TBT April 2007

Read Part 1 to see where this story starts!

Young and newly married. We were supposed to be planning for a bright and cheerful future.

Reality is often not what we dream of.

We spend over 60 nights in the hospital in our first year of marriage. We enjoyed life and each other, in the midst of the chemo, nausea, fears of the future and hospital stays.

Then that hot July day... we had a Dr appointment, things were bad. We had already planned to go the alternative route because  we assumed traditional medicine had nothing more to offer us. The Dr, a specialist at the University of Penn, looked me in the eye and said "If you take your husband for alternative care, you will kill him. Once you realize what you are planning to do, doesn't work come back to me." I cried. In the Dr's office. Because he couldn't do more then offer chemo for the rest of a very short life. I couldn't accept that.

Then we joined the "in laws" at a ball game. I wanted to puke. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do anything but sit in that HOT ball field watching a stupid Phillies game. It is a moment forever frozen in my mind.

We ended up in Mexico for alternative treatment. Something we never regretted. God knew I needed that place. We had 9 more beautiful months together. There was horror and pain unlike anything one can imagine. There was peace that when fought for, filled us daily. The reality of God's sovereignty.


April 2007, I said Good Bye. 2 years and ten days after our wedding day,  my nightmare was now my reality. My very worst fears now my life. God is good. He gives and He takes away. Life isn't fair. The journey is hard. The journey is painful. But God's peace and grace ever so sweet. The tears were rivers of  pain and then healing rain...A broken heart healed into a beautiful masterpiece done by the Artist, who died for me.

check back next Thursday for the redemption part of this story, the beauty from the ashes...

Parenting Books...

I love reading parenting books. I know. That makes me weird. But I do... I also believe that you can never have to many tools in your parenting toolbox.

Right now I am reading a lot of books on preteen and adolescent boys. Do you know how challenging it is to be a single mom to a boy?! I love my boys dearly and I want to understand what makes them tick and I want to be equipped to parent them so they can grow up to Godly, responsible adults!

My boys are pretty easy for the most part.But I want to understand them, to "get it", to build them up instead of tearing them down.

So the other day I was killing time by shopping at Ollies. I love to look through their book selections. I stumbled on this book! Raise Him Up: A Single Mother's Guide to Raising a Successful Black Man


 I love Stephanie and Derek Moore. My kids love the Alec London Series) and the (Morgan Love Series) by Stephanie and Derek Moore. This is the only christian, African American preteen book series I have ever found! The kids devoured these books!

So I hoped the "Raise Him Up" book would be good too! I am only half way through and am already loving it. It is so encouraging. I am learning a lot and it is motivating me to continue to push my boys, to be strong and firm to help them become the strong black men!




*this is not a paid review, however these are affiliate links. Read my affiliates and reviews disclosure for  more info.

Field Trip with Friends...

We love visiting this place! We got a membership for the year. Today we met up with friends and hung out for a couple hours. (my friend is a single adoptive mom too, so we love to chat)

Lots of coffee was consumed by this momma. 

My kids thought it would be cool to wear shorts and flip flops... instead of cool, they were cold! 

Nesiah was bored. She did not enjoy this field trip! 

There are all sorts of fun activities. Rolling balls show how gravity works. 

Ping pong balls and blowing air... the boys liked this one! 

Working together to add some extra omph! 

David lets the ball spin around and around.... 

The mommas hung out and chatted while supervising! The thing we love about this place, is the open space. It is an easy place to sit, relax and watch the kids while chatting. The kids love it too! Its a win win situation. Today was pretty packed tho. Normally we can go in and only see one or two other moms. Today there was a constant stream of people.

The weird thing in our day... There was this father with his son. Dad was wearing a bandana, skull jacket, all black clothes, very cleaned up, but long pony tail and wait.... for it.... a huge knife in a sheath.

The kiddoe was like 4 yrs old. He was wearing baggy pants, a skull shirt, had a long pony tail and was wearing a bandanna.  The son got into a tussle with mine over a toy. I warned my son to NOT MESS WITH THAT KID, HIS DAD IS SCARY! ;)  My son just rolled his eyes at me.

Then 10 minutes later he comes over, eyes big, MOM, THAT MAN HAS A HUGE KNIFE!!!!

My friend leaned over and whispered... "that's why your mom said to stay away from the kiddoe"!  My kiddoes made sure to stay far away from that kiddoe after that! But really, why a knife in a kid place?!