laying it all out

Some thoughts on my mind. The way society is as a whole is irrelavant. I have come to realize that certain things do not matter in this life. Examples: #1 Material possesions #2 how and what people think of you. I have found the only thing that does matter is knowing God, loving Jesus, telling others about Him and loving others the way Jesus would..and that is it. There I said it. Some of you who read this may not like hearing what I just said. I am not ashamed and as for example #2 I don't care how or what people think of me anymore. It saddens me to think that our society and lives focus on our material objects. We have money to buy a mocha frap from starbucks (this is ME I'm guilty of this) but then we think a lonnngggg time about giving to a humanitarian organization. Why is it so hard for us to give to somebody who has a NEED? But we can fill our selfish desire of a WANT so quickly? It makes me sick to my stomach...if someone said "raise your hand if your guilty?", mine would be waving eagerly in the back row. How can I even think about valuing a material object over a human life???!!! Are we crazy?! This I want to change. I defintley think that there is more God wants us to do then showing up for church every sunday and praying every once in a while. How can we be Jesus to somebody? That is exactly what I want to teach my children. So God please help me teach my children to love thy neighbor as thyself. To take care of the widow and orphan. To sell all they have and follow You, and to thank God for all the blessings in life. I guess the best way I can teach them these things is to be the example myself.

Mom he's a sinner

This past Sunday night we went to the firehouse to eat dinner with Scott and wash the truck. A good benefit of my husband being a firefighter is the free car washes that come with it. As Scott was spraying the truck down Kaiden kept saying, "sinner, sinner, sinner." Then he asks me, "mom what's sinner?" I responded that "a sinner is a person who does bad things that Jesus doesn't like us to do. Like if you tell a lie or steal something that is a sin." Kaid then said, "that's why Jesus died on the cross." (I kept telling him Jesus died on the cross for us during Easter). Then I asked him were he heard the word sinner and he said in his class (at church) that morning. Later when we went back in to the galley to eat some grub Keegan kept picking on his brother. He kept hitting him and doing the mean brotherly things Keegan sometimes likes to do to Kaid. After about a few yells back and some threatning looks Kaid looks at me and yells, "MOM KEEGAN'S A SINNER!"

vanilla twilight

The stars lean down to kiss you
And I lay awake and miss you
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere
'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly
But I'll miss your arms around me
I'd send a postcard to you, dear
'Cause I wish you were here

I'll watch the night turn light blue
But it's not the same without you
Because it takes two to whisper quietly

The silence isn't so bad
'Til I look at my hands and feel sad
'Cause the spaces between my fingers
Are right where yours fit perfectly

I'll find repose in new ways
Though I haven't slept in two days
'Cause cold nostalgia chills me to the bone
But drenched in vanilla twilight
I'll sit on the front porch all night
Waist-deep in thought because when I think of you
I don't feel so alone

As many times as I blink I'll think of you tonight
I'll think of you tonight

When violet eyes get brighter
And heavy wings grow lighter
I'll taste the sky and feel alive again
And I'll forget the world that I knew
But I swear I won't forget you

Oh, if my voice could reach back through the past
I'd whisper in your ear,
"Oh darling, I wish you were here"

Wordless Wednesday

I'm now a college student! what did I get myself into? something good....

With Scott having two years left in the coast guard I decided that I need to get on the ball with my college education. My husband Scott is currently enrolled with Liberty University and has been taking classes for about a year now. They are the number one and largest Christian college in the country. And what can I say..my man Tim Lahaye (author of the Left Behind series) founded the Tim Lahaye school of Prophecy at LU. So I only choose the best of the best to get an Associate of Arts in Education through LU's education program. 2 years of college and I'll have a degree to teach in a Christian school or I can teach preschool, be a teachers aid, or a substitute teacher at a public school. Wherever God wants me to be. I would rather be in a public school (that's where Christians are needed most). My first classes I will be taking for the summer semester are English and Theology for 8 weeks, and then Philosophy and Education for 8 weeks. I'm super stoked! Scott and I at least have English we are taking together and he's already taken Philosophy so he can help me out if I have any trouble. So my nights will be spent on my computer and school work..when the boys settle down to a movie and chocolate milks and Keane falls asleep around 9:30pm. May 17th is when I start and Scott starts up again as well...he's on a 2 week break now. I'm going to be a busy woman! Speaking of...I must go get my run on..Keane is asleep and the boys are watching a movie. Till next time!

You are 6 months old Keane!!!!

Ethiopia or Bust

My mind is on Africa tonight and our adoption. It has been 2 years now since I have been researching on adopting from Ethiopia. 2 years now since God has put this passion into my heart for adoption. I am a strong advocate for adoption and loving the orphan. I have seen this first hand from my mother and father in law who have adopted 7 children and working on 3 more (1 baby girl due any day, and 2 from Ethiopia due soon). It is amazing how they have taken these children into their home and loved them and you know what the sad part is? They get a lot of slack for doing so. So many negative comments and are they done yets?! Is that not a horriable and selfish thing to hear? To give a child a home = you are crazy for doing so! Shame on the people who says these things. Is it better for a child to go unloved and without a family then for him or her to have a home? Common sense says no. God says NO. God says love the orphan and the widow. And that is exactly what our family is about. God is tugging at our hearts and leading us toward this adoption. Tell me why I ran into two families in Maine this past weekend who adopted from Ethiopia? I don't know when it will happen. Soon I hope. We hope to bring two children home from Ethiopia. The boys are excited about it. Kaiden says he wants a sister. I say whoever God wants in our family...just maybe he'll have a sister afterall. Until then we are prayerful about this. And we are also praying our Ethiopian siblings home to the Michigan Cameron Family as well:)

The way life should be

Well I'm posting our "Maine Trip" we took over Easter weekend a little late. Yes it is April 7th and we went last weekend but what can I say...my life is filled chasing after three little handsome boys. Now...for our Maine trip. We had to go up to Portland, ME unexpectedley for Scott to take a firefighter test. He is trying to get into the Portland Fire Department when he is done with the coast guard in a little less then 2 years. Yes it takes that long to line a job up in a fire department. For most fire departments you have to apply a year or so in advance. This lined up perfect for us! Scott took the test and we have to go back up a couple more times this summer to complete the process. Here are a few memorable highlights of our trip:
We spent Friday walking around Portland. It is in awesome city! It's very small for being the biggest city in Maine. And that's what we love about it. There is so much going on in this city. So many different types of people...tons of music, art, good food, and all it needs is a new coffee house/music venue ran by well US (more to come on that;) Needless to say Keegan did have a melt down in the Old Port sandwich shop and we were the loudest ones there. Keegan screamed his little heart out as the Quakers were having a silent protest for peace nearby (at this time I was thinking of joining them). Kind of ironic. Kaid and Keegan and Keane also saw their first street performance. Two guys..one on guitar and one of mandolin..very cool..Kaid got to drop money in the bucket for them and he thought it was great. Future street performer?




That evening we drove down to our old stomping grounds. The seacoast...York County...Kittery (our old home) and the Yorks. We took the dogs to Long Sands so they could get out and stretch (yes we took BOTH dogs on this trip..crazy)! The boys all fell asleep in the car so they didn't even get to see the ocean. I did take some pictures though.






Later that night we went to KTP (Kittery Trading Post)...our favorite adventure/recreation/sporting store ever! This place has anything and everything you could want for any activity to do outdoors. The boys got to see two moose (if you've never seen one up close they are HUGE..I mean HUGE..even stuffed. Kaid enjoyed getting his sillys out by dancing on a rock outside KTP and I couldn't pass the oppurtunity to snap a pic of his handsome little face.





The next morning (Saturday) Scott had to go and take his test so the boys and I hung out at the hotel. We stayed at a Days Inn in South Portland. It was not worth the money and I get grossed out by sleeping in the beds. For some reason sleeping in a bed that hundreds of other strangers have slept in just doesn't seem that appealing to me. Bed bugs anyone? The next time we go up to Maine we are camping. We did get a free breakfast though and that was good. Bagels and doughnuts!






We decided to go home that night instead of staying an extra night in the hotel. So we packed up and headed to get some lunch at the Lobster Shack in Portland. Best lobster roll ever! And it was fun for the boys to eat right on the cliffs over the ocean.



We then headed back down to York and went to one of our favorite places Mount Aggie. The first trail we went on had some rocks. Keegan tripped on a rock and cut his face by his eye. Thankfully we have an EMT daddy who makes it all better and he back in the game in 5 minutes running the trails with Kaid. The views are gorgeous on Mount A. You can see the White Mountains in New Hampshire from the top...as you can see in the pics below.








That about wraps up our trip. We had a great time and we look forward to going back up this summer:)