How We're Holdin' Up

A simple 'Thank you' cannot sufficiently express how I'm feeling right now.

You all are amazing - your comments, prayer and love mean so much.

God bless you all!

Things are tough at the Kennedy house.

For me, the hardest part is seeing my husband's heart broken.

He feels like less of a man for not being able to provide for his family.

It just kills me.

The day he was let go he put out 4 resumes/applications

and was even interviewed for one on the spot.

They apparently loved him.

They loved him so much, they practically offered him the job,

but it's in the security industry and they really have to do background checks and are planning to

call him as soon as it comes back.

Unfortunately, panic is starting to set in as this here planner (me)

sees due dates approaching and the dreary bank forecast.

I just have to remember that God's in control.

He was so gracious to remind me (through a friend's tweet) of the following verses.

David and I read them together today.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:6-11

As we're going through this hard time, we do need to humble ourselves and cast or anxieties upon Him and, at the same time, we need to watch out for Satan and his tricks.

We're vulnerable right now and if we're

not guarding ourselves we will slip into his trap.

Prayers & Praises

Praises

1.  David can spend time with us

2.  God has something awesome ahead for us

3.  Peace beyond our understanding (despite what I've writing above)

Prayers

1.  That God would be glorified.

2.  That we'd get approved for unemployment quickly so we can pay rent in 11 days

3.  Remember David as he's going through such a hard time

4.  That he'd get the perfect job quickly

Our 5000 Calorie Date

My poor hubby's been working INSANE hours lately and has really needed to get away and take a break.

With a 7 year old and crazy work schedule, time away just isn't

something we have a lot of.

So, on Friday I cooked up a sneaky plan to surprise David with a date night.

I hooked us up a free babysitter (thank you Allison!) and planned dinner and a movie that would be right up David's alley.

The night started out at Chef Point Cafe - as seen on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. (that link is the actual episode!)

We had some of the best food in the whole wide world in this very gas station in Watauga, Texas.

We both had the "Better than You Know What" fried chicken. It was INCREDIBLE!  Believe it or not - it was the most beautiful and juicy breast piece with just one tiny little bone left in as a handle.  Very considerate if I may say so myself.

Then we had the ultra famous bread pudding.

I HATE BREAD PUDDING.

HATE IT.

(not even just a little bit)

HATE.



This bread pudding, though - I ate over half of it.  It was DEVINE - it was AMAZING - it was nothing short of HEAVENLY!

I'm actually craving some as I type this.  (i should probably wipe the drool off the keyboard, huh?)

- - - - -

After ingesting around 5000 calories we dragged ourselves to the van and took off to see True Grit.



As a young girl I was forced to watch every John Wayne movie my dad could get his hands on.  I remember only two that I actually liked: Big Jake and True Grit.

My husband, who's a die hard fan of John Wayne and westerns in general, and I were very skeptical going in to this movie.  I have to say we were both VERY impressed and LOVED the movie.

We gave it 4 and a half Chef Point Cafe bread puddings - it would have been a full 5 if they hadn't taken the Lord's name in vain.

- - - - -

All in all, I was able to express to David how thankful I am for him and all he does for us.  I hope this date night was an encouragement to him as much as it was very desperately needed break!

My Tap Dancing Terror

Today is my sweet husband's 28th birthday!!!!!!

When I think of my husband I think of his wacky sense of humor, his love and dedication to our family, his love of our Lord, his strength, his work ethic and his old smelly worn out work boots.

What I do not think about when I think of my husband is him singing or tap dancing but,

just yesterday as I was watching Dave Barnes get caught dancing around in a Santa suit,

I stumbled upon my husband's secret identity:

David Kennedy Jr.

THE

Tap Dancing Terror of Tidewater

(he does a pretty good rendition of a 77 year old man who can carry a tune in a bucket, huh?)

Seriously though, that's not my husband, but how timely is it that I would stumble

upon this gem just as I try to put into words just how much I love this man of mine?!

Night and day, you are the one

Only you 'neath the moon or under the sun

Whether near to me or far

It's no matter, darling, where you are

I think of you day and night

- Night and Day, lyrics by Cole Porter

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you SOOOO much!!!!!

7 Years? Already?!!?

It still amazes me that I'm a "wife" and that the Lord has blessed me with an amazing husband!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary!!

I just can't believe that SEVEN YEARS have flown by.

Honestly, it feels like we're still newlyweds!

He took today off of work so that we'd be able to go out tonight and, as an added bonus, decided he'd let me sleep a little longer and he took Ethan to school this morning!

When I got up I found a beautiful vase full of star gazer lilies on the kitchen counter and my husband sniffling and sneezing on the couch. That sweet man of mine bought the very flowers he's allergic to just because he knows I love them.

I love that man of mine!!!

His Last Hurrah! (lots o' pics)

I know you all (all 3 of ya) have been waiting for E's back to school pictures for so long - I've finally got them uploaded to the computer and on this here blog.

The weekend before school started was SUPER busy for Ethan.

We packed in all kinds of activities for Saturday and left Sunday wide open so he could rest and get ready for school.

Our first stop Saturday morning was Ol' South Pancake House in Ft. Worth.

If you're ever in the area stop by there and get the German pancakes - delicious!!!

Bonus: They're open 24 hours!

Here's Ethan's gigantic up of hot chocolate.

As evidenced by the whipped cream around his mouth, he loved it!

Then we headed off to the Hunter's Extravaganza.

My hubby is a hunter and E is looking forward to the day that can also be "a real hunter".

Here's E posing in front of the rattlesnake pit.

There were two men just hanging out inside, I guess to wrangle them...?

Whatever the case, you couldn't pay me enough to set foot in that place!

No way, no how!

Then we moseyed our way up to Denton, TX for the

North Texas State Fair and Rodeo.

This is a family tradition.

The fair, not the rock climbing. It's the first year I remember seeing the rock wall.

David made it to the top, Ethan only made it half way.

Anyway, back to the tradition of going to the fair...

It all started when David and I were dating.

He brought me out here and the only things I remember are that the cowboys did all the events on mules - the barrel racing was a riot; I sat in gum in my favorite J. Crew pants; we saw the Bellamy Brothers in concert.

Oh, and that I was totally, 100% in looooove!

The petting zoo is always one of our favorite stops.

They typically have deer, goats, kangaroos, chickens (like the curious fellow below) and a very cranky mule.

I just love this chicken.

He followed me around most of the time we were out there.

Then came the rodeo.

I love the rodeo.

It's one of the MAJOR perks of living in a southern state.

I love how patriotic they are and the North Texas State Fair's rodeo always starts with a prayer and it always brings tears to my eyes.

Can you tell what that is under my bleacher seat?

It's a calf.
We sat right above the holding pen. It was fragrant to say the least! Haha!


Best cowboy hat of the night!


Blurry photo of a buckin' bronco. It's very difficult to get a picture of them, by the way.


I LOVE this next photo!!! My husband was really in his element!

He's always so joyful when we're out there!!!

He felt pretty out of place this year, though.

Usually, he's decked out in wranglers and boots but this year he was in cargo shorts and a Gap polo.




Once the rodeo was over, we let Ethan choose one ride (it was 10:30 at this point) to go on and he chose the "Superman Ride" - that's what he called it since they lay on their tummies and fly through the air.




This is one of the best things about living in DFW!




What a fun day!!!



Sunday was just a lot of church, laundry, cleaning and relaxing!
Despite the fact that I had a migraine, Sunday rocked. I love a lazy Sunday.


Finally, here are Ethan's 1st day of school photos!!!


He was SO excited about school but most of all to FINALLY use his Scooby Doo lunch box!





Here he is getting settled into his classroom!




I'm so glad he's still in love with school!!



Hopefully he'll still love it March!!

So Excited!

Back in January I was bribed (still waiting on my pony, by the way) into sharing my testimony during

Chapel at the place where I work.

Little did I know that there was a reporter in the audience.

A couple of months ago the reporter, Tammi, asked if she could

publish our adoption story in the local Baptist newspaper she writes for.

So, a couple of weeks ago Tammi sent out a sweet little photographer - I wish I could remember her name - to take photos of us for the article.

I am so excited about what God could do through Ethan's story.

He's already done so much!

David was saved as a result of Ethan's adoption!

Tammi came into the office today and shared these pictures with me.

The first three are Ethan's "modeling" photos.

He got so excited that a photographer was there just for him.

The last photo is the one they are going to run in the article.

I love it SO much!

Freakin' Out!

Guys.

I'm freakin' out here.

Ethan keeps getting bigger.

He's almost a teenager.

Ok, not really, but still...

...feels like it's staring me in the face though.

Why do kids have to grow so fast?

I should probably explain this photo...

We kiss the first catch of the day
for good luck a la Jimmy Houston.

I mean, he doesn't even want to be Abraham Lincoln anymore.
(pictured above: Ethan's "self" portrait)


Instead he wants to be in America's Army.


He'd serve our country well.

Despite how fast it's going...
He's becoming a wonderful young man.


I'm so thankful to be his mommy.

The Latest

Last time we chatted about what was up at our place,

I told you all that David was going to enlist in the Army.

While he has a high regard for the military and still has dreams of joining one day,

we worry about the extended amounts of time he would spend away from

home and the toll that would take on Ethan.

We've come such a long way with him and having a

consistent father figure/spiritual leader is a MAJOR contributing factor in his success.

David's dream after the military was to sign on with a local police force

and serve our community through local

law enforcement.

We're praising the Lord for the opportunity that we have stumbled across recently.

Our local community college offers a program/employment opportunity for men and women, who have no previous law enforcement experience, to work for the department while going through the academy and other training sessions that they are required.

We put David's resume and application in online and now we're hoping and praying he'll get hired on and be able to go through the academy!

Today we got the first piece of good news, the Applicant Personal History Statement!!!

He has until Monday to research and get all of the information that is required and turn it in. I'm super excited about the timing because David will turn his in on Friday morning

- well before the deadline {which always looks good!} -

since he's taken that day off to spend with some friends.

If he hadn't taken that day off we would be scrambling to figure out how to get it there!

Would you all mind continuing to lift us up in prayer in this area?

David's 75 hour work weeks and minuscule earnings (at least in comparison to the number of hours worked) are not nearly worth the amount of time he's missing out on at home.

Sneaky Little Sneaker!

Things are still running full steam in our crazy little family.

Ethan's finally finished kindergarten and I officially have a 1st grader.

Really, where did the years go!?

Seems like yesterday I was changing his diapers and mixing up bottles.

Now that he's getting older and a little more mature {as mature as a 6 year old can be} we've decided to sign him up for soccer! Registration's in July and everything starts in September. He's beyond excited! I'm so glad we've found something he's shown a great interest in.

It's not the only thing he's intersted in either...

Apparently, he's taken an interest in photography too.

Here are a couple of photos I found on my camera after I confiscated it from him.

{all photos compliments of a sneaky little 6 year old}

You'll never guess what the little turkey did!

I'm kind of embarrassed to tell you all!

...but since I tell you all everything...

This little turkey busted into my bedroom just after I'd gotten out of the shower. He took a glorious picture of me in my birthday suit, bent over, towel drying my hair!

I tell ya... that boy's lucky to be living!

After I threw on a robe and wrangled the camera away from my son's death grip I deleted the photo and then discovered he'd been snapping away for days.

{that little sneaker}

Before I wrap this post up I wanted to update you on
E's biploar/conduct disorders and his ADHD issues.


We met with his Child Study Center doctor a little over a week ago and she is THRILLED with our results. Not only did he make it through kindergarten without any major incidents (he sent a teacher to the hospital in pre-k with a pretty ugly bite on the arm) he actually flourished!!!!


He will get an hour and a half of resource classes next year and will continue to take his anti psychotics in addition to meeting with a new psychiatrist. We got word this week that he was accepted into Cook's Childrens' psychiatric program as well as MHMR!


We've got appointments set up at both places and hopefully by December (Cook's couldn't get us in for our first appointment until November) we'll be able to decide which program/doctor we want to stick with!


Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking about all this!

The Best Mother's Day Ever

First off, Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!!
I hope your day was as special as you are.

My Mother's Day weekend was phenomenal.

Nothing went the way I wanted it to.

I wanted to wake up late on Saturday. Spend the morning garage saleing. Have a delicious lunch at a cute cafe. Get a pedicure and take a nice long nap. Afterward, we'd head over to my husband's family's place for a couple of hours to celebrate Mother's Day then head home to watch The Blindside with my hubby.

Instead, my husband went fishing all night (Friday) three hours

away and didn't get home until 9:30 Saturday morning.

Ethan woke me up at 6:30am hollering about some experiment he just did with his chocolate milk (he apparently made himself) and wanted to know what channel the History Channel was on.

I left all of my Weight Watchers stuff at work so I couldn't go to my last meeting.

Went garage saleing with Ethan who got in trouble no less than four times.

Came home.

Cried.

Sobbed that this was "the worst mother's day ever".

David got home, we cleaned and cleaned.

Then everyone from church showed up for the

Apartment Ministry cookout - which we "hosted"

without having a choice in the day or time.

I bet you're wondering how this was the best mother's day ever.

Here's how...

The cookout ended up being a lot of fun.

We met some neighbors.

Had some great food.

Got to see baby Addie.

Visited with church family and the kids ran circles in the yard.

Afterward we took a very short nap and RAN to my husband's family's house (we were late of course) for a Mother's Day cookout. I had only intended to be there a short amount of time: dinner, cake then home by 9.

The Lord had a MUCH BETTER plan though...

David's mom, grandmother and cousin sat on their front porch and visited with me for HOURS. We talked about all kinds of stuff and REALLY bonded!!! It was great but..

The best part though: I got to share Christ with them!!!

David's mom has been "working" on them for quite a while but through His divine wisdom, He delayed our leaving so that I could boldly share the Gospel.

I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day present!

Snow Days

Two weeks ago, Dallas/Fort Worth got the most snow

it's every gotten in one day.

12.5 inches.

For you Northerners, that's nothin', but for us - it'll stop the world!

David didn't feel comfortable driving a truck on the ice and Ethan's daycare was closed due to a power outage so we both decided to stay home with our little man and enjoy the day.

Here are some pictures I took of our record snowfall.

The sidewalk through the garden where I work. This picture was taken on Thursday morning, snow had been falling for 8 hours at this point.

Friday was when we peaked at 12.5 and the roads iced over.

This is the scene from just outside our patio on Friday.

Outside of the few years I lived in NW Arkansas (Whoo Pig!), this is the most snow I've ever seen.

Ethan enjoying his first BIG snow storm!


My men and their first snowman.
That's right, it was my husband's first snowman too.


We named him Gus and gave him blue gumdrops for eyes.


...and to think, more snow is forecasted for today!




Spring, come quickly!

The Family Rundown

Here's the latest and greatest...

Ethan: My little wild and crazy guy! It's been tough for him to get back into the swing of things since school's back in session. Last week was especially tough - falling asleep in class, sword fighting in the cafeteria, shoving another kid's face in the dirt...fun stuff.

On a more positive note - he can beat the TAR out of me in Wii bowling! This kid's GOOD! So good, in fact, we took him real bowling for New Years Eve hoping we had a pro on our hands - let's just say, Wii bowling is a lot easier.

Friday we have Ethan's ARD (Admission, Review & Dismissal for special ed.) meeting. I'm kinda nervous but ready to see what we can do to help him improve as he grows and learns. He's now reading and even writing small sentences. It's REALLY exciting!

We've also been working on teaching him the basics of our faith through the book Big Truths for Little Kids. I highly recommend it!

David: My sweet hubby is still looking for a job that will better provide for us and allow him to be home more. Working 75-90 hours per week is really taking it out of him - and the rest of us for that matter.

I'm really proud of him though, despite the long hours he still loves to serve our church through Sunday School and Royal Ambassadors.

Lately, he's been on a crappie fishing kick (FYI: crappie is actually pronounced like "croppy", you know the fish). He's even acquired a john boat! It doesn't have a trailer so we're saving up to buy that but that shouldn't take too long.

Me: I'm crazy. Really.

Actually, I'm just trying to stay on top of all my irons in the fire. I've got women's ministry stuff, work stuff, a possible promotion in my future (more on that another time!!!) and a ton of other things going on!

I went to my second Weight Watchers meeting and LOVED it! I lost only .6 lbs since my first weigh in. That's ok though - that first week I worked on cleaning out my kitchen of all unhealthy foods and since we're on a tight budget I couldn't waste any so I still ate stuff like meatloaf and chicken and dumplings.

This week I put together a meal plan and even learned how to tweak a few of my recipes to make them more healthy; for example, my tortellini meatball soup recipe - I healthified it by using 100% whole grain tortellini and swapping my pork Italian sausage for turkey. Believe it or not, my guys like it MORE!

Hopefully I'll lose more than .6 lbs this week but after diving head first into about 3 cups of cookies and cream I kind of have my doubts. I should try to start Shredding like I've committed to. It's just so hard to fit it in sometimes!

Breakin' It Down

There's a ton going on around here so let me break it down for you - list style:

~ Just finished Christmas with my crazy family in Oklahoma! They are wild and hilarious! It was so great to see all of them.

~ While up there I got to spend time with my family on my dad's side. I got to visit with family I hadn't seen in over 8 years.

~ Ethan's at Granny's house until Christmas Eve. I'm glad to have a few quiet evenings ahead of me to get the house situated and ready for a busy Christmas day. I'm also thinking of finishing off Ethan's room so when we get home late late Christmas Eve he can go to bed and then wake up to a brand new room! This plan is still pending though...

~ I've topped out at my heaviest yet. This is the year of changes. I've played around with starting an anonymous weight loss blog but I can hardly update this one, let alone another. Get ready folks, you're about to hear more about calories and cardio than you ever have on here. I'll post some full body before shots too...maybe humiliation will be a motivator for me.

~ We're getting organized around the Kennedy house...look for updates on that too.

~ Ethan has the greatest pharmacy ever! Since E's adopted and has so many disorders he's on medicaid which helps us out SO much financially. Sadly, though, medicaid (without notifying us at all) stopped paying for one of Ethan's meds. So, Friday when I called to refill the prescription they let me know that it would be $485 (for generic). AGH! After I told them I didn't know medicaid only covered 6 months of the prescription and that we don't have an extra $500 in the budget they decided to DONATE one month of meds to us and even help us re-apply for medicaid to cover them! I love them!

Texas High School Football

I'm not a native Texan but if there's one thing I love...

it's high school football.

A friend of ours coaches for the Pirates (the black team) and he invited us to come out to see his team compete in one of it's playoff games.

I'm serious you guys, the WHOLE town came out for this one.

I wish I would have taken a picture of them all!

They do football up big here.

I mean...these guys ran onto the field through a gigantic Pirate football helmet...and I'm talking about a team from a town with only 4,600 people in it.

Ethan was WAY into the game.

Before it got cold anyway...

Good thing I bought David's coat too big.

Clouds and Bowling Balls

When I was a little girl we'd drive past this monstrosity (pictured below) any time we headed into Muskogee to go to the mall or to Big Cheese Pizza (my favorite pizza place at the time).

I used to gaze out the window and imagine bowling balls being made there. They'd roll up (it made sense in my 6 year old mind) into the stacks and that's where they'd stay until someone bought them. Now that I think about it....those would be some HUGE bowling balls.

This factory produces unbelievable amounts of steam...I never knew what to make of it...but still, I just knew this was where bowling balls came from.

As we drove through Muskogee, toward Tahlequah (where my family is from), Ethan gazed out his window. Suddenly seeing the bowling ball factory he loudly proclaimed:

LOOK! A CLOUD FACTORY!!!!

I laughed and asked, "How do they make the clouds big guy?

In his oh so confident way, he said, "With cotton balls and flour."

Honestly, his explanation of the Muskogee Power Plant makes much more sense than my ginormous bowling balls that defy gravity by rolling UP ramps.

Tomato Morning

Let me introduce you to Ethan's latest fascination:

That's right - "Tomato Chasing".

Ethan told me while watching this program the other night that he wants to be a Tormado chaser when he grows up. Gracious! I could actually FEEL myself going gray.

FYI: Tornado Warning was a special episode the Discovery Channel had aired and Ethan has mispronounced it's title since the first time he heard it - hence the blog title.

He even wanted to be a Tomato Chaser for Halloween - and he volunteered our dog Benny to be the tornado.

What a Weekend!

Whew! What a weekend!!!



I'm proud to report that we got ALL of our housework done! Even the garage. Ok , ok...not all of the housework, we didn't get to the patio storage room but that's not a big deal.


Saturday night was so up in the air!

I wanted to take my friend Mandy out to dinner for her birthday but scheduling conflicts got in the way so we had to reschedule. David and E were supposed to see Uncle Jared play football but it was rained out. So, what did we do instead?

We took Ethan out to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

I have to admit, it was a pretty darn cute movie! Granted, there were some parts that we could have done without and just a tiny smidgen of language that wasn't great but still...the over all theme and message were fantastic.

One thing I loved, besides Steve, was the fact that all the dads in this movie weren't portrayed as lazy dolts as other famous cartoon dads.

Sadly, most kids won't even notice this but as a mom who really sees the importance of the father figure and how much quickly our culture is shoving them out the door...this was truly refreshing to see!

In fact, at one point a dad, after showing his son how much he loves him, was telling him "I love you, son." and the little guy looked at him and said "I know, Dad, you tell me all the time!"

It was SO sweet!

On to Sunday...

I barely made it through church! The sermon was GREAT and our pastor is never ever boring but I think the Comet fumes from Saturday finally took their toll and I had the WORST headache. After we got home and at lunch, I slept for more than 4 hours!

Once I got up we had to make a mad dash up to church where our friend was being ordained as a deacon. It was a great time of fellowship and certainly an occasion to be celebrated!!

Afterward, I met with my accountability partner.

She's amazing. I just love her dedication to the Lord and her committment to teaching her four children His ways. She really listens and challenges me to be a better Christian.

Anyway...that was my weekend in a nutshell - or, blog, rather.

The First Three Weeks

Look at my big kindergartner writing his name!

I'm so proud of him!

Academically:

In just three weeks Ethan can already...

sight read about 10 words...

count up to 30...

tell me the colors of the rainbow...

and

knows a word that goes with each letter of the alphabet!

Behaviorally:
Ethan has had all green (green = good) these past three weeks!

We are overjoyed and very proud of him!!

Ethan's not adjusting well to having no nap time -

so he's falling asleep in class after lunch and recess.

He loves buying his lunch at school and even lied one day in order to do it.

Ethan likes to talk in class...a lot!

Socially:

My sweet guy has made some new friends!!!!!!

This isn't something that comes easy to my little guy so we're extra excited for him!!

He got in trouble for hugging another kid when they were walking the track - he didn't quite understand why hugging wasn't appropriate.

Funny Thing:

When asked about his new friends at school Ethan said...

"My friend is Joshua - there are A THOUSANDS of Joshua's at my school. He's my friend - but not the other boy because he only eats Twinkies and doesn't like peanut butter sandwiches."