My first post

I feel like this should be some monumental announcement as it is my first post.  Actually, it kind of is.  But first, let me update you on our awesome camping weekend...

We rented a cabin at Lake Wapello that was fairly rustic but worked great for us.  Indoor plumbing and electricity make a huge difference when camping with a family of six.  Emily and Matthew were impressed at how HUGE our cabin was compared to MWBC cabins.  Um, yeah, maybe twice as big but without the 5 bunk beds and add on a tiny bathroom and kitchenette.  Hey, whatever we can do to get the kids thinking we are awesome is good so we went along with the HUGENESS!

The highlights of the weekend (in more detail than on FB)...
1. Tim is JUST getting back into coffee.  He generally drinks it in the winter and forgets about it in the summer.  I, personally, LOVE coffee.  Not for the caffeine, but strictly for the taste.  I. LOVE. COFFEE.  If they made coffee flavored burgers, I would eat those for dinner.  (Okay, not really, but I am trying to get across my love of coffee!)  Anyway, the first morning there as I am getting ready to shower, Tim says, "Want me to make some coffee?"  I say, "That would be awesome!"  So he is puttering around and I hear, "Ah, CRAP!"  I peek my head around the shower curtain that is the door for our bathroom and there he stands... shoulders down, sheepish looking, and with that smirk on his face that I have loved since the day we met.  I know immediately and say, "You forgot the coffee, didn't you?"  He says, "I forgot the coffee."  So what we decided is that I am in charge of packing the coffee from now on; however, Tim does a great job at packing all the needed supplies to MAKE coffee.

2. Emily.  My dear sweet Emily.  Her first time in OUR boat between trips to camp and trips to friends.  She goes to get in, realizes she forgot something, tried to get out and fell into the lake.  I think she was more upset about her skinny jeans getting wet than anything.  I love my Emu ("Emo" but without the creepiness for those of you that are just tuning into my life) child.

3. Abigail has gotten it into her head somehow that whenever there is a largish bird flying in the air, that something died.  So while out on the boat, we often hear, "Oh, look, there is a (hawk, eagle, vulture)!!!  Something died!"  As we were fishing yesterday, Abby said, "Oh, look, there is an airplane!"  Sophia pipes up, "Something must have died!!!"   Love that child!

4. My son, who is all boy when it comes to sports but tends to be very cautious, did an AWESOME job of taking fish off the hook this weekend!   I have no problem removing sunnies or bass but the catfish scare me a bit and Matthew was so proud to be the one to take them off the hook for me.  He is looking out for his Momma!

5. Finally (I know there are 50,000 things I am forgetting at this moment that were post-worthy), this weekend made me realize how blessed we are as a family.  While there were a few "you are driving me crazy" moments, there were no big blow outs.  Tim and I love each other, we love our kids, our kids love each other, and I like to think they love us too.  :)  What a fun, exciting, and memorable weekend!!!

So.... onto the HUGE news... 

As anyone who knows me well knows... I have always wanted to adopt/foster children.  It is something that I have always felt is in my future.  Tim, not so much.  Since Tim and I have been together, I always said that if this is something we are going to do, God will either change my heart or Tim's heart b/c we come as a package and anything that we do needs to be something that we do together and will be the right thing for our family.

That said, Tim and I are starting the process to become licensed to foster/adopt on Thursday.  This is something that we have both prayed for and feel that it is the next step for our family.  We feel that we have so much love to offer and that there is so much need for a loving family.  We discussed this in a "family meeting" after dinner with Emily, Matthew, Abigail, and Sophia and they are all on board.  Actually, we went around the table, letting each child state his/her feelings.  Emily feels that this will be a great opportunity for our family.  Matthew is excited b/c if it is a boy, he can show him how to play football and if it is a girl, he is used to being the only boy with Dad.  Abby is excited to have another kid to love and she is excited to share a bedroom with Sophia.  When we asked Sophia, she said, "YES YES YES!!!  Can I have another peach?"  I said, "No. Wait.  Why?"  She said, "Um.... well... um... because I love peaches!"  Once we got back to the fostering, she was all over it.  I am so glad and truly feeling blessed that we have kids that are not only willing, but excited to give a child a loving home.

We know our limits.  We have set limits for the children we are willing to take.  I have a child in my sight and in my heart that I am already imagining as a member of our family but I am just praying that God will make our path clear and that there are no disappointments along the way.  As Tim says, "Let's take the class and then figure out where God wants us to go."  Have I mentioned I love this man?

****I feel I have to share the name of m blog- C-sik.  This weekend, Tim and Emily were discussing the perfect name for our family band and it started with "Cronq 6" which turned into "C 6" which turned into "C Sick".  When I asked Tim how it should be spelled, his reply was "C-SIK b/c that is DOPE!"  LMBO