Soccer Star

Lexy did excellent this season at soccer! Her team won several of their games but really Lexy was just excited every time she got to kick the ball! At her last game she had quite a crowd with Grammy & Papa and Mammaw and Grandpa there...she loved it :-)

The Many Faces of Toby

I got to spend my day yesterday with my sweet little nephew Toby :-) While I didn't get much done for the day, I DID enjoy cuddling, playing and coaxing smiles! He's now 5 months old and cute as all get out with those chubby cheeks, sweet smile and red hair!

Strawberry Freezer Jam & Great Grandma Koppes

When I was growing up my Great Grandma Koppes always had strawberry freezer jam ready and waiting for us every weekend. We would make the trip down to visit every Friday evening and my brother, CJ and I would get to pick what we wanted grandma to cook for breakfast every Sat. and Sun. mornings...most times it was homemade biscuits, homemade gravy and this freezer jam. Oh the memories...I've missed this jam SO much so I tried my hand at making it today, now to wait the 24 hours for it to set!!!

My Grandma Koppes was a very important person to me as I was growing up. I loved visiting with her every weekend and could talk to her for hours and hours. It always makes me sad to think that she never got to see me as an adult and mother and never got to meet Mike and my girls. Grandma Koppes passed away the day before my 16th birthday. She will always have a special place in my heart, I know she would be so proud of the person I've grown up to be :-)

Mmm Mmm Dinner!

This is what we had for dinner tonight (Crockpot Italian Chicken Alfredo) and it was SOOOOO yummy!

Easter Fun

For Easter this year, we enjoyed the annual Egg Hunt in town on Saturday morning before Lexy's soccer game. Then on Sunday we headed to Papa & Grammy's house to spend time with family after having a scavenger hunt that the Easter Bunny sat up for the girls to find their Easter goodies. :)

Egg World

After spending the day over at Robin's house watching Brooke, Kenzie, Cassie and Taryn practicing the VERY HARD cheerleading tryout dance, Lexy was excited to come home to color Easter eggs. She watched as the eggs boiled and started talking for them..."help help it's hot in here, get us outta here!!" LOL She then had a great time coloring them perfectly and giving them eyes and mouths. Then she played "egg world" with them, even creating a choir :-)

What's Important

Ha! I should have known that the moment I started asking for peace and guidance it would be clearly shown to me :) Today I feel great, today I have grasped that this is NOT about me...this is about something SO much more important. Important as in giving another child(ren) a family, love, a home, a warm hug. someone to call Mommy & Daddy. It's also about helping other children find all of that too with other families!

You see today, while getting my hair cut, it came up in conversation that we are in the process of adopting thru the foster care system. The woman cutting my hair commented that she thought "that was only for rich people". After I explained that indeed we were doing this on one (small) income, she revealed her desire of many years to provide a home for more children (her's are grown). She spoke of what she thought a good home would do for a child that has nowhere to call home, no one to call "mom". She spoke of how she would like to provide the most important thing...love to a child that needs it. She thanked me profusely for talking to her, providing her with information and opening her eyes to what she needed to do (adopt a waiting child/teen)...but I have to say I think she was the one to open MY eyes, to make me take the focus off of MY nervousness and doubt and focus on what's really important...THE CHILDREN!

It felt really good to know that I may have just provided another child with a family just by talking to a stranger about what is so obviously my hearts passion. When we were fostering I found myself avoiding talking about or encouraging anyone to do it b/c of the bad experiences we had so it feels nice to be able to share positive information now!

I smiled all the way home with my newfound peace :)