Home Sweet Home

It's ours! We'll be moving Saturday. Krispy Kreme donations appreciated. ;)

God is so good. Can't wait to share the whole story with you all. But now, I am going to bed.

Dimmer Moments

You know you have them. We can't be bright, shining stars all the time.

It's just that I try not to keep my moments of mental dis-clarity to myself. I like to share my insanity, often to the delight of those around me. And, occasionally,my chagrin. It seems to be one of my spiritual gifts.

As you may or may not know, my cell phone loyalties are with my iPhone. I have been, for the most part, very pleased with my little piece of technological wizardry. It plays my favorite music, it checks my email, it gives me directions, it lets me take pictures, it has games on it, I can do my online banking on it, I can even make phone calls! It being a cell phone and all. I just click one little button and then touch screen my way to meet my every need. Hello? There's an app for that!

Well, a few needs and some perceived necessities. But let's not get hung up on the details of my verbiage, mkay?

Okay, so you are aware of my iPhone dependencies. Only I didn't know how very deep those dependencies ran!

Last night, I had the privilege of an off night. I gathered with a group of girls from church, under the guise of hammering out some details of our nursery ministry. But when you put four gals in a restaurant to discuss business, you know we like to get that business part out of the way and then just enjoy the heck out of each other, right? Suffice it to say, we always leave with a round of hugs and sides sore from our laughter. Trust me.

We had a super great time! Our server was AWESOME, our food was tasty, and our fellowship sweet. As we gathered our belongings to leave some three and a half hours later, one of us made noise about wanting a picture. We found a girl willing to be our camera man, er, uh, iPhone-point-and-clicker and we posed.

However, there was not enough light to see anything. Shannon quickly mentioned that her phone had a flash on it and we could try that. Great! The picture was pretty cute, too.

After the picture had been taken, (and oh man, was that flash bright!) we each asked Shannon to send it to us. Y'all, I love that girl. She looked up and said, 'Actually, I don't know how to do it. I am not really all that tech savvy.'

Now, since I am married to a computer engineer and all, I am very tech savvy. Not by nature, understand, but by marriage. You get what I am saying here?

I held out my hand and Shannon gave me her phone. I kind of got snarky and pointed out the icon shaped like an envelope.

'You just use this and send it to us, girl! This one, right here!'

And then I tapped the icon.

But nothing happened.

Since it was on the edge of the screen, I figured maybe I just missed it. So I tapped it again. And again. Somewhat bemused, I looked up and said, 'I don't think hers works.'

Traci, who also is an iPhone junkie, busted up laughing. Pretty soon all three of the others were cracking up and I was standing there looking bewildered.

'They're called buttons, Aubrey! You have to push them!'

It suddenly dawned on me that I wasn't holding an iPhone. It's a good thing I had so much Root Beer in my system, else I might have been embarrassed. However, after no less than three glasses, and very likely more than three, my senses were in such a sugar induced other realm, I just got the giggles.

We finally stepped outside into the flattering light of a street lamp and used Traci's iPhone to snap a quick picture of our Girls Night Out.

Shannon, Aubrey, Amy, Traci

If you happen to go to church with us, please interpret that 'Girls Night Out' phrase as 'Very Necessary Meeting'!!!

What Do Pastors, Mommys, and Super Heros Have In Common?

Once upon a time, I had an Algebra teacher who, well, let's just say there was a bit of a personality conflict. He was too smart to teach such a lowly subject and lorded his intelligence over us freshman slugs. And I was simply too sassy for my own good. Most of his discussions with me started something like this...

'Miss Bergman, lets have a frank and earnest talk. I'll be Frank, and you be Earnest.'

And that about covers everything I learned in that class. Oh, and a few phrases from the incredibly cute foreign exchange student.

Those memories are mostly faded like old pictures now, yellowed edges and fuzzy images. But when my son came to me today and started the following conversation with the word 'frankly', for some reason, the days of Mr Mean Algebra Teacher's class leaped to the fore.

'Frankly, Mom, I want to be a policeman when I grow up. Or a pastor.'

I smiled, both at his topic of choice and at the thought of my Algebra teacher's somewhat bored/exasperated face as he started yet another conversation with me, and inquired further into Thomas' thoughts on these two professions. They were filled with five year old idealism.

'Well, a policeman gets to drive a car with lights on it and they are tall. And a pastor get to talk a lot and go see lots of people play games.'

He continued on with his descriptions, making both callings sound so magnificent, who wouldn't want to be those people?

Sarah Grace and Elizabeth wandered in while Thomas and I were talking. They were very quick to tell me what they wanted to be when they grew up, too.

'Mommy, um, I am going to be an artist when I grow up. Because I am already one. And a Mommy with lots of kids like you have and do hand prints like you do. And we will eat a lot of ice cream and read books a lot.,' exclaimed Sarah Grace.

'And I'm gonna be an artist when I grow up and a Mommy like you, Mommy. And a super hero,' said Elizabeth.

Because obviously, Super Heros and Mommys are incredibly alike. Now what'd I do with my cape?

Tuesdays Unwrapped

She is her very own self. An artist at heart, she thrives on making the world around her more beautiful. Pictures cover our refrigerator. Books are neatly organized on our bookshelves. Dolls are lined up to decorate or to be taught.




Her sweet smile, her excitable chatter and bright, inquisitive eyes, her frequently blown kisses, they all warm my heart.


She is honest, even when she is caught coloring 'outside the lines'. She is polite. She has a funny little sense of humor. She takes her role as a big sister very seriously.

And she is ours. Her kisses and hugs and laughter are all ours to savor for this season.

This precious little one, she is oh-so-special!

Our Monday

Y'all like how I stealthily slid that notice about our upcoming change of address? Yep, the week promises to be a very full one.

We kicked it off by sleeping in. Thomas and I got up about 8:30 while the girls slept until after nine. Just as I started thinking the day was really going to be good and productive, Thomas cried out.

He had vomited. He spent much of the morning repeating this activity. I won't go into detail. We don't need to remember those kinds of things.

I popped in movies and kept them coming until about two. At this point I called to everyone that it was nap time. We all crashed and didn't motivate until after four. After five, in some cases.

Yeah, we are just kind of hanging in here. Stay away, people. Hopefully, this is an isolated event. We are praying it was just for the day and just for the one kid.

But for now, we'll just keep to ourselves. And watch exorbitant amounts of television. And keep the saltine company in business...

Oh, but hey, Joshua is home!!!!!!! He made it in just in time to tuck in the kids and say prayers. We are so glad he is here!!!

His Return

Occasionally, very occasionally, I have to dig out my big girl panties and deal with things in life that I really dislike.

Joshua went out of town for the weekend. He left Friday morning. It was a long day. I don't know why. He's always at work on Fridays. I shouldn't have felt his lack of presence, but the simple knowledge that he was traveling three states away in his truck rather than grinding out computer code in his office had me feeling kind of mopey all day long. Finally, I tucked the kids into bed.

Saturday, I got to go with Lora to a street festival where we promoted Hope Suds! It was so much fun to spend the day with her and listen to her tell people how very close they are to bringing their sweet baby home!

Then today, folks, I pulled off a huge feat! I got all four kids up, fed, dressed, and out the door in time to be five minutes early for Sunday School! Oh, and me, too! I remembered everything I was supposed to remember. Diapers for Anna? Check. Sippee cups for Elizabeth and Anna? Check. Everyone's blankets? Check. Stuff to do a set of handprints for a very excitable grandmother? Check.

We did, however, skip the evening service. As pulled together as it sounds in the above paragraph, the day was not without it's stresses.

It's Sunday night now. The kids are in bed, I am mentally gearing up for the upcoming week, making menus, shopping lists, and all kids of other lists. I'm almost ready to wash my face and crawl into bed and read a few chapters of a really good book.

As I spoke with my Joshua tonight, he sounded relaxed and happy. The man has been living in a tent for three days, and he is perfectly content. He comes home tomorrow evening. I will throw myself in his arms and completely ignore the children for two whole minutes. Then I will step back and let the poor, ignored children at him.

I'll be putting my big girl panties away while he chats with them.

And then, we will reserve some time to talk excitedly about the home we will be signing our lives away for this Thursday and moving into on Saturday!!!

Swollen Hearts

Have you ever had one of those moments when you watch your child and you are overwhelmed with joy? When any screaming that has been done that day seems to fade far, far away because the child in front of you is smiling and just being? And you think, goodness, is this real? This amazing love that I feel? That child, that one right there, the one that is smiling and playing quietly and patting my face and using me as a personal jungle gym. That is the child that God gave me. He presented me with this beautiful and perfectly imperfect child.

If your me, He presented you with four of them. And your heart just swells so much that you feel your chest just may explode. And your grinning from ear to ear, looking for all the world like a fool, but completely unable to help yourself.

Then you realize that you're completely unable to comprehend the much greater love of the Father for His children. So much love that He hurts for us and longs for us to call on Him and accept the sacrifice He made for us. The sending of His one and only Son to die a horrible death on a cross. To make it so that God can even look at me? Because my righteousness is as filthy rags, but His blood washes me white as snow.

His blood. Untainted blood. From the One who lived a good and perfect life. Who was about His Father's business. Who had no sin.

I can't bring it into clear focus, but I can joyously revel in His saving Grace, and enjoy the blessings He has given me. And thank Him and praise Him in all things.

And my heart is swollen with all the love He has given me, in all it's forms.

On Taking Animals To The Zoo

What do you get when you send two Mamas, one Babysitter, and nine Children on an outing?

A whole new version of the Zoo Troop!

We joined forces with Lora's clan today and took on the Zoo. So did about four buses worth of Field Trippers. After we wrestled our way in, we waited to see which direction most of the crowd were going.

Then we very conspicuously went the other way!


The kids were pretty entertained by the monkeys. And Lora, Halle and I were utterly entertained at how much alike monkeys and children are!


We were sad that so many of the exhibits were closed due to renovation, but can't wait to head back to see the finished masterpiece! And the monkeys kids consoled themselves by perching themselves on a rock ledge to partake of their contraband snacks.



Sarah Grace asked me about the make-up this 'tree fing' was wearing.


When all was said and done, we parted ways with our own (and no more!) sleepy children and smiles of how we conquered the Zoo in a day.

With picture-proof of our survival!

Another Milestone

Twelve years ago today (TWELVE YEARS!), we agreed to go out on a date. The rest is a story that is uniquely our own, and still wonderfully in the making.


I love you, Sweetheart!

500th Post and A GIVEAWAY

Almost four years ago, I started this little blog. I have spent many hours tapping out my thoughts and memories, selecting the pictures to share, and going back to peruse old posts. I still enjoy writing the history that my family is making, and I love the folks I have 'met' due to blogging. Some of you I have actually seen, live and in color, and others I know only by the words you write on your blogs and emails exchanged back and forth. It's been an adventure that I never dreamed of!

To celebrate 4 years and 500 posts of wordiness, I am hosting an awesome give-away! If you have been here for any time at all, you have seen me mention my friend Lora. For twelve years that gal and I have been sharing all that life has thrown at us. We talk almost every single day, generally several times a day. It's a codependent relationship like no other. From college roomies, to wedding attendants, to mothering, to blogging buddies...we bring the humor with our own Laurel & Hardy-ness Lucy & Ethel hi-jinks.

Lora and her sweet family are answering God's call to adopt. They have been patiently working through the process for 8 months now, and, as is Lora and Andrew's typical MO, they have prayerfully taken on a fund-raising venture to help bring their baby home from Uganda.


True to their natural life-style, they came up with Hope Suds, a natural laundry detergent. Let me tell you, it smells YUM! And seriously, does it get any better than helping to bring children into loving families every single time you do laundry? You've gotta do it anyway...make it count towards more than just clean undies!

All that being said, two lucky winners will each receive 1 bag of Hope Suds!!! Just leave a comment, being sure to include an email address so I can contact the winners! Comments will close at 10:30 PM Central, Monday, April 12. Happy commenting!!

Elizabeth's Rainbow Cake

So we had us a birthday party last night! It was the easiest cake I've done during my stint as a Mommy.


Elizabeth modeling her '3' shirt. Complete with three butterflies.



After cake, and before presents, we bathed the girls. It just made sense after the long awaited rainbow cake and rainbow ice cream. They were wearing a fair amount of both!

Elizabeth took great delight in her musical birthday card from Granny. Our kids adore those things. Adore.


Elizabeth's tu-tu. I spent more time than I care to reveal making that rainbow masterpiece of tulle. Thanks, Ms Halle for your help!!

Her face was worth every minute of it!



She quickly found her ballerina music birthday card and reveled in her own little ballerina day dream.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Three years ago today, Elizabeth Hope joined our family. It's hard to believe that this cutie-patootie baby...


...has grown into this adorable, sweet child.


Happy 3rd Birthday, Sunshine!!

Happy Easter!

It was a wonderful weekend, y'all. As my friend Deea said, how could it not ROCK!? Look at what Christ did for us! Look how he conquered the grave!!!


Here we are after the flashlight Easter Egg hunt on Friday night. It was short but sweet. The kids found several eggs and we enjoyed popping them open to find what kind of treasure each one held!


And here is my gang all dolled up in their new Easter clothes.

Check out Thomas' tie! He specifically requested a tie for Easter. He did not specifically request a pink one. So I bought two and I made a deal with him...he would wear the pink one for me on Easter so he would match his sisters and then one more time for pictures that we are doing this week. Then, he could wear his other tie any time he wanted to.

He grinned and agreed.

Treasure Hunt!!!

We were in need of a little something different. A different kind of family fun night. And so, the treasure hunt idea was planted in my head.

I made up three sets of clues for the three older kids and printed them onto different colored cardstock. Thomas' green paper held word only clues. Sarah Grace's yellow paper and Elizabeth's red paper held picture clues with the word written underneath.

Joshua and I carefully planned and placed each clue while Granny held the kids attention with a book. At the last place the clues pointed to, I planted a bag of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

We handed the kids their first clues, and they were off like shots! Upstairs, downstairs, outside, inside, garage, basement, deck, mailbox...they were all over the place!

After several minutes, Elizabeth came through as the first to find her treasure. She smugly opened her bag of cookies and started munching.


Sarah Grace followed moments later, quite pleased with herself, and began with her snack.


Thomas, who had twice as many clues as the girls had and no pictures, finished up a couple minutes later.


They had SO much fun and were so excited by their finds. The clues were carefully placed on the table and they have had a blast making treasure hunts for each other the past few days.

Most impressive of all, though? They each only ate one cookie, one and a half at the most, Saturday night. They saved the rest! Such self control.

Good thing I didn't put all the cookies in those little treasure baggies...it wouldn't have been very fun to explain to the kids that the reason their bags were empty the next morning was because Mommy needed cookies.