Gorgeous Quilt fund raiser

http://moyeradoptionraffles.blogspot.com/ My friend Cynthia is still trying to raise money the adoption of their 5 year old son from China. Her son has a limb difference too.....so their family has a special place in my heart. You've got to check this quilt out!!

Renee's Visit and the 2nd Grade Field Trip

We celebrated Aunt Renee's 29th birthday while she was out."Can you believe I used to change this kid's diaper??"
Aunt Renee took the little kids to the park......she's the best!!!!!

Inspecting fuzzy seeds during our nature walk with our guide Nicole.
Natalie's class.....what beautiful fall day!!

I'm so glad that Natalie begged me to be a chaperon for her field trip. We went to a nature center around Dayton. We had the most perfect weather that day. I had 10 kids in my group, we all agreed that we got the BEST guide. Nicole took us through the woods and got the kids really excited about our nature walk. After chaperoning Andrew's first grade trip to the zoo I vowed that I would NEVER again chaperon.....but I have changed my mind. I really need to remember to appreciate this time in my kids' lives where they think I am the greatest person ever.

Good news......our St. Anthony house is under contract. YEAH!!!! I really do miss our old house but am not going to miss making double mortgage payments. We are happy with the price that we are getting for the house especially with the way the housing market is. We're just a few thousand dollars below what we hoped to get but $25,000 over our rock-bottom price. We should close within the month. Thankfully the couple is pre-approved with a local bank so we're hoping that this process should go smoothly. Now we just need to finish moving all of our junk.

Andrew's last football game was today. We lost so we're out of the tournament. Andrew had been all pumped up to go the "pee wee super bowl" where the last two teams get to play under the lights on a Saturday night. That would have been really cool, but I'm sure Andrew has a long football career ahead of him so we'll seem him under the lights someday. Andrew had a great season. He really got into "crushing" his opponents.

Aunt Renee came for a visit last week from Arizona. It's always fun having her around and sad when she leaves. Why does Arizona have to be so far away???

Celebrating 100 Years!!!

Don't the girls and I look fabulous with our vintage hats?? We belong to Ft. Recovery's Church of the Nazarene. The Nazarene church, as a whole, celebrated it's 100th anniversary this weekend all over the entire world. Our local church was also celebrating it's 80th anniversary. We were encouraged to wear vintage clothing. Life has been too crazy to even begin to try to find vintage clothes for 7 people, so instead I bought a lot of hats from eBay for $20. Oh by the way, I am NOT 5 months pregnant. The way Audrey's leg is stuck to me and Rita's little arm is resting up against me I do look like I have a bun in the oven!! NO buns here!!!

I added my absolute favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song to my playlist. I hope you all enjoy it. Of course I like the beat but the words are what I love the most. "So sink or swim I'm diving in!!" This is how I want to live my life until the very end. I want to always do what God calls me to do with an enthusiastic attitude. Sure some days between work and five kids and the constant reminder that there are children all over the world that need loving families I really feel like I'm "sinking." But, thankfully, most days "I'm lost in the flow" knowing that God has blessed me with these 5 amazing kids, a terrific husband, a modest home (that would be considered a mansion by most of the worlds standards) and even, a great job. When I think of the kids who don't have homes I like to read through other blogs and read stories of families similar to ours, where innocent children have made their way 'home'. "But we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood........."