anonymous donors. A friend taking up donations from his friends so our kids would have Christmas. Amazing. God has provided for us abundantly and the kindness and generosity of His people have been humbling.

I have learned that the world will continue turning on its axis and the sun will come up if my bills are late. (My phone may ring off the hook, but that's another story.) I have also learned that a gift card to Publix, or Target, or Wal-mart can mean a whole lot to someone...so can an economy pack of macaroni and cheese. And I have been reminded that despite my circumstances, God is in control and He will never change. I want to be in control. I like to be in control. I was stripped of this and forced to depend on God's provision and goodness. And He showed up when I needed it most. Now its time for me to trust again.

God has provided a job for Billy in Nashville. I moved back to Birmingham kicking and screaming 20 months ago. I didn't want to be here. Over the past 20 months we have been loved well by everyone here. We have become a part of a community. We are active in church. We love our kid's schools. We are close to my family. We have good friends. Despite what my header on this blog says, I want to stay here. (to be continued)

One Word Wednesday

2009-09-02T21:08:00.004-05:00

This blog friend came up with one word descriptions for her 5 children. She then asked her readers to share theirs...

Anna Beth - Dramatic

Ben - Merciful

Merrie Cannon - Joy

Abe - Passionate

Quinn - Happy

Want to play?

2009-08-20T22:20:00.004-05:00

I had to take Ben to find some new shorts at the mall tonight. It seems that his collection of appropriate school attire was not as complete at I thought. Here's what I learned.

1) You can not walk leisurely through the mall without being attacked by someone working a kiosk who wants to curl your hair, apply some magic product to your face, or pluck your eyebrows with a string.

2) As impossible as it is to avoid the sales associates in the kiosks, it is equally impossible to find one in a store where you actually want to buy something.

3) The selection of shorts in stores in August is minimal.

As we were heading up the escalator, Ben gets this frightened look on his face, grabs my hand, and tries to stear me to the opposite side of the mall. He was seriously trying to avoid something.

Totally expecting some crazy kiosk person coming toward us with a product we MUST try, I look to my left to see the Auburn store. Ben was ready to get as far away from it as possible. Hmmm, I wonder why he acts this way? I might have made all my kids hold their nose on the way to the beach as we drove through Auburn once. Why? Because Auburn stinks.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Mother of the Year

2009-08-18T23:50:00.000-05:00

Another summer is over, and we've started school. I sent my second born off to Kindergarten this year. I really don't know where the last 5, almost 6, years has gone.

Ben and Mrs. Miles

Anna Beth and Mrs. Morelli

The first day of school!

Last year, we moved int0 our house and started school about 10 days later. It was a nightmare. My kitchen wasn't unpacked, due to the roaches that were threatening a takeover. Billy was working here and in Nashville. I was trying to make 2400 square foot of stuff fit into 1400, I mean 1397 square feet. And the move was....TEMPORARY. Boxes that we could do without, or stuff that didn't fit was left unpacked because we were surely going to be back in Tennessee in about 9 months.

All that to say I started out the year unsettled, and it set the tone. I was that mom. The one who forgets to sign the daily homework agenda. The one who doesn't send in permission slips or field trip money until I got the nice little e-mail reminder from the teacher the day before said trip. (It's not that I didn't look at the stuff, it would either get buried in the pile of stuff on the counter, or I would just forget.) I don't even think I ever sent in party money - I'm sure I got talked about for that one!

This year is going to be different. I am stopping everything at 3 to sign, fill out, take care of whatever needs to be done for the kids for school the next day. Snacks are packed and lunch menus set the night before. I am getting up earlier to avoid morning mahem. So far so good. Setting the tone for success.

Ben came home today and said something about his "I am" project. The project that is due September 18 - or might have been due today (August 18). First assignment of "big school" and its late. Lovely.
Mother of the Year. That's me.

5 Things about being a mom of 5

2009-07-03T00:14:00.005-05:00

1. Showering every day is optional.
2. Everyone stares and no one makes these comments anymore.
3. A double stroller is a must and keeping the 2 year old strapped in is most important.
4. Cutting my hair short was a bad idea. (Ponytails are not an option - refer to #1)
5. Love does multiply with every new addition, regardless of how they come to you.

Sweet Baby Boy

2009-07-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

Since Quinn is still officially a foster child, I can't legally post any pictures of him. I found a few that "hid" his face to share.

This was the first time I held him at the courthouse in Seneca County.

Playing with Abe.

The first week he was home, he wouldn't venture far from Billy or I. We would leave the room for a few minutes and return. We knew he felt at home when we left for about 1 minute and he had ventured into the bathroom. Needless to say, the door now stays closed!

Bubbles!

He is such a joy and we are so lucky to have him! After a very clingy first week, he now enjoys being a part of this crazy family. We are soooo in love!

Sons are an heritage from the Lord, children a blessing from Him.
Psalm 127:3

Quiet

2009-06-30T00:02:00.000-05:00

Very rarely are things quiet around here. This afternoon, Ben and Merrie Cannon went into his room and I was so pleased that they were playing so well together and not arguing. I didn't check in, because sometimes that can interrupt the peace. I should have.

Ben came out fully clothed in battle gear - complete with knee pads. (I didn't get my camera quickly enough to get pictures.) I asked him what they were doing.....

SKY DIVING

God Winks

2009-06-08T23:51:00.004-05:00

God winks. You know, moments when He affirms that He is here, watching over us.

Throughout the past 9 months, I have noticed them more and more. Perhaps He realizes that in this season I need them more, or maybe I am seeking Him more and recognizing them as Him more than before when I would have passed them off as happenstance.

Throughout the process of getting Quinn, I have felt strongly that this was our call. He ordained us to parent this child well before the foundations of the earth. I have questioned many times in recent months whether or not we should proceed - because of Billy's shaky employment. Each time I feel Him quietly reminding me to trust Him.

We do not have any extra income right now. Every penny we have- and then some- is spoken for. The financial implications of travel to Ohio had not even been thought about. I have focused most of my prayers on Quinn's transition into the family. After all, we have a credit card to absorb the expenses - ie hotel, food while traveling, gas. We had not specifically prayed at all for financial assistance, just figured it would all work out - and God winked. We received a total of $580 and $40 in gas cards from various people, and used some of my dad's points for part of our hotel. Family sent some, my sister-in-laws bible study group sent some, and we got an anonymous letter from someone in my sister-in law's church with some. We didn't even ask, and God winked. He sent us enough money to cover our trip - almost to the penny.

Revelation Song happens to be Billy's favorite song right now. He has never been a fan of Christian radio, but I think he keeps my radio in the kitchen tuned to WDJC just so he won't miss it if it comes on. When we sing this song in church, it moves him to his feet and has almost prompted him to raise his hands (it should be noted that we are not hand raisers) in worship of the mighty God we serve.

On the very short trip to the courthouse on Friday, we had the radio tuned to a Christian station. One of about 3 stations you can get in the big metropolis of Tiffin and even it wasn't coming in well. Guess what? Revelation Song came on. He looked at me and said "Are you kidding me." We both got chills. God winked.

More updates on the transition to come. Our internet isn't working well, so I haven't turned on my computer and Billy has been hogging his tonight. We are well and falling more in love everyday.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
1 Peter 5:6

Day 2

2009-06-06T21:21:00.002-05:00

Quinn was such a joy to behold today. When we got to his foster parents house, he was genuinely happy to see us. He laughed at Billy and crawled over to me to pick him up.

Yesterday, he wouldn't even let Billy hold him. He thought Billy was cool - as long as he was in my arms. He preferred Billy today, which was a relief for me. I was a little worried that when we got home, he would be so attached to me that I would be solely responsible for his happiness.

We spent the morning walking around Tiffin, got lunch and tried the hotel again. He freaked upon entering, but calmed down once we got into our room - and turned on Noggin. We played for a while and then he curled up in my arms and fell asleep. Precious. He woke up after an hour and laid down on Billy and fell asleep again.

After his nap we went to the park and then met his foster parents and extended foster family for pizza. His foster moms took him back home for his last night with them.

We are so blessed to have been able to spend time with this amazing couple - and their family. They are truly a testament to unconditional love. They knew when they received Quinn that he would be leaving with us, yet they have loved him and cared for him better than we could have ever wanted. They are having a hard time letting go, so if you would say a little prayer that God would heal their broken hearts and prepare them for their next placement.

We will leave to come home tomorrow with the happiest baby on earth!

Where do babies come from?

2009-06-06T13:40:00.003-05:00

Ohio of course!

We are here and have been for 2 days. I had all intentions of updates, but this is exhausting (and I can't post pictures because if forgot the USB cord for the camera.)

The drive up was fairly easy and uneventful, but was LONG. We were a wee bit nervous when we pulled into the city limits and the first thing we saw was a club with exotic dancers - yikes!

Turns out, Tiffin is an amazing city. Imagine Homewood, AL or Franklin, TN on steroids. It is a rural town out in the middle of nowhere, so the demographic is much different than those places. Most of the awesome storefronts are empty. I keep looking for cute boutiquey stores and and neat local restaurants that would abound in the South in a place like this. Most of the homes appear to have been built in the late 1800s to early 1900s and by size of them, this used to be one of the places to live in Ohio. Unlike Homewood who boasts many small shotgun type houses, these are huge even by today's standards.

Since we arrived into town around midnight on Thursday, we came to the hotel and tried to sleep. I think we actually got around 4 hours in and then were up and ready to meet the social worker in the lobby to go to court.

In our last conversation with the powers that be in Ohio, we understood that we would be receiving legal custody of him yesterday. They changed things up and decided that initially we would be considered foster parents and would get legal custody sometime in the next 6 months - more than likely this will occur in September at the next court date.

We arrived at the courthouse and were excited to meet all the people who have worked so hard to take care of Quinn and facilitate his move to Alabama. His social worker, foster parents, CASA worker, lawyers, Guardian Ad Litem for his birth mother were all there. It was so overwhelming to finally hug all these very special people.

Court went fine, it was mostly just routine. Billy "took the stand" and I had to sit outside and it was done. We were officially given "foster parent" status of Quinn!

While we were filling out paperwork, his foster parents went, picked him up and brought him to us. It really wasn't pretty. His mom's were crying, he was confused and reaching for them, I was trying to be sensitive to him and them while wanting to squeeze him and make him love me. Billy and I left with him to begin the bonding process.

We thought we would bring him to our hotel room and spend time with him here. Upon entering the hotel, he freaked out. Much of our first day was spent in the car so he could nap and such. We returned him to his foster parents around 5 and enjoyed the evening together trying to process this big day.

Who gets the Worm?

2009-05-25T23:45:00.004-05:00

We have a bird living in our garage. My kids noticed the nest in a box and when I checked the nest, it had 4 cream eggs with brown specks on them. I thought the bird had probably flown the coop, so to speak, and decided that abandoning her unborn babies was probably better than dealing with 4 children peering in on her, all the while thinking how she could have been so "lucky" as to pick our garage out of all the other places in Birmingham to raise her family.

I told AB that she had probably abandoned the nest and AB immediately wanted to incubate the eggs in a blanket. I told her that wouldn't work and we would wait and see. Well, the bird came back. We were leaving our garage door open during most of the day and closing it at night.

I had almost forgotten about this incident and how fond birds are of our homes. A few days ago, Billy was getting AB ready for school and opened the door to go get something out of the garage fridge. Apparently mama was itching to be the early bird and we had overslept. She flew right into our laundry room! Billy averted major tragedy by carefully closing the door from the kitchen into the laundry room and managed to shoo the bird out - but not before it pooped all over the laundry room.

Needless to say, if you drive by our home our garage door is either open or cracked so that the resident bird can come and go as she pleases.

Playing Catch Up

2009-05-19T22:58:00.000-05:00

Baseball season is officially over for us. We played with an amazing group of boys. Although our winnings were few, we had a lot of fun. We really lucked into playing on a team with awesome, fun parents who acted like little league was, well, little league. Some of the more seasoned mom's brought water guns for the boys to soak the coaches with after one game. We bombed the boys and coaches with water balloons after another. For the last game, the guys handed the moms the equipment and told us to go. We had a blast coaching the boys - and thouroughly enjoyed actually watching an entire game without chasing the little siblings around.

Me coaching Ben at first.

Batting practice before the game.

More batting practice.

The moms and their boys - and a few siblings too!

Where is the Church?

2009-05-18T23:24:00.009-05:00

Politics. Nothing can fire people up more than a good ole convo about politics. Most people have opinions - very strong ones. I have opinions too, but even though I try to educate myself, I feel that I fall into the ignorant category. That being said, I'm about to delve deep - for me anyway. This post is more about the heart of the Christians and less about politics, but somehow I don't think it will be viewed as that.

Ben graduated from preschool last Thursday. It was a cute program and Momma even teared up a bit. One of the mom's had all the graduates over today for a playdate. While the kids were playing, the mom's were talking. The director of the preschool and I share heartbreak for the poor and somehow we started talking about that. Here's the rest of the story:

She - the director - mentioned that her father kept reminding her that the Bible tells us there would always be poor in the world. Yes, truth. The Bible does say that. One of the women said, I kid you not, "then if there will always be poor in the world then the government should quit taking our money and giving it to them." And all the other women might as well have stood up and shouted AMEN! Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut. Bethany. No. Don't say it, don't say...

My mouth formed the words - "You really don't want my opinion, but, if the church was doing its job the government wouldn't have to take care of the poor." Yep. I went there. I was among fellow Christians, who all belong to the same fine evangelical church (that I happen not to be a member of, so I'm already somewhat of an outsider), and obviously didn't share my sentiments.

So, what's political about that? The underlying message - curse you Obama and all you Democrats who want to share MY wealth. I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that none of them have "O" stickers on their cars and they probably voted for the other guy.

I was struck for the first time by something. Why do evangelicals vote the way they do? Is it really because we "care" about unborn babies? Do we care about preserving marriage between a man and a woman? OR is it because we want what is "ours." If our taxes were considerably less would we help those who are in need with extra? OR would we pad our bank accounts or buy a new car, or save for a bigger house.

I really don't know anyone's heart, but, I don't believe for a second that we (me) are concerned about decreasing our tax burdens so that we can give that money to the least of these. I mean, I sure didn't run to my favorite charitable organization with my tax refund - and after all, the Bible says it (twice I think)... there will always be poor among us, so why help?

Because the Bible also says MORE THAN 100 TIMES that we should. Twice it says the poor will be among us, and more than 100 times it tells us we are responsible to help them.

But, we want to keep OUR money. We want to keep what is OURS. Funny to me. All that we have is God's right? And if that's the case and we truly believe that, then aren't we reaping what we essentially didn't sow?

So, do I agree with how the government spends the money that I am forced to pay them? Nope. I would have voted my husband's now defunct company get a bailout. Do I think that the whole "redistribution of wealth" is right? Nope. But I do tend to laugh at this notion. I would love for someone to show me anyone who got to the middle class solely on welfare. Are there problems with our system? Absolutely. Who did I vote for? Not that its anyone's business, but I voted for McCain (even though I couldn't care less for Sarah, she actually makes my skin crawl.) And my reasons for doing so would surprise many of my friends because they aren't because he's pro-life and anti-homosexual - I couldn't care less about that when it comes to politics, but that's for another post that you will probably never see.

I just wonder if we quit worrying about getting "ours" and gave to Jesus through churches and other organizations, if the poor would need our government's help.

Off my soapbox. I feel better. I'm going to post cute pics of my precious kids next time.

THE Call....

2009-05-17T21:33:00.004-05:00

***BTW - I love this man.

The past 3 weeks have been riddled with me on the phone, or e-mailing various people in 3 counties and 2 states. I have been dealing with 6 different people - Social Worker in Birmingham, a VERY rude ICPC worker in Montgomery, AL, CASA worker in Tiffin, OH, foster parents in Tiffin, OH, Children's Services Attorney in Tiffin, OH, and a ghost social worker in Tiffin, OH. (I only say ghost, because I have never had a conversation with her and she never, ok, she answered one of my many attempts to e-mail her.) Apparently, there is some rule where the various parties can't speak to each other, but attempt to communicate with each other through me - ridiculous I know.

We have been finished with our foster care licensing for over 2 months and no one could track our paperwork and figure out where the paperwork was and why we were being held up in our process to get baby Quinn to Alabama. When asked by our friends and family when we would get him, our response was simply "Well, hopefully before he goes to college."

I got an e-mail from our social worker here who said we had a new caseworker (our 3rd since we began this process) and she seemed to be on the ball, but still no word on where the heck our paperwork was. (When you are trying to get a child who is not in your state, paperwork has to go from a local DHR office, to the state office of the person trying to get the child, to the state's office where the child resides, and then to the local office.)

Friday afternoon I got a call from our new caseworker in Ohio. No excitement on my part, no pounding heart, not even a clue of what she was going to say. After the normal niceties, she said...."I am sitting here looking at your home study report." Again no excitement, nothing. Since I never got word that our initial study had gotten there, I said "The first one, the one we had done in November?" Nope, it was THE study. The final link to going and getting Quinn. I wasn't expecting it AT ALL!!! I was numb, excited, but numb - probably had something to do with the fact that about 2 hours later I would realize I had strep throat.

I called Billy - who was as shocked as I was. He had proclaimed on Sunday that he expected God to do great things for us this week. How cool is that?

Because different states handle things differently, they are having a meeting in OH to discuss our case tomorrow (Monday). According to OH processes and procedures, we would have been named Quinn's legal guardians and I guess that would have been the end of the story. Alabama places him as a foster child until he is adopted. So, tomorrow they are going to figure out how to proceed with everything.

We are slated to travel to Ohio on June 4, be in court on June 5, spend the weekend with him in Ohio and bring him home on Monday.

Now that everything has had a chance to sink in (and I have been on antibiotics since Friday evening), we are beyond excited. Thank you for continuing to pray for us and him, and walking this journey with us.

For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 1Samuel 1:27 ...

Joy

2009-05-04T23:15:00.004-05:00

***Since I've had this post saved since her actual birthday and can't seem to finish it - Happy, Happy Birthday Merrie Cannon! What began as a stomach virus that "just kept hanging on" turned out to be the absolute sweetest child on earth. She is our joy!

My Day...Before Noon per Billy

2009-04-17T13:38:00.004-05:00

"I called my bride a few minutes ago. First of all, she was frustrated because it had taken an hour to get the clothes from the laundry basket into the washer. The kitchen was cleaned this morning, but somehow there were dishes on the table, counter and sink. She couldn't find any clean underwear. Abe was crying because he was in time out for biting Ben, who was crying because of the bite, but also because Mom wouldn't let him wear cut-off shorts and a purple shirt, "because even though we are close to it, we're not homeless, yet, dadgummit!" Anna Beth was yelling at Ben because he was crying too loud (because of the bite, which was now bleeding, but also because of the aforementioned redneck costume) and she was trying to hear the TV... and Merrie Cannon was saying, "Mama... Mama... Mama... Mama... Mama... Mama..." over and over and over again while standing at her feet and bouncing up and down.

Correction - Cut-offs would have been a welcome change to what Ben had on.

We finally got out the door so I could run by work and then take them to the park. I have never felt like I "needed" a break, but the past two weeks have been challenging. Don't feel sorry for me, I am going on the women's retreat at the beach next week. Wouldn't you know I'll be gone for Kindergarten registration and the school Spring Fling - good luck Billy.

Easter

2009-04-15T22:05:00.002-05:00

On Easter Sunday, I decided to do something fun with the preschool kids at church. During the first service we had an Easter egg hunt and made Resurrection rolls. To make resurrection rolls, you roll a marshmallow in the middle of a crescent roll and then bake them. We talked about how the crescent roll represented the tomb that Jesus was placed in, and the marshmallow was Jesus. The marshmallow is white, because Jesus was without sin and when He takes away our sin he makes us white too. You bake the rolls, and the marshmallow disappears leaving a hole in the crescent roll - an empty tomb - and white remnants of the marshmallow that represent the cloth His body was wrapped in. When I asked the classes where Jesus was, the overwhelming majority exclaimed "He rose again." However, in one of the classes a little boy looked at me and said...."He melted."
Easter service at OMPC was really neat, too. The sermon and worship were great, but Billy was recently filmed while talking about a blog post he wrote a while ago. The video was played on Sunday morning as a part of the service with "Prince of Peace" playing in the background. You can see the video (without music) by clicking here.

Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:4

**Just as a side note, Anna Beth is wearing the Easter dress my mom made for me when I was in the 5th grade.

Full of Family Fun

2009-04-06T22:58:00.008-05:00

This weekend was busy, busy, busy. We started Friday evening with a baseball game, had another baseball game mid-day Saturday and then went to Columbiana to watch my nephew play Saturday afternoon.

Ben ready on 3rd base.

Ben at bat.

Abe and MC watching big brother.

The little sisters making dirt pies on the bleachers.

The baseball league had a donut sale as a fund-raiser. This was Abe sneaking a donut after swiping the girl's dirt pies off the bleachers - look closely at his hands. He contaminated the rest of the box! (and yes, I let him eat it...dirt and all)

Cousin Matthew getting a hit.

Abe and MC playing with water at the game.

The pictures I forgot to upload are of Abe pouring water on the ground so that he could jump in his self-made puddles.

We went to church on Sunday morning and enjoyed the annual Palm Sunday worship service presented by the choir. Words can't describe how moving and awesome it was. Anna Beth was so precious singing the praise songs VERY loudly. So loud that I think she annoyed the lady sitting in front of her. She kept turning around and looking at her! I just smiled.

After church we went to my mom's for the annual Palm Sunday egg hunt and pot-luck lunch. It was raining so we didn't think we would hunt eggs, but all the kids were already outside and filthy so we hid the eggs and let them go! Mom puts little goodies inside each egg, so they were pumped.

Cousins enjoying lunch.

Almost all the kids waiting for the go ahead. Everyone from both sides of the family come. Most of kids are my cousins children, we left one or two out of the picture because we thought we had everyone. There are more than 20 kids total (too many to actually count and remember them all).

Emptying the eggs.

How many did you get?

Sweet cousins - Anna Beth and Jaycee.

Cousin Mac (my brothers little boy) showing off his egg chalk. He came ready for the rain in his boots!

Merrie Cannon trying to "wake-up" my brother so he would get under the couch and get her bouncy ball.

The next two pictures are to clear something up for my fellow Toyota Sienna drivers. About halfway down highway 26 we discovered we were 5 miles to empty. Highway 26 is about 12 miles of country road with a gas station at either end. At the point we realized we needed gas, we had to pray that we made it to the gas station - we were too far to turn around. Anna Beth had a little freak out when my DTE (Drive to Empty) hit 0, but we made it another 2-3 miles to the gas station. So....If you drive a Sienna there is a little grace period between the time your DTE hit 0 and you actually run out of gas!

Two Months?

2009-04-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

We've been really busy lately, and I haven't been a good blogger. It's especially not good when you gave up scrapbooking long ago and decided to blog as a way to record memories. So here's what we have been up to...

University of Alabama Gymnastic Meets

Basketball for AB (While still swimming 3x a week.)

And now we are in the middle of baseball.

Actually, we should be in the middle of baseball, but mother nature has thrown a curve ball in the form of rain. LOTS of rain. We've played one game and have had 3 cancelled.

We also completed 9 weeks of foster care training and LOTS of paperwork and...we are officially foster parents. Our paperwork has to go through various county and state channels both here and in Ohio, but as soon as that happens we can go pick up baby Quinn! Pray that this happens quickly. Our initial paperwork that was sent the second week in November had not been recieved as of 2 weeks ago. Our final paperwork will began the trek this week. I am having a hard time getting the social worker in Ohio to answer my e-mails, but I do have good contact with the current foster family - who LOVE, LOVE, LOVE him, which is such a blessing. They want to continue contact with us so they can see how he's doing. Here's what they tell us - he's almost 20 lbs, crawling, happy, lactose intolerant, has pretty bad asthma, but sleeps through the night!

We have also been going through a rough time personally. Billy's business in Franklin is no more. I am not dealing well with that. When we moved back to Birmingham, it was to be temporary and then back to Middle TN. Things haven't quite worked out the way we had planned. Unless you don't have a pulse, you know the economy stinks right now. After a very slow fall for the business, Billy's partner decided to call it quits and get a full time job (which had already been secured - I'm a little bitter). Billy is flying solo doing freelance and consulting stuff. Business is still slow, but we're doing ok. Although this was not our plan A, we know it is God's. We are growing spiritually like we never have before. I am realizing that sometimes sanctification stinks. I am striving to see his mercies as new each day (even if I have to squint).

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12

Comments and Questions

2009-02-03T20:32:00.003-06:00

When you have 4 kids, people make comments. I'm used to them by now.

This afternoon I went to the grocery store with all 4 kids in tow. Billy was home, but needed some quiet for a very important phone call so we all went. The grocery store is a treat. The younger 2 (and I sometimes squeeze one more in) get to ride in the car cart and they all get a cookie. The cookie lasts long enough for me to get about 3 things in my cart and then its over. I got many comments today. "Wow, you have a lot of helpers." This translates to - what a nightmare, I would never have that many kids in grocery store with me. "You sure have you're hands full." Translation - don't you know what birth control is? And the last one I got - "Are all those kids yours?" This is always my favorite - although I haven't been asked this one often. I replied, "Yes, but they all have different daddies."

Abe's 2!

2009-01-29T23:59:00.000-06:00

2 years and 9 months ago Billy's sister called to tell us she was pregnant. For those who don't know, if one person in Billy's family is having a baby, someone else is too. Ben has a cousin (Billy's brother's little boy) 5 weeks older than he is and another cousin (Billy's sister's little boy) who is 5 weeks younger than he is. Merrie Cannon has a cousin (Billy's brother's little girl) who is 2 1/2 weeks younger than she is. So after we got off the phone with Debbie, I laughed and thought "I wonder who will be pregnant with her." I thought maybe Alison (Billy's brother's wife), after all, they only have 2 kids. Little did I know that about a week later I would wake up, crack open my morning coke, take a big sip, and almost vomit all over the kitchen. I knew at that moment who the lucky one was. Although I slipped to the drug store to buy a test, I didn't need one. I had felt those feelings 3 times previously.

We, well, I decided this baby's gender would be surprise and we spent 9 months trying to "figure out" if we were having a boy or girl. We already had 2 girls and a boy, so I didn't need anything, and since our rooms were full there was no nursery to decorate. I highly recommend not finding out. If I could do it all over again all of our babies would have been "surprises." (They actually all pretty much were surprises, we just found out the gender for the first 3.) Delivery is soooo much fun when you don't know - and your epidural works.

Baby Abe was born 3 weeks early - a mere 4 days after his cousin Aly was born. He has been my challenge. He exited the birth canal opinionated. He cried a lot - and still does. He didn't sleep all night until we moved him from our closet and a pink crib(MC was to be the last and I couldn't resist the pink crib when we had to buy a new one) - this happened to coincide with getting tubes, but I think he had a complex.

He loves Barney, ball, biting his sister, a bottle (he's been off it for months and still asks for one), his blanket, Barney, being rocked to sleep, cars, being outside, Elmo, Wiggles, and did I mention Barney? None of my kids hug me like he does. I mean a full on squeeze and you don't think he will ever let go - and he's done it since he was 6 months old. Passionate. That's what he is. Not easily redirected, focused on the task at hand - which normally involves getting me to do what he wants me to do.

We've asked him how old he is all day and he insists that he is 8. We tell him 2, but in true Abe style he is trying to convince us otherwise. Happy Birthday Abey Baby - I can't believe you are 2!

The Truth Shall Set You Free

2009-01-26T21:11:00.002-06:00

I started a job as the part-time preschool ministry director at our church a few months ago. This week we have our missions conference and I am in charge of, well, the preschool programming. Since we have different volunteers in the classrooms each night, I am doing our Bible Story/Missions Moment time. We had a few more kids that we expected tonight, so I had to add a classroom and shuffle some kids around to even out the numbers. I was then scrambling to get my stuff and get to the room to tell the story, but I made it and thought things went well despite my frenzied state.

When we got in the car to come home, Billy asked Merrie Cannon if Mama had done a good job telling the story. She answered, "No, she forgot her Bible."

2009-01-21T14:01:00.001-06:00

Below is a picture of the pile of random papers that sits next to my stove.

The other night as I was multi-tasking (aka cooking dinner, helping with homework, giving baths) I might have left things unattended on my stove and when I walked into the kitchen and found this:

Some of Ben's artwork on fire from the eye of the stove - not one peep from the smoke detector. Had I been getting something not on fire out of the oven, the neighbors would have known.

Should I even admit that the pile is still there?

W is for Worm

2009-01-18T00:04:00.000-06:00

Each week a student in Ben's class is assigned the letter can. If it's your week with the letter can, you send in something for each child in the class that begins with the letter that they are studying for the week. For example, when it was Z week, I sent Zebra cakes for everyone. Last week's letter was W. Ben and I had discussed what he would take and he decided that gummy worms were a good choice. I forgot all about said "can" until late Wednesday night, and since it is COLD here in 'Bama, I put off going to the store until Thursday morning. Since we were running late on Thursday, I nixed the idea of going to the grocery store and decided I would run in the gas station so I could...leave my kids in the car (gasp). As we are walking out the door, Ben and I discuss getting the worms and he has a minor freak out. You see Gummy Worms start with the Guh, Guh, Guh and he was studying Wuh, Wuh, Wuh. I calmed him and told him that they would be fine, blah, blah, blah. Wouldn't you know this was all I could find...

If anyone tells him - I'll deny it. And anyway, how can you take someone who sometimes dresses like this seriously?

If you tell him boys don't wear tights, he will quickly tell you that yes, they do. Superheroes wear tights, and these are Anna Beth's orange tights with black cats on them, oh, I'm sorry did I type that? These are Superhero tights and Ben is ready to battle all evils that enhabit the earth.

1 Corinthians 13- Christmas Style

2008-12-23T11:10:00.001-06:00

This was just sent to me in an e-mail. I think it's beautiful.

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not share the true meaning of Christmas, I'm just another cook. If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not demonstrate kindness to strangers, it profits me nothing. If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point. Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Merry Christmas!

Bowling Pictures

2008-12-20T01:20:00.000-06:00

Spend the Night Parties

2008-12-12T23:45:00.000-06:00

Anna Beth's birthday is tomorrow, so we decided to have a little spend the night party. We sent Billy and the little kids to my mom's to spend the night. We live in a small house, and also this gave AB time alone with her friends without having brothers and sisters bugging them.

3rd grade girls can be quite loud and obnoxious! It has been a fun night. We made ice cream sundaes, decorated pillowcases, and watched a movie. It's funny how spend-the-night traditions pass from generation to generation - I just heard mention of Truth or Dare. They are winding down now, and I think I am about to make them go to sleep (I know party pooper.)

Katie

2008-12-09T22:24:00.004-06:00

I have been pouring over this blog for sometime now, and actually can't believe that I have not linked all 5 of my loyal readers to it.

This is a 20 year old young woman from Brentwood, TN. She is amazing. Oh, to have had this vision and passion when I was 20.

Santa Update

2008-12-04T23:35:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law works in the tower (office part) of the Galleria. Santa has an office there and they have been less than impressed with him as well. On their lunch break, they caught this...

Santa asleep on the job!

24 days of December

2008-12-02T23:19:00.002-06:00

***I found the website!***

In an effort to make the holidays more relational, we are trying to do something "special" every day until Christmas. I got the idea from a new blog I found. I can't remember the URL, so I'll post it later. She did an advent calendar of sorts with an activity for each day. Some are fun, some are service, and some are religious. Being that I did not get my act together to actually make something, I am just flying by the seat of my pants this year!

Last night the Shrek Christmas special was on TV, so we watched it as a family.

Today this little guy showed up. AB has been asking for him, you know, she's the only 3rd grader who doesn't have one. We'll see how it goes. We named him Lightning Dart. Dart is what we will call him, but Ben thought lightening was cool - and we do like double names around here.

Tonight we went to see Santa. I was less than impressed. I don't want to dampen my holiday mood further, but I was looking more for the whole Santa experience and less for the picture. This Santa was not all about hugging and conversating with my kids, he was all about saying cheese and sending us on our merry way.

Ok, so I am going to rant about Santa. First of all, I normally wait until the last week before Christmas to go see him, which in turn leads to a 2 hour wait, but it has always been a great experience where Santa actually talks to my kids. That said only to let you know that there were about 5 other people in line. The family before us was done and waiting for their pictures - Santa's lap was empty and Ben walked up to him. Apparently you need to be called before approaching the throne of the great St. Nick at the Galleria Mall. Ben got reprimanded by the fat man himself and sent back to the holding area. We turn in our picture thing and she tells me I can only take 2 pictures with my camera. (I am a rule follower. I expect my kids to follow rules, so I do too.) I am paying $17 for 1 5x7, and there are no lines - can't I take pictures with my own camera? So, anyway, rather than gathering the kids up to find out what they want for Christmas, whether they have been good or bad, etc. He poses them for the picture!!!

After the picture was taken, he did ask the kids what they wanted (or I think they may have just told him), but no jovial small talk - no ho, ho, ho -not even a Merry Christmas. It was so commercial, so posed, so staged, so (as much as I hate to say it) Xmas.

In one week I have been reminded twice of the way we have turned this beautiful holiday about celebrating Emmanuel - God with us - into craziness. (I'll have to post about my experience in the electronics line in Target where I almost witnessed a fight in the wee hours of the morning last Friday). The whole basis for my quest toward more relational, family time this Christmas was to be reminded of why we celebrate in the first place. Jesus was born, lived and died to be in relation with us.

Oh and by the way, the inner rebel in me took 5 pictures!

Fun trip to the ER...

2008-11-26T22:46:00.002-06:00

Last night, Billy took pictures of all of our super-heroes. The older 3 got dressed up in Ben's dress-up clothes and played in a "fort" daddy made hanging sheets from the bunk beds. After the fun was over, we got a light and read books inside the fort.

Our kids slept until 8 this morning. I got up, got the baby out of the crib, put biscuits in the oven and started cooking sausage. By 8:05 Ben was in his hulk attire. At 8:13 Ben was screaming that he had hit his head. I comforted him, and asked how. This was the response "I was trying to do a flip in the air and hit my head." This is when I saw the blood and knew. I carefully removed his hair from the bleeding area and found a nasty gash. At this point Ben had calmed down and I was trying not to laugh (I'm not heartless, innappropriate laughter is my coping mechanism and I couldn't get the picture of him trying to flip out of my head) then HE saw it. His hands had blood on them. Anyone with children knows that a scratch is a scratch -or in this case a gash is a gash - unless it bleeds. Blood makes the pain-o-meter go through the roof. I finally calmed him down and called our doctors office.

Our doctors office told us to go to the ER to get it stitched up - I'm not happy. Our co-pay just went up $70 and I was not pleased at the thought of the wait. FYI - Wednesday mornings at 9 am are a great time to go to the ER - we had their undivided attention.

Ben was timid when the triage nurse took his vitals. We were immediately put into a room and Ben chose to continue watching Sportscenter on TV instead of changing it to kid shows. Our nurse and resident came in to assess him. The nurse shakes his hand and says "Hi, my name is Evan." Ben replies, "I have a cousin named Evan." Ben relays his incredible hulk flipping in the air story and the doctor confirms that he needs a stitch. The two leave the room, but not before the nurse puts up the railing on Ben's hospital bed. This is when I wish I was my friend Kristi J. who ALWAYS has her camera with her. The railings on the hospital bed made for a perfect pretend gun. Ben has a wild imagination and began shooting spiders (no, there were not any real spiders in the ER at children's) then deer, then...Rudolph. At this point the nurse, and two doctors came in. Guess what? My son shot them too - and they played along. They pulled the privacy curtain and to Ben's shooting-crazed amazement it was decorated with animals - aka more targets. By this point we were all cracking up.

Ben was a trooper and layed still while they put one stitch in his head. I talked to the doctor (the resident actually did all the work) and we laughed about how I could have dropped him off, signed the papers, and had him call me to come pick him up. He left with one stitch, and the two syringes they irrigated his wound with, which happen to be the best water guns a $100 co-pay can buy.

The wound - post stitch.

I did learn that the attempted flip didn't happen, because he hit the corner of the wall first. I'm very thankful for a stitch, who knows what injury a flip would have caused! Ben said he "forgot" that he could only do flips in the air on trampolines.

Hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!

We are thankful...

2008-11-19T00:10:00.000-06:00

Ben and MC had their Thanksgiving program at preschool today.

Merrie Cannon

Ben was most excited about holding the gun.

Ben shooting the camera...I hope.

All the Ivey kids.

I checked Anna Beth out to see the program and enjoy the Thankgiving feast with her siblings. Provided there are no tests, I always include them in supporting each other.

Last night at dinner, we talked about what we were thankful for. Here's what each of them said...

Billy: Healthy Kids
Bethany: Leaves changing and falling - Billy did not share the falling part.
Anna Beth: Barf Buckets -the stomach bug was here a few weeks ago.
Ben: Water
Merrie Cannon: Friends and Family
Abe: Bottle (I don't think he actually knew what he was saying, but it was very appropriate.)

Clean, Sanitary, and Orderly

2008-11-17T22:55:00.000-06:00

The highlight of our week last week was a trip to the Hoover Jail....

To get fingerprinted. Billy set his status on facebook to...I just got fingerprinted at the Hoover jail, and was loving the responses until our brother-in-law ratted out that it involved a minor. All went silent until Billy explained he was actually just fulfilling requirements to become foster or adoptive parents.

Our social worker called today, because we had failed to fill in some information on our fingerprint cards, and I asked her to tell me what on our list needed to be attended to now, and what could wait. We have a checklist that I have gone over millions of times, but I pulled it out again today to look at the items she has instructed me were imperative and noticed (for the first time) it says ***HOME & PROPERTY MUST ALWAYS REMAIN IN CLEAN, SANITARY, & ORDERLY CONDITION!!!*** Notice the three stars, three exclamation points and bold all caps. Coke almost came out of my nose I was laughing so hard. I try to keep our home that way, but I have four kids - 3 of which are not in school yet. Clean - funny, Sanitary - funnier, Orderly - funniest (unless you count the hours between 10 pm and 7:15 am. My kids go to bed at 8, so by 10 we have picked up and can see our floor. My kids wake up around 7 and by 7:15 all things orderly are out the window.) I hope DHR has as much grace and mercy as God does for all of my shortcomings - and housekeeping skills!

Our weekend re-cap....
We got our favorite babysitter to come Friday night so we could go to dinner with some friends from church. In true Ivey fashion, we had excitement. I return from AB's swim team practice to a very dark street and home. Only our street was without power, go figure. I don't have flashlights because my kids have broken all of them. We have one candle which was lit and our only other light was by cell phone - we originally did get them for emergency's. AB was spending the night with a friend, so we are searching to pack her bag by cell phone. We sent the sitter to Chick-fil-a with the kids, not realizing the cow was there, and all of Hoover as well. The power was back on when they got home, so all was fine and we enjoyed dinner as grown-ups.

We spent Saturday at my aunt's house with family and came home in time to watch our respective football teams play. I graduated from Alabama, and admit to being a crazed fan. Billy's dad played football for Vanderbilt, so he is their sole fan. Wouldn't you know they played at almost the same time, so we switched between games - it made me DIZZY. Bama continues its quest for the national championship with a win over Miss. State, and Vanderbilt is bowl eligible for the first time in over 20 years after beating Kentucky.

Sunday - church. Church was amazing. November is national adoption month (orphans are my new passion, btw) and what more appropriate than the baptism of our children's pastors child who was adopted from China. It was beautiful and brought tears. Being a pastor, the childs father had the privilege of baptizing his daughter. Apparently, when they met Hope for the first time she ran straight to her daddy and wrapped her arms around him. Her earthly father used it as the perfect picture of her running to her Heavenly Father one day and embracing Him as her Lord and Saviour. I'm tearing up as I write.

Sunday night the preschool choir did sang for their parents. Below is Ben doing motions while singing for us.

Today we enjoyed a trip to Publix - yes, my kids enjoy it - cookies! And daddy raked awesome piles of leaves in the yard for the kids to enjoy. Abe was napping, so he missed the fun and AB was at school, maybe I can get some more tomorrow with all my sweet babies!

Love to all my dear friends and family!

Baby Boys First Haircut

2008-11-09T21:44:00.001-06:00

I took Abe to get a haircut Thursday. When it was hot and humid outside, his hair would curl in the back and looked oh so cute. With a change in the weather and humidity level, Abe was looking more like he had a mullet. He's almost 2, so time to cut that precious baby hair.

Before the scissors.

We went to my parent's house to watch the Bama/LSU game (Roll Tide, barely, but Roll Tide) on Saturday. My dad has a TV set up on the porch of his garage. You can watch the game and watch the kids playing outside at the same time. The boys were playing in a sand pile left over from the patio they added while remodeling their house and Ben comes running to the deck stripping off his shirt.

Ben loves to be shirtless - and shoeless (It's in his blood, I mean, I am from small town Alabama). Even though I thought it was too cold, I obliged when Ben said he was sweaty. Not 2 seconds later cousin Matthew was bringing his shirt to us. About two minutes later here comes Abe...lifting his shirt up and saying "shirt, shirt." I guess the haircut was a rite of passage into boyhood. All three boys played in the sand shirtless.

For all keeping up with our foster situation, we had our first home visit from DHR on Tuesday. We were pleased to find out that our home is suitable for children. Good thing since 4 already live here! We have some minor things we have to do to pass the official visit early next year. Now, its on to mounds of paperwork, fingerprinting, background checks, and medical visits. Have a great week!

Food for Thought...

2008-10-27T22:00:00.002-05:00

Reports

2008-10-15T20:10:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed a morning without my children today. I took back some dresses to Belk that didn't fit AB and then headed to Gap. FYI everything that is on sale at Gap is an additional 25% off. I got 2 pairs of pj's, 2 boys dress shirts, 3 pair of panties, 1 pair of jeans, 2 nice short sleeve shirts, and one long sleeve screened t-shirt for around $75. I then met Billy for lunch at this awesome cajun restaurant before going on a hunt for go-go boots or the like for my hopeful Halloween diva.

Upon my return from a relaxing and productive morning, I am greeted by Abe's teacher. "We had a little problem today", she said as she is grabbing his bag. I think to myself, did he mess up his clothes, no he's in the same outfit I brought him in. Huh.

Guess what? I have the child all other preschool parents hate. See exhibit A.

Exhibit A

Yes, I have a biter. This is only his second offense outside of the home, but I think that is enough to label him. So far his biting has been reserved for his big brother and sister and I think it occurs when they are bullying him, other than the girl at church on that Wednesday night. My question to his teacher was whether he was provoked or not. Not that its ok for him to bite, even in retaliation, but just to give me the peace of mind that he is not randomly targeting his classmates for his own teething pleasure. Bad choice. His sweet teacher was unaware whether Abe was provoked, but then told me (because the fact that he bit another child wasn't enough) that as soon as he was able to get out of time he walked right over and HIT the same child. Great.

AB got home from school and we immediately headed to swim team practice. As she was getting in the car she handed me an envelope with this in it...

All A's! Yeah Anna Beth! We are so proud of you.

Dayplanners

2008-10-14T21:25:00.002-05:00

I got an e-mail from Ben's soccer team mom today. Not an unusual e-mail, just one updating the who brings snacks to the soccer game and it hit me. He had soccer pictures on Sunday. Sunday at 1:25. Guess what? We were at home on Sunday at 1:25. How could I forget that? I mean, I think that just bombed my chances of mother of the year. So the new rule for me...write EVERYTHING in the dayplanner - and check it daily. I have one, it sits on my counter and I use it on occasion. How in the world have I thought that I could keep all our schedules straight without one? (I have done a pretty good job up until this little oops!)

PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who does things like this!

I'm off to mark our snack Saturday in the dusted off Dayplanner.

Update on the baby...

2008-10-10T21:35:00.002-05:00

Court didn't quite go as all wanted it to on Thursday. Paperwork has been filed with DHR (children's services) here, but we haven't heard from them. We need a home study and background check from them in order to proceed with fostering this sweet baby.

The baby has been moved into foster care - its what the mother wanted, but not what his advocate or social worker felt was the best situation. All I am going to say about that is the couple is not what I call a traditional family. I pray that they will love and care for him in a real way, even though I don't agree with their lifestyle.

Please pray that "the system" works fast - they tell me it could take as long as 6 months. I am going to try to pull strings on this end. If you have any connections at DHR in Jefferson County, please let me know.

Thanks for praying with us! Have a blessed weekend.

I Got Pictures...

2008-10-06T20:26:00.002-05:00

I went to the mailbox this afternoon and to my surprise...the social worker had sent pictures. Pictures of this sweet, round, baby with big brown eyes and brown hair...He's so cute. I can't wait to love on him...for as long as I am needed.

Has Anyone Seen My Cell Phone?

2008-10-05T23:16:00.000-05:00

Friday was a crazy mom day for me. Billy was out of town and wouldn't be returning until 5 pm. I had carpool duty to swim team practice, Ben had a soccer game, and we had dinner plans with our life group from church. Nothing in the schedule overlapped, but I knew I had to be strategic in my planning to get everywhere we needed to be on time. I was showered, dressed and ready to go out , and had Ben in uniform when I woke the babies up so we could go to pick AB and friend up at school for practice.

I picked them up, dropped them off at practice and then went to the grocery store to get a few things - mainly milk. Then to McDonalds to feed the 3 youngest an early dinner, since the soccer game was right at dinner time. I was like a drill sargeant telling them to eat, eat, eat so I could then get food for AB and pick her up. I remember seeing my cell phone on the tray as I was clearing it into the trash. I recall getting it off the tray, surely I wouldn't have thrown it away - after all I SAW IT ON THE TRAY. I got AB's food, loaded us into the car and off we went to pick up the big girls. Here is where my precise planning goes awry and I get frazzled. I need to call Billy and tell him where I am, what the plan is etc. (He had called me while in the grocery store and I quickly cut him off telling him I was on a tight schedule and would call him later.) No cell phone. Can't find it anywhere. I pick up the girls and race back to McDonald's where the guy at the counter says he hasn't seen one. I've lost 15 minutes. We drop the friend off, and get home as Billy is pulling out of the driveway. He gets into the car with us and off we go.

The game was great and Ben scored 2 goals (not that we're keeping score). Game over, rush the kids back in the car. My babysitter was waiting for us in the driveway. I had left the door unlocked in case we ran late, but didn't have her number to call and tell her because...I lost my cell phone. Toss the kids to her and go to eat Mexican with our LIFE group at church. I had to reprogram on the way over. Decompress from the adrenalin of running here and there, watching the clock, and did I mention I lost my cell phone?

We had a great time laughing, enjoying each other and getting to know each other better. It's such a great group that we kind of fell into and love the fellowship, support and prayers they are giving. It's amazing how quickly you feel comfortable sharing "life" with some people after only a short time. We are looking forward to getting to know each of them even better over the next year!

On Saturday, we went to cousin Mac's 2nd birthday party at a local children's gym. Fun was had by all. One of the best things about being back in Alabama is getting to share birthday's with all our cousins on my side of the family. The pictures from the party are in the next post (I use picasa and it will only blog 4 pics at a time, and I am too lazy to move them to a new folder so I can post more at a time)

Saturday afternoon was full of the kids playing with friends, and football. Roll Tide and Go 'Dores!

Have a wonderful week!

Cousin Mac's Birthday Party

2008-10-05T22:44:00.000-05:00

The Ball Pit

Budding Gymnasts

Want some cake?

The Birthday Boy and Mom

Expanding the Family

2008-10-01T23:56:00.000-05:00

In a previous post, I mentioned getting a call from a social worker as a possible placement for my cousin's newborn. Well, we have moved from the possible category to the probable one. I have hesitated to write about this, because everything has been - and is still - up in the air. Right now we need prayer on a number levels.

The baby is in Ohio under the supervision of Children's Services, but they would like to place him with us. We live in Alabama. A lot of things have to happen in the legal department in order for this to happen because the child will be crossing state lines. Most of the time this takes around 6 months. We, meaning all parties involved, hope that we can expadite this process so he can come live with us sooner rather than later. Paperwork has been filed and there is a court date on Oct. 9 concerning his guardianship. Please pray that the judge will find in our favor concerning this.

My cousin (the mother) is a mess. It's a very complicated, sad situation. There is a real possibility that she may not be able to get the baby back. Please pray for her. I believe with all my heart that she is redeemable. Although she has done some really aweful things, God loves her as much as He does anyone else and He can do amazing things. Pray that my conversations with her and about her to others will honor Him.

Here's a little back story as to our decision to pursue this. When I found out I was pregnant with Abe, I was shocked - and done. My tubes were tied, and I was totally and completely at peace with that decision. No more babies. Period. I already got those crazy looks at Wal-Mart with 3 and pregnant. Total peace I tell you. Never questioned the decision. No more. We were even. Finished. Get the picture?

Then I went to a girls night with my friend and neighbor. I found out a girl I had met through her was adopting from Ethiopia. I thought how awesome that was. She had 4 kids and was adopting. Then it began. I started reading her blog and linking to other adoption blogs and weeping at how many children go to bed each night everywhere in the world without a mommy and a daddy. Weeping, I tell ya. 131 million orphans in the world. 131 million children who have no place to truly call home. No one to call mom or dad. I started to feel the tug to go get 1 (or all 131 million) of them.

Then bible verses started popping up.
"Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." James 1:27

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me," Matthew 25:40

""...once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."(Proverbs 24:12)

I mean did God really put that in the Bible? I had heard them before but really. I'm done. Peace. Finished. Even. No more.

So after some prayer, in all MY wisdom, I thought that we would go to Ethiopia and bring home 2 sweet children. Billy got on board and it was set. In a year we would begin saving and start the process. This would give us time to get back on our feet after a tough financial time, figure out which state we would actually call home, make sure the new business was securely running, and have everyone potty trained by the time we brought a potentially unpotty trained child into our home. Enter God.

We get the call about the baby. There are many reason why we shouldn't do this. Some are selfish (starting with the whole not my plan thing) but most are complicated. At the end of the day, I really feel like God has practically placed a baby in need in my lap. To do anything but care for this baby would be disobedient to God.

We are excited about caring for this baby, and exhausted by the process all at the same time. We are optimistic that this will be short term, but prepared for the long haul. Yes, we are crazy. No, we don't have much room. Yes, we can love him like he was one of ours...and who knows how this story will end. I'll keep you posted.

Here we are!

2008-10-01T22:51:00.000-05:00

All is well at the Ivey home. I am enjoying the ever crazy life of a mom of 4. We never slow down, but I love it.

Ben plays soccer in a league where the focus is on playing not winning. Cheering has to be super PC and no one keeps score...except Ben. Last week after every goal he would look at us and flash his fingers to reflect how many goals had been scored. Parents would get major repremanding for this. I wonder - Can a kid get kicked out of the league for being competitive? I survived my sweet boy turning 5 last week, and he survived his shots. Daddy is still recovering - I made him go. Not because I am a sissy, but because I am a weak woman and couldn't have held Ben still.

MC has always been the sweet, compliant one of the bunch. As I am going through her backpack today, I notice she didn't color any, not one page, of the letter book. When I asked her about it her response was "I didn't want to." Oh my! She is absolutely the last one I thought would utter these words. I hope its not a sign of things to come! We went to the zoo last week with her preschool class. I didn't realize how little we do with just her until she asked - more than once - on our drive over where Ben and Abe were. Her favorite animal is the "bgiraffe." Don't have a clue why she puts a b in front of that word.

AB is looking forward to getting her first report card with actual grades on it - not S's. It should come home on Friday and she is anticipating all A's.

Abe is just Abe. He is either happy or he is not. No in between. He has developed an affection for a certain purple dinosaur. If the TV is on - then Barney should be on it. I am OVER Barney right now (and kids shows don't normally drive me up the wall).

Our Week...

2008-09-21T22:33:00.001-05:00

Monday - a rainy day when my kids watched too much TV until AB got home and we went to swim practice.

Tuesday - Dropped the 2 middle ones off to school, went to bible study, picked up the middle ones, AB came home from school. Then it got interesting. She had no homework and Billy was out of town. Ben has soccer practice on Tuesday evenings, and on this particular one AB had open house at school. I cooked and fed everyone dinner and off we went. Almost immediately after practice started MC announces that she has to go the the bathroom. The only bathrooms at practice are port-o-potties. I hate them. They make me gag. I strapped Abe in the stroller and had AB sit in the back and told them not to get out, I would be back momentarily. The potty had been cleaned recently, so it wasn't that bad, but I wanted MC out fast. So fast that I scooped her up and out the door without her panties pulled up, with her bootie shining at the other people close by while I got her put back together. Then, I realized I was out of hand sanitizer (of course). I get back to AB and Abe and release them from the stroller. I learned from the first week to take a ball for Abe to play with. He was happily playing when he comes over to me saying "Ugh" and pointing to his arm. He had spit up all over his arm and clothes. Of course they had eaten spinach for dinner, so it was all over him and smelled aweful. I didn't have a change for him in his bag (of course) and we had to go to open house. I wiped him up the best I could with baby wipes and decided he would be confined to the stroller at the school. Race Ben off the field after practice and go to open house, where AB shows us what she does all day. We then had to go visit her old kindergarten teacher and my kids start screaming in the hall. Not because they are unhappy, just because its fun to be as loud as you can in the hallway. Why are echoes so fun to those under 5? Home and in bed around 9 - and the kitchen is not clean yet.

Wed. - School for EVERYONE, I come home and clean. I pick Abe up early for a check up. Pick the middle 2 up home, quickie naps and AB off to swim team.

Thurs. - Daddy's home!!!

Friday - Clean house, Mimi with the fish (my kids call both their grandmothers Mimi thanks to AB and we decipher which one by what pet they have) and Papa come and off to Ben's birthday party at Pump It Up.

Saturday - AB has her first swim meet, Ben has his first soccer game - at the same time. The girls go swim and the boys play soccer. Ben scored 5 goals (but we don't keep score in his league yet). Anna Beth swam in one event.

Sunday - 2nd day of the swim meet. AB swam in 3 events. Home, lunch, naps, and off to church for Sunday night stuff.

Ben's 5th Birthday Party

2008-09-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

Ben's Soccer Game

2008-09-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

Swim Meet

2008-09-21T22:25:00.000-05:00

The team

Ready for backstroke.

Finished!

The coolest thing (for the kids) about swimming is that you write all of your meet info on yourself with a Sharpie marker. E=event - H=heat - L=lane.

Time for a haircut?

2008-09-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

Guess who this sweet baby in pink and a bow is?
Dadgum, he would have been a pretty girl!

I have been flip flopping this entire election year as to who to vote for. I typically vote Republican. Most of my life because that's how my dad did, but lately because it fits us a family due to our tax bracket. We fall into the not enough money to give it to the government to fund its programs, too much to take advantage of any of the programs. We are middle class (I guess).

Barak Obama intrigues me. I like him. He is a charasmatic speaker, passionate politician, and has a great success story. He appeals to the idealist in me. The part that wants no war, no one to be hungry, equal rights, etc. I think the other part of me that likes him is because of the flack that ignorant conservative christians have given him. By the way, I am a fairly conservative christian although I don't consider myself ignorant. I have gotten NUMEROUS e-mails forwarded about him being muslim, his African roots, even some that have alluded to racism. All have enfuriated me. Big deal, he's got African heritage. Last time I checked none of the other candidates were native Americans. The almost passive aggressive racist subleties sent blood rushing to my face in anger. About the Muslim stuff...if you read his testimony he walked down an aisle and accepted Jesus as his Saviour. Big deal if he was a Muslim. Christians should be praising God that he was converted (that is if indeed he was a Muslim to begin with).

After the first two days of the RNC, I was thinking he might be my guy. I was not thrilled with the choice of VP, don't know why just shocked and not really excited. The RNC has been BORING up until tonight, and quite frankly I would (still) rather hear Obama over McCain for the next 4 years. But, I was reminded by Palin why I am a Republican.

Taxes. That's why. My husband owns his own brand new small business and it wouldn't be good for him to be taxed more.

Big government. That's why. Many, many people think we the government should take care of everyone - here and elsewhere. Many Christians support Obama for this reason. He has a humanitarian heart and platform. As a country, I believe Biblically we have a resposibility to do this. But, where is the burden of the people? The logic is, pay more taxes to take care of those in need. I say get off your paycheck or bonus and do something for those in need. How many of us (me included) live in nice houses, drive nice cars, eat more than we should, throw away left overs, and give very little to those who have nothing? I think that the Democratic view lets the government take control of taking care of the least of these, when it should be our responsibility as Christians.

The war. Do I agree with us going there, um probably not. Fact is, we are there and if we don't at least try to clean up the mess we may be in for it.

I still haven't totally made up my mind, but I like Palin. Maybe its because I am a mother of 4. Maybe its because she is normal - She has a child going to Iraq, she has a pregnant daughter, she has a baby with down syndrome, she has a working class husband. These are real things that real people deal with. She added excitment to the convention, and reminded me why I vote Republican.

At the end of the day, I really do like both candidates and think either would make a good president. I believe that, while Washington does affect us on a small scale, its up to us to make change if we want it.

I am so not political and can't believe I am posting this, so please show a little mercy if you want to blast me!

I Like to Smock, Not Nit

2008-08-28T21:27:00.000-05:00

So here's the "are you kidding me?" update. I had a full weeks worth of events occur between the hours of 9 and 12 today.

Merrie Cannon has run a fever off and on this week. She went all day yesterday fever free, so I thought we were done with a nagging virus and she could go to school. Wouldn't you know that when I picked her up to put her shoes on (after getting her up, dressed, and fed all fever free) I noticed her armpits were very warm. I took her temp., and guess what? The fever was back. Since it had been on and off for 4 days I decided to go and take her to the doctor.

I had a meeting at the preschool, so I made an appointment on my way there. I dropped Ben off and sat in the back so MC wouldn't breathe on anyone. While I was in the meeting, my cell phone rang (which is one of my pet peeves, there are times when you should turn the thing off). I quickly muted the ring and checked my message when the meeting was over. It was the school nurse asking me to call her. I quickly returned her call, fully expecting to hear that AB had a fever and I needed to come get her. Not so much. Instead of having a fever...she has lice. So I quickly have them check Ben's head (he was clear) and race to pick her up before the doctors appointment. I get to the doctors office at 10:15 - exactly when our appointment was.

I usually wait a few days before I rush my kids to the doctor. I have paid too many $30 co-pays resulting in the "it's a virus, give them Tylenol." So, 4 days of fever and here we go. Strep test - negative. Blood work - normal. Guess what - "It's a virus. We are seeing these fever viruses and they last about 5 days." Really? One more day and I would have saved 30 bucks.

On my way to get lice shampoo, I return a call from my uncle. My cousin had a baby about 2 months ago. The baby's care is being monitored by Children's Services because she is unable to take care of it. My name was given to the case worker by my cousin as a possible placement for the child until she can get it together. Please pray for us concerning this. We really don't know what to do. We have lots of questions and are really seeking God's will in how we handle the situation.

All that before noon - and I haven't even shampooed a head yet. So, I call Billy and ask him to get Ben from school. MC - clear head and taking a nap, bless her little feverish heart! Abe - clear head. AB is getting shampoo on her head when Billy gets home. Billy - clear head. Me - not clear. I have them. I knew I would. AB and I have been cuddling up every night and reading together. That's what I get for trying to be a good mother.

So, I have been shampooing, and nitting, and washing, and drying and vaccuming. The dishes from this morning are still in the sink, along with the dishes from lunch, and this afternoon and tonight. I went through AB's head again before bed, picking more nits - and MC's, and Ben's, and Abe's, and Billy's - all still clear.

Sure Children's Services, bring us a baby. Watch out, don't step on that dead roach. If you see a live one, there is a fly swatter hanging in the laundry room. The 19 month old loves to swat them, just give it to him. Excuse the nastiness in the kitchen and the toys all over the house, I have been picking bugs out of our hair all day. You may not want to sit on that couch, it hasn't been decontaminated yet. Watch the mold in the kitchen, and one day we are going to get a bed. Welcome to the Ivey's.

Oh yeah, MC's eye is weeping green gooey stuff. Pink eye. Pink eye and lice - which one can we control first?

Have you ever been prophesied to?

2008-08-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

My answer to that question was no, until last night. Billy and I were going to a friend's wedding. My babysitter was late, so we missed the wedding, but were going to the reception at the Wynfrey Hotel. We had some blinds we needed to return to JC Penney, so we decided to do that before the reception since the Wynfrey is at the mall. After returning the blinds, we were getting in the car. Billy looked super cute in his bow tie, and I was in my favorite dress. A mother and her two small children were getting out of their car, when the little girl told me she loved my dress. I said thank you and smiled at the mother. The mother proceeded to say "I see you in a wedding dress." Weird but ok. I just laughed and got in the car. Then she said "Have you two ever thought about getting married, I see her in a wedding dress." Billy told her we were married and had 4 kids. She said, no lie, "Have you ever been prophesied to?" No, we replied almost laughing. "It's not from me, it comes from God. You should renew your vows. I see her in a wedding dress." All we could say was thank you. I can now say I have been prophesied to - in the parking lot at JC Penney. More disturbing than that is that she saw me in a wedding dress in her vision...no mention of visions of my husband of 10 years.

Character Backpacks and Sheets

2008-08-19T21:44:00.001-05:00

Abe's 1st Day of School
Yes, his hair is sticking up. He got a bath before dinner last night and then dumped his macaroni and cheese on his head, so we washed his hair right before bed.

When it became evident to us that we were going to have to make the big move, I was concerned about space. We moved from about 2200 square feet into almost 1400 - and remember there are 6 of us. When put into perspective of all we have compared to others, we are blessed and the size of the house didn't really concern me. What did concern me was figuring out how to cram all the stuff we had in a much smaller space. Here was the biggest challenge:

Who shares a room with who? We had 3 bedrooms and a HUGE bonus in the old house. Ben had a room, Abe had a room, and the girls shared the bonus. Here we have 3 bedrooms, period. After much thinking and praying here was the solution. AB would get her own room. She is 5 years older than MC and has moved from toys to gadgets which don't take up much space. We would take the larger of the secondary bedrooms and put the "babies" in the master, where there is lots of room for toys. MC was not real happy with the idea, because she did not want to be in a "boy" room. So what does any mom exercising authority and demanding respect do...Bribe her. She was promised Hello Kitty sheets. On the trip to Target, she abandoned Hello Kitty and decided to get Ariele instead. I couldn't say no to Ben when he asked for the Transformer ones. So we came home with 2 sets of character sheets. I am more of the Pottery Barn Kids type, so this was a huge step for me. Besides the fact that they are tacky (just my opinion, and you can throw a nice comforter over them anyway) have you ever actually slept on them? They are soooo uncomfortable. I think they have a thread count of about 4. The kids were excited, and then Ben crawled in. "Momma, did you wash these sheets?" he asked. "Because I feel wike there are cwumbs in them." Yes, I did wash the sheets...they are just that bad. I offered to change them, which is huge because he sleeps on the top bunk and changing his sheets is no fun, but he refused and has slept on them every night since.

Backpacks. Oh, backpacks. I love getting the kids cute backpacks with their names monogrammed on them, and they already have these precious lunchboxes. I didn't even think about the younger kids needing them until meet the teacher last Wednesday. I had been so concerned getting AB ready, that I forgot backpacks for the middle two. So, we took a trip to the mall to find backpacks. Lo and behold the dadgum Disney store had theirs displayed perfectly for little eyes. With a pit in my stomach, we picked out Tinkerbell (surprising given our obsession with Ariel) and Power Rangers (who I personally don't like, but it seems Cars and Buzz Lightyear are for babies). The matching lunchboxes were free. I actually spent less on 2 backpacks and lunchboxes than I would have on one cute, precious one and I am the only one sad. At least AB wasn't there. The Hannah Montana get-up was HORRENDOUS!

2008-08-19T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today was MC and Ben's first day of preschool. Ben got up, got dressed and was ready to go. Merrie Cannon and I had a small battle over clothes. She wanted to wear her ballerina outfit that she is wearing in the last picture(not exactly good attire when a 3 year old needs to potty). We compromised and she wore her ballerina skirt over her sweet dress.When I picked them up, MC would not stop talking about all that she had done. Ben was more reserved, but had a good day. As of late, Ben's response to my attempts to have discussion with him is a food. Something like this...

Me: Ben did you have a good day today?
Ben: Yes.
Me: Did you make any new friends?
Ben: Yes.
Me: Do you remember their names?
Ben: Chicken Nuggets. (sly grin)
Me: Really Ben, what were their names?
Ben: Pineapple. (laughter)

Boys!

Anna Beth loves school, but still dislikes homework. Afternoons are a challenge trying to get her to stay focused and get it done so she can play before dinner.

The roaches are getting under control. I am still seeing them, but I don't fear they are going to band together and carry away my fine china anymore. We have had a few more surprises. Every week we discover some new "thing" going on with the house.

Week 1) Roaches
Week 2) Toilets were stopping up a lot (a good plunger took care of it)
Week3) I noticed the wallpaper under the window in the kitchen was bubbling. Peeled it back...know that whoever put the horrendous wallpaper in the kitchen didn't prime the walls, so its almost impossible to remove without tearing up the drywall, so just the mere fact that I could peel it back easily made me cringe at what I was to find. Water damage and....mold. Great. We have to tackle that project and just pray it is only the small area we see.
Week4) Today I go to open the door for our neighbors little girl to come in, and guess what? THE DOORKNOB CAME OFF IN MY HAND!

I mean come on, can we not go 1 week without anything happening. Home ownership is soooo overrated!

***I forgot to mention that somewhere between week 1 and 2, our bed broke while trying to move it from one wall to another. We are currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

Just a random update.

2008-08-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

All day things happen that I want to blog about, and everytime I sit down at the computer my mind goes blank. Here's the short of whats going on...

So, I am still getting unpacked. The roaches are dying and I am seeing fewer and fewer Praise the Lord! The weather has been incredible the past few days. It seems that everytime we move, the weather does crazy things. Last summer when we went to Nashville, we experienced the 100+ degree heat wave. We come to Birmingham and have highs in the 80s and next to no humidity (very, very unusual for August here). We'll take the latter over the former anyday!

Anna Beth is LOVING school - which is such a blessing. I miss having her to help out at home during the day and doing the fun stuff with us, but she is completely enjoying being at school.

Ben, MC, Abe and I are enjoying the outside and neighborhood park while the weather is nice. They are also enduring the countless trips to Wal-Mart and Home Depot to get things for the house.

The house is great. I was not looking forward to downsizing 800 square feet, but it has been good. I think I like a smaller house better. The kids don't know the difference, and it is forcing us (parents) to be more involved as a family. Since there is no playroom, the only TV is in the den. We are doing more together since I can't just send them to the playroom anymore.

I went to our old church on Sunday and it was great. I absolutely love, love, love our pastor's preaching style and was so looking forward to hearing him. Wouldn't you know he was out of town.

One of my pet peeves is people at church not being welcoming and nice. I realize we are human and have bad days, but it seems to happen to me all the time. We were looking for a Sunday school class at our church in Nashville and had decided to visit one. The class was small and everyone looked at us like we were lost when we walked in. So here I am at our old church, excited to be there, and not knowing where I was going because they have redone the whole darn thing. I got the kids (I only had 2 of them with me and Billy was out of town) settled and go searching for the sanctuary. There were signs but I didn't see one pointing in that direction. I try to follow the music and end up down a hallway and realize the music is getting softer and I don't know where I am, so I ask someone for help. She looks at me like I have a big booger and says "up the stairs" almost with a roll of the eyes. Are you kidding me? I have been treated better asking where the Gap is at the mall. It's a good thing I wasn't a first time visitor - what kind of impression would I have of the church if I was?

I was also caught in a bind when I had to sign the attendance book. There is a place for visitors and a place for members. Although I haven't been at the church in 2 1/2 years, we have never moved our membership elsewhere. We haven't stayed anywhere long enough to join a church, so I pondered a while and signed in as a member, because technically I still am (even though I did park in visitor parking - just thought of that).

We go meet the 3 younger kids teachers Wednesday. I am a little apprehensive about where they are going to Pre-school/MDO just because I know nothing about it - they just had space for all 3 this late in the summer and Ben didn't have to go 5 days a week.

Feeling like home...

2008-08-04T23:27:00.000-05:00

So, we moved back into our old house, which is weird. The kids have adjusted fine. AB is back to being BFF with the girl next door, and has added a new friend that lives down the street. Guess what? All three are in the same 3rd grade class! How about that for an easy transition for the 8 year old. We went to meet the teacher today and it was nice to walk into a familiar place and see familiar faces. Old friends were excited to see us and glad we were back.

We have had more "Ivey luck" since moving in...I'll post on that later. In case you are wondering about the uninvited guests that are inhabiting our home, the exterminator came today. The only thing worse than having roaches is having dying roaches. They are coming out of the woodwork!!! Is it OK to ask you to pray that the roaches will all die soon?

We are here...

2008-08-01T23:50:00.000-05:00

and we have roaches. Not outside as expected but inside. The little bitty gross ones that hang out in your cabinets. I can't unpack my kitchen stuff until the exterminator gets here, and he thinks they are german roaches which are really difficult to get under control.

I never had a roach problem in TN...just saying.

Alabama Bound

2008-07-30T21:31:00.000-05:00

I have been a packing maniac, Billy has been playing tetris in the moving van with boxes and furniture, the kids have been great.

The other night we were discussing the logistics of the move. When are we getting the truck, turning off and on utilities, etc. He made the statement "We usually..." followed by I can't remember. I was focusing on the word usually. USUALLY? Did he really just say USUALLY? How many people usually move a certain way? Usually is normally reserved for things done almost routinely, you know, like "I usually hand wash the bottles." "She usually falls right to sleep." "Usually, I wear blue shoes with that outfit." I would bet not many people usually move a certain way...unless they are in the military. Come to think of it we probably wouldn't move this much if Billy did join the military. Hmmmm, I may see a career change coming!

See you in Birmingham!

Dancing in the Rain

2008-07-27T23:43:00.000-05:00

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 106:1

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessolonians 5:18

This is what God tells us about being thankful. I'm not so sure thankful is how I have viewed life the past few weeks - or maybe even the past year. It's been a tough year for us.

I find it easy to be thankful for the big things that come unexpectedadly, you know, like bonus checks. But during the past year those big things have been few and far between. I have not been very thankful given our current situation, and even though I am reminded daily that "All things work to the good of those who serve Him*," it's hard. My attitude has been more like, really God? How does a house being on the market for a year work to my good? How is a moving my daughter again working for my good? How is having my husband away from his family working for my good? And quietly I am reminded 2 things.

1) He is the same. Regardless of where I am, how big or small my house is, whether or not my car cranks, He is not changing. Wow - what a big thing to be able to rest on!
2) Give thanks. This came to me in Lowe's on Thursday night. I have never had any kind of God thoughts while in Lowe's. (Most of the time my thoughts are far from God thoughts, because we are there to replace or fix something broken.) I was looking for the boxes, because we needed a few more big, really sturdy ones. I stop to ask an associate where they are and he tells me he has moving boxes in his garage that they want rid of. He immediately gives me his address, cell phone numbers, and tries to call his wife to tell her I would be by to pick them up. (I have 3 of 4 kids with me so I looked harmless.) He couldn't get a hold of his wife, so I told him I would call and get them on Friday. I believe that God put him in my path. Of all the people who worked at Lowe's I get the guy with moving boxes in his garage! I realized then that I should be thankful. Thank you for putting this man in my path. I need to be thankful for the little things, because I believe that even when our worlds are crashing we can find something to be thankful for. Here are few of mine....

Free moving boxes.
A second car when the first won't crank.
My brother being here this weekend to help with the afflicted car.
Uneventful well check-ups for my kids.
Wonderful neighbors (I am lucky enough to have them here and in Birmingham).

I'm wasting time when I should be packing, and I think I have shared my heart. Recently on my facebook a friend sent me a piece of flair that said "Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness never danced in the rain." That pretty much sums it up for me. Being thankful in the hard times is like dancing in the rain.

*Romans 8:28

Daddy's Birthday Weekend

2008-07-27T23:42:00.000-05:00

So...Here goes the weekend recap.

Last week was filled with packing, a few trips to the pool, packing, church, packing, you get the idea. I was in Birmingham on Sunday for my cousins baby shower and a birthday/send off for my other cousin who joined the Army. I stayed until Monday to get AB registered at her new school. As I was beginning my Monday morning Billy called to tell me his tooth was hurting really bad. He has already gotten a crown, which didn't help and led to a root canal, which didn't help which led to severe pain. He needed me home so he could go to the dentist, so I rushed through the day and raced home so he could get yet another root canal. This one worked. He had a temporary crown put back on, and was waiting for his permanent one.

Friday night we were getting everything together for our yard sale. Billy left to get change for our customers the next day. He was in Kroger saying, "I need a roll of quarters, 30 1's, 6 5's," he stops and says "Excuse me" turns around and spits HIS TOOTH out, puts it in his pocket and continues...Yes folks, his crown fell off. Can you believe it?! The two root canal crown fell off! He comes home and calls the dentist at home and is to be at the dentist office the Saturday morning at 9 am.

We got up early and greeted our first customers and sold lots of stuff before Billy got ready to go to the dentist.

Remember the car that wouldn't crank? Guess what....It won't crank again. So he takes my car to the dentist and gets his crown put back on, comes home and begins trying to figure out what to do with his car.

I, in the meantime, am managing 4 kids, lots of customers and humidity. I was amazed at the turnout. No advertising, only a directional signs from the entrance to our neighborhood. I finally threw in the towel at 11 am. The baby was tired and ready for lunch, I was alone, and all our "good" stuff was gone and we had made $150. Not bad for the minimal work we did.

My brother is coming to take some things to my mom's house in Birmingham, so he gets to help figure out what is wrong with the car. Battery tests fine, alternator tests fine, starter fails test. So they put a new starter in and guess what? Car still won't crank. Today Billy gets a new battery and the car is cranking (for the time being) fine.

When it rains it pours right? I am trying to be thankful (I'll post on that tomorrow) and dance in the rain, even though most of the time I don't feel like it these days.

We lit a candle and had Kroger cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday tonight with the kids.
Happy Birthday Billy! I hope you enjoy your starter, car battery, and paid dental bills.

He is his fathers son.

2008-07-23T12:45:00.000-05:00

The Gypsy Life...

2008-07-17T12:20:00.001-05:00

This is the e-mail Billy sent to all his peeps...Pretty much sums it up for him...I, however, am still holding out for a miracle - and at this point 10 months seem sooo long.

All:
Our renters (we never sold the house we owned in Birmingham that was supposed to have sold, but never did as I just mentioned at the beginning of this parenthetical phrase) bailed on us a couple of weeks ago and left us with a house in desperate need of repair (updates, paint, flooring, etc).

Try as we might, we can no longer afford 2 mortgages. We’ve done that for a year, and I’m pretty sure that’s not a good option anymore… so we're headed back to Birmingham – where the nights are unbearably muggy, but at least the roaches are huge – to live until it makes sense to try and sell again.

We have been in a lease-purchase situation here in Nashville because of the aforementioned “two mortgages” situation (see “Greenville Debacle, circa 2006”).

The many thousands of dollars lost on the “Greenville Debacle” kind of taught us the lesson that we can't just sit back and "hope" things will happen the way you want them to. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet... and then chew on it for a really long time, no matter how bad it hurts.

It's bittersweet, really. Nashville is home and where we love (and where my business is) and where we have finally decided God wants us to raise our basketball team… But we also love the school Anna Beth will attend in Birmingham and the idea of getting back plugged-in to our church there makes us pretty giddy, too.

At the end of the day, we believe there's got to be some Providential reason for all of this stuff. At least that's what I tell myself when I cannot sleep and we're out of bourbon...

I will rent an apartment (or something) in Nashville (or somewhere here ‘bouts) and travel back and forth several days a week until things calm down a bit and we're able to reevaluate. At the very minimum, we’re looking at 10 months so we do not have to move again mid-school year (Anna Beth has been in three different elementary schools and she's headed to third grade... awesome for self esteem and stability).
And you never know… Bethany and the kids may decide they like Dad being available only on long weekends and by cell phone and email. Maybe we’ll be there forever.

But…

Ivey McCoig is as strong as ever and there is no plan B... So I know we'll figure out how to keep things rolling, no matter what.

I have a wonderful, patient, beautiful, loving, supportive, and (tries really hard to be) understanding wife who loves me in spite of me, and THE four most gorgeous and unbelievable kids in the world… So there’s that. But do me a favor and throw a few good words to the Man upstairs, because, as the guy who served me fried chicken this afternoon said, “These is hard times, ya’ll."
Amen.

So anyway... we just made the final decision this week and now we have 2 weeks to pack up and move. If you know any Mexicans*, teenagers** or ex-military personnel*** who might need a few extra bucks, we could sure use the help getting these boxes loaded up…

Billy
*because they are notoriously hard workers.
**because they are more often than not lazy, but desperate
***because they will probably be able to lift my washing machine

4 kids, a car that won't crank, and a bird

2008-07-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Billy went out of town today. He has gone to Washington, DC to the grand opening of this restaurant. His company did all the branding and such for it. He wasn't going to go, but I encouraged it. It will be good to see the fruits of his labor! So that begins the day. We skipped church because he thought his flight was leaving at 1:30 today. This morning I made a mad dash to the grocery store without any helpers and he packed to go. He was leaving at 11:30, which was plenty of time for him to get to the airport. About 2 1/2 minutes after he "left" he comes in flustered and says "My car won't start and my plane leaves at 1:10." His car won't start, thats just great. Ok, so we load everyone up - which means short car naps which lead to cranky children. He tells me to speed. About halfway to the airport he gets a text saying the plane is delayed. Whew, he'll make it. Well, the plane was very delayed and his connecting flight in Detroit is also delayed. He may still be in Detroit as I write this. So, Billy's gone and I have to work tonight. I keep the nursery at a local church on Sunday and Wednesday nights. I have lost nap time and I need a shower. I send all the kids upstairs and lock the doors and take a marathon shower while AB watches Abe. Get my shower, kids play while I pack dinner for them and get ready for church. After getting everyone ready, I am gathering the necessary bags to leave and my older kids go out the door, and come back in, and go out again. I am yelling while running around like a chicken with my head cut off looking for MC's white bow saying "Stay inside, don't let the baby out, close the door, etc." (I'm not yelling at them, I just have to yell so they can hear me from my various locations in the house) So, I'm in the kitchen checking off my mental list of things I need and they come in wide eyed saying there is a bird in the house. Yes. A bird flew in my front door and was in our front room perched on the blinds trying to figure out how to fly through the window. I open the front door, get a broom, and try to get the bird to fly out the door. Not happening. At this point I am running late. I start lecturing to my children that this is why you should obey mommy and stay inside, until I am ready to leave. Yeah, because birds ALWAYS fly in my house when you don't obey - nevermind that your little brother could get runover in the street.

Billy's out of town, and I have a bird in my house which is not cooperating at all. The bird would fly from my blinds to the top of the china cabinet and then back. So, what do I do? Realizing I need help, I ask the neighbor (who is getting in the car to take his family to a cook out with his NEW BOSS) to come assist - thankfully he did. So here we go, I have a broom trying to wave the bird out the door and my neighbor is scaring him out of our front room. Well, rather than flying out the door, he flies up above the door into a window. (for those who haven't been to my house, I have a two story foyer and den with windows all around the top). The bird flies from window to window while I am waving a broom to try and divert him to an exit. While all this is going on my oldest daughter and one of her friends are screaming "Don't kill it, Don't kill it." The bird spots a window without blinds, thinks he has a clean getaway and knocks himself out flying into the window. I run to get paper towels before it regains conciousness but I'm too late. Stunned the bird hobbles down the steps and back into the front room - right past an open door. By this point it has regained all of its faculties and we manage to get it into the 1/2 bath. I close the door and my neighbor goes in and opens that window, takes off the screen and shoos the bird outside. I'm late, he's late, and he's sweating profusely. Just another day at the Ivey's.

Hula Hoop Contest at the Pool

2008-07-12T21:55:00.000-05:00

Fun Friday at the Pool

2008-07-12T21:53:00.000-05:00

We went to the rec center pool Friday night for DJ on the deck. A fun time was had by all as we swam and listened to music. Ben and MC are becoming very good swimmers, if I would do lessons they would probably lose their apprehension about water over their heads, but right now I am enjoying keeping them in water they can touch in. Abe has NO fear and thinks he can swim. If I try to put floaties on him, he bites holes in them. This way everyone stays where they can touch and I try to keep Abe under raps.

My Kids and Sex and the City

2008-07-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't been a good blogger. My camera is broken, and I know all 2 of you want pictures, so I haven't been posting. Hopefully I can get a new camera soon and be up and rolling again.

So, I took my kids to see the new Disney movie WALL-e. Met Billy for dinner last night, he took Abe and the rest of us, plus one friend went to the movies. We got in, settled into our seats and the previews began. I was a little horrified when the new Batman preview started (its kind of scary to little girls), followed by the Mummy, and another scary preview. At this point I am very upset. The theatre was filled with small children to see a G movie about a robot. The following two previews were a bit tamer, but definately not geared toward children. At this point I am writing letters to Disney, while still confused about why they would be marketing these movies to child audiences. Disney is supposed to be the king of marketing right? Well, finally the feature presentation screen comes up and I excitedly tell my kids...Here is comes! Well, low and behold they put the wrong reel on...there in front of a room full of children comes Sex and the City.

I was relieved that Disney is not that stupid, upset that these kids watched horrifying previews, and laughing about the mix-up at the same time. As we exited the theatre we were handed free movie passes for the next visit. Thankfully no one had nightmares at my house last night.

Closing Ceremonies...

2008-06-17T23:12:00.000-05:00

Just a few pictures from Ben's closing ceremonies for T-ball. It was a fun season, and Ben is ready for fall ball to start!

I don't know if this is common in all leagues, but the ceremonies started with a prayer given by a local pastor. It was really neat to me, given that moments of silence are preferred in these politically correct days.

What a Week!!!

2008-06-16T22:01:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy week here in TN. Billy was sick for 3 days with fever/chills/headache. He is such a big help, so when he is sick I have to fly solo.

9 Years...

We celebrated our 9th anniversary Thursday. In 9 years we have moved 8 times, Billy has had 6 jobs, and we have welcomed 4 Ivey's into the world. That's just amazing to me. It seems like we have been together forever, but yet like it was only yesterday. I love him more today than 9 years ago.

Anna Beth had "her week" at my mom's last week. She went to a theatre camp and then performed as a servant in Sleeping Beauty twice on Saturday. I went to the afternoon show, and Billy caught the evening one. It was really amazing what they accomplished in a week!

My whole family was together for dinner on Saturday. One of my brothers has a little boy 6 months younger than Ben. They are so cute and really love each other. They do get a little wild when they are together, but its fun. My other brother has a 20 month old little boy, so we can't wait until he and Abe start really interacting and acting as wild as the other two.

Uncle Todd and the 1 year olds.

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant on Sunday (my dad's choice) and then rolled out a slip and slide and a filled up a pool for the kids. I sat on the deck and read a book while the kids played and all the dads watched golf all afternoon.

Big 4 year old buddies!

Happy Fathers Day Papa!

Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

Billy had a meeting today, so we went to see my grandmother and then race home for closing ceremonies for t-ball. I'll post some pics of that tomorrow. This is MC's week at Mimi's (she's actually coming home Wednesday) so all of them have had some one on one time with Mimi and Papa this summer. They LOVE being there. My parents live in a house my great grandfather built to be apartments in the 1940s. My moms sister and my mom's brother have houses built on the family property, which I lovingly refer to as the "compound." There is always a great aunt or ucle to spoil them, and more cousins and second cousins to play with than anyone could imagine. Its just fun to be there!

Prayer Requests...

2008-06-10T23:00:00.001-05:00

Please pray for a friend of mine who had a miscarraige this week. Also, my neighbor lost his job today. He is the sole provider for a family of 6.

Thanks...

Gas Prices

2008-06-09T22:32:00.000-05:00

OK...So we are 1 penny away from the $4 a gallon mark here in middle TN. I have done my share of complaining over the last year. I want to live closer to town (whine), I drive 35-40 minutes for my kids to go to preschool (whine), this house isn't my forever house (more whining), you get the picture. If you don't know, we live in a GREAT house (nicer than anyone needs, really), with an awesome yard, and have great neighbors. It is my choice to send the kids to pre-school where they go. I am so ready to be settled and never pack boxes EVER again. God is continually molding me and helping me to realize what matters. Try to follow me here...

About 2 years ago as I was complaining about wanting granite countertops and leather furniture, I happened to watch a Dateline-ish show and cried through most of it. Kids right her in the good ole USA who would have loved to have my "mediocre" house. At one little boys pre-kindergarten assessment, he couldn't tell the teacher how many meals you eat a day. Not because he couldn't count, but because he didn't have 3 meals a day. Another family ran out of money at the end of the month and had to get restaurant creamers watered down with water to have "milk" for the babies. I vowed then be more thankful for the things I have, rather than focusing on what I don't. I may not have a lot of things, but I have NEVER worried about my children having milk.

Fast forward to now. Gas is going up at about 10 cents a gallon every week. I have not been real happy about it, and it really cuts into the monthly budget. I have whined about it uncontrolably for the past year. Then I started reading blogs. Most of the blogs I read are about Ethiopian adoption. A friend of a friend is adopting from there, and I just link to all her blogs she reads. On occasion these people post videos and article about Africa. Children are sick and dying in Ethiopia from yet another famine and these people have to walk long distances to receive medical care. There is 1 doctor for every 26,000 children. In one story a woman walked 10 km go get her baby medical care. In another, a woman was facing the choice of taking her sick child 30 km for care and leaving her healthy child behind or letting her sick child die so she could stay with the healthy one. Africans walk, on average, 6 miles a day to get water. (Most Americans walk 6 miles a month.) And I complain about gas being $4 a gallon? While I have decided to try and not complain anymore, my eyeballs are probably about to pop out of their sockets as I watch the numbers when I fill up!

Life is Good...

2008-06-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

AB and Olivia at the petting zoo.

Abe barked at the goats.

Notice the alligator swimming overhead.

Wow, what a week! I have been a little under the weather and tired, so I haven't updated on most of it.
Our neighbor and good friends are adopting a beautiful baby girl. She was born last Tuesday and it was supposed to be a pretty open and shut private adoption. Well, the hospital where she was delivered caused a bit of a stir and after a week of waiting, they brought her home this past Tuesday. They have 3 children (and one in heaven) so I got the call Tuesday to see if I could watch them while they picked the baby up. So I had 7 kids in all running around Tuesday afternoon. 4 of which were 3 and under - it was a little crazy but all went smoothly. Pray for this family and the birth family as the adoption is finalized through the next phases. (pics of the family are posted on weloveourlucy blog listed on the side of my page if you want to look at them)

Wednesday was pool time and church. Thursdays pics are on the blog, and today we went to the zoo. Nashville zoo is awesome!!! We saw the whole thing today. I was a little concerned about the heat, but the zoo's paths are mostly shaded so we stayed cool until the end. I did learn a little something about route planning. We ended our day going to "Africa" to see the elephants and giraffes. To reach that phase of the zoo you have to go uphill and it is NOT mostly shaded. Actually it is mostly not shaded. Pushing a double stroller in 90 degree heat in the sun was well, not the highlight of the trip - next time we will start here and then move toward the shady parts as the temperature rises. Everyone enjoyed the day, Abe was such a trooper and contently sat in the stroller the whole time (content and Abe don't necessarily belong in the same sentence).

We listened to Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus (I don't understand why there are two of them) on the way home, they know all the songs and sing very loud. It was then that I realized I know the words to most of the songs too. Comes with having an almost tween and I actually like the one called Let's Dance.

I have loved watching AB and Olivia this week. They do these hand games, put on performances, and have been so good. Last night as I was tucking them in, somehow college came up. I have visions of them staying friends forever and being roommates at Alabama (sorry David). Olivia asked me if they had to go to college and I quickly responded yes, of course you do. Anna Beth's response was, I am going to be a stay at home mom so why do I have to go to college? Rather than get into that discussion with an 8 year old I just had her name stay at home mom's she knew. Thankfully, about 90% are college graduates. They ended the conversation saying they were going to be roommates! I kissed them goodnight, they asked if they could whisper, I said yes as long as I can't hear you and I didn't until 8 this morning.

Life is good...

It's TOO hot in TN!

2008-06-05T23:19:00.000-05:00

All the girls at the pool.

Abe getting wet.

Abe trying a different angle.

MC trying to boogie board with a kick board.

Its been a busy week here. Ben stayed at my mom's house, and we brought Olivia, Anna Beth's best friend from Birmingham, home with us. Normally I like to go to the pool in the morning, lunch, naps, and play outside in the afternoon. The temp here is normally in the low 80s this time of year. Well, its been in the low 90s everyday and humid. So, we have adjusted the schedule to play outside in the morning, before it gets too hot, naps and then the pool. Took the 4 I have and 2 girls from across the street to the pool today. We are going to the zoo tomorrow. Hopefully we won't melt!

More Pics from Today

2008-06-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

On Walking and Potty Training

2008-05-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are doing what we will do almost everyday all summer...going to the pool. We joined the local recreation center which has a beach entry pool. It's great for the little ones. They absolutely love it, and are turning blonde and tan already!

Two milestones were met this week at the Ivey home. Merrie Cannon is potty trained and Abe is walking. For the first time in over 3 years I went to Target for my bi-monthly necessities trip and bought diapers for....1 child. YIPPEE!!! MC turned 3 the beginning of the month, and she has been changing her own pull-up (without being told) for about 4 months. Everytime I would try to get her to potty she would cry. I don't mean whine a little, I mean crocodile tears. Given the fact that she goes to preschool, is in the nursery at church, etc. during the school year I haven't really pushed, but this week was going to be "the week." School's out, no Wednesday night church, no bible study, I was determined to make it happen this week. Well, lo and behold, she just started
going all by herself. So check that off the list.

Abe has also started walking. He was 16 months old yesterday, so I was starting
to get a little worried. (All of the others walked between 10 and 13 months.) I was
also tired of wincing as he crawled across the aggregate driveway - the skinned
knees didn't bother him a bit. He has replaced skinned knees with a bruise on
his chin, bruise under his eye, and a fat lip. These injuries, however, did bring a tear
or two!

All this to say, I'm a little sad. I guess God let them stay babies a little longer to protect my heart. It's been kind of like when they learn to swing themselves. I remember longing for that when Anna Beth and Ben were small and trying to teach them to swing. Then one day its "Hey look mom, I can do it myself!" My heart sank and suddenly there is something else I am not needed for anymore. But that is what parenting is all about. Teaching your kids to be independent and do for themselves. Its just hard to let go sometimes.

About not feeling needed...I just got a call from Anna Beth, she stayed in Atlanta with Billy's mom. She is my child who would rather be anywhere that home. Poor baby has a stomach bug and through tears asked me to please come get her. My heart sank...It's 10 pm and I can't. I want to, but it's at least a 4 hour drive. I know she will be well taken care of (probably better than here, considering she has no competition there, and she would be 1 of 4 here). I guess there are always times when you just need your momma.

More Pics

2008-05-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday girls!

Ben

Big sister/Little Brother

Silly Girls!

Memorial Weekend at Mimi and PawPaw's

2008-05-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

The six of us traveled to Atlanta to visit Billy's mom and step dad for the weekend. I am always tentative to leave home, because there is always things to do around here, but we enjoyed a much needed relaxing time with family. Billy's mom has a pool, so we spent most of our time in the water or in my case on the deck enjoying the sun. Anna Beth is a fish and has been swimming since she was 2 1/2. Ben kicked around the pool with floaties, Abe floated in a crab, and Merrie Cannon (my prissy little girl) put her toes in and then went in to play with her babies. When asked if she wanted to swim she would snarl her little nose and say "It's too cold." We also got to spend time with Billy's brother Scott's family. Scott and his wife Alison have 2 children - Will is 5 weeks older than my Ben and Emily is 2 weeks younger than Merrie Cannon. It is so much fun seeing the cousins together! Will and Ben exchanged "potty*" words (apparently this normal for 4 year old boys) and MC and Emily had a joint birthday celebration. Scott is an amazing musician and decided to enter the ministry full time last fall. Little did anyone know that God would lead them to California, what an exciting time for them! We love you guys! (I, selfishly, am going to try and pray them to Middle Tennessee) *potty words in this case are not curse words, just words that you wish children would reserve for the bathroom

Anna Beth the Fish

Abe's Fauxhawk

Ben and Will ready for the pool