Healing up well

Hello my sweet Friends,

Just wanted to let ya all know that I am healing up A-OKAY.
If you have a weak stomach you won't want to look at these next pictures. But I have a warning on my side bar that tells ya I am keeping it real and raw ;)
Consider yourselves warned!

Yesterday.

Today.
Looking less red and swollen.

I have that, "Don't Mess with ME look" now ;)
Watch OUT!!
Talking is tough and I still can't smile but I do my best to smile with my eyes! HA

Happy Weekend!!

Cancer...They got it all!

Cancer...

What a scary word!

I have told you all that I will keep it real on here. But there is a fine line between what you share on a blog and what you tell your close friends. So I am sharing this now because... well the cancer is all gone. (Almost) There is still a spot of pre-cancerous cells on my nose. Next week I will use a chemotherapy creme that I will apply 2 times a week at home. The creme will bring the cells up and burn them off in about a weeks time...sound fantastic right?!?!

I was told if you have to have cancer this is the very best cancer to have ...pheeww.

It is not life threatening...pheeww

It will just take a surgery to remove the cancer...pheeww

So that is what happened today. I went in and had a spot of Basal Cell Carcinoma removed off my upper lip. Unfortunately they did not get it all the 1st time and I had to wait for about an hour and then they had to numb me up again and remove more skin. After 4 and a half hours and 11 stitches it was over. Praising God that was all it was!!

It is really hard to look cute with this giant thing on my face!! :)
I tried to smile but I just ended up looking REALLY MAD!!

It is funny the babies just stare at it the giant wound and Claire just wants to touch it.
I love their sweet innocent hearts.
It is amazing how when your health is in question
everything truly becomes more beautiful and bright!
Thank you God for giving me the opportunity to continue to be healthy
and watch my children grow.

You know you want it!

Holy smokes, Awake and Alive is GIVING one of these SWEET shirts away!
Click here to find out how you can get entered to win!

Oh Stella...

I know I blog on Stella quite a bit...

But this girl just gives me way to much blog material...

So here is our new battle...

You will see in a second that Stella is giving us quite a fight!

She does not like to wear clothes..Bottom line. (Who does really...)
So we have had many "mishaps" where we will lay her down for her nap

and she will take her clothes off before she falls asleep

then of course being 17 months old she will go potty in her sleep.

{Those are NOT fun "mishaps" to clean up}

We really are trying to win this battle!
But if you look close you can tell that she is fighting right back

Please notice the duct tape in the picture below.
SHE ALMOST GOT IT OFF!!

We really are doing our best to keep her dressed but it is just so hard when you are battling a child with a will like Stella Marta's.

It's a good thing she is so DARN CUTE!

I still am not sure how she got her shirt like this...?
Its a mystery that will probably never be solved.

Please tell me that I am not alone in this battle.
Advice would be very much appreciated on how to keep clothes on
and messes to stay IN THE DIAPERS!!!

Prepare for a heart change...

We are so excited to announce our 1st mission trip to Ethiopia! We will be visiting the forgotten and "cursed" slum of Kechene. We will be there to kick off the start of the school, that we have been working so hard to raise funds for and we will be building relationships and showing God's love. If your heart pumps faster when you watch this video I would encourage you to be in prayer about traveling with us over the next few months.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARIN

Darin you mean so much to our family!!
You are an amazing daddy
and I could not imagine going through this life
with out you!
Your my rock and best friend!

You have made these 2 little ones daddy's girls

Your the best chauffeur I know.

You are my best friend, although Claire would argue that SHE is your best friend!!

You are the comforter.

You protect and love our kiddos and that is so beautiful to me!

For all you are to me and our little ones
I hope that on today, your birthday,
I can show you how thankful I am to have you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARIN!!

Doing "IT" quitely.

There are many, MANY things I have learned how to do quietly.

Why???... you might ask,
did learning how to do things quietly
become big enough to make an entire post out of?

Well this is why ...


Because there is nothing more precious
to a momma of three,
then three sleeping little loves.

And there is NOTHING worse to a lover of three little kiddos then accidentally waking one of them up and getting this reaction...


I want to give you a little list of all the things that I have learned how to do quietly

Here I go, The small list of things I have learned to do quietly,

1. Walk. It is amazing how much noise you can make just by walking down the hall!

2. Blow dry my hair..I close my bedroom door and then go into my closet and close that door too.

3. Close doors. Make sure you have your hubby grease all the hinges. (lesson learned)

4. Rinse your hair in the shower. This one I have to say I am really proud of! I learned that if you have a lot of hair when you wring out your hair and the water hits the bottom of the tub it makes a loud noise and it can and will wake up a baby!! So here is what you do...when your hair is full of water, wring it out onto the shower curtain!!! It just slides right down into the tub rather than splatting on the bottom of it.

5. Talk on the phone. This is obvious but go into another area of the house... another lesson learned the hard way...

6. Play with the other kids while one is sleeping. This was a simple fix. All the rooms are down the hall way so when one of them is sleeping I just block off the hall with this great long foot stool my hubby got me. (which is now the toy box instead of a foot rest...but ya know its all about what works these days.)

7. Laundry. It is all about closing the lids and doors gently...oh so gently.

8. Going to the restroom. Don't flush until they are all awake. Trust me.

One might say...
just do those things like you normally would do
and the kids will get use to the noise.
That sounds really simple and great.
But the reality of it is that I would have to go through A LOT of this...

When all I really want is this

So there ya have it.
A few of my hard life lessons learned
on being quite
while little ones are asleep.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me some of your tips on being quite, we all gotta stick together on this nap thing! It makes a mommas world go 'round.

PS for all of you who checked into my post because of my blog title...sorry to disappoint! I have no tips for ya there. That is not what this blog is about ;)

Love ya and thanks for reading my ramblings...

Joy PARTY!

Pure JOY!!!
Nothing makes my little man happier then being naked and having his socks and shoes on.

So today I am linking up this little bit-o-joy with my good buddy Erin's blog.

If ya need some JOY today my I suggest you go check her out and check out all the others who linked up their joy!

http://livinginyellow.blogspot.com/2011/09/capturing-joy-party-come-one-come-all.html

A girl and her Grandpa

Claire has many, many amazing relationships.
Claire is such a sweet and lovable child.

But,
One of the most precious relationships Claire has is with her Grandpa.
It makes me smile how she talks about him all the time!
Her and her grandpa have sweet songs they sing together.
They tell the most fabulous stories to each other,
about how birds land on their shoulders,
and squirrels run under their legs.

They go on walks, ride on tractors, go fishing,
read books, watch movies, have slumber parties, eat popcorn,
they are making some great memories.

And love between them is unconditional.



Now that we are all a little older, (sigh...)
take some time to think about someone who spent extra time with YOU
someone who made you feel special.
I would love to hear your precious memories and
I am sure my other readers would enjoy
hearing about them too!