A NEW CHAPTER

So today Carter and I are leaving Gabe with a sweet new friend from our church here in Norman, and we are venturing our way up to Edmond for an interview.

About 6 months ago we began the process of adopting a baby. When we started we were in the International program, but a couple months later I had a miscarriage and the Lord used that time in our lives to change some things for us. So a couple months later, we pulled out of the International program and are now trying to decide what Domestic program we want to go with.

Today we have an interview with a very small agency in Edmond and on Thursday evening we have an orientation with a fairly large agency in OKC. We started the process of our home-study about two weeks ago, and are currently trying to complete all of that paperwork. We couldn't be more thrilled about what the Lord is doing in our lives and the new chapter that is opening up for us.

Please pray with us and for us, that the Lord opens and closes doors that are obvious for us to follow and that we are obedient in every step of this journey! Also I would ask you to pray for this baby that is waiting for us, whether it be born already or yet to be born...that he/she would be kept safe from harm and from the reality that this world has become; and pray for the birth mother that the Lord would bless her for making the most difficult decision a mother could ever make and that she would practice good choices while carrying her baby!

I know that that was a lot! I appreciate all of you...and love you!

ZUMBA!!

So about a month ago I finally took the plunge and joined the gym!

And I am so so glad that I did! I am more than ready ( like 5 months ago ready) to loose the rest of this pregnant weight, which I am afraid I can't really say that now considering my boy is 14 months old!

I have been going about 4 or 5 times a week and have really been enjoying my time there, I feel so good by the time I am done, and do not know why I didn't start this sooner! I take Gabe to the nursery, he doesn't love it when I drop him off but by the time I pick him up he always has a smile on his face and is playing with the other kids; plus there is one lady who is always there during the week and she loves on Gabe, so I trust that he will be fine!

Last Monday a friend and I went to a Zumba class there. Have any of you ever done one of these classes? Well if you have not let me just tell you it was SO MUCH FUN! I felt like I was 20, in college, and dancing with my girls. I loved it, i was not any good at it, but I loved it :)

I am getting ready to go right now and I am meeting a few of my friends there, and it is silly how excited I am to work out...ha!

SOOO if you have a Zumba class near you... do it!!

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me , O Jesus.

From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.

Charity

"Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth, bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (I Cor. 13:4-7)

To have charity is to love God above all things for Himself and be ready to renounce all created things rather than offend Him by serious sin. (Matt. 22:36-40)

This has become an almost daily prayer for Carter and I. When we are reading it together I am afraid; I know that by speaking the words out loud I am admitting that I am ready for these things to be truth in my life, and what a life change that would be!!!

God may I be humble and prepare me to live only for You and die to myself...

Heaven to Me

My family went to Florida this past week and a half!

It was a wonderful trip and Gabriel loved the beach and the water!

Here is my and my little man enjoying the amazing weather!

Carter and Gabe one night on the beach...
Our little family

I am in love with this little boy!
And what I would like to think Heaven looks like!

Birthdays and friends

So we moved to Norman almost 3 months ago...that seems unreal!

Well we have met some wonderful friends while living here!

Our neighbors are fabulous people and they have a 2 year old named Arya, he and Gabe love playing together and almost every evening you can find our two families sitting in our front yards spending time playing with our boys and enjoying each others company!

Below is a picture of Arya's mom, Manjew. She loves Gabriel and Gabe loves her, anytime he sees her he reaches for her...i love it!

Well my big boy turned ONE a couple of weeks ago!

I can not believe how fast the time has gone by. He is getting so big so fast! He is crawling ALL over the place, up stairs, into the bathtub, out the back door! We are having so much fun!

Here are a few pictures of Gabes birthday party!

Here he is tuckered out and ready for a nap with my mom
Here he is trying on his new sun glasses:)

I mean no one ever say that my boy doesnt get excited about food...just like his momma:)

We are so excited for the summer and loving this beautiful weather that we have been having!

Carter is officially done with work for the next 2 months so we are looking forward to being  able to spend more time with each other and just enjoy our family!

We leave for florida next week and can not wait!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful summer so far!

perspective

Carter and I found out that we were pregnant a couple of weeks ago.  While we were pretty shocked we were also SO SO very excited!

Well yesterday I found out that I miscarried. I don't really know how to articulate the way that I was or am feeling, it was a sadness that can not be comforted, it just has to take its course. I felt, and still feel sad, confused, disappointed, and anxious.  My heart hurts for this baby that Carter, Gabriel, and I will never know until we get to Heaven. It really just puts things into perspective for us.

So please excuse me if I am a little somber, somewhat not fun, and not very talkative for the next few days.  I just need to be sad....

Like Mother Like Son

So it turns out that my son and I both like to scrunch our noses in pictures.

It is a horrible habit that I picked up years ago and I am currently trying to loose!

BUT now my sweet Gabriel does it to! So maybe I will hold on to that habit for just a while longer:)
These pictures are for shan's project!! Can't wait to see you next week and take pictures with the four of us!

WWII

So Gabe and I go grocery shopping for Carter's business...glamorous i know:)

We go to Walmart a couple of times a week and I fill 2 carts and have really gotten it down to an art! 

One of the interesting things about this, are the people that we run into.  It doesn't matter what state you live in, if you have a Walmart then you understand what I am talking about. Well today Gabe and I were just cruisin along shopping in the produce ( I had to buy 29 POUNDS of asparagus) and all of a sudden I hear this sweet old man ask another man if he was in WWII.  

I took my time picking out the perfect green peppers ( my husband is ANAL about his produce :)) and I listened to their conversation.

Lets say their names are bob and dave.

Bob asked Dave if he was in WWII, he had seen Daves hat and it said WWII on it.  Dave said yes, and his sweet little wife had a look of pride on her face that can only come from a wife who has experienced that kind of sacrifice and fear. Well Bob asked Dave what division he served in and where he served.  They exchanged a few more words and then a hearty hand shake and went their separate ways. 

Gabe and I went back to our produce shopping when all of the sudden I heard an older woman talking sweetly to my son.  I turned to see who it was and it was Dave's wife.  She was touching Gabriel's hand and telling him something that I could not hear.  Then she looked up at me and said, "I sure hope that your son never has to go to war." And she smiled at me and walked back to join her husband.

I MEAN SERIOUSLY!!!!! I almost dropped my peppers and ran to give her a hug, all the while crying and never EVER letting go of my sweet precious boy; for fear that he might be taken off to war. It was just too much to handle. AHHH!

I mean who doesn't love old people, and then to top it off ones that love your baby and dont want them to go to war....

It was definitely a bright point in our day!

Sanders Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

See Kai Run Giveaway!

So I found Traveling with Baby through a friends blog and I got so excited when I saw the giveaway that was taking place at traveling with babies blog!

See Kai Run is a fabulous line of shoes for your little one, seriously they are not only incredibly cute but they seem to be really well made and great for any babies little feet!

Soooo go to Traveling with Baby  and get yourself signed up to win a pair of these awesome shoes!!

AND I am going to try and download Pictures of the new house tonight...i promise!

I couldnt resist

I know I am cheating BUT I just couldn't not let you have a peak at the sweetest 10 month old in the world!!

He is trying to get a peak at our dog, Duke, whom he loves:)

More later....enjoy!

Lent and Moving

Yesterday started the 40 day season of Lent. I realize that this is mostly acknowledged in the Catholic faith and tradition, and even though I am not Catholic, my brother in-law is and my husband loves and respects the faith and traditions of Catholicism, so we partake. 

Last year Carter fasted from food sun-up to sun-down....are you kidding me!!! I would be crying and nashing my teeth by the second day (which maybe that is a sign that I should do it, but we will work on that one for next year!) We are doing Lent together this year and we are both fasting from things that mean a lot to us.  So I am here to say that one of the things that I will be fasting from is the computer, from Monday to Friday for the next 40 days.  I think it will be really good for me; helping me to focus on what is important and the upcoming Easter Holiday.  I am allowing myself to get on the computer on the weekends, I figure if I give myself a little designated time that I won't be so prone to screw up and cheat!

Carter and I are excited to observe this time, we are excited for our children to grow up and for us to do it as a family, and most importantly I know that Carter is excited because for him it means that we are one step closer to the faith that he loves and believes in so whole heartedly!

So this is me and Gabe on the couch this morning at FIVE am... 

My poor little man has another ear infection and some sort of virus, I am taking him to the doctor this afternoon! I feel like such a bad mom, I mean he has already had so many ear infections and this is his second virus; what am i doing wrong???

I really would like to keep him healthy for a good solid month, but that just doesnt seem to be happening. WHOA is me :)

In other news we are moving tomorrow! I can not wait. It feels like this has been a long time coming, and I am so ready to get into our new house and make it our home! It is going to be a long weekend on top of an already v.e.r.y long week. With Gabe being sick, carter working 16 hour days (bless his heart!) and trying to get everything straightened out for the move, I may not make it out alive :)

If I do by chance make it out alive, I will try and post some pictures on Sunday!

Post Partum???

The past two weeks I have been crying all of the time.  This is no exaggeration, I cry every day and usually a few times a day.  I don't typically break down and sob but I have to fight back tears and anything can trigger it.  I mean am I having post partum NINE months later, or is there something emotionally wrong with me, I am definitely chemically off balanced or something. 

But this little man, reminds me every moment of every day of God's grace and His goodness, that He is never failing, completely merciful, and full of love.

I love this face, and I can not get enough of this little man!

SO I know that my little man is over nine months old, and therefore that means that I have had 9 months to get my body and my emotions back to normal....BUT seriously!!

My body is no where and I mean NO where back to normal, I still have weight to loose and when I look in a mirror it is not what I used to see.  And I  know that my body will probably never look the same, cause let's face it I did gain 60 pounds in a short period of time.... but PLEASE I wish I could just discipline myself a little more and just knock off those final pounds, very plural pounds!

  So I am MOST DEFINITELY stepping out on a limb here but this is me a few days before I gave birth to Gabriel, in all of my glory! And the funny thing is I actually miss it now.  I did not love being pregnant I was sick most of the time, but I am ready to do it again, I know I am crazy.

sweet sick baby and honeymoon

So the above picture is of carter and me on the beach on our honeymoon.

It wasn't exactly the best or most romantic honeymoon in history, so this picture is one of the few that we have where we look like we are enjoying ourselves....allow me to explain!

First off (hopefully this won't offend anyone) the night of our wedding, while at the hotel, I started my period.  That was just the beginning of our glorious week together as newlyweds. So no big deal we could work past that, we got to the most beautiful place in the world, Seaside, FL and the first night my husband wakes up throwing up.  This lasted for about 2 days, he is a trooper so we still went to the beach and out to dinner even though he felt like death.  The night that he finally was feeling better I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up, I then proceeded to throw up for the next 24 hours with my beautiful husband and best friend by my side and holding my hair. What a wonderful way to enter into marriage.  So needless to say we were just ready to get home and to not be sick!  In the airport on the way home I began to feel like I needed to pee every 2 seconds and by the time we landed in OKC I felt like my bladder was on fire...come to find out I had a serious UTI! 

SO holy cow we would love to take another honeymoon in the near future, where we are both healthy and enjoying each other!

My sweet baby boy had a small fever yesterday afternoon when we got home from going to the grocery store.  I gave him some tylenol and he layed in my lap for the next 45 minutes just groaning and crying and in and out of sleep...it broke my heart! He finally was aleep enough for me to put him down and he slept for around 45 minutes.  He woke up feeling better, so the rest of the evening went great.  

Then around 2:45 last night he woke up crying and I went in to check on him and he was burning up! I took his temp and it was around 102, so I gave him some more tylenol and a bottle of juice and then rubbed a washcloth over his body to cool him down.  He was up for the next 1 and a half hours and then finally calmed down and fell asleep.  

This morning he has a low fever, he wouldnt nurse but he isnt too fussy and he is napping now.

So is he teething or does he just have a virus???? 

I dont want my little gabester to be sick, ugghhhh i dont enjoy this part of mother-hood! 

Oh and sorry for this modge podge post BUT we bought a house!!! We are very excited and cant wait to move in the end of february, you are all invited to come over!

SOLD

SO we did it, we sold our home! And now we are about to make the big move into Norman, and we are very ready and very excited! We looked at homes on Tuesday and now we are going again today, I am a bit more excited about the homes that we are looking at today, they just seem like more bang for our buck :)

SO that is pretty much what is going on in our world, lots of changes, I dont even know how to begin to attempt packing up my house....THAT SCARES ME! Especially with an almost 9 month old rolling around and attempting to crawl around everywhere, I can no longer leave him in one place and expect him to still be there when i look back over in 30 seconds:) But I love him more and more everyday and I love this stage that he is in!

God is SO good!

Merry Christmas and Have a Cheerio

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks!

Visiting Santa for the first time!
Opening up Christmas presents with Nana...
Looking like a stud in his Christmas attire
Christmas morning with mamma and daddy
Playing with cousins, olivia and travis

Gabe chillin in his new chair with his cousin Elijah 


And I had to throw this in there, this is my AMAZING new vacuum...its a Miele if you dont have one seriously go buy one:)
And this is Gabriel's new jumparoo which he loves!

Hello my blog friends! I have taken quite the hiatus from all things "computer" these past 3 weeks.  Carter and I have both decided that having a child at Christmas makes a lot more work and not quite as much "play" as we are used to:)

We had a fabulous Christmas with lots of sweet family time, good food, and more gifts for Gabriel than that child will ever be able to fully appreciate!

Christmas Eve was spent with my grandparents.  This is a tradition in my family, we have dinner together, my grandfather tells a Christmas story, and then we open gifts! This year the younger kids are the only ones that opened gifts...there are far too many people in our family now for everyone to be opening presents, we would be there all night long.  It was a lot of fun to see all of my cousins with their babies and getting so excited about the new toys that their kids were receiving, it was a wonderful night! My family is so blessed

On Christmas morning Carter and I opened our gifts to each other. I have the most wonderful husband who got me a day at a spa, and I can not wait to go use it! I got him a Wii which he was not too excited about so we took it back and he got an xbox 360....who knew:)

Then we headed to my parents house to open gifts and to have our annual Big breakfast!

After spending a fabulous morning there we headed to Ft. Worth to carters side of the family!

We had a wonderful time and couldnt fit everything in our car that Gabriel received it was a bit ridiculous and next year there will have to be a limit! Lots of food was consumed and lots of loving on gabriel and playing the Wii, again we are so blessed by our families, God is so good

So we are very glad to be home, to be in our own beds and to have Gabriel back on his schedule of sleeping at nights and his naps! And we have discovered that my boy LOVES cheerios!!  I mean he is double fisting cheerios into his mouth, at times gagging himself, but non the less he is loving them. It makes me so sad to think about how much my boy is growing...in just 3 1/2 short months he will be turning a year old, and i can guarantee you that will be a day where the name weeping whaley (now Sanders) will be brought back!

I love my little man, and every day he brings more and more joy to carter and I...ohh and by the way my hubby has FOUR weeks off of work, much deserved and much appreciated i might add! So he still has 2 more weeks off and we are looking forward to spending lots of time with our little family!

I hope that you all had a merry Christmas and that you feel as blessed as we do!