Visit to South Carolina- home going service Grandma Pauline

This weekend the family went to visit the Chapman's again but this time it was to pay respect to my husbands Maternal grandmother, Pauline. We may have not known her personally but in seeing all of her friends and family in a church packed with people, it was evident she lived a beautiful life and touched a lot of people. We met cousins, uncles, grand uncles, and more. The spirit of this family brings joy to our hearts and a smile to our face every time. We truly was blessed to have the opportunity to be connected to this beautiful family. The picture below is of Marks dad Harald (James dad) and all of his sons and 1 cousin, Leon who was really close to James growing up. Left to right Kelcy, cousin Leon, Harold, Damian, James, and Lamar.



 

Harold and his sons






Damian and James (brothers)

 

Amelia and Antonio






Malcolm, Steven, Tony, and Gabe





















 

Kelcy, Alicia , and Mia









 

The extended Chapman family men - wow this really increases
My chances of having a boy (lol)

Easter and a new Baker

Wow have they grown, look at these two georgious little ones Antonio (5yrs) and Mia (3yrs) and the love they have for eachother both brother and sister.  Easter was low key where  my husband took the kids over to his mom's while I enjoyed an afternoon kid free having brunch with my dad, sister, and his girlfriend Judith. 

Well, days before Easter I started feeling queezy and of course with the kids just getting over the stomach bug I thought nothing of it.  James and I had been trying for a third bundle of joy for about two years now so I decided to purchase a home pregnancy test to be sure.   To my surprise it was positive, I immediatly cried and fell to my knees praising God for this wonderful new gift.  

I was so eager to tell the children as they have been praying with us for a new addition to the family.  The kids of course were elated to find out they have a new brother or sister on the way.   My first ultrasound was on 3/24/2012 and all we saw was a gestational sack but no baby.  I had to wait 10 grooling days waiting for the ultrasound repeat to see if this preganancy was viable.

On 4/18/2012 I was able to finally catch a glimpse of my tiny growing baby with a flickering heartbeat. The ultrasound tech said the baby was 7weeks and 4 days old and should arrive somewhere around 11/29/2012. It amazes me how soon you can see this tiny little heartbeat. 

Needless to say James and I are extremly excited about this new bundle of joy.  Although I've been sick, exhausted, and utterly drained I'm smiling on the inside at the honor of carrying life once again. 

A day in the life of a working mom!

Greetings,

So I thought I would send this hilarious but not so funny story.  In a rush this morning, frustrated, at the fact that my 2 and 1/2 year old has suddenly forgot how to use the potty this past weekend when the weeks before she was doing remarkably well.  Several pisses on the rug, couch, and bathroom floor later caused me to give my beautiful faced daughter a long awaited lecture on the “art of saving her mommy money.”  You see, if she is deemed potty trained at her new day care they will allow me to keep the potty training weekly rate which is $20.00 a week cheaper.  Now with her selective amnesia she may cost me nearly $80.00 extra a month all because mommy wants her baby to be loved unconditionally throughout her day and so she has moved her to a new school for the fourth time in nearly 3 years.   

This morning the hubby wakes me up from a rather peaceful slumber, with only 30 more min on the clock before I had to wake up.  He’s in a frenzy telling me Mia peed in the bed again and that he had to go to work.  I run to assess the situation only to find a naked little girl running around the house with her behind out and a random black belt wrapped around her waist.  Quickened with a quest to have just a little more shut eye I go on a hunting frenzy trying to locate where she peed, on what she peed, and how quickly I can have her cleaned up and back in bed.  I ram her in the bath tub, wash her in two seconds flat, dry her off, and go on a quest to find the crime scene.   Alas the mattress, I grab all the covers, the wet underwear on the floor, the pee pad and throw them in the wash.  I quickly turn over the mattress, lay down another pee mat, throw a clean sheet on sideways, lay down my little princess clean and naked, and cover her with a warm blanket.  I run back to my bed to get just a few more min of shut eye only to find my son, awakened by all the commotion, lying in my bed smiling at me.   I said “Oh no you don’t, get back in your bed it’s not time to wake up!”  He quickly runs away and is surprisingly obedient to my wishes.  Proud of my quick accomplishments I snuggle back into bed, lay my head down on my pillow, and seconds later….. the damn alarm goes off it’s time to wake up.

Now we are off, getting dressed, getting bags ready, and suddenly husband calls, “how are you all doing this morning on your ride to work.”  I look at the clock and realize I’m not out of the house yet and it’s 18 min after the hour AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!  I throw mia in the car, tony in the car, the bags in the car and I’m off. I don’t even think they ate anything, yikes!  I take him to school first just shy of the late bell, take Mia to her new school, drop off the check, drop off a change of clothes, and rush to my 8:30am meeting through which I was three min late.  Ironically, the meeting was sitting in a performance write up on an employee who has frequent tardiness and absences.   Needless to say the manager was not smiling when I walked in her office. 

So I’m going about my day and literally am starting to smell this funky smell in my office.  I keep smelling my hands thinking maybe I had pee on them from this morning’s adventure but I had washed my hands several times throughout the day.   I just put the smell in the back of my mind and at around 3:20pm, still smelling the funk, got agitated and could not wait any longer.   I’m looking under my desk, over my desk, in the garbage.  Smelling my already eaten lunch, my drawers, and finally my brief case.  Can you guess what I found in a bag at the bottom of my brief case!   It was an already crapped in underwear and pants that the daycare bagged up and gave to me to take home on …. Wait for it…..Thursday of last week!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH.   Luckily it was in a bag and not all over my work papers and luckily I was able to gracefully without notice get up from my desk and throw that shit out…literally. 

A day in the life of a working mom.    

Visit with the Chapmans

After nearly 20 years of seperation the Lord so graciously orchistrated a reunion between James birthfather and extended family.  The amazing blessings that have come out of getting to know such a beautiful family has left us speechless and gave new meaning to the verse in Isaiah 29:11 for I know the thoughts and plans I have for you sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil. What God has joined together let no man break apart.  James father, Harold Chapman, is married to a beautiful lady named Sandra.  They have three son's and one daughter Lamar, Kelsy, Damion, and Denisha.   Lamar is married to precious Suzette and they have two son's Steven (6 yrs old) and Gabriel (3 yrs old).  Kelsy has a handsome son with Alicia who is warm spirited and full of grace.  There son is now (9 yrs old) and his name is Malcome.  Denisha is married to an Antonio which I thought was a wonder since our son's name is Antonio.  Damion and his girlfriend are due to be wed and they have an adorable daughter (3 yrs old).  We recently visited with them in South Carolina where we spent a great length of time catching up, lauphing, and enjoying the sweet embrase of the Chapman's and their strong family union that now we too get to partake in as a family.  Thank you Lord for this priceless gift of family, friends, and a future lifetime of great memories.  

Antonio's First Day of Kindergarten

Antonio started Kindergarten several weeks ago.  Of course I'm just now getting around to uploading his amazingly adorable pictures from his first day.  Already he is learning new concepts, memorizing bible verses, telling me about his amazing day, and occassionally coming home with a behavior color "red" which means he was probubly warned 100 times during the day to stop talking and pay attention.  The best of all was in the car one afternoon when he randomly said to me "Mom grandma died."  I thought he was trying to ruffle my feathers by talking about his grandma Baker and immedietly scolded him saying "You don't talk about your grandmother that way."  He said, "No mommy I was talking about grandma, your mommy."  Taken a back by his random memory of this truth, I became saddened by thoughts of missing my mother and became quiet.  Antonio followed up by his remark by saying "Mrs. Dixon said that people who are in heaven never die because God is with them and he heals them."  Immedietly my spirit was lifted by this surprisingly accurate statement and the application of using a concept of heaven his teacher taught him to lift my spirits.  I could not help but smile from ear to ear which truly served as confirmation that his attendance at North Cobb Christian was probubly one of the greatest decisions James and I have made to date.  God is good.