The Christian Crew

Why is it that i HAVE a gift complex? I have been analyzing this as i have been doing some self exploration on the matter. B/c REALLY? who HATES getting gifts? That's just weird and not normal. Here's where i think it comes from: Back when i was a child (and still) my b-day is Jan. 4th , right after the BIG holidays are over. Often times my b-day presents were combined into Christmas ones too. Or when i had parties- i got other peoples RE-GIFTS that they didn't want b/c most people forgot about it until the day of. My parents made efforts, sort of. My mom always wanted me to have BIG party and a few times i did but, most of the times- it was kind of just over looked a bit. So, i started to resent people giving me things. I didn't want peoples left overs or something that meant NOTHING to them so, why not give it to the girl whose b-day was overlooked? BUT, one year, my dad was super sneaky in planning my sweet 16 surprise party- he even had it 1.5 weeks after my b-day ...

Something i haven't really mentioned before is how we envision our family in the few years to come. I have always felt in my heart that we would have about 5-6 kids, maybe more. Most will come through adoption. I'm not an idiot and I'm not trying to be GREEDY, either! We just know what we know and feel that we have missing children in our family! It's like this huge part of my heart that aches daily. As each day passes, i feel more urgency to do something about it. But, i can only do what i can do and God plays the biggest part in this process. Then our future birth mother plays the next part and us the last part. We've always hoped for many races of children in our family. I actually thought i'd marry interracial but, who would have known I'd fall head over heels for a Blondy! I am so glad i did though:) Brandon is my perfect match, best friend and sweetest husband and father. That doesn't mean we always agree on everything(let's be real people) an...

Hey Readers and Everyone, I just thought i should Lay It ALL out for everyone on how Brandon and I communicate. We are a very outgoing couple and our parenting style is the same. We do not hesitate to say what we feel unless it would be hurtful. So, we are very Open, Outspoken and always Expressive. We are sometimes intimidating to others who are not as Open as ourselves. We say we LOVE our kids and tell them that more than 3 times a day. We talk openly about our friendships, relationships, desires, interests, wishes, goals, flaws and spirituality. We are both TYPE A personalities (with different strengths-thank heavens:) . We Love to joke and play and wrestle and tickle or tackle with each other. Communication can also be called LOVE LANGUAGES .. We all have different LOVE languag es (or ways we feel/communicate love) Here they are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. To be totally honest here's my top 2 languages (or ways i ...

Q: Why do you want to adopt if you can have kids? A: Actually, there's a bit to that question. First off, It's a major struggle for me to get pregnant due to complications with my ovaries and secondly, I always KNEW in my heart that i would be a mother to adopted children since i was 13 yrs of age. When i was dating Brandon, i told him that i wanted to adopt several children when i got married and He then told me that He was adopted and wanted to do the same! He grew up with one brother, who was also adopted, and was 8 yrs younger than him. He has always had the desire to have a big family and also wants so badly to adopt many children. We just KNOW that God's plan for building our family will be mostly through adoption and we are so excited to see who the next member of our family will be. So, in our case we want to adopt because we CHOOSE to and We Know it's How we are MEANT to build our family! Q: Do you expect a birth-mother to have an Open adoption like you have w...

For all honesty's sake, I'm going to be REAL and tell you some things that make me shutter in fear or disgust... (may not be suitable for children to view) FIRST: Pageant Moms and Daughters: Note to you people: Your child IS not a trophy piece- please love them without all the make-up and hairspray. They are precious the way GOD made them. No extras needed- ps. when your child stops doing pageants are you going to love her less or be less involved? Poor girls:( second: Facial Tattooing- UGH frightens me BALUT: half grown duck inside the egg, fermented in the ground for days then eaten as a treat or on rice in the Philippines- gag me! (ps. Brandon tried this on his mission) Extreme Dog Groomers and their stylists- It's cool but, still wigs me out a tad! any hairless breed of cats or dogs- can't do it, peeps more: being trapped in a car and sinking slowly, MLM lovers, bees, too many ice cubes in my drink ( i know a little odd quirk- 3 is just fine) public restrooms, ca...

So.. what's up with us, this week? Well, Last weekend i went to the Hospital (ugh, i know) and after multiple tests we found a racquetball sized cyst by my small intestine. Bad news but good news... IT can be removed and will be here pretty shortly! It's NOT a Tumor or Cancer or anything worse! The surgery will take only a few hours and ALL will be well. For me: I think it will be great b/c "WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, ONLY MAKES YOU STRONGER" and my abdominal swelling/inflammation and pain will go down!!! I'm so excited about that b/c it looks like I'm 5 months pregnant b/c of this swelling and CrAp! That means I'll get my waist back and be able to return to normal activity shortly after! So, Everyone pray that surgery will go well and I can return to normalcy shortly after! Q: Does this mean you guys won't be adopting or up for adopting soon? A: Nope, It's just a hiccup in my health and has no effect on our ability to love and parent a child. We w...

So today We asked A & B what they would prefer to have a brother or a sister (mind you, they really have no clue what a brother would be like) Brielle said:" i want a baby sister, no, a baby Brother, as long as he doesn't take things from me!" When we asked Aria what she wanted a boy or girl, she said "PINK, not blue, Pink!" Now, if you have read even a snippet of our blog posts, you would know that we really would be so overjoyed with either boy or girl! Call me crazy but, having another sweet and sassy girl would be another piece of heaven for both of us! ( minus the whining and tatrums when they hit 2 years:)! On my girls wall i had the phrase : MORE SPICE THAN SUGAR! which is totally true for them. I even got it cut for their new room so, they will have it up again! I would totally be enamored with a baby Boy as well. I would enjoy the differences and BO TH of us would like to see how different having a Son would be. I know Brandon would love to do all...

Right now, we currently live in a suburb outside of Las Vegas, In a 5 bedroom home with a pool and Spa and nice sized yard. Our neighborhood is filled with families of all ages and GREAT people who all are very open and kind. Our kids ride bikes in our cul-de-sac together almost daily. We let the big kids and little kids in our community come over and jump on the trampoline or play with the puppy . We have the little girls over for tea parties or dress up or games. I am a group organizer for the moms in our community and we participate in park days, lunch dates with the kids, classes of all kinds like arts, dance, story time and so on. I have craft classes at my home occasionally and i teach moms and ladies how to make beautiful gifts or things for the home! I also run a fun Mom Blog where i get to contribute stuff about being a mom and anything kid related. It's been a nice outlet for me and the other contributors too. We like to have date nights as a couple and also nights were w...

Well, honestly, the girls wake up too early most days, I'd rather get at least 1 hour more than i get. They arise around 6:30 or 7 and we make breakfast while Aria chases the puppy around and Brielle watches a cartoon or does some coloring. Then we eat and laugh and get ready for preschool. Brielle attends a private preschool that my friend runs called the Learning Loft. She loves it and is doing very well in school. It's 2-3 days a week and only for 2 hours. I am glad for that b/c I'm not quite ready to let her go to half day or full day school yet. While Brielle is off at School, Brandon is working on loans or Real Estate school online, Aria kicks it with me and we either run errands or go to the gym and get my sweat on! The playroom at the Gym is Insanely great too! It has 3 separate areas for the kids to play in according to age. A bounce house and slides and tunnels that looks like a small Children's museum! On days that Brielle doesn't have school, we go for ...