Dothan, Grand Prairie, or Austin

Almost four years ago we had a decision to make.  K was interviewing for a job in my hometown.  I had a good job in Dallas. We had a cute house down the street from the YMCA, a church we liked, Austin had a great daycare.  We were settled or at least I thought we were.

K got the job.  We moved to my hometown.  The adjustment was hard.  I didn't know God was moving us down here because He knew I would need my family more than ever.  Because my husband would choose the world over us.

I'm still going through boxes of stuff.
Stuff from Texas. Stuff from before he left us.
It's hard.
I don't like it.

I have good memories, and I know God has a plan in all this, but it all just makes me angry.

I feel like I got the better end.  Holding onto good memories and 2 beautiful kids.  But that's not what I wanted going into dating a man I thought I wanted to marry and eventually did.  I promised him for the rest of my life, and he didn't.  I prayed for a man to marry, God gave me one, then that man chose a very different road.

Life's not fair.

So I raise two little ones teaching them about Jesus, how to live a Christ honoring life.  Praying this anger & frustration will pass like the sadness that came before it.


Oh how I love them :)

That grey house

A: we going to that grey house?
Me: no buddy it's stinky & it needs work (new floors, paint)

A:can we sleep there tonight?
Me: no buddy it's not ours yet.

A:is Jesus in that grey house?
Me:yes buddy he's all over that house.

Me: I gotta go to work buddy to make money.
A: to pay for that grey house?

Can you tell someone is itching to move??
I am too. It cannot come soon enough!!

You can see the grey house here. 

Old School Austin

Foot Tickles

This little guy

This little guy made me a Mama.

He and I are both feeling the frustration of our new life.

I love him.

He is avoiding nap this week.

I took all of his toys out of his room so he will know his room is for sleep.

His new tactic to avoiding sleep is telling me "I need to go poo poo.  I need to go tt."

Even if he's already gone.

Yesterday - all during nap time - every 15 min, "Mama, I need to go poo poo. I need to go tt."
Ugh.

I think when he starts sleeping late (in about 10 years) I'm going to wake him up at 7am and tell him I need to go tt.

Then I'll wake him up at 8am and tell him I need to go poo poo.

Just kidding.

He'll understand when he has kids of his own.

This weekend we are celebrating July 4th the way it should be celebrated.

I can't wait!

Lece.

What would we do without her?

From Austin:

How old is Lece? 5

What's Lece's favorite color? white

What does Lece like to eat? carrots

What does Lece like to drink? orange juice

What do you like to do with Lece? play with her

What's Lece's favorite book? Story about Jesus

G

Austin loves his G.

From the mouth of Austin
G I wuv you.
G Daddy's Home!
G Monster!  Ahhhh.
G I ate all your apple juice!  I haggan your daas (ice cream).
I wanna spend the night with G not Lece.

Full circle

 Khloe & Lece 2014

Austin & Lece 2011

Reasons to smile

These 2 make me smile everyday.

Sometimes it's just too much.

Yesterday was our first day of summer.  We started at 6 a.m. with breakfast, then the playground at 8:30a.m.  Back home for Khloe to nap and lunch.  Austin never napped.  I took everything except his bed out of his room so that he will see his bedroom is a place to rest, not play.

I don't understand Austin's personality.  It is completely different than mine.  He will fight tooth & nail, bossy, loud, constantly talking.  He has other good qualities too and I love him with my whole life.  He is hard to parent alone, though.  I pray for him everyday that he will use his strong qualities for good.  That he will love Jesus fiercely, know Jesus's love for him, and that I am not screwing him up.

I am parenting alone.

Then there's Khloe who I pray will be sweet and quiet like me.  I pray she will love Jesus fiercely and know the love Jesus has for her.

On top of that I am working on my resume to start looking for a job, and thinking about buying a house.  With that comes daycare, budgeting, making decisions about what's best for the three of us.

So my life is stressful.  Our life has changed, things are different, parenting 2 children under 4 is hard. But life goes on and I have to parent these kids and get a job and take care of this house and myself the best way I know how.

My Dottie loved Frank Sinatra so here's to Dottie and 'ole Blue Eyes:

"The Best Is Yet To Come"
Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum
You came along and everything's startin' to hum
Still, it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come

I need patience people.

I have a 3 month old & a 3 year old.

My three year old boy is ACTIVE and needs a nap everyday. If he doesn't nap it's very early to bed for him. Trying to get him to nap is a battle. He has a full size bed in his room - one that he can easily get out of and he does. I feel like I am in & out of his room getting him back in bed his whole entire nap time. If there is no nap there is no going anywhere unless its a drive around the circle in which I pray he falls asleep. We are trying a sticker chart. So far he's gotten a prize for eating his food at meal times. Who knew three was such a hard year. He will be 3.5 February 21 and we will be celebrating. We have made it this far with him and he's made it this far with us. Thats something to celebrate. I pray for him constantly. Here's to year 4. Be good to us please.

My 3 month old is an angel and if I could keep her this small and sweet I would. She's growing out of her 3month clothes. She has such cute chubby legs. She's so smiley & she loves it when I sing to her. She's just starting to laugh. She likes a paci & this week she has started rolling to her side.  She likes the music at church & falls asleep during the sermon. She goes with me everywhere & i have large muscles to prove it from her carseat. I pray for her a lot that she will be an obedient sweet little girl. So far she is & more.

Marriage. Who knew that would be hard, too.  I want to read this book, but who has time with everything? Maybe in a couple of years. Ha.

Lots of things on my plate, people.

Our rental house has been fine up until now. We have lots of things filling up this house & stuff still in storage. Thinking about a mobile baby & active preschooler in this house stresses me out a little. It would be nice to find an updated 3 bedroom 2 bath house. Who else has outdoor laundry? Geez Louise I will be glad to put my clothes in the dryer without going outside. Goodness if I drop some underwear in the carport.

These are first world problems, I know. Things are mostly good around here I just need some patience.

What a year.

2013 was a year that had deep valleys & happy mountain tops. I'm glad it's over & we are looking forward to a happy and more stressfree 2014.

We are praying by early summer 2014 we will be in a new house either renting again or buying one. A house hopefully built in the 90s or 2000s with indoor laundry. Geez. And an open layout where I can see my peoples from the kitchen.

Austin started prek3 today and we are praying he will thrive in his new class. We've learned he needs a small class size, consistency, & needs a challenge. I'm excited about helping him trace his letter of the day this afternoon. We've really looked at the foods he eats & have taken out a lot of sugar, we make sure he gets lots of exercise & less TV. He's tall & skinny like the Boozer men. He wears size 4t & 10 shoe.

Khloe's my little sweet baby always with me mostly calm & just perfect.. She's getting up to eat once a night. She's eating great & we love her chubby legs & cheeks. She is wearing 3 month clothes. She & I sat in the hallway in church yesterday because she was being noisy sneezing, tooting, cooing. She was our happy part of 2013. God answered my prayers for a happy healthy baby girl.