Real.Life.

I just had to post these pictures...mostly because they are our real life pictures. I don't want to paint a picture of us being something...that we,well,aren't. We don't have it all together.

My kids get annoyed with each other.

Not every picture turns out perfect.

Because we are not perfect.

But...We do love each other.

God has blessed us so much. And we are so thankful for each other.

No.Clara is not strangling her brother...but it sure looks like it.

This picture sums up our life right now. And that's why I like it.

Because it's real. No touch ups,no editing.Raw,right out of my camera.

We have had some beautiful days...and have loved playing in the many leaves around our house.

Hope you are enjoying real life days with your families!

Clear.

Elliott's scans came back clear! We are praising God for the answered prayers! Now,we wait. He will go back on the 22nd. Until then I'm to keep a log of his temps and other symptoms. Of course if anything should change drastically, we will be going back sooner than that. But, we are praying and believing that he will continue to get better. Thank you for your prayers! I love this picture of him...being,well,himself. :) He was singing "my God is so GREAT so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's NOTHING my God can not DO!"...

Life.As we know it.

It's been a long month.

Our Elliott is still not himself. After many doctors appointments,tests,lab work,more doctors,x-rays,cultures,bone scans,chiropractor,etc. We have no answers...yet. He had bone scans on Tuesday....we should get the results tomorrow. The poor little guy is so strong one second...and weak the next. Exhausted,and complaining of pain. He turned five last week...but felt pretty horrible that day. It breaks my heart. He's such a trooper. The last visit to the hospital, we pulled into the parking lot, and I looked in my rear view mirror. I caught a glimpse of this little,very very little, blonde precious boy, with a tear forming in his eye. I could hardly keep it together. He knew where we were, we've been there so many times in the last month. The last time, was very traumatic, for both of us. It was all I could do not to break down as we checked in. Again. We had the same lady, and she recognized us. As we left, Elliott squeaked out..."I don't mind the pictures Momma....the pokes are what I don't like". I replied "Baby,I don't like any of it. It's okay to not like it!".

We covet your prayers,I've stopped researching, and am waiting for the results from the scans.

 Living in the moment,and enjoying the time together is most important right now. When a friend asked at church tonight how we are doing I simply said "We are here, present, in this moment". If this has taught me anything, it's taught me to be in the moment. Not take them for granted. To praise God through the storms, and ask Him for his strength....as mine gets depleted. And you know what? HE DOES IT!

My sweet husband, is still job searching. But, tonight. Tonight. God, yet again showed himself faithful. This afternoon he got a call for an interview,and went at 6pm. Interesting how God works....as I was keeping myself busy at home this afternoon....because if I don't my mind wanders. And that's just dangerous right now. Clara ran up to me and handed me a note,smiled,and ran back to her room. She loves writing precious notes to me. In it it simply stated:

"I love you Mom.....and GOD WILL!"~Love Clara


God Will. I stood there as tears streamed down my cheeks and I plopped into a puddle on my kitchen floor.
Amazing how God uses our children to remind us. He Will.

He will be faithful.
God will provide a job.
God will heal Elliott.
God will answer prayers.

The question is, will I believe.
And as I sat in a puddle on the kitchen floor...I told the Lord. I will believe, because I know You, my God Jehovah will provide. Little did I know at that time my husband was on the phone,scheduling an interview.
We won't know until Friday if he has the job. We are cautiously hopeful. It's been 18+months of no job. Just the fact he finally had an interview was so very encouraging.

To take my mind off of the test results,joblessness,and general stressful lives we lead right now. I decided,the day was beautiful,and we needed to sieze the day and take pictures. No.Not kidding. So, I picked out cute outfits for the kids, dragged out our old couch to the barn. And snapped away. Christmas Pictures are done! Amazing! This was a first for me, I used my tripod, and the timer delay, and took the pictures myself. Sure did get a work out!

So that's a glimpse into our life right now...Carpe Diem! Or...better yet. GOD WILL!

P.S. To our friends, family, and church family.Thank you. For loving us, praying over us, providing meals, dropping notes in the mail, giving gift cards, clothing for our kids, carting our other kids around, last minute babysitting, helping with household tasks, and most of all, being the hands and feet of our Savior in our time of need. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts. Thank you!

least fun place on earth...

Elliott is done for now with treatments,and is settled in watching Toy Story 3.Have no fear...we have already watched the first and second installment. Yep,a Toy Story Marathon. Where are we? Oh,just the least fun place on earth. Elliott was admitted into the hospital yesterday.

A friend said to me today "So,sorry,hospitals are no fun." I corrected him and said "being in a private room is waaaaaay better than spending the day in the ER"...."THAT stunk!"....he said "Um,it's "That Sucked". I replied..."Yea,that too".

I gotta say, it's a very emotional thing to see your child sick. My heart aches for him. I brought his favorite bible along with us. A dear friend is letting us borrow it. Ironically, we read the story of Abraham and Issac the night before we came to the hospital. While reading it, I was struck with Abraham's obediance...and Issac's too. He did not fight, he just laid down on the alter. At first, I thought of myself as a parent. To be that obedient to God,to lay your precious boy before God as a sacrifice. The thought leaves me gasping for air, and tears well up in my eyes. Abraham could have called out "Not MY boy!"....or a simple "NO God!". But he didn't. He obeyed. and then Issac. He climbed onto the rocks, fully trusting his fathers heart. I could hardly read the best part of the story because I was so choked up....it reads...

STOP!" God Said "Don't hurt the boy. I want him to live and not die. I know now that you love me because you would have given me your only son."...later in the story it reads..."And as they sat there on the mountain top, watching the embers of the fire die in the cool night air, the stars above them sparking in the velvet sky, God helped Abraham and Issac to understand something. God wanted His people to live, not die. God wanted to rescue His people, not punish them. But, they must trust Him"......."Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back. Like Issac, He would trust His Father, and do what His Father asked. He wouldn't struggle or run away. Who was He? God's Son, His Only Son.~The Son he loved. The Lamb of God."

I clearly remember praying later that night, confessing to God the
thought in my mind that my kids are...well. Mine.

But,they aren't. They are God's. Elliott is God's. To watch my son sick and struggle is the hardest thing I've ever had to see. But, if going through this has taught me anything...it's to praise my Heavenly Father...for giving his only perfect precious Son for me,and for my son Elliott.

Elliott's name means "The Lord is My God"....That is our main prayer request. That Everyone we know would know...The Lord as Their God.

Elliott has pneumonia in both lungs now. He is on oxygen,and a heart monitor (medications can make their heart race) and an IV with antibiotics and fluids. We do have a praise Elliott had a blood draw at 4pm and cultures...everything came back great! HUGE answer to prayer! That means we are only dealing with one thing...not multiple things! We are going every three hours for breathing treatment's overnight...going to see how he does. Just this afternoon he was getting them every hour! Tomorrow morning he has another chest x-ray. After that we will get a better idea of how things are looking.

Our little guy is not out of the woods yet. We have to make it through the night,and that seems to be the worse time for him.

*Pray he can go every 3hrs with no complications in his breathing.
*Pray his IV stays put. It's been giving us some issues.
*Pray Elliott would eat/drink(he's a very little guy,and can't afford to not eat).
*Pray Elliott would sleep.
*Pray the X-Ray comes back clear.

A HUGE thank you to our McCoy Church Family. The visits, balloons, meals, watching our other kids, and most importantly prayers mean so very much to us. We feel so loved.

Well that only took me a few hours to post...ha! We are now done with Toy Story 3. Moving on to Land Before Time Marathon...there's more of those! Hope you all have a blessed evening.

"We wait in Hope for the Lord: He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His Holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." Psalm 33:20-22

New...

Why hello there. Yes,I know. Been a long time.First I just have to say...Don't you just LOVE the new design!?! Thank you to Melanie for putting together a great header for me! To see more of her work,just click on her button here on my blog. :)

 Thought I'd try to catch everyone up on the latest happenings around our house. Never been to our house? Well, here is our dining room. Like the new chandelier in our dining room? It's new! Well, to us. It's actually really, really old. A friend was taking it down out of her house (Hi Carolyn!), and GAVE it to me! Talk about awesome! Especially considering that our old light fixture only held one light bulb, and it was a 25watt. Yea, pathetic. I kept trying to just tell everyone it's more romantic to eat in the dark. Being that there's mostly boys in our house, that did not go over so well. I gotta say, it sure is nice to be able to see our food. Well, some nights. So, I'm not the worlds greatest cook. At least we have a pretty chandelier to eat under.



Last week was my sweetheart's birthday. He turned 28. I love him so much! We have started a 21 day cleanse. Man,it's been great. The first three days were rough. But it's been smooth sailing since. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. He's a pretty awesome Daddy too. It's not been an easy year, but God does not promise us ease. He's been so faithful to us, and provided for every need.It sure has been a memorable year, and it's been so exciting to see God's hand in so many area's of our lives. I heard someone say today, "God did not design marriage to make us happy, but to make us Holy". I think one could say that about life in general. Happy Birthday Love...I am SO happy to be your wife!


We started school two weeks ago. It's going great! I'll post pictures soon of our school room/playroom. It's been so much fun to watch our children learn, grow and explore this summer.I am so excited to see what this fall/winter holds.

Sweet {R}

I've been taking pictures of this cutie since the day he was born. Literally. I just love to see him grow and change before my lens. He is quite the little guy, always chatting it up,and running everywhere! Thank-you to his mom,and my dear friend,for giving me the opportunity to take pictures of her precious boy. To see more,you can visit my facebook page. Bethany Hartman Photography

Still here....

I'm still here. This summer has flown by! I've been soaking up the sun with my kiddos. We've been swimming nearly every day. Playing outside everyday. And just enjoying our summer together.
I just had to post a a few pictures I took today of two precious little girls. We have become good friends with this family over the summer. Ever meet people that you connect with and feel like you've known your whole life? Yea,that's what it's like with these friends. I promise I will blog more regularly now that we are getting back into the schedule of school and activities!