Picture slide show

This is a nice little way to show pictures of my family! ENJOY!!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Happy and sad day

Today is happy because it is Marlee's birthday. It is sad because it is Marlee's birthday and she is FIFTEEN yes 15!!! I cannot believe that my precious little baby girl is 15. It saddens me that time goes so quickly! I am so happy that we had a struggle to adopt her, it caused me to cherish every moment with her and I saved all kinds of crazy little things! It helped me to realize how special each moment with a child really is. It literally helped me even with foster parenting. With the first 2 years of Marlee's life being a custody / adoption battle, it helped me to learn to live in the moment. Cherish each one with your child because one way or another you may never get another moment and never a moment like this one! I am ecstatic that Marlee is our little girl and that God chose as us to be her parents. Marlee has made such a change in our lives - all our kids have done that each in their own way, but I have to say that she has been both a world of challenges and a world of joy! She runs the chart from one extreme to the other :)! If you know Marlee you know the love and joy that just radiates from her! I wish her the best year yet as she enters a whole new age and a whole new year of opportunities. She has a new horse in the barrel circuit and I wish her all the best there! And I wish her success in everything she puts her mind to! But she is and will always be no matter how old she gets - My Baby Girl!!! Happy Birthday and I love you Baby Girl!!!!

I have been tagged!!

I've been tagged by Our Adventurous Life. I'm always up for a good game of tag!!!

The rules require me to post a six word description of myself and then to tag five co-bloggers to join the fun. So....let's see.....here we go:

Wife (for almost 20 years)
Mommy (to more than 15 children at one time or another)
Meme (to one wonderful little boy and one precious little girl and we have added another little girl!)
Friend (try hard to be a good one)
Loved (and loving)
Blessed (more than words can say!)



Sorry, I cheated a bit - just like Our Adventurous Life- I feel that some things need further explanation!

AND now, for the fun part of tagging!

Dearest Jessica



I know...I only tagged 1 blogger...but that is all I know for now.

The Rules (whatever that may mean to you!)
Write your own six word memoir
Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
Link to the person that tagged you in your post
Tag five more blogs with links
Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play

Saturday

Well, the weekend is here and I hope that you all have a wonderful time! I am missing Marlee - yes, I am missing my TEENAGED DAUGHTER with all of her drama!!! :) But I am glad that she is gone! I am glad because she is at Acquire the Fire with the church youth group! I am excited for her. She called me this morning to let me know she was having a good time, but she was not feeling very well last night. I have had a virus all week and Sydnee now has it and Marlee is feeling some of the same symptoms. Unfortunately it spreads like wildfire in a close family who hugs all the time! :) But anyway, Marlee is having a good time in spite of feeling badly. Larry and I took Kalee out to lunch today and we went to Sweet Tomatoes. Larry LOVES that place. It is ok to me and Kalee enjoyed the mac and cheese and soup. She was not too big on salads today. It is often hard to believe that I can leave Drae to babysit and things are always fine. It is hard to believe that the little boy that came to us so "damaged" as some say is now so trustworthy! God is good and He gets all the credit for that! Drae has become an amazing pre-teen! We are very proud of him!
We have been blessed by a neighbor. He asked us if we would like to move our horses to his pasture. He said we would have to repair the fence and all, but that they could move over there and graze to cut out hay bill down! We were extremely excited and took him up on his offer. Larry and Bryce took about 3 days this week and repaired the fence and the horses were walked across the street yesterday and must have thought they were in Heaven with green grass about ankle high!!! Then we brought them back home last night. That is our plan to let them graze there during the day and bring them home at night for their nightly feeding and to sleep! We feel blessed that he has done this for us!
Update on Keara and Brianna: they are adjusting well to their new mommy and daddy! They have done great in school this past week. Their mommy - Patrice - emails me daily and calls fairly often as well. We feel blessed in that area, too. I mean they could just shut us out, but they have chosen to maintain relationship with us and that is just awesome!!! So keep them in your prayers - it is working - all is going well!
Kourtnee started her job full time this week. She missed Sydnee - of course - but she knows she is in good hands :). Meme and Pappy adore her! She likes her job. She is teaching 3 year olds. She is still waiting on a job with the school system so keep that in your prayers. Sydnee is growing like a weed as they say!!! She was 10lbs and 10 ounces today!!!! She is getting so big so fast!!! She is smiling more and more everyday and cooing so much now!!!! Love this age!
TJ and Drae won first place in First in Fitness! TJ won the 100 yard dash and Drae won the Shuttle run. So in April they will compete in the county wide competition! we are very proud of both of them!!!
Kalee is getting taller by the day and I swear she is going to be like Drae and be taller than me by her teens!!! Geesh!! Although, I am short so that doesn't say too much :)! She is doing very well in school and getting better all the time with Claire (her pony). All 3 kids are planning to audition for the talent show after Spring Break - I will be sure to let you all know how that goes.
Kristofer hasn't changed much. He is actually getting much better about his fit throwing and we are hoping he is outgrowing that stage! (Thank GOD!!) :) He is so cute with Sydnee. He loves her to pieces!! He rides in the barrel races now. He rides Superman his pony - Kristofer Reeves on Superman - kinda catchy huh :)!!
Well, Larry and I are good - enjoying are family and especially our grandbaby and grandson, too last weekend! I think I fall more in love with him everytime I see him with Sydnee!!! That is one of the reasons I fell in love with him - his love for children and how he is with them! I love my man! I love my family!!!!
Have a blessed weekend!!!!

Catching up - My apologies!

Wow! I guess you never know who is reading your blog until you fail to blog for over a month! My apologies to the loyal friends who do read this! I cannot believe it has been a month since I did this! I know I am busy but geesh! I will TRY to do better but absolutely no promises! :) Life has been busy but wonderful here with The Reeves Bunch! Kourtnee and Sydnee are living with us now and we love having them both here. Kourt has a new job and it seems to be going well. Sydnee is growing so fast, we can hardly believe our eyes each day! She is becoming more and more vocal and smile all the time. All you have to do is look at her and say anything and she gives you the biggest smile ever! She is absolutely precious!! We were blessed this Easter Weekend to have all of our kids and both grand kids with us! It was an awesome weekend, with one exception. Saturday Keara and Brianna left to move to their new home with their new mommy and daddy. Don't get me wrong - we are thrilled about their new family, it was just very difficult watching them go. Keara had a very tough time leaving and that made Brianna have a tough time and it took a while for them to get in the van and go, but they eventually did. I have since talked to their mommy and have heard them in the background and all seems to be going very well thank God!! They have a very bright future and I am so happy for them. We also had Haven and Trinity with us on Saturday. Haven is a young lady who we had in our home for a very short respite while she was in foster care. She was pregnant and now of course has the baby. We had lost touch with her, but now are back and she has been here the past 2 Saturdays since we got in touch with her. We have just "adopted" them both so that is another daughter and grand daughter! we told her that once you enter our home no matter how long you are here you are our child forever!!! Alex, Angela and Aiden were here also. Aiden is getting so big, walking and talking some and just so adorable! We miss them, but are happy to see them when we get to/. Alex and Angela are doing well they are so happy and in love just as they should be! The other kids had a great time seeing their big brother and nephew and they enjoyed Easter. Saturday we had a big egg hunt here at the house and we had about 15 or so kids. we had 2 hunts one - under 4 and one for 4 - 12. It was a big hit. It was so last minute due to the plans for the girls departure that we were unable to invite everyone we wanted to invite. We also had Bryce, Maddy and their mom Penny from our 4H group with us. They have become family as well. I really think we should have membership cards for our family. If we charged membership fees we could get rich!!! :) Nah, we could never do that! We just love people! We love to share our Love and our joy and the blessings God has given us with others! So to recap the last month:
Larry and I celebrated our anniversary in Feb., Kourtnee and Sydnee moved in with us, kids are doing great in school, Barrel season started and Kristofer had his first run, Marlee is training a new horse - Sooner- for barrels, Easter came and went and we had a house full and a wonderful time, Ke and Bri have a new mommy and daddy - a forever family- and we love them! We are blessed!!!
I hope you all have had a wonderful month and I will do my best to blog more often.
Remember God is good all the time!!!

Another loss to our family

Today I received a phone call from another foster and adoptive parent. It was not a friendly call. Our first foster son had siblings that had been adopted out and this friend was the adoptive mother to his twin sisters. She called to let me know that Kathem's (our foster son)mother - Brandi - had passed away last night at 11 PM in Jordan. Brandi was very special to us. After Kathem went back to her she was in our lives for more than 3 years. We had her other son with us by her choice -meaning we had both boys - a lot of the time. Many of you know these boys. I loved Brandi with all of my heart and we did all we could to help her with her addictions and problems. Sadly we couldn't save her and it was tough for me to learnt hat I cannot save everyone! But she went to Jordan to be with her husband's family because he thought taking her over there would get her away from drugs and help her get better. But instead she found other addictions, legal pain killers, valium, alcohol. Her furnace blew up and because she was intoxicated she fell into the fire. She suffered burns all over her and lost 4 fingers and was placed into an induced coma. She lost her daughter that she was 8 months pregnant with and then died. We are grieving the loss of her and praying for her fmaily and her 3 children that she still had custody of. Her other 5 children had been taken by social services and adopted. Kourtnee and I had just been saying that we hoped we ran into her or something so we could tell her about Alex getting married and about his little boy and especially about her having a baby girl! But now we realize that we will never run into her and we will never again have the chance to say we love her! It is just a reminder that life is fragile and if you have someone you love tell them! Tell them everyday! Don't hold grudges - let them go! Forgive, forget and love!!! No, I did not have a grudge against her of course not, but I just know that I can never tell her I lovee her again and because of a situation with Social Services that kept us from being there for her and her kids in the end and the relationship had to end the way it did it hurts! I loved her and I can never make sure she knew that! Everyone tells me that she did know and that I did all I could and that some people just do not want help, but it doesn't really help right now! My pain is deep! She was a hurting woman and we wanted so much to see her healed! I hope that she found that peace before she left and made things right with God and is now in THE place of peace!!!! Brandi used to come to our house all the time - stayed with us many nights! But rather she was with us for a night, a few days, or even a few minutes she would always ask us - no make us :) sing a song for you - that song was THE ANCHOR HOLDS! She would cry the whole time and then hug us. We spent time in prayer with her many nights and she would go to church with us and just cry! I know she loved the Lord and I believe she made things right and is with HIM now. I love you Brandi and you will be forever missed!!!!!

Valentine's day

Today was Sydnee Renee's First Valentine's Day! She is so precious!!! She is laying on my lap as I type this! Grand children are such a joy!!! I love her more with each passing day!!!!!!!
Larry and I went to a banquet at church tonight and had a wonderful time! But the our wonderful time begins about 2 tomorrow afternoon!!!! We will be taking a short vacation for our anniversary!!!! Just the 2 of us!!!! Cannot wait!!! There are a lot of things going on right now that I am not free to blog about, but just keep our family in your prayers for great opportunities!!! I hope that each of youa re with someone you love for this special little holiday! I know that since we have children we still try to always go out on this date, but it is also a special day to show the kids an extra special love with little gifts and candy! The kids love it! Every holiday around here is done to the hilt so to say!! I do have news about the 2 little girls - we will not be adoptiong them. We are sad and hurt for them especially so please keep them in your prayers!!!!! They will be here until a forever family is found though! I just pray that we can put all the love that we have into them while they are here and let them see how special and wonderful and completely lovable they truly are. We are going to try to stay a part of their lives if they are adopted locally!!! We feel that maybe God closed this door for us to focus more on our grand kids now and the kdis we have already adopted! I know as I llok into the face of my precious grand daughter right now I am moved to tears with the love I have for her and her mommy!!!! I am truly blessed and I know that God lvoes me and he loves Keara and Brianna and will always have them in His hands no matter who they are calling mommy and daddy! We are sad as I said, but more for them and the hurt they will feel, but we also have a peace that God is still in control!!!
happy Valentine's Day to all! Hae a wonderful weekend - I know I am going to :)!!!!!

Heartbreak has hit our family

Thursday night was a night we will not soon forget but will hate to remember! Dusty died last night! Dusty was the 2 nd horse we acquired, but the first horse that everyone rode! He has been THE FAMILY HORSE!!! Anyone could ride Dusty and the entire family has ridden him with the exception of Sydnee Renee'! I hate that we did not get a picture with her near Dusty! He was the kindest gentlest horse ever! I had finally been able to claim him as my horse because Marlee got another barrel racing horse and we were able to retire him. He had my trust completely! I am not sure if we will find another horse that we will all be able to trust like we have Dusty! He was so awesome! We are very glad that he did not die alone though. Marlee, Larry and I were all with him last night when he went to Heaven! Yes, I believe that is where he is because what would Heaven be like without animals especially horses! He is running in the greenest pastures ever, frolicking and playing like never before! No more pain, no more choking! We will forever remember Dusty and grieve our loss, but we will also know that he loved us and gave us his all and we gave him all we had and even to the very end he knew how much we loved him! Dusty was not just a pet, not JUST a horse, he was FAMILY! He was truly a friend to so many! He will never be forgotten and we will never stop loving him!
Me and Dusty riding with Marlee and Checotah
RIP Dusty - I love you, baby, forever!! Thank you for giving so much to us!!!

Wednesday - what a day!

Well, Larry got a job today Praise the Lord! And it is a good one! Close to home and they are going to give him a gas allowance on top of his pay. They are even going to give him more than what he asked for and a raise in 90 days! God is so good!!! They are also a laid back company and told him family comes first so anytime he needs off they are extremely flexible and he can take the day without pay if he does not have time or he can make it up on a Saturday or work late or however he chooses to do it! What a blessing! We are thrilled! I am a little sad that he will not be home anymore during the day with us, but we do need the insurance and the income! I will miss him though. I thought that I would be sick of him being home and that he would drive me crazy but that has not been the case at all!!!! We are going to spend the weekend together next week for our anniversary and that is so awesome! Cannot wait!!! everything else is going well other than the whole ordeal with the girls. We are meeting with the adoption supervisor on friday morning so keep that in your prayers! That is it for tonight - I am tired! Will try to write more tomorrow!
God bless you all!!!
Go Mike Huckabee!!!

some troubling news

Today we got some troubling news. Our foster license has to be closed due to the number of children allowed in the home going from 7 to 5. We have been praying and hoping to adopt two precious little girls that we have had as a part of our extended family for 2 years now. This puts a wrench in those plans. I am not saying it is over because as the saying goes, anything worth having is worth fighting for and we will continue to fight for the rights of the two precious children! We Love them with all of our hearts and our children love them and they love us and are very bonded!!! Please pray with us that God will change the hearts that told us only a short while ago that we were being considered and then without notice or CONSIDERATION closed our license. That in itself does not keep us from adopting them, as the standard of 5 children in the home now is for FOSTER not ADOPTION, but we do have an uphill battle before us. It is frustrating, but you know we were told by several people to give up when Marlee's biological father came into the picture to take her away from us - what if we had given up then? I cannot begin to think of our lives without Marlee!!!! We fought for 2 years and we won that battle with the Lord's help - actually He won it for us! I am having faith now in Him as well, but do not want to just sit around and do nothing so I have emailed some people in charge, gotten some information from the state about the new standard and we are going forward. We hope to not have to "battle" much at all! But Please keep us in your prayers!

Sunday

After reading this post myself, I must first say it is a lot of just plain babble! lol enjoy! :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was a little busy, but not too bad. Friday night is movie night here at the Reeves' home, but not this weekend - it was sleep night! The boys were tired from school and a long week, Kalee fell asleep in the chair and Marlee and I were not feeling well, Larry had rookie school and had to be up early so we all went to bed early! Doesn't happen often here, but when needed it happens!!!! Saturday morning came early even after early bedtimes. Larry left for rookie school and the kids got up and and got ready to go. Kalee was going to Aunt Stacey's to play for a little while and Marlee and Drae had a Teen Works event. They went Ice Skating! TJ, Kris and I did a little shopping and I printed some pictures and they played until time to pick the other 3 up. Picked the other 3 up and came home and also picked up Brianna and Keara when we got Kalee. Larry got home about 2 hours after we did and he and I went to dinner and then home. Marlee was pretty sick later that night and so was I. We went to bed and slept in because Marlee and I and even Larry still were not feeling well! Larry fixed the kids some pancakes since he had to leave too early to have Pancake Saturday. So the kids said it was a Pancake Sunday! The weather was nice enough for the kids to actually spend a couple hours outside! They loved it. Marlee has been in bed all day - she is still not feeling well. I feel a little better but still in my jammies!!! The kids are all in the house right now playing games and Larry is cooking dinner! So nice to have a man who will do anything to help me! He is a great dad, husband and pappy! He was just tired from rookie school not sick. Thank God!!! Now about him, I cannot believe my man is a fireman. He is volunteer fire fighter! He has dreamed of this forever! So even with my fears I agreed to it. I say I agreed because he does not NEED my approval, but he does want it and if I said I just can't handle it he wouldn't do it! That is how it is in a marriage. But I could not keep him from a lifelong dream just because of fear on my part. I know God gave him the dream so He will protect him. I am proud of him!!! Well I am going to eat dinner with my family and check on my baby girl! I hope everyone stays well and has a great week full of blessings and happiness!!! Here is a picture for you!

Drae is a **star**!!!

Tonight was Drae's Debut on stage! He played "Chad" in High School Musical and did a great job! It was a fun little rendition of the Hit movie from Disney. The kids were in grades 3rd, 4th and 5th. It was very entertaining. We are super proud of Drae and the interests he has found! For so long he just seemed to be "looking" for something to enjoy and be committed to and now he has found 2 highly important passions: Horses and Theatre - acting, singing and dancing. He seems to be a natural at both! We knew he would find his place! We just kept putting him in anything he asked to join and now he has set his mind to these two things and we are so proud of him in both areas! His grades are up as well and he is doing an awesome job! His whole attitude has changed over the almost 5 years he has been with us! He is not even like the same child! I give the glory to God because even anything we have done is because HE has given to us. We believe 100% that you cannot give what you do not have. Most of us if we were completely honest did not receive Total Unconditional Love and Acceptance as children because truly our parents had not received that so how could they give it. Even in the best homes there is some lack in these areas. So the only way to give it is to receive it FIRST and we believe the only place to truly receive TOTAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE is through Jesus Christ! Our Heavenly Father gives it and makes it possible for us to ATTEMPT to give to our children. We still are human parents and we make huge mistakes often, but with Him we have the ability to lose our pride and say to our children that we do make mistakes and we are sorry and we talk to our children with respect and love and understanding! I believe that makes such a difference in a child's life, knowing there is someone who will love them and be here for them NO MATTER WHAT!! We often hear, "oh it is such a wonderful thing - what you do for these kids - you are such a blessing to them!" I know people only mean well with that and we know the kids are happy and blessed, too, but our response always is, "no they are such a blessing to us!!!" I was called to be a mommy and when I could not give birth to children of our own, I knew God would work it out for us to have children and now we have 7 and are hoping to adopt two other little girls who are already a part or our family right now! What a Blessing!!!! God is awesome!
Back to Drae: we could not be more proud!!!! Here is a picture of our son on stage and then after the production! He is good looking, sweet, talented and just plain wonderful!!!!!! YOU GO, DRAE!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!! KEEP IT UP!!!!

My grandbaby is a week old!!!

This was posted last night well actually early this morning on the wrong blog! I posted it on the 4H blog lol!

As I sit here in bed wide awake becuase if I lay down I cough like crazy, I realized that it was a little after 4 Am and that at 4:18 Sydnee would be one week old! It is so surreal to me that Kourtnee has a baby! I know she carried her in her belly for nine months, but it is just strange in a good way that our little girl is a mommy! And now her baby is one week old!!! There is a part of me that says wow, it has been a week already and another part that can't really imaging that she has only been here a week! Does that make sense to anyone else? I hope so! I love her so much! I cannot wait to go see her later today! I am so glad that we are close (in distance) so I can see her whenever I want and things work out! Well, I ahve about 2 more hours until everyone will be awake so I am going to try to sleep sitting up a little! I hate being sick!!!!!! Byt the way tonight is the opening of Drae's play! I cannot wait to see him! His teacher says he is really good and has a promising future in drama!!! I am excited to see him!!!!! I will be sure to blog and put up a picture about that!!!! Have a blessed day everyone!!!

Pictures taken on her one week birthday at Uncle Drae's theatre production:

Close relationships - a real blessing

It is after 3 in the morning and I cannot stop coughing long enough to get to sleep so I decided to blog. The thing that has been on my mind is my relationship with my children, especially the older ones. Yesterday, well technically since this is Wed. morning, a couple of days ago on Monday, Sydnee Renee' had her first doctor appointment. So Marlee went with me and we took Kourtnee and the baby to the doctor. Afterwards the 4 of us went to lunch and to Wal - Mart. We laughed so much. Now this is not unusual at all. It seems we laugh all the time. But it did get me thinking about how blessed I am. You know, we are not a perfect family in any sense of the word!!! Not perfect is not even close!!! But what we are is CLOSE!!! We have our disagreements and get upset, angry, hurt, etc. but it is over quickly and we are back to laughing and hugging! I thought about some of my friends and some of the parents I talk to and hear from and hear how they "wish they had a good relationship with their teens", "wish their teen would talk to them", "wish their teen would do more than stay locked up in their room". Well, I have to say that we are blessed that we do not have to say those things or wish for those things to be true. I have so much fun with my girls! I have always said when people say that their teens stay in their own rooms and do not talk to them, that my teens - all my kids spend more time in our room than their own. At night when Larry and I "retire" to the bedroom, we have several knocks on the door and end up with most of the kids in here at once! Kourtnee, Marlee and Alex used to all crowd in here telling us things about the day or just making jokes or whatever! We really do spend more time laughing together than anything else! That is truly a blessing! I love my family and I am so glad that we are close! I would not want it any other way! I have often said that times I want to just say, "ok enough is enough stop talking, I can't take anymore" :), but then I think what if they every did stop talking to me? I could not take that at all! I want to always be here and be open for my kids to talk to and to listen to them! I pray that the relationships of all the kids continue to be as close as these older 3 have remained! I pray that all my kids always know that their mom and dad love them unconditionally and want to share everything with us! What a blessing to be close! I look forward to many more Girls' days out and many more special times with the boys! Kourtnee, Marlee - thank you for Monday and all the days! Thank you for loving your mother like you do and know that your mother loves you with all my heart! You are the most beautiful, fun, loving young women any mom could ask for!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! I love all my kids!!! and grand kids! :)

Our grand daughter is here!!!!

Sydnee Renee' arrived Thursday morning at 4:18 weighing in at 6 pounds and 15 ounces and 19 inches long! Mommy and baby did great and are now home! Since all of my children have been adopted, I have never been able to experience the miracle of birth first hand. Kourtnee gave me a tremendous gift! Not only has she given us the most beautiful baby girl - our grand daughter, but she gave us both (Larry was in the room as well) the wonderful experience of seeing her born!!!! It was too incredible for words! I was in tears with a smile from ear to ear! I can not put into words what I was feeling at that moment when the nurse said, "stop pushing becuase that is her head right there." I was in awe!!! Then when the doctor arrived and first out came the head and then the shoulders and then there is a whole little body!!!! I was looking to see if he had been right and then I heard her cries and saw yes she is a girl!!!!! it was so awesome! I really have no other word but completely awesome! I was awe struck! God is so awesome! Kristofer, my 4 year old asked when we visited Kourtnee and Sydnee at the hospital, "she was in her tunmmy???" It was so cute and then TJ our almost 11 year old said, "Is she like the puppies and won't open her eyes for a week or 2??" Very cute!!! They all love their little niece!!!! Craig and Kourtnee are so happy and they have been so blessed! Sydnee is beautiful!!! I could go on and on about this beautiful blessing and I could go on and on about how awesome it was to see her enter the world, but I think you would stop reading after a short bit lol! As you can tell I am still in awe! she is such a beautiful miracle! Birth is a miracle. While I truly believe adoption is God's miracle of using another vessel to get a child to his or her family, I was so thrilled to witness the miracle He first used to bring a child to a mommy and daddy! My heart is full of joy! Thank you Kourtnee Renee'! You are and always will be our sweet girl and now you ahve a sweet little baby girl of your own!!! I love you more than words can say and the same goes to our little Nee Nee' Angel!!!!

"They call me a fireman....."

WEll that is what we will be calling Larry now! I am happy for him but not so sure for me yet?! I just have to trust God to protect him. I am proud of him. He is volunteer for now and they voted him on tonight. He is thinking of making a late age career change and trying to go full time - paid. That may be while though. he is so excited as this is a child hood dream. HE got the licens plates for 2 vehicles, the pager, fitted for uniforms and turn out gear. He is so happy , like a little kid at Christmas lol! I will be joining the Ladies Auxilliary which consists mostly of the wives of the firemen. The station is less than a mile from our house so that is really nice. I told Larry he should ride a horse down there and tie it to a hitching post. He said one of these days he will because most of the guys have horses! I told him to go put in a hitching post! He said I was crazy - he is right - I have to be to have as many kids and to stay married to him this long :)!!!! Just kidding - he is my world! Well we are going to bed now, but I had to share the news - good news for him, I guess ok news for me. :)
Good night all!

Monday

Today was a good day for a Monday :). Larry went and got his driving record for his fireman application and he could not wait to rub it in that he has a perfect driving record since I am always on him about his driving! :) He is so excited about the meeting tomorrow night at the Fire House! I cannot believe he is attempting this and that I am "ok" with it. I just decided that if he has had this dream since childhood and now has the chance to make it a reality and I LOVE him why stand in his way? And the best thing is he asked me and REALLY wanted to know how I felt about it. He was very sensitive to my feelings - which is not surprising! I am happy for him though and hope he makes it all the way! Tonight Larry, Marlee, Drae and I went to a 4H Horse Council Meeting. It was very interesting! I believe we are going to really enjoy 4H!!!!
Kourtnee's baby girl - Sydnee Renee' could be here just any day now! WE jump when the phone rings, don't want to go very far from the house so we are not far from her, and Base everything on "when Sydnee gets here"! It is amazing to me how much this little baby is already loved and already a part of our lives before she is even held or touched or seen! Babies are such miracles! I know that I have been blessed with children and the children that God wanted me to have, but I will always have a part of that grieves not being able to give birth to a child that has Larry's big blue eyes and my little nose and ears. But I cannot be more excited for Sydnee to be here and the fact that Larry and I have been able to be with her through so many appointments and we will be able to share the birth together with our daughter and Craig! We are extremely excited!
Well, I am going to bed! I need sleep getting the cold that everyone else has had and I have to fight it off to make sure I am not banned from the delivery room - God forbid that! I have waited toooooo long for this wonderful experience! Good night all!

Check out my other blog

My other blog is our 4H group blog. You can read about what the kids are doing in 4H and see pictures and everything! Hope you enjoy that one as well. We have had a wonderful weekend so far and today was a fun time with 4H meeting and then riding lessons after that. Then a night of washing and doing hair. We have Keara and Brianna so we had three heads to do :)! I did Bri and Kalee and Marlee did Keara's. They all look cute - of course! :) Just think the hair issue was one of the major controversies to us adopting black children. Marlee and I both can braid, put in relaxers, straighten, hot comb, etc. It just takes asking questions and learning! I really hope that the issues of white families adopting black children or black families adopting white families will one day cease being an issue and we will just have Parents loving Children! I love my kids so much! I cannot imagine my life without them and I know that God chose them to be our children and chose us to be their parents. - just my little soap box tonight! I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday! Love to all!

I Know it has been a long time

I have actually had a few people ask me about this blog. I really did not realize many people read it, but to my surprise there are some who do :)! Thank you! We had a busy 2007 like I am sure most of you did. So I thought I would give a score card update of the year for the Reeves Bunch. Here it goes:
Adoptions - Kristofer John - Ocotber
Aiden Casey by Alex July
Engagements - Alex and Angela in April
Kourtnee Renee' and Craig in December
Weddings - Alex and Angela October 13
Pregnancies - Kourtnee Renee' due Jan. 29, 2008 - it is a girl!!!
Awards, Acheivements, etc. - Marlee - Exceptional Kid Award - a brand new saddle
from Alamo Saddlery
Drae - won the supporting role in High School Musical 1 and 2 Remix
for his school theatre department
Alex Graduated High School
TJ and Kalee and Drae all have been on Honor Roll all year!
Marlee won a bike at the Christmas party
Marlee was given a new Horse - Mystic Rayne is her name
Marlee won Most Improved at the barrel Clinic and won a beautiful
Belt Buckle
Moved out of state - Alex and Angela Dec.
Accident settled - Mine!!!! It is finally over and I got a truck!!!

You know I think that pretty much covers the score card :)! There was so much that happened I thought that maybe doing it that way would make it easier, but guess what - it didn't! :)
We did have a busy but blessed year. Going into 2008 we now have 6 horses (4 horses and 2 ponies to be exact). We have returned to RCC permanently now. We miss Higher Call, but this was the right move for us! We love the people at both churches and will maintain relationships, but God has shown us where we are to be planted. The kids truly enjoy the Wednesday night classes at RCC and the youth group for Marlee and Drae is phenomonal! Larry did lose his job, but God is still blessing! The only bad thing is that he is getting used to being home and I am getting used to having him home! The honey do list keeps him busy! :) We have had some rough spots this year, but honestly not even enough to mention and I choose not to mention them. i do not see Larry losing his job as a bad thing, because I know that God is in control and He has a plan!
2007 brought a grandson - Aiden, into our lives and he is absolutely adorable! He is no longer living here, they moved to Virginia, but he is still our heart! Kristofer's adoption came through in October and his name is now legally Kristofer John Reeves - and he rides a pony named Superman! :) Get it - Kristofer Reeves on Superman!!! :) Love it! The kids are growing like weeds! Drae is taller than Marlee and as tall as me now. Kalee has passed TJ and Kristofer is getting very close to TJ! :) TJ will grow!!! We keep telling him that! We lost a pet - Kodee our Yellow Lab / Golden Ret. mix. But we were blessed because before he was killed he got Kenzee our Black Lab pregnant and we now have 10 little puppies!!! They are so cute and most of them already have homes waiting for them when they are old enough!!!
Storm, our little momma cat has given us about 7 kittens this past year. They all have homes! Larry tried raising turkeys and will try again next year - it is a trial and error thing and he made more errors lol!!! His chickens have stopped laying eggs (they only lay until they are about 2 years old) so he kept telling us that he was going to put them in the freezer and we would be eating them. Thank goodness he has not done that yet. I know, I know it would be much healthier to raise our own food, but it is really hard to do that for me. I have to see the little ladies as he calls them and then think of killing them. Just to hard!!! Maybe I will get over that! Our goat, Oreo, is doing well! He loves to play with the kids!! He has cleared a lot of our property. ALl of the horses are doing well! I have been riding lately quite a bit! I am so thankful that the wreck did not do anymore damage to my back then it did! I love riding my horse with the kids!!! Well I hope that I have given you something that you enjoyed reading! I will do better in 2008 with this blog especially now that I know that I have readers! Thanks to those who added their names to my reader's list, those who email me comments and even those who talk to me at church about the blog (wink, wink - you know who you are!) :) The Reeves Bunch came through 2007 Blessed and we plan to be great in 2008! Elevate in 2008! The number 8 is new beginnings! I will blog soon about some new things happening in our lives! Love to you all!