Family is SO important

Christmas has been such an exciting time this year. First and foremost, we were able to spend time with family. Family is more important to me now than it used to be. The older I get, the more I realize how much I love my family and I am so glad we are so close.






Christmas Eve morning, we went to Bear and Tobie's for "brunch". Heath had to work at the firestation Christmas Eve, but he was able to come and spend a couple of hours with us. Here is my parents, Ben and Tina Quick.
Here is my dad and my niece, Baylee.

Here is my brother and his family...Bear, Tobie, Baylee (9), Graycee (4), and Jake (3).

Here is my family....Heath, Leslie, Claire (11), Macie and Conner (4).

This is my grandmother, Maxine Sandlin Taft Isbell.

And lets see... this is my extended family on my mom's side. This is my mom and her generation...Rebecca Sparks Bunn, Russell Sandlin, my mom Tina Taft Quick, Larry Taft (my mom's brother) and Connie Harper.

Then, it is my generation...Kelli Sandlin(daughter of Russell), Justin Masisak (son of Rebecca), Stephen Sandlin (son of Russell), Jason "Bear" Quick (son of Tina), Natalie Taft Gregory (daughter of Larry), me (daughter of Tina), Brett Taft (son of Larry, and his 3 children, Trayton, Brexton, and Britton), Tristan Bunn (son of Rebecca), Josh Lewis (son of Rebecca) and Hunter Harper (son of Connie).Can you see who I look like...

And finally, my grandmother's generation... The Beginning of the Sandlin generation (still living anyway)...(youngest to oldest)...Diane Sparks (mom to Rebecca), Phyllis Diffy (mom of Scott, who wasn't there), Dan Sandlin (dad to Russell), Sue Roth (mom to Connie) and Maxine (my grandmother).

That night, Santa came to our house. Macie and Conner's "Jeep"

Conner playing his drums.

Heaths mom, Louise, gave Claire as walnut...You can see by the look on Claire's face, that she is confused... she wonders what in the world she got a walnut for... and she doesn't even like nuts. :)

Once she finally opens the walnut, it is stuffed with a hundred dollar bill. That makes Claire a little happier. I thought this was a really neat idea.

Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture...Have I not taught my son better that this...

I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas. I know I personally spent time reflecting on what Christmas is all about... The gift of Jesus Christ. Tonight, to ring in the new year, I think the twins and I are going to talk about everything we remember from 2008 and what we hope 2009 is like. Claire is spending a few days with Grandmother Maxine, and Heath is working on the ambulance. My prayer is that everyone has a year of God's blessings. Happy New Year!

Maggy Placement, Agency Christmas Party

Wednesday, I placed this sweetheart. Her name is Maggy. Isn't she precious. She was already smiling and sleeping through the night, even though she was only 2 weeks old. She got a wonderful family and has moved to New Mexico. She has 2 older brothers that I am sure are going to protect her well. What a precious gift they received here at Christmas time. Here is Maggy smiling...

Here is Maggy being placed with her precious family. They seem so sweet and loving.

We had our agency Christmas party Friday at Suzanne's house. What a wonderful time we had. Suzanne's house is beautiful and I got lots of gifts and got to spend time getting to know my friends better. Here is Lola (the other foster mom for the agency), Pat (social worker for the agency...she is the one that did my home study), Suzanne (owner of the agency), Jenny and Marsha (they are usually in the office every day handling things). It is a blessing to work with these wonderful women. I feel as God has placed each one of them for a very special reason and I am so glad he called me to A Angel Adoptions to foster my babies.

Here is just another picture, without Marsha but with me.

Tomorrow is a very special and busy day for us. We are going to my brother's house tomorrow morning, to my grandmother's tomorrow afternoon, and to the "Sandlin/Taft" annual Christmas gathering tomorrow evening. I pray that each of you have a very Merry Christmas. I am also praying specifically for a few of my family and friends... please consider praying with me for:

J R Isbell-my grandmother's husband-he has bone cancer and is really not doing well.

Tucker Beam-has cancer... Love you buddy!

David Farris-had a car accident and has minor head injury.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Birthday Party, Children's Christmas Program

We had family over to celebrate Claire's birthday on Saturday. It is hard to believe she is 11 already. For those of you that don't know, I dropped my camera on the way to the fire department dinner and broke it, so I had to purchase a new one. I love it, as you can tell by all of the pictures posted.This is all 6 of the grandchildren. Baylee and Claire(Baylee is 13 months younger than Claire), Graycee, Macie and Conner (Graycee is 5 days younger than Macie and Conner at 4), and Jake brings up the end (he just turned 3) Jake-the youngest of my brother's children.

Graycee-my brother's middle child

Baylee-my brother's oldest daughter.... I am so blessed to have my brother, Bear (no my mom didn't name him that at birth, only soon after-his real name is Jason). Bear and his wife, Tobie live only about 3 minutes away from us and we spend lots of time together. As you can see, our children are very close in age and all get along great. Of course, there are arguments, but it is wonderful having all 6 run around at once.

Our children's Christmas program was last night at church. We go to The Church at Ross Station (www.rossstation.org). We have been a church for only 2 years, and already we have over 200 each Sunday for the service. We currently meet at Bumpus Middle School in Hoover. Here are a few pictures from last night.

This is Tucker Beam. Tucker is in my Sunday School class (I teach 1-3rd grade) and he is battling cancer for the 2nd time. You can visit his website at www.caringbridge.org/tuckerbeam . Please pray for my buddy. I just love him so much!

This is Conner in his sweater. I don't usually like sweaters, but I think he looks so handsome in this one.

Isn't that just the sweetest face?

Claire, looking beautiful as always. She did an excellent job last night. Since she is one of the oldest, she had a huge part, and she fit is perfectly.

Claire and Will. They are the oldest 2 in the children's department. Will was the Judge and Claire was the Pronouncer.

Macie had to have her make-up on, just like everyone else for the program. Of course, she made a mess of her lipstick.

This is pastor Randy and his son, John Mark. They are part of the preschool praises. They meet each Wednesday night at one of the member's houses. The parents get to participate too. Looks like they have a great time.

Mya's Homecoming, Baby Thumbsucker, and Piper

Today was a very exciting day. Mya got to meet her "forever" parents for the first time. What a wonderful experience it was. They thought she was so tiny. They seem to be a really fun family and I think Mya is going to be very happy. So, right now I have one little "angel baby" left... And here she is.... can you say "thumb sucker?" I think this is so sweet though. When I got ready to take the picture, she opened her eyes like, ""What? Am I not supposed to be doing this?" Too funny!

And this little sweetie is Piper. She belongs to my friend Mallory. Isn't she just the cutest? She is always happy and has the sweetest smile.

For a side note, NO, I am not finished Christmas shopping, we haven't even had our picture made for Christmas cards yet, Macie and Conner's "Santa wish list" keeps changing, my car is having issues and of course is almost paid for, Claire is having an attitude problem at school (according to her teacher, but according to Claire it is her teacher having problems), and I have overdue books at the library that I have to take back today and I am about to work on my own "wish list." I'll let you know how it turns out =)

No Thumb and No Fingers

Most of you know that Conner sucks his thumb and he has a horrible tongue thrust. So, he now has an appliance that should help with that. It keeps the tongue in the right position and keeps him from sucking his thumb. Here is a picture of the appliance (tongue crib). Here is Conner sleeping. His looks so sad. He can't get his thumb up there. We are just lucky he fell asleep. And then, Macie sucks her first two fingers..... so,

I sewed socks to the arm holes of her pajamas. This way she can't suck her fingers. She finally fell asleep too. I have a feeling it is going to be a long few weeks here at the Bartlett house, as we conquer the "pacifiers". Wish us luck!

Dress up and Dancing

Tonight the kiddos decided to play "dress up" with Sadie. She had on a lovely t-shirt and a skirt. Macie thought she looked like a girl and thinks we should put her in clothes every day. Sadie didn't like it too much. She kept trying to rip it off... as you can see, she knocked a bunch of clean clothes off of the bed.

Sunday at church (The Church at Ross Station), Claire's drama group (Greater Than) performed to the song "Friend Like You" and Claire did a great job. Destiny and Brooke does a great job teaching them. She is so dramatic anyway and she really gets into the songs. Sometimes I find her making up her own moves to her favorite songs. She is singing her heart out to God. I am so proud.

Our dog, Like Father/Like Son, and Thanksgiving at School

Here is a picture of Heath and Conner sitting on the front porch. I thought it was so cute how Conner has his arm on daddy's back. They were sitting outside talking about all the leaves falling and about using the rake to get them up...

The next picture is our dog, Sadie. She is a mixed breed of American Bulldog and Boxer. She weighs about 40 lbs and is 8 months old. She is terrific with the kids and is very gentle.

And last but definately not least, Macie and Conner had their Thanksgiving party at school today. They came home with their little hats. Macie is an indian (even though her "feathers" wouldn't stay up) and Conner was a "pilgrin"... Macie said the indians are supposed to "be mean and make corn" and Conner said "the pilgrins like to travel and they came to Alabama). He wanted to know who came to Auburn. It's early here in the Bartlett household and I am very tired, so I am headed to bed. My goal is to get my Christmas boxes out of the attic before Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, my family is coming here to my house, so I am very excited, and I still have a "foster turkey lurkey". Be praying for her and her "forever" family. Good night everyone... don't forget to give Thanks to God.

Baby Updates

From time to time, I will get updates about my "Angel Babies." This week, I got a couple of updates, so I thought I would share them with you. The top picture is Ben. The pic on the left is Ben here at my house, and the pic to the right is him at home. The bottom pic is of Larry. The pic on the left is my house, and the right at his "forever" home. For all of you wondering, I have my 9th baby right now. We are having such a great time fulfilling God's calling. Most people wonder how I can have these babies in my home and then "hand them over to someone else." All I can say is that ...........God called me for this, and when he called me, he equipped me to be able to handle giving these babies to their "forever parents........" What an AWESOME God He is!

Not much to update today. We stayed in our PJ's until this afternoon (I forgot it was Wednesday and we had church)... I was going though some old pictures and thought I should share a couple. I forget how small my babies used to be. They have changed so much... some days I miss the "baby stage".
This is a picture I shot when Macie had gone into Conner's room and fell asleep. Macie sucks her first 2 fingers, and Conner sucks his thumb. I actually woke Conner up when I snapped this pic (you can see his eyes squinting). How sweet!

I also wanted to ask you to pray for some people tonight. Please pray for Tucker Beam (www.caringbridge.org/tuckerbeam) and his mom, Courtney. Tucker is in my Sunday School class at church. His treatment this week has make him kind of sick. Also, keep praying for baby Ava. She is adjusting to her family well, and they are loving her so much. What a blessing!

Busy Day

Conner had to go to the dentist today so they could put in his "tongue crib" appliance. Dr. Clark Thomas tried to put it in, but it didn't fit well, so he did some more impressions and is going to order another appliance. This appliance is supposed to keep Conner from sucking his tongue, keep his tongue from "thrusting" forward, and hopefully spread out his upper pallet (to prevent braces later).The new appliance should be ready in a couple of weeks. Conner was such a trooper and did great. Also today,
I took Ava to her new parents. What a blessing it was. They were a very sweet couple and gave me a sweet gift for caring for their "angel" baby. I think Ava is going to be so happy with her parents and 2 brothers. Here is a picture of Ava. She was such a beautiful baby, and Claire really liked her. I can't wait to get updates and see how she grows.