One Egg Short of a Dozen

Should I change the Name of Our blog???

2012-01-03T15:32:00.001-06:00

I've been debating for sometime if I should change the name of our blog. We no longer are 11 people in our family! Maggie got married and now we have Johnny her husband who is Hispanic - Another nationality in our family! Who would have thought!!!??? We also had Edith from Uganda come live with us via NC and her adoption will be completed soon. That makes 10 kids and 1 son in law. We also seem to always have someone else staying with us who needs to get on their feet. I used to dream of the day when everyday would be quite and all the kids would be living their own lives, but now, even though a good quite day is a blessing, I don't seem to see this house emptying out anytime soon. The more I think about it, I think I'll keep the name, just because I like it. We are still one egg short of dozen when it comes to life but I like it that way! No ordinary for us! EXTRAordinary will do just fine.

When you have a large family, you have a lot of Pics!

2011-12-26T01:27:00.003-06:00

Duane getting all the kids ready to come down

Here they come!

Isaiah likes his bike

Edith and Graham

This boy loves Legos

Nathaniel got a Waterproof camera

He got his tiger!

The Aftermath!!

2011-12-26T01:10:00.001-06:00

This was after the cleanup- lots of broken down boxes, and paper!
And.... after we literally swept 6 times and took out the garbage twce!

Andrew looks stressed but he is enjoying his new mp4 player. this room was about to get it's 5th cleaning!

He thought this was funny!!

Enjoying Dinner- Happy Birthday Jesus

2011-12-26T00:53:00.000-06:00

I think I caught Duane with a mouthfull

Let's eat!

This crew is ready to eat

I did not get to make my traditional Buche de Noel this year and was a little downhearted by it but Primael and Agnes surprised us and brought us two that they had made and boy were they so good!!! We used one of them as Jesus' Birthday cake and sung happy birthday to Jesus. I think I felt him smile!

Decorating the Table for Christmas Dinner

2011-12-26T00:50:00.003-06:00

I always like to dress up the table for Christmas and make it very special. We are after all celebrating a King's Birthday!

I brought out my favorite nativity set and created a center piece and I found some salad plates this year that I just loved and combined them with my China

The little Santa hat is filled with Candy

Cooking for Christmas

2011-12-26T00:45:00.003-06:00

Edith wanted to learn how to make Bread so I showed her how

Getting ready to knead the dough after it had risen. She was amazed at how the yeast doubled the dough

Edith is watching me knead the bread before she takes her turn

We made a christmas tree

Homemade mac and cheese, Bacon Jalopeno stuffing, Roasted sweet potatoes, Smoked Turkey, London Broil, Veggies, olive Garden Salad, Punch, Deviled Eggs

The smoked Turkey

Christmas 2011- More

2011-12-26T00:33:00.001-06:00

Christmas morning for us usually takes a few hours. This Christmas it was right under 2 hours before everyone got their presents opened.

Agnes and Primael opening their presents at which they were surprised to get!

Such a sweet couple! They are from France and are here going to school at Bethel

Andrew made me these stars and quilt! - Awesome!

Edith is ms. Drama!! lol

Graham's Utopia! His cuddly stuffed animal, hism Call of Duty PJ's, His foot massager, and Video games sitting in a recliner!

Isaiah trying out Graham's foot massager

Boudreau is definitely not sure about this Tiger!

Allenni and her cooking attire

Ok I like him

More of Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T00:23:00.001-06:00

Allenni and Eli got a Blizzard maker- We will be looking forward to that!

Everybody got a Karoke Machine!

Everybody got a Frappcinno Package- Sorry Starbucks but we can make them cheaper at home!

Isaiah is excited

Everybody got two laptops to share! YES!!!

Isaiah loved his spiderman skateboard

Edith liked her boots

Allenni got her broken Easy Bake oven replaced by the ultimate one

Graham's favorite comedian - Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Andrew is happy about his touch screen mp3player

Ben GOT his GPS!!

Asia got money!

Edith loves her eye makeup kit!

Grahams's lion and Boudreau

Edith using her makeup on Allenni

Duane got White strip kit-- Sparkle, Sparkle

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-06:00

The Sunrise on christmas Morning looking out of our Laundry room window

Isaiah got up too early but Graham caught him and kept him occupied with Net flix on his phone til the rest of the house got going

Can you tell Eli is excited????

The kids were ready to go downstairs

Isaiah and Graham

They headed straight for the stockings

Add caption

Isaiah liked his bike thought the battery wasn't finished charging

Keyasia, Primael, and Agnes got stockings too

Edith is happy

I got an IPAD!!!! The kids are like right mom! You've been using it for two weeks!!!

The LOOK Graham got when He realized that MOM had wrapped his presents in JUSTIN BEIBER wrapping paper!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! PAYBACK FROM MOM!!!!!!

More Of Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T23:43:00.000-06:00

Millie found her self a snuggly spot for the movie

The Presents are laid out and Stockings all stuffed. All BEFORE 11:30pm!

Before the presents were arranged, we had them spread out all over the house!
In my bedroom beside the couch

Behind the Chair

Behind my bedroom door

In my closet

In the hallway

Each child has their specific wrapping paper. It makes sorting easier and they don't know who's is whos

I thought Santa left a great note

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-25T23:24:00.001-06:00

On Christmas Eve, we usually have finger foods and open one present and sometimes watch a movie. I made salmon dip from fish Duane and I had caught, Pan Fried onion dip, Sundried Tomato dip, Sausage and Marinated cheese, Chex mix, Bruchetta, and Coffee Punch.

The stockings were waiting to be filled

The Dessert Table
Chocolate Rum Pecan Pie
French Meringues
And dessert tray
Our little elf was guarding the sweets!

YUMMY

KEYASIA, AGNES and PRIMAEL

EDITH AND NATHANIEL (ZORRO)

DUANE AND I

PRIMAEL AND AGNES

Poor Eli, He accidently got hit in the ear by a big book

Me choosing what Present to give to the kids

Isaiah LOVES Spiderman

Eli opening his present

Watching Andrew open his gift

GRAHAM got his much wanted book

ASIA got what she wanted

Agnes and Primael

Twas the Night Before Christmas!

2011-12-25T23:09:00.001-06:00

On the night before Christmas in the Carter House, Everyone was stirring but there was no mouse.

Party Food, Coffee Punch & Presents were expected with a movie,

And we thought the night was all pretty groovie.

But Finally the kids were all snuggled in Bed,

While Santa and the Elves moved on ahead!

Stuffing stockings & placing presents under the Christmas Tree,

Santa was amazed at the activity

But it all came together quicker than he thought

Because of what the mom had done bought

So he enjoyed his cookies and drank his milk gone

humming to himself a little song

He slipped upstairs to peek at the kids

they were snoring away dreaming of Christmas morn

So he left quietly and went to his room

and snuggled with Mrs. Santa 'Cause morning was coming soon.

More Pics of Where We Live

2011-12-23T14:19:00.000-06:00

This more of where we live. Duane went to Mt. Shasta and took some of these.

Mt. Shasta

There is beauty like this everywhere around here

An Angel in the Clouds

The view from our neighborhood- Mt. Lassen

Finishing Up Christmas Baking

2011-12-22T22:37:00.002-06:00

Allenni and Eli have turned out to be the little bakers in the family. They have helped me make candies and cookies as well as shoot a few cooking videos. You can check them out on Youtube here:

http://youtu.be/eQSMcmg_uQ4

Eli stuck a homemade sticker on his forehead

WE snapped this picture of Ben asleep in the recliner

Edith was helping clean up our messes. thanks Edith!

i thought I would show you the progression of the Santa cookie. You make a round sugar cookie. make a peach colored circle, add red for the hat, and white for the fur and and beard. Add a red nose and black eyes

Allenni, Andrew and Eli's Christmas Program

2011-12-22T22:20:00.001-06:00

Allenni, Andrew and Eli got to a charter school and all of us have enjoyed it! They do quiet a few electives and Their Christmas program highlighted the electives. They did so good!

Eli is learning to play the Ukulele. He was so proud and nervous he says!

He told me that he had to have a haircut before his concert. his hair had been to his shoulders. The girl went a little overboard. Nevertheless, he looks cute. Can't believe my boy is nine years old! What a miracle he is! Somewhere in his clothes he found a suit! and wanted me to fix his tie. Out of nine people in the house, Not a one of us knew how to do it. Thankfully Dad walked in just in time to tie it and I didn't have to figure it out through a youtube video!

This kid really is musically inclined and loves stringed instruments. He watched the violin kids play and said to me, I need to learn that!

Allenni's Spanish class recited The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Spanish!

Andrew's Spanish class told us about themselves and their families in Spanish

HE was a little nervous

Allenni and Andrew showed off their Jazzercise moves in a song called the HI -LOW

Allenni is pretty natural in dance

Outside Our Back Door

2011-12-22T21:57:00.001-06:00

Though we live in a house that is really too small for our large family, our home couldn't be located in any better spot. We are directly on the water of Lake California and right behind us across the street is the Sacramento River. I love going out at night and just seeing the incredible stars, that I had never seen while hearing the rushing waters of the River. Duane's hobby is photography and here I would like to share a few pics with you that he tool the other day.

A Turkey Vulture

The sun setting on the River

A cool plant

Our backyard and neighbor's house

One night there was a halo around the moon. These are formed by six sided ice crystals in the upper atmosphere and the light reflects off of them. The spot beside it is Venus.

The River

Can I help you???

The great sky

Lots of ducks have migrated to the Lake for the winter

Not sure what kind of bird this is

The view from our balcony

My Red Amyrillis

There was an eclipse the other night and Duane got some pictures

My Window seems to be the perfect place for the Amyrillis and Pepper plant

VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUM BUT NOT IN MY HEAD!

2011-12-21T15:17:00.003-06:00

Thought I would show some Christmas decorations and goodies around the house

Out Blurry Christmas tree that looks sort of sad now. I cant keep enough water in it and it looks sort of droopy. Good thing Christmas is only a day away!

English Toffee I mad

Grandma's peanut butter balls

Edith's first party to go to!

Duane and I were ready to go to a Christmas Party! Wish the ipad had a flash!

This little elf keeps showing up and telling us how many days til Christmas

Angel on the Mantle

Our centerpiece on the table

Our stockings

TWO OF MY GOOF BALLS!!!

2011-12-21T15:11:00.002-06:00

Two Of my GoofBalls!!!

Little Did Duane and Graham know that Mom REALLY WAS taking a picture using her new ipad!

They were really laughing! About what? I dont' think we even know!!

Christmas Baking - ENGLISH BUTTER TOFFEE

2011-12-16T11:03:00.001-06:00

I love to do Christmas Baking. Having owned a Bakery & Catering Service in the past, I used to teach cooking classes. I was baking this week and thought, "Hey, I wonder if my ipad will record. So I grabbed Ben and recorded this first video of me teaching you how to make that Expensive Buttery Toffee found in Catalogs. You can make it for pennies a pound instead of $24 lb.

Being my first video, it is a little rough around the edges but do have fun and enjoy your candy!

You'll have to turn off the music player at the bottom of this page to hear the video.

Sunset on the way to Church

2011-12-13T23:35:00.001-06:00

The Sunsets are amazing around here and we caught this one on our way to church this past Sunday. Duane took it with my new ipad

Entertainment at the Feast

2011-12-13T23:27:00.001-06:00

There was great Entertainment at the Feast while we ate. There was awesome breakdancing to Christmas Hip Hop and There was some great Choir numbers as well as Drama and Jazz music

Our Guests

2011-12-13T23:25:00.000-06:00

This was Taylor and much to her delight, she got a real teacup to drink out of. She loved it so much, I gave her a teacup explaining that it came from across the world and she was the first to use it. She was so excited!

This was Jack and Danae, Taylor's grandparents. They were a delight to have Dinner with

This was Taylor's mom

I forgot her name but I know Bill was a Big Raiders Fan

Taylor let me take a picture with her

Several times

These girls were at Duane's table

They all seemed to have a great time

Duane waiting for his guests to arrive

Some people praying before the event began

The waiters all lining up to serve

The girls that helped serve Duane's table

Its about to begin!

Setting Up For the Feast- December 10

2011-12-13T23:14:00.004-06:00

The hosts had to supply their own decor for the table and dishes and gifts.

I decorated both of ours the same

Our tables

Each place setting had a gift cards. I found these beautiful ones in Gold and red at Dollar Tree.

I also used my Bulgarian Tea Cups that I have had for 15 years and had never used. I figured this was a great time to bring them out!

Duane and I waiting on our guests

I also had little bags filled with Chocolates and I tied them with little charms that said LOVE

The colors sort of morphed and I had actually started out with the teal and decided to use red and white along with it after I I decided to use the Bulgarian Tea cups.

The Salads were so yummy

Everyone had such great tables and they were all so varied.

This one is whimsical

Silver and Black

Winter Wonderland

This lady was from Hawaii and she decorated her table "Hawaiian Christmas"

Christmas Fun

Getting Ready for the Holiday Feast at Bethel, Dec. 10

2011-12-13T22:57:00.000-06:00

For 16 years, our church has held a Holiday Feast for the People in the City who are homeless or are struggling. The people of the church bring out their finest China, a grand meal is cooked, entertainment is planned and clothes are given away.

Duane and I were privileged to get to host two tables.

They have a lunch and dinner seating to serve 1000 people. The people are bussed in if they don't have a car.

Allenni is helping me put together the gift cards for our guests

Getting the dishes ready

I was so happy to find these ornaments and I made napkin rings with them

St. Nicholas Day! Dec. 6, 2011

2011-12-13T19:57:00.001-06:00

One of the anticipated holidays we celebrate as a multicultural family is St. Nicholas Day. On the evening of December 6th, we all line our shoes up by the door in hopes that St. Nick will drop by and fill them up with goodies. This tradition stems from Eastern Europe where 4 of our kids are adopted from. Some of the kids made sure that they had their boots out there, hoping that the bigger the shoe, the more gifts He would bring! I think Isaiah's shoes were the smallest and it looks like he got the biggest packages!

All of our shoes lined up by the door. Some of the kids were afraid St. Nick wouldn't know we moved to CA! I assured them he did in fact know that! ;) Edith was a little wary of putting her shoes out but Allenni coached her that she should but her knee high boots out. Asia, who is staying with us, put her boots as well. Looks like Mom and Dad forgot their shoes!

Andrew with his goodies the next morning

Eli was happy at his findings- a glow in the dark gun and a chocolate fish

Allenni found a belt making kit and some candy

Edith got a fun christmas headband among other goodies

And she was brave enough to put it on!

Eli was a bright Christmas tree!

Benny as he is affectionately known around here displays his Santa and is happy to have an itunes card

Chocolate, Gum, Candy, glow gun and Reindeer antlers! What was St. Nick thinking????

Graham is dazed that St. Nick got him a Starbucks card

Is that Justin Beiber wrapping paper behind him?????

Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!

2011-12-13T11:40:00.000-06:00

This was one of my thrift Store finds today! I collect Santas and there he was for $7.50! He plays music and the light burns like a candle and he twists his head and moves his arm. He's pretty old but in good shape.
My Amaryllis, growing!
Some of my Santas in the kitchen
More Santas
I found a place for some of my Nativities
The partially finished tree! For the First time ever, we bought a REAL fresh cut Tree! it smells so wonderful, though it is a pain to keep watered. I couldn't resist the snow sprayed ones. With all the snow covered mountains surrounding us, I thought it would fit perfect! and it did. Here the tree is only partially decorated.

Hmmmm. It looks like Isaiah has been playing with the Nativity. I don't remember a snowman bringing cookies to Jesus in the stable!

Looks like the Angel and the Sheep traded places

:( One of our Santas was broken. Actually this was one of several and some of our Christmas stuff is missing. I guess somebody else is enjoying it as the movers probably gave it to them. (We got other people's stuff as well. )

My other Salvation army find. A homemade nativity to add to my collection. I hung it on the wall.

The finished tree with colored lights. It is our first ever REAL FRESH CUT TREE! It is hard to keep watered. It is drying out fast! I hope it lasts til Christmas.

I wrap the kids gifts in their own paper! The trick is that no one knows which is their paper until Christmas Morning! It keeps them guessing! I wonder who has JUSTIN BEIBER???? Its not who you think!!!

Nathaniel is unwrapping all my Santas to put up in the kitchen

We Got a Real Tree!!!

2011-12-12T12:28:00.000-06:00

We got our first fresh cut Christmas Tree ever! It was quiet a task figuring out how to get if off of the plank and into the holder.

How in the world do you get this off???? (Notice my nice Christmas tree stand that I got 50% off of .)

Finally after calling the Christmas Tree place they told us to stand on the planks and push the tree off. Amazingly, this worked!!! LOL

We got it up and in the stand. Can you tell we are proud??

Now to get the thing stablized

After some work, we finally got it screwed in.

This is a great tree!!!

Trying to figure out how to water the thing!

I am NOT an ornament!

Allenni

Putting lights on the tree

Various Things Around Our House

2011-12-04T11:36:00.002-06:00

Andrew wanted braids and I tried to figure out cornrows but just couldn't get it. He finally ended up with these braids and was happy
I thought he looked pretty good! Now we don't have to mess with his afro for a while!
A sunset on the way home
Isaiah in the car on the way home!
Graham is taking art in School and this was his first portrait. I thought he did really well!

Nana Jan and Papaw Bud Came to Visit!!

2011-12-04T11:29:00.005-06:00

We rarely go out and eat and after several tries at restaurants that were closed on Sunday, We found a Thai restaurant that was incredible! We all love Thai food!!!!
Everybody was enjoying this trip out!
Yummy Curry!
Isaiah cleaned out his Chicken Satay
i took my mom out to lunch at a restaurant on the Sacramento River
My beautiful mom!

My parents came to visit for two weeks and this was their first trip they had ever had out west. We had a great time with them. We really wanted to go Salmon fishing but because of the lack of rain the Salmon run was not good. Maybe in the Spring!

Learning To Coupon!

2011-12-04T10:01:00.007-06:00

We now have 400 rolls of toilet paper!
About 12 bags of chips which I got most of the free! and a few dozens of paper towels!! SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! LOL

So, I decided to try to cut our grocery bill but wasn't sure how to do it. I already didn't buy name brand and shopped only when on sale. I use ebates regularly but not for groceries. I thought I did pretty good to feed this crew of 10 on $250 wk. Ben has been bugging the stink out of me to coupon after he watched Extreme Couponing several times. (Ben can be extreme most times and I am always joking with him that he's my extremist) Finally my curiosity got up and I decided to look. I watched a few episodes and saw these women who had stockpiles and it was all name brand stuff and they enjoyed the extra goodies that we could never buy and hardly paid for it! Hmmmm. I thought, I am smart. I can do this. So I did some reading up on it and watched some you tubes on how to coupon and got pointers. I signed up on some coupon sites and created an email just for my coupons so my regular mail wouldn't get loaded with junk. I bought newspapers and asked the boys to clip! I came home one day to find not only coupons clipped but ALL the Ads clipped as well!! ANYTHING that has a % off was neatly in a pile! We had to have a little chat about exactly what a coupon was! I bought two papers and not many coupons were in those but since it was the week before Black friday Ben thought it had lots of goodies , so sneaked and bought about 6 more papers! (Extremist!!) I am glad they love me extremely too! LOL! They clipped all those ads from Ben's papers. Ben and I tried our couponing out at Winco and we did ok but did not save as much as I would have liked. But we did get some good sales. We had trouble with our computer coupons because they wouldn't scan and after manager came over telling me sorry, I said , is there not anything you can do? I bought $500 here based on coupons alone. He said let me go see if I can get verification. So he did. They had to punch in the numbers off of my printed ones but most went through.

I then told Ben and Nathaniel who wanted to start right away at every grocery store, We have to wait, and get a stash of coupons and then match it with a sale. Be patient. We have to get a plan in place. My coupons finally arrived in the mail and my printer busily printed off coupons and I got them organized in envelopes. We were ready for a real coupon run! The next week, when we got the grocery sale papers, We hit the jackpot! CVS and Safeway were having awesome sales and I actually had coupons for those products and we used and needed those products. I planned my strategy and organized realizing that I needed to make several transactions because if you bought certain products, and spent over $30 you got a $10 gift card. I needed to buy $ gift cards for a church holiday feast for the homeless and Duane and I were hosting 2 tables. I was able to get 9 gift cards worth $10 each free! and earned $10 CVS cash as well as get everything on sale with a coupon off extra!

Our first stash after Winco - I saved $75
Our CVS run! It may not look like a lot but I LOVE Bounty Towels and I haven't bought myself any olay products in a year and there is lots of laundry detergent and shampoo here plus Nyquil. I never buy those because I don't want to pay full price! I rarely buy juice because it gets drained here at our house before it hits the fridge. So I got stuff we just go without or never buy.

My total bill was $425.46 MINUS $171.15 in coupons and sales EQUALS $254.31 SPENT. PLUS I got 6 , $10 VISA Gift Cards . TOTAL SAVINGS $231.15
Our Safeway run! Everything was on Sale! Plus instore coupons and manufacturer's coupons! Bingo! We got a lot of stuff free!

At Safeway, we hit a BOGO sale and used manufacturing coupons as well. I bought $2000 worth of groceries for $1130! Plus I received back $40 in Safeway cash. I got asked by people in the store, Are you one of those

Extreme Couponers? We had 3 buggies packed to the hilt. Eli and Ben were great helpers.

We were in the store for about 3 hours and it took us about an hour to check out. We had the nicest cashier named Cindy. On top of all of that we earned enough points on our safeway card to get gas for a $1.00 off a gallon! Since we were almost empty. We stopped at the pump on the way home! I was so busy getting our shopping done, that I completely forgot about Isaiah at school! I panicked when I realized it was 7pm! I called Duane and my wonderful husband had picked him up!! So thankful for my wonderful Duane!

I HAD OVER $2000 in groceries and we saved close to $900!! I only paid $1120. PLUS I got $60 back in Safeway CASH! The kids are excited to see OREOS and lots of chips and SODAS! and 400 rolls of Toilet paper!!
Eli and I doing the $1 OFF A GALLON DANCE at the pump!
Paying $2.41 a gallon for 30 gallons was something to dance about!
Ben is ALWAYS watching gas prices and driving us crazy on the mpg we get in our cars and here he is VERY HAPPY we are getting our gas for $2.41 a gallon!!!!!!! We kept high fiving Each other!!

More Thanksgiving Pictures

2011-11-25T21:33:00.005-06:00

Another picture of our table
Hanging out in the Kitchen
Andrew, Asia, Agnes,and Jess
Cutting the Turkey
Graham and his concoction
Great conversations!
More Fun!
Isaiah trying to play Frisbee in the house
Duane and the Girls and Isaiah on the move
Ben and Graham who is working hard on homework
Isaiah found him some girls who thought he was cute!
It takes two utensils to dig into mom's pumpkin pie
Ohhhhhhhhh! this is so gooooooood!!
Cool whip and all!

Thanksgiving Day!!!

2011-11-25T21:02:00.009-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! Our house was full and bustling. We had Hannah, Jess, and Karen from the UK, Primael and Agnes from France, and Asia from Florida. There was lots of laughter, talk and fun! We missed our families and in honor of them we had invited those who were a long way off from their families as well. We can add this to one of the best Thanksgivings we have had.The Turkey Rolls
Dark Chocolate Machinno Pie -- It was the first to go!
Memphis Grilled Turkey - Healthy turned into a little unhealthy when I draped the Bacon over it at Graham's request
Looks like Allenni got hold of the camera!
Roasted Asparagus, Polenta Corn casserole and gravy
Eli Presenting the turkey
Hannah and Andrew talking
Graham is in Turkey heaven!
Our beautiful Thanksgiving table
Andrew made the Turkey at School and our pumpkin was left over from Halloween
Each place setting had a little turkey we made atop a box filled with a surprise and bible verse about thanks
Agnes, Karen and Hannah
Nathaniel and Graham
Andrew
Eli
Grahams goal was to take the Turkey leg, wrap it in bacon, dip it in mashed potatoes and smother it in gravy and eat it!
Primael and Agnes from France were married this summer and came straight to the States. We all cheered their marriage!
Isaiah had new friends, he made himself at home between Jess from UK and Asia from Florida
I looked over and saw Edith laying back on the counters and moaning, " I ate too much!" I had to take her picture but not before she smiled!
EVerybody got in on Just Dance on the Wii
Agnes and Asia

Edith's Birthday October7,2011

2011-11-22T22:34:00.002-06:00

Our new daughter, Edith came to us in September and we celebrated her birthday on October 7th.

She woke up to a BIG balloon on the kitchen table and a present!
Fashion boots

Apple Festival at Cottonwood Creek Charter School SEPT. 2011

2011-11-22T22:26:00.004-06:00

The kids' school had an apple festival as there are orchards everywhere and the best apples I have ever tasted. here they had a press and the juice was yummy
Andrew trying his juice
Making apple pies with Andrew

Painting apple art with Eli
Eli and his class sang a Johnny Appleseed song. he was so proud
Good Job Eli!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T21:37:00.003-06:00

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving around here. It finally turned cold over the last few days. We are having some international students over from the School of Ministry. We will be hosting 3 from UK, 2 from France and one from Florida! I started cooking today and here is our menu: Memphis Grilled Turkey, Pineapple Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Polenta Corn Casserole, Roasted Carrots and Asparagus, Seven Layer Salad, Cranberry Relish, Beets, Jalopeno Bacon Stuffing, Melissa's Famous Green Beans,Deviled Eggs, Rolls, Personal Pumpkin Pies, Dark Chocolate Machinno Pie, & Red Velvet Cheesecake. Yum!!

Making refrigerator rolls
Eli and Allenni making personal Pumpkin Pies
Miss Allenni loves to cook
Eli is just as good in the kitchen
Tada! Wonderful pumpkin pies!
We had all these little pumpkins that someone had given us and we used some for decoration and I had this thought to make pies with them. We shelled them out and filled them and put the crust on top and voila! they turned out great and were a hit!
The red velvet cheesecake turned out great as well.
7 layer salad, CA version. I added local olives on top

We decided to make Turkeys for everybody's table settings. It was fun. I had seen these at a the kids school and had figured out how to make them.
They are really cute!
Eli and his creation
Jillian getting ready to create her Turkey
Eli found some fake fish bait and thought they made good eyes
Allenni and her turkey
Yeah! they are done!
Eli helping me make cheesecake
Eli, cutting up pumpkins for the personal pumpkin pies and Isaiah scooping out the goo

Shopping with the Girls

2011-11-22T20:48:00.006-06:00

Jillian and Allenni at Olive Garden on our girls night out!
Edith ate so much spaghetti and drank so much coke she was miserable but Happy!!!
ME and MY GIRLS!!!!

If anybody knows me, they know that I do not really like to go shopping. I like to have a list and get in and out of there unless it is an art store. :) I do most of my shopping online. But I decided to suck it up and take the girls shopping. They were delighted! We invited Jillian and off we went. The boys tried to get us to take them but we were firm in an all girl trip. Our plan? To go to the grocery store, mall, Michaels, Shopko and Target. We made it to all of them but Shopko. I did pick up a few christmas gifts and had to be very sneaky on some of them. It wasn't hard since Allenni took an hour in Claire's!!! I went and sat in those wooden seats in the mall with all the little old men and patiently waited. It seems like every christmas gets harder and harder to find these kids something! Of course they give me their lists of BIG price items but that ain't gonna happen!! We all had fun! After a loooonngggg day of shopping I decided to take them to eat at Olive Garden instead of going to a movie because nothing good was showing. We had lively conversation and our waitress seemed to totally enjoy the laughter as well as I did! Edith, Allenni, Jillian, and me! We got to the mall!
We have got to get one of these hats! They are the thing!

It was almost dark by the time we left! 4 hours in the Mall! I think it is a record for me!!!!

A Summer Trip to Lake Siskiyou

2011-11-17T23:05:00.004-06:00

So one Saturday, we decided to go the the Bethel Family Day at Lake Siskiyou. We had no idea where we were going and we did not know anybody. By the time we decided to just stop and have our picnic, Duane and I were pretty irritated with each other. It was not the best outing we had but in the end we it ended up ok. Eli, Allenni, And WA roasting jumbo marshmallows
Eli had the perfect marshmallow
Allenni got it right too
Whiskeytown Lake with Shasta Mtn. in the background. This was in July.
A Cedar
Eli was catching catfish that were about 3/4 inches long. They were little

Nathaniel
Graham- notice the broken arm
See those two boys standing on the bridge? That is Graham and WA. Mom was not happy Graham was jumping with a broken arm
They jumped!
Blue flower

BLACKBERRIES

2011-11-17T14:11:00.004-06:00

Blackberries are everywhere around here. We picked a bunch and I put some in the freezer, Made a blackberry cake, which got me amarriage proposal by a neighbor and blackberry pie. Blackberry Relish over grilled Salmon
Yumm!! Blackberry Pie
The ingredients, Fresh blackberries, picked by me, Duane, Allenni and Eli
The Berries
The unripened berries
You have to battle the Large Garden spiders to get to the blackberries. Andrew handled this job. he took a long stick and flipped them into the lake and the bluegill had a great feast.
One night we flipped about 50

MORE SUMMER FUN!

2011-11-17T14:03:00.004-06:00

One of the rattlesnakes we killed. We skinned this one and cooked it. It was pretty good. though not much meat.
The rattler
The land around our neighborhood
Isaiah and Nathaniel fishing
Graham fishing
Eli got another big one!
Then a little One!!
Andrew got a huge one!
Allenni check out a cookbook from the library and made us some yummy snacks!

SUMMER FUN!

2011-11-17T13:45:00.003-06:00

Otters!
W.A. (White Andrew) who hangs out at our house. Big Bass
Eli loves catching crawfish
Eli loves his fish
Isaiah caught himself a good size fish
Daddy did too!
nathaniel is pretty proud
I nicknamed these kids- the Sugar Creek Gang
Eli and Graham took Isaiah out for a ride. This inflatable boat didn't last long!
Allennni is proud of her fish and can fish with the best of them

OUR HOUSE

2011-11-17T13:15:00.005-06:00

Our house: the ADDRESS? YAWL PLACE -- people around here think it is appropriate!
The back Deck! Lots of living out here!
The balcony off of the Master and a bedroom upstairs
My flowers that I so enjoyed this summer and the water trampoline that Graham broke is arm on
The living room
The kitchen
The Master jacuzzi. the view is awesome though the jets do not work
the Master
the view from the balcony and deck

You cant see them well, but the hummingbirds love our feeders. There are two here. I am loving the humming birds. I had no idea they chirped. We have spotted about 4 species.

We moved here to CA back in June and after looking to find a rental house for 6 months, we found one to rent in a gated neighborhood called Lake California. The house itself is wonderful and though we had our concerns that it might be too small for our large group, it was really the largest house we could find in the area. Though that has proved to be true, we have all been learning to accommodate each other and learning how to get along plus learning to live with less. It can get pretty crazy sometimes as we are living in 1/3 of the space we had before.

Thankfully there are 80% sunny days here and they stayed outside most of the summer. It seemed though there were always more kids at our house hanging out than I actually had. Almost daily there were at least 12-15 kids around. The kids had a great summer hanging out at the neighborhood pool and swimming, fishing and playing in the lake. It was a joy to see them enjoying life so much. I don't think Eli wore a shirt all summer! He pretty much wore swimming trunks. Allenni pretty much wore her bathing suit. When I asked them once, 'Why do you two always just wear your bathing suits?" They replied, "Because we have to be ready to swim anytime we want!"

Good enough reason for me!

Being directly on the water has been restful for Duane and I. Our bedroom has lots of windows and an awesome view of the lake and Mt. Lassen.

Hummingbirds, otters, Egrets and even the fish hang out around our house. It is pretty cool.

Meet EDITH, our New Daughter!

2011-11-17T12:56:00.003-06:00

We all greeted Edith at the Airport in Chico
Allenni is so happy! Can you tell?
I think Eli loves the camera
My friend Hedda and I finally got to see each other in The STATES, she flew her out her.

Well, in September, of this year, God surprised us with a daughter! This was the fastest childbearing activity in our marriage!!! We found out, and she was with us in 3 days! We are so blessed to have Edith in our home. She is 17 and came to us via NC from Uganda! Of course Allenni was delighted that another girl was here and Andrew really likes that she is from Uganda. We think she is a perfect fit for this family. Sometimes we don't understand the pathways to things but must embrace them with not our strength but God's. Learning how to do that can be challenging at times. God is always faithful to answer those cries for help when we need it.

THE BEGINNING OF A BOOK

2011-11-17T12:33:00.003-06:00

Well, this week I determined that I would sit down for an hour a two a day and begin to write a book that has been brewing in my heart for many years but one that I didn't have all the info to write on. I have felt urgently that it is time to pull out the computer and start typing.

This book is a product of my search of how to draw on the power of God and the Kingdom of Heaven for our situations of helping the adopted child heal. And more importantly of helping the adoptive parent heal. Whether we want to believe it or not, our child's issues of abandonment and rejection bring up those issues in our own lives. For too long we have tried to parent these kids in our own understanding and strength. It has pretty much been a trial and error thing. I've watched as families fell apart and as mine almost fell apart trying to do what was right and true. I've watched stress and anger infiltrate where love and joy should have been. I knew in my heart we were missing something. I think I have found some of those answers and I am asking God to continually reveal more to me. My heart is that REAL joy, peace and love will truly engulf these kids who have experienced so much hurt.

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:

"We knew behavior modifications were just a bandaid on a problem that was actually a deep soul issue. Something was always missing. The deep wound needed to be healed. The question was, “How can such a deep wound be healed?” It was much easier said than done. Could it actually be done? You and I both know that you usually don’t have a cooperative child and you as the parent become exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. I learned that in reality love was not enough! Behavior modifications were not enough! Consequences were not enough! Hope can wane thin. Anger can set in. Exasperation can attack. Fear can rise. Energy gets depleted. Unforgiveness sets in. And that is just what you the parent is experiencing! This is not what we as parents signed up for. We signed up to love. We signed up to give a child a family. We didn’t know that pain would come and invade our lives this deeply. Our hearts ache because we see the potential in our children we call our own but they can’t see past their past. My hope is that this book will give parents HOPE."

So, If you think about me, just pray that what needs to be in here will flow easily so the book can be completed quickly.

A NEW SEASON

2011-11-17T11:07:00.002-06:00

I have decided to open up a new season in my life. I am going to start making room for the things I need to do to so I wont get burned out. I am going to start doing what I like to do. Part of what I miss is blogging. I do enjoy writing and sharing stories with others. With a family like ours we are not ordinary and something is always going on. I also like it because it creates a history for my kids to remember family. I want to get back to blogging at least a few times a week. Facebook has seemed the way lately for me to post pictures as life as been one big whirlwind for us these last 6 months. I feel I can finally come up and breathe for a moment. Moving to CA has been a wonderful thing for us though a difficult one.

I decided this week to start on a book that has been stirring in my heart. It will be a spiritual guide book to Therapeutic Parenting. I got the introduction written and a table of contents sort of laid out. So there are my first steps. To start on something that refreshes me, so I can keep on burning.

I am so behind!

2011-09-24T23:15:00.003-05:00

Once again, I cannot beleive it has been since July that I have blogged. My how life flies and I want to share it all with you. I hope you all have not given up on me. One of my goals is to get back to blogging almost every day.

A lot has happened since July.

One o our daughters has eloped (with our help ) and went ahead and gotten married. We love Johnny and I will post pics of them. She moved back to AL and now lives in our guest house with her husband and helps with our vacation rental there.

We have greatly missed her.

We are finally getting settled in here in our new home and are loving living in a house on the water. The kids are loving being able to fish all the time and swim. We are still having great warm weather.

We have killed 3 rattle snakes here, two by our front door and one by our deck. A little scary as Eli about stepped on two of them.

So is life in Cali.

Graham broke his arm AGAIN! by jumping on a water trampoline and then proceeded a couple of weeks later to jump off a bridge in Whiskey Town Lake with the water proof cast he talked the doctor into giving him!!! Talk about getting mama riled up!

Just a couple of weeks ago, we got a new daughter! This was a complete surprise to us from God. She is 16 years old and is from Uganda. God brought her to us through a disruption.

We all are so delighted to have her as part of our family.

Well, I better head to bed, it is late

So Much Going on!!!

2011-07-21T00:57:00.005-05:00

A wedding to plan, birthdays to celebrate, boxes to unpack, schools to line up, boxes to unpack, furniture to buy, groceries to buy, beds to buy, paintings to get done and LOTS of other things to accomplish, a toddler to chase, dinner to fix and did I mention that there were boxes to unpack? All are priorities, which to do first????.

Some days, I just want to collapse but there is more to do! I've not been getting to bed until 1-3am sometimes. All my computer and quiet work gets done so much faster when all the little ones are sleeping soundly in bed.

I know it will all get done sooner or later.

Magy moved back to AL and will be helping us with our vacation rental. She is also eloping next week and then we are having the church wedding and reception on Dec. 31,2011. I never expected it to be this hard to find a place to rent for the reception. We are sort of set on having the wedding then. Magy is marrying a guy from Mexican heritage and so we thought since the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, they could start their lives together in 2012 with a New Year's Eve wedding and Party!

On another note, we are enjoying California weather. We are being told that this is unusual weather. It drops down in the 50-60's at night and is cool during the day and of course there is no humidity. It ususally is around 115 this time of the year.

We all went to Mt. Lassen this weekend and got chilled a little. The temp up there was 20 degrees lower and the kids got to play in the snow. Of course we were improperly dressed. The beauty was incredible and we got to see and smell the sulfur pits. Deer just walked right past us. The kids loved the Mountain jays with their tuffs of hair and those birds knew immediately that where there are kids, there are crumbs.

We all are loving Bethel Church, which is the main reason we came up here. Duane and I haven't made any friends yet but have been assigned to a dinner group to meet some people. Graham has been going to this teen day camp there and seems to enjoy it. Ben and Nathaniel haven't gotten involved with the young people yet but will soon.

As far as excitement goes, we have made a stir in the neighborhood. We rent a house in a gated neighborhood and as it turns out there are many rules and regulations. Some are evidently unwritten and enforced. To spare all the details, I was at first going to let it go after our kids were mistreated by someone for having a lemonade/ice cream /bake stand but then we got a letter from the POA from a complaint filed and I had to respond to defend them. Never before have we had to deal with some prejudice. (It wasn't just about the lemonade stand.) But my kids were profiled and treated unkindly. Hopefully we will get it all settled, we think the lady needs a big bowl of ice cream to make her feel better.

ALL of our neighbors are great and are springing to our defense. Most everyone we meet are great and brag on how polite and nice our kids are.

So we are hoping that this will all blow over.

Well, I have written enough for now and must try to get some sleep. The days are long here. Daylight starts at 5am and goes til 9:30pm.

We rescued a canadian goose

2011-07-15T00:52:00.004-05:00

Well, the pictures are as dramatic as the story but we rescued a canadian goose. Living on the lake is awesome as all kinds of wildlife are here and I just realized a few days ago that if we walk across the street, the Sacramento River is there. I wish I give a panaoramic view of where we live. we are blessed to get to enjoy this for a while.

Anyway, Duane and I were out taking a walk at dusk and heard and saw a flock of wild geese fly over. Just a minute later, 1 goose flew by and I made the comment, Well, he's lagging behind and look how low he is. Well, then we heard this crash. Duane had to go into the house, but I just knew that goose had crashed. I went walking down the street and it was hard to see him but there he was, laying on the ground. If you have never heard a goose wail in pain, it is sad to hear. Anyway, I couldn't let him sit there and get eaten by the coyotes we probably have, so I went and got one of our dog crates and a boat oar. By the time Duane got back out, I was coaxing/pushing that goose into the crate. Poor thing looked liked he had a serious wing break. He was totally confused. Duane decided he'd better wear gloves picking up the crate and sure enough it was a good idea because the goose got to hissing and snapping. A neighbor called the sherriff who put us in touch with the wildlife rescue and so rather late a t night Duane and Graham hauled the thing over to meet the lady. We think it was a young one because it wasn't very large. I hope it ended up ok.

Bye Magy!!!!

2011-07-15T00:39:00.004-05:00

Magy has been missing her fiance plus the opportunity arose for her to have a job helping with our vacation rental house so we all decided it would be a good idea for her to move back to AL. We know Johnny was happy with that decision. ( He was so happy when he picked her up at the airport, he shoved flowers in her face!!! :-) We are all going to miss her for sure. We moved to a little historic western town called Cottonwood. Magy loves Mexican food and so we decided to try this little authentic looking mexican diner on the night before she left. As it turns out the food wasn't too bad.I am so proud of the woman she has become and is becoming,
Duane, Graham and Me
Crazy pic!
E and Allenni love their big sister!!!!!!!
I don't think Anyone was ready for this pic
Allenni keeps saying, i'll be the only girl. hey what about me?, I ask. You're momma. she says.

The moving truck

2011-07-15T00:16:00.004-05:00

I don't think this kitchen is as big as the one I left. Where is the kitchen? It took over 4 days to get all these unpacked and put away. Some had to go into storage.
I can see the counters!!!!!!

WE were so excited that the moving truck showed up. the kids couldnt wait to get some of their stuff. Isiah was so patient and waited for his new spiderman bike to come off the truck. It never came off. Bless his little heart. As soon as Duane gets paid, its off to get him one. The truck was only half full but we still did not get it all in the house. We had to rent a storage place. As I am unpacking, I am wondering, why did I bring this? and this?

We have been in CA for over month now!

2011-07-14T01:12:00.005-05:00

If you walk down the street this is the view
The water trampoline - graham and Jillian a neighbor
isaiah loving the watermelon
Eli loving the watermenlon - july 4th
Maggie and graham
Allenni with her face painted by a neighbor

My how time flies! I cannot believe we have been in CA for over a month. What a whirlwind it has been! We found a house after 2 weeks of being here. A little small for us but feasible. After being moved in a week, the landlord asked us to move and if we didn't our rent would go up $600 month! ugh! In the end after we found another house that was actually bigger and closer to Bethel church, he said we couldn't leave. We couldn't afford breaking the lease, so we stayed where we were. Our house is right on the lake and the wildlife, sunrises and sunsets and views are incredible. We are learning to live "closer" together. We finally got our boxes, hardly any furniture( and that is another whole story) and I wonder why I even brought half of this stuff.

We had to rent a storage unit to hold the stuff we don't need immediately. Going from a 8000 sq. ft. to a 2500sq. foot house is quite a transition. We are missing quite a few things and have lots of broken, crushed boxes and things. We finally got our vehicles after an ordeal so that helped out tremendously.

Our puppies were the easiest thing to get here and they are missing their space as well but they like the weather and the nice soft grass. Poor little Millie, our old Dachshund, jumped into the lake the other day after Duane took out out the inflatable boat and sort of sunk into it because it wasn't blown up enough. Duane had to rescue her! she thought her daddy was in trouble! Millie does not like water and always would stay a way from our pool. It was sort of sweet. The kids are loving fishing off our deck.

Allenni is quite the little fisher woman. We didnt have poles yet since they were in our furniture, so duane cut some poles and I got some line and hooks at walmart and made the kids some poles. you wouldn't believe how many they have caught! Now that the real poles are here, Bass have been the fish to catch.

Duane started his orientation for work last week and we have missed him.

Bethel Church has been refreshing for us though Sundays are tiring. We live about 19 miles from Church. We haven't really made new friends to hang out with but we have great neighbors.

It is a great gated community but we have POA police- who ride around to see if you are breaking any community laws. That has been interesting. Graham has proudly had his picture taken by the POA for jumping into the lake off of a small bridge with a group of boys. Allenni, Andrew, Eli and Graham have been screamed at for having cookie, lemonade/ice cream stands by a lady who must not like kids or different skin colors. :-) (Yes, that is our first experience with that surprisingly) (CA or the Community has no laws against kids selling little things. I checked)

Our street has lots of kids and the community pool has given Ben and Nathaniel lots of people to talk to.

Maggie moved back to AL this week. She is going to be our house keeper for our house we set up as a vacation rental. She and Johnny have set a wedding date for Dec. 31. 2011.

There is so much more going on but it would take a long time to write it all.

Check out our vacation rental "Open Heaven" for your next vacation or youth retreat.

the link is http://www.vrbo.com/358591

Moving Day has arrived!!!!

2011-06-02T02:00:00.003-05:00

I think we had close to 300 boxes! But not too much furniture

Moving Day came and they were early! We were still packing while they were loaded. I do not recommend this moving company to anybody! We had a lot of hassle and many things in the end were missing and heavily broken. Email me if you need to know the company.

On the other side, the moving guys themselves were great. As you can tell from these pics, Our kids made friends pretty easily. These guys were awesome! They were all from the NJ area. Two had been raised in the foster system and one was from Africa.
I do forget all of their names at the moment- with Nathaniel
ELi, Isaiah and Nathaniel

Miss Magy being cool
Nathaniel thinks he is really cool
Mom has strong guys to move her furniture!
He is the boss!
Isaiah offered the guys one of cookies that nana had given him
It really touched this guy I think.

Moving to CA in 8 days!!!!

2011-05-29T21:06:00.003-05:00

Well, the movers come on June 2nd and between packing, getting the new construction finished up, having a daughter move out and another one get engaged, setting up our house for a vacation rental, finishing up a commissioned painting, and celebrating a birthday or two every month since Feb. , I have been busy!

I really had good intentions of keeping the blog more current and I apologize to those of you who follow. I will have to move some pictures from facebook over here to update.

We are really excited about our move and are SO GLAD that we are flying now instead of driving. I found a great flight that leaves Nashville and arrives in Sacramento six hours later. no changing planes! That will help tremendously in getting this crew there. If they had an app that would let me blog through my phone, I might get more on here. maybe they do and I haven't discovered it yet.

We have 6 days before we leave town and no house to live in, in CA! we have looked and looked but there is none BIG enough where we would like to be living! Through it all, we are trusting that God has it all worked out. We do have a place for 10 days to stay in while we house hunt and the kids can swim and enjoy themselves.

So in case I don't post for another few weeks, I'll see you in CA!!

If You are in the Area

2011-05-17T14:29:00.000-05:00

How'd you spend your tax day?

2011-04-15T11:54:00.001-05:00

We spent ours at Edisto State Park, shelling, Bike riding and picnicking.

Allenni loves the camera
Well, Since we could not get all the bikes in the van, Eli and I rode in the van with our bikes so we could get ice and decided to meet the others at the park. uh oh, It was a longer way than we had thought so where as it only took Eli and I about 10 minutes, the others drove about 30 minutes! They were tired! and complaining!
Maggie and Ben found a chair to rest in
Graham found Isaiah's trailer to rest in which made Isaiah furious
A crab we found on the beach
Shell seekers
Nathaniel at Jeremy's Inlet. We walked 2 miles to get there. We had to get there when the tide was out, cross over, look for shells for a while and leave before the tide came back in or we would be stuck.
The boys found some clay flats and decided to make clay balls

Eli likes the mud clay he found
Maggie didnt want to walk in the Inlet to get back over to the beach so she piggy backed on Seora!
Isaiah got the idea from Maggie and begged Seora to carry him! Hmmmm! maybe I should have tried! Isaiah fell asleep on her back.
Yeah!! we made it back with some great shells and had hot dogs for lunch!

Eli took the bag of watermelon and finished it off
Duane and I
You can't see it well, but there is a cool bird on the clam shells

More beach

2011-04-11T11:40:00.002-05:00

I went and bought floaties for Isiah since it has been a year he has swam. he got excited about them and then wouldn't use them. Go figure.
We had a marshmallow roast at the grill. I found these mega marshmallows at the Piggly Wiggly.

Graham tried to stuff one whole one in his mouth. He looks like he is foaming at the mouth
Duane looks funky cheesy!

More vacation pics aprill 2011

2011-04-10T11:08:00.000-05:00

With a three story condo, the kids decided to play hide and seek.

Isaiah is counting. Mama helped him of course go past 10
Graham behind the chair
Uh Graham , I think your legs are too long.
Pillows covered him up a little. think anyone will notice?

He was found out by his curly blond hair sticking out from the chair.
I got a head massage from Seora!
I could get used to this!
Maggie and Allenni decide to give me a makeover
while Andrew gave me a foot massage.
Now I look beautiful!
Isaiah got in on the action
So did Maggie
Maggie and Isaiah

Isaiah got Seora's dress and put two cans of hair cream inside. That's my boy!

Spring Break at Edisto Beach, SC

2011-04-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

On our way to the Beach we stopped at Nana Jan's and Papaw Bud's to visit. There wasn't much room to walk with all of us in the living room.

Isaiah fell asleep on my head while we were traveling.

We usually go to Destin for a trip to the Beach. But last year we decided to do something different and went to Edisto Island, SC. We loved it so much we decided to come again. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and used to go to the beaches of NC and SC with my family. It makes me miss my grandma, who loved the beach. We have the beach practically to ourselves, it is so relaxing. Pelicans fly overhead continuously and shells abound. It is well worth the 9 hour drive. There are no shopping malls, no strips or many restaurants. The kids love the bike trails and the many pools and beaches.

Isaiah loved his little trailer to ride in
The resort has a putt putt that Nathaniel and Andrew have practically lived at
The Low country shrimp boil
Isaiah playing putt putt

Nathaniel and Allenni waiting for some schriiimppp!!!
Yum!
After the shrimp boil, there was Karoke! Nobody but us wanted to do it! (we were the youngest at the boil!
The activities director was from China and loved Karoke as well.
here comes the shrimp
Graham
Mama got a hold of the mike and got into her song of Wind Beneath My Wings.
Pretending to be earth benders and water benders

Graham gets inducted to the Honor Society

2011-04-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

We were all surprised, even Graham, when we got the notice that Graham was being inducted into the Jr. Honor Society. We are proud of him that he is doing well at school and that the staff chose him to be inducted into the society. Some pics are not clear because I forgot my camera and had my phone.

Graham getting pinned

Signing his name in the registry book
He was the first one called

Graham and mom and dad
Nana and Papa
Three generations of Honor Society
He's still a goofy 14 year old with donuts in his mouth!

Painting the fence

2011-04-02T10:36:00.000-05:00

We've been painting the house and fixing up things around it and the kids helped me paint the outside fences! we had fun and they did a great job!

Ben Got his First Job

2011-03-27T13:58:00.000-05:00

Benjamin got his first job! We were so excited that we brought out the sparkling grape juice(which I found in the cabinet while I was cleaning out!) God always provides! He is so proud and I am so proud of him! His life is an amazing accomplishment of God. He got hired as a cashier at Foodland Grocery Store. Did I say I was proud of him?
Ben has been a great helper for me and since he got his license, has been wonderful to take a load off of me and run some of my errands for me. he has also been a great help to run the other older kids around to get job applications in.
Spring is here and we are all loving being outside more. Allenni and Eli are losing teeth like crazy and the tooth fairy keeps forgetting to come! I don't know what is up with her!

Packing, Packing!!!

2011-03-27T13:53:00.001-05:00

All the boxes in the garage

I have been like a mad woman on the packing. Thinning out has been good but tedious! There comes a point when you just want to throw everything in the trash or give away but then there might be that important thing you need to organize. We definitely have to thin out because the houses in CA are less than half the sizes here. But it is coming along and I pray that I will get it done in time. There are already 100 boxes! I bought our plane tickets already and because I was going to save $100 per ticket, we moved our move out date up 4 days. So now we fly out on June 6th.

Our hearts are ready for this move and we are excited about what God has in store for us.

The Construction Progress

2011-03-27T11:43:00.008-05:00

I'm wondering how we are going to change the light bulbs. "Hey, Ben! Will you pull out the scaffolding out of the closet and balance the ladder so we can change the bulbs?"
The stairs go in

We came back home in Feb. from CA to find the living room ceiling had been knocked out!
Since putting in new kitchen was knocked out of our budget, we decided to update the one we had. Counter tops are coming.

Beautiful! looks like granite but is lamanite
The color is going on the walls!
Maggie and Seora's room to be. Cinnamon Spice and Spring Green
My art studio/office - Jamacian Sea and Mystical Sea
BOY'S BIG BEDROOM - Arucana Teal and Sea Glass
The Media Den - Delicious Red
The Living Room - Melissa's Custom Color- Coral Sunset (I love this color) As the sun changes through the day, it changes color so many times just like a sunset
The cabinets are about to get painted.
Isaiah finds a hammer and decides to build - unfortunately he thought the hammer was a tool to bang the front door and front porch and walls in the new garage. We took the hammer away.

Boudreaux decided that the chair on the front porch was comfortable enough
My painted cabinets and walls!! Black and Eastern Amber - now the tile backsplash has to go up!

I cannot believe it is March already! My how time flies! Our lives have seemed to be a whirlwind lately. There has been lots of activity around here in this house! Lots of sawing, hammering, painting and decisions having to be made about the house to get it finished up. This house is going to be great once it is finished in a few weeks. I am loving it! I will fully enjoy it for the two months we have to live it in before our move to CA. We have found a house we think will be big enough for us in CA but at this time can't purchase it so we are waiting on God to show us what to do. He has been faithful up to this point to pave the path for us, so we are trusting him to take care of this for us as well.

Eli's 9th Birthday - March 6-14

2011-03-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

In late Feb., Early March, we celebrate 3 birthdays in 10 days!

We celebrated Eli's 9th Birthday with a family Dinner but then had a party for him on the 14th. Even though it rained a lot, several did come and they had a great time. Since we couldn't roast weiners and marshmallows outside in the firepit, Duane had already grilled the weiners and we roasted the marshmallows in the fireplace. They then watched the Scooby Doo- Campfire movie. It was actually the easiest party I have ever had.

Sodas and ice cream cake are special for birthdays
Eli loves Legos
Party Stuff ready to go!
Allenni and Eli roasting marshmallows in the fireplace

Getting cards and presents
Graham always in movement

Eli and his friend Matt
The movie on the big screen ceiling

Seora's 22nd Bday!

2011-03-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

Seora loves her dog Boo so I had ordered flowers that looked like Boo
Family birthday Dinner

You Never Know What Isaiah is Going to Do- March 2-5

2011-03-26T15:19:00.003-05:00

The Boxer

He got hold of Ben's electric razor and produced a "crop circle" on his head, So Duane had to shave his hold head. I was trying to grow a little Afro. Oh well!

They all were trying to look the meanest. Wrestlers Maybe?
Isaiah found Allenni's dress and wanted to twirl in it and be a "Princess"

Isaiah learning his Groove

Maggie's 21st Bday!

2011-03-26T14:30:00.001-05:00

Maggie's Birthday Dinner
Eli and Allenni
Isaiah making funny faces
Ben, Seora and Graham
I had ordered a flower bouquet cake and she loved it- non edible
Yum Ice cream cake for dessert

Johnny looks like he is ready to have cake
Miss Maggie
Maggie borrowed my hat to wear on her birthday

We celebrated Maggie's Birthday on March 23. I cannot believe my girl is 21! She spent the day shopping and we had a family birthday party.

A Fun Time with Friends

2011-03-26T14:14:00.001-05:00

It has been so long since Duane and I have really entertained so we decided to have the group who went to Redding, CA with us in September to come over and have dinner. We had a blast playing Apples to Apples.

Allenni, Isaiah and Andrew's Dedication Feb. 13

2011-03-26T11:22:00.000-05:00

Mukisa Moses Isaiah Carter

Mukisa Andrew Josiah Carter

Mbabazi Allenni Kara-Beth Carter

All were dedicated at Gracehouse on February 13, 2011

Our pastors, Eddie and Mikki and the elders

Jim and Anne Bevis, our dear Spritual Mother and Father in our church

We are all being prayed over

Our wonderful gifts that God gave us
Afterwards we went on a picnic down by the River and overhead, all these seagulls were just so beautiful. At one point they all resembled angels' wings
Picnic by the River

Our Trip to CA, Early Feb.

2011-03-26T11:21:00.004-05:00

Isaiah loved watching the planes
In Sacramento Airport! Notice all the luggage stacked up behind us! It was the columns in the airport! It was breathtaking in a startling kind of way when you first walk in. I thought it was very creative.
We had the drawing for the watercolor "Defender Among Them" while in CA. Isaiah was drawing names
Ben was so excited to attend Bethel!
We were excited to find that Georgi Banoff was speaking. He is a Bulgarian and ministers to the forgotten gypsies of Bulgaria. Ben Got to meet him and it was a highlight of his week.
Duane signing the agreement to join Lassen Medical Group!!!!
We drove up to Mt. Lassen and this was a point to stop at
Benjamin
Ben and Isaiah
Ben is a great Big brother
Getting snow to make some snowballs. I think mommy got those thrown at her!
My man and me
When we got to the Lassen Park, there were people sledding and having a good time. The guys are standing on 0ver 7 ft snow. See the handicap sign? Just 45 minutes back at where we were staying it was 70 degrees. up here it was a little cooler.

Duane and I went to CA in February along with Ben and Isaiah to interview at a medical practice and to look at houses. They liked Duane enough to offer him a job and we liked them enough to accept. The area we will be living in is just gorgeous! Mountains everywhere. It really is unlike anywhere we have ever lived.

At this time we have decided to put our house here in AL up on vrbo.com as a vacation rental. Our area is known for lots of attractions, the TN River, Lakes, Festivals, and tournaments. So we think we will have no problem renting it. So... if you are coming this way and need a place to stay...

Isaiah has his Surgery

2011-03-26T10:07:00.001-05:00

Isaiah had his surgery in January on his mouth where he has 6 extractions and 4 stainless steel crowns put in and cavities filled on what was left. He has turned into a DIFFERENT KID!!! He has come alive! He was always a happy kid but you could tell that his teeth gave him a lot of pain. He started talking nonstop and has so much energy! It is amazing. What a wonder this kid is.

Isaiah after the surgery
Before surgery, Daddy laid down in Isaiah's bed and he thought daddy was silly
Always my happy boy even at 5am

I am sleepy!