Our First Broken Bone(s)

Well friends, we have experienced our first broken bone with our kids. And, of course, we can't do anything simple so it's actually THREE broken bones.

Last Thursday, when the boys arrived home from football practice Griffin was limping. My heart sank. He said another child fell on it at practice but that the trainers thought it was just sprained. My mommy heart thought otherwise but the hubs and I decided to give it a day or so. The next day my poor baby went to school and hobbled around all day. I decided if he wasn't WAY better the next day we were having it x-rayed. Saturday rolled around and it wasn't better so Josh took him to the doctor. I stayed at home with the other kiddos because we are working on switching Brooks and Reece's rooms! After about an hour and a half I text the hubs to check in and he sent this back...

It would be safe to say I had a complete come-apart. Like, it was bad. The other three kids came to my rescue and were super sweet and calmed me down. I know it's not my fault but if I would have listened to my mommy instinct he wouldn't have walked around for two days like that. SO MAD AT MYSELF!

But, he thinks it's cool...

On Tuesday he had surgery. They placed a few pins in his foot that will stay in for about a month and then they will come out. Ouch. Let me tell you how tough this kid is. Before the surgery, he had NO pain medication...he was in NO PAIN. Blows my mind. And, even since surgery, he doesn't complain hardly at all. He is such a trooper and we are so proud of him!

This was us post-surgery..just hanging out and having a Netflix day! Love my Griff!

Time for Football!

Man. I'm feeling old today. Griffin and Peyton have their first football game tonight!  I'm nervous and excited and freaking my freak. I'm terrified, really. They have been practicing since May, so hopefully they are prepared. Yes, all summer. In the 975 degree heat.

Our school is not very old, so the football programs are very young. I could care less if we win any games(of course I want them to win, for their sake) I just don't want them to get hurt. I hope they learn to love the sport and take all their frustrations out on the field! ha!

Please excuse their hair and sweaty-ness! This was right after they got home from practice last night and I was all like, "OH MY GAHHHHHH, look at y'all in your jersey's!!!!" Followed by lots of eye rolling and, "DO NOT PUT THIS ON INSTAGRAM!" haha! These two make me laugh everyday! :)

Immigration Approval!

It's been a rough week! It's been stressful and busy.

Brooks, along with me and Josh, had to deal with something this week that I still can't even talk about on here, which has made me even more stressed. HE IS FINE. He is one brave little boy and we are so proud of him! But let me tell you about the momma tiger in me. Don't mess with HER!

After dealing with the situation I was SO excited when Josh sent me a text saying that we got our immigration approval in the mail that day! PRAISE THE LORD! This is the LAST thing we needed for our dossier to be sent to China! :) It was supposed to take 3 months to get! I'm anxiously waiting on an email/phone call from our agency to tell me when our dossier will be sent!

And, no, she still doesn't have a NAME!

Back to School!

The kiddos went back to school today! Griffin is in 8th grade, Peyton is in 7th grade and Reece is in 3rd grade! She's all, "When I'm in 5th grade, Brooks will be in Kindergarten!" STOP IT!

Most moms are all  But, I'm all  I used to be in that other mom club. But every year I love summer more and more. It's those couple of months that we get to hog our kids all to ourselves and not have to share them with school. We do what we want and we don't have to be responsible!  Plus, this is Griff's last year of middle school. Boo to THAT! My kids are the bomb diggity and I miss them already!

USCIS Fingerprints

Josh and I had our fingerprint appointment with USCIS this morning! We had to be in Birmingham at 8:00AM! Yes, that's alot. Up, dressed, kids disbursed and out of Tuscaloosa by 6:30! But, we made it with 10 minutes to spare!

USCIS stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. In a nutshell, families who are adopting internationally have to fill out an application and send it to USCIS to be approved to adopt internationally. There's a lot that goes into it but the fingerprints were to conduct FBI background checks. We should be assigned an officer soon that will eventually send us our approval letter!

THIS IS THE LAST PIECE OF PAPER WE NEED FOR OUR DOSSIER TO BE SENT TO CHINA!!!!!

As you can imagine, we are very anxious for this to go smooth and FAST!

Other than today, we are just basically sitting around waiting on other people. That's not much fun, for it to be completely out of our hands.

BUT, WE COULD WORK ON NAMING HER! Yes, please!

We received an email from our agency yesterday and in that email it mentioned that we need to have her named by the time we accept a match! Which could happen at any time...so, yea, a name would be good.

Moving on up!

Our sweet Brooks baby moved up to a new class at school today!! It makes me so sad that he will turn four in this class!

He is such a big boy! He doesn't need our help much anymore with anything, "I super skrong, I do it!" is what we hear all the time!

I'm pretty sure he's super man!

I have a recent little story to share about him. On this past Friday, his teacher called me. She said that they were out on the playground and he had stuffed his ears with this rubber stuff that the playground is made out of! UGH. They weren't sure if they got it all out and since that would potentially cause big problems if they didn't...off to the doctor we went. His doctor walked in the room with a HUGE smile on her face. This was not a surprise to her! HAHA! Such a little boy thing to do! His ears were fine.
 

150 Million

Friends, did you know that there are almost 150 MILLION orphans in the world? That makes me so sad.

Know what makes me even more sad?

SEVEN percent! THAT'S ALL! That fact should make you think long and hard.

It amazes me that a few years ago this wasn't even on my radar. I was SO happy with my four beautiful kids that I had always dreamed of. I didn't want another child. When I felt the tug on my heart to adopt, selfish me tried every way to ignore it. When I finally caved and started praying about it I watched the Lord completely change my heart right in front of my eyes. I went from that selfish, "I don't think we can raise anymore children." to "Can we adopt 50?!" haha! Pretty sure if you asked Josh he would tell you the same thing.

I remember the moment, actually. I was feeling more obligated that we needed to adopt more so than a "want to". It was a Saturday in early 2015. The kids were all playing in the floor in the living room and I was just hanging with them. Then it hit me and I felt the NEED to have another. (No, I don't care if you think I'm crazy.)

The Lord took something that I LOVE-children-and used it to draw me closer to Him.

I am not in any way, shape, form or fashion worthy of THAT. But, I am so thankful He has chosen us!

My heart is broken for the orphans in this world. These babies that grow up without the love of a family.

Can I just say that if you feel that little tug....just think a little more about it. And pray about it starting right now! :)