Amazing Grace

Bradley is the 4th from the left.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

The month of November we continued homeschooling. We learned about insects, water (condensation, evaporation, etc), and octopi (yes that is plural for octopus:) I think they enjoyed insects the most. We did the ant farm thing. We ordered the ants and they came in the mail. That was interesting but it has been fun watching them work. Bradley's penmanship is improving; however it is not his favorite thing to do. He seems to be pretty good at math. He is a smart one though....he was holding two things and I had asked him to take something to his bedroom; he asked me "how do I take it to my room when my hands are full?" In a little bit of frustration:) I said, "Bradley, use your brains." He immediately responded, "mommy, I don't have two brains." So homeschooling has taught me as well:) I truly am enjoying every minute--well most minutes:). Lindy continues to participate as she is interested. But she definetly picks up little things. She knows the vowels now. She may not know what that means but she can recite them.
The month of December has been pretty busy. On December 5th, we visited Lindy's birth family in Oklahoma. Kylie (Lindy's bith sister) turned 6. Ashley (Lindy's birth mom) had a birthday on the 12th and Lindy turnded 3 on December 13th. So when we were in Oklahoma on the 5th-8th, we celebrated birthdays. We all had so much fun. We had a birthday party at the hotel and had a swimming party. It is not very often a December birthday gets a pool party!! Of course it was an indoor somewhat heated pool. We were able to meet Ashley's mom, sisters, brothers, aunt, grandfather and other family and friends as well. Ashley and her family got Bradley and Lindy so many gifts we had to buy another piece of luggage to get it all home!:) What a blessing it was to see Ashley and Kylie and to have the opportunity to meet immediate and extended family. Kylie stayed in our hotel room for the first two nights. Lindy, Kylie, and Bradley all slept together in one bed and no one fell out:) It was a quick visit, but we were able to see the town, Kylie's school, where Ashley works, etc. I really enjoyed that part as well. We flew home on the 8th. We did a little homeschool that week. We went to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Bradley is really into Star Wars and as we were watching the ballet, he said "mommy, do you know which one looks like Anakyn?" (Anakyn is a Star Wars character for those of you reading this and are not up on the Star Wars Thrilogy:) They did enjoy the ballet. Then that Saturday was Lindy's birthday!!! We had a small family party here at our house with Jason's family. Then today we actually celebrated another birthday party with my family. So Lindy had 3 parties!!! After we opened all of the presents, Lindy said "when are we going to celebrate my birthday?"
We are looking forward to this Thursday and celebrating the birth of our Saviour. With the month being so busy, it is very easy to overlook why this season is even celebrated. It is not about birthday parties for us or presents (though we enjoy all of these things). It is a time to remember that over 2000 years ago God--the Creator of the Universe--sent his Son/Self to come to this earth in human form. His gift to all the people. A hope, a saviour. Praise God!!! May God bless you all this season and the year to come. If you have not received this precious Gift of Christ, please ask God now. I love you all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

TRICK OR TREAT 2008

What a fun night of trick or treating. I know halloween is controversial among the evangelical community. I do not support the pagan rituals; we just use it as a time with friends and family to enjoy an evening of fun. I try to teach my children that Halloween did start as a pagan holiday, so we just call it trick or treat and do not in any way support the evils of the history of Halloween...so with all that said...we enjoyed trick or treating and the kids had plenty of treats. We went to a friend's neighborhood and walked house to house. This was Lindy's first time really going door to door. She did seem to have a great time. Bradley was running ahead with his friends. About an hour into it, Bradley said, "I already have enough candy." So we stopped:) We went back to our friend's home and drank hot chocolate and looked through all the candy and ate plenty. It was a very fun night. Bradley dressed as a Clone Trooper (bradley is the one with the mask on the left) and Lindy is Dora.

Video of Lindy singing and Bradley not loving it:)

Homeschool Begins

Well, we did start homeschooling on August 26th. We are doing it on Teusdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We also have a friend from church homeschooling with us--Ashton. It has been fun. The first week we talked about God's creation and went through the seven days of creation. Today we began the actual unit studies. This week we will be learning about the sun. Lindy has been doing school too:) She actually already knows everything we are reviewing. She knows how to count to 30, she knows all of her colors, she knows her shapes, she knows the days of the week and all the months. So it is quite funny when we say the ABCs or do our counting, she just says it right along with us. I am very thankful for this time to spend with them and get to teach them not only letters and numbers, but teach them that God is the center of it all and that is the most important lesson I can teach them. With God's help we will continue on this journey:)

Visit from Texas Family

Bradley's birth father, Garret, came in town for a visit at the end of August. It was such a joy meeting him. He is in the US Airforce and lives in Texas. When we told Bradley that Garret was coming to visit, Bradley asked if he was a kid? Then Bradley asked if he would bring him any toys:) It is hard to put into words the joy we feel being able to share Bradley's love with his birth family. We are blessed to know and keep in contact with immediate and extended family. I know this will be extra special for Bradley as he grows up and feels all the love from all of his family. It was a quick visit, but we were able to get a good idea of what Bradley will probably look like when he grows up. Garret is very handsome and so very kind. Garret's mom has written Bradley on several occassions and told us about how Garret has such a kind heart and we were able to see that kind heartedness in just a couple of days time. We look forward to meeting all of the Grimes' family very soon.

BRADLEY TURNS FIVE!!!!!

Bradley turned 5 this past Wednesday. We celebrated his birthday the saturday before on the 2nd. He had a party at the lake house. Usually about 2 or 3 weeks before his birthday, I will ask him what theme he wants. But this year I did not mention anything and just surprised him with a Spiderman theme. The cake was very cool. It had a tower and spiderman swinging from the tower. Bradley really liked it. We just invited mostly family and a few friends. They went out on the boat, swam, ate pizza, cake and icecream and just had a blast. We will begin home school in a couple of weeks, but according to Bradley he already knows alot so I won't have to teach him very much:)

Illinois Family Visit

What an exciting past week we had. Lindy's birthmom--Ashley and Lindy's sister-Kylie, age 5- came to visit us. We had such a wonderful time. Some other family members came too. Pam is Lindy's very young:) step-grandmother and Sarah is Lindy's very young aunt. Sarah is 4 years old. So we had a house full and loved every minute. Bradley quickly became good friends with Sarah. Lindy was like a cat, she was nice to them when it benefitted her:) We have to remember she is only two years old. It was great getting to know all of them and there was an instant bond. They arrived on Friday night after several flight delays. It was Ashley and Kylie's first plane trip so too bad it started out a little rough. They, however, made it to TN at 9:19 pm. Saturday we went to the lake house and my family visited with all of us. Sunday we went to church and then visited Jason's family. The rest of the week was filled with play time at an indoor inflatable place called Pump it Up, TN Aquarium, Lake Winnepesauka (small theme park with rides), The Chattanooga Zoo and swimming. It was a full and busy week but there were plenty of opportunities for everyone to just get to know one another. The kids did great--for the most part:) It took a little adjusting for them to all learn how to share and take turns but in the end they were all sad to leave one another. We hope to see them again in December.

Bradley's busy schedule

Bradley has had a very busy few weeks. He started swimming lessons in April. Every Saturday in April we went to the YMCA for swimming lessons. He actually already knows how to swim--for the most part. We just wanted some official training. The lessons were very relaxed. He would just put his head under water a few times, float on his back and then get to slide down a slide (which of course was his favorite part). So I am not sure if he is a better swimmer now or not:) The first Sunday in May he had his end of the year party for his AWANA Cubbies program. AWANA is a program at our church where Bradley goes every Sunday night and they learn Bible verses every week and earn badges. To me it is kind of like Boy Scouts for God. Then this past Friday he graduated from Pre School. The program was just wonderful. Bradley helped lead the pledge to the flag. He was so funny. They had learned songs for the program and the songs had motions. Bradley put his hands in his pockets and sang without doing any motions. It was very deliberate. He also called out to his cousin, Landon, while he was on stage. While on stage, Bradley said to one of his friends in a very loud voice, "Austin, there is my cousin Landon." Then Bradley noticed other family members there and shouted out, "hey grandaddy!" It was so funny and as Jason said--borderline embarrassing:) So what a wonderful past few weeks we have had. This week Bradley has pictures for Pre School, an in school field trip with a petting zoo and a water day. We are looking forward to a fun summer.

Fun Outings

We took Bradley and Lindy to a couple of "shows". Bradley and Lindy both went to see My Little Pony and we took Bradley to the circus. Thankfully My Little Pony was the first event and we realized Lindy would never sit still long enough to enjoy the circus so we just took Bradley to that. Bradley and Lindy both enjoyed the My Little Pony Live Show. Lindy wanted to hug the ponies and did not totally understand why she could not go up on stage. Bradley was actually mesmorized the entire show and just sat there and watched every minute. Lindy got a little wiggly about an hour into the show. What else would we expect from a 2 year old:) The circus was also fun. Bradley really enjoyed seeing all the acts and animals. He talks about one of the men riding the little bicycle all the time.

Easter Sunday

How exciting for a two year-old and four year-old to wake up to easter baskets filled with candy and toys. The night before Bradley said he was going to sit up all night and wait to get to see his easter basket. Easter morning Bradley woke up first and asked if he could look for his basket. So we had him wake up Lindy and I put the baskets out. They came into the living room and Bradley said the Ben 10 Omnitrex was just what he wanted. Lindy went straight for the candy. They got to play with their toys and eat candy before breakfast--what a treat!! Then we dressed them for Church. How adorable they looked. It just melts my heart.

Bradley's Easter Egg Hunt

Bradley had an Easter egg hunt at his pre-school. They had such a fun time. Bradley realy loves pre-school. We have decided to do home school for his first year of "real" school in the fall. Please pray for us as we want to follow God's will in all of this. It is a very tough decision. I will most definetly keep you posted:)

Disney Vacation

We took our first trip to Walt Disney World on February 24th. We had a great time. We were not sure what to expect since Lindy is 2, but we were very pleasantly surprised. Bradley did fantastic as expected. We spent the first day at the Magic Kingdom. Bradley's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear. We also enjoyed dinner with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. That was Lindy's favorite part. She would just shout in delight when the characters were in sight. She was a little more reserved when they got closer, but did get some great pictures. Hope you enjoy looking at them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We pray everyone had a happy new year. Our year was filled with wonderful giggles of Bradley and Lindy playing together. It was filled with special time spent with family--we visited Bradley's birth family in Iowa in the spring; then in the summer we took a "Chattanooga" vacation with my brother and his kids. We went to the lake alot with family as well. We are so blessed with such a loving family. Bradley started pre school. He also goes to a church program weekly called AWANA. Lindy goes weekly to the Little Gym--where she runs and plays for 45 minutes in a semi-structured setting. We spent the year playing with friends from our neighborhood. We were all relatively healthy for the year. My father retired this past year. We joined a wonderful church this past year--after having looked for two years. Jason was able to drive a NASCAR race car at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. His business did well this past year too--maybe the best it has ever done. Praise be to God. My neice, Loren, turned sweet 16. She got a Ford Explorer. We do thank God for such a blessed year and are looking forward to His plans for 2008.