gettn' ready

We are just days away from heading back down to Trinidad for the 3rd time!!! We are so excited!!! I've been getting myself mentally prepared for life there...the simple life...as it should be. I've had fun adding my craft to this adventure prep. I've made a few shirts showing how much we love Siparia, Trinidad & Tobago!


So what am I looking forward to??
1. the kids of course! so far we know that 20 boy scouts have registered for camp...that's just the scouts! Many of these boys we have been with both previous trips, some made personal decisions to follow Jesus last year. Can't wait to hear what He has been doing in their lives!


2. re-uniting with the Singh family - they run the camp, live there. I truly feel like they are family to us...my kids think they are related! I love that! I know they have changed in 10 months!
3. working side by side with Almoma (mom)- she's like a sister to me! I have so much to learn from her...I will be working in the kitchen with her, 3 meals a day all week of camp. So yummy! I wanna learn how to make this!!

4.Turtles! Hopefully our timing is good and we get to see her again!

5. Getting to know our new team! Tonight we had a prayer time with some of our team. It was MUCH needed! Lord help us to take our focus off ourselves and onto YOU and YOUR PLAN!!
Can't wait to share with you what HE did!!!

a morning of tears...the good kind

I've had many Mother's Days...some sad( the many Mother's days where I wasn't yet a mom to a baby here on earth) and many happy ones ( ones where I celebrate being a Mom, and being thankful for the Mom I am blessed with).
Today was a celebration of Mother's Day in Logan's Kindergarten class at DC, I wasn't really expecting so many tears on a *happy* day. But sometimes they sneek up on you like that.
Lots of feelings today ( and it's not even Mother's Day yet!)...
Today was a 1st for me, funny that Logan is our 1st Kindergartener at DC when he has two older sisters. They were homeschooled. Girls ya kinda wanna keep home for as long as possible, boys you are ready to kick out the door as soon as they offer a class for them! Did I just write that?
Logan holds a special place in our hearts, as each one of our children do ( they have their own little corner).
Madelyn was our 1st miracle daughter after two losses, Emma was our 2nd miracle baby when we were preparing for another journey of losses. And Clayton was almost not to be. After Logan was preparing his own special way into this world, out of fear, i signed papers saying " Tie them, cut them! I can't do this again, no more babies coming so early, we are done!"
God quickly used my wise doc who showed me I was making this BIG decision out of fear, and seeing the truth in that, we ripped up those papers. Clayton surprised us almost exactly 2 years later!
And then there is Logan, our 1st boy. We tried extra long for Logan, lots of $ and tears went into bringing him into this world. We knew God had something extra special planned for him too! When you think he will never come, and then during that wait he decides he will come 10 weeks early, well it's got to be one of the most frightening things a mother can go through. Spending a month in the hosptital with your son is a time of bonding that I wasn't blessed with my other children.

I can't believe this was 6 years ago!!! Where does the time go?
Today in his class there was a feast prepared for the Moms. I peeked in the window from the hallway( way up on my tip-toes) to see them practicing their song. I couldn't wait to see what they would do.
The kids came out into the hall to welcome their moms into their classroom. I was escorted by a VERY handsome young man who walked over to his table and pulled out a chair for me to sit in. As I sat down with this young man in front of me, I felt the tears on their way. GEEZ!! I'm a sap!!
I have to say, and as I go own you will see, that Mrs.Ruth has got to be THE BEST TEACHER ever! I'm actually praying that by some miracle with in the DC school system's administration ( I think I have a good connection there), that she could go ahead and follow Logan along as his teacher through his senior year! PERFECT!!!
She opened up our time in prayer and welcomed in her sweet daughter who is a Jr. at DC who BEAUTIFULLY played the flute for us while we ate. Again, tears were held back.
I know it sounds silly, but even right down to the Vanilla flavored coffee available, well, it was a true blessing and act of love that was heard loud and clear.
After our yummy treats, Mrs.Ruth stood up to read a book to us...oh yes, I walked straight over to the tissue box..darn it all!! Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury...um yea, I could have just have had the TITLE read to me and that would have been plenty, oh no, somehow SHE made it though the entire book. And by that time, my eye makeup was GONE!
And here's the BEST PART.... the part that reminds me everyday, THIS is why we do what we do to have our children be blessed by DC....
Mrs Ruth closed the book and bowed her head in prayer, she purposefully walked around each table and laid her precious, hard working, loving hands on each shoulder of each Mom in the classroom. She prayed for each family, each home, each child, each Mom.
There wasn't a dry eye, well excpet for the kids...Logan leaned over and in a whisper as she said *Amen* he said "uh Mom, why is everyone crying?"....because we love you buddy! "why is Mrs.Ruth crying?"...because she loves you too.
And in case you are wondering...YES, I am crying again just writing this!
The kids then walked up to the front of class and they sang to us, the song they had been practicing..."you are the King of kings, Lord of lords, you are the Great I Am...."
It all made sense again...watching my miracle little buddy, singing to Jesus in his classroom!!!

There isn't anything better than seeing your child love Jesus!
It's yet again, another clear reminder...THIS is why we do what we do...THIS is why the teachers at DC do what they do...THIS is why we know it's OK that we can't do the big summer vacation thing, it's why it's OK that we sometimes have just pancakes for dinner, it's why it's OK that our van is living on a prayer (again)...it's all ok. Why? Because our children see Jesus with skin on EVERY DAY at DC. It's days like this that I KNOW it's all worth it.
Mrs. Ruth praying for Logan on his 6th Birthday!

Mrs.Ruth had the kids draw a picture of their Moms...Logan and his drawing of me :)

And this is Logan and I AFTER the Mother's Tea...minus all my eye make-up! :)

sometimes God throws Barbie clothes

you are probably wondering what in the world...well here's the mini adventure that my boys, my niece and I had yesterday afternoon. It's been really nice here, the back door slidding screen has been open ( no bugs yet) and as many times as I have closed it behind the kids, I have found it open again. For a while I've been blaming them "SHUT THE DOOR"!! But I did witness the wind blow it open, so I'm not sure *who* left it open yesterday afternoon. But it became the invitation to a visitor into our home. At one point I walked into the kitchen, saw the door again was open and a little bird quickly flew out from the floor of the dining room. Just a couple minutes later I walked in to my bedroom, which is down the hall, and a bird took a dive bomb flight around my head!! So I did freak out a bit, but once I knew it was a bird, I was laughing ( ok after a small screem and a quick run OUTTA THERE!). I ran to find the kids, posted it on FB, and called Nate.
Poor Nate, I think he gets weekly calls about something he really doesn't want to deal with (i.e. there is water in the laundry room from a unknown source, there is water coming out from under the sink spilling onto the kitchen floor, the garage door won't shut, the Wii isn't working...THERE IS A BIRD IN THE HOUSE!) Each time he is so calm and patient with me, it's quite amazing actually. So the call yesterday consisted of my announcement, then his repsponse, "Im in Columbus, just open up a window".
At that point the bird flew into Emma's room and the 3 kids ran in after it...so did I. I thought we should try to keep it in there since her room has 2 windows. I shut all 4 of us in there, I know, I know BRILLIANT!
I opened up the windows and the screens and thought for sure immediately the bird would fly right out thanking me along the way...uhh...no...this required alot more time out of my day than I planned.
Logan became the cheif blind-holder-upper on one window, Clayton and Kate one and only job was to stay in one place, and NOT SCREAM ( that was enough responsibility for them). As I sat on the bed for a minute to come up with a *brilliant plan*, I noticed my niece Kate had yogurt smeared all over the crown of her head. "um, Kate, hunny why do you have yogurt in your hair?" She matter-of-factly said " well we were playing outside and I put the yogurt on my head to pretend it was my brains coming out" Yes, she is smack inbetween my boys and two big brothers. enough said, totally understandable.
I stationed myself at the other window, holding up the blinds. Ok, so NOW it will just fly right out. I mean you can feel the breeze coming in, hear the other birdie friends calling it out, and see the trees just inviting it to COME THIS WAY.
But no, it deciding time and time again to fly right into the mirror on the back of Emma's door. REALLY?? the mirror ( no it was not clean, there was no way it was looking like the outside, it was flying into FINGERPRINTS) was more appealing than TWO open windows??? BIRDS ARE DUMB, really dumb!!
After a couple more attempts at the mirror, it flew up onto my vintage baby clothing collection hanging on her wall. I was getting frustrated at this point, I don't have time for this. Oh at this point I remembered I had lunch inthe oven, and the timer had gone off some time ago....NICE! perfect.
In my position, I didn't have many options. But I did think I needed to get him to FLY. Cause he was pirched up there for what seemed like forever!!
Looking around I saw what might just work...Barbie clothes!!!!
I grabbed a purple satin evening gown and flung it towards Tweetie, hmmm not heavy enough to go the distance. So I grabbed Prince Charming's 3pc suit ( now realizing both Barbie and Ken are naked somewhere...hmmm..what are they up to?)
I didn't want to throw something that would hurt him, just get him to MOVE! It worked!!!
The adventure was over, he flew right out Logan's window.
So last night as I was getting into bed, I noticed that Tweetie did indeed leave a mark for us to remember him by. As I (oh, I mean Nate) cleaned up the mess it got me thinking.
Aren't we like that bird??? We get ourselves into a situation and God DOES provide a way or multiple ways out, and yet we see a mirror ( looks good) and bang our head into that over and over, get mad at the situation, hear our wise counsel encouraging us to make a good choice, and yet again we choose to fly into the mirror. Then our Father, who doesn't want to harm us, wants us to make good choices, He wants us to see that we can trust Him and what He has planned is PERFECT; safe. And when it's the right time He may just have to throw *Barbie clothes* at us. Something to MAKE us FLY!!! Is He throwing *Barbie clothes* at you?????

It's all new!

So my good buddy Whit had me some time ago make a blanket for her mom out of her mom's old baby blanket and an old pink chenille oversized robe. It turned out so cute and I backed it with minkee, so it was even more suggley than the original.
Well Whit handed me her 70's baby blanket holes and all, and asked me to make it new again, by adding what ever I wanted to it. Ohhhh I love that freedom! So here's a *before pic*

I think you can read through it! It's got yellows, and teal-blue-greens in it, gotta love the 70's! Actually I found great fabric that went with it and I jumped right in!
I patched the holes with some shabby layed patches.

I kept adding the colors around the edges and backed it with cuddle fleece minkee...so yummy! Personally I don't think the pics do it justice :) I think she might cry, I hope she loves it!

Chirstmas decor...one thing at a time

To be honest, I'm actually NOT looking forward to getting all the Christmas decor out and up. Our tree is mammoth and it takes ALL DAY to get that thing up and running. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. And yet, I LOVE Christmas decorations! We've been married almost 14 years ( anny is Dec 23rd!) and it's really about time to purchase some updated Christmas decorations for around the house. Not all at once, just a little at a time.
So far, for all around great deals I hit up the Flower Factory...love that crazy place! So thinking about this space in my dining room that is aching for some new decor...I love this vintage piece. We inherited this pie cabnet from Nate's Grandparent's best friends...if you are ever in my dining room...do NOT look inside, it's a scary scary place full off seasonal half used candles, old picture frames and stragely crafted table lines
ok...back to my shopping trip...I did something REALLY crazy and took the boys there with me. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??? They are bulls in a china shop!!
They did ok with some bribing ( I know that's so bad). I had one minor behavioral issue when Logan stood next to our cart as I told him over and over "Please move around to the front buddy" as a fellow shopper was trying to get by with her cart. Which BTW...I think that ALL stored should be required to make isles wide enough for not only 2 carts side by side, BUT ALSO allow a fair amount of room to accomidate the children who ride on the sides of carts...isn't that where most kids ride??!!
Well anyway as I repeatedly asked Logan to move around, I got nothing. He just stared at me! I asked again and again, as clearly and nicely as I could, while this lady waited for her space. Hmmmm...I must have switched to my 2nd language, cause he just wasn't understanding me. Well the fellow shopper had waited long enough, she jetted down a side isle...I might have heard a *hummphhh* as she gave up on my deaf child. Anyway, he lost his priveledge to get a bribed treat...the loss of that was enough to get his attention at that point and for the rest trip he was fine. I guess that's not too bad really.
So here's what I ended up with...

a bag of small frosted pine cones $2
a bag of large frosted pine cones $3
3 silver dollar sprigs $5
2 teal sparkle sprigs $3
3 red large ornament balls $6
3 snow covered grape vine trees $6
1 bag of snow ( this was a *not really me* purchase $2
So if I did my math right, and for those of you that know me well, yes, I did use a calculator...I spent $27...not too bad, could have been much more for all this really.
And here's what I came up with...

I think now I'm ready to tackle the BIG TREE....Lord help me!!

today's craft copy

I'll admit it right now, I am NOT creative! Seriously, I don't come up with stuff on my own, I totally copy other's ideas, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
So at the mall retail store that I work at, we have recently started selling these great scarves. They are thin cotton with frayed edges.
So being the frugal gal that I am or at least try to be...I'm thinking I could totally make these myself. How hard can it be. Oh and BTW these scarves retail for $24.50! Cute scarves, but not $24.50 cute.
So off to the fabric store I went...found a ton of plaid cotton, lots to choose from. Kinda overwhelmed really. Anyway they were on sale too! So I choose two colors, and bought two yards of each ( $14 worth of fabric). Washed it and ironed it( was super wrinkled ughhh), then cut a 18 in wide strip ( 2 yrds long). Sewed around the edges w/ a decent seam allowance, then frayed the edges. Made a lovely pile of thread! So basically I have 4 scarves total when it's all said and done for $14!!! Here they are!!
I'm thinking these will make GREAT Christmas gifts for the kids teachers!!!

Thanksgiving ~ Rohrer style

Well Smith style too :) So many have asked "ohh are you traveling for Thanksgiving?" Yep, a big trip south to Springboro ( 10 min) and the same day we head up North to Dayton(15 min)...phewwwww...so tiring! We are blessed to have both our families in town and although it's tough to have TWO BIG meals in one day, we will take it over traveling out of state etc.
It was tough though for Logan this year, his asthma was really giving him trouble, so he spent most of his days like this I pray this will be a thing of the past.
When Nate's brother and his family come for a visit, it's a MUST that we hike through the woods behind his parents house to the park. And even though that day was the coldest it had been this season, it didn't stop us...all of us! I wanted to get pics of each of the kids during the hike... Madelyn Emma
Logan
Clayton
All the cousins, well that is except for little Caraline, wanted to put on a play for us at the outdoor theater, it was precious and stinkn' cold!!!
The kids didn't seem to care much about the cold, and the fact that it started sleeting, they wanted to stay and play at the park.
That afternoon we headed up North to my parents and enjoyed the meal with The Smith side of the fam. The kids had fun and we did it again on Sat afternoon too! This is my fav pic of the weekend, I love how much fun Logan and my nephew Seth have together, they are best buds.

Logan ended up on Sat taking a trip to the ER for more meds, his just weren't helping and he was really having a rough time moving air...uh kinda a big deal.
So Nate and I took him in and missed alot of time with our family :(
The weekend flew by...and now it's time to convince scrooge, I mean Nate to get the house decorated for Christmas!!!