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AWANA Derby Grand Prix

Today was the AWANA Derby Grand Prix. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed (from 1 Timothy in the Bible) and it's a children's program at our church. Noah goes every Wednesday night and memorizes Scripture. They earn "bucks" and get to shop with them. Every year they have a derby race and the kids make the cars out of wood (similar to the Boy Scouts' derby cars). Noah made a race truck and even though it wasn't the fastest, he won FOURTH PLACE for Design. He was VERY excited to get his trophy!

The Last of the Mohicans

SIXTEEN years ago today, I said yes to Robby when he asked me to go to the movies to see "The Last of the Mohicans". The rest is history, as they say. In some ways, we feel like we've been together forever, but in other ways, it seems like we've only just begun. I am so thankful for a husband who loves me unconditionally and fills my life with joy every day. Happy "Dating" Anniversary, honey!

Happy Birthday House!

A year ago tomorrow, we were moving into this house. Funny, we still refer to it as our "new house". I wonder how long that will last. The boys still talk fondly about our "old house" and ask to drive by there anytime we're in the neighborhood. When I think back to a year ago, I marvel at all of the blessings God has given us. I LOVE our home. I love making it a home for our family. We've done a lot (new furniture, painting, etc.), but of course, there's still a lot we want to do. We have made new friends in our neighborhood and I get such joy in my heart when all of the kids on our street are in our backyard!

In celebration (ha, ha) of our one year house birthday, I finally painted the boys' bathroom. Nana D. bought them the "Peek a Boo" monkeys shower curtain and the rug, so we went with a light blue for the walls. When Nana saw the color swatch for the paint, she said, "That's going to be really bright!" Well, it is bright and it's definitely not a color you'd see in the Highland Park Tour of Homes, but the boys love it and that's all that matters. Jonah had fun "helping". I painted the boys names just for fun and they begged me to leave them that way. I draw the line there.
Happy Birthday House!

Is this the billboard?

So, with the whole idea of adopting our baby girl from Haiti, I have asked God to just make it crystal clear. I want a huge billboard with flashing lights. I don't want to miss it. The "Adoption Stories" show I blogged about earlier, had another Haitian adoption this week from the SAME orphanage---GLA. Then, last night, I was reading a story in my "Today's Christian Woman" (very good mag, by the way!) magazine and there was a mention of Haiti in it.

THEN, tonight, I had a meeting at the boys' school and a friend sat down next to me and proceeded to tell me all about her friend going to HAITI on a mission trip!

Okay, God.....what are you doing?

Haiti?

Robby and I have felt for a long time that our daughter, Gracie, would be from Africa. Even after we got home from our mission trip to Ethiopia, we felt confirmed that she would be from Ethiopia.

Now....God has placed a new idea in our path and we are praying for discernment. On Friday, I watched an episode of "Adoption Story" on TLC. I love this show and record it every now and then. There were actually 2 episodes on the Tivo and both episodes spotlighted the same orphanage in Haiti. The orphanage is run by an American missionary couple. They take in newborns (and older children), feed them American food, and teach them English to transition them to their forever families in America. The orphanage is called God's Littlest Angels. As I watched these precious children, I just cried over their loneliness and wondered if God was leading us to Haiti.

That night, I asked Robby, "So what do you think about Haiti?" He was worried for a minute that I meant going there on a mission trip. I explained to him about the 2 shows I had seen and we watched them together that night. This is another one of those times when living with a history teacher is helpful because he explained to me the economy and culture in Haiti. The people there live in utter poverty with basically no hope for the future. Very often, mothers have their babies and after they are unable to nurse any longer, give the children up because they cannot feed them. This is such a sad, but selfless act of love.

The statistic the orphanage director quoted that kept resonating in my head all day is that 50% of Haitian children die before the age of 5. Later, I thought about Luke's little pre-k class which consists of 19 four year olds. In Haiti, by the end of this year, 10 of those kids would be dead (I know that's morbid to think about Luke's class, but it really hit home with me). Isn't that shocking and just so heartbreaking?

So....all of this to say, we are praying for discernment. We have always known that our Gracie would have brown skin. We have felt called to Africa for a while. Haitians are former Africans, so in a way, she would still be from Africa. A question I'm wrestling with is, "Is it wrong to want to adopt from Haiti because the people there are so much more destitute than what we experienced in Africa?"

We have already researched Haiti through the God's LIttlest Angels website and if you go there, you will see...they make it look so easy. Haiti is very close to us and also their adoptions are very affordable. Please pray for us. I always ask God to just make his will so clear to us that we know without a doubt what He has planned. I want a billboard with flashing lights!

Helen Keller

I found this quote today and I just love how it speaks to my heart. So many ask, "Why adopt? There are so many orphans. You can't save them all."
I always think, but, I can save one. And that is what we plan to do. God has called us all to do something. That something is different for everyone. I pray you listen to His voice and go for it!

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”--Helen Keller

First Day of School!

Today is Noah's first day of 2nd grade. This morning, he was up at 6:45 and we got to cuddle on the couch for a few minutes. I kept thinking about how just 7 years ago, I was quitting my job as a 2nd grade teacher to have him. Those kids seemed so big when he was a tiny newborn. Now, he's one of them. Where did the time go? He was VERY excited about going. Luke, on the other hand, flatly refused to get out of bed. After he got dressed and got his backpack on, he was all smiles UNTIL we got to his classroom. I think he'll be fine when he gets into a routine. His teacher has lots of Little Critter books, so he was happy with that. Jonah is enjoying watching his morning dose of Max and Ruby in peace and quiet. : )

"One more kiss"

The closer we got to Luke's classroom, the tighter he grabbed my leg. He was very sad. Luke is my big Mama's boy and would be happy to stay home with me all day, every day. This will be good for him if we can get him in a routine. Ms. Odet, his teacher, gave all of the kids their journals to color in. I drew a picture of me and Luke drew a picture (smiling!) of himself. I told him to look at Mommy's picture when he got sad. The picture of his teacher is her teaching them to "Zip your lips, lock it, and put the key in your pocket." Woo, boy. Luke has a lot to learn!

Question of the Day

Today's 7 year-old Question of the Day:
"If you go up in space in a rocket and somebody on Earth dies, would you see them go to Heaven?"

A Blog Game

Okay, dear readers, it's time for you to weigh in with your ideas on this blog. This is one of my favorite pictures from our beach trip because it sums up so many things. I thought we'd play a fun game with it. Click on "comment" under this post and write your idea for the best quote or description to go with this shot. Have fun and be creative!

The Happy Home

While we were at the beach, my favorite thing to do was to get up early before the monkeys (some days, they beat me!) and go out on the deck to spend time with God. The beach is my FAVORITE place in the world because I just feel so close to God there. I think about Him being the Almighty Creator that told the water where to stop and set the waves in motion. Just the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and watching them over and over is so therapeutic for me.
So, after talking about the beach with the boys for so long and anticipating this trip for so long, there were many times throughout the week that all I could do was whisper, "Thank you, Lord."
One morning when I managed to sneak out quietly and not wake any monkeys, God led me to Psalm 128. In my Bible, the little subtitle above it is "The Happy Home".

"Happy are those who respect the Lord and obey him. You will enjoy what you work for and you will be blessed with good things. Your wife will give you many children, like a vine that produces much fruit. Your children will bring you much good, like olive branches that produce many olives. This is how the man who respects the Lord will be blessed. May the Lord bless you from Mount Zion; may you enjoy the good things of Jerusalem all your life. May you see your grandchildren. Let there be peace in Israel."

This Psalm spoke to me in so many ways. All my life, all I wanted to be was a wife and a Mommy. I have been that vine that produced much fruit. I am enjoying what I worked for and I am so blessed with so many good things. I was encouraged by the "your children will bring you much good" part, too. I need to remember that every day. Even when I am about to pull my hair out, our boys do bring us much good and I can only imagine what God is going to do in their little lives as they grow to be men. The last part gave me lots to pray about, too, concerning grandchildren. Even though it is a long way down the road, I cannot wait! I'm going to be an awesome Nana!
Anyway, to make a rambling blog short, God is good. We are blessed. The beach was wonderful. I tried to bottle all of this up in my mind so I can go back to my happy place on the deck of our beach house listening to the crashing waves and watching the sunrise. In my mind, I will revisit often.

Our Beach Trip

Kingwood Minor Emergency Clinic.......$79
Crystal Beach Wrecker Service and Locksmith.....$75
Groceries and goggles at Galveston Wal-Mart.....$100
Drive home from Crystal Beach......13 hours

Playing with our boys on the beach for the first time........PRICELESS!!!!

R & R

Hola from San Antonio---La Ciudad de Amor! Well, I don't know if that's what it's actually called, but for us, it is the City of Love. San Antonio is where we spent our honeymoon and we also made a trip here 8 years ago. The souvenir we brought home on that trip is now 7 years old. (I can assure you, dear readers, that no souvenirs of that sort are being brought home this time!)

Anyway, Robby had to come here for NECC (which stands for a bunch of computer geeks getting together to talk about how to make their students into computer geeks) and I got to tag along. I love these kinds of trips because we get our couple time and I get my precious alone time while Robby goes out to work. It's been really nice because he hasn't worked the entire time.

Yesterday, we went geocaching (with other associate geeks). It was very fun. I will post a picture of a really neat cache in front of the Alamo. I think I am becoming a geocaching geek by proxy.

Other than that, we have eaten a lot of yummy Tex Mex and walked A LOT. San Antonio is perfect for many reasons, but one of the things I love is that there are numerous yummy Mexican food restaurants on the river and then after you stuff yourself, there's a wonderful Riverwalk to help you walk it off. Then, when you feel better, there are several ice cream shops to choose from. : ) I'm a foodie, I know.

I want to give a SHOUT OUT to the Nanas for all of the monkey care they are giving. We wouldn't be able to have this time away without you. We are so blessed!

When Robby and I came to SA on our honeymoon, we stayed in the honeymoon suite at the historic Menger hotel. We got to go back and visit this week and I truly cannot believe it has been 11 years. Time flies when you're having fun!

The biggest decision I have had to make on this trip is what I want to do with my time. There are so many choices and they all allow me to be 100% selfish, which I don't get to do very often. Yesterday, I had the afternoon to myself and I had to decide between:
1. going to the pool
2. taking a nap
3. going shopping
4. watching Oprah in bed
It was a tough decision. Fortunately, I have gotten to do all of the above on this trip and it has been bliss!
Today we will depart the City of Love, but San Antonio will always have a special place in our hearts.
Adios Amigos!

13 Days and 30 Seconds

We found 7 geocaches while in San Antonio. This is a neat one because it's a hidden webcam in a window of a shop. You have to stand in front of the Alamo, call someone who is in front of a computer, they go to the camera's website, and copy your picture. This is a big deal in geocaching world because it's such a creative cache. Robby doctored the picture up a bit.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day was extra special this year because Noah got baptized and Robby was actually the one to baptize him. We had 16+ family members at church with us and for lunch afterwards. It was a great day! I will post Robby's Father's Day gift very soon (a portrait of the monkeys and I!).

The Face of an Angel!

I had so much girly fun with Faith. We played "Beauty Shop" and I had fun styling her hair and painting her toenails! What a doll!

Sleepover!

We had a fun sleepover the past 2 nights with our friends, Zack and Faith. All 5 slept well (of course, they were worn out from all of the playing!). When we had them all in the backyard, Robby said, "Five is a lot." I said, "Nope, five seems just right!" : ) We shall see.....

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night, we took all 3 boys (for the first time!) to a Frisco Rough Riders baseball game. We had a voucher for free tickets, so we figured if we only made it a few innings, it was worth it. We actually stayed 7 innings! The boys had so much fun. We had dinner---gotta love that ballpark food---at a picnic table in the shade and then we took them to the playground. They have a 3-story playground (picture to follow) and it really helped get their wiggles out. Then, we got to our seats, which were on the 4th row right behind 1st base. Jonah got scared because there were a few homeruns and they shot off fireworks. So, then, every time the announcer spoke, he started crying. We ended the night (10:30 PM!!!!) at Sheridan's Frozen Custard---yummy! A fun time was had by all and when we got to the car, Robby and I high-fived each other because we actually did it! We took 3 kids to the ballpark and made it back home safely with all 3 kids! It felt like a major accomplishment. : )

Can you see me now?

Luke climbed to the very top (3rd story!) of the playground and then was too afraid to slide down. So, guess who had to climb up and slide down with him!!! I never knew you could get "plastic burn" from a slide. For those of you who have never experienced it, it's similar to carpet burn, but with more burn. Ouch! This slide was definitely not designed for mommies.

Summer is here!

Well, I guess the official day of summer is June 20, but to our family, summer is here! Robby's last day of school was Friday and Noah has been out for a month now (ahhh....one of the joys of private school). We plan to spend lots of time at our neighborhood pool. Noah starts at 7 AM every morning, "Are we going to the pool today?" That boys THRIVES on activity and has so much energy to burn. He's a great little swimmer, too. I'm glad we did lessons for so many years. The other two, however, have never had lessons.

Luke already gave us a huge scare when he slipped into the deep (4 1/2 ft.) end of the pool as I turned to get Jonah dried off. I turned to see the top of his little head bobbing in the water and yelled at Robby to grab him. Thankfully, Robby was right there and just reached over and pulled him up. I yanked him out and we both cried. It did teach him a reverential fear of the water, though. For several days after that, he kept repeating this mantra---"I wear my life jacket in big pool." There's a great kiddie pool that's 1 1/2 ft. deep and it's perfect for Luke and Jonah. They love to collect all of the dead bugs in the skimmer. Boys are so fun!

I love this picture of the 3 of them in the fort (see Luke in the window). They were having a picnic for lunch. One day a few weeks ago, Noah proclaimed with great joy---"Breakfast was the only meal we ate in the house today!" They had a picnic outside for lunch and we had pizza by the pool that night. It's going to be a great summer!

Race for the Cure

Today some girlfriends and I, along with Aunt Penny, walked in the Race for the Cure. Before the boys, we used to do it every year. It's always a fun, girl day and we help a worthy cause, too!

Carpe Diem

John David, Robby's little brother, graduated tonight. I feel so old. John David was 3 when Robby and I started dating. All I could think when I was sitting there in the stadium was, "Where did the time go?" I am so scared that I'm going to blink and my baby is going to be graduating. John David is going to ETBU and we are very proud of him! He is a wonderful "Uncle Monkey", as we've always called him, to our boys. They love playing "dideo games" with him when we go visit Robby's parents.

I was explaining to Noah that John David is going to college and will not be living at Nana and Poppa's house anymore and Noah said, "Does that mean John David is about to be a grown-up?" In my mind, John David will always be a little boy.

My LIttle Fishies

Hannah Banana

Supper Club

We had Supper Club tonight. The spaghetti was yummy and then we took all of the kids to the pool. That always insures easy bedtimes. : ) A good time was had by all!

"Wooby" is home!

What an exciting 24 hours it has been at the McCraw house. After finding out that the rabbit is a girl, we named her Ruby, of course. (For all of you non-"Max and Ruby" fans, it's a rabbit cartoon that the boys LOVE.)
She spent all night in the backyard. We checked on her when we got up this morning and she was sitting by the back door. Noah ate breakfast and went back out and she was gone. She had found a low place under the fence. We thought we had covered them all. We found her under the neighbor's car, one of her favorite hiding places from yesterday. We proceeded to spend over an hour chasing the silly girl from our yard, to our neighbor's yard, to our other neighbor's yard, and back again. She was so scared and so fast. Robby finally threw in the towel and had to go to school. Well, she spent all day under a car. She went from car to car. It poured most of the day, which I think was a blessing because she didn't want to run away.

Soooo....at 5:30 tonight, our neighbor helped Robby catch her and she is back in the backyard. Jonah exclaimed, "Wooby...you came home!" The boys are just so in love with her. We are going first thing in the morning to buy a hutch, water bottle, food, etc. I guess I have a 4th child now. Not quite what I had in mind. She really is very sweet and must have been a good pet for someone. I'd like to know her story, but she's not talking. Robby and I sat outside with her tonight and petted her for a long time. She reminds me of a coat I had when I was a kid. : )

Our new family member

When we opened the door to go to church this morning, this was sitting on our front porch. After the boys chased it away, I told them if it was here when we get home, they could give it a carrot, thinking SURELY it would be gone. Well, it wasn't. Right now, it's living in the backyard, but I'm not sure where we're going from here.

Zack

Zack is the only boy (so far!) amongst 3 girls, so we have lots of "boy fun" when we play with him. He loves to play with "boys" as he calls Noah, Luke, and Jonah.

Friends

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful circle of friends in our Sunday School class. We got together for dinner/ice cream/playtime. I don't know who was more worn out----the kids or the parents. When 3 of our families get together, we have 9 children total. Never a dull moment!

I could easily put Faith (on the left) in my pocket and take her home with me. What a cutie and she can say my name too--"Ahh-mee".
Katie (on the left in the 2nd picture) and Jillian are two peas in a pod. They look like they are rocking peacefully and eating their ice cream. This was captured just moments before Jillian rocked over backwards off the porch!

Gracie

Gracie is 1 of "the 9" we hang out with often. She will be a 1st grader at Noah's school next year. She and Noah play great together and he gets giddy every time we get to see her. I think there's love in the air! She is a sweetie pie and we can only hope that our Gracie will be just as precious!:)

Jonah's Italian Concert

No, Jonah can't sing in Italian (yeah, he's smart, but we're not bilingual yet).

Tonight, after a yummy spaghetti meal, he went through his repertoire of songs. This is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", the lullaby Daddy sings to him.
I know he's mine, but that boy is a cutie pie! : )

Birthday Bash!

We had a joint b-day party with our family for Noah and Luke. I wonder how long they will allow me to continue to combine their birthdays. With them only being 6 days apart, the idea of two separate parties is daunting. We had a baseball/birthday party. All of our family (we pretty much took up the entire set of bleachers at the Anna ballpark!) came for Noah's game and then we grilled burgers and had cake afterwards. I really thought I was going to get away with making just one cake, but Luke demanded a froggie cake. It was easier than I thought it would be. Noah's was very easy---I just baked it in a bowl.
Until next year....