The Cooper's

Life in GeOrGiA

2011-12-04T15:28:00.005-05:00

Our life has been crazy and exciting and sometimes unbelievable in the past several months. I still can't believe we are in Georgia! I can say tho that I know it was the Lord's will...I have seen Him move in our families lives in BIG ways. Our children have grown in the Lord by leaps and bounds. Our oldest daughter is finding her way as a young adult now and praying for the Lord to continue to lead her in the ways he wants her to go. Our next daughter has been used by the Lord in many ways with her piano playing skills..and with that I have seen her GROW and play songs I didn't think she could....I am still amazed when I listen to her practice as she plays by ear and is wonderful at it. Our 3rd oldest daughter has blossomed and is singing for the Lord in church...she sings solos now, and this is my quietest teenager! Our son is seeking and learning more about his bible...and the little ones talk about church so much..they just can't wait to go to "church". We love our sweet church and are thankful that when the Lord moved us he led us to a wonderful God filled church! We miss *HoMe* and Georgetown but so thankful that the Lord always knows what He's doing in our lives. We are in the ~greatest~ time of year! We love Christmas here and just the joy we have to tell people about the Lord...I pray all is well with you and that you too are enjoying this time of year.

Long Over Due

2011-11-06T16:10:00.001-05:00

I promised to tell once we were settled and that has come and gone..life once again got me busy and I hadn't had the time to sit and write, let alone read anywhere lol...so I am praying that maybe this week I will be able to write a good post on our new beginnings here in Georgia, and how the Lord is working and providing for our lives here..I pray all is well with yall and everyone is preparing for one of my favorite times of year..*Thanksgiving* & *Christmas*..I love winter period but having those holidays just makes it more special...so till later this week have a blessed Sunday and I trust your enjoying it with our Lord in his house today. :)

When The Lord Moves

2011-08-25T20:59:00.002-04:00

There are times in our lives when the Lord turns our lives upside down and inside out and we still must trust him. We are there right now...but we have a peace that is beyond understanding. We received news just a little over 2 weeks ago, that my hubby was being moved from one location to another in his job. That means {HUGE} things for us...we are needing to move. We are heading to North Georgia..and we found a home this week..so we are off as of next Saturday. This is a big change for us, and we didn't know what to do and what the Lord has in store for us...but we trust in him, even when we can't trace his hand. He is already working in our lives and preparing the way for us, and we are ever so thankful for that. Once settled I will post..Please pray for us as we begin a new adventure in the Lord.

Storms In Life

2011-07-23T21:43:00.002-04:00

Well sometimes we have storms that come thru our life and sometimes they leave behind a path that of destruction...yesterday that happened here at our home...my garden was hit hard and we have lost over half of our corn crop....but on a better note we did see a red tomato and a baby watermelon!

The girls trying their best to {fix} the corn

Summer Fun

2011-07-20T13:50:00.006-04:00

We have gotten settled in the new house and are loving it...we got our garden in about a month later than everyone else...BUT as you can see it's doing great! We are very thankful the Lord has been blessing the growth of the plants. On the 4th of the July we had several of our closets friends over to enjoy a day of fellowship and food...one of the favorite things us Baptist love is good food and fellowship lol...we had a great time...we then went to watch fireworks nearby.

The garden is flourishing

We weren't quite knee high by the 4th of July but so very close

lots of fun that night

Lots of laughing going on that day

Whats a 4th of July without good gospel music

Amazing to me that all these girls are the same age, and our little Liberty is the smallest.

great music on the front porch

Liberty having fun playing dodge base

the love of friends

we played dodge base in the rain that day

the twins loved this so much

they thought they were "big" stuff

This is what you call good ole redneck fun lol

Busy....Busy....Busy

2011-05-26T22:33:00.002-04:00

Okay so we have been a bit busy...that's to say the least for sure. We went straight from Youth Rally at our church to the twins birthday. Then we prepared for our family get away..we took a few days and traveled to Cherry Grove North Carolina and spent a little time at the ocean. We then took our oldest children and all their friends to Dollywood. We had a blast with them! Cassie & her young man also attended a banquet the day before we left for vacation, so that was alot too. We then just had the Lord give us a tremendous blessing! We weren't really looking a new place to live, but this beautiful home came available. We have loved this home ever since we moved to the area we live. This is such a dollhouse and God opened the doors for us to move there. The home has nearly 2 acres so we can't wait! We make the big move the middle of June and truly are so excited!!! This is so much more like us, so we can't wait to move into this home full of charm. Please pray for us as we prepare to move the family. Thankfully it is just about 1 1/2miles down from our home now! But still lots to move and get settled. Once we get settled I will post an update. But I am posting a few pics of the home now..we have a little outside work to do in the gardens but really the home is beautiful!

The front of the home

The back of the house

We have another outbuilding..plus we are putting in a large garden too!

Daddy & Silas are so excited to have outbuildings

My Precious Miracles Are ~TWO~ Today

2011-04-07T13:54:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning, not in labor, not in fear, but happiness filled my heart! I had 2 happy little girls in their rooms today. Two years ago though, I was scared, and nervous, and unsure of what the future was gonna hold. As I layed in the operating room, and the nurses and doctors were quickly moving about preparing for my 29 week 2 day old babies to arrive, all I could do was PRAY! Pray the Lord would guide the doctors and nurses, that he would protect these little ones in my womb. That the Lord would allow them to make it thru all this. One thing I remember which may have been silly to some, but it was oh so important to me was hearing them cry. I knew the chances were slim, since they were so tiny...but oh how my heart ached to hear them cry. I never heard a true cry of what a full term baby would sound like, although the nurses said they did..what I heard was a whimper...they were alive! Beatrice Joy was born @7:23am and was 2lb 5oz 14in long, and Olivia Hope was born @7:24am and was 2lb 11oz 14 1/2in long. It was the Lord's grace, truly amazing grace! We had been thru so much with them. Finding out at about 19 weeks that they had TTTS a very rare condition for identical twins, and then having fetal laser surgery at 20 weeks and not knowing if they would both make it, or worse yet doctors telling us we may lose both or have to choose between the two of them to save one. The doctors gave us little hope. But the Lord gave us HOPE, & JOY...and the peace knowing he was in control. Then I was put on bedrest, for not knowing how long my body would keep them in there safe haven. But oh our Lord knows whats best! He always does...I am so thankful for his timing and his protection. I know you must think....how could these babies coming so early have been the Lord's will....I have NO DOUBT it was his timing and his will. Our little Olivia left 1 week after being born to Vanderbilt University to under go her 1st heart surgery (due to complications from TTTS) she was the smallest baby ever to have this particular procedure done. I have no doubt that was the Lord! I can go on and on about what God did during this time in our life, but it would take up so much room...I couldn't still fit it all in. He worked in ways only he can! He was always ahead of us, preparing the way...always in each tomorrow! Olivia still has issues with her heart, and I know the Lord is still taking care of her! She is a fighter, she doesn't show any outward signs of having problems...and it never slows her down! No meds, only check-ups and yes we know surgery is in her future but I know the Lord will be there with us. He knew these babies before they were conceived, and he's been there while they were in my womb, and each and every day since then.

The bible says in Psalm 139: 13-14

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou has covered my in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are they works, and that my soul knoweth right well.

I thank the Lord for all my many friends over that past 2+ years that have prayed for us...he was working and still is today!

If you want to read more, go back to December 2008-May 2009 and then more on Olivia in Aug. 2009

My precious twin girls! God made you just for us..we love you so very much

The personalities you have are wonderful and we love watching you develop them

Olivia Hope 2lb 11oz 14 1/2in long

Beatrice Joy 2lb 5oz 14in long

My hand covered their little bodies, they were so tiny

Just after they came home from the NICU

Momma & her girls in the NICU almost time to come home

Momma & her girls last summer

Still fit in the swing together

Daddy & Momma on our anniversary 2009 in the NICU

we loved spending it with them!

Olivia playing outside the other day..loving the spring weather

Beatrice playing outside..being her silly self

~Simple Things That Make Me Smile~

2011-03-24T15:16:00.003-04:00

My little babies are getting so big. It's hard for me to believe that in 2 weeks from today they will be "2"...oh my goodness where has the time gone? This picture was taken yesterday while they waiting for their breakfast. I looked back at it last night and was so amazed at how much they look alike. Yes I know that sounds silly, but when you see them every day...I see 2 totally different kids (which they are) but being identical twins so many people wonder how we tell them apart. There is so much different about them that I can't imagine how others can't tell them apart lol...but looking at this picture makes me realize how people could have a hard time.

They had just woke up and were waiting ever so patiently for breakfast

Here they were being silly and waiting for lunch..oh I love my babies....all my babies :)

~Gearing Up~

2011-03-17T11:09:00.002-04:00

Well it's that time again to start preparing for grocery shopping day. I usually spend a few hours preparing for this day. I am always hard at work trying to find different ways to make my hubbies paycheck stretch. I am always watching my favorite blogs to see what they have to say about the deals for this particular week. I match my coupons to the best sales and try my best to get the stuff dirt cheap..sometimes even FREE!!! So here I am working hard on coupon day (that's what I call today) I do sometimes work on this throughout the week printing, but matching and deal writing day is today. I also plan my menus for 2 weeks, which makes buying much easier. Check out my links below to see some of my favorite websites to help me along my way. I don't endorse everything they have on their sites, but they are great for information. Praying everyone is having a stupendous week! I have lots going on here and prayerfully I will get to post again in the next few days with our happenings!

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ this is probably my favorite of all the sites

http://www.thefrugalgirls.com/

http://hip2save.com/

Happy almost Friday!

Good Fellowship and Great Reads

2011-02-16T12:52:00.005-05:00

We had a great night of fellowship this past Saturday. We had our ~*Sweetheart Banquet*~ with our church. We had about 14-15 couples this year that were able to attend. We usually pick a restaurant and all join there. We have a room to ourselves and enjoy a great meal together with wonderful fellowship. Then the games begin!!!! Usually embarrassing, stomach hurting from laughing so hard kind of games. As you can see from the pics below they go in on some of the games. At the end of the evening we have a game called the "oldie wed" game. The winner of this game enjoys a paid way to our couples retreat in September. The things we find out during that game are so hilarious that I walked away from the evening with a headache and stomach hurting from laughing so hard. It was a great night of fellowship! I love our church and church family!

As for my good reads...Oh I love to read...fiction, non-fiction, it really doesn't matter. I just love books that stir my heart for the Lord. Of course my favorite is the bible, but here are some good reads that my husband and I are reading right now.

1.) Joyfully at home (bought for our girls and is loved by them)

2.) Ten P's in a Pod (excited about this one~been wanting to read for a year)

3.) Housewives Desperate For God

4.) The Family (need I say more)

5.) What He Must Be To Marry My Daughter~so far excellent

6.) Paradise Valley

7.) Ronald Reagon 100 years (my husband & I love Reagon)

8.) Revolution in World Missions

9.) Family Driven Faith (I already read but we are both re-reading)

10.) Family Man, Family Leader

11.) Preparing to Be A Helpmeet (loved Created to Be His Helpmeet,

we bought this for our daughters)

12.) Avenged (not pictured~my hubby is reading this one)

We had to get the Ritz cracker in our mouth without touching it and no help from our spouse! Somehow we won...please don't ask.. I had cracker in my eyes and hair all night :)

These were the 4 couples playing the oldie wed game

The wives came back in the room after being out and had to pick their husbands foot from the group...they all got it right!

Priceless! Love you Sheila :)

Needless to say they got the answer wrong..lol

Love these books...always great to find books that help you to strengthen you walk with the Lord. I also love Beverly Lewis books..strangely enough I have non listed but have 2 new ones in our family library beckoning my name!

Down for the Count

2011-01-26T15:26:00.003-05:00

Our house went down for the count yesterday. Cassie & I had colds over the weekend, but yesterday morning Cheyenne and Liberty woke up with high fevers. Then throughout the day one by one the rest of the children began to get fevers as well. The twins started late afternoon but have kept their fevers to a minimal. But everyone is very weak and down. Prayers are requested for my little people. We are praying for this to be very short lived. But as for today we are still down, not as bad but they are very tired today.

~HaPpY BiRtHdAy~

2011-01-24T11:58:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday to our oldest child. We are so very thankful for you. You have blessed us beyond what words can say. You made the most important decision in your life 9 years ago, when you accepted the Lord as your personal saviour. That is the greatest gift you could give us as parents. We have watched you grow in your walk with the Lord each and every day. You love to be a part of anything that is going on at church and things of the Lord. You love your kids in the bus ministry, and desire to lead them to the Lord. You have become beautiful inside and out. You show this in your walk and your talk. We love you and pray for the Lord to use you in a mighty way. We are excited to see what God is gonna do in your life and what the *future* may hold.

Beautiful

Serving the Lord in all you do

Fun and Energetic

The love of *FaMilY*

Best of Friends

Daddy's girl

SnOw....sNow...and more SNOW

2011-01-13T11:08:00.003-05:00

Well the last few weeks has given us more snow than I think we've seen in awhile. We had a wonderful white Christmas. It was so wonderful to wake up and see it snowing..but it soon turned into a lot of snow! But it was truly wonderful, and we got to spend it with all my family. Then this past Sunday night into Monday morning we got another 10-12 inches of snow. Hubby was unable to make the trip down the mountain to South Carolina to work so he spent the day with us. We still did all our schooling (yes we homeschoolers still did school) and then took about 30 minutes and bundled everyone up. The little ones resembled abominable snow people! I can't even count the layers we had on everyone! We took a nice walk or should I say trek thru the neighborhood! Later that evening we made homemade snow cream! I haven't had that in years! We even colored it blue. What fun we had with our children.

The beginning of the journey

The only way daddy got the wagon thru was a few vehicles actually attempted to go out. A few times the wheels actually were stuck, due to the snow being so deep.

My little snow people

Beatrice loved it!

Olivia had to think about it for awhile, then she loved it.

They had 2 quilts on them, in addition to the many layers already on them.

We told her not to eat the yellow snow hahaha

My sweetie and I

Home Sweet Home

Plows didn't even try coming out till very late that night, which by then didn't help much!

Winner!

2010-12-27T10:22:00.002-05:00

Our winner after using random.org is~Shala_Darkstone! Congratulations you have won the $35 Gift Certificate to any of the 200+online stores to CSN.com

Please check your inbox for details on how to claim your $35 Gift Certificate! Thanks so much to all my new visitors for stopping by please come back often to visit! And a big thank you to CSN.com for offering this great prize! Praying all of you have a blessed New Year coming up!

shala_darkstone said...
Hi, I'd love to have the Fangio Table Lamp in Antique Beige - 13012. Thanks so much for the giveaway!

GIVEAWAY! $35 Gift Certificate to CSN.com Stores

2010-12-21T09:17:00.006-05:00

Ok so I have never had a giveaway here on the blog. I think it about time for one don't you! I was contacted by CSN.com to offer my great readers a wonderful $35 gift certificate just for you. You can use the $35 gift certificate on any of their 200+ stores.

They have everything from their Delsey Luggage. to Fisher price toys, kitchenware, and more. I can spend hours looking at all their wonderful items.

I love all the cookware for mommy's, but they also have really cute cookware for your little ones! Please take a minute go and check them out.

All you have to do to enter is check out any of the 200+ CSN.com sites and tell me your favorite thing and leave a comment on this post (please make sure you leave your email for me to contact you). The drawing will end Christmas Eve at midnight! I will announce the winner Monday December the 27th. Good luck and have fun checking out their many sites!!

*NOTE: CSN.COM ONLY SHIPS TO USA AND CANADA. FOR MY CANADIAN READERS THERE MAY BE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING CHARGES.*

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-07T19:43:00.007-05:00

I just love this time of year, it truly is such a special time. This week hubby has been on vacation so we have enjoyed the time together as a family. We took the children yesterday to the Grove Park Inn to see all the beautiful Gingerbread houses. To say how amazing they were doesn't seem to cover it. They really are tremendous! We all had a great time, and got to enjoy the atmosphere of being there. I pray you all are having a wonderful time enjoying spending time with family and friends.

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera is nearly impossible right now.

Our beautiful children

Miera and Liberty's favorite tree! They LOVE *pink*

She said I'm ~wooking at the snow~ (there was a huge window to view out)

My love and I

The Grove Park Inn

the grounds of the Grove Park

The view Liberty was looking at

These are so beautiful

My dream house lol

Noah's ark..really was amazing the details

I love these, they were really neat

One of the many trees at the Grove Park

I love the church with the manger beside

This was the winner for the youth category

Missing in Action

2010-12-01T14:39:00.006-05:00

Yes I have been missing in action. *Life* has consumed me for the past several months. In addition to that I have been without my laptop for nearly 3 months. My power cord finally gave up and died and I just haven't ordered a new one. I always seem to find something more important to spend that money on. My husband on the other hand just says order it. I will, I will after the Christmas season, and maybe after tax time! We have spent the last few months enjoying life and each other. In September our family took a much needed break away. Daddy had spent so much extra time making up for the money that was stole from us. We were able to sneak away for 3 nights, and had a great time in the Lord with each other. Then my hubby and I had already paid for our couples retreat at our church a few months before that, and we took time away for the two of us! It was a blessing to renew our marriage and have just time for the two of us. October was very busy as we prepared for our annual Camp meeting at our church. It was such a blessing to have all the many preachers and their families with us for a few days. Of course the month of November is always busy preparing for the holidays that always seem to approach much more quickly than we anticipate. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving with family and had a tremendous time in the Lord! I am gonna post just a few pics of the past few months and Lord willing I will be able to post more later. I just hate being on this desktop computer tho...its SOOOO old and slow. Even with the fastest internet its slow. Praying everyone will have a wonderful time this month just enjoying the season. Because it truly is not about presents and gifts, its about our Jesus! Pray for us as my hubby and I are doing the Christmas program at our church this year and we just want everyone to see Jesus!

On a ride at Dollywood

At our couples retreat

My little ones getting so big

Having fun at the park, before it started turning *cold*

Still always doing the same thing

family fun in Pigeon Forge

We had such a blast!

Growing up way to fast! So beautiful

My precious babies

My "big" girls aren't they so precious!

Little Miss having fun at the fair

Our little man and little miss at the fair

~Sorry~

2010-08-10T14:32:00.007-04:00

Sorry would be what the I would describe the person who stole my wallet that had my husbands ENTIRE 2 weeks paycheck in it.. cashed I might add. I would have to be honest to say that in my flesh I would love nothing more than to have everything they use the money for to burn up! But I have to remember that whomever stole it must "not" know my Lord! For if they did, they would have never done it. We as a family are trying hard to pray for them that the Lord would convict their heart and show them what they have done! I guess my only regret would be that I carry my tracts in my purse not my wallet, so the word of God was not in there. I know that it is just money, but it has set us back 2 weeks! I know the Lord will meet the need as he always has for us. Its just so hard to not get down sometimes. It's not just the money...there were things in there that were important like my license, insurance cards, debit card, and then things that mean nothing to no one but me! Pictures of my children and family! Help us to pray for the person who has it! I know the Lord will get the victory in all of this!

In a more fun note..check out the pics of us playing the game "sorry".

Pondering on her next move

Great Fellowship!

Celebrations!

2010-07-03T20:25:00.006-04:00

We have many reasons to celebrate this weekend. Today was our 2nd oldest daughter Cheyenne's birthday. She turned 14 today. My my how the time flys by...I truly can remember her birth as though it was yesterday. She is growing into such a beautiful young lady and we are so proud of her. She loves on the babies all the time. Sometimes to the point where have to ask her to leave them alone for awhile...but that is a good thing we know she will be a great mother. She loves the Lord and last year 2 days after her birthday she was born again! She accepted the Lord as her personal savior, so Monday she will celebrate her spiritual birthday as well!

Then tomorrow we celebrate the birth of our country. I am beyond proud to live here. I have a husband who served his country proudly and to this day would do it again! He loves this country very much and prays that it would turn back to the ways of the Lord!

So to celebrate such wonderful things we took the family to a nearby river. It has picnic areas and places for you to get in and play with the children. They all had so much fun. It was very cloudy at a few points and we were praying it wouldn't rain on us. We grilled out and enjoyed a nice picnic as well.

My dearest love

The twins had such fun, they love the outdoors

The twins love the outdoors but they didn't love the cold mountain water!

I think he was trying to sneak up on the girls

Love this picture

The river area

She loved being on momma, she actually cried when they took her off, looks like I need another Ergo fast!

One of my favorites, many have thought these two were twins as well..they are very closely knit together

Very rare to get a picture of me..I'm usually behind the camera

The birthday girl!

I got several more of her trying to balance, she nearly fell in :)

Life......

2010-06-29T09:19:00.004-04:00

Isn't it funny how life always seem to consume our time. We again have been very busy lately. I have been putting up beans, and corn. I didn't get a chance to do that last year with the twins coming home from the NICU. My time was consumed with taking care of preemies. We are very excited to be getting our canning and freezing done this year! We put up 68 pint jars of bush beans. I only got 16 3c bags of corn done so far..but much more to do! We will be working on tomatoes and peaches and salsa as those things start coming in. I did put a few pics of a few of my projects I have been working on. Haven't had a chance to take alot of pics as planned. I have been sewing away on culottes for the girls to have for church camp next week. Our little Liberty loved them so much I made her a pair too. The older girls have a split skirt pattern I am making which is wonderful! Looks just like a skirt!! Liberty's is full and long and again looks like an adorable skirt. I made the quilt below for some dear friends of ours at church who are expecting their first little one next month. Lord willing I will get more pics posted later this week (no promises though, lol). Praying everyone is enjoying the summer months. I can tell you I enjoy the fall months much better when the weather isn't so hot!

I have a urgent prayer request I would like all my readers to help me pray over. I had a friend call yesterday and let me know a friend of theirs just got news that their unborn twin babies have TTTS. This is the same thing our family went thru with Beatrice and Olivia. I ask everyone to please pray for them! They will be heading to Cincinnati soon for testing and probably surgery like we had. This is the Shook family... I so covet your prayers for them at this time!

Aren't these the most delicious fabrics!

This is the front

This is the back

Liberty's fabric for her culottes

Liberty in her culottes before our nightly walk around the neighborhood

Olivia Hope

Beatrice Joy

Silas working away planting, and helping daddy with outside work

Cassie canning away

Graduation, Banquet and Sneak Peaks

2010-06-07T10:59:00.007-04:00

Okay so I have been so busy I haven't had the time to even think of posting! We were busy with Cassandra's banquet at church. Every year our church puts on a banquet for the young people. An alternative to prom you might say. We allow the girls to dress up in MODEST prom apparel and the guys suits. They all have a nice dinner and then they change into something more relaxing yet still modest and have hay rides/bon fires/and preaching. Lots of fun. So we were preparing for this. See when you want your young people to look modest sometimes you have to adjust the things you find. We had found the beautiful dress but of course the dress wasn't suitable everywhere so I had to make a jacket for her dress, which turned out great. What was even better was for the whole outfit we only had $25 in it! Then we went from that to Graduation!!! Oh she did great...our pastor preached a wonderful message for the graduates, but something we could all apply to our lives. We are so proud of her and what she is becoming for the Lord. We can't wait to see what God has in store for her life! While all this has been going on I have been working on some projects...below are some pics of the fabrics I have been using..later this week I will post pics of my finished items. I am praying about opening and Etsy shop to sell some of my sewing projects. I am just wanting to seek the Lord's will concerning this. Praying everyone has a blessed week. I know the summer months find all of us very busy, I am looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to.

Cassandra and Shasta both home school graduates in our church

Our Pastor preaching a wonderful message to the graduates!

Daddy & Momma awarding Cassandra her diploma! Our first home school graduate!

The changing of the tassel..was too cute hers got caught when she moved it, hence the face!

Daddy & Momma with Cassandra at our dinner afterwards

Cassandra heading to the banquet at our church

Love this pic

Cassandra and some of her closests friends

Cass, Lo, and Mo :) (love you girls)

this is my sneak peek...oh I am working on some great things!

This fabric is just to die for! Although I gave this one away...so sad

I just love quilting!

I do believe I may be opening a Etsy shop here soon ladies!!!

Senior Pictures

2010-05-14T20:21:00.003-04:00

Our oldest daughter will be graduating soon, so I took her out the other day and we took alot of Senior Pictures. I will tell you I took more than 60 pictures, I knew it would be too many to put on here so I only put my favorites! The rest I have posted on Facebook, if you are my friend you can view them there, if you are not let me know maybe we can connect. We have homeschooled this precious girl since she was in 1st grade. I remember vividly the Lord dealing with my husband and I to begin homeschooling her after her kindergarten year. I argued with the Lord and told him there was no way I could do it, he of course assured me I could with his help. We have been homeschooling ever since. I am so thankful that we followed the Lord when we did. This girl was struggling back then just to keep up, once we brought her home she excelled! She is now graduating a year yearly!! We are so proud of our girl. Her greatest desire is to be a a servant of the Lord. She wants nothing more in her life than to be a wife and mother when the Lord sees fit. We know that he will send the PERFECT young man into her life when it's HIS WILL!!

Family Fun

2010-05-07T10:00:00.006-04:00

Our family has been missing in action I know. We have had many things going on in the past few weeks. We had a full weekend of Youth Rally at our church, with lots of preaching and singing and youth activities for our young people. It's a blessing to see what the Lord has done in the hearts of our children personally but also in the hearts of others. Daddy then has had this whole past week off and doesn't return to work till Monday. So we have had lots of fun this week. The older girls and I took a day Monday and went shopping..daddy sent us off and said have fun..WE DID!! Then we have a visiting preacher in and went to services that evening. Tuesday was my hubby & I's anniversary and we spent the day out just having fun. We had a great lunch at a real New York Style Pizza place. He took me to my favorite knit shop and I got some great yarn. We got the girls some new dresses, and daddy new shoes! Then off to church again! Wednesday we spent at home, and daddy did a little car work, then off to Wednesday night church. Yesterday we had a day to just hang with the family. We went to Pisgah Inn on the parkway and also to Looking Glass Falls, and Sliding Rock. We ended the evening by going to my nephews ball game, oh what fun that was. Today we are vedging around the house. I am hoping to get my herbs planted, whiled daddy and little man are off fishing. We have a youth rally at a church nearby that our pastor is preaching at and our young people are singing at, so off to church again. We love this life the Lord has given us. I can't think of anything better for us to do while hubby is on vacation than to spend it at church! Praying your week has gone well and you have a great weekend!

Looking Glass Falls

My older girls

The twins having fun on their trip

Liberty

My sweetheart & I

Daddy & little man

Daddy and some of the girls

Momma & the older girls

Momma & her favorite son

My adorable nephew

My dad

Liberty running at my nephews game

He was getting tuckered out!

Put me in coach (just happens to be his daddy)

My brother, his sweet wife little man (their new baby was sleepin)

My parents

Finally....Word On Olivia!!!

2010-04-24T14:21:00.004-04:00

We finally heard about Olivia and her heart. After much prayer...Vanderbilt phoned and let us know they were okay with her heart and where she is right now. We do know that in a year or so she will have to have surgery. We did find that the hole between the upper chambers (ASD) is larger than it was and is causing some of the issues. Her right upper chamber is enlarged and thickened due to the extra flow of blood, but isn't causing problems right now. She is to be monitored every 4 months to watch the situation. They feel that by closing the hole that may help the pulmonary valve and the problems there. We thank the Lord for showing us these new issues and where we stand with them. We are very thankful he led such great surgeons in our lives at Vanderbilt!! Please continue to pray for her, as I would love to see the Lord just heal all of this. But we know ultimately we want the Lords will to be done. Thank you all for praying with us and for Olivia!

Olivia

Beatrice

They really think they are something now standing like this

Oh what fun we're going to have when they are walking!!

Sickness......

2010-04-20T15:15:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile since my family has been down with a bug, and it seems one has reared it's ugly head in my house! I was down most of the day yesterday and last night. I am still very weak today, but feeling better than yesterday. I was awoke by the sounds of another child yelling for me that her older sister was getting sick. Not what I wanted to hear..I was praying that it was just me. Well today she has been down and sick. The twins and Liberty have been just a little off, so I am praying they don't get it like I did. Liberty insisted on staying in her PJ's something we don't do. She loves being in her dresses and on a normal day is wanting in her dress just as soon as breakfast is over, but today was different. So if you were to stop by today you would not be welcomed in as normal. Today my entire house is vedging in our PJ's due to this nasty bug flying thru my house! I am praying it will not hit my husband as he is on call this whole week for work. We desire your prayers for quick recovery, we have a youth rally at our church starting Friday and our children have no desire to miss it. Praying we will be back in the swing of things soon.

Having Fun Being Frugal Yet Healthy!!!

2010-04-13T22:03:00.008-04:00

Ok so my wonderful mother was telling me about this great blog to check out on homemade baby food. I was spending over $120 a month on store bought baby food for the twins. I am on a very tight budget with one income and that was a huge blow to it! It is very hard to find good coupons on baby food. I am always trying to find ways to make my hubbys paycheck stretch further. So I went and checked out this blog and she was saying how she has been making her own baby food...she recommended a great book on how to get started and great recipes to make. So I called my local Barnes & Noble and they held the book till we got out of church that Wednesday night, and on our way home we picked it up. It is a great book, and I love all the ideas. I can tell you I have not even come close to 1/2 of what I was spending on baby food from the store. They are getting fresh food and they are loving it! I make it and then freeze it in these great ice cube trays, and pop them out put them in labeled freezer bags. Then when it's time to eat I warm them up!!

This is bananas/mango, carrots

Beatrice loves the new food!

Olivia eats this better than she did the store bought food

Frozen in the trays..I pop them out and put them in labeled freezer bags

Happy Birthday My Twin Girls..Beatrice Joy & Olivia Hope

2010-04-07T08:48:00.004-04:00

Our miracle girls are 1 today!!! We really can't express how we feel on such a joyous day. There were times when we were told to choose between the girls, we choose the Lord! There were so many trials we went thru..but the Lord saw us thru it all!! When you came at 29 weeks and 2 days gestation, you were beyond tiny. There were times when they said they may not make it, we gave it all to God. We have been thru a journey that I can't say I would have volunteered for or asked to be on, but now looking back I can honestly say I am thankful for everything we have been thru. God showed my family so much and drew us closer to him and each other more than ever before. We are still walking that journey, as our little Olivia still has to be watched with her heart, but we know God has it all in his hands. We are so thankful to all our family and friends that were there for us and prayed for us when we were going thru so much uncertainty. My parents and my brother and sis-in-law helped tremendously with our children. Our pastor and pastors wife, we can't say thank you enough and how much we love you and appreciate you. Every time we would call they would jump in their car and leave no matter what was going on in their lives. Our church who prayed for us and the twins, thank you! God is sooooo good and we are so undeserving of it all, but I am humbled still at the thought that he choose my family to have these two amazing little girls in our lives! I still am amazed at how you looked then and how you look now. You are a far cry from that. We love you and pray that you will continue to be used by the Lord as you get older. We pray you accept the Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour at a young age!

Aren't they the most precious twins ever??

They are very much little characters!

Them while in the NICU

Beatrice Joy 2lbs 5 oz, 14 inches long, born at 7:23 am

Beatrice Joy now 15 1/2lbs, and full of life!!

Olivia Hope 2lbs 11oz, 14 1/2inches long, born at 7:24 am

Olivia Hope 16 1/2lbs and full of energy!

They were so tiny my whole hand covered them! They are a far cry from what they were before.

Update on Olivia Hope

2010-04-04T22:30:00.002-04:00

Quick update on testing from Friday. The quick answer is we know nothing more than what we knew before the sedated echo!! But if I have the choice we will never have another sedated one done again. I feel no need to put my baby thru what she went thru for the echo cardiogram again! She has done fine with previous echos that she is awake for each and every time. This time they felt the need to sedate her...well it didn't go well. They found a good vein in her head and wanted to use that but also had another in her hand that they felt would be harder to get to. So momma not wanting to have her poked more than needed said okay go ahead do it there. Well it didn't work so they still had to do it in her hand..soooo after an hour of poking her and upsetting her to the point where she cried herself to sleep and was awaken with the 2nd needle momma was getting really upset. But that wasn't the worst of it! The sedation "team" so to speak....gave her the initial does which put her to sleep in a matter of 15 seconds! Scared to me death I might add..worked fine for 20 minutes or so, then she began to move just a tad so they gave her some more..1-2 minutes later she flinched!!!! they then gave her MORE...she then desated!!!!! She stopped breathing nearly on her own.....all I could do was stand there and watch them bag my daughter!!! Okay so I had to just ask the Lord to help my little one as there was nothing I could do... I also had to ask the Lord to help me hold my tongue, which when it comes to my family is not always easy to do...by the Lords grace she began to breath okay again and they finished.. as we were nearly done I asked her cardiologist did he see anything much different? The response was well not really...so WHY did we have to put my baby thru this????? We are now waiting to here from our doctors at Vanderbilt to make a decision that I truly can say we trust whether we need to go back in for another heart cath...so please help me pray the Lords will is done concerning all this. As a momma it is tough sometimes to sit back and wait to find out what the outcome is going to be. But I can say without a shadow of doubt God is in control and has been from the beginning!!!! Thank you so much for all the prayers.. I certainly can say they were needed and felt on Friday during it all...

Update On Olivia

2010-03-30T09:05:00.004-04:00

Wanted to give everyone an update on Olivia. We are having a sedated echo on Friday at our hospital here. They will then send that echo and the one we had last Monday to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville where Olivia had her other procedures done. Our surgeons there will then view the CD's and decide what to do at that point. We continue to covet your prayers that the Lord's will is done. The days seem long at times..and I am not always a person that waits easily, I just want to know what is going on and what the plans...but at this point all I can do is wait.....wait.....and wait....

But the Bible clearly states in Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

I know the Lord has it all under control and I am thankful for that, he is my rock and my refuge, he will see us thru this. There is no need to doubt him now...he has brought us thru so much already and he will bring us thru this.

PRAYERS NEEDED FOR OLIVIA

2010-03-22T22:21:00.002-04:00

Please help us to pray for our little Olivia. We routinely go and visit a Pediatric Cardiologist to keep and eye on her heart. Well we had a check up today, and the cardiologist is not happy with what he sees. He has spoke with our surgeons down at Vanderbilt University and they all feel they need to do a sedated echo on her and compare the two and then they will make a decision on whether to do another heart cath or to do open heart. So we are at a wait and see point now. Please help us to pray for the Lord's will to be done. GOD IS ABLE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-10T14:18:00.005-05:00

Fun In The Snow!!!! 12-14inches WOW

2010-01-30T16:57:00.005-05:00

Well we got the snow they predicted. I certainly did not think we would actually get what they said. We were crazy and ventured out as they scraped our area. Made me a nervous but we got back in one piece and then the kids had fun playing in the snow!!

Yes We Are In!!

2010-01-14T11:01:00.002-05:00

We are in and all doing well. The twins and Liberty have been battling a cold off and on for 2 weeks! I plan on uploading some pics of the new house soon. Praying everyone is well...not sure about ya'll but we are so ready for spring!! Been in the teens for weeks, yesterday and today though 50 degrees!!!!!

Only 2 More Days!!!!

2009-12-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

We are getting the UHaul tomorrow and loading up!! We pull out sometime Friday morning or lunch time!! We are so thrilled and just can't wait for Friday to get here!!! Thanks to all who have helped us pray for this...God answered and we are so very blessed!

WERE MOVING!!!!!

2009-11-20T10:26:00.002-05:00

Yes the picture means we are MOVING!!! Praise the Lord we have been praying for almost 2 years for God to open the doors for a transfer. We got the call on Tuesday, and we couldn't be more thrilled!! We will be moving more than likely on New Years Day..and yes we will spend the holidays in boxes but this is the best Christmas present we could get!!!! Thank you to all that have been praying for us and with us, God is always right on time! North Carolina here we come.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T09:35:00.003-05:00

Check out the bottom pic and see what you think that might mean????

Cookies Anyone???

2009-10-27T16:53:00.002-04:00

She just loves the cooooookies her big sissy made! She says cookies so cute you just want to eat her up!

Very happy little girl, she patiently waited for those cookies to come out of the oven

I guess I forgot to tell her not to talk with her mouth full!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-14T10:43:00.004-04:00

Still amazes me at how much they do that is the same, even the little things. Look at the picture closely. God is so good! Have a blessed Wednesday.

Footprints

2009-10-05T21:34:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago we were invited back to the NICU where the twins were born to put their little footprints on the wall. Many babies were born there in the past year and each are asked to come back. We knew this was something we wanted to do for many reasons. The moment our girls were born and sent to the NICU we had to pass this wall, and what a wall it is!! We looked and looked at each baby's footprints and what they weighed when they were born....it was something to hold onto when you look at your babies laying in those isolettes helpless. If you look hard at the footprints of our girls you can see a footprint just below our girls and that baby was born exactly 3 months before our twins and she only weighed 1lb 15oz.. God is truly awesome. The two ladies helping put the footprints on the wall, were two exceptionally wonderful ladies! God sent us some awesome nurses and doctors but I truly believe that he put some special Christian people in our paths at just the right moments. These two ladies are 2 of those special people. I am so thankful for God using them at moments when we needed just that right person to be with us. I am still amazed when I look back at pics of them when they were first born and to look at them now it is just GOD!!

Ms. Diane is holding Olivia & Ms. Judy is holding Beatrice

My Precious Loves!

2009-09-17T16:44:00.005-04:00

The loves of my life!! Thank you Lord for blessing me so much!

A Little Fan Fun!

2009-09-14T19:04:00.006-04:00

Okay before I tell what the post is about I have to tell everyone if they were right or wrong with the previous posts pics. The picture of the girls together the answer is Olivia is on the left and Beatrice on the right. Then the first bath time pic is Olivia and the second is Beatrice.. but boy I will tell you it gets harder some days. Daddy got the picture wrong with the girls in it together, shhh don't tell anyone I told you that though, LOL.

Okay onto this post. I am a HUGE fan of Beverly Lewis and have always loved her books. I have been reading her books for more than 12 years now, possibly longer. I own all her series and the little girls even have her children's series, just not all of them yet. So we were so excited to hear from my sister in law that she would be at the local Lifeway in Asheville this past Friday. Oh my soul we were a bit star struck!! She is so sweet and loved the story about the twins and even wanted to hold one! So we took a picture of my whole gang with her. She was so cute, she had her publisher take a picture of her with the twins and text it to her husband, she has twins in her family herself. I loved it!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-09T15:29:00.002-04:00

Okay so not totally wordless, aren't they just cute? So can anyone tell who is who?

Look at those cheeks, you could just squeeze them all day!

Are these two picture of the same baby? And if so who? LOL

Adorable!!!

Home..Thankfulness

2009-08-19T11:16:00.010-04:00

UPDATE: Those looking for vacation pics and update on our beach excursion it is 2 posts below as I had started it awhile ago.. so scroll down and you will see what fun we had.

We are home, and are very thankful for the Lord bringing Olivia thru this procedure safely. The surgery was a success in that they got in and out safely. But it didn't accomplish what they wanted due to finding a small tissue mass under her pulmonary valve that is blocking the balloon they put in there from tearing the flap properly. So the doctors are hoping (we are praying) that she can make it to between 2-3 years old and then try this again. If it doesn't work then, they will have to do open heart surgery to remove the small tissue so they can then fix the valve. We are praying that we won't have to venture down that road. We are now home and she is doing well. God was good this morning in church we are thankful for such a wonderful pastor and pastors wife. They have been such a blessing to us thru all this, and once again our pastor sat with us while we waited for our little Olivia to come thru the surgery. We discussed many things and had a time of fellowship that is always such a blessing (during which we have all decided Olivia will be the trouble maker out of the two girls) Thank you Preacher and Ms. Vicki!! Thanks to all who have been and continue to pray for our family and these two girls!

Olivia post op..she was a bit loopy

Getting her echo cardiogram done prior to leaving

Resting peacefully

Her little arm was so pitiful, I felt so worried about holding her, but she was a trooper!

Off To Nashville Again

2009-08-17T21:53:00.003-04:00

I know I have much to catch up on but life flys by when you have 7 children and 2 are twins! We will be on our way bright and early tomorrow to take little Olivia to Vanderbilt in Nashville again. She has to have another heart surgery on her pulmonary valve. They found it was being stressed too much. The procedure should be around 10ish so we ask once again for every one's prayers. Here is a sneak peek of some of the beach pictures. Aren't the girls just adorable!

Little Beatrice sun bathing

Little Olivia sun bathing too

They truly loved the beach, I believe it will be a tradition every year now.

Beach Fun!

2009-07-22T20:01:00.011-04:00

Okay so these are long over due, sorry my internet is lousy to say the least. I am hanging out at my mommas house between church and she has great internet connection so I am uploading and for some reason they aren't loading in order so they may seem a bit random. Onto the beach pictures.. our family hasn't had a family vacation ever so we decided since we have had an eventful year that we were getting out of town. We didn't get to stay as long as liked since daddy has used all his vacation time for baby things. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We plan to go back next year and make a week of it. The babies loved the beach and actually slept better there than at home. Little bit just couldn't get enough of the water. She still looks at pics and says waer (water)....she loved it! Just the calmness was enough to refresh the soul and spirit. I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing my hubby to work some overtime so we could truly enjoy our time and stay in a new wonderful condo, we felt very wealthy (anyone that knows us knows that is as far from the truth as you can get!) My parents went with us and my brother and his wife and little man were there as well. We just enjoyed the time of fellowship together. Thanks baby for taking us to such a beautiful place.

All of us eating at a seafood place, they were all fascinated with the twins since they had triplet waitresses.

My sis in law and my much too old teenager

Pie having fun with the kids drawing

Little bit just loved her time there

My momma just loved being there with her kids and grand kids

My darling brother and his wife and little man

My hollywood!

My artist

My little one who thinks she is a princess was enjoying her rootbeer.. I think she drank rootbeer the whole time we were at the beach

The men as they head out to golf.. my men love to golf (check out my little man he has his own set of real clubs!)

Pie and hollywood

My sweet nephew thinks he's a monkey

My two little pumpkins enjoying the sun

Happy 4th Of July!

2009-07-04T14:06:00.003-04:00

May this 4th of July you enjoy the freedoms that our Lord has given us by allowing us to live in a free country. My precious twins are growing like little weeds! Ms. Beatrice is now 6lbs 3oz and Ms. Olivia 7lbs 3oz. they are doing very well. Our Olivia still has some issues with her heart that they are monitoring to possible have another procedure done. But they are over all pleased with them and how they are doing. We are heading out of state on Friday for a family get away. We will be meeting up with my brother and sis in law my adorable nephew, and my parents. We have had alot go on this year and we need a nice break. We have never had a family "vacation" so this will be fun. I will upload pics once we return. Pray for our safety and for the twins to deal well with the trip. Our family is so looking forward to it. Pray you have a great holiday!!

Loving Every Moment Of My Crazy Life

2009-06-19T10:09:00.005-04:00

Each morning I wake I am very much aware of how very blessed I truly am. I am so undeserving of it all. God has given me a truly wonderful husband and he is my very best friend. I have 7 beautiful, children.. all of them have good health, although the twins have to monitored it could have been so much worse. I so desire each of them to know the Lord and serve him with all they have. I have a very crazy chaotic life that most would not understand, but I am so glad it's my life. I always knew when I was a child that I wanted a large family, I just didn't know that it would really happen. I am surrounded by God's love and his grace. Sure I get up several times a night with 2 babies, and sometimes a toddler who has a bad dream. I even get up sometimes with kids that are sick and hugging that toilet, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for all the treasure in the world. I have wonderful parents and a wonderful brother and sis in law that I can call at any moment and they would be there for me and have thru this whole journey. We are so grateful for that, because some people don't have that with their families. Thank you to all that have prayed for my family and continue to do so, we can feel each and everyone of them. Please continue to help us pray for the twins health as they grow, and help us to truly pray for my husband a job transfer. We so desire to move back home to our family and where our church is. We have been praying for over a year now and so want the Lord to open the doors. Especially now since we travel so far ( 1 1/2hours) to our church, and to see family.

This is us as we stopped coming back from Vanderbilt

My precious children

Look how they have changed from those frail little babies to babies with chubby cheeks.. The closer in size they are the more you can see they are identical.

Don't you just want to squeeze them

On The Road Again

2009-06-07T12:09:00.003-04:00

We are on the road heading to Nashville to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The girls have a follow up eye exam tomorrow. They need to keep a check on their retinas to make sure they are forming properly. So we decided to make it a 2 day trip since the babies have to have break after so long in their carseats. Pray for the girls that all is well with their appointment tomorrow.

Precious Miracles!!

2009-05-31T21:29:00.003-04:00

My precious girls are settling in wonderfully. Little Beatrice passed all her tests and came home this past Wednesday. We are so thrilled to have the girls here together. They are just so adorable and doing so good together. Yes I am a bit of a zombie due to the lack of sleep, but it is more than worth it. I have prayed so long for this day to come that I certainly can't complain. The amount of time our girls spent in the NICU is so little compared to so many people I have talked to. Our Olivia spent only 42 days and Beatrice 50 days. Praise the Lord, they have done phenomenal. We leave again this coming Sunday to head to Vanderbilt again for a follow up eye exam. They have to keep close tabs on their eyes since they came so early, we want to make sure their retinas are not being compromised in any way. We want to thank everyone who has prayed for our family and for these girls. To say thank you just wouldn't do it justice. God has heard your prayers and blessed these girls. Please continue to pray for them as the continue to grow.

Our precious girls

Aren't they just so precious!

Keep Praying

2009-05-26T12:29:00.003-04:00

Well our little Olivia has been home since last Tuesday. We are patiently waiting for our little Beatrice to come home as well. She was right behind Olivia and then she had some bowel issues come up and they had to pull her from feeds and do some tests. She now seems better, but she is having a hard time holding her temperature while in an open crib. We have tried twice, she went in an open crib Friday day and then by the evening went back into the isolette. They then tried again and she had to be put back in the isolette at 1am Sunday morning. So we have let her stay in the isolette all day Sunday and yesterday. Our prayer is that sometime today they will try again to see if she can hold her temp. She is now 4lbs and we pray that since she is eating much better and weighs more that she will hold it on her own now. Please help us pray as this is the only thing keeping her from coming home. Olivia is doing wonderful, and we love having her home, we just still don't feel complete without Beatrice here. Last Tuesday was the best and worst day as I was uncertain when Beatrice was coming home, and to leave her was beyond heartbreaking. I think we all cried half way home because it was bittersweet knowing we had Olivia but leaving Beatrice. God showed me though, it is all in his timing.

UPDATE: They have Beatrice in an open crib as of 10:30am this morning, she has to keep her temp holding for 24 hours and pass her carseat test!!! Please pray!!

Getting So Close

2009-05-15T21:46:00.008-04:00

The girls are doing amazing. Olivia is now up to 4lbs 3oz, and Beatrice is up to 3lbs 11oz. They have taken 5 straight bottles today and actually taking more than they are supposed to take. We are so thrilled!!! The doctor came in today and said that if they keep going like they are then maybe in a week or so then maybe they could come home. I am so ready for us to be a whole family unit. My heart aches to bring them home, and I get so giddy at the idea that we will have them here with us We have been blessed that they have had no bouts of apnea or brady's (heart rate drops or stopping breathing). Oh I so want them to come home together, that is my hearts desire. I ask everyone to pray that they do. We have eye exams coming up this week from doctors at Vanderbilt, so we pray that they go well. We spent sometime last Sunday on Mother's Day with the girls after church. They allowed all the children to come back.

Ms. Beatrice in her over sized onesie

Ms. Olivia is beginning to fill out her onesies

The girls and I just before Mother's Day

One of my favorite nurses, she was a blessing when Olivia left for Vanderbilt. She prayed with us and was ever so sweet with our girls. I have had so many wonderful nurses, but this lady was such a blessing and has meant the world to me.

Happy Anniversary

2009-05-06T09:01:00.008-04:00

Our anniversary was this past Monday and we spent the evening with our girls. Daddy hadn't held the girls in awhile, and had never held them together so we had a good time getting them with daddy. He loved it, he just kept looking back and forth at them. One of my sweet nurses had left a card for us wishing us a Happy Anniversary and had signed it with the girls footprints and their names, it was so precious. In a million years I would have never dreamed we would be sitting here on our anniversary nor would I have ever thought we would have twins. I am so blessed!! I have a wonderful husband, who loves and adores me and our children. Right now he puts up with my crazy emotions and I am so grateful for that. We have 7 truly amazing children, and our Lord has done so much for us these past few months and truly the past 1 1/2 years. He has laid ground work for all that has come about with these girls, that we would have never guessed then. Thank you Lord for my husband and what he means to me and for my children and what a blessing they are. I also have to mention that our girls are gaining weight. Our little ones weigh exactly the same in grams and pounds/ounces. They are both 3lbs 5oz, 1515 grams!!! We are thrilled.

Happy Anniversary

This was what he did the whole time, back and forth between the two girls

Ms. Beatrice is one of the cute onesies their Uncle and Aunt got them

Ms. Olivia in her onesie from her Uncle & Aunt

They absolutely loved being together, isn't this too sweet

It's so amazing to look at them, both now 3lbs. 5oz

JESUS NEVER FAILS

2009-04-28T21:02:00.005-04:00

Our girls are doing pretty good. We have had some up days and down days. We got back from Vanderbilt last Wednesday and Olivia was doing so good they took her off the cannula on the plane ride back to our NICU. But then on Thursday little Beatrice decided that Olivia had had enough attention and it was her turn to get some. She began to have some issues with her bowels, they felt they were seeing some air in them and took her off feeds and on triple antibiotics. She has been having x-rays each day about twice a day and sometimes every 6 hours. Yesterday they gave her another blood transfusion. She immediately looked pinker, but last night they weren't sure of something they saw on the x-ray which was very scary. They consulted with the pediatric radiologist and a pediatric surgeon and they felt it was nothing of concern. So prayerfully we are on the road to recovery with this situation. We attended church for the first time in awhile since all this has started. We only went to Sunday School and Sunday morning service and then headed to the NICU to spend the afternoon with the girls. As our days are sometimes good and sometimes not so good, I was reminded this past Sunday as I came into our freshly painted church that "JESUS NEVER FAILS". He has been with us every step of the way, and sometimes it's easier to say Lord where are you, why me, why us...please don't think I am a perfect person because my Lord knows my thoughts and already knows those things have come across them. But just as I think them, He reminds me I am here, I have this all under control, this is no surprise to me. I can tell you thru all this, my boldness to witness to others about my Lord has gotten so much stronger. I can't go one day without telling all the new nurses and ones I have had before what my Lord is doing each day thru these girls. So when I get discouraged and have my self a pity party, God nudges me and says remember I will never leave you nor forsake you..just think of what I have already done and know what I am going to do for these girls!!

My church as I sat on Sunday morning service, what a reminder

My Olivia looking sweetly at me just after I held her

My Beatrice loving up on me today

Olivia tuckered out after momma holdin her

Beatrice sleepin in my arms today

Update On Olivia & Beatrice

2009-04-19T21:23:00.012-04:00

Our little Olivia's procedure was done on Friday afternoon. The doctor's weren't sure until Thursday that they were even going to do the procedure yet as some of them were uncertain with her weight. Thursday mid day the Pediatric Cardiologist felt that waiting might actually put her in a dangerous position. She is now off the vent and only on a cannula, they plan on starting her on feedings tomorrow which we are thrilled about. We have done nothing but pray that God would show us exactly what He wanted for this little girl and our family. Our little Beatrice had to be put back on the cannula this morning and had to have a blood transfusion as her numbers weren't where they wanted them (UPDATE: they are going to try and take Beatrice off the cannula tonight). I had some points this week that I had no idea which way was up or down, but God has always been there with us and with our girls. I am so thankful for my family, for my parents taking care of our 5 other children. Thank you to my brother & sis-in-law for praying and being there for us and our children. For our preacher and his wife for being there for us while we have been going thru all this back in February till now. For everyone that has been praying for these girls, thank you so very much!!!

The flight team that picked her up on Wednesday

The team assessing her before they put her in their transport unit

This is them putting Olivia in the transport unit, this unit had everything that her NICU had, all on board this piece of equipment. It was truly amazing

The team heading out to take Olivia to the airport as she flew on their "Angel" jet back to Nashville

Daddy spied this when we were about to have the procedure. They have a wall of butterfly's with the donors names who helped build this hospital, this was on one of them. Our children called the twins "Splish & Splash" the whole time we were pregnant, this was so sweet when we saw it. God's little nuggets as my momma would say. We have run into and met so many twins during this journey it is amazing.

These are the two amazing surgeons that the Lord used to work on our Olivia's heart

Dr. Janssen & Dr. Doyle

Little Olivia just after her procedure, with her little warming cap still on

Our precious Olivia this afternoon, she is now only on the cannula and doing well

Prayers for Olivia

2009-04-15T09:17:00.003-04:00

The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind..Our little Olivia is in need of a procedure to fix a valve in her heart. The original plan was to wait till she got a little weight on her, but her Pediatric Cardiologist has been conferring with the Pediatric Interventionist at Vanderbilt and they all feel they need to go ahead with the procedure now. There is a small hole in her heart as of right now and they really need it to stay open while doing the procedure so that there are less risks of pressure issues while doing it. They were supposed to pick her up via flight yesterday and we got bumped twice so we sat all night. They are now on there way here to pick her up this morning. A team from Vanderbilt has been sent via fixed wing (jet) to get her. In the meantime they had to start her on meds to make sure the hole stayed open and there are side effects to that medicine including apnea so they have to ventilate her for that. They have also had to do alot of blood tests thru out the night and she now must have a blood transfusion. I am very concerned as her coloring has changed and is not as good as it was before. We have the sweetest nurses and they are making sure all is well with our little Olivia. Please continue to pray for all of us, but in particular right now Olivia needs prayers as we need to get her there and get this procedure done!! Pray for Beatrice as we will be leaving her here and my parents will be the ones to visit with her while we are away with Olivia.

2009-04-12T15:30:00.004-04:00

God is truly amazing!!!! The girls are doing so well, we can't ask for more. They are both off all oxygen right now, and breathing room air. They are also both having breast milk. Our little Beatrice by tonight will have 12cc every 3 hours and will be completely off all other feedings except breast milk. Olivia is now up to 3cc every 3 hours of breast milk. Little Olivia has moderate Pulmonary Stenosis so we have to continue to watch her heart. She will at some point have to have a procedure to correct that, but we really need to put the weight on first. We ask for your prayers for the girls as each day is a new and different day. So far we have not had any set backs but each day is different. God is truly amazing, and has done so much already for us. I was discharged yesterday but we have decided to stay here at the Ronald McDonald house. The house had a very nice Easter Dinner for everyone at 2pm today. We were unable to be with the children and our family, so God made a way for us to still have a nice dinner. I am so amazed at how God has continued to lay each step in front of us. He continues to move in so many ways for our family and these girls. Thank you all for your prayers and continued support.

Olivia enjoying her Easter day

Beatrice just relaxing Easter Sunday

They Are Here!

2009-04-07T23:29:00.004-04:00

They have arrived!!! Our precious baby girls decided early this morning that my labor was going to start back up again. Within 1 1/2 hours they checked me and I was 5 centimeters and my doctor said we are having babies now. I immediately called hubby as we had sent him home thinking we may have a few weeks. I also called my momma & daddy so they could be here and the children. I then called my dear precious friend Ms. Denise. It all happened very quickly and unfortunately I was alone as I knew it may come to that. We are very happy with how they look, they truly are doing very good for being 29 wk 2 days gestation. They are both on limited oxygen and trying to wean them off. They are just monitoring their vitals and the typical things going on with preemies. I had knitted them these sweet little hats and I thought they were so tiny but really the girls won't be able to wear them for awhile as they are huge compared to them. God has truly blessed us..we continue to covet your prayers for these girls and the road ahead for them. I am doing pretty good considering I have never had a c-section before. Please help us to pray for a quick recovery and for a quick recovery for me as well.. Thanks to everyone we love you all!

Beatrice Joy 2lbs. 5oz.

Olivia Hope 2lbs 11oz.

Urgent Prayers Needed

2009-04-06T14:12:00.002-04:00

I will make it brief, but our little twins need much prayer again. On Saturday evening my water broke unexpectedly and we had a bit of blood with it. We rushed to the hospital where I began contracting very regular throughout Saturday night and much more intense all day Sunday. I was very sure we were going to have babies on Sunday as we were 6 min apart and my pain level was at a 9-10. They gave me some pain meds on Sunday night and it slowed my contractions down to minimal. We are here now for the long haul. I have already been told I will be staying until the babies are born due to my water breaking and the possibility of infection. This of course is not my plan, but our Lord has a reason for everything. We will praise Him in everything!! So our babies will be either here in the next few days or weeks whatever the Lord wants. Please pray for me and the babies as we are in the hospital. Please also pray for the family. Hubby heads back to work tomorrow, and the children are with my parents. We know God is in control. Thank you everyone for praying!

Shabby Chic..Thanks Mom

2009-04-03T20:17:00.005-04:00

I have to say a HUGE thanks to my momma. We found this great dresser (well I say great it had great potential). I needed one for the twins and for our 19mth old to share. So I splurged and spent a whopping $35 at a Goodwill. My darling hubby sanded it down and fixed a drawer and removed all the hardware. We primed the hardware and spray painted them a flat silver (kinda a puter color) and my momma came over today and painted the dresser a beautiful pale pink and the drawer fronts a pale lavender. The pics just don't do it justice but it is very Pottery Barn looking. Then as we all were sitting admiring the finished product, my momma looked over at our oldest ones dresser and realized they were matching!! This dresser used to be mine years ago and then my momma gave it to our oldest daughter. Of course now she wants hers painted to dress it up and change her motif. Don't you just love sprucing things up, I think that is why I love spring so much. Thanks momma for coming and painting this dresser, couldn't have done it without you. Love you!!!

My momma & oldest

Love the detail on the top

This is just so precious, I have done most of the colors pale pink & soft lavender

Really much prettier without this stupid glare

This is our oldest ones dresser.. it is the same company.. same details was really neat to see that

The Lord Is Good

2009-03-28T13:42:00.002-04:00

We just have to praise Him. We have been praying that God would open the doors for us to sell our minivan now that we have our 15 passenger. God opened the doors and a family wanted it and today they picked it up. I am so thankful for this blessing God has given us. Thank you Lord for all you are doing in our lives.

Still Praising You Lord While We Wait

2009-03-25T22:18:00.002-04:00

We found out that the jobs have been filled and unfortunately Michael did not get either of them. As far as we know he missed out by just a hair again. We have been told that there is another gentleman retiring in the next few months. Maybe the doors will open again. We will just continue to pray and praise the Lord while we wait. We know it will all be in HIS time not ours. I know that it may have been very stressful to try and move right now while we were waiting on the twins, so for now we wait. We continue to focus on the twins and making it to the end of May. Thank you Lord for answered prayers even though it isn't what we want it is your perfect will. We have faith you will answer in due time. God is amazing and sees the whole picture when we don't.

Precious One's

2009-03-18T14:24:00.008-04:00

My precious children. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly. We are still praying about the job transfer and are awaiting to hear about the 2 jobs that came open the end of last month. We are a little bummed as we have been told they still haven't filled them, so here we are waiting. Hubby got an email this afternoon and the lady said she was hoping to have it finalized today or tomorrow.. please pray as we were told the same thing last Wednesday. We just want to know one way or the other.

Baby Shower Fun!!

2009-03-11T12:28:00.008-04:00

This past Sunday our church gave us a baby shower. They planned it that way so that if I get to that point where I just can't travel they already had done the shower. We were so tickled, as I am already on modified bed rest so I usually can only do one service before I start to swell and feel extremely tired. Anyhooo....we were beyond blessed!!! A bunch of the ladies went in at our church and bought us 2 new car seats and a double stroller and the thermoscan thermometer and some wipes and baby rash cream. We just couldn't believe it since we had planned on buying the car seats soon. My parents and brother & sis~n~law came too. They all got me some adorable things like a wipe warmer (never had one before it will be great!) some onesies, blankets, bibs that say I love my uncle and I love my aunt! Then some other ladies went out on their own and made or purchased us other things like outfits, diaper bag, socks, diapers, wipes, nail kits, wash clothes, burp clothes, handmade blankets and more. We can't thank them all enough!!! We were also given a swing to borrow and another lady has given us several things to keep for the girls, like a Diaper Champ, that will come in handy!! Check out some of the pics of what we have been blessed with! Thank you to my family and to the ladies for being such a blessing to this family, we love and appreciate all of you.

Aren't these adorable matching dresses

That cool thermometer, I am excited to use it (well maybe don't want sick babies)

This is my adorable nephew, don't you just want to squeeze him!

Some of the goodies from the shower

Love the double stroller, it will hold both the car seats when they are little

These are the prettiest car seats I think we have ever had!

More matching outfits

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!!!

2009-02-23T21:39:00.002-05:00

This morning we had another ultrasound and then another Echo Cardiogram at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. We had a meeting with the surgeon this afternoon and he came in and said well we don't have good news, we have "SPECTACULAR" news. He said the best news possible, our big baby's heart has improved not just better than the last test but better than when all this started. We can't say anything but GOD IS GOOD!! We have been praying for God to help this baby's heart improve, but this is not just a little improved it is ALOT! He said we are on the road to recovery and headed in the right direction. Now my job is to keep these babies baking as long as possible. We know the average for babies that have been thru this is about 31-32 weeks gestation, but I know my Lord and what He can do. I am trying to make it to at least 36-37 weeks. So please help us to continue to pray for long gestation with these girls! Praise God, we are so so thankful for what He has done for our family. Thank you so very much to all our family, friends, blogging friends and some people we have no idea that have prayed for these girls, we are so blessed and thankful.

Still Much To Pray About

2009-02-16T20:09:00.002-05:00

This past week has had some ups and downs that we weren't expecting. On Tuesday last week we had our weekly ultrasound with our Perinatalogist and they felt that our recipient baby's heart was measuring in the normal range and said they did not see reverse flow. So to that we felt we were on the road to recovery. Then on Friday we found ourselves back in Cincinnati for our follow up Echo Cardiogram. Our news was not what we were expecting. As of Friday our recipient baby's heart was actually worse than pre-surgery. It was a blow to us and we were unsure or many things. We discussed alot with the surgeon and we are leaving this Sunday for Cincinnati again for another Echo Cardiogram and possibly an ultrasound up there. They feel if the baby's heart is still not better they want to do surgery again. But from what we are understanding it will not truly help these babies and could actually put us in more danger of delivering early and losing them both. We still have alot of questions and still not certain of some things they have told us. Sometimes it is so much to absorb at one time you think of some of the questions as you have left. We don't feel peace about doing a second surgery. We had no hesitation the first time and felt at complete peace with what God was showing us then. This time we don't and I certainly don't want to do what God is not giving us peace about especially concerning our babies. I have another appointment with our perinatologist tomorrow with another ultrasound and they will be doing alot of measurements on the girls. Our prayer and we ask all that read this and know what we are going thru to pray for an improvement in our recipients heart. We want to see good numbers and that she is healing. Please help us to pray for this. God is able to do abundant things and we know this. We want God's will to be done. We are very thankful for everyone praying for these babies and our family. Thank you so very much!

More Testing

2009-02-07T20:21:00.003-05:00

Well we are home. We had more tests this past Thursday at Cincinnati Children's. Our little girl had a bit more fluid which was wonderful, she was moving around like never before. We also were able to see her bladder which was something we couldn't due to her not having alot of fluid. A not so good thing though our bigger baby her heart still has not shown an improvement. Although she has not worsened they want some change for the better. They know this will take time, but they like to see a slight improvement and we didn't. So we leave again this coming Thursday and head back to Cincinnati for more tests on Friday. Our prayer is that we see some improvement with our bigger girl. If no improvement is seen then we will be talking about going back in and doing surgery to see if they missed something. Our prayer is we don't have to do more surgery. There is also more risks the more you mess with the uterus and with the babies. I have also been put on strict bed rest with bathroom and doctors visits only. That is very hard for me, but I will do whatever we have to for these girls. We still have much to pray about. Thank you to all that have been praying we can feel it. Please continue to help us pray, as we still have a long uncertain road ahead. We are just praying God will continue to pave the way.

2 Heartbeats!!!

2009-02-03T17:46:00.003-05:00

Well we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am yesterday. They got me all prepped and ready to go. They were all very carrying to me and the babies. They started about 7:30-7:45am and it lasted about 2 hours. Our girls were sharing about 27 vessels that went to each other. Which on average in this situation they typically see around 16-20 so it was a bit higher than normal. But they feel confident they got them all. Our little baby the "donor" has 30% from herself going straight to the placenta, they hope for at least 20% so we are doing better than hoped for. Actually the other doctor that also does this procedure said he felt it was more like 40%. Either way it is better than hoped for. They then put 2 micro tiny holes in the membranes between the babies to help with the amniotic fluid between them. Last thing they did was take 3 liters of amniotic fluid off our "recipient"baby as she was swimming in what they called an Olympic size pool. They said it was about 6 lbs. We stayed the night at the hospital and early this morning they came in and did an ultrasound and immediately saw 2 heartbeats!!!! We are so blessed. We are now tucked in tight at the hotel as it is snowing like crazy and they are expecting nearly 4 inches or more in some areas. Our next tests are on Thursday and if all still looks stable and good they will release me to head home. We are so thankful for all the Lord has done, he has just blessed us with wonderful doctors and nurses and safe travel. Please continue to pray for the girls, we still have a long road ahead.

Update on Twins TTTS

2009-01-31T23:16:00.003-05:00

Well Friday was a long exhausting day. Wasn't sure if I told you they are identical girlies.. but we have girls on the way. So far they see nothing wrong with the girls brains, all looked very good. As for the ECO Cardiogram our donor baby appears to have a good working heart right now. She looked good other than she is about 30% smaller than her sister, and of course has a very very small amount of fluid. Our recipient baby has a thickened heart and a small leak in a valve. They feel though this is only due to the TTTS, and should correct itself over time. We are at Stage III level C (severe). We are scheduled for surgery on Monday morning and if all goes well we will be released back to the hotel for a day or so and then come back in for more tests on the girls. We are still not nearly out of the woods. We have a long road ahead. There is still uncertainty on everything with many risks for both girls with all that has to be done. But not doing anything means we will lose the babies. We will not give up our our girls. God is so good and He has all in control!! My husband and I have been praying and asking the Lord to just pave the way and He has beyond anything we could dream of. We feel at such peace about where we are and the hospital we will be having this done at. The doctors are phenomenal and I love the nurses and staff they are all so personable. We continue to covet your prayers during all this.

In Need Of Prayers

2009-01-28T19:10:00.004-05:00

As I begin this post I find it hard to write the words needed. We had an ultrasound today and found our little bundles have what is called Twin to Twin Syndrome. This means one baby is getting all the nutrients and then some, and the other is getting little to none. Our baby "B" is what is called a donor baby and is 40% smaller than baby "A". We are being sent to a world renowned hospital for surgery to try and fix/reverse this before we lose both babies. As of right now both babies hearts are in overdrive to survive. We desire and covet your prayers more than anything. My sweet brother and sis in law are on their way to pick up our 5 children and take them home. Then tomorrow my momma, hubby and I start our journey to Ohio thru nasty weather and pray the roads are clear so I can be at my first appointment early Friday morning. Again please pray for our family all around. I think I may be taking a laptop and pray if I can to try and keep things updated as we go.

In Search Of.......

2009-01-14T17:07:00.002-05:00

We'll since our family is now outgrowing our minivan we are in the search of a 12-15 passenger van. We originally planned on getting a suburban when we found out we were pregnant, but the Lord had other plans so we now must find something that will fit our soon to be family of 9! We are trying very hard not to go in debt on a van as we are continuing to strive to stay out of debt. My husbands truck is the only debt we have left and it is coming to an end right about when the twins are due!!!! We want something with low miles and low asking price, so if you could just remember us in prayer as we go about searching for this new to us vehicle we would greatly appreciate it!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T15:41:00.003-05:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Merry Christmas. We will be busy over the next several days with all the goings on with the holidays. I pray this Christmas that each of us will take the time and think truly about our lives and how much the Lord has blessed us with. No we may not have it all when it comes to worldly things, but I have it all when it comes to my family! This past year has been a learning experience in so many ways and I am thankful for what the Lord has done thru it all. I am thankful for my husband and all he does for this family, and the sacrifices he makes to take care of us. I am thankful for the 5 beautiful children God has blessed me with, and the 2 beautiful babies growing inside of me. This year thank God for the blessing you already have not the ones you wish you had. If for some reason you are reading my blog and you don't know the Lord personally I can tell you it is the best Christmas gift you could ever receive. It is so simple He truly sent His only begotten son to this earth to take our place and to take our sin upon himself. Just ask Him into your heart and you will never regret the day you did!

Sweet Birthdays & Twins Checkup

2008-12-22T15:08:00.003-05:00

All is well here on the Cooper home front! My 3rd baby girl had a birthday recently and absolutely loves the show "I Love Lucy" so her grandma & grandpa went in with momma and daddy and we got her a Lucy doll for her birthday.. It is a collectors edition mind you, but she says you can't just leave them in the box!! I think she enjoyed her birthday and we are truly blessed to have her as our sweet daughter. On another note, I headed to the doctor and had a check up and another ultrasound and all is well with the twins. Their little hearts are beating great and they look wonderful. We are very happy and excited. I had been worrying a bit, just seems to be part of my nature and God took care of everything, as He always does. He is never failing when it comes to our needs!

Baby girl and her "Lucy doll"

Lovin that cake sissy made her

Twins looking down on their heads, and you can see they almost look like they hitting each other

Twin A's little leg and torso

Twin B looking straight at us

TWINS!!!

2008-12-04T20:01:00.002-05:00

Okay today has been such a wild day! I was supposed to have my first ultrasound last week and my doctor was busy delivering another baby soooooo we rescheduled for this week which worked out great as daddy was off this week. We'll we headed in and started the ultrasound with all the kids present to watch. My doctor immediately said "OH MY GOSH" I said "WHAT" he giggled and said their are "TWO". I truly thought he was joking as my doctor is much of joker sometimes. I told him he was kidding right and of course he said no! I must have asked four more times even while looking at the screen showing 2 little babies. We all laughed and cried at the same time. I am not sure it has completely hit me yet but we are excited all the same. We have much to be thankful for and much to pray about.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T17:03:00.002-05:00

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! We are heading to spend the next several days with my brother and his family.. and also to spend time with my parents. The kids are looking forward to the time away and what fun the will have. We will try and post once we get home. Praying everyone enjoys this special time, as times are truly tough right now and some don't know where the next paycheck will come from, but I do know this my Lord is in control and I have a very wonderful family and love them dearly. I am blessed beyond measure and can't deny that.

VOTE!!!

2008-11-03T19:45:00.004-05:00

I completely believe it is our civic duty to get out and vote at each and every election. As Christians I think it is even more important to vote, we have to protect the things we believe in, and during this election SOOOOOO much is at stake. Please take the time to go vote.

This is my son when he was born in 2001...this was just after 9/11. I think it represents so much. GOD, our country, and the men & women who serve our country. This was our flag, my husbands beret (he served our country for 6 years including time in Kuwait) and my dad's Bible.

Exciting News!

2008-10-29T16:44:00.004-04:00

We'll our family has some exciting news to announce! We are expecting baby #6, I estimate my due date around the first to middle part of June.. I go next month to find out for sure the exact due date. We are all very happy and thrilled to be adding to our family. The children of course have a preference to what they want. They are all pulling for a boy since dad and little man are a little out numbered. The pic is what the baby looks like at about this stage. Please help us to pray for a healthy baby. We will keep things updated as we progress. So far I feel pretty good.. today was my first day of feeling a bit off. I don't usually get too sick so I pray I will continue on that path.

This is our little peanut (my daughter calls the baby squishy)

Happy Birthday My Beloved!

2008-10-14T10:53:00.005-04:00

God truly blessed with me this wonderful man! You are the love of my life. You have given me the most wonderful children, and if the Lord allows more to come. I love being cuddled in your arms. I love to watch you with our children and the love you show them. You are their hero, and I am so thankful for that. I love watching you when you get stuck on something, it tickles my soul. I so enjoy and am so very blessed to sit in church with you and to watch the sweet spirit of God move over you. I am so very thankful to the Lord for allowing me to be part of your life. Happy Birthday my love!

Family Fun At The Fair

2008-09-23T14:25:00.011-04:00

We'll about 2 1/2 weeks ago we loaded up and headed across the mountain to the fair. The Western North Carolina fair used to be this little no nothing fair.. but over the years it has grown to be a very enjoyable fair. My kids haven't gotten to go for 3 years, ever since we moved here to east Tennessee. The fair here is pretty much worthless compared to back home. Thought I would share some pics of our time there. We had to visit all the booths of course just so we can get all the freebies! Lots of pencils, paper, new testaments, and wipes.

They just had to touch that there snake in the smokey the bear tent!

This handsome fellow happens to be my baby brother! He is a full-time fireman/paramedic and works the fair every year. (He's also a God called preacher I might add!) We enjoyed getting to see him at the fair.

Here he is with 4 of our kids and one extra (the littlest is a friend of ours youngin)

He is gettin ready to head back to work

The boys havin fun on the rides

Pumpkin watchin all the fun

These are some sweet friends of my girls, they were tickled to see them at the fair

My 3rd daughter loves the bumper cars

Pumpkin and my oldest just finished the flying elephant ride

Pumpkin wasn't too sure of the caterpillar ride

Our friends boy was feeding a Nigerian Dwarf baby (these are the goats we used to have and will again one day soon!)

Wait.. I spotted this behind them... I have decided I need this grocery buggy to go shopping with, it even has a motor and drives!

Fun Creations!

2008-09-13T12:11:00.005-04:00

We'll with gas prices soring around here, what more can you do than make do with what you have in the home. We are staying put with the exception of daddy going to work and then going to church. So I whipped up a few fun things. I had so much fun making these cute crayon rolls for a few of the little ones at our church. I also found a tutorial on how to take a pair of blue jeans and turn them into a skirt, as it is harder to find a long denim skirt now days. I added cute fabric instead of more denim and the girls love them! It has become a hit at church, and most of the women are wanting the pattern.

I just used some scraps from a quilt I was making

Recognize that fabric? It's from Pumpkin's dress

Pumpkin

2008-09-11T13:43:00.005-04:00

Pumpkin has started walking on her own now. She really thinks she is big stuff, and sometimes gets over anxious and crash dives. We had so much fun last night watchin her nearly run from either end of her room. I have finished a sweet little dress for Pumpkin. This was part of her birthday present that I forgot to post. I just love how it turned out and it fits her so nicely!

Don't you just love fabric covered buttons

I love her brown pedipeds with this dress, and daddy picked out lime green socks to match

Birthday Fun

2008-09-01T19:07:00.004-04:00

Precious memories! My babies had their birthday this past weekend. What a blessing to have my little man here for 7 years and our little pumpkin is now a year old. What is so awesome is that they share the same birthday and it is almost to the exact hour. Little man got his very own tool set for his birthday and was very eager to get out and help dad with something.. he has been very cute as the tools have gone everywhere, and I mean he has literally carried them from room to room wherever he goes. He also got a cute daddy & son camping set from Gram & Pie. Pumpkin got some new blocks to play with for her birthday and she really likes them. We find her stirring them with her hand, rather than holding them. She also got a glow worm from Gram & Pie. She loves to listen to it sing and glow. Wonderful for driving to church. Pumpkin got her first taste of birthday cake. We made a soft orange cake with cream cheese frosting. She got a tiny piece which she really was only interested in the icing as you can tell by the pics below. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be a mother and have 5 blessings. Thank you Lord for my 2 precious birthday babies .. oh how they don't stay little long.

Pumpkin stirring her blocks

The first sight of cake

Trying to figure out what is on the finger

I think I can get more of that icing

That was good!

Reveal

2008-08-30T16:18:00.005-04:00

We'll I promised awhile back that I would show the adorable dress I made with my Oliver and S pattern.. it is so sweet and I couldn't be happier with their patterns. I plan on getting more as soon as I can! Check out this Tunic and I made the shorts into bloomers. My little pumpkin loves it. She has wore it on several occasions already.

Pre-Birthday Fun & A Visit

2008-08-29T18:48:00.004-04:00

Today we took our little man & pumpkin to Toys R Us to have a bit of fun. They received royal treatment since their birthdays are coming up. We had already gotten little man his present and it's well hid I might add! So we needed to get pumpkin something and since she still has no clue what all this means, we were able to take her with us. We are looking forward to having a nice little birthday get together here at home.. nothing big just something special as we always do. Then this past Thursday my momma and sis-in-law came over for lunch so we were able to visit with them and my sweet nephew. The kids love seeing their cuz!

Pumpkin with her royal crown

My royal prince

My sweet babies growing up fast!

She was getting all excited over all the toys she was seeing and hearing

Isn't he just adorable!!! I could squeeze him all the time

Pumpkin wanted some of cuz's baked tater, it was cute he actually fed her some at one point

All the cousins together

Ways To Make That Dollar Stretch

2008-08-14T16:12:00.011-04:00

We'll everyone knows I have a large family and when you have one like ours you must make that dollar stretch as far as you can! That is something I work on every opportunity I can. We'll every August & February I attend and work a very large children's consignment sale. I have been part of this sale for many years and have truly enjoyed the opportunity to buy high quality clothes for my children at a fraction of what they would be at the stores. Each August they have the fall/winter sale. This year like always we drop things off prior to the sale and do a little pre-shopping..the kids go thru and show me what they would like to have and if it is still there on pre-sale shopping night and if it's within the budget, I then try and find it for them. The sale this August was truly phenomenal, I have never in all my years doing this seen as many ladies (a few men) attend the sale. I was excited and scared all at the same time! Shew to see the droves of woman about to enter the sale was crazy! I always consign and pray that I will make at least half of what I spend. This year I made almost as much as I spent. Most every thing I found was from Oshkosh, BabyGap, Old Navy, Gymboree, Ralph Lauren, Laura Ashley, Pedipeds and more. This is for my kids ages 11 months-12 years. My oldest doesn't fit the sizes here anymore (bummer). Anyhoo check out the sale, the pics don't do this justice but it is really awesome.

The cousins taken a ride as we do a little pre-shopping

This is pre-sale night (this night only consists of workers & consignors)

This year the line wrapped around to it's self that is what was so crazy!

This was the start of the line, people were there nearly an hour early to stand in line

This is a gal I have gotten to know over the years and we always work as a team on presale night!

My oldest always comes and works with me, we always have so much fun together! My momma & sis-in-law work the sale as well

Some of the clothes for the girls

This is a beautiful red (looks more like pink)

My son made out like a bandit this year!

More for my son, he loved this suit, and jacket and the ties!

A veggie tale tie, we just loved this for the little man!

For my little pumpkin, oh she made out too!

Toys for pumpkin as well

Faith, Trust and Prayers

2008-08-12T12:07:00.006-04:00

As I started this post earlier and read it over I thought maybe I should start from the beginning. I feel sometimes God gives us what we want to allow us to know truly how much we should appreciate what God has given us already. We lived snugly in western North Carolina a little over 3 years ago. We wanted to move to Tennessee to be close to family not knowing what was to come a short 3 years later. I believe God allowed some things to happen in our lives to teach us some lessons, some I would have never dreamed which turned out in the long run to benefit us and our future but were very painful at the time. But one I didn't ever dream of was finding a church like home (North Carolina). We had become complacent in our church back home and when you get that way you don't realize you are there. Now being here we so desperately desired to have that type of church! Now we are traveling back home ever weekend to attend our home church. Our desire is so strong we want nothing more than for the Lord to open the doors for a job transfer. We prayed and prayed and God gave my husband and I peace back in March that He wanted us to move back to North Carolina. I know God has a plan, and He will answer our prayers! I am not the most patient person in the world so I am clinging to the verses ....

Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Mark 11: 22-24 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
For verily I say unto you, mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have the. (KJV)

God always answers our prayers they may not be on the time schedule we want or plan, but He always answers! Please remember us as we pray for God to open doors for us to move back to North Carolina!

Youth Camp 2008

2008-08-01T20:22:00.012-04:00

Youth Camp 2008, all I can say is WOW!!! God is truly awesome..while I only was able to attend last night it was truly amazing. My husband and I have been praying that God would do something tremendous for our 2 older girls while at camp this week, and I do believe He did. I dropped them off early Monday morning with our church and we hosted several other churches including my brothers church. They then headed to Georgia to camp. The girls had called home each day telling of the events and how services were and how God was moving, but last night it was so awesome! To see a bunch of young people totally surrender their lives to the Lord and let Him move in was just so awesome to see. They cared not what the person next to them thought or did, they just obeyed the Lord! I can't thank God enough for what He did for my girls this past week, but Oh how I needed it too and was so thankful to be able to attend last night and get that which I needed too. I have put a few pics (he he just a few) of what I was able to see yesterday and last night but their is a video clip of just a piece of the service last night for you to enjoy..Oh Bless His Holy Name!!!!

This is only part of the crew that went to camp, the rest met us there

The beginning of service Thursday night

Preacher preached on Job 1:13-22

"and I only am escaped alone to tell thee" What am I here for???

One of the preachers just having him a time

Praise God young people obeying him and getting things right and surrendering things in their lives!

This was after the service the girls had a jello sucking contest, to see who could suck it thru a straw first.

Little Something For My Pumpkin

2008-07-21T10:00:00.003-04:00

It started with this adorable yellow shirt with tiny pink flowers on it for my little pumpkin. I bought this shirt at a consignment sale, but I had nothing to go with it. So Saturday night I dug through my scraps and thought, hey this will match! I just cut and sewed and made up this little skirt pattern for my little miss. She looked so cute in it Sunday for church. All my other girls said oh that is so cute I wish I were little! Yeah don't we all sometimes..........Hopefully later today or tomorrow I will post the finished product on my Oliver and S pattern..she has wore that already and it is so cute. I am off now to make some peach jam..have a blessed day!

My Life In A Can

2008-07-17T13:49:00.007-04:00

We'll not really in a can, but that is about how I feel since doing some of my canning this week. We really started Monday night. We usually have a large garden and put up most of our own veggies, but this year since we are renting and trying to move to North Carolina we decided not to. My WONDERFUL brother & sis-in-law gave us some beans, so Monday night we started washing and snapping them. Tuesday morning I headed to Wally World as hubby said go and buy you a nice Pressure Canner (said it will be very used with this family), so off I went and got back to spend all day Tuesday canning beans. Bright and early Wednesday morning we started blackberry jam (we have an abundance here at this house), then we started our applesauce and apple butter. This morning we finished off with another batch of blackberry jam, and some corn. Tomorrow I will be picking up some peaches at the farmers market and making peach jam, and we might do some more applesauce as the children loved it! I have to give a big thank you to my youngins they were such a great help to me!! It usually takes me alot longer but now that they are older they can help alot. We did the math and we have done the following.

1. Green Beans 42 Pints

2. Applesauce 20 Pints

3. Apple Butter 8 1/2Pints, 6 4oz Jars

4. Blackberry Jam 18 1/2Pints, 22 4oz Jars

5. Corn 12 Quart size freezer bags

My new 16qt Presto Pressure Canner

Oh I was just so tickled with my beans!

This is only part of the finished product

We usually do this with an electric knife but I can't seem to find mine...guess I need to ask for a new one for Christmas.......hint hint honey

Family

2008-07-11T21:06:00.010-04:00

We'll dad took off and made a long weekend of the holiday, so Monday we headed to Cades Cove and had some old fashioned family time. The kids loved it. We packed a picnic and had some lunch and then just took the auto tour of Cades Cove. We visited many cabins and historic buildings. We also saw alot of wildlife of which I didn't get alot of pics. It was pretty neat though that the animals were just so used to vehicles driving thru the nearly walked right up to van. If you ever get the chance take your family there, I highly recommend going. It is a really neat experience and we plan to actually go back in the fall during the leaf changing.

Boy she loved the water but thought this was very cold!

This church was so neat, the Missionary Baptist Church of Cades Cove

What gorgeous views they had there, I can only imagine living here

Loved this old house

This is the grist mill

One of many old barns

This was an adorable cabin

Freedom!

2008-07-11T20:46:00.010-04:00

We'll all I can say is that our family values our freedom beyond measure. My husband being ex-military means this family loves the 4th of July. So this year we went back home to North Carolina to our old stomping grounds. The place we always have watched our fireworks and have missed for the passed 3 years. We were so excited to go and be back in our spot and watch them this year. We went with some dear friends of ours and got to spend time with them and their family. The kids had a blast and we just enjoyed the holiday and what it means to us.

This is their family minus their oldest boy (he is pictured below with his sweetheart)

Waitin anxiously for the parade

Honor Guard

Me and hubby enjoying ourselves

Church Junior Camp

2008-06-30T13:42:00.013-04:00

We'll last week we went back home to North Carolina and spent half the week with our home church. We had 2 of our youngins attending Junior Camp which was held at the church.. then our oldest was a counselor for the camp. The kids had the time of their lives! They had preaching and bible lessons, games, singing and wonderful food! I spent part of each day with them and then in the evening I would go to my brother & sis in laws house and spend time with them. The children spent the night at the church and just had a blast. They took a trip to the putt putt course and then they went to a park and played in the creek and got ice cream.. At the end of the week they learned much about the Lord and made many new friends. Our 3rd daughter got the biggest helper award and our son got the tidiest award (shocking to mom)! I have to say thank you to our 2nd daughter as she stayed with me and helped me immensely with the baby this past week.. We went to all the places and she had fun too but she was my big helper! Her older sister and her are heading to youth camp the end of July so they are very excited about that!

Learning new songs

Heading to putt putt

The putt putt course

A few of the girls at camp

Our oldest and a childhood friend enjoying time together

Need I say anything (I think the smiles say it all)

Look mom my teeth are green!

The water was extremely cold!

This one loved the water!

Glued at the hip these two are!

This is pre-soaked

This is the preacher, he looks like he's having fun!

This is after the wash down!

The final service

Be Back Soon

2008-06-22T22:24:00.003-04:00

We'll we are off early in the morning to our home church in North Carolina. They are having a junior camp for kids 1st grade thru age 11, being held there at the church. Two of our young ones will be attending and our oldest will be a counselor and helping out (also being a support for the her siblings attending). I will be staying just down the road with my brother and his wife with the other 2, works out well in case someone gets homesick we can just come and get them. We will be attending most of the activities going on for the kids, so we will be back later this week with pics and updates... Prayerfully I will also get some sewing done later this week, IF I am not too tired.. See ya when we get back.. toodles

Sneak Peek!

2008-06-17T20:17:00.004-04:00

Well hear is a little sneak peek at the dress I am making for little pumpkin.. I got the pattern from Oliver & S, lovely patterns! The fabric is from Heather Bailey's line Freshcut. I am craving more of it. Then I have some pics of the fabric I purchased to make my girls more skirts and me a new shirt from the shirt pattern we bought awhile back (made by Wendy). Then I just had to throw in a few pics of just 2 of my yard sale finds from Saturday. Oh I made out like a bandit!! I got some pearl jewelry, other vintage jewelry, a crock, vintage bowls (awesome) and 2 vintage tables.

Heather Bailey has such a wonderful line! I try so hard not to covet more fabric from it

Take a look at the sleeve band isn't it just precious!

The top fabric is for my shirt and the other two are for my girls skirts, it's more of a chocolate brown than the pic shows.

This table had a busted pedestal and hubby said I think I can find one to replace it and fix it.. so we got it for steal.. it even has a secret compartment and unfolds to make it a larger table

This one is just so dainty, I know just where to put it too

My Trip To The Hospital

2008-06-11T13:56:00.005-04:00

We'll I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I have a very good reason! Last Monday I was in the house making dinner, when my side/back started to hurt & ache. It got worse by dinner and then suddenly went away, but during the night it began to ache again. That morning I awoke and felt I could handle the pain as it wasn't all that bad. My kids had a dentist appointment and needed to go... so off we went. We weren't there more than 30 minutes and I had to pull the kids out and leave. Thank the Lord I have a teen driver as she drove me straight to the emergency room in our town as it got very bad. Within 30-45 minutes of being in the ER I couldn't stand, sit, or lie down as the pain was so intense. They came and gave me pain meds and took me in for a scan. They found a kidney stone at least 5mm in size. They sent me home with pain meds and said it will pass on it's own. WE'LL... it would not, and by Tuesday night I was back in the ER and they then admitted me and I stayed in the hospital till Thursday, then on Thursday I had surgery to remove the stone as it was stuck. I am doing much better now, and to be honest I would much rather have 5 more babies than ever go thru pain like that again! Needless to say I now know more about our local hospital between my daughters episode and now mine than I really wanted to know! I am back up and going again and will get things back to normal and maybe have some more interesting posts. Prayerfully no more trips to the ER in the near future.

A Trip To The Emergency Room

2008-05-29T13:57:00.003-04:00

My sweet baby had a terrible allergic reaction to something we aren't too sure about. We feel strongly that she had a reaction to Deet in some OFF she sprayed on her body Monday evening. That was the only thing different that happened that day. The pictures show a little of the hives, but they were so severe that she was covered in them and swelling her all over. Her poor little face was becoming deformed from the reaction. We all were very concerned and with that she headed off to the emergency room. They ended up giving her a steroid shot and Benedryl shot and meds to continue to take. We are thankful for that as she continued to be worse yesterday, but thank the Lord today she shows much improvement.

Poor thing hated being there

Oh momma this is gonna be bad

This was the look she gave when they walked in with the shots!

My Little Champion

2008-05-25T08:01:00.004-04:00

My little man had a Rain Gutter Regatta race in his pack this past week and I am so proud of him! He and his daddy did lots of research online to design the best boat and to paint it those favorite Georgia Bulldog colors (hubby is a die hard fan). But out of all the kids his age and older he won the whole thing!!! He was undefeated the whole night. He was up against kids from ages 6-12 and he did awesome. The best thing was at the end when they handed out the awards for it, he didn't even realize he was the big winner and that he was undefeated. All he knew is he loved racing his boat! Great job little man, we are proud of you!!

Pre race jitters!

Just waiting till everything was ready to race

Blowin that boat down the rain gutter

He had the best technique for blowing, the others we using straws (they soon caught on to his way)

This was his shocking moment when they called his name

I couldn't even get a good pic he wouldn't stand still! Momma's so proud

Treasured Things of the Present & Past

2008-05-20T09:43:00.009-04:00

The most treasured things to me are God and my family. My husband and I are trying to instill in our children the most important treasures are the ones we lay up in heaven! I also want my children to know treasures here on earth and I don't mean monetary ones. I find in this day an age that many sons and daughters grow up and get married only to find they can't do the simplest things to take care of a family, home, or even a job. I am trying to teach my girls treasures from days gone by. They all love to knit, which thrills my soul. We actually all just picked up this treasure a year ago and put down our crochet hooks and picked up knitting needles and haven't looked back. Another treasure I love that the girls enjoy is sewing. They all own a sewing machine of some sort, and enjoy making things for others and themselves. Especially at Christmas time. Our son does many things with his daddy to learn how to take care of a home and family.. everywhere dad is, he is watching/learning/soaking up the knowledge of his daddy. Thank you Lord for allowing us to show these great treasures to our children!

A lovely knitted dishcloth from a pattern over at Homespun Living (thanks Deb)

This dishcloth is the same pattern, but my oldest made it for me to put in the little basket I made recently.

New Shirt pattern, wonderful, the girls love when I make them clothes

Almost done

Finished isn't it wonderful!

Made this one in under an hour!

This is my oldest 2nd garment she has made, she is doing wonderful!

She wore it Sunday to church, although I made her go throw it on to take this pic, she is saying but mom I don't even have on my makeup.. love you baby girl!

My Mother

2008-05-15T15:05:00.003-04:00

I didn't get to post on Mother's Day to show what I made for my mother so here it is. I just want to say that I am thankful that the Lord has given me such a wonderful mother. Other than the Lord and my husband, my mom is my best friend. She is a blessing to me and my family. I just wanted to share what I made for her. She loves green so my daughter picked out this wonderful fabric and I used a great pattern by "Favorite Things" and here it is!

My mom & I

Fishing??

2008-05-12T14:22:00.007-04:00

We'll this is our big fishing adventure.. As you can tell by the headline I wrote fishing?? that is because at the end of a nearly 5 hour day of fishing we only caught one tiny little fish. Dad says it is a blue gill.. mom knows nothing I just see a whole day of fishing and nothing but a tiny little fish. You will see thru the pics the kids were very excited but by about the third hour of fishing they were getting discouraged. Oh well taught them patience... LOL We'll try again soon.

Our bucket of minnows, the kids loved getting them out

Are we fishing yet dad??

Precious sun bathing

Dad, my line is coming onto the shore

Beauty Queen still has caught nothing

Okay dad still no fish!

YEAH!! FINALLY A LITTLE FISH

Bags Finished! Dollywood Pics

2008-05-09T17:05:00.005-04:00

Okay the bags are done! Aren't they just so cute. I just love them and so do the girls... they can't wait for camp to come so they can use them. They measure 13in long, 5in tall, & 3 1/2 in deep. They said we are going to tell everyone that mom made them.. I just giggle.. anyhoo... I promised more pics of last week and I have been slack..so here are a few of our trip to Dollywood.. I will try and update on our fishing trip sometime tomorrow

I just adore these... they fit the girls so well

Plenty of room for all their goodies

Aren't they cute!! They have an anniversary coming up too
It was the Scottish theme...they look mighty handsome
The end of our day at Bass Pro Shop

The Cooper's

Life in *GeOrGiA*

Long Over Due

When The Lord Moves

Storms In Life

Summer Fun

Busy....Busy....Busy

My Precious Miracles Are *~TWO~* Today

~Simple Things That Make Me Smile~

~*Gearing Up*~

Good Fellowship and Great Reads

Down for the Count

~*HaPpY BiRtHdAy*~

SnOw....sNow...and more SNOW

Winner!

GIVEAWAY! $35 Gift Certificate to CSN.com Stores

Gingerbread Houses

Missing in Action

~Sorry~

Celebrations!

Life......

Graduation, Banquet and Sneak Peaks

Senior Pictures

Family Fun

Finally....Word On Olivia!!!

Sickness......

Having Fun Being Frugal Yet Healthy!!!

Happy Birthday My Twin Girls..Beatrice Joy & Olivia Hope

Update on Olivia Hope

Update On Olivia

PRAYERS NEEDED FOR OLIVIA

Wordless Wednesday

Fun In The Snow!!!! 12-14inches WOW

Yes We Are In!!

Only 2 More Days!!!!

WERE MOVING!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Cookies Anyone???

Wordless Wednesday

Footprints

My Precious Loves!

A Little Fan Fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Home..Thankfulness

Off To Nashville Again

Beach Fun!

Happy 4th Of July!

Loving Every Moment Of My Crazy Life

On The Road Again

Precious Miracles!!

Keep Praying

Getting So Close

Happy Anniversary

JESUS NEVER FAILS

Update On Olivia & Beatrice

Prayers for Olivia

They Are Here!

Urgent Prayers Needed

Shabby Chic..Thanks Mom

The Lord Is Good

Still Praising You Lord While We Wait

Precious One's

Baby Shower Fun!!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!!!

Still Much To Pray About

More Testing

2 Heartbeats!!!

Update on Twins TTTS

In Need Of Prayers

In Search Of.......

Merry Christmas!

Sweet Birthdays & Twins Checkup

TWINS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

VOTE!!!

Exciting News!

Happy Birthday My Beloved!

Family Fun At The Fair

Fun Creations!

Pumpkin

Life in GeOrGiA

My Precious Miracles Are ~TWO~ Today

~Gearing Up~

~HaPpY BiRtHdAy~