A Very "Sickly" Christmas!

As I was getting ready to type this post I realized as I looked at the date that one year ago today Joel asked Jesus to be the "boss" of his life. It was such a testimony to me of God's faithfulness. I had asked the Lord at the beginning of 2007 for 2 main things - for Christian to be baptized and for Joel to be saved. Christian was baptized in May and then with only 3 days left in the year - Joel was saved. A true testament to the faithfulness of a loving God.

Now, here is our sad Christmas story. This Christmas has had a "different" feeling from the get go. I chalked it up to the fact that we moved 2 weeks before Christmas and I had not been able to really decorate and enjoy the season like years past. As I made my last trip to the Dollar Store on Christmas Eve I was beginning to get very excited. Christian was spending the night with my mom and dad and would arrive early Christmas morning with them. So Joel, Caleb and I anxiously awaited for Craig to get off work and come home. We had been planning to go look at Christmas lights as soon as he got home. As soon as he got here Joel came down the stairs an said his stomach hurt. I thought "oh no"! We had some guests at the house earlier in the week whose children had been sick with a stomach bug. I sent up a plea to the Lord that he would not get sick. We all loaded in Craig's car and headed out. About 30 minutes into seeing lights (10 minutes of which we spent getting gas) we had heard enough of Joel complaining about his stomach and headed home. We pulled up in the driveway, got out of the car, and Joel began vomiting. YUCK!

My next big dilemma was where to let him sleep. I didn't want him way upstairs with all of that carpet between us so I decided to make him a pallet in my bedroom with towels leading to my bathroom. He was so sick. He vomited or dry heaved EVERY 15 minutes from 8:30 pm until 6:45 am Christmas morning. As I came out of the bedroom to text my mom and dad that he was sick (remember Christian had spent the night with them and they always come over very early Christmas morning to be with the kids) I noticed I had a text. Curious I checked it first and it was from my dad at midnight. It said Christian & your mom vomiting. YIKES. I text back that Joel had been up sick all night and wondered what we needed to do.

Craig drove the 2 hour round trip drive to pick Christian up from my moms and around 11:00 am a very "subdue" group minus my mom and dad decided to open presents. We opened presents then Joel went to sleep, Christian went to sleep and I tried to sleep. It was not a very fun day. As we went to bed that night I asked the Lord to please let me have a full nights sleep after being up the previous night with Joel. I slept good until around 7:30 am when I got up and got sick. Craig came into the bedroom and informed me that he had been up all night sick. I was sick ALL day the day after Christmas. As I took my first sip of water around 7:15 pm that night Craig came in to tell me that Caleb was now vomiting. I thought well thank God he is at least the last one in this household who could get it.

We postponed our Christmas with my mom and dad, my brother and his family, my grandmother and my aunt until next Saturday so hopefully all was not lost. We will ALWAYS remember Christmas 2008!

Maybe New Year's will be better.

WELLL, were moving on up!!!

We made it!! For those who don't want all of the gory details of the closing/moving process just skip down to the end and enjoy the pictures. For those of you who do..stay tune!!

As most of you know we were scheduled to close at 9:00 am on Friday, December 12th. Now, Craig and I have NEVER had a closing go smoothly and much prayer had been sent up that we would break that streak. PLUS, Craig was actually working on Friday so I was going to be signing all of the paperwork using power of attorney. My mom graciously came on Thursday and helped me back the apartment and then was going to go with me to the closing early Friday morning. The first hing of problems came around noon on Thursday when they called from the school for me to come get Joel who was sick. Have you ever tried to pack (and throw away) items with a 6 year old - not fun!! Then, on Thursday around 3:30 pm I received a phone call that due to some computer problems our closing was going to have to be moved to 2:00 on Friday. I was getting nervous. Friday morning I call the title company at 10:00 am to get the final amount of money I needed to bring to the closing. They said they did not have my paperwork - YIKES. After several calls back and forth the paperwork arrived at the title company but because of their backup that day they didn't call me until 1:00 and let me know the amount. So, I headed off to the bank to get a cashier's check from our savings account. The bank very sweetly informed me that my name was not on the savings account and I could not withdraw ANY money. I was like you don't understand I HAVE to close on my house in 1 hour and I HAVE to have this money. I made a frantic call to the hospital and had Craig paged. He was able to transfer the money from savings to checking so that I could get the check. We arrived at the closing and was told that some of the paperwork still had not arrived. Finally we were able to go in and start signing. Every piece of paper I had to sign my name and initial and then for Craig's name I had to sign Craig Wilson by his agent and attorney-in-fact Adana Wilson and then for his intial part I had to write CW by AW, AIF. Can I just tell you it took forever!!! We knew going in that we could not get our keys until the house funded. As I was signing the lady said funding could take anywhere from 2-4 hours or until the next business day (which would have been Monday). We prayed and told her to please do everything they could to get it funded. As soon as I was done signing I called my mortgage lady and they stayed on top of the Title Company to get it funded. I also don't think it hurt that my mom and I sat in the lobby believing God that it would fund on Friday. At 5:02 pm on Friday the lady came into the lobby with my KEYS!! Oh, happy day. My mom and I felt like we had run a marathon that day.

We rushed back to the apartment picked up the boys and her truck and headed to the house. We had packed the back of the expedition and her truck FULL of things that we could unload in the house. I had, had my final walk through with the construction manager on Thursday at 4:30 pm and everything was PERFECT. They had fixed all of the paint nicks and had shampooed the carpet. When I walked in Friday night at 5:30 pm it was a different story. Someone had come in during those 24 hours and had re-textured over 58 places in the house. There was texture on the floors, tile, bathtubs, etc. If you can imagine after the day I had had trying to get the house closed and was expecting the immaculate, perfect house I had seen the night before to walk in and see that mess was devastating. I immediately called the salesman and he informed me he didn't know what had happened and they would take care of it but he would have to talk to the construction manager who doesn't answer his phone nor work on the weekend. I was NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. We unpacked our cars and headed back for our last night in the apartment.

Saturday looked brighter after a day of rest and realizing we were LEAVING the apartment. The movers we had were AWESOME. They had been recommended to us by our Children's Pastor at Northstar because all of their leadership had used them. They did a fabulous job. My mom and dad came early with us and while mom lined shelves and unloaded my kitchen my dad HUNG most of my decorative pictures and other odds and ends. WHAT A HUGE BLESSING TO HAVE THEIR HELP. My house would not look anywhere near as good as it does now if it had not been for them!!! The dish guy showed up to hook us up to dish. (You may recall we tried to get dish in the apartment so we could watch the Astros and they couldn't do it and in the meantime I bought rabbit ears to watch the olympics.) Wellllll, the dish guy couldn't get it connected because of a bad line so guess what - thank goodness for those rabbit ears!!!!

Sunday morning I put all of the closets together, finished organizing the kitchen, and the boys rooms and unpacked the last box (YES - the last box; Mom and I worked really hard the day before). They came back over and finished hanging pictures. After lunch I headed to clean out the apartment. My mom had cleaned ALL of the baseboards, ceiling fans, oven while she was there on Thursday. I was so tired that if she hadn't done that I think I would have just let them keep the deposit. But because all I had to do was clean the bathrooms, kitchen, mop and vacuum we left the apartment in great condition!! I collapsed on Sunday night and we got ready for the new week!

Monday morning brought the construction manager and answers to all of the previous problems. Somehow the texture guy had got the wrong house. In came the painters to fix all of the spots and then they had a cleaning crew come in yesterday and clean the house for us!! After almost 4 hours the dish guy gut us satellite TV and then after 3 days dealing with internet problems Craig got the internet working this afternoon - YEAH.

So, we are loving the house. Settled in and looking forward to spending Christmas here. Thank you to everyone who prayed us through this process (it has been long) but as always I can now say it was worth it!!

Craig and I have new cell phone numbers for the Dallas area. They are Craig: 214-901-8843; Adana: 214-901-8842. Our new address is 2313 Evening Song Drive; Little Elm, TX 75068

Happy 12th Birthday Christian!

Today is Christian's birthday. WOW - 12 years. It is very hard to believe. Christian was a very, very, very long (40 1/2 hours) and hard delivery and then when I finally had him he was not breathing because the chord had been wrapped around his neck. Not a very "easy" entrance into the world. But despite a hard beginning he hasn't let anything stop him. He is a very good brother, helps me when I need it, is an excellent A student and we are learning is a very talented trumpet player. He really enjoys school and LOVES band. I know the recent transition of moving was harder on him then he ever admitted to any of us and yet he has adjusted very well. Both Craig and I are extremely proud of him.

Due to the fact that we are still in the apartment we had to alter his birthday plans. He wants to have some of his friends come over and spend the night so we will do that in a couple of weeks when we have moved into the house. Yesterday morning I had sent in a birthday request to our Christian radio station here KLTY. So on his way to school they announced his birthday on the radio. Although he acted embarrassed I know he really liked it!! We got up this morning to go eat breakfast together before Craig had to go to work. He had requested for everyone to give him money for his birthday but I had already started buying him stuff. A couple of months ago he said he wished he would have done his room in Longhorns rather than Astros. Shortly after that I found Longhorn bedding on sale and marked down drastically. On a whim (which is not me) I went ahead and bought him the Longhorn bedding and sheets. Then Grandpa Billy & Jo got him the accessories. I don't think he was quite so excited about the bedding but he did get some cash from his other grandparents and that made him HAPPY. I think once we get into the new house and we decorate his room he will enjoy it all a little more!!

Keep us all in your prayers - baring no unforeseen circumstances we are to do our walk through on Monday and close on our house on Friday, Dec. 12th. We will then move one week from today - YEAH!! We appreciate prayers that the closing and moving would all go smoothly.

Lord did you really mean to give me boys??

My friend Tina is always telling me to write down all these crazy things that my boys do and say. (Like - what color truck does Jesus drive; how do airplanes see; how come God did not choose my dad to be Noah!) I started writing some of them down in a book but I think that book is in storage somewhere. But I was thinking tonight - Lord did you really mean to give me boys. I mean WHY is bodily noises so much fun, and funny and ALWAYS have to turn into a competition. Why must they constantly be hitting, kicking, jumping and wrestling? Why must EVERYTHING be a competition - first one to the car, last one to the car...? Why must we CONSTANTLY annoy each other on purpose???? Why does their bathroom have to smell like a bathroom in a convenience store?!! I read a devotional this morning and it said God is working everything out for our benefit - so I know God has to be working on me somehow -ha. ha.

Here is a few examples of the craziness that is part of our normal routine here. For instance on Saturday as I was in returning the key to our salesman after looking at our house, I am barely out of the door when I hear Joel screaming in the car. Only to find out that he has somehow gotten trapped in the seatbelt. I worked on and worked all the while as he was screaming and could not get him free. I don't know how he did it but this is the SECOND time he has done this. The first time was a couple of years ago and he was in Grandpa Billy's truck. He had to wait until I got home to the apartment and LOCATE the scissors to get him out. Yep, I had to cut right through the seatbelt to get him out. (Don't even want to try to figure out how much that costs to replace).

Sunday as we drove to church Joel is hollering at Caleb to stop. Finally after listening to this several times I said Joel what is Caleb doing to you? Joel replies in a very frustrated voice - Caleb is breathing! I was like breathing - Joel , Caleb has to breathe. Joel said but it is annoying me!!

Lastly, Craig has been working some 11 am - 11 pm shifts recently. This has caused me to flashback to the years when he worked nights and it is causing the boys to revert back to bad behavior of fighting mom at bedtime. So tonight after finally getting Joel asleep, I could hear Caleb talking (now remember they all are sharing the master bedroom in the apartment. They have Christian's full size mattress and Joel's twin size to sleep in so getting them all to sleep takes a miracle!). So anyway I hear Caleb talking, I holler down the hallway Caleb stop talking. He was silent for a minute and said mom I wasn't talking ... I was PRAYING. Oops - I said okay keep praying and add mom to that list as well!!

So although they can't seem to get along when they are all awake - they certainly don't mind all sleeping together!!! As I reflect the fact that Christian will be 12 on Saturday - I see how all 3 of them complete our family and I love them very much!