Happy Mothers Day to my mom and my friend

This Sunday we all celebrate mothers day. Weather you grew under your mommy's heart, or in her heart it is all the same. There is no love like the love of our mother.  My mom has always loved me unconditionally! Thank you mom for all that you do for all of us. We could not do life with out you!  I hope you not only feel loved today, but every day. I treasure your love and friendship.
Happy Mothers Day Mom!

I love you ,
Tina


(In photo above~ me, my mom, sister Mandi, and brother Jason)

 Luv you mom with all of my heart!!

Sickness is No Fun

This past week starting on Thursday Gracie was not feeling well, starting not wanting to eat..her throat hurt, by Saturday it was worse so we took her in to Dr who said well looks like allergies. Hmm, I was very unhappy about that diagnoses, I just knew there was more to it. By Monday we took her in again since she ran a fever all weekend and was just getting worse again. This New Dr. did strep test , blood work, and saw nothing , but gave us amoxicillan since she felt she was fighting something. Still by Wed this week she was wayyyy worse. Took her in again a third time, same Dr, ran same tests again, then sent us to a pediatrician. While waiting for the pediatrician we got message from nurse that says the ped didn't want to see her and we were to go to the ER.  (I was on my way to a Dr apt that was about an hr away, Terry had her at this apt, and we had a funeral to be at by 2 in the afternoon. ). Needless to say , as soon as I heard she was heading to the ER, I turned around and met them there at the hospital to hold my baby girl close. At first they thought they would put her in hospital, then the dr decided to give her a shot of antibiotic. When he looked in her throat it took him two seconds to say "wow, she has a large abscess on her tonsil".  I'm not sure why the other two doctors could not see that, or why the ped couldn't see her and tell us this too. We were just thankful to have a answer finally!! And to get our daughter on the mend quickly.  She was a trooper that is for sure through it all. Isn't it amazing how hard and hurtful it is when you children are sick? The sleepless nights getting up looking at her, watching over her and worry that goes along with not knowing what is wrong and not being able to help her.
So after the shot , Terry took her home to nap, I went to the funeral, and by that night Terry was bringing her to mom's house to join us all. She was suddenly eating, drinking, and even playing with her cousins. She had not done any of that for 7 days. So nice to have our Gracie back!! During all the Dr visits and frustration it was so nice to hear messages from my face book of people encouraging and offering their prayers for her.

 Above: At hospital ~ you can see how miserable she was, wouldn't even swallow her own spit!! 7 hours later, she is eating a bowl of cereal and looking soooo much better!!!! Thank you Lord!

Gotcha Day/Family Day

Today 3 years ago we were anxious, nervous, and so very excited to finally hold our daughter in our arms!! The long long wait was finally over and she was going to be in our arms. I will always remember this day just like it was yesterday. The feeling of holding her, kissing her, smelling her. Her looking into my eyes and smiling at us all. It was like she knew she was home. All the prayers for her that she would bond quickly...and I certainly can not forget how much she bonded with me right from the beginning..would not even let me brush my teeth or go to the bathroom. So yes I held her doing it all. What ever she needed I was going to do.   If interested you can click the link below and read our journey of what the first few days where like with our sweet daughter...
Click here to go back to blog post 2009 
On the side bar is our Gotcha Day video...Enjoy, be inspired!
Tonight we are having a Korean dinner in celebration..Pics to come later tonight !!

Easter pics

I should have taken more pictures on Easter Sunday , but kind of forgot..So not like me at all. I hope you all had a great weekend..here are just a few pics I got ,. God Bless!!

Finally Monday we were able to go out to our friend Stacey's and see her baby chick...not so little anymore, but oh still so cute. Hopefully they will share some of the eggs these bring..hint hint!!

Track Season at it's best

 This saturday we had a great first track meet, supporting Amanda in all her races. I knew my daughter was fast , but seeing her compete was totally amazing! She took first over all in all her races. She ran the 200, the 100, relay , and hurddles ~ placing First in all of them!! Yes you could say we were a little proud her :-) She kicked butt. Little Miss Determination for sure!! Good Job Amanda!!

 supportive little sister showing her muscles ~

The weather here has been beautiful...averaging 70-80 degrees. Unreal for this time of year. The trees are blooming and omg Im just really hoping we do not get any more snow! We all got sun burnt except Gracie! I heard Coconut oil helps you to not peel..so Im trying it and will see ....
Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all have a great week!!

"Im born in Korea"

Thank you for your support on this topic I posted last week as my heart was pretty heavy about it..praying Id have the right answers and maybe my heart was just a little saddened thinking about it. Also just a topic that we know as she gets older may have more specific questions. At preschool last week she was wondering if one of her classmates was born in Korea too :-).  We know that now is the time to be open about it and start talking!! We were blessed by the foster family to have over 300 photos from her birth until the time she came to be with us at 8 months old. I have them all in a special album and we look at the pictures when she decides to get them out and page through them. We do talk about her foster family in Korea and what a special family they are.  The topic of her birth parents just has not come up, but I realize that that will come from me, I need to talk about it with her.   After talking with many of you I feel comfort in just being natural about it and the need to bring it out now to keep it "normal" conversation that she can feel comfortable to have at any time ...Yet for now keeping it more simple for 3. So thank you for your responses, I need the support and very much appreciate it !! 
Im putting together a picture memory book of her life from birth where I can talk about her birth mommy, her foster family, and coming to be with us her forever family .... I think photos are a great way to tell a story. Her story is special and beautiful !!

When the questions arrive...

Today I am reaching out to a few of my friends that I know have gone through this same thing...the day your child that was born in your heart and not in your tummy starts asking you questions that you want to be sure to answer in the correct way.  Maybe Im putting too much stress on myself about it. But well...it is a gentle topic I think. One that needs to be treated with tenderness and consideration.

Today my heart is heavy and eager to get advice from some wise people who have traveled down this path before I have. We always want to be open to Gracie about her adoption, about the country she came from and of course her birth parents and the great foster family she was blessed with while in Korea. We will share with her everything at the right time. For now she is 3 and I want to be prepared. This sweet baby girl of mine since the day we got our referral for her back in 2008 I have prayed that she would never experience a feeling of having something missing in her heart, but I have prayed that God would always always fill that place.

Today my heart is heavy and full of love at the same time for my precious baby girl!!

Tulips are my favorite

One day I hinted that tulips would be nice to have ....and by some miracle when i got home from the gym that night there were tulips on my table. Very nice surprise!! Temp here has been in the 70's for quite some time now, we have really enjoyed being outside. Very unusual and warm weather for us this time of year. I pray it stays this way. I am ready for spring and ready to have a great summer!! You could say that this mama has big time spring fever!! Happy Monday every one, I hope you have a great week!!

What we have been up to....

Time seems to go fast and once again it has been a while since I have blogged. Im going to try to better.
I will just start by filling you in with some of the happenings the past couple of months..Kids all keep us busy most the time. They are growing up so fast. Seems alot of changes this year now with two teens in the house. :-) We enjoy having lots of friends over hanging out here...it's fun to know their friends and know what is going on in their lives. So just a little update and then I will try to be better about blogging more often.
 amanda (on left) and her friend Karlie at the middle school science fair...As you can see Gracie is always right in the middle as well. Amanda was just in her first middle school play as well. She was a spy. lol. It was acually really good and a funny play to watch, the kids all did great. Now she is taking on track this season. Guess she takes after her mommy :-) She enjoys being active..and shes on the go with her friends alllll the time. Im also starting to teach her how to drive which is very fun for her and I.

 Bailey ...he just finished the season of basketball. Loved watching all his games. We were lucky to have grandparents at one of his games at least this year. Now he is going to try to get a job somewhere hopefully soon. Now he is recently starting to enjoy Golf with his papa Mark too..It is very nice now that my mom an Mark have bought another home in this area. We see them about every other weekend and it's great for the kids to be able to see their grandparents a little more too.

 Play time in the snow....n proud of her first snow man!! lol!!

 Gracie is always a little character...for sure goofy!!

 and a very big thing for Gracie this winter is she began preschool in February. She loves her teacher Miss Shanna alot and loves to go just two days a week for a couple hrs.

 This was her first day going to preschool..she was excited, but also kept saying..."mommy I'm gonna miss you soo much"....

and the two that keep it all together..lol..Terry and I just celebrated our 18 yr anniversary! :-)

Being a full time homemaker...

Well it is hard to believe it is already the middle of January. Seems this fall went very fast. Last year at this time I was choreographing a big spring show and had about 24 dances waiting to be created by me. Lets say ..HIGH STRESS.  I have to admit that I certainly do not miss that stress of what this time of year use to bring us each year where that is concerned. But I do definetly miss my students, I miss teaching them, and I miss being able to express myself through my dance.  Something no one understands unless you have walked in the shoes of a dance studio owner.

 Being home full time has had huge benifits for my kids, I can see it. Although finacially sometimes I feel guilty like I should be working. I can tell the two older kids like me being here more.  Although they are both usually busy with their own things just like a teenagers are, they still know Im here. While Gracie gets me all day long :-).  Sometimes winter days seem to get long when we can not get outside to play, so I have to be creative with play things, but I have also been tossing the idea around of preschool classes for her for the rest of the winter. It would be just two days a week and only 2.5 hours.   I remember Amanda being at the studio and making little friends in her dance classes. But with Gracie, all my friends children are either older , or much younger..I think she needs preschool not only to learn and challenge her, but also a way for us to meet some little people and make new friends! She is a social butterfly, loves kids, plays so good with them, and I just know she would probebly love it. Im really proud of the two older ones...Amanda is in her first play that will be this spring and doing great in school, and Bailey is having fun playing basketball for the highschool...Highschool games are so much fun!

Looking back 2011

Sometimes it seems as if this past year went very slowly and yet so fast. Hard to believe another year is behind us and another awaits us. Our family had alot of blessings, changes, and challenges over this past year. After 16 yrs of Terry having his city engineer position here he accepted a new position in a community that would require him to commute 1.5 hrs there and back each day. These changes were really hard on our family and I won't sugar coat it!  Me running my dance business and him not home until 7 took its toll on us pretty quickly! About 11 months later he was offered another job in a closer community. Now commuting only 45 minutes and getting home by 5 makes this much easier on all of us.

As you probably read earlier last fall I closed my dance business of 12yrs as well. Again one of the hardest decisions I have had to personally make for myself. But now being home full time things are sure much more peaceful around here. I was use to being extremely crazy busy and now life has slowed down quite a bit.  Being here when the two older ones get home from school and home with Gracie is priceless. I am very much available to everyone and I know they all LOVE that!! I also competed in three NPC fitness competitions in the past year. It took alot of training and dedication, but being a goal oriented person my mind was set to try to achieve something such as this. It has truly changed me for the better. I plan to continue in the fitness world and some day receive my Pro-card and also become a certified trainer and help others reach their fullest potential. The support I got from people around me was so important, and the non support of others I just had to try not to let it bother me.

 Also in the past year our kids transferred from Christian school into public school, this was a bit of an adjustment for them both as well. So it seemed we all had changes and our own challenges. But the kids both have made really good and new friends, they are doing great and involved in their school. Bailey is playing bball and Amanda will be in her first play. I have seen them blossom and grow and come out stronger! When you are in challenge life can seem so hard, but when you get through it you see the beautiful rainbow at the end, you learn from them and you grow and become a stronger person!

2012 is here and I'm sure there will be challenges along the way, there always are in life..but it is all in how you handle them, and what you can learn from them that matters. With out some challenges we would not learn to appreciate those small or large blessings that come! God never said he would leave us alone. In fact he walks right by our side every day. And at those time when things get rough he will carry you through it if you need.

Visiting home to see family

Since terry just started his new job, he has no vacation leave, so this week the kids and I took a trip home to see some family and my best friend now and from highschool. It was a really quick trip,but worth it so that we could see everyone just a bit. Here are some quick snap shots...that were taken at my grandmas "shop".
My Grandma (we are at her shop) They don't live in town so when the weather gets bad they stay at the extra room at the shop so they are closer to family . 

 Gramps

 My aunt Sandy (who is like a second mom) and uncle Bob.

 My Grandma Hope- Missing my grandpa who went to be with the Lord 2 yrs ago.

LOL, my mom bought me this..cute huh?

 My best friend now and from highschool was at our hometown so we had to get home to see her ...she only gets close maybe once a year or twice..Luv this girl..she is like a sister!

 going out to dinner...off we go

Merry Christmas Everyone

For Christmas we stay home, we use to go visit all our family which I really really miss alot! But years ago we decided to make our own family traditions. I remember transitioning from traveling to see family to decideing to make our own traditions seemed very different at first. We were use to a zillion family memebers being around and a zillion gifts to buy, wrap, and then how to bring all the stuff back home that we recieved. But after a couple years we started to really love just being home.  Now that our kids are older they love being home and never want to go anywhere. We love the Christmas season...Christmas Eve Service at church, Terry's home made potatoe soup, playing with our kids, eating goodies that I bake, pop corn ball night,  Santa coming in the night, waking up xmas morning to see what he brought..(this year Grace was up at 3a.m. to tell us he had been here). Hanging out relaxing on xmas day and enjoying a nice candle light dinner that night. Merry Christmas everyone, we hope that your Christmas was Christ filled and that you have many blessings in the next year!

 Bailey 15, Gracie 3, (dog-Phoebee), Amanda 13

 Above...we were laughing at the dog..shes laying so crazy!!

Pop corn balls night- this is a tradition that we use to do our at my grandma Schmidts while I was growing up, then my aunt Jeanie took over and we did it at her house, now we have done it at our house for the past 13 years. :-) Im sure at least one or two of my kids will continue it and the yummy handed down recipe!! 

 Even though Amanda got many gifts, this was the ONE and only thing she really wanted!!

  Bailey thought it was awesome that Great Grandma Richards sent money in his socks :-)

Whoo hooo Gracie.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

It's her "new" smile..with keeping her mouth closed..cute huh.

My Neice ..

One month old today, my sweet neice Eira Christine

Merry Christmas

Did you know that the chopping down of the Christmas tree represents the death of Christ and putting it back up again represents the resurrection of Christ. Did you know that the wreaths we hang are never ending circles, that represents eternity? Candy canes were made to look like shepherd hooks and the colors red , Jesus' blood, white, purity. The gifts, represents the 3 gifts the wise men brought for Jesus. So when you are running around trying to get the "perfect gift", stop yourself take a deep breath and remember we have been given the perfect gift, Jesus Christ was given to us to remove all of our sins. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, Jesus. MERRY CHRISTMAS! ♥ ♥ ♥

run, run, run...

Tonight I realized that Christmas is only days away ..I am suddenly feeling overwhelmed with getting my shopping all done and this week is filling up with things that need to be done. Since I am not working things are also tighter so need to be a little more creative with what I buy all the "extra" people. I am feeling overwhelmed with the balance of keeping our traditions fun for the kids and yet getting everything done this week that I need to. I finally tonight ordered Christmas cards...not even sure I will get a letter out. I did get it wrote up. But on the note of Christmas letters do people really sit and really read through them or does everyone not really have the time right now to sit and read the bla bla bla of what we are all up to!!??   It seems my days are normally pretty easy going, but here in the next two weeks they are completly full and not enough time to get things done,  and also see friends that I don't see too often that will be around.

Ok...Deep breath and a good nights rest will hopefully help me gather myself and get organized this week. I like my ducks in a row that is for sure. What ways do you keep your sanity during the holidays?

beginning to look alot like Christmas..

our tree is all done....now just need to wrap a bunch of gifts...

 I think Gracie will sit by this little ice rink all month and watch it go...:-) She is so adorable. Notice she has a bagel in her hands too....she eats alll the time 24/7. :-)

the temp today was in the single digits...Brrrrrrr

cute tiny toes...but growing up so very fast. What a fun age...she is sooo excited for Christmas!!

Even my puppy needs christmas bows..she just got all pretty today!!