My buddy

Remember that commercial for the "My Buddy" doll?



Sometimes I think that Ella is my own personal "my buddy" doll =)

My coffee drinking buddy...

Don't mind my "just woke up" look...yikes!

Prayer Request: Update #1

I just got this message from my sister Mary Kate:

They Made it!

I just heard from mom and dad and they are in Kiev now! They sounded great. The apt they have is in a very central location, so they were pleased. Mom is having some swelling in her feet due to traveling and wanted prayer for that. They were told about two 8 yr old boys in another region, the coordinator thinks he could do the 2 adoptions together. It would mean mom and dad would be going back and forth from one region to another, they will hear more about them on Tuesday and be praying as to what they should do. They might be calling back later today and if I hear anything new I'll pass it on;)

Prayer Request

For those of you that know me...you know that I have a pretty special family. I am one of 17 children. Yes, 17! Crazy, I know.

No, my mom didn't actually give birth to 17 children. We aren't like the Dugger family that way...and my mom's haircut is way better than Mrs. Duggar's too =)

5 of us are biological and 12 are adopted. 1 from Mexico, and 11 from Russia and Ukraine. Ages range from 29 to 6. No, I am not the 29 year old, I am still only 27 =)

Anyways...

Tomorrow morning my Dad, Mom, and youngest biological brother, Ben, 16, are flying to Ukraine to adopt more children. Ben is fluent in Russian and will be a big help with translating. Please pray for travel safety, smoothness of all the intricacies involved in the adoption process, safety and unity for the ones staying behind,peace in the hearts of the new children leaving behind all they have ever known, and that above all...the Lord be glorified!

I'll be keeping you updated. Thank You!

I heart Thursdays

Yay for Thursdays! They are Jeremiah's day off. I especially love the ones where we don't "have" to do anything. According to Bill Rey of NBC 17, we are supposed to have mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70's. Perfect!

Conversations with Ella...

Ella: I jus' disappeared today.
Me: Oh. What did you do when you disappeared?
Ella: I jus' went to the store.
Me: What did you do at the store?
Ella: I got a dinosaur and he roared really loud and scared me and I jus' went home. You wanna disappear too?

Then she "shot" me with her "disappear gun" =)

Memorial Day

We had a big cookout yesterday with some of our best old friends/family and some new friends. Here are some pictures from our day of fun...

Ella and Cana having fun in the pool...I don't know how they stood the cold!


Ezra and Kayil are becoming fast friends. I just missed a shot of them "kissing" each other =)


Delicious spicy mustard glazed chicken...yum!


Yes, it really does take 4 guys to watch the grill =)


The real face behind our feast, our new friend Vanessa...an incredible cook. Check out the size of those potatoes she is fixing!


Playing "Mafia" into the wee hours of the night.


No, the field isn't on fire...
Just trying to catch a shot of the volleyball game =)

Anniversary recap

Jeremiah and I had a great time on our "getaway" weekend. A HUGE thank you to "Aunt Keesha and Uncle Baikes" for taking such good care of the kids!

We left Friday night and checked into our swanky hotel, The Siena Hotel, in downtown Chapel Hill. I had a huge bouquet of flowers waiting for me...a replica of my wedding bouquet. How sweet.

We ate a delicious steak and shrimp dinner and explored the downtown area. It's weird how, yet again, we are less than 30min from Chapel Hill, but we had never taken the time to really explore it. It reminded me of our favorite NC city, Wake Forest...just on a bigger and more developed scale.

The next day I enjoyed a (surprise!) in-room massage. Ahhhh...incredible. We also enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast, took in the new Prince Caspian movie, and of course fit in some more food...our favorite mexican and cheesecake =)

We came home totally relaxed and renewed in our marriage. If only 5 year anniversary's could be every weekend =)

Memory Monday

Phil 1:6

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you (ME!) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Five posts for 5 years...post 5

This day 5 years ago...

Our wedding day.

I was up early with anticipation. Plus, I had to get a shower and head over to the ceremony site and set up all the flowers, then go to the salon and get my hair done. It was a whirlwind of a day.

I remember being sooooooo excited this day 5 years ago...yet, oddly calm. I knew that marrying Jeremiah was exactly what I wanted, what the Lord had planned for me. No cold feet here. I knew he was the one.

Today, May 23, 2008...five years later...I still know Jeremiah is the one.

No, I don't love him the same as I did when I pledged my life and love to him in front of all my friends and family. I didn't know then what I know now...

I didn't know that I would love him for all the dedication and hard work he showed throughout seminary. I didn't know that I would love him for his ability to always make me feel like top priority no matter what else is going on in life. I didn't know then that I would love him for the way he melts with Ella or the way he lights up with Ezra. I love him for the faithfulness he has showed to the Lord and ministry. I love him for his genuine love and passion for students. I love him for his contentment at the simple things of life and his teachable spirit. I love him for his "big-plans and end-product" outlook on life. I didn't know that I would love him for the maturity he has grown into and the silly goof-ball-ness he will never outgrow.

I love him MORE today than 5 years ago. Because he is MORE today.

Oh yea, I also didn't know that I would love him for his willingness to always be the one to put Ezra's paci in - in the middle of the night, and watch all my favorite HGTV and Food Network shows with me.

Five posts for 5 years...post 4

Ik hou van jou, (Dutch)
Je t'aime, (French)
Ta gra agam art, (Gaelic)
Szereklek, (Hungarian)
Qabang, (Klingon)
Te Amo, (Latin)
Ya vas liublie (Russian)...

No matter how I say it,

I LOVE YOU!

5 posts for five years...post 3

Cinco years of living with MY prince charming,

Funf years of fun,

Vijfde years of watching thunderstorms together,

Cinq years of working as a team,

Five years of wonderful life with you.

5 posts for five years...post 2

Jeremiah:

If you live to be a hundred,
I want to live to be a hundred minus one day,
so that I can never have to life without you.

- Winnie the Pooh

5 posts for 5 years...post 1

We've both learned a lot about each other over these past five years. Some things I have learned NOT to do:

1) Don't antagonize him right before bed or HE WILL sing all 5 million verses of some old hymn he knows

2) Don't buy him an outdoor thermometer for Christmas. Stick to presents with cords.

3) Don't try to stop him from mowing the lawn - it's important to him.

4) Don't cock the pictures on the wall or the coffee table from being at a direct parallel to the sofa

5) Don't underestimate his creativity, talents, or abilities...I am continuously amazed at how amazing he is at whatever he attempts. Well, except for plumbing...that's ok =)

Folks...

We've got ourselves a crawler now!

I went out this afternoon to buy an extra-wide baby gate for our stairs =)

Simple pleasures

1) Watching a thunderstorm roll in...we had a massive one yesterday with quarter sized hail!

2) Getting to read a favorite book of mine as a child to my child...and her loving it as much as I did.

3) Watching steel magnolias(or pretty woman, or dirty dancing)on the tv for the 27th time in my life =) And crying(or laughing, or attempting to dance)every time.

Funny Ella

She made a gun with her fingers last night and told me she was shooting me. I asked her why she was shooting me, and she answered "I'm shooting you with GORGEOUS". Where did she come up with that?

She has an on again/off again imaginary friend named baby Tim. It's not unusual for her to tell me to be quiet because baby Tim is sleeping.

Ezra was blowing raspberries a couple of nights ago as I was attempting to feed him dinner. After gently telling him, "no, sir" several times...he just kept doing it. Ella looked at me and told me, "Mom, he's not being sef-controlled".

Wait just a second there...

Who told you that you could start pulling up on things?

No, SIR!

Not yet!

Helper Ella

Ella is in a new fun stage...she wants to "help" me do everything! She asks me "can I help" at least 50 times a day. At least, that's what it seems like to me =)

She loves to help me make my bed every morning. She concentrates so hard that she sticks her tongue out and breathes heavy =)

Because of this new found love of helping, I am trying to channel her efforts in ways that she can actually be of help. A lot of this involves me letting go of things being done perfect or done "my way".

One of her new jobs this week is to feed the cats. She goes into the pantry and drags the cat food bucket all the way out to the side porch. She is calling "here Kitty, here Kitty, ya want yur breaf-est?!" the whole time. She then fills up the bowls and drags the bucket all the way back inside. Surprisingly, she does a really good job at it.



This morning she wanted to help me make Ezra's babyfood for the week. She helped me spoon the apples and sweet potatoes into the blender, turned it on, then helped me ladle it out into the ice-cube trays. You could tell that she was so proud of herself!



Now, if only I could get her to do laundry...my LEAST favorite household chore!

Memory Monday

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; but I have come so that they may have life, and life to the full.

Oh, the misery...

Yesterday Jeremiah and I tackled weeding some of the flower beds here at the farm. After about 15 minutes into, I think we both were overwhelmed =) We has set quite ambitious goals of getting both front beds and both side beds finished.

Ha! When we finally stopped at dinnertime, we only got 1/2 of one front bed finished.

Oh well.

I paid the price for all that time outside...my allergies have gone into hyper-drive. Jeremiah tells me that my head is probably going to explode with all the drugs I have been popping in an attempt to stop my face from itching like I am being eaten alive by fire-ants.

Sorry for the disgusting mental image =)

I didn't make it to church this morning because my eyes were too swollen for my vanity to allow me to go.

I'm wondering...I've all but exhausted every OTC and prescription drug option...does anyone know of any natural or homeopathic allergy remedies?

Ezra James - 8 months

Yes, our son turned 8 months yesterday. Where is my tiny little newborn? I know I've mentioned this before, but the 2nd child really does seem to grow up SO fast.



He is still the most laid back, easy going little guy in the world! He is days, hours, minutes...VERY close to crawling. However, he doesn't really need to crawl as he just super-rolls wherever he wants to go. It's quite amazing how much ground he can cover by rolling! I had forgotten about this new stage of mobility...having to start telling him no to pulling at my plants and electrical cords. Geesh, I thought I was busy before! Oh, and he just learned how to wave bye-bye this week.

His favorite toy of the moment is the foam toe-spacer that they use for pedicures. He LOVES them! Of course, any toy that Ella is playing with will do too.


He still loves to eat and has become quite vocal about insisting we get the food inside his mouth quickly! He loves table food or anything I put on his tray and is VERY messy! At 8 months old, he is wearing 12-18 months sized clothes...so he is still a big boy. I love those leg rolls!



I love this little guy! What a blessing!

Pictures

As mentioned in a previous post...my Mother's Day weekend getaway was a blast. Here are some pictures to prove it =)

The gang


Moms gone wild! Kelly really got some air =)


Ben and Jerry's anyone?!


The beginning of the longest day of shopping I have ever had in my life!


There are a few more pictures at Kelly's blog.

Mothers Day getaway

Our Mother's day trip was a blast. I'm not so sure it was the most relaxing weekend I've ever had...spending 9 hours at Ikea on Saturday! Fun, yes...Relaxing, no! And man, I think I talked more in those 3 days then I have in 3 months.

I have been blessed with some great friends, Tasha and Kelly Via. You'd never guess, but they have hidden jumping on hotel bed powers =) They always encourage me as a mom and follower of Christ.

I have been blessed with an awesome hubby too. The kids were well taken care of and my house was sparkling when I walked in. The laundry was done too! Click here for the boys take on the weekend.

All the kiddos, minus Zeke, having some tractor ride fun!

Memory Monday (on a Tuesday)

James 1:19-20

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for mans anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Pictures

These are just for you Addie =)

My little monkey!


Ezra goes NUTS over dogs!


He is SO CLOSE to crawling...any day now!

All curled up with a good book...


"Es-ploring" with Cana around the pond

MIA

I am headed out for a few days "off" with some of my best girlfriends. We are heading up to the Washington DC area for a few days of rest & relaxation and shopping and eating, of course! What fun!

The Dads and all six kids (all under the age of 3!) will be here at The Hambrick Farm while we're gone.

I've already told Jeremiah that I DO NOT CARE what my house looks like while I'm gone.

I do, however, care what my kids look like =)

No, I'm really not worried...he takes awesome care of them. I have NO WORRIES!

Don't eat yellow snow

There are two leading studies out on the subject of tipping. Some interesting facts I found in them are listed below:

Tips are higher in sunny weather.

Drawing a smiley face on the check increases a waitress's tips by 18 percent but decreases a waiter's tips by 9 percent.

Waitresses increased their tips by 17 percent by wearing flowers in their hair

There is little actual relationship between quality of waiter service and size of tip

You might be asking why in the world am I writing about this?

I was listening to talk radio this morning and the subject of tipping came up. Specifically, how different races tip differently...with Hispanics being considered the most generous tippers. Interesting.

But, mainly I am writing this because there have been a several incidences lately where Jeremiah and I have been out with others and we have been embarrassed (yes, embarrassed) by the way they either didn't tip at all or tipped poorly.

Maybe this is crazy, but I think that Christians should be the BEST TIPPERS out there. As Christians, I have this funny idea that we should actually be living out God's word. There are MANY scriptures that instruct Christians on how to treat others, but I'll just share two:

Col 4:5
"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of EVERY OPPORTUNITY."

Gal 6:10
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people."

Now, I don't know this for sure, but I think it might be safe to say that Christ probably would have been the best tipper ever. All the waiters would have been fighting over the chance to serve him.

If you are a Christian, leave a good tip. DON'T leave a tract as a tip. Especially those retarded ones that are made to look like money.

Why in the world would you want to become a Christian if they have the reputation of being cheap or rude? The extra $5, $10, or $20 you give to your server is certainly not going to break your bank. If it is, you shouldn't be eating out anyway.

As a rule of thumb, we always tip at least 20%, unless the service was just terrible.

Also, don't just tip well...but be kind to your server. That means don't make snide comments about the food, always say please and thank you, etc. But, I'll stop there...That's a whole other post.


For some mindless fun: Click here for a list of good and bad celebrity tippers.