Personality Test~Interesting

***Your Personality Is***
Idealist (NF)

~You are a passionate, caring, and unique person.You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals.
~You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily.Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings.
~You seek out other empathetic people to befriend.Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships.
~In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily.
~At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career.
~With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone.
~As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style.
~On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

The Three Question Personality Testhttp://www.blogthings.com/threequestionpersonalitytest/

Blankie for Bella

Cameron's sister Kassie will be having a baby named Bella sometime in October. Her actual due date is the 31st but I think she will be here much sooner. If not for any other reason than to see her daddy before he is deployed to Iraq on the 28th. That is all tentative and with the Army you NEVER know exactly what will happen. This whole situation is just crazy but I am so thankful that Kassie will get to move home from Killeen with Bella for the 15 months that Jerry will be gone. So I am hoping that although Bella might not be with her daddy she will be loved and supported with people who think she is so special. I am extremely saddened that Jerry will not be here with Bella and Kassie. It isn't fair, but then again nothing about War is fair. Our family supports Jerry and respects his military obligations. We will miss him while he is gone and think of him daily along with all the troops overseas. But until then we are rejoicing that a precious angel is being given to us and we can't wait to spoil her rotten. Here is Bella's blanket that I have been working on.

uuummmm....no!

We are in the midst of baby names for this little bun in the oven. (Don't you love all the puns that come with being prego? Well there are a ton of them if you didn't know.) Anyways Cameron is always coming up with names that "just come to him" during the day. He came up with Cannon and I came up with Gracelyn but we shot down dozens of names to get to those two. Now it is getting even harder because I don't want a popular name but I don't like weird or too freaky. You all know what I am talking about. I don't want to actually give examples encase you happen to have one of these name-challenged-children in your family. But I like to draw the line somewhere between unique and off the wall. Last night I was on the Social Security website and they have a list of the top 1000 names of 2005. You would be amazed at what people come up with. Some fun examples that I couldn't even really pronounce were~
Boys: Jaheim, Isai, Enzo
Girls: Motserrat, Aiyana, Deja
Yep they were all on the list!!!
In my teaching experience I have had several kiddos named Jason, Cody, Katie, Sydney, I had 3 Matthews in one year even. All perfect and great names but very popular. But after looking at the list last night I have to say I have never had the names that came at the end of the list, Blaise (Blaze I think) and Maryjane.

You think we would take some advice from our friends Harvin and D'Sha'~No name discussions until you know the sex of the baby. That eliminates 50% of the choices. Good thinking. We hope to find out on the 13th of October.

So in response to Cameron's names that are questionable.
Uuuuummmm....no!

Couch Time

We are so blessed to be a part of a group of people who cherish their children. God has placed a huge task in front of us as parents and as many of you know there are no owner's manuals!!! But there is the Bible and biblical teaching to guide us. Cameron and I are fortunate that our pastors are teaching a class called Growing Kids God's Way. I was thrilled to try something new. Although Gracelyn is for the most part a pretty terrific kid we are thrown for a loop at times at how to deal with certain situations! We second guess our choice of words and our choice of punishment. But in the whole scheme of things we have realized one thing and that is we can't do it by ourselves nor do we really want to! So we signed up for this class and already I feel like we are on our way to being successful parents. With the right tools we can fix any problem we might have. Sometimes there might be a few more nails involved but other times we just need tape.

This class gives homework. Not just any kind of homework either. There is no answer to look up it is role-playing. So there were times this past week that we had to stop and think about how we would handle certain situations. Changing our thinking from practical reasoning to moral reasoning. If we give Gracelyn the moral reason why not to do something then that should curb her continual "why" question we hear daily. Well it worked except for one HUGE opportunity that was put before me and I had no moral reasoning just practical reasoning. Gracelyn cut her hair. And the first words out of my mouth were, "Gracelyn, when you cut your own hair it makes you look so ugly." I am not proud of my words and I spent the next several days making up for them. But 5 days later I think we have recovered somewhat.

I am no star student but I do know that I didn't do the right thing. Isn't that progress? Admitting your wrong? I might need tutorials but whatever I can do to show my child God's love I am willing to do it.

Homework this week is couch time when Cameron gets home to spend in communication with him and blocking out distractions, AKA~KIDS. But I am up for the challenge. I know it will take some training on all our parts but my kids are so worth it. If we can show them that mommy and daddy are in love and care about each other then I know it will reassure Gracelyn and eventually Cannon that everything is okay. Don't get me wrong, Cam and I are not having problems but this with affirm our love for each other in front of Gracelyn.

Watch out there might be smooching involved! :)

Mia

Here is a picture of Mia Sdao. I love this picture because it was taken with such love and joy. Just like the few weeks that her parents had with her. My heart aches for their loss and I continually pray that God watch over this precious family and grant them peace.

My heart is hurting

Last week I received a phone call that I hope I never have to relive. My good friend Tori called and through sobs and uncontrollable crying told me that her 8 week old baby girl Mia was in the hospital and things didn't look good. I only talked to her for about 60 seconds but she did ask that I pray. I pulled over and prayed for God to heal this tiny body and to do his great miracle thing. Sadly Mia passed away that night. There was something wrong with her heart and it was just a unfortunate tragedy that she died. I flew out on Wednesday night to be with her. God really placed it on my heart to be there and support her. I didn't know what I was walking into and emotionally was not prepared at all. Hormones being all out of whack didn't help at all either. But for 4 days I watched my beautiful friend make arrangements and plan a very detailed service for her baby girl. At one point when we were at Hobby Lobby after 2 hours I believe she just simply said that it had to be perfect because she would never get to plan a birthday party and although this wasn't a party it was a time to give Mia the best and plan the best for her. At that moment I realized that I had no clue what she was going through. I was just an outsider looking in. I offered support and lots of hugs but I couldn't know what was going on in her mind. I couldn't understand her pain. I couldn't imagine her grief.

Emilia Elizabeth Sdao July 7, 2006~September 12, 2006.

Back to the daily grind

Well school started last week for myself and Gracelyn. I teach one of the 4-year-old classes while Gracelyn is in the other one. It is fun to be there and get to know a new group of kids. We have 14 kids in our class. WOW! I know in public schools I could have 22 by myself without a co-teacher but still this is a big group of kids. They are very special and unique.

We had a great day Sunday at our church. It was the fall kickoff of a new sermon series and also friend's Sunday. There were lots of people I didn't recognize which was great!! The lunch afterwards was fabulous as well. We are so blessed to go to Plum Creek. Finally we are where God wants us and it is so wonderful. We really feel a connection with the people who worship there.

Cannon is still no where near walking! Darn kid. It is so funny when you try to stand him up. He just goes limp in the legs. He doesn't even like it when you attempt to make him. He loves to walk behind his toys and then of course walking along the furniture. He will pick it up soon. He has learned that you can hike your leg up onto the couch and attempt to get up there. He hasn't done it alone yet but it sure is cute to watch when he has one leg on the ground and then one leg on the couch and he is just standing there with a huge grin. He is getting tooth number 16 in. Yes that is right. He is 12 months old and he will be finishing up getting all his teeth. It is amazing when he smiles to see all those teeth. He knows how to use them as well!

Gracelyn is doing so well at school. Right now we are learning about strangers at home. She has never met a stranger before so we are having to constantly remind her that people can be strangers even if they look nice, etc... Well she came home the first day of school and told her daddy that her class was full of strangers! :) Are we doing it right or wrong? She is getting so independant and learning so much it is wonderful to watch.

I go to the Dr. tomorrow for my September checkup. I am 16 weeks now so I am hoping that the next appointment we will have a sonogram and be able to tell the sex of the baby!

Have a blessed day,
Keri