Wow! It has been a crazy few weeks. Work, finishing school, going on vacation, and recovering from vacation have been keeping us busy. I have all sorts of posts to catch up on.
The last few weeks of school I became a long-term substitute for a teacher on maternity leave at Caleb's school. I loved getting to teach and being with students and amazing teachers again, but it was crazy to be back working. Although I loved it, it just doesn't feel like the time to go back to work yet. I am so glad I did it though. I loved going to school with Caleb everyday and it will really help me re-certify next year.
The last few weeks of school are always crazy with end of year field trips, parties, field day, and graduations. I can't believe my baby has graduated from Kindergarten!
The Kindergarten teachers hosted a cute little awards ceremony. We were of course the proud parents! He looks so big and just keeps getting so grown up.
We had a great Kindergarten experience in the end, after a rough beginning. I love the school Caleb is at and we are crossing our fingers we will be able to attend next year.
It was funny to listen to what all the kiddos wanted to be when they grew up. Naturally there were doctors, teachers, and cowboys but there were also some fun ideas like being a pizza delivery boy, working at 7-11, and to work at Sonic. I love Kindergartners!
Caleb still wants to be a Veterinarian when he grows up.
We loved Ms. Folwell! She was the cutest teacher and we are so grateful for her.
Caleb also loved being in the same class as his best friend Brynn.
They had so much fun, learned so much, and I can't believe they will be First Graders!
We have almost reached our one year mark of being officially able to adopt and advertising ourselves. As I mentioned before, adoption is a journey and for us has particularly been one of learning to open yourself up to everyone. We recently reached a new milestone, and are ready for a new game plan. I recently finished a new ADOPTION BLOG! Blogs and social networks are a great way to get free advertising. Blogs are easy web pages to share. This blog has mainly the same information that our LDS Family Services Profile does, but with a little more info and an easier URL to share. So feel free to check out the new blog and share it as much as possible.
If you notice any mistakes or have any input. Please let me know. Obviously I am a Teacher married to a Public Health Science guy. Advertising is not our strong suit!
I also made these business cards. They contain information about our new blog and email address where we can be contacted. Click on the printable version and you can print out 10 on a page. I just print them on card stock, cut them out, and carry them around. I have left them at Caleb's school, with family members, with Bishops, at my gym, and pretty much wherever I can. Some people say to leave them on tables at restaurants and so forth. So if you are feeling bold, print a bunch out and pass them out to whoever you want. Or they might just be handy if you happen to meet someone who knows of a situation that may help our family and it is a way to share our info quickly and easily.
Recently, Brydon's boss has bet Brydon that we will have orders for a new location by December. We are excited to find out if he is correct or not. However, we believe we may be shipped overseas next. If that happens then we enter an unknown with adoption. Even if we move within the states, switching our information to the new state costs hundreds of dollars. So we have felt the need to do all that we possibly can to find our baby before we need to re-evaluate what is best for our family and what the Lord has in store for us regarding adoption.
So here's to going all out and feeling like we have done all that we can!
As always, we are so grateful for every one's thoughts, prayers, support, and help! We could not do this without the love we have felt.
Thank you!
Caleb decided that he wanted to play Spring Soccer this year. We learned about a group called Upward from our friends, and decided to enroll our boys together. They are run by a local Pioneer Baptist Church and are amazing! It is such a great league. Well organized, Christian based, and they do so much for the kids. Caleb was chosen to play on the Rottweilers. It was a super cute team full of very shy, inexperienced players with 2 High School boys who had never coached before. Needless to say we were not the winning team in the league or even close, but we most definitely were the most improved and had a lot of fun!
Before the games, the kids were able to run through the sign and have their names announced. This is the beginning of the first game.
Before each game and during practices, the players said a prayer and even memorized scriptures that helped talk about good sportsmanship. I loved how the focus was on sportsmanship.
Our poor kids had no idea how to play soccer. They didn't know to chase after the ball or what to after they threw the ball in. Our first game, we didn't score a point! The other team had an aggressive little boy that like to push and pull teammates down by their jersey, our players were happy to stay away from him. Check out the little video of our first game. We are the green team.
Our first game was a blow out. And our little team only scored one point in 3 games. Caleb was fortunate to score the teams first goal. We did win one game and actually scored 7 goals that game. I was so proud of Caleb, he scored 3 of the goals that day and actually helped his friend score one of them. He could have easily scored himself, but he chose to help his friend score instead. We couldn't have been more proud of him!
Our Last Game
Well the Rottweilers came a long way this season and we are so proud of them. For their last game we played the team we played the first game. They beat us again, but not by much and we sure worked hard. I loved this team because the kids were fairly evenly matched, no one was mean, aggressive or a ball hog, and they worked together well. I had to get some videos of how much we had improved and let the grandparents see Caleb in action.
Just a reminder that you can always click on the pictures and make them bigger. Caleb is in blue this time.
This video caught a very Caleb moment. Caleb was really fast and often had break aways with the ball. However, he still has to learn control and although he had a lot of chances to score a goal, they didn't usually go in. It sure was fun to see him hustle though and become much more focused and aggressive going after the ball. He was always kind though and very aware of his teammates.
Caleb loved soccer and learned so much. It was neat to watch him be a part of a team sport. This league is amazing. They got to keep their cute uniforms with socks and received a water bottle and were rewarded with a brand new soccer ball. We will most definitely continue doing sports with Upward.
Caleb's Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Folwell, came to his last game. It was so fun to have her with us!
Caleb and our friend Ryan with our great coaches, Marcus and Cameron. I was so proud of these coaches. They sure tried hard and were extremely patient and kind with the kids. I am sure it wasn't easy for two High School soccer players to lose so much but they were really great.
We love soccer (much to Dad's chagrin). Dad is voting for baseball next, but Mom thinks that it is too boring for now. Maybe later. We will see who wins out!
This month wasn't very full of funny Caleb moments. Just a pretty ordinary month, I guess. I do have one silly story to share for this month, and then I thought of another story I recently told some people that has not been recorded yet. So I want to record that story as well. I never thought I would forget some of these cute things he says, but I do and so I need to write it down.
Caleb had just turned 3 when we were going through our second round of in-vitro. It was a rough time for our family. Brydon was trying to interview for Medical School and my body didn't handle the intense fertility treatments well. We didn't want to involve Caleb in the in-vitro process but because of everything that was going on, he was. We also had appointments every other day to the doctors and Brydon had to administer up to 4 shots daily on me, and so he eventually learned we were trying to have a baby and were to trying answer his sweet prayers. During that time, we had discussed that babies were gifts from our Heavenly Father and lived in heaven before they came to us. When both rounds of in-vitro failed, we were devastated and informed Caleb that we were not able to have a baby. A few days later I was sitting down to get some work done and Caleb walked up to me with one of his play cell phones.
Caleb: "Mom, it's for you."
Mom: "Hello! Hi how are you?"
Caleb: "NO, Mom you have to yell that them!"
Mom: "Why do I need to do that?"
Caleb: "Because it's Jesus and you need to yell at him."
Mom: "Why do I need to yell at Jesus? I don't want to yell at Jesus."
Caleb: "Because Jesus has our babies in heaven and he won't let us have them! I am mad at Him."
Mom: (Cries and gives him a hug)
Caleb refused to pray for 2 weeks after that. He wouldn't pray for anything. We tried to be patient and understanding and healed together as a family. We did not have the heart to pray for a baby. Finally when he began to pray again, we were shocked to hear. "Heavenly Father, bless us with a baby.". When we asked him why he was praying for a baby again, he said "Because I STILL want a baby!". That was one of those moments, when a 3 year old displays far more faith and understanding then I knew possible. When Christ commanded us to "become as little children", I watch my son's daily faith and know why He said that.
Now for the humorous side of my son. One day while riding in the car, Caleb randomly asked, "Who is going to be at the funeral when the last person dies?". To that his parents mumbled a bit about how that really isn't anything to worry about and we didn't know. After pondering for a few minutes, he declared, "I think angels and Jesus will be at the funeral. Don't you think so? I want to be the last person to die. I think I really will be! Really!"
So if you have ever pondered who will be attending the funeral of the last person to die on Earth, now you know!!
I need to post of picture of this so it will help us be motivated to get it done. We recently have needed to change our TV armoire. We had a few ideas and were fortunate enough to be given a free china hutch from some friends. It is beautiful solid oak. We don't need the top of the hutch but we plan on refurbishing this into an entertainment center. We have never done anything like this before, so it is going to be interesting to see how it turns out. My long term substituting has made it more difficult to work on, but we are hoping it won't take us too long. We are almost done stripping the stain off.
So wish us luck on our first refurbishing project! I am excited and very curious to see how turns out!
This weekend was the Dyess Airshow. We missed it last year, due to being in Ohio to pick Brydon up, so it was exciting to see our first Airshow as members of the military. Brydon had to work all day inspecting food booths and being a medic in case of a catastrophe, but we did get a chance to walk around with him for a little while. Caleb loved getting to go inside all the different airplane! I enjoyed watching the airplanes and getting to see them in action. Fortunately the weather cooled down from our 103 degrees earlier in the week and it was only in the high 80's. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had a great time being proud of the amazing things our military can do.
Checking out the C-17 with our new friend Landan. This plane can hold up to 6 T-Rex's and is HUGE! Caleb loved getting to push buttons and sit in the pilot seat.
The back of the C-130. It felt much bigger when I rode in one in the fall, but after the C-17 it seems pretty small. Caleb loved getting to go inside the plane I got to fly in.
The B-1 was available to climb up and just look inside the cockpit. It is rare to see this plane opened up for viewing. Caleb was excited to go check it about but decided that the stairs were a little steep and very scary.
The B-2 is a pretty amazing airplane. It looks like a bat or a spaceship and is so quiet. It was fun to actually see one in the air! Apparently the real treat of the day was seeing the new F-22. It is meant to replace the F-16 but is such a fast, hard airplane to fly that pilots physically struggle to fly it. Their bodies can't handle its abilities. Obviously a very manly airplane! At the very end of the day, the F-22 did get to do an unrestricted take off. Many of the Airmen (my husband included) are still a bit giddy about getting to see that plane in action.
Checking out the Marine vehicles. Every boy wants to drive a truck like that!
One of the airplane stunt man. I can't even imagine what it would be like to fly around like that. I think I would be sick!
The Army Paratroopers! They put on a great show and are amazing at what they do.
It is fun to see all the different airplanes and get to watch a piece of history.
Of course we have to show off the B-1. Dyess's claim to fame! This is a sight we see almost daily living on base but it was a treat to see them land and show off a bit. It is a "sexy" aircraft that has dropped over half of the bombs used in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Just a fly-by with this plane is enough to humble the enemy.
Tora, Tora, Tora
The highlight of the Airshow for me was a presentation called Tora, Tora, Tora. It featured 9 Japanese fighters who performed a reenactment of the bombing on Pearl Harbor. A narrator talked about that fateful morning while sirens blared, planes dived and swarmed, and bombs exploded on the ground. We were told stories of heroism, death, and irony. In the end they described how America came together to fight in World War II to defend democracy. It was an amazing show of arms and a unique glimpse of history. And yep, pretty much had me in tears! Especially as they addressed the men and women currently fighting and how proud we are of our amazing men and women in the Armed Forces. It all hits very close to home now.
Nothing like a fantastic Airshow to make you proud to be an American and a member of the
