Halloween Massacre in the Neighborhood

So when we got home yesterday evening after a fun-filled day at the farm, we were surprised to see that a tragedy had occurred at one of our neighbor's houses.  Police had already been on the scene to investigate and had left their yellow caution tape (do police actually use "caution" tape or crime scene tape?) around the scene.  It must have happened very recently because they still hadn't removed the body.  Freaky!  Wonder if this has been ruled a homicide or an accident?  Did his wife find out he was cheating and freak out and chase him down with the lawn mower?  Or is this the preferred killing method of a new serial killer?  For whatever reason, we locked our doors good last night!  Ha!

Poor dude!  And I'm not sure what the toilet paper is about.  Is this the killer's signature? 

Oh my, couldn't they have at least removed the lawn mower from on top of the victim.  Of course, I am sure it will be gruesome to see the damage those sharp blades did.  *Shudder* 

It was definitely a direct hit!  We no longer just have to be afraid of axe murderers on halloween anymore!  

Friday's Letters: Renewed Hope

On this lovely Friday, I am experiencing renewed hope.  My last Friday’s letters reflected my struggle with retaining my faith and trust in God while witnessing so much heartache and pain, especially of little children.  God heard my plea this week, and I just feel like He gave me this opportunity to see one of His great miracles and stories of love and hope to help strengthen my faith.  It is so easy to remain strong and keep believing when everything around us is going great, but it is so easy to falter and lose that faith and question God when we see or experience pain and hurt and sadness. 

Dear Lindsay:  Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful miracle story with us.  Who knew when I found you a few months ago through a link up with Kelly’s Korner to help find bloggers in our area, that your story would reward me in such a way as this.  At the time I first read your blog, your heart for adoption endeared me to your story.  You had adopted your first baby, a little girl named Hannah, and your love for her and for the God who gave her to you shone through.  You were looking to continue to grow your family through adoption and were sharing all the ups and downs and struggles of waiting for your next baby to come to you.  Unbeknownst to us all, your wait was already over.  I understand now that you could not share your story until now when everything is finally settled.  You have shared two unbelievable miracles:  one is the birth and blessingof your little boy and the second is his miraculous healing.  Your little boy was born with fatal diseases, including fetal hydrops (I googled it despite your warning and was just shocked and awed by what he endured and came through) and a very serious and potentially fatal heart condition that would undoubtedly require future surgeries and limit his abilities for the rest of his life.  He was born at 30 weeks before his birth mother could even institute her plan of arranging for his adoption.  Your sweet little Hannah appears to be such a special gift from God, and God delivered His special message about the arrival of little Hunter on the exact day that his birth mother signed over all of her parental rights and left her son to the care of the hospital nurses and staff with the expectation that he would certainly not make it.  Then, you found out about this little man who desperately needed a special family despite his slight chance of survival, and you immediately picked up everything and went to be with him for whatever time he had left.  You never lost faith, and God rewarded your faith.  Your baby fought, and he was surviving.  Your baby was brought here to Charlotte to one of the best Children’s Hospitals to receive the best care possible, and you moved here to be near all his doctors and him.  Immediately upon being brought to the hospital in Charlotte, pediatric cardiologists immediately ran all new tests and ultrasounds to get a better picture of his heart condition.  His diagnosed conditions from all the previous ultrasounds and tests were sure and present.  His neonatologist was surprised to tell you that your son’s heart condition was no longer there.  It was completely gone!  He said there was no doubt about it that it had existed, but it was just not there anymore.  He said it was nothing short of a miracle that he could not explain.  There was no explanation.  I love when physicians can admit that healing miracles do exist.  I know your son was healed because of yours and your family’s strong faith and prayers.  God’s plan is miraculous!  Your story brought me renewed hope that God’s miracles are all around us.  I know that in the case of little Henry and little Piper who are in my thoughts and prayers constantly, their healing miracles are also in God’s hands.  God will care for them in the way that only he can see because He loves them as only He can. 

Dear God:  I thank you for giving me Lindsay’s story to renew and strengthen my faith in you.  Despite the pain and sadness all around us, I know that You are in control and have a beautiful plan for those that believe in You.  I know that in my own life You have blessed me more times that I could ever count, and I know that I truly would not be where I am today without You.  I pray that this story touches those hearts that are also struggling with their faith. 

Dear faith strugglers like me:  I know a few people that I will not name that I feel like especially need this today.  They have let sadness and disappointment overshadow God’s goodness and blessings although I can see from their lives that God has blessed them.  For those of you struggling, I ask that you take a minute to read my pastor’s blog for today, “Good far outweighs the bad.”  It really does!  It is so easy to let those bad times overshadow the good times, but I try to always give God the glory in my own life and in the telling of our life story for that purpose.  At the end of the year, I can always name tons of great memories from that year and can hardly recall any bad stuff.  Even after hearing dreadful stories like the one that happened yesterday in New York City to those precious little children whose trusted caregiver betrayed their trust and brutally murdered them, we need to remember that yes, evil does exist in this world, but one day God will wipe that evil off this earth once and for all.  For now, we must choose God’s goodness over that evil and not give that evil the power it seeks to control our lives.  That choice is ours -- that is what is so beautiful about God's love!  It is freely given and not demanded!  During this approaching season of Thanksgiving, I ask that you remember to count your blessings daily and not let those bad things dominate Your lives.  God does want good things for His people, and He wants them to trust Him.  As David so wisely writes, “Life has much more hope than we can ever realize.”  And he is a wise man since he did go to UNC Chapel Hill and played basketball under the counsel of the greatest coach in history, Dean Smith.  (Any mention of that dreadful Duke coach will be considered blasphemy…there’s a reason God made our skies Carolina Blue, folks! Hehe!  I mean Dean did coach the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, and his players looked up to him as a father figure.)   

Have a great Friday, everyone!  

Pumpkin Carving Ideas Needed

Eddie and I have had a tradition of pumpkin carving since the first year we were married.  I actually didn't have pictures of those first couple of years on the computer since they were pre-digital.  I know one year I did an alien face.  I'll have to look those pictures up.  We always try to find something fun to carve.  Eddie likes to be challenged as well.  Since we had Evan, Eddie also likes to carve something pertaining to Evan's interests.  We skipped a few years on the carving while Evan was little (babies and sharp knifes don't really mix that well).  In 2009, we brought back the tradition.  Here are our creations so far:

Eddie's Owl - 2005

My ghost - 2005

My ghost had to say Boo!

My Witch - 2009

Eddie's Smokey Bear - 2009

My haunted house - 2010

Eddie's Wolf (for the Wolfpack) - 2010

My funny mummy - 2011

Eddie's impressive Carolina Panther - 2011

So any ideas on what we can carve this year?  Happy Carving, ya'll!

Brody's First School Days

I am so glad to finally have some pictures that tell the tale of Brody's school experience.  And oh my goodness, can it get any cuter than this group of little one year olds?  It looks like there are only 2 girls in a sea of little boy cuteness.  I figured out several unanswered questions from these pictures.

Look at all that cuteness.  I love Brody's mouth open gaze.  He was really paying attention to somebody. 

Bubble fun.  Yes, you can see evidence of his artwork on his shirt.  I am usually saved from seeing this proof because Daddy has already taken the clothes, sprayed them, and put them in the laundry by the time I get home.  

Do you want to guess how they get them all to sit in their seats and not get up?  

That's right, folks, they are strapped into their little high chair seats.  Ha!  In Evan's old daycare/preschool one year old room, the kids actually had to sit in little chairs so they had to learn a lot about listening and being still. 

Snack Time!

The whole group enjoying snack together.  Brody loves drinking his water from his straw cup.   He hates sippy cups because he doesn't like having to turn it up to get the drink out.  If we give him a sippy cup, he'll bring it to us and put it in our hand so that we hold it for him.  Silly boy!

Being "read" to by his girlfriend, perhaps?  

This was actually Brody's favorite art project.  He has brought home two of these shakers - a yellow and a green one.  Those are two of the colors they have been working on. 

Putting in the yellow objects.  He loves doing it by himself. 

So happy to be doing something by himself.  Makes me a little sad to see my baby acting like a big boy!

And the yellow crayon too.

Checking out his finished shaker.

Brody says it is time for his nap so he's going to use the baby doll's bed.  Ha!

Our School Progress

Evan's Progress

Well, I suspect I'll have more information about Evan's progress at school soon as we have parent-teacher conferences coming up and get those first REPORT CARDS!  Yikes!  Eddie did speak to his teacher briefly last week and was told Evan was doing very well in reading and math.  His nanny had him adding double digit numbers this summer so I'm not surprised.  Ha!  I'm excited for him because I know he is doing well.  He is always so excited about learning and doing his homework.  He is really progressing in his reading and writing and is learning to sound out and spell words too.  I find that if I ask him directly what he did at school that day, he will have difficulty "remembering," but if he starts the conversation by telling me something that he enjoyed doing, I can usually get him to tell me more about his day.  It's like his little mind wants to remember and tell the story its own way.  Usually, one of his pieces of work will help to bring out the story too.  He has gotten better about bringing home library books and is enjoying doing so now.  Although he has brought home a few pieces of work, I suspect his teacher is keeping most of it for us. I can't wait to see all that he has been up to.  He hasn't turned in his homework yet.  They get their homework assignments for the whole month (October was the first month), and he has been working on the daily assignments and checking them off.  He has always been very conscientious about following instructions so I don't foresee any problems there.  I think his main problem is feeling like he has to rush to complete something when he wants to take his time and do a careful job.  We have been trying to get him to school earlier in the mornings so he has time to do his morning work (they write in their journals every morning) because he was getting frustrated about never having time to finish.  Besides that, we've heard no complaints yet!

In this assignment, he is supposed to practice writing his sight words (a, the, and, go).  He has recently started writing his a's and u's with little tails on them that curve up.  I hope his teacher is okay with this artistic flair in his writing.  

This is one he brought home from school from fire prevention week.  He loves recognizing patterns.  I think that is his OCD nature coming out!  

And this is his drawing of a house on fire.  The red stuff in the windows is fire, and the wiggly structure at the side of the house is a ladder to rescue that little person in one of the upstairs windows.  Thankfully, this doesn't really look like our house.  

I think they read "The Kissing Hand" on one of his first days of school, and he loved telling me how sweet the story was about the mommy kissing the little raccoon's paw so that when he missed her, he could put his paw to his cheek to remember his mommy's kisses.  

I love that his pictures have gotten a lot more detailed.  Not only does his person have all  required limbs and  features (except hair), it also has correctly colored grass, sky and sun.  :-) 

And my personal favorite...a little story.  His assignment was just to tell about his morning routine, but he proudly wrote his down.  I think his nanny may have added the punctuation.  It says, "i wake up and get dressed.  i eat break-fast, brush my teeth. Get my backpack and shoes."  

Brody's Progress:

Brody's progress in school has been only slightly hampered by having to miss a few days for having cold-like symptoms.  He learned to love his new school routine very quickly.  He walks into school and right into his classroom most days without even looking back.  He seems to enjoy eating all of his lunch.  His teachers tell me some days he "isn't acting himself" or is acting more tired than normal although I think it is actually his normal to act tired in the morning.  I think one of the most difficult transitions for this boy was missing his morning naps.  I also think that when he has to be out one day, and it is longer between his school days, he has a harder time adjusting to the routine.  He hasn't been taking morning naps at home much anymore either, but I am sure he gets more tired at school from all the extra activities.  He does seem to enjoy doing his art projects as he comes home some days with the evidence all over his clothes.  Luckily, all has come out in the wash so far.  One day last week, the teacher told me they were going to make footprint ghosts for art.  Then, one morning after that while Eddie and I were getting ready, Brody went into our office and found one of his art projects.  He had it on the floor and was "carefully" stamping his feet on the paper.  I think he remembered the process of making his footprint art, don't you?

First finger painting.  He came home with yellow paint all over his shirt this day, but I was glad for the artwork because Evan never liked finger painting and hated getting messy. 

Sweet finger painting in which I can see some of those sweet finger and hand prints. 

Some Halloween stamp art. 

The only bad news to report is that the biter strikes again.  We were so happy that we had not had an incident in a long time and no incidents at school yet.  Sadly, that streak ended last Friday when this paper came home.

:-(

After reading the paper, I was happy with the way the problem was resolved, and I could see the reason for Brody's actions.  He loves a car more than anything in the world and will act defensively if it is taken from him.  After talking to one of his teachers this morning who is so good with young children, I got a clearer picture of the incident.  She explained that because of Brody's younger age, he doesn't have as clear an understanding of boundaries yet.  He will sometimes sit in a chair that another child is already sitting in or walk over and try to start playing with a toy another kid was recently playing with.  So if Brody went to sit in a car that another kid was sitting in, he just thought he was sharing it and not trying to take it.  The other kid probably reacted aggressively towards him to get him out of the car, and Brody acted defensively.  I actually watched through the window one day as Brody waited patiently for another kid to leave his favorite little baby stroller alone so that he could push it around so I know he knows not to take stuff from another child, but I understood the boundary issue.  In his mind, all kids are like his brother.  He loves his brother, and his brother loves him so his brother doesn't mind when Brody wants to be near him and wants to lay on him or sit on him usually.  The kids in Brody's class are younger so they are not as understanding.  I guess this is a great learning opportunity for them all.  Brody does understand when he is told no and not to do something although his ability to remember and retain that information for the future may not be well-developed yet.  When he acts out against me because he is frustrated about something, I hold his hand and tell him sternly no.  If he tries to hit at me, he gets a little pop on the hand.  He will poke that bottom lip out in the cutest pout and do his silent little cry of disappointment.  He is such a sweet baby, and I just worry that others will not see it.  After seeing his favorite teacher with him today, I can tell she definitely knows how sweet he is though.

Smokey Goes To School

Since Evan is lucky enough to have a daddy with close ties to Smokey Bear, I foresee this as a long time tradition for Daddy to bring Smokey to his school.  Daddy has done this for several of Evan's preschool classes and now for kindergarten.  He does a lot of school programs in our county since it is the largest school system in the state.  He asked the other kindergarten class teachers at Evan's school if they wanted to participate in the Smokey program, and they all refused so I say their loss.  Well, the loss is really the kids' so that is actually sad, but I am glad Evan's teacher allowed this important program.  I can remember learning from Smokey when I was a kid.  Daddy usually gives the kids some neat treats too, including stickers, coloring books, and storybooks containing the real story of Smokey.  Yes, there was a real Smokey Bear!  It is a sweet story.  Anyway, I am thankful that Evan and his class got to enjoy a day with Smokey, and that Daddy got to visit with Evan's class and got a few pictures for me.

Hi, Smokey!  Welcome to Kindergarten!

Awww, Evan and Smokey are long time friends.

The first time they met Evan was 5 months old.  (Psssttt, Daddy was actually in the suit.)  

Evan's class loved Smokey!

And one with Daddy Forester too! 

What I'm Lovin' Monday #17

Not looking forward to another Monday and trying to convince myself to get out of bed.  Daddy has taken Evan off to school, and Brody has yet to wake up.  He went to bed running a fever so I don't know how he will feel when he awakes.  We had a wonderful weekend together, and I am just thankful for our little precious time spent making memories with the ones we love most.  I definitely need to be reminded of those "loves" today to help get me through the day and the hectic week.

Loving beautiful fall flowers!

Loving these beautiful boys!

Loving first school paintings from a budding young artist.

I love that I can see the little fingerprints of my sweet little boy. 

Loving Sunday naps.

Takes my breath away. 

Loving colorful painted pumpkins.