And we have........

Puppies!!! Lola, our English Bulldog had her first litter of puppies yesterday, May 17th. She's the I'm-so-not-into-this "proud" momma of six bully pups! Four girls and two boys. She was scheduled to have them via c-section this morning, but when the breeder called to check on her yesterday, she was already showing signs that she was in labor, so they went ahead with it yesterday. We were scheduled to have our finger prints done yesterday (FINALLY!), go to the gym, then get a few things to prepare for the puppies. Funny how God's timing doesn't always match up with our plans, huh? I seriously can't even believe this is me talking, because if this had happened in any other circumstance, I probably would have been pouting....hardcore. Instead, I just said, "OH WELL!" I know that all this means is that the placement God has for this family isn't ready. So say a little prayer that we get to take some time away from the puppies very soon so that we can finish up our home study by getting our finger prints! Anyway, here are some pics of the new pups! Enjoy!!

Chalkboard Table

Yep, two posts in one day! I meant to post these pics this past weekend, but my camera died and Campbell was wanting some mommy-time. Anyway, a couple years ago (ahem!), I left a scented oil plug-in on my dining room table over night. I guess it fell over when I set it down, and the oil leaked out, eating away at the varnish and the stain. Awesome. We almost never use the dining room table, and that end of the table seemed to be a "catch all" anyway, so we took our sweet (lazy) time getting around to doing something about it! I found a pic online of a table top that had been converted into a chalkboard table. Looked pretty simple (hubby project!), so we (I mean, he) gave it a try.......Wish I had taken pics of it step-by-step, but I didn't, so here's the short version: http://paisleypassions.blogspot.com/2010/08/chalkboard-paint-dining-table.html   :)

And here's our (Eddie's) creation!

Game on!

Phew! So we had our meeting tonight with the director of our agency, and I LOVED her!!! Everything went so much better than I even imagined. I wish I could give all the details of the conversation, but for the privacy of certain members of my family, I'll keep most of it to myself. We went there tonight crossing our fingers that the things one of our older kid's bio parent has done wasn't going to keep us from fostering with this agency (oh what a pain it would be to start over!). That was kind of the situation, however she was more concerned about our kids if the bio parent ever makes an accusation. She said when you have a foster child in your home and an accusation has been made, even if it's untrue, that it is very likely they would remove all of the kids from our care until the issue had been investigated. Do you know how long a CPS investigation can take?!? Anyway, she wanted to express her concerns/fears for our family before placing a child in our care so that we were prepared. They have asked us to pray/think about our decision to continue down this path and give them an answer when we're ready. We were able to give them an answer before we left, however, out of respect for their agency, and their knowledge of foster care, we did tell them we would talk it out, and of course, pray about it, and let them know our "final" answer tomorrow. You know our answer was yes! We aren't going anywhere. I'm not going to let the actions of one crazy person determine the rest of my life. I can't. This person cannot and will not have control over my life, my decisions, or the lives of my children. Oh, and we do not have to purchase another bed! We just have to have the means to get a bed if we are put in a situation where we would need to take in another child. I can deal with that! So........GAME ON!

On another note, if you're still reading my blog that I often abandon :), PLEASE pray for us. We were presented with a "situation" tonight that one of us would LOVE to dive into head first, but the other is more reserved. Okay, not even reserved. Try dead-set against the idea. :) Let's just say if it all works out the way I'm thinking it MAY, God had his hand in it all. It would make for a GREAT story to share, but I can't tell you ANYTHING until it happens.....if it happens! So....prayers! Please! NOW!!! :)