Easter with my Peeps!

Well, here I post because another holiday has come around. My life just gets busier and busier. I remember blogging weekly, and now I'm lucky to get three in a year.

Life is constantly changing, and the kids are growing like weeds. I'm that mom, and I'm really happy about it. Life is teaching me so much these days. I'm changing. The older I get the more I appreciate little things I used to ignore in my twenties. I feel as if I've had a long stretch of peace in my life. It feels good. Sean and I are enjoying raising our kids and learning with each other every day.

My family came up for Easter and we went to Aunt Kathie and Uncle Rudy's house in Sacramento. This has become a tradition. My Grandma even came and spent a few days with us. It was nice. So thankful for my family!

Blog soup anyone?

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Mark and Erin at this awesome cabin in Lake Tahoe. It was so fun and Mark and Erin made the most amazing meal. It is a blessing to have friends that are like family to us!

I still think about Haiti on a weekly basis and over Christmas we all pitched in and baked a bunch of desserts to sell in front of the grocery store. My family was so amazing with all the help they gave me. We were a great team and all in all we raised almost $1,000 with the bake sale, yard sale, donations and T-shirt sales. I was thrilled to see my kids serving and excited about it. Thanks to our great friends the O'Donnells who came down to San Dimas to help us. Love the friends God gave us!

Here's to the months of November and December 2011!

We made a lot of fun memories.

Things I remember...

• Thanksgiving with some great friends in Lake Tahoe
• Great conversation and catching up
• Amazing food
• Freezing our butts off on the beach in Tahoe
• Finishing my second semester back in college!
• Time with my Dad in Montana
• My Dad moved back to home!!!
• Christmas at Mom's house
• Baking with Mom and great chats too
• Family...lots and lots of fun!
• Shocking Family Game Night...ouch!
• Sean and I winning Trivial Pursuit! Booyah!
• Raised almost $1,000 dollars for Haiti
• Watched my kids and family serve others with JOY!
• Hanging with my brother Jordan and lovin' it
• Jordan turned Tim the Tool Man
• Cirque De Sole for Sean's birthday
• Celebrating my amazing husband and his birthday
• Gorgeous weather
• Missing Grandpa Schaefer
• Lindsay's smile ;)
• Ry got diamonds
• Celebrating Jesus!
• Kids having a blast together jumping on the trampoline
• Bay playing basketball all day everyday
• Brandy and her Pokemon
• Missing Gen and her family
• Seeing old friends
• Puppies!!!
• Movie night at Katie and Justin's new apartment

LOVE, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS!

Thank you Lord for another great year!

Baseball Season Begins!

Here starts the madness!

Bailey is a spitting image of his father and I love that.

He has the passion for what he loves and he LOVES basketball!

I have enjoyed so much watching the two of them work together.

These are the days. It makes me happy.

The other day, Bailey was getting ready for school and I went into his room and he had one shoe on and was just sitting on his bed in a daze with a smile on his face. I said, "Bay, what are you thinking about?" He smiled and said, "basketball". I really don't understand the male brain but if it makes him happy then I'm happy.

He is so cute and I love his personality.

I've been on a blogging hiatus lately but I need to start documenting these great memories of my kids. So here you go!

Um, it might be a little hard for him having Dad as his coach but I love it!

Can you feel the intensity?

Bailey is the point guard and he is actually very good. He has a lot of potential and I think this is going to be his sport.

I love my boys, they make life so much fun!

Lucien

Lucien was a sweet, quiet boy we all met while in Haiti last summer. He had a serious infection that was eating away at his leg and a big portion of his back. I had the opportunity to clean his wounds and change his bandages. I was scared because I didn't know if I could handle the grossness of it but if nursing was what I was going to do then this would be my test.

I did it, I couldn't believe how I didn't gag and enjoyed helping him. I was conscious of his pain and wanted to make him feel comfortable. Right there is where I had confirmation from the Lord that this would be my calling. Why did God give this to me so late in my life? I don't know, but there is a reason. I will be going back to Danita's soon and am excited to see how God will use what I am learning in school.

Lucien passed away last week from complications from Malaria and Typhoid Fever or really, they don't know. His wounds were almost completely healed. God wanted him home. He is in a better place but I can't help to feel a sense of urgency right now. They need more help there in Quanaminthe. They need our prayers for strength to deal with the loss of so many people and the strength to keep going.

Please pray with me for these people. Please pray for God to provide the funds for Danita's Children to build the Hospital they are in desperate need for. If you feel led to give, my good friend Mark Gonzales started a website called www.fortybyforty.org to raise 40,000 by the time he turns 40 in February! Every little bit helps!!!

Pray for Haiti

I've been thinking about how to blog all that touched me while I was in Haiti. The impact it had on me was incomparable to anything I've ever been through. It really changed me and my thinking.

Where do I begin? I don't know. I do know that I can't share everything and expect you all to get it. I remember hearing about how awesome my friend's trips were but I just really couldn't connect or feel what they were feeling because I wasn't there.

Now, I know what it feels like.

It was very emotional. Here are just a few of the emotions I felt. Anxiety, fear, sadness, shock, anger, selfishness, joy, love, empathy, sympathy, a call to action, and HOPE!

We went to Hope for Haiti Children's Center in Quanaminthe, Haiti. Danita's Children is the Organization. Danita Estrella is known as the "Mother of Quanaminthe". Wow, when I heard the governor declared her that I thought, what an amazing testimony of God's love shown through Danita and her staff. These people are amazing. They love the Haitians as their own and have given up comfortable lives in the United States to help these people. Amazing love.

Awe, is really the strongest emotion I'm still feeling. How can someone do that? I want to be like that. I want to go back so bad. I left a piece of my heart in Haiti and I want God to use me somehow in the future if that is what He has for me.

I will share these photos to show a little of what I experienced.

Thank you to all who supported me on this trip!

The people of Haiti are beautiful. The children were especially easy to love. You would catch their eye and smile at them and they would get so happy. It felt to me like they were surprised to even be noticed. It made me sad. It was really hard to leave.

I felt like I was holding a child almost constantly. The trip was hard but it felt so good to have something I could give them which was God's love.

I will never forget this boy. He had a flesh eating disease on his legs and back and he would take a motorcycle taxi to the orphanage clinic I think three times a week to have his dressings changed. I had the opportunity to change his bandages and I was so surprised it didn't gross me out at all. It was confirmation for me that I can hack the whole nursing gig. Besides that, he was such a gentle, sweet boy and I had a lot of concern for him. After we left, our friend Mark Gonzalez helped find the right medicine for his disease so now he will hopefully be completely healed. Before this, he would of probably died because they were treating him with the wrong medicine because of lack of testing.

This is princess Denise. She has hydrocephalus and this is her caretaker. These women are wonderful people who give 24 hour care to all the special needs orphans. It is a hard job, but these kids will steal your heart.

These are some of the adorable boys from the orphanage. I love them and miss them all so much!

Mark and Erin made the trip with us and it was a memory we will all never forget. This brought us even closer and I am so grateful for their friendship!

Me and E :)

This is Louis. He stole my heart. Well, I think I keep saying that about everybody, but it's true. He is deaf and half blind. Somehow we communicated perfectly the entire trip. I can't even begin to share the relationship we built during my time in Haiti but I just can't wait to see him again soon.

He is a special boy.

Sean and Samson showin' off as usual

This is Danita. She is on her way to Santiago, Dominican Republic here to arrange to pick out supplies for their new special needs facility. I seriously fell in love with her. I can say, I've never, ever met anyone in my life like her.

This is my little buddy Jacob. He ran up to us with a huge smile and a hug everyday we would walk into the orphanage. He lived right outside the gate. The first day we arrived he was buck naked and ran up to me screaming and laughing and just jumped in my arms. Sean said my facial expression was priceless.

Our awesome Crossroads team members with three of Danita's staff members, Brenda, Karris and Bill. Love them!

If anyone is interested in giving to this organization please visit:

www.fortybyforty.org or www.danitaschildren.org

We are so rich in comparison to the people of Haiti, please give if not with your money then with your constant prayers. God is doing some amazing things there!!!!

My baby is 1 1 already...WHAT???

This post is about a month behind but I needed to remember the great birthday celebration we had for Reagan. She turned 11 on September 21st. We decided this year we were going to celebrate birthdays as a family. After going to Haiti and seeing how little the kids had and how happy they were, it was hard not to feel like we have somewhat turned our children into spoiled brats. They aren't though, they had such great attitudes and were so grateful for our time as a family.

Reagan wanted to go on a shopping spree for her birthday, so she had almost $200 from us and our families to spend all on herself. We went to the mall and she got some clothes, jewelry, new shoes and also had two feathers put in her hair.

All in all, she said it was one of her favorite birthdays. See, you don't have to spend a lot of money for your kids to be happy. Quality time has been something I've learned is far more valuable than anything money can buy.

I love you Reagan! You have become such a gorgeous girl especially on the inside. You have a heart for others that is rare. I am so proud of you and all God is doing in your life. You are my little blessing from God!

What a man wants...besides that!

Do I really need to write words here?

If you know Sean then you know he is a sports FREAK!

Ever since I met him, he has been involved in some kind of sport. We even tried playing together on a city volleyball league which only led to a lot of marital stress.

I realized throughout our marriage that Sean needs some kind of recreational hobby or sport.

He recently started playing baseball and it has been so cute listening to him come home and talk about the game. He's having a blast. He needs this time. I forget the stress he carries being responsible for providing for our family and also the stress that comes along with being a pastor and helping people through very difficult and emotional issues. He's a great man and I just had to brag on him today!

Busy, busy, busy!

I have been so busy lately. I think about all the things in my head that are piling up and I just can't seem to get caught up on anything these days. Ever since we got home from Haiti it has been one thing after the other for us.

I'm in my second semester of school and I'm getting so excited at the thought of becoming a nurse and also to finish up my first degree that has been on hold since 2000. I will be done with my bachelors next semester! Wahoo!

The Lord has really blessed our family. It's been nice to have this time of peace. We have been through a lot of up and downs and really difficult life experiences but things have been going very well. It almost makes me feel like it's the calm before the storm but that is just my negativity speaking. God is really good and I know He wants us to enjoy His blessings. So, I am. :)

Well, Reagan turned 11 last month (more pics later) and Bailey turned 9. I'm so amazed at how quickly everything happens but then I say that at every birthday. They are both doing great in public school and have really enjoyed their teachers and friends there. It is just around the corner from our house so they walk to and from school and that it really nice.

Drew just started pre-school and she LOVES it! Today when I picked her up she said, "today was the best day ever!" She was hysterically laughing on the playground while these two twin boys were pulling her in a wagon. So cute!

We are really enjoying our kids at this age, things have gotten easier for all of us and it's nice to just hang as a family.

We have tried to make Friday nights "Family Movie Night". We are in the middle of the Harry Potter series. It's a lot of fun and we all look forward to it.

Sean is loving his job, I know he is right where God wants him and it is a blessing to watch him grow and see his gifts being used. He is such a blessing in my life and I'm lucky to have him.

I can't wait to share all about my time in Haiti. It changed me forever. I could go on and on, but I will save that for another post.

For now, here are a few highlights that I don't want to forget!

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!

Sean's sister Connie and her family drove from Ohio for their vacation and made a pit stop here with us for a few days. We of course had to take them to San Fran and this is the famous Lombard Street.

Ghirardelli Square, yummy!

Bailey turned 9!

This year we just celebrated both kids birthdays as a family. We had such a fun time and didn't break the bank. It was lovely.

Our little Monkey!