Adoption Day

This is a picture that was included in the adoption invitation via email.

(It reads: Sierra, Andrew and Hannah are excited to announce the upcoming adoption of their new four siblings.)

On August 10th, 2009, we finalized the adoption of our last 4 children. We all had to get up at 5:30 am to be at the courthouse by 8:00. Once we arrived, we met our adoption worker, attorney, and case worker. Jeff and I signed 4 sets of paper work and then the judge was ready for us. Our attorney asked Jeff and I some questions, asked the adoptions worker if DCS felt like our family was suitable for the children and then the judge signed the order. It was quick and painless.

All of the children waiting for the adoption hearing.

Photo with judge after he granted the adoption.

After the hearing, we had a adoption celebration at our house where several friends joined us to celebrate the occasion. I will never forget Jacob running around and around the yard exclaiming, "I am adopted!!" and Melissa giving me a hug and saying, "Thanks, I am now yours forever."
Our first family photo after the adoption. The Miller's - Family of Nine!
It was a special day and one we will treasure for always.

First Trip In Bus

This past weekend, we took our first trip in our bus. We went to SC to visit our parents and for the new 4 children to meet their new grandparents. Even though, our bus does not have AC the ride to South Carolina was pleasant. When you have 22 windows to let down, the breeze feels good!! However, Jeff and the boys did decide that it was too hot to sleep on the bus. Therefore, they had a camp-out inside on Grandma Skelton's floor.

We arrived back home on Monday and Jeff is already working on getting all the beds in the bus. He would like to have it finished by August. We will see how God provides.

This is Austin on one of the beds. He and Steven came home with us and are spending 2 weeks with our family.

Some pictures of our weekend.

This is my Daddy with Hannah. We met my sister and her family at my parents house for lunch and playing in the river. We all had a great time.

Sierra Kayaking down the river.

This was Katie's first time in the river. She loved the water.

Pleasing My Man

Jeff and I were having a conversation last night. We were talking about things we have experienced, how the Lord has changed us, and how we have grown during our last 19 years of marriage.

I made the statement, "I have learned how to make my life easier with you honey." Of course, he wanted to know what I have learned. I replied, "I have learned that if I give you good food and take care of your NEEDS (ladies you know what I mean) then my days go well. Jeff just laughed and said, "Yea, it goes back to that APPLE. Eve looked nice when she offered the forbidden apple."

To this I had to add that men and women should practice SELF CONTROL. Adam should not have given into his desire but should have chosen to OBEY GOD!!

Jeff said, "It goes back to what you just said "good food and NEEDS being met". It started at the beginning of time. Maybe lots of marriages today would last if women would learn what you have learned."

I just shook my head and gave my MAN a big hug. We both know the reason that we have been married 19 years this August is because we do practice self control, die to our self, and love God.

WE ARE BLEST! I am looking forward to the next 19 years.

Who gets the Mumps these days?

ANDREW!!!!!!!

(The right side of Andrew's face is swollen more than the left. The knot(mumps) is right near his temple on each side of his face.)

On June 10th, he woke up with swollen knots on both sides of his face. Within a few hours, his forehead had a knot on it and the back of his head had two knots and was swollen. I took him and Hannah ( I will get to her in a minute.) to the doctor. The doctor looked at him quite puzzled. She said that she had never seen a case of the Mumps but thought(???) that this is what he had. She had the nurse swab the inside of his mouth and then draw some blood. She said that the Mumps is virus. If the blood work comes back and it is NOT bacterial then she is 95% sure it is the Mumps. However, the Mumps test will not be back until Friday. Andrew's blood work came back positive for a virus. Now we are waiting to see if it is truly the MUMPS.

Hannah had a temperature of 101 to 104.2 late on Tuesday(6/9/09) and during the night. I would not have taken her to the doctor because she was showing no other signs of illness. She was only complaining of a tummy ache. I felt the tummy ache was because of the medicine I was giving her for the fever and the fact that she was not eating. I usually let at least 3 days go by before going to the doctor in case it is something viral. However, since I was taking Andrew I decided to go ahead and take Hannah. At least the doctor could look in her ears and throat and tell me if anything was going on.

When she looked at Hannah she said that she saw NO signs of a cold. She said that most likely Hannah had the Mumps virus but not "full blown Mumps" because she had been vaccinated. Since we don't have Andrew's medical records from birth to age 5, the doctor felt like he didn't get vaccinated or at least didn't get the complete series.

She said that the Mumps are hardly ever seen anymore and encouraged me to look up the virus on the Internet. She went onto say that children who have been vaccinated (like Hannah) can still get the virus and have some of the symptoms or just be a carrier. She said that Andrew would have been contagious 6 days prior to the breakout until 9 days after the swelling goes away. She said that the virus can last up to 20 days from the time the mumps appear.

She said that most of the time the swelling is painful and the patient doesn't feel well. Thankfully, Andrew is not feeling bad. He does say that his head hurts a little but he is running, eating, and playing like normal. Hannah is a little grumpy and when her temperature goes up she doesn't feel well. But once the fever goes down with medicine, she is playing fine.

Here is what Andrew looked like today. DAY 2 (6/11/09)

This morning the right side of his face was swollen. His right eye is swollen more than his left and the knots seem to have gone down some. He still feels fine. Hannah's temperature is still 101-102 without medicine.

Hair Cutting Day

This past Sunday, Jeff decided to give all the boys a haircut.

Here are the boys before Daddy got the razor.

Hannah thinks that she will be a barber for the day!!

Jacob was the first one in the "chair".

Then it was Andrew's turn. He had the MOST hair to loose.Then came Joshua's turn. It really was not as painful as it looks. All the boys say that their new hair cuts are a lot cooler.
Here are some close up.

Andrew's Summer Hair Cut

Jacob still wants a hair cut like Dad.

Joshua can't keep his hands off his hair. I had to make him put them by his side for this picture.

Hannah is Potty Trained!!

About a month ago, Hannah said, "Me pee in the potty." She had a week where she would go in her diaper and in the toilet. Then, the next week she used the potty all week. I will have to say that not one time did I have to remind her or ask her if she wanted to "go potty". She decided on her own and she trained herself. I have never seen a child do this before.

After she was going to pee-pee in the potty during the day, we put on her big girl panties. She had one poop accident in them that week then started asking for a diaper when she needed to poop. She would put on her diaper, poop and then say that she needed to be changed. At this point, I would tell her, "Big girls go poop in the potty." She would say that she was a big girl. I would tell her, "No, big girls don't poop in diapers. You will be a big girl one day." Then last week, she had another accident in her panties. This time I took her to the bathroom with me and showed her how to clean her panties in the toilet. I told her that next time she pooped in her panties that she was going to stick her hand in the toilet and clean them. The next day, she pooped in the potty. She got lots and lots of Big Girl complements. Then, she had another day of asking for the diaper. The following day, she pooped in the potty and she has done this all week with NO accidents.



She is still wearing pull-ups at night but I have to say that she wakes up around 11:00 and tells me that she has to potty and then gets back in her bed. She wakes up dry most mornings.



Way to go Hannah!!! You Are A Big Girl NOW!!!

Now, if she could just learn how to apply makeup!! (Hannah and her friend, Abby, decided to play makeup.)

Home Educating All 7

Last week, Andrew finished his 2008/2009 school year. Sierra will finish this week. However, yesterday I started our 2009/2010 homeschooling year with ALL 7 of the children. We have decided to do a preschool program with Hannah-Faith and Joshua, a special needs program for Katie (she will also participate with the preschool program.), and the other children will be in grades 1st, 3rd, and 8th. Because of Andrew's learning difficulties, he will be in different grade levels according to subject.

I realize that home educating 7 is going to be a challenge but with God's Grace I am sure we will make it through.

Jacob, on the other hand, was not as positive. He didn't want to be home schooled. He said that he would be getting on the bus and going to school. You see, Jacob has several issues on why he will not like school at home. The first is that "I can not do what I want at home." The second is that Jacob has a gift of talking children into bringing him "delicious" snacks. (We don't allow a lot of junk food in our house. Jacob is having withdrawals since school has been out.) He misses his partner in crime - Kenny.

Well after we did our lessons today, the children were allowed to get in our swimming pool. I made the comment to Jacob. "Jacob, how was school today? I don't think at your old school that you got to do your lesson and then go swim. Homeschooling is pretty cool -- don't you think." Jacob didn't miss a second with his reply. "Yea, if I had only thought to bring home that big box of chocolate balls it would be cool." I just had to laugh.

Maybe tomorrow, I should give him a piece of chocolate when he finishes his lessons!!!

This is the look Jacob gives when he doesn't want to do something that you ask him to do. On this day, he was playing in the creek and he didn't want his picture taken. I am looking forward to teaching Jacob more than anyone else. I just know within a few weeks, he is going to loving learning!!

Our Bus Has Arrived!!

Somewhere around the first of May, Jeff said that he thought it would be neat if we owned a RV where we could "camp" once the new four children were adopted.

Backing up for a moment.... When Andrew was adopted we took a week long trip to the beach with some friends. We thought that we would do this again but then we priced the hotesl, condominiums, and houses to rent for a week. For a family our size to stay at the beach for a week it was going to cost over $1500.00 JUST FOR A PLACE TO STAY. Of course, this was NOT an option. I just began praying that God would show us what to do as an adoption celebration event. Now... Back to Jeff and his thoughts.

We priced renting RVs and the going rate was $800.00 for the week plus 20 cents a mile. We looked a the prices of RVs just to see what they cost. Well, we were back at the praying stage.

Then about 3 days before Mother's Day, Jeff said, "why don't we get a school bus and turn it into an RV. I have seen people do this when I go to the race." Honestly, I just said that was fine because I didn't know what to say.

Well 3 days later, our friend that lives next door said, "our church/school had an auction yesterday and tried to auction off their bus." I was shocked. I asked her if someone bought it and she replied,"NO." I called Jeff over to where we were talking and we told her about our prayer. We all stood amazed at how God was working.

Jeff got a contact number for the man who was in charge of the bus. After looking at it, making sure that we could park it in our yard, checking with the city on regulations, and moving our fence for the 4th time this year, he brought the bus home.



All of us watch excitedly as Daddy maneuvered the bus down the drive.


There were moments that I didn't think Jeff was going to get this 35 foot bus down our driveway without taking out the mailbox or telephone pole!!

However within a few minutes, the bus was sitting right where God had planned for it to be.

Now, we have a new family project. Turning the bus into an RV.

CHECK BACK FOR DETAILS ON THE PROGRESS

Katie is having surgery

This morning, Katie and I are headed to the Children's Hospital in our area for an EEG. Her Neurologist thinks that she may be having seizures. After the test, we will stay in a hotel for the night. Tomorrow, Katie will be admitted into the hospital to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. She will be in ICU for the night and come home on Thursday.

Check Sierra's Facebook for updated details.

Please pray for us.

Encouragement from God

Being a believer in Jesus Christ for 10 years I have learned a lot, I have grown a lot spiritually, and I have shared His Love and Truth with others. I have had joys and sorrows, mountain top and valley times, and have clung to His Word each day. All of this has made me into the person I am today and I would not change one moment because it has deepen my relationship with Him.

This week, has been one of those times where thoughts of doubt have risen only to be dispelled by my Faith in our Creator. It has been a constant battle to die to myself and choose to live in Faith.

Today, as I read His Word, God Himself encouraged me. He reminded me of a verse that He had given me while we were waiting for our first Foster/Adoption placement. Psalm 35: 9-10 "Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation. My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O Lord?" You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them." This verse was confirmation that we were to take on the ministry of fostering. Today, this verse still reminds me that it is NOT about us - It is because of HIM. We are concerned by the course of events this past week but God reminded me that He is the one in charge.

My Psalm for today was Psalm 37. It too was an encouragement. I love it when God lines things up this way. Psalm 37: 1-9 "Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good: dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of you heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn the justice of your cause like the noonday son. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret - it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."

We don't know what we have done to be so blest. We are but a grain of sand while God is as mighty as the ocean. He holds us all in His hands. We know that we want only what He wants for our family and that is our desire. We are confident that the Lord is in control and He will work out all the details for His Glory.

Please continue to pray for our family that we will stay strong and share His love with others through our journey.

Our Children Have Arrived

On Feb. 5th, we were blest with 4 more children. They wanted to change their names so we are using the new names on this blog. Melissa is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. Katie is our special needs daughter and she is 6 years old. Jacob is 5 years old and in Kindergarten and Joshua is 4 years old and doing preschool at home.
We are all very busy adjusting and bonding with one another. We see progress each day and know that people are praying for us.

Trusting in God's Grace which is sufficient.

We Are Expecting!!

Last Monday, we got a call wanting to know if we would like to be foster/adoptive parents to 4 children. After looking at the profile and talking with our caseworker, we decided to get more information. By the end of the day, Jeff and I knew that we had conceived again. Now I realize that this might sound strange to some of you, but this is how we look at each new member being added to our family. It doesn't matter to us if it is actually conception or us accepting. I talked with the children's caseworker on and off last week. A couple of days, I had to put my feet up and rest because there were some minor complications. However by Friday evening, we got the approval to go see our new children. We met them and immediately fell in love with them. I almost cried when we had to leave Chuck E Cheese. We have missed them this week and were looking forward to Friday so we could see them again. However, today we found out that we have a scheduled delivery date for TOMORROW!! I am rushing around nesting and I am sure that Jeff and I will not sleep tonight. We are very excited!! We are also amazed at how abundantly God has blest us. As of tomorrow, we will have 7 children. Only God could arrange this event. Less than 3 years ago, we only had ONE child and was praying that God would multiply us and increase our territory. HE has done exceedingly more than we could have imagined. Please pray for us as we all go through this time of adjustment and bonding.

If it is going to be cold, Let it Snow

We woke up to a snow covered ground on Monday morning. Below is a picture of the beautiful sunrise that I enjoyed while a drank my coffee. (Look Daddy.. I do see the sunrise!!)


After breakfast, we all headed out to play. I do more picture taking than playing. Jeff forbids the children to hit him in the back of the neck with a snowball, and the kids all have a great time.

This is Hannah thinking that she can pull Andrew on the sled.

Andrew loves for me to take his picture. He never complains when I ask him to pose. Thanks son!!

Sierra on the other hand, doesn't like to have her picture taken. Can't you tell!!

Jeff and I are just too cold to smile. After this photo, I went in to make hot chocolate.

Hopefully, it is days like this that our children will remember.

Winter Fun

Last week, our weather got down into the teens. It didn't get reach 20 degrees for 2 days. Jeff and our next door neighbor decided to ice the driveway. The neighbors drive was chosen because we have a fence at the bottom of our drive. The first evening,the women and little girls stayed inside. The others had a lot of fun until Jeff broke his knuckle. Yes, it is still blue and painful.

The next day, everyone joined in the fun. Of course, Jeff made Sierra and Andrew were their helmets. Way to go 'Safety Dad'.

Andrew decided to slide on his belly, back, and knees. At the top of the drive he was on his bottom. He had lots of fun!!

Whoever said that you couldn't use a plastic pool in the Winter. This is snow tubing at it best!! Sierra is taking a ride down the drive.

Hannah even got in on the action. Of course, Jeff didn't let her start at the top.

I was not about to let the children have all the fun. I laughed all the way to the bottom.

Thanks for a great Winter's Day!!

Problem... Cloudy Tea

Have you every had cloudy tea? Have you ever made tea that turned cloudy?

Being raised in the south, we just love our SWEET Tea. This is one of my weaknesses. I have tried drinking unsweet or decaf but if I have to do that I just assume not drink tea. I know that tea is not an addiction for me because I can go without it. When I nursed Sierra and Hannah, I couldn't drink tea. Anyway, back to the point.

I have always made really good tea with the help of my Mr. Coffee Tea Maker. Well, several months ago, we noticed that my tea tasted odd. If you drink tea, you know that it is ALWAYS better the day after it is made. Therefore, I would try to make it a day ahead. Never had any problems doing this before. About that time my Mr. Coffee Tea Maker broke and I decided to use one side of my dual coffee pot as a tea maker. The tea still tasted odd. (At this point it wasn't cloudy just tasted funny.) Then, the coffee pot broke. I looked for a Tea Maker but they were sold out. I guess everyone wanted one for Christmas. Therefore, we went to buying tea.

Recently, I found a Tea Maker and made tea again. Much to our disappointment the tea turned CLOUDY the next day. I made the tea the same as usual. I used the same type of tea that I have always used. So, what was the problem? I got online and found out that to help with the cloudiness that you should let the tea cool before adding the cold water and putting it into the refrig. I have never had to do this before. I gave it a try. The next morning, I awoke to CLOUDY TEA! I deducted that it had to be our water. Jeff went to the store and bought a gallon of spring water and I made another gallon of tea. WOO-HOO!! We have great tasting tea.

So if any of you have a problem with cloudy tea, it could be your water. We have lived in this house for over a year, I don't know why we are now having hard water but we are. Maybe the water treatment plant is having to cut costs. I am not sure but I know that now I have to buy water to make my tea. I guess it is better that buying premade tea. Now, I think I will go sip my glass of sweet tea and enjoy.. Problem Solved.

New Year Thoughts

For the past several days, I have been thinking about the last year of our life. Was it good? Was it bad? Would I change anything if I could? What could I have done better? How have I changed and was it for the better? Then my thoughts went to the new year. What do I want to accomplish this year? How can I make life better for everyone who is around me? Do I even want to change anything about me and my life or am I satisfied with the way things are now?

As I pondered all these thoughts, I realized that our family has had some challenges this year. We have added family members and have seen them leave us. Our marriage has been stretched and we are closer because of it. Our children have had their Mommy less and their Daddy more. Their relationship to each of us has grown in different ways but in ways that were needed. We have had some major changes but now wait to see what God wants us to do. God has revealed sin in each of our lives; we have sought forgiveness from Him and from others. God has used several situations this past year to deepen our relationship with Him and each other. Because of this I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe I could have done things better, but now I have been changed for the better. Through the situations, God is teaching me more about being Joyful always. Even though tears may come because of loss, we can rejoice because HE hasn't left us.

This year I am going to take each day as God reveals it, seek His Will with what to do, and live so that everyone around me sees Jesus and not me. I will say that I am NOT satisfied with my life. God has given us His desires that are not yet fulfilled in our life. I miss some of the things that He has taken away but I am leaning and trusting on Him everyday to comfort me. I realize that I did what He called me to do and everyday I did the my very best. One day as I stand before my Lord and Savior, I know that He will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Because of Him I can face this new year and all of it's challenges. I look forward to growing closer to Him, serving my family and others, and investing my life in others so that they may know where my future lies.

Every year people are going to come in and out of our lives but if we must remember that when Christ lives in us our life in not our own. We live because He created us, because He loves us, and because He is not finished with us. We must walk with Jesus everyday. Our feet must move forward and we must press on for His Glory. While we walk, we Pray. We trust Him to take care of us. We rest knowing that HE is in control.

May this year bring each of you closer to Jesus in your blessings and in your trials. May you all have a JOYFUL NEW YEAR.

It's 2009

I got up this morning and told Jeff that today I was just going to be LAZY. I said that I was going to stay in my PJ's and do a few things that I wanted to do. Of course, I did say that I would cook dinner. This is where the idea of being lazy changed!! I was lazy all of about 15 minutes. Once I mentioned dinner, Jeff wanted to know if I was doing the traditional black eyed peas and collards. You see, he grew up in a house where New Year's Day was celebrated with this dinner. I ,on the other hand, grew up eating Hopping John and the only person who liked collards was my second Mom. So, she just got a dish from Granny. I usually ate the pork chops, rice and blueberry muffins but didn't find the Hopping John and collards to be a necessity. Anyway, who believes that you will get more pennies and dollars just by eating these things. If this was true everyone would be eating them MORE than just ONE day a year. All I get from eating these is a good POOP!
Therefore, I just don't see the need to cook these things except for the fact that my wonderful husband enjoys them. So, off to the store I go. I bring home the collards and stuff to make cornbread. I had the peas and pork chops. Once everything was unloaded, I sat down with a glass of tea. I thought, "I can just do a few things that I want to do now. Everyone is outside and I can just be lazy until dinner." I sat down thinking about the last year, the coming year and talking to God about all of it. (I will post my thoughts later.) Then the phone rang. It was Jeff from outside telling me that he had invited the neighbors over to eat dinner with us. Now, keep in mind that my goals for this year are to deepen by relationship with God, out of love for Him to serve others, and invest my life in people that God sends my way. Immediately, God had to remind me of these goals very quickly. Now, I had to get up make a dessert and add more to my dinner. I just had to laugh at the fact that God was watching just to see how I would respond. In all of about 3 seconds, I told Jeff "Sure, that is fine." I got up, put a pie in the oven, swept the floor, decided to add a Mac and Cheese to our dinner and picked up the toys that were laying here and there. Now, I am sitting back down. Well, just for about 5 minutes. The timer on the over just went off and the pie is smelling real good. I am off to finish my dinner and am looking forward to visiting with some neighbors who love the Lord.

Happy New Year To All!!