Our Growing Family

Going to KY is all about family.  We are blessed to have both Rick's and my extended families living in the same town.  Each visit is filled with Papa, Grammy, and Grandma love, playtime with cousins, and even opportunities to see extended family like Aunts, Uncles, and Rick's and my cousins.  

Isaiah loves KY and he loves his grandparents.  

He asked to take picture after picture with them.

I am also pretty sure he gave them enough hugs and kisses to make up for the 

50 weeks of the year when he doesn't see them.

 We were so thrilled to have both a niece and nephew born while we were visiting.  My brother, Brian, and his wife, Ashley, had their first baby, Briley Brooke King, 8lbs. 5oz.  I got to see her within an hour of when she was born.  That was such a treat for me!

Here is Isaiah with his new role as the "Baby Whistler"

 He is convinced that his whistling is exactly what every baby needs to calm down and relax.  He absolutely loved seeing Briley and had the hardest time keeping his hands off her.  He kept reminding everyone that if they need any help he is a baby expert.

Another Grandbaby

We haven't had a newborn in the family for 8 1/2 years!!

 Rick's brother, Rob, and his wife, Tonia, had their 7th baby, Seth Richard, 12lbs. 1oz.  This not-so- little guy was born via c-section 10 days BEFORE his due date.  Poor little guy was struggling at first with his blood sugar and breathing so he had to go to Louisville for a week.  We only got to see him through the nursery window before they whisked him off.  I was so bummed not to get hold this bundle of love.

 Thankfully, he is home now and doing well.  He has a check-up with the cardiologist coming up to check the status of his little heart.  There were some concerns initially.  Pray that they get a great report!!

Because of various vacations and Seth's birth, Rick's family was not all together at the same time.  Here is a picture of him with his mom and sister, Kimberly.  We didn't get one with his brother, unfortunately.

 Rick and me after the beach(don't we look so relaxed?)

 Our family(the only pic of all of us together)

 Sam and his cousin Zack(these 2 have so much fun together)

 The night before we left, we got some time with Brian, Ashley, and Briley.

I could do this all day!!  I just love me some newborn baby, and she is such a little sweetie.

 Lauren lovin' on Briley

 Abby just sat and held her for the longest time.

 Grammy and ALL of her grandkids

(a fine looking crew, if I do say so myself)

I can't even believe that it worked so well for us to see the babies.  That really made our trip special.

Update

I am so behind on blogging.  This week and the events of it have really distracted me.  I find myself glued to the news websites and facebook trying to get a grip on what is happening.  I have spoken to 5 families who still don't know if their houses are standing.  They have all been looking at maps and it appears their homes may be safe.  I know several who know for sure their house is gone.  The pictures are devastating to see.  

It was reported today that 346 homes are gone.  So far, no lives have been lost.  The fire is now 10% contained.  The last 2 days have been much better.  We are praying that the worst is over, but we know that in no way is this fire done.  

My kids who struggle to breathe are doing well.  No problems so far.  I am being proactive and keeping them in most of the day.  We are going stir crazy, but I would rather go stir crazy at home than at the hospital.

On another note, Abby got braces on Monday.  

The Before Picture   

 Working on those teeth

 Putting on the brackets

 After

She has braces only on 8 teeth on top and she chose aqua blue bands.

Please Pray

  I just can't bring myself to post anything today, but to ask each of you to pray for our city.

 Specifically, if you will join our church family and community and pray at 11:00 AM MST.

Let me start by saying our family is safe.  We live on the East side of the Interstate.  The fires are on the west side.

After 3 days of keeping the Waldo Canyon Fire away from structures, strong winds propelled the fires into neighborhoods destroying homes.  

We have many friends who live in that part of town and still do not know if their homes were affected.  My heart breaks for them and the devastation that has occurred.  

32,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.  The fire went from 5,000 acres to 15,000 acres in a matter of hours.  We reached an all-time record high of 101 degrees.  These high temps we are experiencing do not help with the fighting of the fire.  

The air quality is "unhealthy" which brings many concerns for those with breathing difficulties.  Abby, Sam, and Isaiah all have issues in this area.  We have been told to stay inside as much as possible.

Seeing the pictures and watching from our house last night was horrifying.

The earliest estimated date of containment at this point is July 16th. 

Those are basic facts, BUT above and beyond any of that is our God.  We are crying out to Him for help in this time of trouble.

This song comes to my mind:

"Our God is greater,

Our God is stronger,

God you are higher than any other,

Our God is Healer,

Awesome in Power, 

Our God, Our God

And if our God is for us,

Then who could ever stop us, 

And if our God is with us,

Then what could stand against?"

Will you please join me in praying today?

KY Vacation Part 1

We left for KY on June 8th and returned to CO on June 23rd to this:

 If you haven't heard, we are having multiple fires around the Colorado Springs area.

We are safe where we are, but many of our friends have been evacuated from their homes.

 Please  pray for this whole situation.  It is not good.  Our air is filled with smoke this morning and many structures are in danger.  We have 3 kids who have breathing issues already.  They are staying inside today.  It is not worth the risk.

This is my favorite place in KY, my parents' porch.  I love to sit out here in the mornings with a cup of coffee and my Bible.  Many good times are had on this porch.  Lots of memories.

 It is the kids' favorite place to eat at Papa's and Grammy's house

 Right after we arrived, Laila came running into Papa and Grammy's house announcing to my mom and me:  "Good News!!  I got a new bike!"  She rode miles on that thing over the 2 weeks we were there.

My parents have the perfect driveway for bike riding.

Papa and Grammy really scored at some yard sales.  First the bike, then Transformers for Sam and Isaiah.

 When I was looking through our pics, I found about 20 pics of our truck.  That is not something I would take a picture of.  Rick, obviously, feels differently.  "Smooth Ride" did well on its first trip across the country.  Even though the back is smaller than our old truck, we were able to fit everything in without a car top carrier.  That is a first.  Rick is an amazing truck packer!

 Posing for Daddy

 My parents have AMAZING neighbors.  They always so willingly share their stuff with us when we visit.  Not to mention the kids love hanging out together.  Seeing them is one of the highlights for our kids on our KY trips.  Unfortunately, they were gone on vacation for most of our time there.  They still let us use their trampoline and pool.  The kids got a couple of days together and did some night swimming, Rock Band playing, and trampoline jumping.

  I promise, none of these pictures are photoshopped.  Rick got some really good shots!  Thanks, Barbour Family for sharing with us!

 Splits in the air

 Karate Kid

 This is probably my favorite

 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

 Yippee!

 Upside down Sam

 I love the heat and humidity of the South.  My kids are NOT used to it.  They spent lots of time cooling off in the pool.

Abby made her own float with pool noodles

 Isaiah was very scared at first

 Laila looks way happier here than she was most of the time.  

She loves to swim, but hates not being able to touch the bottom.

 After a couple of tries, we couldn't get this kid out of the pool.

More to come....

For Your Enjoyment

I have a bajillion posts to write to catch up from the events of the last 2 weeks.

Really, there is so much to share.

For now, since it is Laila's bday, I will share this video of her singing, "I Am a Promise."

On Vaca

I am still alive.

Actually, very alive.

I just spent the last 5 days at the beach with my hubby celebrating my 40th bday.  Of course, I will share more later.

Before that and now, we are in KY visiting family.

We have welcomed both a niece, Briley Brooke 8 lbs. 5oz. and a nephew, Seth Richard 12lbs. 1oz.(yes, you read that right) while we have been here.  Briley is home and doing well, and Seth has had a rough start, but is improving and hopefully coming home sometime over the next couple of days.

I had a great 40th bday on the actual day surrounded by my family.

I was able to catch up with a friend from high school over lunch.

It has been a good time.

Living life in every way possible.

Hail, No!!

These pics are of Abby's garden just a few days ago, thriving and growing. 

Pumpkins, strawberries, lavender, zucchini, cilantro, and red bell pepper

 We are excited to see the carrots we planted poking through the ground.

 The cucumber seeds are growing in nicely, too!

She also has tomato plants.

 Yesterday, this happened for an hour straight.

We are talking flooding and mega hail coming down non-stop!

 At first, Lauren and Abby thought it would be fun to see what it feels like to have the marble-sized hail hitting them.  Then it became bouncy ball sized and came down harder and faster.  

 Then, we remembered the garden.  Oh, no!  

They went straight to work. 

 As they were working, I could hear them saying, "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch."  

 This is what they rigged up.  The umbrella to cover the tomato plants.

A garbage bag and blanket to cover the rest.  

Sam grabbed this piece of hail.  

This was one of the smaller pieces.  It got much bigger after this pic.

 These pics were taken today.

 Our poor little leaves have been tattered and torn.

 Will they survive?  That is yet to be determined.  

Hopefully we caught it in time and will have some veggies before summer is over.

Speaking of veggies.  We did cut off our first stems of cilantro to make guacamole this week.

The happy farmer with her crop!!

The huge blessing in all of this is that our basement didn't flood.  We have been having issues with that since we moved into the house.  Rick was able to tackle that project last summer and get things fixed.  Last night was the true test.  The basement was safe and dry!  

Did my title make you laugh?  I couldn't stop laughing as I typed it! : )