Upward

This winter the boys have been participating in our local Upward basketball program. This was the first year the boys have participated and I have only the best of things to say about it. Nathan played on one of the kindergarten and first grade teams, he was one of the older kids and totally took advantage of it. He was taller, faster and his motor skills were way more developed. He loved it and was the highest scoring player on his team. Nicolas played with the older kids, fifth and sixth grade kiddos. He did an amazing job, he may have found his calling folks! He was aggressive, competitive but more importantly had great sportsmanship. At each game the kids are given a star to put on their uniform. Each star is a different color with a different meaning, the green is for participation, white for most Christ-like, yellow for sportsmanship and so on. This has been a wonderful sport and we are sad to see the season end. Last night at the Upward end of season celebration a Christian magician ( as featured on Oprah!!) came to perform for about 200 or so of us. He was amazingly talented and really funny. The reason I mention this is because at the end of the presentation he began to pray over all of us and asked all those who were unsure of Christ to come up (all the rest of the crowd had their eyes closed, so those going forward would not be embarrassed), then he asked if all of those in need of prayer would come up, when all was said and done 44 people accepted Christ into their hearts or with prayer mended a tattered relationship with Him, it was an amazing and loving experience. I love to see people find the Lord, it is so inspiring to me, and the feeling in the room as it happened was overwhelming in a loving way.

As soon as this snow lets up it's on to baseball for two of the four kiddos. Isaac will get to participate for the first time in something so he is super excited and I'm sure we will all enjoy watching this little wild child out on the field.

Snow, snow go away

Yummy Yummy thanks Grandma

This is for my Grandma, thank you so much for the magazine. This is one of those look what I made pics. Monkey Bread...it was....DELICIOUS! So delicious in fact I had to make two of them. I made the first one for my lovely ladies at WOW and the boys and I were all salivating over it so bad I had to make another one for us to eat that night. This is one recipe I will absolutely make again it was wonderful, thanks Grandma! Love you:)

Not Me Monday

So this is my very first "Not me Monday" so here it goes, I hope to read some of your too, don't leave me hanging here all by myself.
I absolutely did not take a two hour nap with Isaac today nope not me that would be so lazy of me. I did not watch television last night while my darling hubby cleaned the kitchen after dinner. Me? Are you kidding I ALWAYS clean the kitchen right after dinner with absolutely no help from anyone. I do not have a mountain of laundry to move today, nope not me I always keep up with all the dirty stocks and stinky clothes all these boys accumulate. I didn't leave the gym today in such a hurry that I forgot my keys in my locker, nope wasn't me who could ever be that forgetful! And right now I do not hear my children arguing over who gets the next turn on the PSP, I wouldn't allow that, I would be right in there dissolving the situation. Well that wasn't so embarrassing go ahead what did you not do this week?
MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.opy.jpg"/>

Growing pains...

As we close in on April, I find myself preoccupied with all these feelings. It's been a very difficult 11 months. In case you missed it I will do a short recap. Last April my husbands teenage son came to live with us, less than a month later my grandfather passed away, and only a few shorts months after that my other grandfather passed away. So so many changes have happened. I feel so blessed with all that has been given but I still feel such loss and change in my heart. I love my stepson dearly and pray every day that God will teach me to guide him and be supportive of him. I feel completely lost sometimes raising a teenager, and sometimes long for the days when most days I felt like I knew what I was doing. Making pb & J sandwiches and singing along to Barney. I miss when life felt a little less complicated. I was so naive before he came to life with us, I expected it to just be a smooth transition in our lives. He would jump right in and life would continue as usual. Wow what a surprise, I guess I just could have never imagined all of the changes that would happen. I know I'm really on a tangent here but I feel like I have to be honest about my real feelings about this. I love him yes, I love that he is here yes, I love that my husband gets a chance to know his son and my son's a chance to know their brother. Yes, yes and yes I am very grateful for all of this, however at this moment I feel lost and overwhelmed and I feel a little dismayed that it has almost been a year and I still don't fell like this transition has been completed.

Lots of Love,
Shiri