Monday, May 23, 2011

An Inspiring Family

I wanted to share the testimony of the amazing family that first got me thinking about the idea of adoption.  They are seriously a true testimony of what God is calling us to do!

http://vimeo.com/24073890

I hope this works....still haven't figured out how to post a link!

Quite The Weekend...

Well, we had quite the eventful, nerve-racking, scary, emotional weekend all rolled into one. Jon competed in the IM Texas on Saturday and gave it his ALL....as he always does!  Unfortunately, it was extremely humid(whoever thought of having an IM in Houston in late May is crazy!) which makes for very poor conditions for such a strenuous race!  Jon seriously kicked butt on the swim and bike portion, but when he got to the run(full marathon and you're already tired is NO BUENO!)  he was not feeling so good.  He was  exhausted, out of energy, foot hurting from previous injury, and to top it off, he flipped over his bike the day before and his leg was killing him!  I've got to say, that would've been the final straw for me, but NOOOO, not him!  LIke I said before, he is an overachiever and the most goal oriented person I know, and nothing could've taken him out of that race, unless his body physically just quit going....which is what happened.  At mile 10 on the run he couldn't go any further and had to lay down and came close to passing out.  The medic had to drive him to the medical station where they called me and we ran to him as fast as we could.  That was beyond scary for me, considering they gave me no information except that he was there.  I knew he had to be really hurt or sick to drop out so I was in a little bit of a panic getting to him, but trying to keep my cool for the kids.  After we got there, they wouldn't let anybody go back, which got me even more nervous.   Once they finally came out and told me he was alert, I felt better.  His body temp had fallen and they were trying to get it back up by keeping him wrapped up in a thermal wrap and gave him a iv for his dehydration.  After a couple of hours, he was released and we finally got to see him.  I told him that he is never to give me a near heart attack again, and that his family needs him too much to ever do another race like this again!....of course that was after I gave him the biggest hug EVER!


I have never been so proud of him as I am now.  With all the blood and sweat he put into training for it, he's obviously devastated about not completing it, yet he's  turning it into a learning situation for everybody, especially the boys.  He's going to pick himself back up and get back in the saddle, doing what he loves....only not to the extent of another full IM again!  He's such a positive and strong example to my boys, which makes me love him even more....and I didn't know that was possible..:)
LOVE this one of Ben running alongside him!  The sign said "TEAM COCO"


We had our good friends there to support him, and I'm so glad we did!  Amy helped me with the kids, and Jeff was able to encourage Jon on the run.  And Thank goodness Shelley kept Gage, because there is no way I could've dealt with all of this having to keep an eye on little G-Man too!  I am beyond blessed to have such a good group of supportive friends that would do anything to help me at the drop of a hat.  LOVE my friends!! :)


Onto a different note, I just got a call from Great Wall Adoption and CCAA is sending out a list of kids that are available for adoption tonight.  She said they will be looking for out little girl and we will get a call late tonight if she finds her. From what I understand, it's quite a frenzy with all the agencies trying to find matches and locking files.  Please say a prayer for us that our little girl is on this list.   It's hard to be patient, but it helps me to know that God already knows exactly who she is, and when we will see her, and is protecting her until then.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

We are Moving!

We are so excited but I have A L OT to do before we next Wednesday!  Thankfully, we're closing next Wedneday, but the movers aren't coming until June 3, so that gives me a good week and a half to move a lot of the breakables and decorations myself!  We're not going far,..just about 20 minutes North from where we are now to Melissa, TX.  It's a small country town that with 1 elementary school, 1 intermediate school, 1 middle school, and 1 highschool.  I really wanted smaller schools and the smaller town feel for my kids. McKinney has a population of around 130,000 and Melissa is around 3,000 so it'll be quite a difference! The good thing is we are only about 10 minutes to McKinney for shopping, and city life..;).  I think we're going to love it and I'm excited for my kids to be able to have a little more room to run around.  I'm wishing I could just snap my fingers and we'd already be unpacked and settled there!  Lots to do but it'll be WELL worth it in the end..:)
Looking forward to waking up to this view! 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Fingerprints!

Yay!  We received our fingerprint appointments in the mail!!.... June 3!  I'm so excited because it means we're almost to the end of this paper chase!  I'm using "almost" very loosely because it could be a couple of months before we get our I800 approval, but I do feel like we're moving..:)  After we get the approval, we can turn in our dossier and get logged in!  After that we wait for a picture of our little girl!


We had a short but fun weekend with Pa, Nana, and my nephew, Luke this weekend.  Time always flies when they're visisting.  Can't wait to see them again when we go to the beach this summer!

We have a busy week ahead of us.  Jon is traveling to The Woodlands, close to Houston, for his Ironman this weekend.  That's a 2.4 mile swim in a lake, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run!  Yes, he is absolutely CRAZY!!  This will be his second one, and I have to say that although I think he's nuts for doing it, and I get frustrated sometimes with the amount of time he has to put into training, he is so dedicated and committed to what has to be put into completing it, and I am so proud of him!  He gets up at 4 or 5am everyday to either bike, run, swim or all three, so that it doesn't interfere too much with our day.  He goes in the rain, cold, snow......whatever the conditions, so that he doesn't miss a day.  Jon has always been the kind of person that gives his ALL  to whatever he's doing,.... work, family, triathlons,....so I know he will do great...injuries and all.  He's going on Thursday and the kids and I are going to see my friend, Shelley, in College Station on Fri night, and then the older boys and I will go and meet him for the race.  Thank goodness for awesome friends..... Shelley is going to watch Gage for me during the race, so we can focus on looking for Jon and not trying to keep track of little man!  I'm just praying for a healthy and non- injured husband after this is all said and done, and hopefully he will have had enough of IM's for a VERY LONG TIME!! :)

Ben's 3rd grade class put on a tea on Wednesday and each student was able to invite someone and he invited me..:)   It was so sweet and he was so excited for the day!  He told me to bring kleenex, so I knew there were sure to be a few tears!  It doesn't take a lot to make me cry, ESP when it comes to my kids!  Ben's teacher and the students did such a good job putting it together and making it special!  I loved spending this time with my big boy!  
Reading a poem he had written for me....and so the tears began...;)

He brought me a flower after the poem....It was all so sweet!


Only 2 more Mondays til Summers!!!!! :)))








Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day!

Me and My Boys!


 I've had a great Mother's Day!  I woke up to breakfast in bed....pancakes with blueberries, turkey bacon, eggs, and coffee!  I could get use to that!  Then we went to church and to my favorite restaurant in downtown McKinney for lunch.  When Gage wakes up, we are going swimming....well, I should say the boys are going swimming. I'll just lay out.  The water is still a little too chilly for me right now!  If we have time we'll ride bikes to the park and the boys will search for those little colored bb's that are everywhere.  Not even sure what they really are, but they love searching and collecting them.  The boys made me a card and Ben wrote a poem about me using my name.  He's learning how to write different kinds of poems at school, so I'm glad he's putting it to good use!

He's a lefty and his handwriting isnt the greatest,  but it says Jumpy, Encouraging, Non-violent, Non-boring, I love her, Far smarter than dad(love this one), Excellent, and Runner.  I'm not sure where he got the jumpy and non-violent from....it's funny to hear what your kids think of you sometimes!





On Satrday we spent the day at the Acklin annual crawfish boil!  My once a year crawfish craving has been fixed for yet another year!  This is the 4th year they have had it and we always are looking forward to it.  Krissy's dad brings them in from B.R. and they are big and GOOD!  None of my boys will eat them but we did talk Ben into trying one!...for $3.00 I might add!  They really like playing with them more than anything.  Gage has no fear and reaches into the cooler are pulls them out by their antennas!


Of course, he has a cupcake in the other hand!
      
LSU Potatoes!?...they were purple!

  
My BFF from highschool, Krissy, and went to elementary school with Tobi.  It's crazy we all ended up in the same area!
The boys had fun swimming in the FREEEZING water!!
Lounging..;)




 We had muffins for moms at Gage's preschool on Thursday, and he made this rag with a handprint on it.   Kind've wish the events at his school were at the end of the day because he is so scared I'm going to leave and he has a death grip on my hand the whole time!  He always cries and is so sad when I have to leave him after..:(

Reed made this trivet for me at school! He said he picked this color because he thought I would like it the most.  I love homemade gifts from the kids.

Sorry for the dark picture, but Jon took it with his phone, so it'll have to do.   Anyway, Ben signed up to do the kid's marathon at his school.  They ran 25 miles over a 2 month period and then ran the last mile with at school on Friday.  He ran really fast and didn't stop the whole way!  He loved having the crowd cheering him on.  He gets that straight from his daddy!  He wants to do a 5k race now, so I'm trying to find one for him to do soon.  He's not big into team sports, so maybe track will be his thing.
Gage sitting with Big brother Ben at his assembly when he got his award.  He thought he was SO big!


He also got the 110% award for his class this month, which means he goes over and beyond on his school work.  I think his love for reading is what helped him get this.   He finished all the Harry Potter books and is now on the 4th Percy Jackson book! Go Ben!

Last but not least is a pic of me and my mom.  It was taken a few years ago at the beach.  I realized when looking for a picture of us, that we don't have many of just us.  I have a lot of her but they are usually with the kids.  I'm going to make more of an effort in the future to take some of just us.  I'm so blessed to have her as a mom.


I hope everybody had a great Mother's Day!!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

There's a new sheriff in town....

....And his name is Gage!!  
I found these pjs at old navy and they had his name witten all over them since he is the sherriff of the Coco household!  He has now resorted to "telling" on anybody who he thinks has wronged him..;)"
I'll hear, "I'm tellin on you!!" at least 100 times a day now.  After he's told me, no matter what I say, he runs back in there to let them know he's told...haha.  Guess we need to introduce the no tattling rule soon!
Another thing he's been saying is "whatchu get fo that?" which means "where'd you get that" in Gage langauge.  Funny, funny boy..:)
Oh, and he learned to ride his new bike that he got for his birthday, and wants to ride it ALL the time!

With this gorgeous weather comes little boy imaginations that run wild!  They were outside playing yesterday, and playing together well I might add, so I didn't feel the need to bother them.  When I finally did make my way outside, THIS is what I found...
                                                                A Fort...
A Zipline...
sand castle "shop"...
                                                          And Reed's ladybug/rollypolly farm.

Thank goodness I'm pretty laid back with these kind of "messes" or I'd be locked up in the looney bin for sure by now!  Even though we have a backyard the size of a patio home, the boy's neighborhood friends always come over here and I'm so glad.  Well, sometimes the messes drive me crazy, but I do like having them here where I can see what they're doing and get to know their friends.  I know that one day my house and yard will be meticulous and landscaped to a tee, and I'll be wishing for the days of laughing kids and craziness!!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

One less...

I'm so excited!  I have a friend that I met this year at the gym, who is leaving with her family on Tuesday for China to get her daughter, Anna Wei Wei!!!!   I can't imagine what they are feeling knowing they will see their daughter for the first time this week!!  I can't wait to see them together as a forever family!  I told her that I'm living through her for the moment, since I feel like we are moving in slow motion..:)  I'm sure she'll be updating often, so here's her blogsite if anybody wants to follow along.
Melissa, I'll be praying for y'all to have a smooth transition, especially for sweet Anna Wei Wei.  She is a blessed little girl to have such a wonderful family coming for her..:)

http://www.reyesfamilyadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/

Pointing at Mommy!
pointing to her mommy...:)