Schedule.

This is our first week of "Summer Vacation". I repeatedly play the theme song to Phineas and Ferb over and over in my head!

I am busy working this week on a schedule for us to have over the summer. With 3 kids (my 2 girls and my "is almost like my own" boy) I don't want to "boreds" to take over.

So I am busy trying different things to see what will be best!

Gav, is at baseball camp til 12 this week so I have the next few days to figure out what is going to work best for us!

I know we will have bible time and school time each day. Gav & madyson are both in AR at school and I want to make sure they make progress over the summer. Aubrie Kate will be working on 4k stuff over the summer.

Other than that I am busy Pintresting Ideas!


If you are a stay at home mom and have some suggestions I would love to hear!!! (Leave them below!)


Also! I am closing out a Thirty-One party on May 31st! Stop by and shop and stock up on great summer essentials! This month's special is spend $31 and get the All-In-One Organizer for $5!!!

Over on our Disney Blog, I talked about how we use Thirty-One to travel to Disney in today's VLOG!

School ends. Summer begins!

We are officially on summer break! School ended on Friday and we loaded up in the car(sans daddy broadus) and headed to our family condo in okaloosa island, florida!

Friday was madysons last day in kindergarten! I cried more than the first day!

While she was in school, I took aubrie kate to her preschool to the end of the year ice cream party!


Then ak and I decorated the car for a last day celebration!




We are at the beach right now with Todd's parents. We miss him VERY much. :( 

The adventures of Bird and snake

Happy Thursday!
I am on day 3 of stay at home mom life and so far....I love it. This morning Madyson asked me to set up our little baby pool in the yard for her, Aubrie, and Gavin to play in this afternoon. Today was a half day at school so I thought that sounded like a great idea since we would be home most of the day!

Aubrie and I were filling up the pool when I noticed the "army" of birds squealing, sqwaing, and cawing in our bushes. I ignored it at first then saw a baby bird on the ground. I figured that was the deal so I scooped up the bird and grabbed a basket out of the garage. As I was walking towards the bush, I saw another bird hopping around the yard. So I scooped up that bird and added it to the basket.

I was explaining to Aubrie that we usually don't touch birds because they can make us sick. But we needed to return these to the mom so she could take care of them bc they were too little to leave the nest. (yes, she will return. Its an old wives tale that if you touch a bird they wont return) As Aubrie and I were standing at the bush I reached up to stick the basket of birds near the nest when I saw it...

A HUGE SNAKE. i jumped back. Told aubrie to get in the back of my dad's truck and ran to the garage to find something long enough to get this snake. My dad came out as I was running to the garage and I told him the situation, he ran in to grab the BB gun, in case it was a poisonous one.

We creeped over to the bush, I pointed out the snake and we stuck the handle of the tool up in the bush and pulled the handled out. When the snake came out we realized it was a 4ft long king snake! We were going to pick it up and move it to the near by ditch but the fast booger took off...somewhere?!?! (we think it went under my dad's truck and up on the tire.)

I grabbed Aubrie Kate out and took her to the other side of the bushes. We had the baby birds in tow when we heard Roger, the lab, crying. Thinking "oh great, another snake. I put Aubrie (and the birds) in the garage and got the stick. Turned out to be another bird :) So we added that bird to the basket and put them on a table near the bush. About 30 minutes later, Momma returned. She fed them and came back numerous times during our pool  playing adventure.
As I thought about it, I got really emotional! (I think the whole last day of kindergarten tomorrow is taking a huge toll on me) That momma and daddy bird sensed danger with the snake and got their babies (who can hop, but not fly) out of the nest so the snake couldn't get them. Then them, along with their army of feathered friends attacked and made a mess of noise to try to scare the snake away.

I explained to the kids that no matter if it is a human momma, dog momma, cat momma, or bird momma...we love our babies and will do whatever we have to, to keep them safe.

Pretty adventful morning huh? Lets hope they all aren't this exciting! :/




*I have an open Thirty-One party on my site! May's special is spend $31 and get the All-in-one organizer for $5~ One of my favorites!*

Homestudy.

Our homestudy is DONE! I can't believe I am writing those words.

This has been the step of the process that we have gotten hung up on or at every time. 1x for an issue with the company, 1x our caseworker had to reschedule to go to court....it just seemed like we would never get pass that step.

Well today, we did. She came, she looked at all the rooms, fire extinguisher, fire alarms, cars, car seats...asked us a series of questions, wrote down alot of notes. and then left.

My stomach was churning the whole time. Being evaluated as a parent is a huge deal. Parenting styles, discipline....whew I am just glad to get that over with!!

So whats the next step?

Getting our baby! They will write up the homestudy and make sure all the paper work is in place. Then it will be to figure out who will best fit in our family. Our guidelines are under 3. 1 or 2 kids. My sister and I are a year apart and we were separated when I was born. I know how hard that has been on both of us and I wouldn't want to do that to a sibling set. So we could grow by 1 child or 2!

My gut is a boy...or twins. I don't know why I believe we will get twins but we have always said we wanted them. Either way. It really is ANY DAY NOW!

From there, the baby will be placed in our home and we will have monthly visits to make sure we are all adjusting. After 6 months, we will be legally the child's parents.

Thank you to everyone who tweeted me today. Prayers really do help! Now...we wait!


**I have an open party on my site! May Special is spend $31 and get the All-In-One Organizer for $5!! Its one of my favorites!!**

home.

This is a post I never, ever, EVER thought I would be writing. EVER.
After 2 months of working from home, I am officially "A Stay At Home Mom". SAY WHAT?!

Yes! After leaving the church in April and beginning my work with the Social Media company I quickly realized that the corporate world Sarah was no longer here. My idea is somewhere in the 2.5 years I was at the church she disappeared. Family became priority over corporate world. I gave my best at my new job but as much as I adore the company and LOVE my friends there....I wasn't getting the satisfaction that I thought I would have. I longed for more time with my girls, to clean my house, to be home. Todd and I wrestled back and forth over this for weeks.

It was literally a tearfest EVERYDAY! I did an experiment this weekend. To shut off my computer (until the kids were asleep...not in bed) and to not charge my phone. To just be a mom. To clean my house. To play with the kids. and I was so happy. I was unstressed, it was a huge relief, I felt like a new person. Todd and I really just decided to act on this instinct and "take the summer off" from 40 hours a week of work. I still have my contract job doing concerts, my part-time job helping at the hospital, and My Thirty-One business. So to say I am "unemployed" would be incorrect. I am just not a fulltime employee but a fulltime mom who has some "career hobbies"

For those of you who are reading this I am sure you are in shock. For the newbies, let me explain. I have claimed for YEARS that I would never be a stay-at-home mom. That I couldn't do it.
I was proud of my Working Mom status and our financial stability.

I am going to try this for the summer. Its 2 months. Who knows, I might love it and God might use this time to teach me things I had no idea were possible. and on the other hand, I could hate it and it bring nothing but stress to me and my family and I end up working at McDonalds. Either way, I am going to allow God to work in my life. Give Him the glory and be a mom that my girls will be proud of.

Pray for us during this time please and I promise to keep you updated.

to the seniors of 2012

Today was Baccalaureate service at church. This is when all the graduating seniors get recognized in front of the church.

As the "graduation march" started and these teens dressed in their cap and gowns started walking down the church, I had this overwhelming emotion come over me and the tears started flowing. (Actually they are right now too as I type)

10 years ago, that was me. I was that Senior that had the whole world in front of them and dreams, dreams, dreams! I was going to be a doctor or a nurse or a vet...I was going to work for Disney at some point....be married young, be a young mom...and probably run for mayor...one day.

Then as the emotions and memories flooded my brain, it was like it fast forwarded me 12 years, when I will be the parent that gets up to pray with my Senior girl. They showed a slide show of baby pics and senior pics of the students. In my head I saw madyson's first day of Kindergarten pic and her last day high school pic. The tears flowed more.

I glanced at these young people before me, many have had huge roles in my children's lives as sitters and mentors and thought if I were the speaker today...what would I tell them?

probably something like....

Congratulations, welcome to adulthood. Life is no longer easy. From this point forward you will walk your own path, not the path set before you by your family...your peers...your church. You are an individual now, a college freshman, a bootcamp rookie, a new employee at an hourly job. You are now a person who can decide how your life will turn out.

Some of you will go on to college. You will encounter people who believe different from you. Some of you will join the military and learn the sacrifice that has been made decades before you just so you could be an adult. Some of you will join the workforce, get married, have children. With all of these comes responsibility.

With responsibility comes outcomes or consequences. I suggest the first choice.

Life you life but live it with no regret. That means when you are 28 and talking to a bunch of 18 year olds make sure you can say "from the day I sat in your set to today, I honored Christ in every decision I made." Not "Man, I regret that I never attended that party everyone else did"

Life is hard. Sometimes its rockin and you are getting it all right. Sometimes nothing is right and you can't figure out why. Don't be afraid to ask God for help. He already knows the answers.

When you are traveling down the path to your dreams and goals and all the sudden the road runs out. Don't try to make the jump. Back up and give God the will. Let Him guide you, even if it is not what you want.

Pray daily. Get some sleep. But when you wake up...don't go out in public in your pajama pants. Go to class. Even if you get 10 skips...try to only use them when you really need them. and most of all....come home some. Tell your parents you love them. Keep them a huge part of your life. You will always be there baby, and they need to know that you are okay.

Congratulations graduating seniors!

getting close to the due date...

today's post is a little "calm". There wont be alot of ! in here but to track the healing process of the miscarriage.

According to my lovely babcenter.com updates I would be nearing my 33rd week of pregnancy. I can tell its getting close because the bundle of facebook friends that announced their pregnancy the same time I was having the miscarriage are beginning to have contractions, get uncomfortable, and deliver.

Over the last few weeks, I will be laying down and experience what feels like a kick. I researched and found they are called "Phantom kicks" were your mind/body experience traits like you were still pregnant.

I figured by now I would be 100% but at least once a week I get extremely depressed, curl up and cry. Mainly for whats not going to happen. In a few weeks I am not going to go in for a C-Section, I am not going to be bringing home my #3 the way, 33 weeks ago, I thought I would.

When I get upset, I am reminded of the day I sat in church, sobbing, feeling God calling us to adopt. It is the only thought that has allowed me comfort in this. That day was profound day. It was God, speaking to me. To love a child that didn't grow inside of me. But was created for me. After 2 years of a crazy adoption ride there is a chance we are getting close to bringing our #3 home.

I have learned that even though you feel like things are going great and are own track, sometimes God takes over the wheel and you take a detour route. To you, that detour route doesn't seem like the best route. But God, he knows best.

Some of the things I have seen take place over the months since the miscarriage is the following:
1) Todd's mom had a stroke when I would have been about 24 weeks. That is the same time I went into preterm labor with Madyson. The stress that caused on our family would not have been good for a high-risk pregnancy.

2)When Todd left his former job for his current job we lost our insurance for 60 days. Yes we could have paid for Cobra for me but the cost of that would have been 2x our mortgage. For a high-risk pregnancy 60 days without insurance is a lot.

I say all this to conclude to this. God has plans for us. I know that he will allow us to bend but never break.

He works miracles and who knows...in a few weeks, we could still be bringing our #3 home.

Thanks for continuing the journey with me.