Sand, Sand EVERYWHERE!!!!

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Today was such a nice day that I decided it was time to let Morgan test out her new sandbox. Everyday she goes to the back door and looks out to make sure that her turtle is still out there. When I told her on the way home that we were going home to play in the sand she got really excited. She had a blast in it too! A little too much fun shall we say??? There was sand everywhere, but she LOVED every minute! I have to give a HUGE thanks to Ricky & Karen, Angela's parents, for the new sandbox. We are very grateful for such a nice gift and Morgan loves it!

A Good Sunday

Well, little Morgie & me have had a full weekend. Saturday morning I had to work and then after that we had a wedding to go to. This morning we went with my mom to visit my old paster and his wife at their church. We topped the weekend off with a visit to Bethie & Livi. We took the girls to Beth's neighborhood park to play.

Here is one of the best pictures that I got of the two of them.

So as not to bore you with a ton of pictures, here is one of Bethie with her little Livi....not much room for Livi....Zach is hogging Mommy's tummy now.....but only for 5 1/2 more weeks!

And here is me with my munchkin, Morgan.

And I think that I forgot to mention where else we went today. Can you tell by the picture below????

If you can read the stickers they say, "I've been Krogering." And everytime that Morgan gets them this is what she does with them. Pretty funny.

On a side note I still have not heard anything about what is going to happen with Morgan. They never called and I couldn't get in touch with her case worker Friday. I am hoping that the old saying "No news is Good news" is true!

Call for Prayer

I am sure that this will be the first of many calls for prayer that I will ask for. This week I found out that there was a possibility that one of Morgan's family members might be approved to get her. They had originally told me that this would be a long shot and didn't think that it would happen. Tonight Morgan's case worker came over for her monthly visit and she told me that the way that it looked right now her aunt would be approved. If she is approved then there will be a period of around a month of transition before Morgan goes to live with her. My feelings on this are that since the aunt lives in Lumpkin Co there is nothing to stop Morgans mom and grandparents from hauling off to Lumpkin Co and moving in with her. I would feel better if her mom completed a case plan and Morgan went back to her. If she goes to the aunt I feel that she will be thrown right back into the same situation she was in before. I would like to ask all of you to please pray that God's will be worked in this situation. And that he will give everyone invovled the strength to deal with what happens. And also that if she does go back he will watch over her and keep her safe.

Because I can't write anymore about that without completely losing it I thought that I would post a few pictures from tonight. These pictures are of Morgan with her puzzles. When Morgan first came almost 3 months ago she didn't talk and she couldn't do puzzles at all, they completely frustrated her. Now she has mastered them along with so many other things.

Here she is working away.

Here she is with the finished product.

She is always so proud of herself and always proclaims "Look Mommy I do it. I do puzzle." It breaks my heart that she might go back to living in the conditions that she was in. That there will be no one to read her a book at night or teach her new things. That she might fall back into the same slump that she was in. Girls please pray for this little girl this week. With a heavy heart I thank you for any prayers that you might lift up in Morgan's name.

Surprise for Zach!!!

Saturday we had a family and friends shower for Bethany, and it was a surprise! I wasn't so sure about the surprise part, but she was very good-natured about it. Here is the Prestons entrance... with the kids making sure that we knew they were coming!

This is Beth opening her gifts. As you can tell she had LOTS of help from the kiddies.

Olivia was very pleased with her.....er, I mean Zachary's, new toys. She said that she was testing them out for Zach, already taking on her BIG sister role.

All kinds of fun was had by kids and grown-ups alike. And Livi and Luke even had their own "mini-date." I can't remember if this picture was before or after their mini make-out session. Angela & Beth are going to have to watch these two!!!! Look at them.....doesn't it make you wonder what they are thinking???? Luke says "I am going to marry you" Livi responds (with her hand on her chest) "Who, Me?"

After the shower we all went home for a few hours and then me,Beth, & Ang went out to PF Chang's and to Babies R Us. All in all a great day for us girls. We had tons of fun helping Bethany get ready for Zach's arrival. Now we all wait until we get to see him!

Sweet Peace.......Finally!

Ah, finally sweet peace has returned to my household if just for one night. Last week Morgan was really bad, like in a "I'm a foster child and just try to figure out what is wrong with me" kind of way. All week she got worse and worse until it hit rock bottom this weekend. Below is a pictorial of her multiple meltdowns on Saturday. The first happened on the trampoline.....who knows why.....maybe she didn't bounce as high as she wanted maybe she bounced too high.....it is a mystery to those of us who were there....

The next one is definitely because I wouldn't let her go out into the driveway and play by herself. See 2 post down where I stated that we couldn't keep her out of the road. So, this is when you can tell a meltdown is coming fast.... there is rubbing of the shirt, head tilted to the side, and the thumb goes in to produce this...

Now, what is so funny about the picture above is look at everyone going on about their normal birthday party business......a party of nothing but former or present foster kids....this is just another day to any foster parent.

Now, shortly after the above picture she realizes that I am not feeling her pain of not being allowed to go outside, so she goes in search of petting.....you can almost see the wheels turning....ummm, Me-Me, nope, where is Aunt Patsy, where is Aunt Patsy......there she is BINGO.....SUCKER!!!!

After a grand total of 4 meltdowns at Chey's party we went to Nana & Papa's and promptly got put down for a nap in Nana's bed.

Oh, don't fear the nap didn't ruin her horrific mood at all. It stayed the rest of the day and on Sunday. She cried and screamed non-stop from 8-11pm Sunday night, ask Ang she heard her!

Then she woke up this morning to birds chirping and sunshine....and this afternoon she was her old happy care-free self. And she went to bed no problems. This is what makes it all worth it....

She might be asleep, but sweet peace at last! Her two best friends are with her Hippy & Hoppy. They now accompany her everywhere. And they both have to go too we can't just pick one! I couldn't have posted this without uncontrollable sobbing if she wasn't better today but thankfully I am sitting here laughing my head off. Welcome to the joys of Parenthood!

Happy Birthday x's 20!!!!

Happy 20th Birthday Embidey!!!

Ok, if I thought that my nephew turning 16 made me feel old I was in for a rude awakening today. Today my oldest niece Emily turned 20! Can you believe it?? So, in an attempt to make myself feel better I went digging for more old pictures to get her with! In the one below she might be almost 3ish.....has to be....she didn't start growing hair until she was 2!

This is one of my all time favorites. I have always loved this picture of Emily. It perfectly captures her playful nature in a classic "look- at- me" kind of way!

And here she is today, at 20, blowing out her birthday candles.

Emily, you are no longer a teenager but have turned into a beautiful young woman. I wish every happiness for you. Remember to always let God lead you in your decisions. Your whole life is ahead of you, go after it!

And always remember Mel-Mel and Morgan love you Emmy!!!!

A Berry Happy 4th Birthday!

Today we celebrated Chey's 4th Birthday Strawberry Shortcake Style.

It was really nice. A casual day for the kids to play outside together and enjoy each other. Below is Iz Man, he is our family's best shot at a ball player I would say.

Chey & Jacob (her bio brother) are racing each other up the driveway! It was pretty funny Chey could hardly pedal the bicycle and Jacob could barely get the horse to go! These kids are so used to their motorized rides like their 4 wheelers and Gators that these seem like way too much work for them!

This 4-wheeler was Morgan favorite ride of the day. Only thing is, every adult there spent their share of time chasing her in it! We couldn't keep her out of the road and keeping her from running over everything in sight....Good Luck!! Little Terror...looks like she has her sights set on the next target already....better watch out!!!

All in all I would say that the party was a huge success and Chey had a Berry Wonderful Day!!!!

p.s. if you can't read it, that button on Chey says Princess......trust me honey no one is soon to forget that you are a Little Princess!!!!

Daily Vent

Today has been a day straight out of foster care heck! Just to vent a while I think that I have lost my mind and I was even off work today! This morning when I was taking Morgan to daycare I went to work instead of daycare had to turn around, then I went by her daycare and had to turn around again..... UGHHHH......I went home and cleaned all day and then went to pick Morgan up from her visit at 6. Let me just tell you she was horrible with a capital HORRIBLE!!! Defiant and hateful and demanding. Totally not her usual self. She wouldn't take her thumb out of her mouth except to fuss at me and she was making that moaning sound that she used to make all the time again.

To top all of that off tomorrow is another court day. Supposedly nothing should happen but it makes me nervous all the same. Morgan's mom got the same attorney as my cousin's first foster child and she is horrible. She is one of those that think that it doesn't matter what the parents did wrong they never deserve to have their children taken from them and she fights tooth and nail for them even after the parents themselves stop fighting.

Well I suppose that I will stop venting and go watch the hottie new Bachelor! But everyone please remember us in your prayers tomorrow that everything will work towards God will.

Happy 16th Birthday Macho Man!!!

Today is my nephew Ethan's 16th birthday. I can't believe it! The kids are really starting to make me feel OLD!!!

I thought that I would get all mushy and pull out a few pictures of Ethan to show everyone that he has always been a cutie! He'll probably kill me for this, but it is my right as an aunt. So, here they are.

This is Ethan in his ball uniform at a game. This is the really cute age.....ya know where they go out there and play in the dirt instead of paying attention....I know this because I actually have a picture of him doing it at this same game!

Then this one is a killer. The very evidence that I needed to prove that his nickname "Macho Man" fits perfectly. Even at this young age Ethan is already showing off his muscles to anyone who will look!

As you can tell below, Ethan was thrilled to be spending his 16th birthday at an egg hunt with the family. But don't fear he was in a much better mood when his girlfriend showed up!

Happy 16th Birthday Macho Man!!!!!!

Me & Morgan love you whole bunches!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!

This morning I had to wake Miss Morgan up so that she could see what the Easter Bunny brought her before we headed to church. This is her sitting next to her goodies. Her favorite thing was her Cinderella flip-flops. It took much persuasion on my part to convince her that it wasn't the best idea to wear them to church today!

Here she is with her pretty Easter dress on and her new bunny.

This afternoon we had an egg hunt and cook-out at Nana & Papa's house. By now Morgan has definitely caught on to the egg hunt thing. Here she is tearing after the eggs, with her new Cinderella sunglasses on!

There was like a bi-zillion eggs. Morgan got bored before they all got picked up and that was with the big kids being sports and helping her out! After they were all picked up we declared her ...

Queen of the Eggs!!!

Then we kinda got her to sit still for one more picture with the whole gang......well that was after I threatened her with the prospect of no cupcakes. As Morgan would say this is Modey Podey, Embidey, and Easten....which translates to Molly, Emily, & Ethan (my nieces and nephew).

We had a great fun filled, sugar loaded day! I hope that all of my blogger pals had a great day too. And that we all realize what today is really about and not get lost in the hoopla of the egg hunts and candy.

Happy Easter Sista's!!!!

Sub-Zero Easter Egg Hunt

This afternoon our church had their easter egg hunt for the kids and the easter skit. So, we all met in the fellowship hall for hamburgers and hotdogs. When it was time to hunt the eggs we all rushed outside. Thank Goodness they had the ages sectioned off so the little ones wouldn't get trampled!

Morgan might have started a tad bit slow. But look at this....she was actually stopping to check out what was in the eggs! And yes if they didn't meet her standards she put them back down and went to the next!!!

Three happy hunters! This is the only pic I managed to get all three of them in! The egg hunt lasted all of about 5-6 minutes and then we all rushed back inside out of the cold.

Here is Morgan checking out her loot.....look at that glazed over look.....UMMMM candy....MUST HAVE!!!

Here is Izzy & Chey checking out their goods.

And if all that candy wasn't enough....bring on the cupcakes!!!! As you can tell the girls were loving them!

And here is Morgie with her John-John. He was her hero tonight. When Morgan was too scared to go into the big jumpie thing the other kids were playing in......never fear John-John is here! He took his shoes off and in he went in with her!

Can you say cheese?!?!?! Or would that be cheesey??? Either way they are adorable!

I leave you tonight with a wish for all my blogger pals to have a

Very Blessed Easter!

Spring has sprung...or did it????

Is anyone out there in blogger land wondering where did the nice spring weather go???? I sure am. Just this last Sunday Morgan was sportin' her new sandals and the pretty new outfit that Angela got her.

We painted our toes and everything and now we are back to pants, shoes, and jackets??? Yuck! Of course every year it gets all nice and warm right before Easter, and then when it comes time to wear our new Easter outfits and cute spring clothes to hunt eggs in.....BAMMMM......it is 30 degrees again! OhVey!!!!

This one is for Mema....

If there was one person that I would have loved for Morgan to meet it would have been my Mema. I can barely type this as I tear up thinking about it, because I know that she would have loved her. My Mema was an extraordinary person. Her and my Papa would have been married 67 years yesterday. And what a couple they were. I have always said that my goal, if I ever do get married, is to be just like them. Some of my fondest childhood memories are playing school and Uno with her. One could never say that they didn't know that they were loved while in her presence. My Mema was famous for her way with flowers. She LOVED them all and could grow anything. Saturday we took some pictures of Morgan in some of the same spots that me and my sister had our pictures taken as children, among Mema's flowers.

This is the thrift going down into Mema & Papa's garden. I have always loved it.

These are the steps in front of their house. Lots of pics have been made here throughout the years!

And here is one of me and Morgan. I don't have any of us together so I wanted a few.

This is my Papa. Morgan calls him Papa Clay and she loves him fiercely. Isn't he cute?!?!?!?

This was my favorite picture from the whole day. Morgan is in my moms cherry tree. It isn't high and I promise my mom was right there.

This is me and my Mema a little over a year ago by the same tree that Morgan is in. I know that she is in heaven absolutely loving watching Morgan playing in her flowers.

Sorry for being such a sap but looking at these pictures made me nostalgic. Thanks for putting up with an old sap.