meet israel

Say hello to Israel!  He is a five year old little boy from Bolivia.  KEEP YOUR SEATS!  We are not bringing him into our home. 


Our family will be sponsoring him each month.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for JP. 
I will list a few of the reasons I am excited about this:

• It will temporarily satisfy my desire to help children in other countries.  If I am not at a place where I can adopt one right now, we can at the very least, help feed one.
• JP can learn/research/study about another country.
• I thought it would be fun for JP to write letters, draw pictures and send photos to Israel and hopefully develop a "pen pal" type relationship.
• We've always explained JP's story to him.  I want JP to grow up understanding the importance of helping others.  Because of his background, it is even more important for him to "give back" to children.  Whether they be hungry or homeless. 

I was so excited to bring Israel's packet home.  I could not wait to show it to JP.  I envisioned JP carrying Israel's envelope around the house with him, sleeping with it etc...(he does this with other things!)

His reaction surprised me.  This morning Scott and I called him into the living room.  I showed him the picture, and asked him to look at it.  He immediately put his head on my shoulder and said, "I'm not sure about this."  I went on to explain that we were going to send money each month so that Israel would have food to eat.  He simply said, "Okay,"  and ran into the other room to resume watching cartoons.

Scott and I looked at each other when he left the room.  It was very clear that JP thought we were bringing another little boy into our home and adopting him.  It was very interesting!  I guess this will serve as a lesson for us...

If God does allow us to adopt again, it probably needs to be a much younger child!

I have had a VERY difficult work week. In addition to work and home, I have had a few other evening obligations this week.


To say that I have been EXTREMELY wiped out would be an understatement! Check back some time on Saturday for the next blog post.


I am going to a concert at Brookwood tomorrow night and I am super excited!

update

My plan was to upload some super cute pictures of the boys from this weekend. However, it is AFTER 10:00 and I am POOPED!



I thought that I would share the latest update on our children's book....



After COUNTLESS editing, revision, and re-writing sessions, our manuscript is finally ready for send off! It has taken us TWO WEEKS to write our query letter. For those of you who may not be familiar with what a query letter is, basically it is a letter you write to an agent or publisher requesting permission to submit your manuscript. In our case, we are sending ours to an agent. After LOTS of prayerful consideration and professional advice, mom and I decided it was worth it to allow an agent to do the leg-work in finding a publisher for us.



So, tomorrow I am printing off the letter and mailing it with a SASE! The only thing we'll have left to do is W.A.I.T! I cannot tell you what this is doing to my stomach! This particular agency tells you to allow 6 to 8 weeks for a response. I am preparing myself for a rejection letter. Everything I have read says to brace yourself for numerous rejections.


We'll see what happens! Please keep us in your prayers. This would truly be a dream come true for the both of us!

my new favorite

Allow me to begin my post by proudly stating that, while I love Mexican food, I HATE CORN SHELL TACOS! I always have and probably always will. I can count on half a finger the amount of times my Honda has rolled into a Taco Bell parking lot.

Until now.

I'm sure you've seen the commercial for the Doritos Loco Taco! Well I did, and let me tell you, I could not get to Taco Bell fast enough. I do not know who came up with a Doritos taco shell, but they are genius in my book! I have eaten there TWICE in two weeks, if that tells you anything.

You can be sure that if I devote an entire blog post to a food item, (when I have LOTS of cute pictures to share), it is worth your time!

journaling

I have always kept a journal. The main reason, for me, is simply because I LOVE to write! What better way to keep up with my day to day thoughts than to write them down on paper.

Even if you are not one who enjoys writing, there are many reasons that you would benefit from keeping a journal.

I thought I would list five of those reasons:

5.) Writing your thoughts down on paper can serve as an outlet. A place for your thoughts to go. It is very therapeutic.

4.) Journals are a fantastic way to keep up with your church sermon notes. Writing your thoughts down on paper helps you commit them to memory. If you're like me, you need all the help you can get!

3.) I began this blog as sort of a cyber-journal. Now, five years later, it has turned in to so much more for me and my family. A book I can cherish and keep forever!

2.) Our kids are so important to us. However, if we are not careful, it is easy to forget those funny, sweet things they say. Keeping a journal is an effective way to remember the moments that are most important to you.

1.) And last, but most importantly, a journal is a perfect place for you to write out your prayers. Although God knows our hearts, and hears us when we speak to Him, there is something about putting your prayers on paper that makes them come alive!

Okay folks, those are my (for what they're worth) top five reasons for you to begin keeping a journal. Now, all that's left for you to do is begin!

HAPPY WRITING!

yummy!

An all-you-can-eat buffet of home-cooked meals in the middle of Dollywood
JP's favorite part of the restaurant - the fountain!

Climbing on the rocks

Okay, so I am the FIRST person to tell you NOT to eat inside amusement parks. I am the person you see sitting in the back of the truck with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. However, I have to say, we found a restaurant INSIDE Dollywood that was worth the pretty penny spent!

Aunt Granny's Restaurant was wonderful! The buffet cost $15.99 for adults and $9.99 for children, before tax. I agree that it sounds like a lot, but please consider that it is ALL YOU CAN EAT, including drinks and dessert. And here's the best part... if you have the Gold Member season pass, you get 20% off! So, for LESS than $30, we ate lunch!

So, if you are in Dollywood park and get hungry, rush over to Granny's Restaurant and grab a bite to eat! You won't be sorry!

What a week! It was a four day week for me, so I am not sure why it seemed SO LONG. Oh well! Thank GOODNESS it's over....almost.

What are your plans this weekend?? Scott has a carnival tonight for his school. He is required to be there the whole time, so JP and I will not look for him to arrive home until really late. I am not sure what we are going to do. Something tells me we will end up at my parent's house. I foresee Laurie and I putting our boys to bed early so that we can catch up on our movie watching! Sounds like a plan to me.

Things continue to run pretty smoothly in our small part of the world. Thank the Lord! You can, however, keep our little Preston in your DAILY prayers. He was diagnosed today with asthma. Poor thing is having a hard time breathing right now. In addition to his daily breathing treatments, his pediatrician put him on TWO steroids today. UGH!! Those are always fun. Along with his mommy, we will all appreciate your prayer support. It doesn't seem to phase him too much...he is still the sweetest little thing. And so stinkin' smart. Here is a list of some of the many things he is doing at ONE year old:

• He says every body's name fairly well
• He knows the signs for "more", "help" and "please" and uses them appropriately
• He LOVES to read books. He is able to fill in some of the words in several of his books and sings along to Old MacDonald
• He knows the following animals and their sounds: cow, horse, cat, dog, duck, and sheep
• He doesn't crawl anymore. He's been walking since before he was one, but he would still crawl if he wanted to get somewhere quickly. Now, he doesn't crawl anywhere
• JP and Papa are still his favorite two people

That's about it for now. I hope that you all have a FABULOUS Friday! I will continue to post pictures from our weekend in Tennessee!