Updates on the Long crew:)

^^My crew that mostly insists on dressing themselves. Breyton insists on wearing that shirt that is two sizes too big! It may mysteriously disappear soon;)

We've been having plenty of changes around here, so I figured it was time to write a little;)

 Starting with adding miss A to our family a little over a month ago. We are finally adjusting...it takes some time for any big change to feel like the new 'normal'. She will be our first long term placement (that will leave eventually to clarify;), so we've been trying to settle in for the long haul! Really things have been going as smoothly as one could expect....it's of course always a 'disruption' of the whole family dynamic to add in a new member, but the kids adjust so quickly! It usually takes me the longest lol. Miss A is very sweet and for the most part a typical 4 yr old girl- the good and the whiny included. 

One thing is for sure she will eat anything. She mixed pickle juiced with milk one day and drank it( yuck!!). Then the pic below is from another day when she came up while I was chopping up onions for dinner prep and started munching on raw onion..saying, "Mmm this is yummy!".

Then Breyton started a full day of school last month. That has gone much smoother than I anticipated for both he and I! Oddly enough after he started school I haven't cried once. Not even a tiny bit! I'm surprised by this honestly haha. I really figured I might tear up a bit for at least the first few days. I did cry the night before and somewhat the morning of while getting ready to take him...after that though I've been good:) It is still strange that he is not with us when running errands or doing a fun kid outing, so that part is something I still need to get used to! I will call his name when picking up the kids at the Y or have a slight moment of panic thinking I'm a child short when getting everyone in the car. I do think my days are still so busy with three other little ones that the time flies by for the most part. Plus, he is loving it so that helps!! He looks forward to going everyday thus far and hasn't put up a fight yet. I hope this attitude towards school sticks around for awhile!:) 

Yesterday he and I had dentist appts though, so I got a babysitter and picked him up from school early then we got to enjoy an ice cream date just the two of us! It was so nice to get to just have a conversation with him without so many interruptions. Breyton has had to share his momma with many others, so he has definitely earned a much needed mommy/son date. I look forward to doing them more often with each of my kiddos as they grow!!

Sean just turned three and though he is by far my most laid back child the 'threes' have hit! So far with Breyton and Sean the threes are way worse than twos!! Of course this time around I will have a two and three year old...and then when Sean outgrows the threes it will be Lyla's turn:( Oh the joys having having kiddos back to back! Ha  Next month we will officially have a 2,3, 4 and 6 yr old in our house- which seems crazy to me! 

Despite the ever developing opinions/attitude that come with 3 yr olds Sean is an incredible little guy.  He always amazes me with how quickly he picks things up and his love for music is so fun. He quickly memorizes songs(and eagerly learns his bible verse for awanas) and loves to dance! He can sing along with klove all day long. So unlike Breyton who is not a fan of music or dancing really at all lol. It's so interesting to see how different each child is! Love this little man!

Then miss Lyla Grace has been up to all kinds of trouble and some sweetness;) She has become quite the talker and we all love to hear the funny things she says. She is still the most smiliest little thing and everyone comments on her smile when  she flashes them one when we are out and about....but she is pure ornery behind all that. She loves to boss her brothers around! I think she knows she's the princess and the baby of the family. It doesn't help that her daddy just can't seem to get her in trouble, sigh. In other annoying news she has also been twirling her hair and breaking it off:(. The front of her hair has actually gotten shorter over the past few months due to this! And much blonder... As you can tell here:

A few months ago...

And now...

Of course my first daughter would have to pick up this habit. Oh well, I have to assume she will outgrow this habit or I can at least communicate with her the problem down the road, so maybe she will twirl it more gently! Her hair has also been becoming curlier..Breyton and I both have stick straight hair, so I did not expect the little bit of curls she has going! No clue if the will stick around, but we will see!

It's been so long since I wrote any thing and I do have a lot more deeper subjects on my heart that I haven't had the chance to put into writing, so I may be back very soon;) I'm glad to write some quick updates on the kiddos though because I do love to look back and see all the seasons we've made it through! Having a almost 2 and 3 year old is much easier than the when we had a newborn and 1 year old at the same time! I love the new season we are moving into because I am thankfully ready to be done with the 'baby' season. I'll leave you with this quote I'm posting below and it so adequately sums up how I feel about motherhood! Thank The Lord we are exiting the almost dying of sleep deprivation stage lol! 

If I'm being honest....obedience isn't pretty.

It been a good long while since I've wrote anything! Life keeps me pretty busy:) 

Recently we said goodbye to our 9th and 10th placement(since January!) through foster care. A couple weeks ago in one day I received calls on five different placements! It's crazy sad really. 

We are all becoming somewhat accustomed(if that's even possible?!) to the come and go of 'friends' as my children call it. Breyton asks on a regular basis if someone is coming to stay today and first thing he wants to know is how long can they stay. The last placement we had of two brothers was the hardest for my kiddos to say good bye to. We knew they were just here very short term, but they just 'clicked' with my boys immediately. 

We always try to send something with the kiddos when they leave. I think it helps everyone feel better! Usually a note with our phone number incase they need it and recently I have started sending a children's devotional or bible with a message inside. One of our older foster daughters does call me to check in on occasion. It's always wonderful to hear from her, but sometimes it's a little hard because I don't feel she is in the best situation. However, I'm thankful she feels comfortable to call us and feel blessed to have that connection.

There is plenty of good lessons that foster care brings our family. There are plenty of hard ones as well! I find the 'sanctification' of it can really pull out the ugly attitude of my heart sometimes!! That's when I see how far I have to go:/

When a kiddo shows up and things go smoothly(as much as one could expect) and they just click with our family then I have an easier time keeping a joyful attitude. Then there are the times when you accept a desperate late call and your up till midnight waiting on two kiddos and when they arrive they don't seem the least bit tired, sigh. So your up till closer to 2am getting someone else's child asleep and then waking at 6:30 am when everyone else is ready go. Then there are the times your cleaning up someone else's child's vomit that covers their bed in the middle of the night. I find it's mostly when I'm physically tired that the devil tries to whisper lies into my ear....Like I'm missing out on some thing else because I'm obeying Gods will. That maybe this is all just too hard or not the right time yet.

Honestly sometimes I really, really just want to say 'no' and go on about my life. My three kids(my normal) seems 'easy' in comparison to taking on more again. I want to just stay comfortable. Sometimes I simply just don't want more laundry and dishes to do!! And since I'm being honest usually during each placement there are moments Mason and I look at each other and say, "Ok...this might be the last time we can do this."

Then when those kids leave we pray asking for Gods will. Sometimes I'm actually hoping He will give me permission to say no(I know that sounds terrible!)....but I never get it. Instead I'm reminded of James 4:17-"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." 

This is when I realize I have to get back in God's word to remind myself of the TRUTH. I don't see anywhere in the bible where God asks us to just do something when it's easy or comfortable. It actually says the opposite.

 So satan tells me to quit because all of this is just a little too hard.  But God tells me to run the race with endurance, my reward is in heaven, that this is all worth it.

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28 NLT)

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 emphasis by me;) 

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18 NIV)

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT)

And incase I have those doubts creep in where I think I'm missing out there is this verse on my fridge: 

"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Matthew 16:26 NLT)

I share all this to show that we don't have to be perfect to be used by God. I don't need to have all the details figured out or even the perfect attitude all the time. It's a daily striving to 'press on toward the goal' of becoming more Christ like. God uses our obedience to a hard calling to refine and sift out the 'ugly' selfish places in my heart.  He can use it to do the same for your family.

This song has been on repeat a lot lately for me and sums it all up:

"The joy I find in facing every trial
Give me hope, and makes it all worthwhile
I’m looking towards all the plans You have in store
‘Cause the victory is Yours, it is Yours

So I’m not gonna complain
My lips will speak Your name
My voice will give You praise, give You praise
I’m not gonna give up
My strength comes from above
Your grace is more than enough, than enough." -You are Joy by Warr Acres

So....here we are waiting on another phone call:)

Because chaos is our normal.

These three cuties make my life a crazy-beautiful mess;)

So, I really don't blog anymore due to lack of time and after you read this you'll have a small understanding of why! Ha 

There is lots of random things to update on though! Mason's new job, foster kiddos coming and going, a four legged addition named Letty, etc;) 

Let me start by saying.....wow, so with Masons new job description we are welcoming ourselves into the 'day shift/normal people schedule' world and it's quite the change! I'm mostly loving it though! Breyton's whole life and most of our (almost) 8 yrs of marriage Mason has never worked normal 8-5 hours with weekends off. Since he started at the PD almost 6 yrs ago he has always been on nights and evenings. Now with that experience I definitely do not take for granted how nice it is to have him to go to bed with every night and when I kiss him goodbye for work it's not 'see ya tomorrow', but I get to look forward to him coming home that evening. Currently it makes the days seem shorter for me. Plus I have help at bedtime, yay! By that point of the day I'm typically reaching the end of my 'rope', so it's nice to have back up;) 

It's also so strange to no longer have a police car in the driveway because his new car is unmarked and he wears mostly plain clothes now as well. The only problem so far with the new schedule is Mason is a night owl still and he's dragging me down with him lol.... because we stay up way too late then when they alarm goes off at 7 (or kids wake up before) I really regret my bedtime. Hopefully the newness will wear off where every night doesn't feel like his weekend, so that we get some better sleep!

Then I wanted to update on our foster care situation. We have had 5 placements come and go since January. After our last placement was transferred to a relative we decided to put our home 'on hold' because we had two weekends this month where we would be out of town and Mason has a big paper and finals coming up for this semester of his masters degree, so that's added stress and takes up a lot of his time. Then with his new job title he will be gone for out-of-state training coming up, meaning I'll be on my own, so I'm trying to not have as much to tackle on my plate during that time. We will be doing respite next weekend for another foster family and we'll open our home back up in the near future when the time is right.

The picture below is from our last placement--when I came into check on the kids rooms before I went to bed I found the boys in their bunks and our foster daughter had moved to their room and was sleeping on the giant bean bag. She told me she got scared and didn't want to be alone.

I mean why do you need all these bedrooms if the kids are all gonna sleep in one room anyways ha! 

Then we got an almost 2 yr old German 

shepherd a couple of weeks ago. Which has been an adjustment--mostly for me of course;) Letty is an awesome dog thankfully, but no matter how you slice it dogs are work! Finally she is becoming adjusted to us as well since it was a big change for her to move to a new home too. She is well behaved(that's if I leave out the story of her stealing the chicken breasts I grilled for dinner and set on the island one night and snatching food from the little peoples hands as they walk around with it ha;). She is an angel towards the kiddos which is the most important thing. I can already tell she is becoming very protective of all of us..which was one of Mason's goals in getting a dog. 

(Clearly the dog is loved. And yes when you have three little people and a dog you keep your couches covered to save you some sanity.)

Now we go places with three kids and a dog;)

With the addition of Letty we have been trying to speed up the building of our retaining wall, removing a few trees(since our backyard is a forest pretty much!), and having a fence put up, so our backyard can be a place for the dog- and the kiddos. If we had any spare moments before they are now spent on this project. It's almost done though!

When Mason was going through the testing process of becoming a detective I kept thinking after this life will be so much calmer...but then something else would come up then something else..so now I've just accepted that this is life currently. And it's probably how life will be for years to come;) I mean I do like to keep busy and I'm the type of person who rarely sits still....yet even I sometimes wonder how chaos became so normal. I mean sometimes I can say it's organized chaos, but most of the time it's not. It's a chaos full of good things at least:) Pretty much from the time I open my eyes in the morning till the little ones close theirs at night something is happening. Three (or more when we have foster additions) kids plus a dog will keep your house loud, busy, messy...and yes it is full of a lot of laughter and joy as well:) 

It's funny how I remember it used to almost scare me to take one child out in public lol and I only wanted two kids TOTAL. Now I load up mutliple kids for trips to the zoo, dentist, doctor, etc without much of a second thought. I guess God grows you and prepares you for whats next...even when you don't know what's coming! Lol God is having me re-learn that it's probably best I don't know what is coming because it would scare the crap out of me currently. Thankfully He prepares us and is with us on this crazy journey of life. One day at a time is all I can handle for now!:)

Random pics from the camera roll:

How Lyla looks every time she eats yogurt..all the way up to her shoulder and hair.

Fun at the zoo!

Breyton loves Letty!

Love this girl!

Lyla throwing a fit bc she saw me put her beloved 'blankie' in the dryer.

Hanging out one morning!(Breyton is not a morning person;)

Lyla and Letty:)

My sweet boy!

<3

All racing on the driveway!

This girl loves to climb and pull everything out. She is the reason my pantry is not organized;)

This little man will be 6 in a few months and I love that he still climbs up in my lap on random occasion and gives me hugs without me asking! Also, every night he has to have our bedtime kiss routine which includes a kiss on the forehead, an Eskimo kiss, a butterfly kiss on the cheek, and ending with a hug. He reminds me if I haven't done it..time is running out for those moments so I hope I can cherish them!

What Lyla is up to these days and random pics of kiddos:)

I decided to blog some random updates now that Lyla is approaching the 1 1/2 year mark! (She is currently 16.5 months:) Hard to believe it's been over 4 months since her 1st birthday and my monthly updates ceased.

I do love love this age! She is learning so much and keeps us laughing most of the time. In my household it's proving to be true that boys advance more quickly physically than they do with their vocabulary and vice versa for Lyla. My boys were walking early and running/climbing shortly after while Lyla didn't start walking till a couple of weeks after her first birthday. However, I don't remember the boys being able to say so many words and communicate as well as Lyla at this age--It's a tad harder to say with Sean bc when he was Lyla's age I was sleep deprived from having a newborn as well, so I didn't write very much down;)

Anyways here is what Lyla is up to currently:

• FINALLY sleeping through the night consistently as of 2.5 weeks ago(only done it about 5 times before this)! I didn't have to do anything to make this finally happen she just slept through one night and has been ever since. It was interesting, and tiring haha, to see how long it would take for her to reach this on her own. It feels GOOD though!!!

•She is currently weighing 19.5lbs(2nd percentile),not sure on height, size 12 months clothes, and size 2/3 shoe.

• Even though she is tiny she loves food, so her first sentence would have to do with asking for food- she is constantly saying "I want some" and "I want more". She is not too picky about food (unlike Breyton thankfully), but does not like reg milk still. I just try to get some calcium in other ways when possible.(Officially weaned her when I was gone on my trip last month-so I'm totally free! The bitter-sweetness has left and now it's just

 sa-weeet!:))

•Words she can say: Hi, bye-bye, night-night, drink(dink), daddy, mommy, bubba,  I want some, more, please, thank you, stop, nan-na(banana), ball, doggy, ruff-ruff, fishie, 'what's that?', nose(noe), eye, mouth, ear, outside, tree, shoe, sock, baby, sunshine(when trying to sing along to 'your are my sunshine'), and no(of course;). 

• Favorite things currently: saying 'hi' to everyone she sees whether in person or cars driving by, carrying around a baby doll, peek-a-boo/hiding, playing ball, reading/looking at books, and dancing to music, and most of all anything to do with being outside!

Random pics:

At church playing outside-

 

Being silly with bubba

He can always make her laugh.

Watching it snow! Yes, her shirt is on backwards because Mason grabbed a pj shirt and put it on while Lyla was trying to run away;) She avoids bedtime if at all possible. 

Waiving hi to the mirror:)

Carrying around one of her favorite baby dolls-

I knew they were being a little too quiet..Lyla is almost always pulling out wipes or unrolling toilet paper if she's quiet;)

Lyla being ornery and climbing up on the table to eat. She thought this was a fun game for a few weeks..thankfully she has finally quit doing it!

One of her many pout faces. She's not a fan of being told 'no'.

A sweet moment between these two! Breyton was singing/patting her and she just laid still:)

The boys playing a race car video game that they are obsessed with since the snow days came. I'm having to seriously limit time with this bc B asks to play way too much! I do love watching B's face when he plays- always so much focus and excitement. Haha

 

Helping momma cook:)

Trying to talk me out of cleaning out toys/stuffed animals to give away. This kid is a hoarder. Finally parted with some stuff--we are trying to do the challenge of donating a trash bag of stuff once a month for a whole year! Plus, we really need less clutter to clear out a closet for future foster kiddos.

Fun in the snow!

Just happy to be outside!

The boys after I took them swimming up at the Y.

Enjoying some snuggles with this kiddo while the other two nap. I have to take what I can get these days(he is more affectionate out of nowhere lately, but not actually still too often for cuddles lol).....impossible to believe that he will be SIX this summer;(

An exciting start to a new year!!!

Exciting things happening right at the beginning of this new year! I will back track to almost 2 years ago we did a random (thouroughly researched lol)  thing and signed up for this vacation deal where you go to Branson and have free hotel stay as long as you listen to the time share meeting they want you to attend one afternoon...out of the deal you get an~almost free~cruise! We went to the Branson thing last April and made it into a family trip with my family. After the Branson trip you have one year to use your cruise certificate or it expires. We planned to wait the full year and use it in March 2015 because I was wanting to wait as long as possible to leave Lyla;) 

We called to finally book it this week and learned if you go in January you get a free upgrade to a nicer room and airfare prices(which we do have to pay for technically) are significantly cheaper in January because it's not as popular of a month to travel with holidays just being over! I said technically about paying for the airfare because we have a rewards credit card we charge everything to and then pay it off, so we earn travel points. We had already earned enough for completely free round trip tickets for both of us:)) So by booking the last week of January we would save hundreds of dollars..so seemed the most logical. We looked at weather and the difference between end of January and first of March down there is insignificant to justify waiting as well!

Anyways, we booked our cruise and it's final... we can't change it. Now I'm freaking out about leaving Lyla lol. Way back when we signed up for this I thought well Lyla will be a year and a half old, so it will be fine...however, now that it came up so quickly I'm not as emotionally prepared as I thought I would be! I apparently have 3.5 weeks to prepare myself...and wean a very stubborn baby:/

We have typically taken Breyton with us on most past vacations, but this is our first time to travel since we've added two kiddos in 2013...and it's not feasible(nor would I want to lol) travel to Miami and take a cruise with three young children, so they will be having their own fun vacation hanging out with their Meems and Grammy. Mason keeps saying, "Stop- it's not a big deal! You do so much for the kiddos and deserve to get away for a bit to relax!" So that's what I'm going to try to do:))

Yes, there is definitely a part of me super excited about spending, so much time alone with my husband and of course warm weather and the ocean!!! We are flying to Miami to leave for the cruise and Masons' brother/sister in law live nearby there, so we will be spending extra time visiting with them as well! 

So that's coming up......and this past Wednesday we did get word that Miss L, our foster daughter, will be leaving us next week to move onto a kinship placement. Bittersweet! Having a two- 2 years olds and a 1 year old is exhausting on a long term basis, so I think it's for the best. I know after 3 weeks it will be a little sad to say goodbye knowing in this situation we will probably never see her again. She's been having some night terrors and a little more tears about her other mommy/daddy, so I'm just praying so hard that she can find the comfort/love she needs as she moves on from us. 

And on one other side note....

On this day, Jan 2nd, two years ago we received a message out of the blue telling us about this sweet little 4 month old baby boy who needed a home. It was a crazy whirlwind to say 'yes' and I'm so thankful for how God wove Sean into our lives!

Today on my time hop app was the precious first pictures we saw of his little face. 

My how he has grown!

Crazy how time flies and how quickly life changes! Looking forward to another new year and what God will do!

Back on the roller coaster of foster care: Little miss L

Moments like this when I look back and see this unexpectedly I know it's all worth it.

The thought that someone else's child will be spending Christmas with strangers is still a little weird to me.

Little miss L arrived last Wednesday evening and we have no clue how long she will be with us. It appears we will have an extra guest for Christmas though since no one has called about moving her! They claimed it would be temporary because they are trying to approve a kinship, but no word from anyone yet on how that's going. We did get a call from someone letting us know a little more about why L was removed and what bio parents 'ICP' or progress plan will be like. The case has been moved to a permanency worker because parents chose not to comply with what DHS asked them to do...so basically they didn't seem too urgent about getting their little girl back. Sad with the holidays here:(

Anyways, first night she arrived was a little crazy as we all adjusted. By 'we' I mean myself and the kids because Mason was at work. 'L' needed a bath upon arriving and was hungry, so it was kinda a mad rush trying to accomplish all that when it was my other three kiddos bedtime. It got done though! It was a little weird at first having a stranger in your home and trying to get it all figured out with no information. As I was getting her a snack I hoped she wasn't allergic to strawberries, diary, or peanut butter! Thankfully it appears she is not:) Then she had trouble falling asleep(understandably) that night so we were up past 10 and awake at 6:50, but I have no idea what her life or schedule looked like before. 

I've just been trying to incorporate her and adjust her to my kids schedule. She has adjusted well and sleeping much better already...which is good since I'm still getting up with Lyla at night.

Turns out life with four kids isn't really that much more difficult than life with three kids;) Though four car seats in one car is a lot!  Thank goodness Breyton buckles himself, but getting three kids in and out of car seats takes a ridiculous amount of time just to go anywhere...especially when you can't get to the third row except by climbing through the front seat and in between captains chairs to back row lol. I'm sure people get a good laugh watching us! Minor inconvenience over all, so I won't complain much;)

It's been 7 days that she's been with us and she has insisted on calling us mommy and daddy from day 1. She really seems happy and content now. It's actually a little sad how happy she is with strangers. I'm truly so proud of my kiddos and how they have welcomed in this little girl and made her feel comfortable while sharing all their belongings. It's undoubtedly been an adjustment for all of us, but these 'inconveniences' are pretty minor in comparison to what God has done for me. So just trying to give extra doses of grace around here..especially for myself;)

I'm not gonna claim I'm some saint and that I enjoy every moment of 'self sacrifice'. Truth is by nature I'm selfish and have moments where I think "why am I getting up early with someone else's child while they sleep in? Why am I here reassuring a little girls fears because someone else messed up? Why am I changing yet another poopy diaper?". It's in those moments I have to choose to change my focus. After all this isn't about me...it's not even really about those parents..it's just about a little girl that needs love and care. 

 On the other hand I do wish I could give this sweet girl the world and keep her forever just to know she was safe, but if we are gonna be foster parents long term I'm gonna have to learn to let them go when the time comes and trust God's plan. I pray through the road that's ahead of us we can show our children by example what it means to live out the gospel....even when it hurts even when it costs us something.

This journey of parenthood especially being a foster parent has brought me to my knees more than I could have ever imagined. I'm learning that we don't really truly grow in our trust and faith of God when life is comfortable...because we seem 'fine' on our own. It's when we are put in the uncomfortable places of life and the hard places that we truly experience just how much we need God.  When life is just going along I can read my bible for a few minutes before falling asleep and think that's good, but when I'm faced with something I can't do on my own then I truly seek God with all my heart, soul, mind and I find Him. 

Everytime.

He meets me wherever I'm at. So if being in the uncomfortable places is where I find God the most then I don't ever want to get comfortable in this life!

"Someday, we'll get to enjoy heaven and all its perfection. But for now, the work God calls us to do here on earth is often uncomfortable, physically tiring and emotionally draining. Some days it's downright dirty and difficult.

While my flesh would prefer a cushy assignment, I don't want to shake the nail-scarred hands of Jesus—-the hands that touched lepers, the hands that stroked the head of a broken sinful woman—-with hands that have never gotten dirty with life."

So currently if having some more laundry to fold, dirty dishes to wash, extra tantrums to calm and twice the diapers to change is the way that God calls me to serves others right now then I hope I can be joyful and faithful even in the mundane.

My current life verses:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT)

If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. (2 Corinthians 5:13-14 NLT)

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. (Galatians 1:10 NLT)

 

If anything this season is a good reminder for what we live for and why we have the hope that we do. Merry Christmas everyone!