You have GOT to be kidding me....!!!!

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. Would you believe I went off and forgot my camera. So, I have NO pictures of our day! Well here is my day today:

Two days before we got out for the Thanksgiving holidays, Bella got strep throat and I missed those 2 days of school. Today was our first day back and she started running fever last night. Jeff is sick, so he stayed home with her. I made an appointment with the ENT for both of them at 3:30. I get a text message from Jeff at 2:30 telling me "call me... 911". Needless to say, my heart stopped as I dialed his number. He told me he wouldn't be able to get to the doctor's appointment. I asked why, to which he responded: "I am lying on the floor unable to move." I immediately knew his back had to have gone out. (This happened 3 years ago and 2 months later he had back surgery... 4 weeks after I had a hysterectomy!) I was right! He was getting out of the shower, went to turn off the water and, obviously, moved the wrong way. I had to QUICKLY find someone to take over my class so that I could hurry home to another city (I live in a different one than I work) to get to my 2 year old that could wreak some SERIOUS damage with a daddy incapacitated!!!

Did I mention that I am keeping 2 other boys? My friend and her husband had to go out of town on business for the next 2 weeks. So they are staying with us during the week. I am now responsible for getting 4 children ready for school, fed breakfast and supper, homework for 3 of them, 4 baths and 4 to bed. WOW!!! Luckily, they are VERY well-behaved boys and will be no problem at all!

Okay, now back to me rushing home.... as I am hurrying home, one of the boys begins to feel sick. As I hear him cry from the third row, I look in the back and get him a bag just in the nick of time! At the SAME time the bars go down on the train tracks and I am stuck waiting for a train to go by us! At this point, I have one throwing up, a train detaining me and I realize that my car is running on fumes!! Add to that the thoughts I am having of Bella running loose in the house with my husband laying on the floor watching things come down around him! NOT a GOOD feeling!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention I am turning 36 on Wednesday????

I called Jeff, kept him on the phone with me, pumped my gas and got home! All children have done homework, Jeff has muscle relaxers that have kicked in, Bella got her Motrin, supper is cooking and I am ready for a VACATION!!!!! Anybody want to join me????????

Anyone still out there?...

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger and I may have lost ALL of my readers, but Oct. was a BAD month for my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you remember the fall from the Target basket in my last post... well, below is a picture of Bella taken as we were leaving the hospital that day. If you look real close at her forehead, you can see the knot. Her black eye did not appear until 2-3 days later and boy was it a shiner! She has fully recovered from the fall, knot and black eye. Her surgery to remove the SUPER LARGE adenoids was successful. She is snoring less, but is still snoring a little. That will only stop once we remove the enlarged tonsils. My ENT will not do it until next summer, unless the snoring and apneas become life-threatening. She is not at that point. She is recovering from a BAD bout of strep throat. She has lost some weight in the past couple of days because of the horrible sore throat. It has truly broken our hearts to watch her suffer with this. This is the first time that she has really been sick, other than a runny nose, since she has been home. It pretty much laid her flat for a few days, and those of you that know or have seen Isabella in action, know that takes ALOT to make happen! She is starting to feel better, though.
Well... enjoy the pics below. They are from our Fall Festival. Jake was a ninja, and a very cute one, I might add. I wasn't planning to dress Bella because every store costume I tried on her, she tried to take off immediately. Jake really wanted her to dress up, so I used the dress that my friend lent me this summer when we were supposed to go to Disney (before I scheduled bunion surgery!) and made a make-shift costume. She is in love with anything Minnie Mouse or Dora. So, this worked out perfect and I think she was the CUTEST Minnie Mouse evah! (Corynn was a pretty cute one, too!)
As the holidays approach, I am going to try to be a better blogger. We are starting some new family traditions this year and I want to document them here. So, if you are still with me, please stick around... I will do better! :)


Post accident pic

Minnie Mouse

When I showed her the pic after I took it and asked her who that was, she got so excited b/c she actually thought she was looking at Minnie Mouse!

twitching her nose.... you can still see her knot and black eye, if you look closely

Bella and her BFF Hannah

My little Ninja playing a game.

Jake and his BFF, Hunter, racing boats.



As you can see, Ninja boy was NOT happy to be stopped by Mom to take a picture.



I will post pics this week of our Forever Family Day (I still haven't come up with a name I like better). We took Bella out for pizza at her favorite pizza place with my mom, dad, sister, nephew, and Jeff's dad. It was fun and surreal. It seems like it was just yesterday that we flew into an airport full of 60 or more people waiting to meet her, but yet it also feels like she has been her forever! I had to stop and think the other day about something. I went to Guatemala last July for a week, by myself, to visit. It seems like forever ago. People used to tell me that I would forget the agony of the wait and the drama of it all. I did not see how that was possible because we had DRAMA and the agony was, well, AGONY. While I remember the events and facts, I seem to have left behind the hurt, sadness, and disappointment I thought I would carry forever. I used to think I would grieve what I missed with her and never get past it, but I think God has wiped that away. I have come to realize that it all happened the way He planned it.
I am reading a book by John Bevere called The Bait of Satan. It is about the sin of offense. In it, he talks about how carrying around an offense can lead you to your own destruction. I was very angry that our attorney used us for her own agenda and stole many months with our daughter from us. But, I have come to realize that she was not more powerful than my God and that our adoption of Isabella into our family unfolded according to HIS plan. That may upset some of you, but I truly believe that to be true. My God is in charge of my destiny... I gave Him control of my life and "He knows the plans He has for me... plans to prosper and not harm..." Was it hard? Yes. Was it fair? Not in my eyes, but His ways are higher and NO ONE can stop His plan for our lives.
If you would have told me this BEFORE my heart was ready to accept it (some of you did), I would have (and was) been very angry with you. But, I can truly say this is what I believe to be true and there is such FREEDOM that I feel now. I STRONGLY recommend that you read this book. It will CHANGE you life!


Also, I have added my blogroll. I recently changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox and lost some of my blog links. If you read my blog and have ever left a comment, I would like you to leave another comment so that I can add you to my blogroll. If you are not there, it is probably because I lost your blog address and would love to "find" it again! If you don't want to be added, just let me know and I won't do it. I want to use this to check my blogs by having them all right on my blog. It will be easier for me to keep up with them! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on Bellaboo

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post an update. She did fine. The surgery did not last long at all and boy was she TICKED off when they woke her up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She truly is feisty like her Mommy! :) However, she is not feeling too well now. They said to expect a little congestion... well... she had ALOT going on last night. So much that I was awake ALL night long "jump starting" her breathing. Seriously, she was SO congested that she had to breathe through her mouth, but her throat is sore from surgery, so she would stop breathing. Then her body would surge adrenaline (or in most instances, I would nudge her) and she would start back up again. SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeff woke up in the middle of the night sick as a dog with sinus stuff. He said he felt so bad he was not expecting to wake up this morning! So, when he went in this morning to see our ENT, Isabella and I tagged along so she could get checked out. Turns out, she must have either caught something at the surgery center or she aught what jumped on Jeff. Now, she is battling congestion from surgery AND a sinus infection, running a low-grade fever and has a sore in the corner of her mouth from one of the apparatuses they used. NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!!!!

I also want to share something that happened to her Saturday (yes, her Gotcha Day). I started to not post this because of my guilt or of what some of you may say or think. But... I feel if I can change on person's mind about this, it will be worth any backlash I receive. We were in Target with my mom, sister, Jake and my aunt looking for costumes for our Fall Festival. Bella wanted to sit in the back (or is it front?... depends on your perspective, I guess) of the basket. My aunt was pushing and I was in front of Bella. I stepped away from her for a split second and, as I turned around, I watched my precious baby girl fall out on her face. Literally, fall face first onto the Target floor. I immediately screamed and picked her up and started running. My mom stopped me and told me to look at her and to let my aunt look because she is a nurse. What I saw made me nauseated. She had the BIGGEST hematoma on her forehead above her right eye that I have ever seen. I seriously did not know that your head could stretch out this far. My aunt told me to get ice and I started running for the food area. We got ice on it, the personnel called an ambulance and we were transported to the hospital.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. I never should have put her in there and you are right. But I know many people who do. That does not make it right and NOTHING you could say to me will make me feel any more guilty than I still do and probably will feel for the rest of my life. They did a CT scan and everything was fine. They could not believe she did not lose consciousness, did not vomit or have any neurological issues. I KNOW the Lord has his hand on her despite my stupidity. I WILL NEVER put her in that part of the basket again. She is like the Houdini and is able to shimmy out of anything you use to restrain her. That is why I figured she was safer there than the other part. I learned that is not the case. From now on, I will shop without her, or she will be outside of the basket.

She now has a knot on her forehead and a black eye. She looks pitiful and I only tell you this in hopes that you may avert this happening to your child or a friend's child. Please do not leave a comment telling me how stupid I was or what a bad parent I am. You may think it, but my mind does not need to hear it. If you would, though, please pray that I get the image of her falling and me not reaching her in time out of my head. It haunts me all night and throughout the day. I praise God that He had His hand on her and that he kept her safe.

Thanks to all of you that prayed for her. Please continue to pray for her speedy healing. Thursday is our Forever Family Day and I am still unsure of how to spend it. Please leave a comment letting me know how you have or how you plan to with your family.

Happy Gotcha Day, Isabella!

Today (depending on when blogger publishes it... but it should be Saturday) is Bella's Gotcha Day. It is the day that we picked her up from the hogar, where she spent the first 13 months of her life, and the day we never had to bring her back. She physically joined our family FOREVER. We have decided to celebrate Gotcha Day AND Forever Family Day. Her FFD is Oct. 30. It is the day that we landed with her in America and we were all reunited as a family. Jake did not accompany us on our pickup trip. I would like to take a trip down Memory Lane and she "what a difference a year TRULY makes". The above picture is one of my favorites. This was taken on her birthday this year.
This was also taken on her birthday, but I post it for a different reason. While her transition was, for the most part rather easy and smooth, the next picture will show you how far we have come. In this pic she is cheek-to-cheek with me and her arm is squeezing me. Scroll down to the 3rd pic and you will see quite the opposite. That one was taken on our pickup trip and you can see her hesitance and rigidness. She is only close to me because I had her in the sling. Now she hugs me because she loves me and WANTS to, not because some strange lady is pulling her close. I did not realize this then, but I began to look back at pictures tonight and it just popped out at me. A year has changed this precious little girl SO much and it has changed this Mommy SO much, too!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this picture. It makes ALL the hell and heartache we went through SO worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This does not even look like my Isabella. When I look in those big, brown eyes, I see very little emotion... very little life. A BIG contrast to the big, brown eyes in the first picture.

As some of you may remember, this is what she did if Jeff so much as looked her way.

Now.... she can't get enough of her Daddee (as she pronounces his name). The other morning as he was leaving for work, she kissed him bye and pulled him close to hug him. She said "Love you, Daddee". Jeff said this was the first time she had pulled him in for a hug. Up until that point, he was the initiator of hugging between the two of them. That showed me that we are still gaining ground that we lost in our time of being away from her.
This was taken when we got back to the hotel with her. She looks so confused and scared.

"Not quite sure of these 2 people"...

Here is where I KNOW she made the connection with me and who I was to her. This is how I fed her every time I visited. I made it a point to keep this the same. We would always lock eyes and everything and everyone else would fade... it was always just ME and HER at feeding time. I know God used that to connect us and he used it that day to show her little mind and heart that connection. I am SO thankful for that. I will NEVER forget that moment in time. It was supernatural.

I am so proud to be her Mommy and so thankful that God's ways are ALWAYS best. While I was fighting with infertility and crying "Why?!, He was patient with me and knew that my tears would one day turn to joy when I met His BEST for our family. I can honestly say, the only tears cried here these days, are tears of joy and amazement that I am SO richly blessed. And that is why I will spend today with my daughter, my son, and my husband praising my God for his "plan to prosper me and not to harm me; plans to give me hope".

Surgery

They love each other SOOO much!

She looks like she is almost a teenager! Not really... but she DOES look all grown up!

We found out today that Bella needs her adenoids removed. She was having nose bleeds over the past 2 weeks and I brought her in to see the doctor. After a blood test and some discussion, we realized it was the nose spray the ENT had given me back in September to try to shrink her adenoids and stop the runny noses she was getting. Well, it stopped the runny noses, started the nose bleeds and did not shrink the adenoids. The blood work showed that she is a little anemic since she will not eat red meat and the doctor wants us to add a vitamin with iron. (I must say that I was relieved that that was all it was in her blood work.) She sent me to the ENT because her tonsils are big, but not infected.

Let me give you a little history. Bella has always snored and sounded like a old man breathing. We first visited her at a month old and she was doing it then. I even asked our attorney to have her checked out in Guatemala, but she refused. Anyway... she is starting to have mild apnea's and "choke" in her sleep. She is always breathing through her mouth and has trouble chewing with her mouth closed. Well, the ENT did a x-ray and, man, you should see her adenoid pad. HUGE!!!!! He said her tonsils are large for a child her age, but they will not remove them until she is at least 2 1/2 years old. He said their is less risk of complications. Jake had his removed at 2 1/2 years old. He said he thinks this will help with the snoring and mouth breathing, but will not eliminate it until the big 'ole tonsils are gone. I decided to do it Monday since she is well is right now. Recovery time is 2-4 days and I will be home with her. I am going to use up my 4 sick days that I am allowed, but it will be worth it. Jeff is out of vacation and sick days. I wouldn't have been able to leave her anyway.

I find out tomorrow what time the surgery will be and I will post it for those of you that want to pray. I am a little nervous about her being put to sleep since I do not know her family medical history. But, I know it is a minor surgery and could be alot more serious. I will keep you posted and thanks, in advance for your prayers.

THANKS SBP and the saga of the 5th broken bone...

To my SBP: BIG thanks to you!!!! My kiddos LOVED their goodies!!! Isabella jumped up and down so much you would have sworn it was Christmas morning over here. Jake, of course, was thrilled with his TN Titans shirt. He wore it Saturday and tried to sneak it on for church Sunday morning. :) I had a horrible day the day it arrived. It was so nice to drive up and see the package waiting for us. It could not have come at a better time. My husband tried to google the return address so he could figure out who sent it, but I would not allow it! LOL I like surprises and want to wait for the unveiling. Now... I just have to return the love to my SBP. I plan to do that this weekend. I hope they enjoy theirs as much as we enjoyed ours! Thanks again!!!!!! (I wanted to post pics, but blogger is NOT cooperating with me tonight.)

Jake broke his pinkie finger on his right hand (and, yes, he IS right-handed!) last Sunday. He was playing football with Jeff and his sister and tried to block the ball from Jeff (he was successful!). I spent my Columbus holiday in the doctor's office for 4 hours with 4 children. I was watching my friend's 2 boys. They behaved well, but you can only keep 4 children under the age of 9 quite and still for so long. This is the 5th bone he has broken in his fingers. They would not cast it because he did not break it at the growth plate, but just above it. It WAS the only bone NOT broken at the growth plate. Anyway, the doc told him to be careful and stay still so that it could heal. YEAH RIGHT. For those of you that know Jake, that is NOT going to happen . He lives life WIDE OPEN. So, we return in 2 weeks (Halloween) and will see if it is healed.

That is all for now. I will try to post some new pics soon, but my few readers know that I have good intentions, but life usually interrupts them.... ;)

Birthday Pics... better late than never! :)

As promised, here are birthday pictures. As I made this montage, I could not help but cry tears of joy as I thought back to this time last year. Things were really bad with our adoption and we could only see the end through the eyes of faith. God is faithful and these pictures prove it! What a time of celebration we had this year.

"We love you, Jake and Isabella.... you are truly gifts straight from God!"

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Today is Jake and Isabella's birthday!! He turned 9 and she turned 2. Jake is so excited that he "only has one more year and then he is double digits!" (his words) We did a combo party today. This was Isabella's first-ever birthday party. She was still in Guatemala last year. We did our tradition of Chuck E. Cheese last night and they had a blast! Today we had the party at an indoor inflatable place and had 20 children attend. Bella was not the least bit scared of any of the slides or jumpers. She got LOTS of Dora toys, had a Dora cake and ran herself ragged. Jake got LOTS of cool things, had a baseball cookie cake and is still going STRONG! :)

I am going to get supper so we can eat and watch our LSU Tigers win a ball game! I will post pictures as soon as I go through the 100 or so of them (no kidding!)

It was so nice to have both of my children home and be able to celebrate their precious lives with all of our friends and family!

Back!!!!

Well, I would like to start things off by saying that your concern and prayers and packages were greatly appreciated by my family! While I was doing my share of complaining to Steph, I never imagined that people would send things to us. The first few days after the storm were miserable, to say the least. It was hot, traffic was horrible, lines were long and life here was altered. Things are slowly getting back to normal. For those of you that have never experienced the after effects of a hurricane, let me tell you that even a few days of "altered" life is difficult!

We went through Katrina with Jake, but my parents never lost power and so, once the storm was over, we were able to stay with them and Jake never really knew anything had happened. Not so with Gustav!! It was EXTREMELY hard on Isabella. She has been with us a little over 10 months now, and I can attest to the fact that change is hard on adopted children. This hit her really hard. She has shown alot of regression. She will not let me out of her sight, is having many meltdowns, is aggressive and experiencing night terrors. Her appetite has changed and she is just not herself! After our Easter break and my being with her for that week of vacation, she showed a few signs of regression, but it only lasted a few days and then she was back to normal. After summer, it was a little worse. But this storm and the uncertainty of our days and nights, as well as her daily schedule being disrupted, has really taken a toll on her.

On Friday of last week, I was told that it would be 21 days before the power guys would be able to get to our lines. All of our lines are buried, but we are hooked to an older neighborhood and that neighborhood was hit hard. It was unbelievable to see... BIG oak trees uprooted with the ground underneath still attached to the base, trees through houses, power lines twisted into a huge mess of tangles. Anyway, I could tell that Bella was having a hard time and that it was escalating. I KNEW something had to give and so I began praying HARD. I reminded God that the report may not be good, but that HE was more than able to give us favor and have our electricity restored quicker than the 21 days. My daughter needed it for her emotional well-being more than we needed it for our comfort level! Well, within a few days, we saw a DEMCO worker in the other neighborhood and stopped to ask if they were still assessing the damage or coming to work. He told us that this was one of the hardest and worse hit areas he had worked. He did not understand why, but that someone decided to call in 30 trucks to work it and that they wanted it done fast. He said that those guys descended on the place and got busy. Well, I just smiled knowing that my prayers were heard and that my God had answered!!! God knows a mother's heart and he moved mountains for us! I know that He will continue to be there and give us wisdom in helping Isabella feel secure again and see us through this time.

Also, our governor, Bobby Jindal did a fantastic job with his recovery plan. He would not accept anything less than over 100% and required that everything was done to speed things up. I truly hope he runs for president one day! Things are still not back to normal here, but they are getting there. Traffic lights are still down, making it quite difficult to get around. Some people are still without power and emotions are running a little high. But... we will survive. Hopefully, we will not get a visit from another hurricane this year!

The care packages that we received from some of you meant so much. The stores that were open that first week were limited and the lines were so long. It was good not to have to put Bella through waiting in them because we had what we needed and more! I truly don't know how she would have handled it. Terry, Tommy's mom, was so incredible to us. She brought us a lot of things a few days after the storm and it really meant so much to me. We have never met, even though we live near each other (it just hasn't worked out yet) and yet, she thought of us and met a need. I am so grateful for all of you in blogland that reached out. While, we were not hit nearly as hard as others in our area, it was hard on our family because of it still being in that time of transition for Isabella. You all will never know how much it meant to us to open those packages and realize that people were thinking of us and hearing the comments you posted as Steph read them to me. She was so great to me... listening to me many times a day. I pray that God blesses each of you in a GREAT way!

Please pray for the residents of Texas over the next few days. They will need it. I just found out that one of the levees in New Orleans has been broken from the storm surge and houses are flooded. I don't know that many people evacuated New Orleans because it was headed to Texas, but please keep them in your prayers. I know some of them are feeling some of the feelings that experienced in Katrina.

Jake is in New York this weekend. He left with my Daddy today. I was supposed to go with my mom and Isabella, but the storm and the uncertainty of Ike changed our plans. I talked to him tonight and he is BEYOND excited,. He will be seeing the Yankees play the second-to-last game in Yankee stadium Sunday. His dream is to play for the Yankees when he grows up! "Thanks, Daddy and Mom, for making part of his dream come true!"

Please keep Isabella in your prayers... that she would be comforted, feel secure and get past this. Both her and Jake will have their birthday next Saturday. She will be 2 and he will be 9. This will be her first birthday party. Last year she was still in the orphanage. Jake decided he wanted to do his party with her this year, so we combined them. I think it will be FUN!!!

Have a great weekend!!

July pics!

Bella is a CLIMBER!! She used Jake's step stool to climb into the sink to brush her teeth! I happened to walk past the bathroom and caught this glimpse out the corner of my eye.











When did he grow up?

Bella and her Poppa (my Daddy... the BEST Daddy in the Whole Wide World!)

Don't leave your shoes lying around.. she WILL steal them... a girl after my own heart! LOL


Bella's 1st Fourth of July in America!

This is Bella's BFF, Averi Rose.

She just LOVES babies, especially Averi!

Here is my Daddy with his grandchildren on the 4th.



I was going through some pictures and came across these and realized that July was so busy, I had not posted any pictures. So, I figured... better late than never!!

Today was my first day back at work. Teachers had to report for meetings and class preparation. Bella started her 2 year old class. I was really worried about how she would do. I did worse than she did! When I got to her class to pick her up, she was all smiles. She had a GREAT day. It was so HARD to leave her, but I feel so much better knowing that she is going to be fine. She is such a trooper.

Jeff has not had a chance to touch up my Florida pics yet. he said he would have it done by this weekend at the latest. I am anxious, but am too busy this week to try to do it myself, so I will have to be patient.

We did make it to FL, but had an interesting trip!

This is not the best picture of me or of Bella, but I just LOVE the way Jake is leaning on my shoulder. The 2 loves of my life! The other love of my life was behind the camera (where he usually is when it is picture-taking time!)

We told Jake to "work it" for the camera and, of course, he turned on his silly personality and gave us this look. Man, I love this kiddo!!
I LOVE this picture of my handsome little man! When did he grow up??!!
Beautiful brown-eyed baby girl!!


Well, we made it to Florida and are back. Jeff felt good enough to leave that Saturday morning, but Jake got sick that night in the middle of the night. Thank God, Bella and I did not end up getting sick! Jeff hurt his wrist trying to throw Jake up for a flip in the swimming pool. We found out when we got home that the cartilage is torn from the bone and he may require surgery! He also had a tooth abscess that night. The next day, he and Jake were snorkeling near the pier and the current was pulling him. He was trying to get back to the pier and he brushed the barnacles with his other hand and cut all of his fingertips!! I was almost scared to get in a car and ride home with him! :)LOL

Jeff took some great pictures on the pier overlooking the bay. When we told Bella to smile, she began striking poses. It was hilarious! I won't share them with you yet, because I am still deciding which ones I want to use in my new blog header.... I am getting a blog makeover SOON! I am SO excited. So stay tuned for that...

Well, my summer is officially over on Tuesday. Teachers have to report for duty and work in classrooms. I will be moving up from kindergarten to third grade. That means I will be Jake's teacher. It should be an interesting year!! :)

I have been so busy traveling this summer that I am WAY behind on my blogs that I read. I hope to catch up and get back into blogging on my own. I hope I still have some readers out there that have stuck with me. If you are still reading this, please post a comment so that I know someone still visits here.

Have a great weekend!!

Florida Trip (a little late...)

I know... I have been MIA. We have had a busy summer. At the end of June, we went to Clear Water, FL and spent a weekend in Destin. Here are some of our pictures. We are supposed to leave for Destin in the morning (Friday), but Jeff just started throwing up as I was typing this post. So, we will see... I have not been able to post more frequently because Bella has been extremely clingy. I am thinking it is because we have deviated from our schedule and not been home much in the last month. The kids and I just got back from Houston for a week and I just finished packing for Florida. I pray this is not a stomach virus that caused my husband to upchuck!! Enjoy the pics!!!






These next 2 pictures were not posed. I just looked up and this is what they were doing. It just melts my heart!







Is this a diva or what??!!



She had ENOUGH of the car!!
Jake with his 2 best buddies in the world, Zak and Matt.
The boys went to see the Astros play Tampa while we were there. Jake got to run the bases after the game. He was beyond PUMPED!!




If we leave in the morning, as planned, I will post pics as soon as I can. Jeff is going to take some beach pics of the kiddos for me and then I am getting a blog make-over. I cannot wait!!! Please pray that Jeff feels better. Jake is SO looking forward to this trip with his best friend. We are going with friends that moved to Houston and we rarely get to see anymore. Have a GREAT weekend!!