Angels All Around Us...

So, remember all of the angels that are solely in charge of Luca??? Well, they were all on duty tonight and flew down for an emergency....

We went over to Ryan's parents' house tonight to hang out and have dinner. We usually do this once a week... After eating, Ryan's brother and his family came over. He and his wife were heading out to a meeting, and their 2 boys were staying with Ryan's parents. Andrew is 1 year younger than Micah, and Ethan is 6 months younger than Luca. Andrew and Micah always play great, and Luca and Ethan are really becoming great buddies!!!

So, after dinner, I was helping Hannah with her homework at the kitchen table. All of the adults were in the kitchen talking (there were 4 adults). Luca and Ethan come out of the toy room with a couple things in each hand, and Luca says, "Goodbye, we are going to work." I laughed, and said, "Have a good day at work!!!" Both boys headed to the basement to "go to work". I did not pay any attention to them after that...they usually play so well in the basement, and if something is going on, you easily hear it and intercept it.

So, Hannah and I are doing homework at the kitchen table, right beside the big kitchen window. They live on a road (South Bend Dr.) where the speed limit is 30-35mph. People always go faster, and cops will set up speeding "stings" at a church parking lot right up the road.

Just before the "event" happened, a car flew by their house. I was still concentrating on Hannah, when all of the sudden I see Ryan's dad kinda jump, and make an "awful" face. A face filled with fear!!!! I quick look where he is looking and I see a flash of orange and navy heading QUICKLY for the road. I quick yelled, "A kid is going for the street!!!!!!!!!" (or something like that...I don't remember) Ryan and his dad dart for the door and I am right behind them. It seemed like FOREVER before we reached the boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ryan grabbed Ethan off of the road, and I scooped up Luca on the driveway, about 4-5 ft from the road.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ethan could have been killed!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luca has 'some fear' and knowledge of the road...but last summer he didn't. Ethan doesn't have a clue...He just ran out into the road..................... My heart is still beating fast just thinking about it.

How in the world did they escape????????? I thought...how did we not hear them... I guess that Dave did hear a door, but did not think anything about it. They have never done this before, but as Dave said, "They were going to "work"... To them, they were doing what daddies do every day...leave the house and go to "work".... I still cannot believe that I did not hear them leave the house. The kitchen table is only about 20-25 ft. from the back door... ---knots in my stomach--

THANK YOU GOD FOR THE ANGELS THAT YOU HAVE ENCAMPED AROUND LUCA!!!!!! (I hope that they are earning super shiny jewels....they deserve them all!!!!!!!!!!) :-)

Oh how quickly our lives could be altered FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you God that today was not that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out of the mouth of babes...

I have returned from the blog abyss... We have been packing, painting, and finishing up more paperwork for our homestudy, that hopefully will happen before we go to Disney: May 16th.

So, what are my kids saying these days??? Luca is by far the funniest because his vocabulary is exploding like a volcano, but his usage of the words he is learning is just too great not to share:

1. We were in Hannah's school a while back, and he had the hiccups. He said, (Very dramatically)
Mom, I have the headaches!" :-)

2. "Mommy, I want to see your elbows." So, being the 'amazing' mother that I am... I sat down with him right then and showed him my elbows, and we went over a bunch of different 'common' body parts. He was not too thrilled. A few minutes later, I was getting dressed and he pointed at my chest; giggled and said, "I see mommy's elbows!!!!!!" ----Seriously, after breastfeeding 3 kids for a year, is that really what my breasts look like: ELBOWS???? lol...

3. Luca is always getting big/little, hot/cold, all jumbled up. He will tell me to turn the 'heat' on because he is VERY hot... :-)

4. He is also really into knowing "who has a penis". He lists everyone, usually daily, and when he gets to Hannah, he usually giggles and says, "Hannah have a penis?" "No," I say, "Hannah does not have a penis..." He just laughs... The other day a friend of mine was over and he was asking her about penises, and going down the list of his 'usuals', and he said, "My daddy have a penis." She said, "Yes, all daddy's do..." Then the funniest thing, and she could not stop laughing... He said very matter of factly, "My daddy has a big penis..." Oh, I am so glad we were talking with someone that I know very well.........

5. 2 days ago I was getting ready in the morning, and Luca came in and handed me a bra and said, "Mommy, put your boobies on..." I nearly peed my pants!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, he is nearly right: After nursing 3 kids, and never being very 'blessed' in that area, VS does supply me with affordable 'breast implants'... Gotta love the maxed out padded...push up to the max....miracle from Heaven....bras...." After he handed me my bra, he grabbed another one and said, "I put my boobies on too..." :-)

Hannah:

1. The other night at the dinner table, Micah was saying something about his "squirrel nuts" aka--testicles. We have never had "names" for his penis/testicles, because he has been seeing a urologist since birth, and everything has always been very medical... but somewhere/somehow his testicles got referred to as "squirrel nuts." Anyway, after Micah saying that, Hannah said, "what are squirrel nuts?" So, I explained that we were referring to his testicles and explained what testicles were, in 8 year old terms. She thought for a second and said, "What are my testicles called???????????????????" Once again, I nearly peed my pants!!!!!!!! lol...


So, have you ever read a post with the words breast, penis and testicles used so much?????? At least I did not say, VAGINA... Oops....did I just do that??????? ;-)

SURVIVOR

A friend sent this to me: enjoy...

THE
NEXT SURVIVOR
SERIES


Six married men
will be dropped on an island with one car and
3 kids each for six weeks.


Each kid
will play
two sports

and either take music

or dance
classes.


There is
no fast food.

Each man
must
take care of his 3 kids;
keep his assigned house
clean,

correct all homework,
and
complete science
projects,
cook, dolaundry,
and pay a list of
'pretend' bills
with not enough money.


In
addition, each man
will have to budget in
money
for groceries each week.


Each man

must remember the
birth days
of all
their friends and
relatives,
and send
cards out
on time--no emailing.


Each man
must also
take each child to a doctor's appointment,
a dentist appointment

and a haircut
appointment.

He must
make
one unscheduled and
inconvenient
visit per
child
to the Urgent
Care.

He must
also
make cookies or
cupcakes

for a social function.

Each man
will be responsible for
decorating his own assigned house,

planting flowers outside
and keeping it presentable
at
all times.

The men
will only

have access to television
when the kids are asleep

and all chores are done.


The men
must
shave their
legs,

wear makeup
daily,

adorn
himself with jewelry,

wear uncomfortable yet stylish
shoes,

keep fingernails polished

and
eyebrows groomed.


During
one
of the six weeks,

the men wi ll have to endure
severeabdominal cramps, back aches,
and have
extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or
slow down
from other duties.

They
must attend
weekly school meetings,
church, and find
time
at least once to spend the afternoon
at the park or a similar
setting.

They
will need to
read a book to the kids
each
night and in the
morning,
feed
them, dress
them,
brush
their teeth and
comb
their hair by 7:00 am.

A test
will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be
required to know all of the following information:
each child's
birthday,
height, weight,
shoe size, clothes size
and doctor's
name.
Also the child's weight at birth,
length, time of birth,

and length of labor,
each child's favorite color,
middle name,

favorite snack,
favorite song,
favorite drink,
favorite
toy,
biggest fear and
what they want to be when they grow
up.

The kids
vote them off the isl and
based on performance.
The last man wins
only if...
he still
has enough energy
to be intimate with his spouse
at a moment's
notice.

If the
last man does win,
he can play the game over and over
and over
again for the next 18-25 years
eventually earning the right
To be
called Mother!

Our Date...

Our date began with Ryan going to meet a friend at the driving range for about 1 hour. (Disclaimer: None of the following images are mine)

Then, off to the tanning bed. (So I don't fry at Disney...)

Next, off to have our eyebrows threaded... Not the best feeling, but amazing results...

Reward for the pain of threading...Ryan could choose whatever he wanted...
ENOUGH SAID!!! I will never tell you which one it was: (A) or (B) lol... :-)Maybe I am making this up, and maybe not...I guess you will never know...

(A)

(B)

Ryan's choice for takeout... My salad was REALLY YUMMY!!!

Nothing fancy schmancy for the hotel: We had won a free overnight there...

(No details here...) :-)

Friday @ noon: 5 hours at the Woodhouse Day Spa
Ryan absolutely LOVED IT!!!
(Thanks Uncle Jim for tripling our experience there!!!)

(12pm-5pm)

Vichy Refresher (Ryan)

Be inspired with this invigorating, yet relaxing treatment. This refresher begins with a dry brushing to exfoliate and detoxify the body. Allow yourself to escape with the application of essential oils that are rhythmically placed on the pulse points of the body. Complete your experience under the cascading waters of the Vichy shower, enlivening you from head to toe, assuring restoration and renewal. A Great Way to begin any massage!

(Rebekah)

The Aroma Bath Rituals The Aroma Bath Rituals offer the best of two worlds- massage and hydrotherapy. As you immerse in the healing water environment of your personalized essential oil bath, all the essences, combined with nutritional algae and Dead Sea salts, create exactly the experience that you have been seeking. Following your bath ritual, flow into a rhythmic massage designed to enhance the benefits of your personalized bath. You and your therapist will decide on the perfect choice from the following rituals: Digestive, Soothing, Fluid Reduction, Immune Reinforcing, or Uplifting. (The water to fill up the tub, came out of the ceiling...it was so cool!!!)

Plenty of "Spa Water" for both of us... It must de-tox you, because I have never went pee
more times in one day in my life... We also ate lunch after our first 2 treatments. Our meals:
Ryan: Blackened Salmon, gourmet potato chips, tossed salad with rasberry vinagrette dressing, homemade bread, and great iced tea.
Rebekah: Blackened Salmon, steamed asparagus, tossed salad with citrus vinagrette dressing, homemade bread, and great hot mint chocolate tea, and more "spa water".

1 hour Couple's Swedish Massage
This classic European body massage technique uses soothing, relaxing strokes to increase circulation, improve skin and muscle tone, and achieve total relaxation.

(Ryan)
Gentleman's Manicure Any guy who works with his hands will appreciate the heavy-duty benefits of this treatment. The industrial strength hand healer is a rich non-greasy formula that helps heal and soothe dry, chapped, cracked hands.

Refresher Pedi (Rebekah)
A great foot refresher for the times between your pedicure visits or as an add-on to other Woodhouse services! This refresher includes a soak, buff, and polish change.

The showers were amazing in this place!!! The normal shower head had great pressure, and then add to it the "rain" head above, and you did not want to stop showering. It was amazing!!!

This is what the inside of the changing/shower area looked like. We got ready for the rest of the evening, and then off we went...

Nothing spectacular for dinner... We had a gift card, and we really weren't that hungry...

Finally, off to a great ending!!!!! The Selah Concert... I don't like all Christian music; some of it is really cheesy to me, but Selah cannot go wrong! I love all of their music, and the concert was really like a praise and worship service... What a great way to end our date...Focusing on "Who" has brought us this far!!!!!

THANK YOU GOD FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL HUSBAND!!!

Kidnapping Ryan...

Yep, that's right...When Ryan gets home from work today I am kidnapping him until late tomorrow night. I told him that he has to take work off on Friday and that is all that he knows.

What is the occasion??? Well, 2 weeks ago Ryan finished his 18month Masters in Education. During this time, Micah has had 2 major surgeries, we brought Jonas home, Luca had surgery, I had surgery, Jonas had 2 surgeries and multiple doctors appointments, he coached volleyball for 2 seasons, and still taught 6th grade math. So, to say that I am so very proud of him for earning a 4.0 GPA, is a complete UNDERSTATEMENT!!!

God has been so faithful to us and to our marriage. Statistics say that we should have been divorced not long after Hannah was born. (80% of marriages end in divorce after a child is born with special needs) I am not sure what the statistics are for marriage when your 2nd child is born with special needs??? :-) I love Ryan soooooooo much and God could not have picked a better husband for me!!!

We definitely are not perfect, nor do we have a perfect marriage, but 95% of the time, life and marriage is grand!!! God is the only one to thank for that...

So, what are we doing??? I can't tell you... :-) I will give all of the details when we get back...well, most of the details... I do have family that read this, and I am just not going "there"... lol...

The best thing about this kidnapping, is that it is practically not costing me anything. I grew up privileged, and learned to enjoy the "finer" things in life; and in my reality, we live on one income, and that one income is a teacher's salary. So, I still enjoy those things, and have learned how to be very resourceful so we can do them. I am really kind of giddy at how much this is NOT costing us...

Well, for more details, check in on Saturday... Until then, I will be soooooooooo relaxed, and not have a care in the world... Well, maybe a couple... :-)

Give up a Starbucks, and save a life...

I know we are all being effected by the economy, but I would be willing to bet that everybody reading this post has never missed a meal, unless it was by choice. I am sure that all of you would feed your children first, if it came down to that.

These precious kids at GLA are beyond that. Their parents ran out of options...it was either to let their children starve to death, or place them into the hands of GLA, and pray that they would go to a loving home and get a second chance at life. This is what GLA is doing daily: Saving the lives of almost 200 children, and placing them in loving families all over the world. These children do not come home malnourished. Jonas was on the North American growth chart on arrival to the US, and his blood levels and tests were all completely normal. No parasites, nothing...

This is the care that these children receive!!! Your money goes straight to the care of the children...and if you visit their website it is very evident!!!

Would you please consider going to their site today to donate... Skip your Starbucks this week and donate to save the life of a child. Look at your children and ask yourself, "What would I want someone to do for my child if I was in their circumstances?"

Here is the proof that GLA is doing an AMAZING JOB!!!!!!!!!

(Jonas: on arrival to GLA: 5-18-2007)

(Jonas: Easter day: 4-12-2009)

Thank you Dixie for saving Jonas's life! (For those of you that do not know, Jonas was not taken to GLA first. He was abandoned to a Haitian orphanage in Port Au Prince. They called Dixie right away because they knew she had the means to help special needs kids. GLA went and picked him up the next day. Dixie could have so easily said, "Sorry, our beds are full." That was the truth, but instead they made room for one of "the least of these". Our family will be forever changed and blessed by her decision to be obedient to God's calling!

Jonas's 1st Easter...

I will write more tomorrow... and I will post more pics, tomorrow about the day, but I wanted to get some pics up before I call it a night...even though it is 12:23am. :-)

I had to include all four of our family pic attempts that we took at Ryan's parents' house today. They make me laugh and not one of them is good. Funny, but not everyone is looking.






I had to include some great photos of Jonas too. I took him to a black barber the other day, and I am sooooooo pleased with his haircut. I wish that they would have left a little more on top, but it will grow back. My baby is a little man now!!! Doesn't he look great in his lavender Easter shirt!!! He is just BEAUTIFUL!!! If I do say so myself...I am just a bit byass though!

Happy Easter...

My 2 nieces, Miranda and Darci, came over this afternoon to color eggs. Jonas was napping, so that is why he is not in any of the photos... Enjoy, and have a great Easter!!!