Never judge a book by it's cover

Tonight, Jay and I made a trip to Costco for our upcoming camping trip.
Afterwards we headed to Applebees where we had a gift card to spend on some half-off appetizers. 
About 10 minutes after we sat down, a large group of about 15 teenagers walked in and were quickly seated at the table right next to our booth. 
As I saw them ALL pass by, one by one, I looked at Jay and said, "oh brother".  
Ya know, like "great, now we have a table full of loud, obnoxious teens next to us."
That really sounds terrible now as I write it.....it didn't feel that way at the time.  Hmm.....
We continued on with our order and conversation.....pretty much forgetting about the teens next to us, as they were just pretty quiet and having some normal conversations between them all.
We saw them all order and about 15 minutes later receive their food. 
One by one, they waited until all were served before anyone started in. 
"That's polite of them."  I thought  "waiting like that for everyone to get their food before they eat their own"
As soon as the last plate was placed on the table....
and the server walked away....
all 15 heads bowed down....
and all 30 hands folded at the table.....
and they prayed. 

That moment gave me immense hope for our future
and the potential for my kids to find good friends like these teens obviously had.......

.....and it taught me a very valueable lesson.

Trying again...and again...and again....

In the spirit of the upcoming summer season, I've decided it's time, once again, to get serious about getting healthy.
I just finished watching the Biggest Loser Finale and was crying through most of it. Just seeing the difference in these contestants and the way their smiles have changed from when they started losing weight....
....made me want to be there
In a big way.
So, at the risk of failing...yet again...and doing in front of anyone reading this...again....I'm re-starting my diet blog.
I never got rid of it...just gave it a break for a while.
Okay, so it was a year.
Sheesh...I just think if I had stuck with it....where I could be right now.
But....I digress.
It's gotta be better to start over again...and again...and again...well you get the picture...than to never try again.
I know this is a cop-out, but I am starting after we get home from camping this Memorial weekend.
Not because I want to be able to eat everything possible....
Okay, maybe that is why.
But really I am hoping to use some quiet time in those few days to make some serious menu plans and snack idea lists.
I plan to make it a family affair.
I know Tyler wants to change some things before heading off to High School this fall....
And I know Jay could use some changes himself.
We all could.
Below is the button that will bring you to my healthy eating blog. I'll restart it on Tues. but you can check up on what I started last year.
I just did and I was surprised at how well I really was doing for those couple weeks.
I am determined to do better this year and stick with it.

P.S. I am eating a Hostess Ho Ho while I write this. Is that bad?

Baseball games

For the first time, Timmy decided to play baseball this spring. He has been playing on the school's team for about 2 mos. and really loves it.
At first, all I could think of is how it was just one more thing to have going on....but considering we aren't in the midst of any other sports right now, it's been pretty low key.
They've had several games and practices rained out, but all considered they've done pretty good.
They started tournament playoffs last week and have their last game tomorrow. It will be for 3rd place.....not bad.
Tim has really come a long way with his playing since the season began. Hitting still remains his biggest challenge, but he's getting better.
This past week he really stood out in the outfield. Three different innings came to an end because of him getting the 3rd out.
Once was with bases loaded and a fly ball to left field that Timmy caught, forcing the other team to waste their chance to bring in all those runners.
The second was a line drive straight for him that he lunged for and caught just before it hit the ground. Very exciting.
And thirdly, he stopped a ground ball and made a perfect throw to first base to get the guy out.
I was so happy with just one of those plays....but three...??
He was so excited and it was really good for him to have some moments like that. We've really enjoyed the season and are looking forward to him playing again next spring.

n

s

Sunday Snapshot: Faces

A face can tell a thousand words.
A person can be perfectly quiet and yet, just by looking at their face, you can tell what they're thinking....
....how their feeling.
Livi's face continues to tell a story every day that we have her.
She can't tell us how she's feeling.....
....but we see it in her eyes
A perfect snapshot of her heart
From fear and uncertainty.....

To the beginning of trust......

From the confusion of not knowing what's happening to her.....

To healing and understanding......

....about the smiles of happiness that lay ahead.

Olivia talking

This is a video I caught of Olivia talking to me. Tanner was clearing the table after breakfast and took her milk cup from her spot. She was trying to tell me about it....like she was tattling on him. It was so cute, I had to get it on video.
She tries, but just can't seem to form the words.

Update

Today makes 9 days since Olivia had her lip surgery. It's amazing how well kids just bounce back and you'd never know she was even hurting.
She's been doing really well. Eating, talking up a storm(nothing new that we understand yet), and healing has all gone great. She seems to be having fun with her voice these days. She is always jibber-jabbering about something, even when she's just playing on her own...more than she ever did before. It's like she's having fun seeing what new sounds she can make now with her new lip. Very cute.
We had our check up with the surgeon yesterday morning who agreed that it looks great and is healing nicely. Much to my surprise, we even went ahead and got her next surgery for her palate scheduled. It will be on July 11th. That one will be a little more difficult for her as it is much more invasive than just the lip. That part I am not looking forward to...but it will be nice to get it done and start to get working on her speech.
Just when I thought we were good and all was well, we were at Timmy's baseball game last night and that bubble burst. The game was going long, almost 2 hours, and she was just fine the whole time. Playing and running around. Tanner sat her down and went about 2 feet in front of her to rolled a basketball to her. Just as it got to her, she looked down and WHAM....right in the mouth. I saw the whole thing and it happened in an instant. As soon as I picked her up, she was bleeding quite heavily from her incision under the middle part of her nose. CRAP! I quick went to one of the other moms for reinforcement to see if she had a tissue. She went digging and about 3 other moms quick handed me some. There was blood on my shirt, on her shirt, all over her mouth, nose, chin....everywhere. She was screaming and Tanner felt horrible.
Thankfully, the game was just ending so we were able to get home where I could get it cleaned up enough to see what really happened. I gave her a quick bath and tried to wash it as best as I could. It wasn't that it was terrible, but the skin at that part did open up and was bulging out some. I decided to call the nurse line at the hospital where she had it repaired. I just wasn't sure if they would need to stitch it again or not.
Long story short, she called our Dr. and he said they really wouldn't do anything at this point...just put come ice on it and try and bandage it down with antibiotic cream. We ended up getting some butterfly bandages and so hopefully it will come back into place and heal well. What a crazy night. All this in between Tim's game that went way over on time and then having to quick get home, change, bathe her, call Dr., and get back to school or Tyler's band concert. I swear, I think the phrase "when it rains, it pours" was invented for us.

Finding her voice

Yesterday....

less than 48 hours after having her lip surgery....

and able to put both lips together for the first time in her life.....

Olivia called me mama.