Just In Time For Valentines!

If you are interested in my Tutu and matching Bow set please let me know. I only have 1 in a size 2-3. You can check out my tutu blog over on the right hand column just click on the picture for more information. They are ready to send out once I receive your check/pay pal receipt. This is the perfect Valentines gift. Hurry , you don't want to miss out!

I will be able to make my tutu's and bows for 1 year. The lead law is on hold for a year!!! Whoo Hoo!

My Terrific Kid

The girls and I went to watch Joel receive his Terrific Kid award at school today. This is his second year in a row that he has received it!




Joel took this picture of me and the girls.

Joel stood in front of everyone so that the guidance counselor could read what his teacher had written why Joel was a terrific kid.

Joel looking at his awards.

My Terrific Kid!

Joel with the 2nd grade T.K. One child from each class per grade was chosen.



All the T.K.'s

Way to go Joely!!! We love you and are soooo proud of you!

FFF

I went to Jordan's (#1) game Tuesday. I don't get to go to many because they are late and they past the girls bedtime. Karlton stayed home witht the kids Tues. night so that I could get to go watch Jordan play. They won this game , they have only lost one so far.

Jordan passing the ball to be laid up, it did go in.

Eyes.....( Just For Fun)

They say the eyes are the window to your soul. So I thought we could play a game. Name whose eyes these are (which should not be hard), and what you think these eyes are saying to you, also
name the color of eyes. Be Creative!!! I can't wait to read all your comments!

I love all the different shapes and colors of eyes that are family has!

( I am steeling this from my friend Kelly who did this a while ago on her blog.)



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Sara Ava's (Late) B/D Present

Before Sara Ava's B/D I had order her this Mayan Traje (traditional clothing) for a doll. This is the exact Mayan Traje from her tribe where she was born, in San Juan Sacatepequez , Guatemala.This clothing was made by a Mayan women from her tribe and there is even a picture and story they send about the person who made doll's clothing.

We ran into a little problem because the doll was on back order and I wanted to give this doll to her on her B/D and then at the latest at her Party. Well this doll is still on back order . This weekend I called my mom to see if she could go to her Toys R US to see if they had any left, because ours did not and then Internet was on back order. She had luck because they had 3 left. (Thanks mom for helping me out!) This is a Madame Alexander Mia Bella Doll. It says it is the African American Doll , but to me it looks like Sara Ava. The Mayan Doll Clothing is made for an American Girl Doll but fits this doll fine too! The American Girl Dolls are about $105.00 to where this doll is $30.00. She loves the doll, but this will not be a play toy. I put it up on her shelf as a keep sake.

Sara Ava w/ her B/D present (better late then never).

A close up of her doll's Mayan dress.

A close up of her doll's braided hair. ( this is how her dolls hair came)

Our Week...

We are busy with BB games this week . Tonight is the boys game and tomorrow is Jordan's. Unfortunately I will not get to make tonight's game because it is to late for the girls to be up. Jordan will step in tonight for me and help Karlton Coach.

Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago.


Joel #4, and Josiah #19 playing in the same quarter. Joel has really improved a lot this year!
Josiah finally started back playing after his feet injuries. He is wearing his blue support wraps to make sure he does not get hurt again. I have to admit he is still playing very cautiously.

Joel taking the ball out. He is sooo funny playing with the big kids. He can still that ball away from them and the big kids never know what happened. He also tackled a kid during this game trying to get that ball away. LOL!!!



Josiah is a pretty good shooter! He also plays a mean defence!

Karlton coaching the kids. We were actually winning this game and the kids were so excited,

but then we went into over time and ended up loosing after all. It was a very on the edge of your

seat exciting game!

I do not get to go to very many of Jordan's games because he's are late and away sometimes (his daddy goes to support him). I plain on going soon so I can get some more pictures of him playing.

Other the Basketball consuming our week with games and practices, all the kids have dentist apt. tomorrow , then on Friday Joel is receiving Terrific Kid at school, I will be going to that ceremony! This is his 2nd time receiving it! Way to go JOELY!!! Then Sat. I will be getting my hair cut! I need one so bad! My style is not looking so stylish anymore. Add Awana's and Bible studyin there and this our week. This week is not nearly as busy as most. Both girls are sick and I have not been feeling great, we needed a slower week!

Sunday's Prayer

This week's prayer is for Joel.

Facing Your Fears

Have you ever had to come face to face with one of your fears? I know I have( a tarantula in Guatemala)! And apparently poor Lilee did last night. I told her to go get on the potty before her bath and that I would be right there. I went to go get her pj's from her bedroom when I heard this awful shrill screaming. My heart sank as I took off across the house. I had not heard this scream before... I knew it was not a bug, or that she had gotten hurt because that was not her scream for those.

When I reached the bath room this is what I found.....



Jordan has a robot that has red eyes that walks, dances,does karate, breaks wind, and burps, (pretty rude little thing) but most of all it scares the life out of little 2 year old's! Her mean brothers , ( I mean) The mean robot had her cornered with no where to run!

Lilee is not afraid of things! She sleeps in the pitch dark and we have not seen much that scares Lilee, UNTIL NOW!

Needless to say Mommy saved her and assured her it was only a toy and that it will not hurt her, and Jordan is the one making it move with his remote. I finally calmed her down and protected her from the robot so that she could potty. I had Jordan to show her how it works and all that it does. She finally started laughing when it handed her toilet paper.

FFF

I took these pictures of Sara Ava Sunday. These are suppose to be her 5 yr. old pictures. What do you think? Do you think there are any really good ones that I can make copies of? I have numbered them so you can leave a comment and let me know which is your favorite/s. These are not the best, and I know there are shadows. I only have a Kodak Easy share. I don't have a
good camera that takes professional pictures yet. One day I will!

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Prayer Requests and a Praise!

I am going to start off with a Praise I would like to share with you all.

Right after we got married we were told if we wanted children we had better do it while I was young (right away), because of a car accident I was in when I was a teenager.I had 3 very difficult pregnancies all ending with lots of bed rest and all 3 boys born 5 weeks early. I was even warned not to get pregnant after #2, but we wanted one last try for a girl.The entire time I was pregnant I always heard your uterus is tilted or leaning forward. After Joel was born my uterus was still attached to the placenta and came out. (Try not to imagine that, ewww!) Anyway after Joel was born the Dr. spent 30 min. trying to get it back into place (again try not to imagine this, sorry). I was told they would schedule my hysterectomy at my 6 wk. check up. I asked why they did not take it then while it was out and they said because it was not life threatening and they would have had to given me blood. So needless to say for the next 6 weeks I prayed non stop that I would not have to have that surgery since I had already been on best rest for more then 1/2 of my pregnancy. When I went in for that 6 week apt. they told me it was tilting but it was fine for now, but eventually it would have to come out. I heard the same then for the next 7 years after Joel was born. Well I went 2 weeks ago for another yearly check up and I heard, "everything looks good and your are fit as a fiddle." I was shocked!!! I know my mouth had to have dropped open! I asked " what about my tilting uterus ?" He said "it is in place ,tight, and doing what it needed to be doing. "This is the first time I have heard this in over 13 yrs! I told the Dr. that I have recently started lifting weights in the last few months so maybe that's it, but I know all the Praise goes to the Lord! Thank you God for that miracle!!!



Now onto the prayer request....

First of all I am asking all of you ( my prayer warriors) to start praying for Karlton's business (electrical). With the economy the way it is right now it is looking very scary for us/ him! There is not much building going on right now and people are not paying the money to have their electrical problems fixed. He has already let 4 of his guys go a few months ago because he did not have enough work for them, so now it is just him and his helper. Please PRAY the Lord will keep sending Karlton work to provide for our family and his helper's. Also pray that enough work comes in to keep all his bills paid for his company. The phone does not stop ringing now , people wanting their money. We are behind in our pay checks too! This was the first month that we were really late paying our mortgage. But praise God it got paid. The scariest part is Karlton has to drop our health insurance because we can not afford to pay it anymore. Just mine and his, the kids all have insurance , so praise God for that!Please pray that the Lord will send him the money needed so that we do not have to cancel it! As the weeks roll by it is looking even more grim! So please pray for work!!!That he will not have to go bankrupt like all the other companies that he works for. The LORD always provides and I should not worry, but I also think the Lord wants us to pray and not take everything for granted.

If you live in the Charlotte area NC/SC and need any electrical work done please let us know!

I guess that is why the Lord laid it on my heart back in Oct. to start praying to pay our Adoption Credit Card off. He knew what lay ahead of us.Even though it went from $4,000 to owing $1,756 on it now. That is a praise in its self ,we still need your prayers that we will get that paid off soon so that we do not have that monthly payment anymore! This is the last time I am going to ask for your prayers on us getting this adoption expense paid off! Please don't forget praying for it, I just do not want to keep harping on it and making you all sick of hearing about it! I know I am!Just keep watching the thermometer on the side to see how the Lord is providing to pay that off! I am trusting him fully that He will help us get that paid off soon! I can't wait to give a praise report on how that is paid off one day! Trust me you will be hearing about that!!!

Lastly..... Please pray for healthy people at the Shrum house!! we have had 4 kids with the croup and praise God 3 of them are all better. Jordan is starting to get a little better too. Now Lilee has come down with a cold, not the croup yet! So please pray she does not get it and that Karlton and I stay well so we can work and take care of the kiddies!

I know this is long and drawn out ....... Thank you all sooo much for taking the time to read this!

Catching up....

I am so far behind on posting pictures since the kids were out of school for 6 days and then the snow. So, here are the pictures from Sara Ava's B/D (jumping) party that was on Saturday.


She was so excited for her party!

Sitting waiting patiently on everyone to arrive.

Enjoying the tunnels and the jump houses! This child loves to jump!

Her sister and brothers came.....

Along with her 4 cousins came to jump with her.

Sara Ava's Hannah Montanna cupcake cake.

I can not believe she is 5 years old already! Waaaa! I had to pull as much hair out of this child's

way because she sweats so much when she starts running and playing. Even on a freezing day like it was that day.







Lilee enjoying her cupcake! ( all sweaty)

Sara Ava opening her Hannah Montanna PJ's. She loves Hannah!!! Thanks Aunt Glenda!









The only present she asked for this year for her B/D was Princess dress up shoes.

Thanks Nana!

Sara Ava had 20 relatives there to show her how much she is loved! Thank you to everyone who came, she had a great time and loved all the special attention!