Yeah yeah yeah...

I know I know...it's the same day- and here I am entering another post already.
Well I only am b/c I read the other post and realized I didn't even introduce my family at all.
Pretty good mom I am huh? lol
Anyway, I really am a very proud Ma-Ma and Wife.
My husband David and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on July 3rd (yesterday) and we have been together longer than that. He is awesome in too many ways for me to list here. But here are a few of my favorite qualities about my Man. He is super devoted to me! I am his first love and he treats me like I am a fragile entity. He wants nothing more than to make me happy and is always doing things for me to show me his love and devotion. He also is a fantastic Dad and shows the kids a great example of what a real man is. He is devoted to Christ and leads us in prayer each night and spirit each day. He is a super hard worker and makes our life easy and beautiful. He has built us a magnificent home and helps us always feel secure by providing for our needs. This is no small task considering the numbers in our house. As if 6 kids wasn't enough, when I brought in 3 more of someone else's kids for us to care for he took it on without batting an eye. Those kids also feel very loved by him and like they are one of his own. He has enough love to share. He is also Honest and Dependable and a business man, that people outside our family, have come to rely on. He is generous and also really fun.
You know Dave likes you if he's picking on you! lol
Cody Michael is our oldest son. He is 16 1/2 and gets his license like next week! Too cool!
He has been working at the YMCA Gymnastics center since he turned 15. He is now a Coach there and he loves it. He saved every penny he made from 15 to 16 and bought a car when turned 16. All with his own money. That's totally sweet. And I am so proud of him for being able to accomplish something like that. Once he turned 16 he got a second job at Chick Filet on Dressler. He is doing great there and also saving his money again. He is saving for his mission this time around. He is a super talented kid and is good at everything he tries (outside of sports LOL)He plays violin and teaches it to younger kids whenever he can. Cody is one of the nicest 16 year olds you could come across and he is very devoted to his spiritual beliefs and religious life. He is very active in many avenues of life and I just know that whatever he chooses to achieve in life he will achieve it. He rocks.
Xavior David is our 12 year old son. (soon to be 13 in August) He is a big life explorer and learns most things through hands on trials. He picks up on learning anything super fast if he can get himself involved in the way it works. He loves to learn new things and welcomes challenges. He is not big into books but sees the word as his stomping ground. I have a deep feeling that he will see more of the world than anyone in this house. He has a huge heart and loves helping others and working hard. He is no stop action but not in any kind of hyper way. He is just rolling through life with arms wide open and I look forward to seeing what adventures he will pursue and life goals he will achieve. He wants to do work in the Peace corp so we'll see. He just got a job as a paper boy and he has been so responsible with that. Xavior is a cool cat with a deep love for Christ and all his teachings. He gravitates towards good people, good music, good shows, good movies and just anything that keeps him feeling in connection with God. He rocks.
Laura Renee is our 11 year old daughter. She is an artist and can be found painting on just about any day. She is super talented and is always wanting to learn new things. She keeps her mind open to new things even if she doesn't really like doing it. She is totally awesome at cooking and she does it b/c she wants to learn more and more about it but she always says she hates it. It is funny. She is a very expressive person and you can just about read who she is just by looking at her. She is very modest and creative and those 2 elements shine on her. She is super loving and giving and very silly. She loves getting together with friends and laughing her head off. She is always doing something to fill her time with learning and taking in life. Whether painting, cooking, writing, sewing, playing the piano or learning a new language- she is always wrapping her time in something. She also loves to read and write stories. I think if she could find a book and art supply store she would have found her heaven! She could spend all day reading and painting. She currently sells her art work if ever you are interested. She is also working on getting 3 of her books published and she is also in the works of Directing a movie. She has 18 other kids involved in that project. Her life is going to be successfully happy to be sure.She rocks!
Donovan Gomez is 10 years old and is one of the children who we took in. He has been living with us for almost 7 months now and is opening up like an explosion. He struggled with an active Autism through out his life with which he never got help for. He was still in a strong shell when we got him here, but is blooming out so huge and we are all really watching his growth. He has ahad a really tough life and holds on to a lot of pent up anger at his parents. He certainly has the right to. He was severely neglected and never lived in one place very long. Through counseling we are learning more and more things about what this poor child has been through. It is too sad. Outside of this he is a pretty little guy and now that he has learned what a Jockey is- he is thinking that would be really cool to get into. However he could easily be an anime artist. He is incredible at that! He is also really talented at making up lyrics to songs. He could very well be the next Weird Al too. LOL His songs always get us laughing. Especially since he belts them out using his best opera voice! He retains Math like it's nothing and he loves learning Scripture stories. He is super sweet and is enjoying having a stable home and Mom who pays attention to him and who he feels really loves him. He doesn't want to leave. He rocks.
Isaiah Holmes is our 9 year old son. Isaiah is a lot like Xavior but with the addition of loving to read and invent. He also has a HUGE sensitive side that takes in others feelings as well as his own and feels them to an enormous level. He is good at seeing others hurt and wanting to make it better. He absorbs everything he learns super quick and is always taking in the world around him like a sponge. He is a nut that makes us all laugh out loud and he almost hates sitting around doing nothing. He wants to be finding the next adventure and the next thing to create. He and Xavior are currently setting their sights on building a Go Cart from the ground up. Too Cool!
He is good at anything he tries. He loves Jesus Christ and feels the spirit easily.He rocks!
Harlequin Sky is 8 years old and is one of the children we brought in to live with us. She has lived with us for 11 months and has become such a different person in that time. She was put through terrible abuse before she came to live with us and she is still coming out of that. She reverts back into herself a lot and has a hard time playing for very long with the other kids. She gets overwhelmed easily and doesn't like thinking she could ever be wrong or have done something wrong. She will deny it every time. She has a lot of recovery to go through and is currently starting an intense program of counseling for children who have been the victims of sexual abuse. Outside of her troubles she has such an awesome personality! She is very loving and silly. She loves to sing and make crafts. She would make crafts all day every day if we could. She is always interested in learning new things and has many aspirations of what she wants to become. She loves the Gospel and holds to it for her hopes and needs of her own family. She fasts for them almost each Sunday. She rocks.
Alexis Renee is our 7 year old daughter. Never before have you met someone like our Alexis! She is such a Spright. There is no other way to describe her. She is full of life. She is always bouncing through life looking for something else to explore. She is super kind and loving and always wants to make people feel good. She has a super outgoing friendly personality and is super adventurous. i am so glad that she has made it alive to this point. She was always exploring her world anywhere we went and we had many stores shut down in order to find her. We also had many the panicked moments at our house when we couldn't find her. She would usually be visiting with one of elderly neighbors. They love her to death. She has an enormous attachment to her Daddy and calls him several times a day. Which he loves. She is going to be a great Mom someday and I can almost see her living in a city sky rise somewhere and loving every minute of a super busy life. She rocks!
Malachi James is our 5 year old son and our baby. I swore I would never say that about my youngest- but it's kind of hard not to! LOL Anyway, he is walking right in his brother's foots steps. He is always doing some crazy adventurous thing. He loves riding his four wheeler and snowboarding or skateboarding with his brothers. He is great at any thing he tries and his siblings all treat him like a super star. He has a super huge heart and loves cuddling. He also loves any stories that have Jesus in them. He is always interested in learning new things and is working hard to learn to read right now (by his own accord). I look forward to watching him grow and achieve great things. He wants to be an astronaut when he gets big and I bet he will do it. He rocks!
Nathan Daniel is the actual baby in the house. He is 22 months old and he is also one of the children that we took in. He came to us when he was 10 months old and still nursing. He basically felt kid napped I'm sure and he has suffered a lot b/c of that. He suffers from Separation anxiety and identity issues. It is so sad too watch. Beyond that, we could not have asked for an easier baby to have come in to our home. Especially since we felt very done taking care of babies. He is an awesome kid who loves to laugh and be ornry. He loves being cuddled and chased. It has been fun to watch him learn to crawl, walk, talk and so much more. I am sad that he will not remember me and that he may be going back to a neglected life. That is super sad to me and I pray and cry for these kids all the time. I love these kids and to them I am their Mother right now. Especially the baby. He sees David and I as his parents and it breaks my heart that he will feel I gave him up when the time comes for him to go back. He is great and He rocks.

Hmmm...wonder how long I'll keep up with this?

It is hilarious to me that I am starting this Blog. I wonder how much I will actually keep up with here? I have a hard enough time writing in my journal, which I actually love doing. I like looking at other people's blogs so what the heck, I figured it couldn't hurt to make my own. I don't know if I will ever be quite as diligent about adding new stuff all the time like the other family blogs I've seen, but I will probably at least do something every now and then.
Anyway....today is the 4th of July 2008 and this is what I am doing.
Pretty sad I know, but...we didn't make any plans this year. Our family is getting pretty lackadaisical about getting together. Huge bummer b/c I love it when we are all together. We didn't get together for Easter either. Strange. Perhaps it is b/c Julee feels overwhelmed having people over right now with her new life in 'Ma-Ma of Twin world', John, Chrissy and Mom's houses are too small for all of us, Joy got a new job, we have a mud pit for a yard, and Dad and Susan ummm.....well...I don't know why they don't organize get togethers but I'm sure they have good reason. And that pretty much leaves Michelle to do all of them and I'm sure that has to get pretty exhausting hosting all of us all the time!! Maybe we should have got our heads together before today and met up at a park. Oh well...maybe next year we'll be more organized. I can NOT wait to have a yard b/c I LOVE LOVE LOVE having everyone over and I will be having people (not just my family) over here as much as I can! I just love it.
Okay- I'm a dork and I need to calm down about that. HA!
At least we all went to the McKinley Monument for fireworks on the 2nd. The Canton Symphony Orchestra started playing at 8pm with fireworks at about 9:15. We got there at 5:45, got great parking, got an even better spot to sit, had a picnic, the Jocas' family joined us and all 16 kids ran all around playing together and visiting with other friends and family they ran into. Rachael and John Peterson happened to come and sit by us, along with Paul McMahn, Michelle Jocas' cousin and my Mom. We ran in to quite a few other people we knew and met some new people. it was a great time for everyone. To top it off, the fireworks went off right in front of us and it seemed as if the show were just for us.
I had an interesting experience there. Before the fireworks, while it was still light out- a young guy with a sweet dark haired white boy afro, a go-t and a Wednesday shirt came up to me to tell me how much he loved my dreads and we had a sweet chat about nothing. It was good, but nothing extraordinary. After the fireworks were over and everyone was heading down the hill and we were still gathering children and cleaning up- this same young man came up to me and
told me I was the coolest, nicest person he has met all year. Now I know it is only July 4th and so he still has 6 months to find someone cooler- but I still thought that was interesting. Also, kind of sad. I thought- Wow, we didn't really have that prophetic of a conversation but yet here he was and he was over taken by it. What kind of people are in the world? What kind of people are in his life? What kind of people is it that he is used to running into? Maybe they judge him b/c he looks a little punk. Maybe they blow him off b/c he is young. Maybe they are rude b/c he doesn't fit their circle? I don't know. But all I do know is that we only have a minute to change someone's view on others. We only have a second sometimes to touch someone's heart. We never know when we will have to show Christ on our face or give Christ to someone else's soul. The Lord says- by small means does he make great things come forth. Could that small moment in that young man's life be a seed that needed planted by Christ? Was he using me to change that young man in some way? Will he find hope through my kindness? Joy through his hope? Christ through his joy? And finally ultimate peace through his new relationship with Christ? Who knows? Maybe he will be a Prophet some day? You can never know who God sees when he looks at someone. We will never be good judges of that. Why do we think we can know what God has in store?
We must always be ready and open to be his servant. It is such a wonderful freeing thing when we are able to recognize him at work in our lives.
I also had another experience this week that has helped me to understand that people are watching and we do leave imprints wherever we go.
I went to a Cure concert a couple weeks ago. It was awesome and I had a blast.
Yesterday, David and I went to Penn Station for lunch b/c it was our anniversary and while we were sitting there eating, a young woman came up to me and said she remembers me from the concert. She said her and her boyfriend were enjoying watching me down on the floor. They were sitting up in the stands. This made me feel a little paranoid for a minute b/c I'm not sure what she meant by enjoying watching me, I was dancing the whole time after all. So whatever...I put this thought aside and I thought, this is really the same thing I experienced before. The plain and simple fact that people are watching. What are they seeing? Is it of good report or praiseworthy? Could they place us on the side of Christ by what they saw? It gives me even more strength to never drink a caffeinated drink, watch an R rated movie, say any kind of cuss word, skip church, take my callings lightly or miss an opportunity to say hello to someone new at church or in life.
Who will see us do them, buy them or use them?
Who could we effect in that moment?
Could we have made a difference if we had chosen a different path?
We never will know.
All we can know is that the only way to be completely open to his work is to be living as he would live so he can always use us at the exact moment when he needs us most.
Okay, I think I have said enough for the first (and possibly only) blog post. HA
Hope your Holiday was more interesting then ours.
Happy 4th of July people.