Living Life Out-Numbered

Okay so enough with the procrastination! I have put off updating for so long cause I have missed so much which then makes me miss more memories, so I've decided to move on with what I've got and trudge forward on my posts :) I have alot more free time now so I should be able to keep up on my blog! The following post is going to be RANDOM, but hopefully fun. I haven't posted anything for almost a year so this is a quick re-cap of some of the happenings in the last year... It has been an interesting year to say the least, one of what will be great growth and perserverence. I know God is making us a stronger family equipped to serve him through whatever storms may come. The last year has brought our family closer together with a bind that no one can separate. I have a deeper love for my wonderful husband, who is the most amazing Man of God I have ever met, and of course a deep love for the other 'little man' in my life who knows just how to make his mommy smile when she needs a good laugh! Colten and I spent from August of '09 through the whole summer working on 'school'. He saw all his friends going to pre-school and wanted so badly to go, so...mommy and colten had school in our dining room and he amazed me with how much he learned! He is such a little sponge and is so smart! I loved the time we got to spend with each other and the time I got to spend using my degree to help him grow. (Matt kept trying to convince me to homeschool, but I know that would lead to a lot of frustration between Colten and myself. I would expect too much and he would go crazy not being able to socialize with other kids his age.) October came and with it was colten's obsession with Transformers. So for Halloween guess what the costume of choice was? None other than Optimus Prime! BUT Colten could not settle for a store bought costume...NO!!! His papaw sent him a cool video of a transformer costume that actually transformed into a car! He wanted it!...He had to have it!...So we googled it :) yeah, $7000. for a costume, NOT GONNA HAPPEN! To our surprise we found videos on youtube of people making their own transformable costumes out of cardboard and other materials. So Colten and his daddy were on a mission...Here is the end result... One of a kind hand-crafted body of optimus prime transformer made from a genuine cardboard box...priceless! Arms made out of top of the line cereal boxes, and wheels from solid pizza boxes...price...too high, don't even ask :) Complete with a one of a kind cardboard helmet. Not exactly sure how daddy crafted this one, but I know it was very difficult to get on and off and was very uncomfortable but to colten it was all worth it! And last but not least! The completed project....drum roll please................... So a couple funny stories...Went trick-or-treating and everyone loved his costume! :) I don't know if they felt sorry for him or if they really really liked it? Ha! Reguardless one of the houses we stopped at the man asked what he was, we told him a transformer. He says, "Oh, I used to make you!"...His wife had to fill him in on what a transformer was to a 4 year old. Not having to do with ELECTRICITY! Ha ha! The last house we went to Colten was determined to show them how he could 'transform' into a car. (He simply laid on the ground and thought he really looked like a car...it was the funniest thing to watch, cause he was SUPER proud of it! He thought he was IT!) A little old lady came to the door in her night gown, not knowing why this little 4 year old was laying on her front porch in cardboard boxes! He said, 'TRICK-OR-TREAT'. And she said, "Oh honey! I don't have any candy!" He came back to the car so mad..."I transformed for her and she didn't even have any CANDY!" It was a fun night! Also in the fall we had a fundraiser for our adoption. It was a bit chilly and involved taking care of 5 140 pound sows and 6 little piglets that became our own. I soon learned I am not cut out to be a pig farmer! Our garage wreaked!!! We had a hog wrestling contest and smashed up Matt's car all to raise money for our adoption. It was so much fun! Colten and his teammate Cade were ready to wrestle some pig!!! They were the "wild hogs"! Colten had a lot of practice at home wrestling the little piglets so he was ready for action. Here is a video for you to enjoy all the fun... Matt and I also joined in on the fun. Matt and his teammate ended up runner-ups in the contest, and Lori and I...well, it wasn't pretty. I couldn't stop laughing! And Matt and the Stockers had some fun of their own. Ashley and Michael decided to wrestle Matt instead of the hogs...don't ask! Here's a before.... ....and an after (poor Ashley) Matt's car was broken down and it was worth more in the junk yard, but before we took the beast to junk it, we decided to have a little fun with it. It's amazing people love destruction so much they were willing to donate a few bucks to take a swing at the green machine :) Colten's serious about leaving his mark. We always seem to enjoy the fall with fun activites...must have to due with the pretty colors and the weather? We took a little get away to the farm and had some fun. Here are some fun memories from the Grandma and Papaw's in Madison. Colten had too much fun with George and the babies. George is such a good 'ol boy and Colten just loved him :) More time with George. He wouldn't leave Colten alone. He kept following him. The yearlings liked him too! Mostly cause he was their size! Of course what would a trip to the farm be without a four-wheeler ride and apparently it's more fun when you get to chase the horses... Love this picture! Daddy thought it would be great fun to get all wet, I don't think Colten was too thrilled about it! "Dad...now I'm all WET!" ha! On the farm there is no shortage of fall leaves on the ground. Now that Grandma and Papaw have their playground set all up and running Colten and Paige, the next door neighbor, found it so much fun to pile the leaves at the end of the curly slide (let me rephrase....Stuffed into the curly slide and piled at the end.) and slide down into the large mass of leaves. One last pic on the farm. I love this picture. Nothing says more 'boy' than putting your slick boots on in the rain and walking down the stream looking for frogs! I think I have the cutest boy ever!!!! We took a trip to One Fun Farm as we do every year and got ourselves a pumpkin. This year they had a huge jumping thing. I know...very technical term :) But I don't know what the technical term would be! ha ha! All I know is that Colten LOVED it and would have jumped for hours if I let him! So I finally made it to Christmas of '09!!! YEAH! This year we decided we were going to go to a tree farm and cut down our own tree! Along the way we found an elf to help us pick just the right one... We didn't realize how big the tree farm was! There were sections of certain types of trees so first we had to figure out which type of tree was best for us (we chose the one that needed the less attention and would sustain our house and child and dogs :)...funny now I can't remember what type that was so next year we'll start back at point A confused! When we were finally headed in the right direction it was a long walk and thousands of trees to choose from. But we finally spotted the 'perfect' tree. Found a saw and Daddy and Colten cut it down for us! Colten loved being able to help! Once we got home we got busy with the decorating. It was a beautiful day, perfect for cutting down a tree and decorating. Finally after lots of work, the stockings were hung by the tree and the tree was beautifully lit up! Here's our family around the tree... Of course Spidy had to have his picture taken by the tree too! Colten was old enough this year to be apart of the Christmas program! It was about a little Christmas tree who all the forest animals helped make beautiful. Colten was a bunny in the forest...and a cute bunny at that! See if you can spot him (I might have helped a little). Here he is again. I think he was singing..."do your ears hang low" in his head. By the way, of course the bunnies hopped loudly on the stage back and forth to their spots. It was quite the site! Finally after all the wait, it was Christmas eve. This year Colten and I made an advent calendar because every day he would ask..."Is it Christmas yet?" So we found a santa face, colored him so nicely (Colten is an excellent colorer by the way) and counted down the days by glueing cotton balls onto santa's beard. It was so much fun. Colten and daddy made some cookies for Santa. I guess mommy should have helped because something went wrong! Santa ate them anyway, even though they were the most ugly cookies I've ever seen. (He might have been forced to! :) While the boys were preparing santa's cookies, I was preparing our annual treat for his reindeer....Reindeer Dust! It is sparkly and good. So it attracts the reindeer to our house and they get to eat a snack while santa's busy filling our stockings! Colten is getting ready to sprinkle the dust on the ground in his christmas pj's. Sprinkling it on the ground for the reindeer before bed. Christmas morning...Finding our stockings stuffed full of transformers and all kinds of goodies from Santa. This year Santa left Colten a HUGE surprise in our living room! He got a 4-wheeler that looks just like Grandma Lee's! He was so excited he couldn't wait to get bundled up and go try it out! Finally Colten started tearing into the presents under the tree. Colten got somoe hot-wheels stuff (of course) and an optimus prime mask that speaks like optimus! Colten even had a special surprise for his dog, Brody. Now only if Colten could teach him to 'fetch'! Winter came and went in Indiana and with it lots and lots of snow. Which was great considering Colten loves to play in the snow! I didn't think it was ever going to stop. We got a new toy this year for Colten to play with on the sledding hill. We found a snowboard at a yard sale and he actually is very good at staying on and snowboarding down our hill. I have the cutest video of him snowboarding but unfortunately it's in storage and I have to get this post finished :) so a picture will just have to do. Colten had many friends over to sled with him... And of course who could resist wrestling with daddy in the snow? Now for the BIG announcement that never made it to our blog. (I feel so awful!) In January Matt and I found out that we were expecting! We had decided that no one knows, except God, when our children from Liberia will be coming home, and why we weren't trusting God with the timing...I don't know. So we decided to let God be in control of our family (imagine that :) and if it was His will that we had another child of our own then He could make that happen, if not, then we continue to be faithful and patient knowing the day would come when our babies would be home. With all that said, we are pregnant (as I sit here typing with my belly hanging over the laptop and baby kicking it. Ha!). I am due Sept. 27th and we found out we are having a sweet baby girl. We call her Izzy, Isabella Grace Lee. And, no, we couldn't call her "Bell" because then she'd be made fun of at school...'bell...Lee'. Here are some fun pics we took over mother's day this year at the river with our new addition to the family... Matt and I (colten does such a great job at taking our pictures!) by the river. Colten and Mommy take a picture together. He's just so irresistable. I can't keep my hands off him :) I just had to put this one in here! My two tough boys...don't they look so intimidating! Well that's about all the news in a nutshell...or a three day process of putting it all on here! Our family had a really rough Spring and so therefore, I don't have alot of pictures or stories to share. In March, our world was turned upside down, when Matt lost his job. It has been a rough road that we still have not been able to make sense of and gone through every emotion possible to man, (I actually might have invented some new ones along the way :) The attacks from Satan were like I've never felt before. Definitely made me realize Satan is REAL and he is in persuit of robbing our joy and salvation! But... I did and still do get the chance to see how God honors those who are faithful to Him even when bad things happen that rock their world. -We were able to spend 3 months with 'daddy' in the best time of the year and have him all to ourselves! -God provided every step of the way, and continues. -God led us to a new church family and job in Lexington, KY just in time...his perfect timing. -Matt has so many opportunities at Tates Creek it's just blowing his mind! He's so excited about the things he gets to be apart of here globally as a children's minister that he could never dream of before. -Again, God's perfect timing, allowed us to sell our home in Muncie in such a horrible market AND allowed us to pay off our home equity loan we used were using to support Onah and Marie! (Just a side note...Before and still through this whole adoption process prayed that if it was God's will for us to adopt he would provide the whole way, meaning he would not allow us to become consumed by debt through our adoption, cause let's face it...a minister can't really afford adoption...I trusted in God knowing that when everything is said and done He will provide everything, so cool how we still see His hand moving through our adoption in small ways and HUGE ways of paying off a $10,000.00 loan! AMAZING! GOD YOU ARE SO GOOD!) -Just in the knick of time he led us to a house here in Lexington, that we will close on in a week, just in time for the baby to come! -God has placed people in our lives that have been like family when we are away from all of our loved ones and close friends. Families who have taken us in while we look and wait for a house the past 2 months! -Most of all I can feel God molding and shaping us into deeper and stronger followers of His. Refining us in the fire, using our struggles and moments of despair to make us usable for His purpose...why? Because somewhere, sometime, there will be someone who will need comfort that our experiences with God through this hard time will bring peace and comfort to. He uses every opportunity, good or bad, for His purpose! -Probably the biggest way I've seen God move is through our family. He has brought Colten Matt and I closer together than ever before. I have a deeper love for my husband through all of this. There's something that draws me to him more than ever before when I see how God has used him through this whole situation. He is such an amazing Man of God I can't even describe it into words. His actions, his words, his attitude, his perception, his love for enemies, goes beyond my understanding! All I know is watching him grow the last 6 months and trying to explain it...there's only one explaination...God has filled him with his love and spirit! Matt has led our family through the fire so honorably. I know God looks down on him and smiles! I LOVE YOU MATT! YOU ARE A WONDERFUL SERVANT, HUSBAND, AND FATHER! (in that order :) I'm sure there are many other blessings I've seen over the last few months and it's been hard, honestly, up until now for me to see those things. Do we still have our down days?...yes! Do I terribly miss my friends in Muncie?...absolutely! Do we still feel like satan is chasing us?...of course! But he doesn't OWN us! We push on to pursue the happiness God has in store for us! Well, I've rambled on and on about that chapter in our life! I'm going to end this post with some fun random pictures :) This was taken at a concert at the state fair last summer. We went to see Jeremy Camp and Mercy Me. Matt stood outside the gate by the tour buses to get autographs after the concert. He was so pumped :) We all know that Colten loves to dress up in his super hero costumes. Well, now he loves to dress his super dog up as well thanks to a movie he saw about a super dog. We went over to some friend's house for a nice night by the fire. This picture is hillarious! Probably one of my favorites! It has a story I just have to tell. One evening this summer in July while Matt was in Lexington, Colten decided he wanted to go out and hit golf balls by himself. After being outside for about 20 minutes I hear a terrifying scream and rush out to see why he's crying and sceaming! I run around the corner of the house to where he was hitting golf balls only to find this... He had gotten himself stuck in the bucket and couldn't get out. He was crying and screaming like I've never heard him do before. I thought something was terribly wrong. I immediately start dying laughing! and said..."stay there...I have to get a picture!" Ha ha! I know what a great mom I am. I had to have the memory! :) Colten has become such a great swimmer this year! We got to enjoy many of the pools here in Lexington before school started. Matt convinced Colten to go off the diving boards and he loved it. He was doing flips off them, and getting a little too comfortable in mommy's opinion. But that wasn't good enough...he feasted his eyes on the HIGH DIVE! He just had to go off. The first time, he climbed the long ladder up and walked out the edge looking down the steep jump and backed down the ladder he came. We told him it was ok. He still had plenty of years to try it and he didn't it was ok if he didn't do it this time. But he was determined after he saw a 6 year old girl go off! He wasn't going to be out done by a girl. So up he went again and this time was successful and we couldn't get him off of it the rest of the day! He's my little dare devil!

Okay so a long time ago I started a blog entry about our trip to the Smokie's and never finished it! Well, today's the day :) Here are more pics and stories about our memories in the smokies with our best friends...

So after the aquarium we met up with our friends and went to a Colt's game in Cincinatti. We were kinda bummed cause it was a pre-season game and we didn't get to see any of the 'big name' players play, but Colten loved the experience.

You can see how high up our seats were. Colten had a pair of binoculars that he looked through.

Here's everyone at our cabin up in the clouds. We were on Parrot Mtn. which Matt had to climb to the top of and touch the sign :). We were the last cabin at the top. We had a great view but it was tricky trying to get our vehicles up there. The turns were so sharp that we couldn't make the last two. We had to pull forward, back up one turn, then drive up the next bit, pull forward, and back up into the driveway...it was crazy. But gave us many laughs to remember :)

Our Mountain!!!

So one brisk rainy day we decide to take a drive up into the mountains for some scenic views. There was this spot that Stacey thought we should check out. "Clingman's Dome" was one of th highest peaks and you could see several states from atop it. None of us were really prepared for the coldness that came with the altitude but we weathered the rain and cold and took the trech up the mountain. Wow...did my legs ever burn! Colten wanted to be carried, Emma was crying most of the way up :), and Tom and Stacey had a stroller to push. We made it to the top! It was cold, extremely windy, and rainy but we can say we did it! It was very beautiful up there but we didn't want to stay long b/c we were freezing. Again...more laughs to share when we look back on it. We each had enough time to take our pics and then left. On the way back down the Smokies we decided to stop at a place where Matt and I stopeed at on a vacation we took. Just a spot along the creek with huge rocks that you could walk on and explore. I thought it would be fun for Colten so we stopped. Remember it was cold so the water was bone chilling cold. There was no taking your socks off and wading the water. I can proudly say...I was the only one who did not fall in the water and get the shock of the cold. Below is Brad...he was first to fall :) he he

Tom rock climbing...I believe he was second to get wet. No he didn't fall from there, the rocks were extremely slippery since it had just rained so pretty much it was you lose your balance and fall in.

Matt jumping across the rocks. Matt would be next to fall in.

Colten loved climbing the huge rocks. Of course all boys love rocks and to see them that big he was in boy heaven...I think all the boys were :) But he was the last to fall in and he got it the worst. Most of them just got their shoes and socks wet, but Colten fell in the water completely and was drenched and screaming cause it was so so cold we had to strip him down and wrap him up in a towel and took him back to the cabin to change. We couldn't help but laugh but the poor kid was screaming. He didn't think it was too funny.

We did lots of putt-putting, I think I beat Matt most of the time ;) and Colten never really followed the rules but who doesn't love a round of putt-putt every now and then?

All the guys took turns carrying Colten's little bro. "G" as we played our games of putt-putt.

We played glow in the dark putt-putt. Colten found a man he resembles at the end. Hercules :)

Colten loved playing laser tag. He was Matt's little side kick...he'd follow him and 'had his dad's back'...literally. I think Matt had such a high score cause he had eyes in the back of his head named Colten. Way to go little man! You were the real winner. He'd sacrifice the shot for Matt!

Just a funny pic that Colten had to have in Gatlinburg.

We found a car just Colten's size in Gatlinburg. He was ready for the keys.

Matt and Colten VS. Mommy in go-carts...who won? Well, we all know that the go-carts for 2 always go much faster than the single ones. So it was an unfair race. Colten and Matt won ONLY BECAUSE their go-cart went faster! Had it been Matt vs. Terah in a real race...I think we all know who would have won and it wouldn't have been the man with all the talk :)

Taking their victory lap.

Colten dominating on the bumper cars. He really brought the thunder. He loved driving his own too. He thought he was pretty cool. We had a great time in the Smokies. The best part was the sharing of laughs with friends. Memories we will treasure forever. I look forward to many more!