LIFE IS GOOD!  

     
I just saw a car tag that said this earlier this morning and it got me to thinking… LIFE. IS. GOOD!!!  Our family, friends, jobs, and even our crazy home is GOOD! So here is the deal…

       Collins, my sweet darling boy, is no longer a “baby”.  He has sprinted through infancy and is now walking, eating textured foods (well trying to), growing, cutting teeth like crazy (has four on top 3 on bottom), laughing insanely, and babbling like it his job.  He steals sighs of insane love from me all of the time.  I look at him and I am IN LOVE!!!!  He is the happiest baby, but not only that, he is just bursting with joy. 

       Charlie Kate is such a big girl, saying her own prayers at night, brushing her own teeth (in the ‘morning), picking out clothes for herself, agh!  I’m so proud of her and just love her funny personality!  She is obsessed with snakes now and tells me how to kill them every day.  “Mommy, if you want to kill a snake, you go get daddy!”  “We run really fast”.!!  HA! She makes me crazy with her ‘threeness’, if that could be a word.  She is learning all about play time, quiet time, calm down time, and Time-Out!

       We moved from our house to my parent’s old house!  Woo Hoo!  Jon and I had always imagined how we would love to have some land and thought of ways to make that happen.  All of this just happened because it is what God wanted.  We definitely didn’t really help with making it happen very much.  We considered buying their house, but I couldn’t quite get the kitchen to be what I wanted from a kitchen when we were thinking of the renovation.  So we dismissed it for several months.  The house we thought we wanted fell through and we were looking and looking and looking.  Ugh, the looking!!!  Jon got a notification on his app that a house came on the market… it was my parent’s old house.  The relocation company bought it from them and then re- listed it so…. Jon got to thinking again and came up with a pretty cool idea to make that kitchen how we want.  The next thing we know we are moving in to the house I grew up in!!  Oh, and on one of the only snow/ ice days in February!  Ha!  It makes for a good story as does most of our life.

       So Collins and Charlie Kate loved the snow that continued to come down following the days after the move.  We were staying with Katy for a few days and then moved over to Dan and Leann’s for a week while some work was happening to the kid’s rooms.  It all worked out great since Dan and Leann were gone to China to get Finn!!!!  Yes, he is finally ours and it is so right and good!  He is just the perfect addition to our family.  Charlie Kate is all about learning sign language so she can tell Finn “I wuv you”.

       We celebrated Charlie Kate’s 3^rd birthday, but I’m not sure I have accepted it!  I keep telling people she is 2, Ha!  We had a combined party with Sam Medley and it was fantastic!  Charlie Kate was Minnie Mouse and Sam was a little baseball player.  Sam wore his red birthday shoes and Charlie Kate gave it a good 5 minutes for the Minnie mouse ears.  Papa did great on the cake as always.  We even got to celebrate with grandma since she was in town on Charlie Kate’s actual birthday.  We went to Chuck-E- Cheese’s.  I, personally, would feel better if everyone would wipe the bottoms of their shoes before entering my car after going to Chuck-E- Cheese- Florence location… It feels greasy to me, but Charlie Kate loves it, so…

We are still renovating.  It will be a year or two before we get everything done, maybe longer.  Right now we are focusing on the mudroom, laundry, playroom, master bath and master closet.  It feels like we live in chaos!  Oh wait, we do!  The kid’s rooms are done besides flooring and it is nice outside… those two things keep me from going crazy!

We are at the end of training to become foster/adoptive parents, and are becoming more and more aware that it will be some time before we can pass a ‘walk through’ with the crazy that is happening in our home at the moment.  So, I am getting very motivated to come to a halt so we can get certified!!!

I feel like a failure, of course, because I haven’t posted nearly as much for Collins as I did with Charlie Kate.  Then when I really think about it, is it a bad thing? Yes, he won’t have as many things to read of himself later on, and he may read into it that it wasn’t important to me to record every ounce of his beautiful life… BUT I AM PRESENT.  I am present in his life, loving on him and Charlie Kate, playing, hugging, grocery shopping, teaching them to play together, teaching sister not to torture him with tickles or roll on top of him, teaching him to walk and teaching CK not to push him over, feeding him, rocking him, watching him sleep, keeping sister from waking him up, and kissing his delicious face.  So, when guilt sets in, I have to stop and look at what it is that I DO, and the reasons I don’t have a perfect memory book or memory blog for that matter.  I guess I just hope that his memories and his security take over any time he might wonder why we didn’t record as much of his baby years.   

Dear Collins and Charlie Kate,

This time in both of your lives is just so sweet! I wish I could record all of it for you to see how much you love each other now.  I know there will be times in your lives when you don’t enjoy each other very much but this is pure joy to watch when you play together and see each other first thing in the morning.  It breaks Charlie Kate’s heart when she can’t get in bed with you to play right when you wake up, Collins.  Charlie Kate, Collins claws at my legs to get across to you during church.  I hope you enjoy each other this much forever and stay super close always!

Here is our prayer for your relationships with our family:

God, please hold tight the bond of our children.  Keep them together through the tough times in life, and please help us to teach them loyalty to you and each other.  We pray that they go and have adventures and experiences in order to gain wisdom and humility, but that they are drawn back to family throughout their lives.  We hope to instill in them the value of family and overall, the value of your family.  Thank you for these two precious blessings!! It is in Jesus’ name we pray these things.  Amen

Happy 2015! So Long 2014!

Happy 2015!  So long 2014!

Actually 2014 was such a good year for us!  It passed much faster than I wanted. There was a lot of new...

Family News

Our family has gained a lot and experienced a lot of change.  We have a new sister in-law, Morgan.  She is a blessing to our family.  It’s apparent that she loves Jeremy, Alex, and Race!  What an answer to prayer. 

        We have a brand new nephew and one on the way!  Jarrod Emory Burgess, Jeb, arrived not long after his big brother, Bennie, turned one in September.  Matt and Whitney are taking on the challenge of such a close age, and don’t seem to have to beg for the grandparents to help when they need it.  I am thrilled that Collins will have such close boy cousins get into mischief with, of course when we aren’t looking.    Finn is on the way as soon as Dan and Leann get travel approval to go get him from China!  They will spend two weeks there with him and then bring him home to his FOREVER family!  We are all anxiously waiting for him.  I will be so relieved to know that he will begin… to feel strong bonds, relationships that are steadfast, a relationship with God and learn about Jesus.  There are so many things that he will have the opportunity to begin once he is with us, and I am so glad to be a part of it.  I’m sure that the only expectation that we are allowed is, it will be an awesome experience for all of us.  God will do the hard stuff.

By the way…

        Oh and our house is still on the market! We love our house and what we have made of it, but it is time for more room, and maybe no stairs! Since Charlie Kate has fallen down our stairs once and another set of stairs once, we feel the need for stairs to be in someone else’s house, not ours.  

The new dynamic and Charlie Kate                                            

 The first seven months of Collins’ life have been fast forwarded.  I think that what people have been telling me about time speeding up once you have kids is true.  I am getting to witness sibling love from a perfect seat.  Charlie Kate is very vocal with her actions of her love for Collins.  She has taken on several responsibilities and is helping take care of him every chance she gets.  Now that he is a giggle box , Charlie Kate loves making him laugh.  Collins looks at her as if he is seeing her for the first time.  He is in awe of her when she is playing, when she is singing, or even sitting still.  She is very entertaining to us too.  She sings, Let It GO, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, Down in My Heart.  There might be other in the rotation from time to time, but those are her favorites.  The discipline is the hardest and my least favorite..  The reward from consistency, the use of a time-out, and occasional “spank-spank” is good.  She is learning boundaries and appropriate behaviors for different circumstances, but IT IS A CHALLENGE on a daily basis! Woo!  On some days she is lucky that she is so cute! ha!  This kid loves anything considered to be a treat or special snack.  So, now she wants a special juice, or special treat every day.  We are trying to teach her what “special” means. 

…Then you have Collins

Collins is sitting up so strong, crawling, and slightly pulling up.  He is a strong little boy, and happy all of the time…Almost all the time. Ha!  He is only unhappy when he is sleepy, wants to cuddle, or hungry.  He is so so so ticklish and laughs so hard when you get his belly or chin.  He still likes to be semi swaddled to sleep, but always gets out of it by the end of the night or nap.  He likes the minkie dot material on his bumpers, and cuddles with it.  He laughs at himself at his reflection and loves his car mirror.  He just talks and talks to the mirror and Charlie Kate the whole ride around town..  He is FUN!  We all like him

Dear Charlie Kate and Collins,

        This has been the Merriest of Christmases that we have ever had!  We can only look forward to the next one and the days to come and hope to cherish each moment with you.  Your laughs make our faces hurt with smiles.  Your faces are the most beautiful because of your sweet soul that beams through every expression.  Your love for each other is what we have prayed for, and what we continue to pray.  We are so proud of how you are growing and becoming you. Your personalities are delicious and we are glad for the challenges you bring to us because it means that you are still ours!

Happy NEW Year!

Love, Mommy and Daddy