Titus-15ish Months

Here are some pics of Titus I took between 15 & 16 months.

He went through a phase where he like to put his finger by his face/nose.

Doesn't he look so grown up?
He loves his green ball blanket.
The remains of a bag of chip he sprinkled down the hallway and then crushed. (I had just finished vacuuming, of course!)
He loves this blue car that belongs to our friend's the Whetstone's.
This is his, "I'm grouchy pick me up!!" face that likes to come out when I am trying to cook.
He loves the toilet! He found the plunger and did this all on his own, he was so proud.
Here he is having his first ice cream cone. We are still trying to figure out how much dairy he can tolerate. But, he is loving his lactose free milk so that is working well for now.
-Titus is definitely an explorer. His favorite activities include taking things out of any drawers/the pantry, going outside (he is a real grouch when his sisters get to play outside with out him), pushing the buttons on the tv, driving his coupe car, throwing things in the toilet, unrolling the toilet paper, dumping his sister's cubbies, eating things off the floor/out of the trash (when he can get away with it), and watching out the window.

-He also loves his blanket and sucking his thumb. He usually only sucks his thumb in his bed or when he has his blanket.

-He has a wonderful onry grin and belly laugh.

-He continues to grow and is headed straight towards the 3T clothes (as least shirts & pjs).

-His best friend is Logan and they like to wrestle on occasion.

-He is starting to show a bit more interest in toys (finally!!!) but still mostly prefers getting into mischief.

-He is showing signs of wanting to be a "big boy" for example he likes to walk now, but doesn't get to all the time because he prefers not to hold my hand. He also is very proud that he can crawl up on his sisters' beds. He refuses to eat anything unless he picks it up and won't even take food from your hand most of the time. He loves using a spoon and is getting pretty good at it.

He continues to be a joy (accept when I am trying to cook dinner, then he is a grump. :)

We love you Mr. Man!

A Yard Sale Miracle

This Spring one of my big projects was getting ready for a yard sale. My friend Karen asked me if I would like to join her and I took the idea and ran with it. Jeremy and I decided all of our proceeds would go to our adoption fund so it made me very motivated! I went through almost our entire house top to bottom. Jeremy kept telling people that anything we hadn't used in the last 5 minutes was up for sale. (Not exactly....but we did get rid of a lot of stuff!)

I spent so much time going through things I didn't even have time to price my items. I just sat them out and figured I would give a price as people were interested. (I know not like my usual organized self. Oh, how 3 kids has changed me!) We put in the paper that our sale would open at 3 p.m. I headed over to get started setting up at 9 am. By 9:15 ish we had made our first sale and it never slowed down! It was crazy all day long. Our sale was set up outside and we knew that rain was definitely in the forecast. But, I just kept praying and praying and praying. And God showed himself in a magnificent way. The wind blew up 2 or 3 times and it would feel like it was going to storm any moment but it always blew over. Karen's husband Paul was watching the radar for us. He said the storm came very close and then literally went right around Hannibal. I definitely saw this as God's hand of provision for our adoption! I'm so full of praise that we have a God who walks alongside us, even on the days where the agenda is a crazy yard sale!

By Friday night we had made over $400 dollars. Wow! I was completely exhausted. My feet hurt and I was SO tired. I remember thinking that I haven't felt like that since I was pregnant. And then I gave God praise again for showing me that this really is our "pregnancy" as we prepare for our adoption. I was incredibly blessed by the McSmith family and the Whetstone family that worked right along side us, I knew they were doing it because they too are anticipating being a part of bringing "baby" Humiston home. As I lay in bed that night I teared up just seeing what a beautiful thing God is doing in our lives. I saw that by the time this little one arrives so many people will have been a part of it. I could envision a quilt and knew that each project or donation is just another block towards a beautiful future God is building for our child.

On Saturday we set up early, but this day the rain came. Even though the rain was kind of a mess. (We had to run everything through the dryer so we could even donate the unsold items) God would show his faithfulness in a different way that day. Several families from our church showed up to purchase things knowing the sale was helping our adoption. They went through boxes on the porch and took home soaking wet clothes. Even though we had to shut down before even getting everything out we still made over $100. God is good.

Grand total we made almost $550 dollars. If you are reading this please join me in giving God the glory for the great thing HE did!

Future Humiston,

Let it be known that you are already loved, not just by us but by wonderful people who love the Lord. They too want to be a part of the beautiful story God is writing in your life. Oh, how more and more every day I can't wait to meet you. My heart longs to hold you in a way I never could have imagined. You are prayed for, you are anticipated, you are so very special. And I am trusting the Lord to keep you until he brings you home.

Love,

Your Future Mama

Mother's Day

This year our Mother's day celebration was very laid back. We went to church as a family and then had lunch at home. The girls were very excited to surprise me with a trip to Lowe's to pick out flowers. They actually kept the plan a secret for a couple days! We were originally planning to choose some flowers to plant in pots but Jeremy knew I have always wanted a lilac bush and encouraged me to pick out one of those instead. So, I finally have a lilac bush and am excited to enjoy blooms next Spring! (Although we still haven't planted it in the ground as we are hoping to move and can't decide wether to commit by planting it...)

This year the girls helped making stepping stones as their Mother's day project for the grandmas. They had a great time and this was one I let them use creative license so they were each one of a kind.

Big Apple Adventure

This past year Grace was part of our church's Kids Choir. Each Sunday afternoon they met to practice. Their spring project was a musical based on the theme for our VBS, "Big Apple Adventure." It was very cute! Grace got lots of comments on her "freestyle" or "spirit led" performance. She was very into it most of the time and not afraid to do her own movements versus the pre-learned actions. I was proud of her for not being near as afraid to perform this semester. She kept finding us in the audience and giving us a big cheesey grin with a thumbs up sign. I'm not sure if this will be Grace's "thing" but she had lots of fun.

Doing the correct actions- yeah!

Here is the thumbs up...
She was very excited Gramy & Papa came to see her dress rehearsal on Saturday night.
We are still thinking about if this is something she will want to do again next year. And Faith is definitely thinking she would like to join in next year.

Lucky Number 7 (The Year of Prayer)

On May 8th Jeremy and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I honestly can't believe its been seven years. I still kind of see us in the "young/newly wed" category sometimes (although the 3 kids & minivan do help with that...) We celebrated by a night away at Harpole's Heartland Lodge in Nebo, IL which is about an hour away. The lodge was first built as a hunting lodge, but now they have guests for getaways as well. In order to save a bit of money we stayed in the "Hunter's Lodge," but we had the entire thing to ourselves so it was great!

After dinner (which was amazing!) we went on a hay ride & then has smores at their camp fire.
In the morning we woke up early. I know, I know you are supposed to sleep in but we get up so early during the week these days we are just prewired. We went on an hour walk before breakfast on their large property. It was very quiet and gorgeous. We both really miss having time to be outside in God's creation. It was just nice to be together and talk without our 3 beautiful interruptions.
After breakfast we did some more hiking in the woods before heading home. It was getting very hot and was pretty muddy from the rain the night before. We saw a HUGE snake as well which added to the excitement. Jeremy tried to encourage it to move out of our path, but it won and we hiked through the brush to go around instead.

When we got married, my cousin/friend Kara was my personal attendant. She brought me lucky bamboo, which she renamed my "prayer bamboo." A year or 2 ago I accidentally watered my prayer bamboo with crystal light. Opps! No, matter what I tried it killed my bamboo (and made me reconsider putting crystal light in my body). Jeremy and I have gone to enough marriage enrichment classes to know that year 7 is kind of a mile marker of sorts in a lifelong marriage. (AKA a lot of divorces happen by/at year 7). I recently did some redecorating in our master bedroom and found a great place to put a new piece of bamboo, that will compliment our travel theme great. I am hoping to purchase one soon. So, instead of this year being lucky number 7 I am declaring it our prayer year. I really see how God is growing us in this area. A few months back we began praying together one morning a week. This was a challenge since Jeremy leaves for work so stinkin' early, but it has been such a blessing. At church we are currently focusing on the family and a couple gave a testimony of praying together. We found if very challenging because he has to be at work at 5:30 am. His wife's faithfulness to get up and have prayer time each morning really hit home. I knew God was calling us to make our once a week "good thing" a daily "great thing." So, I am getting acquainted with my husband's world of getting up with the sun. My spirit is willing, but let me confess my flesh is fighting me!! But, I know God is up to things in our life and I think this daily morning prayer time is going to be a part of us discovering his plan for us.

7 Blessings of our Marriage

1-Laughter (We laugh a lot, mostly at Jeremy because he is funny...and sometimes at me because I'm ridiculous.)

2-Balance (I'm amazed more and more how well we compliment each other.)

3-Fun (We still have a whole lot of fun together.)

4-Dreaming (We are beginning to pursue our dream of adoption together-horay!)

5-Ministry (We love to minister together as a team. We are finally back in the saddle again with me assisting Jeremy as he teaches 11-12th grade sunday school and him helping me teach 2-5 year olds one Sunday a month.)

6-Prayer (Just beginning to discover this one.)

7- Challenge (So thankful for the way the deep challenges have cemented us together.)

A Trip to Roseville

The weekend before Mother's Day we had a great dual purpose trip to Roseville. On Saturday night we spent the night at Nana's house. The kids were VERY excited about that! We walked to the park for some fun in the evening.

The next day we are had to "match" in our purple and black! We went to church with Nana and all 3 of them went to class without any tears!
After lunch with Nana we headed to Grandpa Don's 80th birthday party. The girls enjoyed making him lots of cards to help keep them entertained. They were very disappointed he didn't have any candles on his birthday cake. For the first half of the party Titus took a nap at Nana's house. Here he is sleeping with Jeremy's dinosaur blanket from when he was little. I think the caption is, "Nana seriously, I just woke up! Put that flash away..."
I unfortunately forgot to take any pics at the party, but it was a great weekend!

The perfect purple bike & more!

This year at city wide garage sales I truly saw the goodness of God on display!! I didn't buy as much this year as I have in years past. But, I went into the weekend with a very specific list of items I wanted to try and find. I was hoping to search more specifically for only what we "wanted most."

Some of these included:

- A bathrobe (Grace had one handed down to her and Faith wanted one too. Beforehand I told them I might not be able to find one small enough for Faith, but maybe one that would fit Grace and then she could in turn hand hers down.)

-Nightgowns (The girls have decided this is basically the only type of pjs they like right now)

-A bike for Grace (with training wheels, and of course she was hoping for purple)

Well, we found all three of these plus a few great bonus items!!

-I found a Hello Kitty bathrobe for Grace. She has a Hello Kitty blanket and loved the robe, happy to hand hers (that Faith loved) on to her sister!

-Then I was at a sale with a lot of name brand clothes that had a lot of wear but were still pretty pricy. I was about to leave disappointed, when the women asked if I was looking for anything in particular. I mentioned, "You don't happen to have any nightgowns, by chance?" She did, she told me her daughter went through a phase where that was all she would wear as well. I spent $8 and got like 12 nightgowns!! They were all name brand and in good condition. They were all similar in size so I just brought them home and let the girls divide them buy the patterns and colors they liked best. I have already gotten my $8 out of them!

-On Friday I found a bike that was purple for $12...but it had a rusted seat and the training wheels were missing. It was hard to walk away, but I decided to wait. On Saturday I found a purple bike for $5 that was in GREAT condition. The training wheel were also missing, but I decided to go ahead and purchase it. At the next sale I found MATCHING PURPLE TRAINING WHEELS for $.50 and a purple/pink basket for $.25. One of Grace's friends has a basket on her bike which Grace had admired so I knew she would find the basket a great bonus. So, for $5.75 God gave us the perfect bike for Grace-WOW!!!!

My heart was so full of praise for God's specific provision of these. It was such a great reminder to me that he loves to give good gifts to his children.

Faith got this adorable hat which she loves!

Like mother, like daughter. Grace had to mark up her paper as well!
Grace's perfect purple bike! Can you see how awesome the training wheels match?
I also found a few things for Titus including a pair of adorable rain boots. The kids all have them now so we are hoping to take a picture in them. For me, I was on the hunt for cheap frames to make a gallery wall I have been dreaming up for the house. I found several of these and am looking forward to adding to the collection at future sales.

Isn't God good?!

My Girls

The girls are enjoying matching their dolls. They are so precious.

Faith was a bit unsure of Kit at first. She thought she would rather have had a Ruthie doll like her big sister, but she has finally warmed up and is enjoying her own doll.

Easter in an "Eggshell"

My mom took most of the pics of the kids on Easter day, but here are a few snapshots of our Easter in an "eggshell."

Easter baskets from Grandpa Rick & Grandma Leeanne

Grace and her new purple dress that matches Ruthie's.
Faith loved her new binoculars!
Titus with his new shape sorter.
We had an Easter egg hunt at play group. Grace did a great job of sharing her eggs with the younger ones.

Easter Day



The slinkys were another favrorite items from their many Easter baskets.
The money shot courtesy of Gramy, of course!
Each year I enjoy watching the girls' knowledge of the Easter story grow. Grace loved her "story eggs" again this year and wanted to do them all the time. She could explain each part of the story with them and wanted to take them everywhere and share the story. Every time we would drive by a local church Faith would say, "Jesus died on that big cross." I finally figured out she literally thought it was the cross Jesus died on. After a bit of explaining Grace wanted to know if we could go see the actual cross Jesus died on. She was disappointed that wasn't a possibility and wasn't detoured by my mention that Jerusalem was across an ocean, she was pretty sure we could swim or take a boat there.