Praise God, for We are Blessed!

I've been MIA for several weeks. I must say that 2009 has been an up/down sort of year for myself, and especially for some of my close friends. My burdens and worries are minuscule as compared to those who have been through so much more. Let's back track to February 4th, when beautiful Mia Amore Adamis was born to my good friend Rachael. BTW, please check out www.theadamisfamily.blogspot.com to keep up with them and Mia's progress. Anyway, those two weeks after Mia was born were so emotionally draining. I could only imagine if I felt so emotionally spent, how Rachael and Robert and their family must have felt, not knowing if baby Mia was going to make it. But God is good and gracious, and He kept all of us strong, and most importantly, He has strengthened baby Mia!! Praise God!!

About six weeks ago, some major chaos occurred at Ethan's school. He was having some major anxiety about going to school, and I didn't know what to do. The administration got involved (a bot too much might I add) and didn't stay within their legal boundaries. Josh and I made the call to pull him from public school and homeschool our boys. More on that in a bit. In the midst of all of this, I took him to the pediatrician because he had uncontrollable head-shaking (no doubt caused by undue stress from school). The doc ordered an MRI to rule out a condition she wouldn't tell me about, and to rule out a brain tumor. Of course, this was very worrisome for me. But for the first time in my life, I almost completely leaned on God for understanding and wisdom. After seeing what my friends had been through with baby Mia...not being able to take her home nor do the normal things that parents with "normal" healthy babies get to do...well, it puts a lot into perspective. I told God that I left it in His hands. That if Ethan indeed had a tumor or something severely wrong, I was blessed with almost 7 years of joy with him, and that was more than some parents ever get with their kids. Now this wasn't easy for me, but it gave me a sense of utter peace and calmness I cannot explain. I think there will be stories for years to come on how baby Mia has touched many lived, brought many to Christ...and anything else that God could do through His glorious works.

Anyhow, back to the newest events to unfold. So I withdrew Ethan a couple days before spring break, we headed out to Southern California for a break and spent time with close friends. We are taking it easy around here, not pressing the whole homeschooling schedule as of yet. Just taking it one day at a time. We will officially start our school year around the end of August/beginning of September. I am SOOOO excited about being my boy's teacher!! I am using My Father's World, www.mfwbooks.com for our curriculum. I will be supplementing with Math-U-See, which is an awesome math program just for homeschooling, www.mathusee.com to check out their products and sample demo videos. And there's the ever famous questions,"How ever will you socialize your boys?" Well, we aren't going to hole up and avoid the world!! We are joining at least one or two home school groups and will meet at least once a week. We have church, friends, possibly AWANA next year, sports, swim lessons, and hopefully Cub Scouts. Um, I do think they will get socialized quite a bit more. Besides, not to be snooty or rude, but I don't want my boys to conform to the pattern of this world as I did when I was in school. I want them to live for God and experience the joy that I have in my relationship with Christ. Though it can be done with kids in public school, there's a greater chance that they will be better equipped with a solid Christian-based home school environment.

Anyway, that is the latest with our family. I will hopefully post some updated pics in the next few days. May God bless you this and every day!!!

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Have a blessed weekend!

YUMMY Blog Candy!

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Hope everyone is having a blessed week. It's been a rough one around here, but amazingly today was a much better day.

Lookin' Up to Him,
Shannon

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Bonnie Springs & Mickey D's

Yesterday was a wonderful day!! We took a family excursion out to Bonnie Springs, an old western themed town in the beautiful Red Rock Canyon area. For my out-of-towners, RRC is a recreation area west of Las Vegas. Though living in "Sin City" may not be the greatest, God has provided an abundance of recreational areas to enjoy. When I drive out to this area, I thank God for making such wonders to enjoy!


Anyway, once at Bonnie Springs, you pay $20/car for entry, though there wasn't anyone there to take payment. This puzzled us, and I felt guilty for meandering around without paying, but no one seemed to care. Anyway, more on that later.

So, we walked in and fed the ducks and swans at the pond area. Then on we went to the petting zoo. The petting zoo area was full of all different types of animals, from pot-bellied pigs to wolves!! It is smelly and at times crowded, but would one expect a petting zoo to smell like roses? Anyway, our boys enjoyed the animals, and most of the animals (not contained in cages) were friendly and wanted to be petted and fed. Note: bring plenty of pocket change in the form of quarters to purchase feed for the animals. We then meandered around some more and looked at the other petting zoo area where some horses and longhorn steers were.

Then it was off to ride the train. This is were payment time finally arrived. The train conductor (it's not a full-sized train) then asked for our tickets. I told him we didn't have a ticket, and could we pay him. Alas, someone who could take payment and give us tickets for entry! We enjoyed the 10 minute (give or take) train ride, and saw beautiful views of the canyons. Evan seemed to really enjoy the ride, and the smile on his face made this very evident.

Then is was off to the old western town part of Bonnie Springs. We took a gander here and there, looking in at the shops scattered throughout. Of course, there was an American-Indian themed store adorned with nothing other than...you guessed it, wind chimes! For those that have met Ethan for little more than 5 minutes, you know the kids loves his wind chimes! We made our way to the very end of the town, where there was a saloon with an 1800's melodrama. The boys weren't interested, as they prefer to explore, so it was off to see all of the different sites. One place they loved was the "lean to the side" house. It was kind of like one of those fun houses at a carnival that throws your equilibrium off!! We walked through there like 2 times--the boys loved it!!

Then the absolute highlight of the trip occurred!! Josh and the boys wanted to check out the old-fashioned fire truck (though not sure why it was there...don't think they had those back in horse drawn carriage days). Right by the truck was the school house and a merry-go-round. Josh and I commented on how you never see those on playgrounds anymore. And I guess what happened next is why. So at this point it's just Ethan and Evan on the MGR and I'm pushing it ever so carefully so they don't get too dizzy. An older kid (he was well-intentioned) came up and offered to push the kids. At this point there was like 5 kids on the MGR, and they were going SUPER fast! Ethan and Evan has been on there longer than all of the other kids, and I knew it was TOO long. Evan starts to get a sick look on his face, almost as if he was getting ready to pass out. His head started to wobble and then he went face down. I of course freaked out and stopped the MGR and got him off ASAP!!! He was disoriented for a couple of minutes, but then was up and running again fast. Needless to say, I was a bit worried and nervous, but Josh reassured me he was going to live. LOL Thank the Lord Evan didn't get sick to his stomach and projectile vomit all over everyone!! What a sight that would have been!

We ended our old western town excursion with being temporarily locked in jail for having unruly boys!! Just kidding! We thought it would be fun to pose in the jail and take a family portrait.

We then drove back into town, had lunch at McDonald's (this is a big deal as we eat fast food maybe 10 times per year, and that's if we're on a road trip, otherwise it's like 5 times a year). I have to say that my quarter pounder with cheese, fries and Dr. Pepper were delicious!

Yesterday was a blessed day, a time of family. These are the days that I live for, and the days I will treasure for years to come.

Until next post (which I hope is sooner than later), I hope you are abundantly blessed by God! Take care. :o)

Please pray at 1:02 PST 18 Feb 09

Friends,

Please take the time to stop and pray for Mia Amore Adamis at 1:02 PST. If you know anyone else who is willing to stop and pray, please let them know. For more info, please go to www.theadamisfamily.blogspot.com

Trusting the Lord...Shannon

Prayers for Dear Friends

Hi there friends-

I know it's been a long time since my last post, and for that I am sorry! We are all doing really well, and I am so very thankful to God for my two amazingly wonderful sons, and my loving husband. 2009 thus far has treated us well. No new news to report, but hey, no news is good news, right?

There are some of you aware of the Adamis family. For those of you who aren't, please visit www.theadamisfamily.blogspot.com They are dear friends of mine, going through what no one should have to endure. Somehow God will see them through this most difficult of times. Please continue for renewed strength, and if you wish pop over to their blog and leave a comment of encouragement. They need every prayer that is possible!

Thank you and God bless...Shannon