More Signs and more websites...

If you've seen Justus lately, you know he's getting crazy fluent in sign, and has even gained some new words.
There is an even better website I want you to check out. It's http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro This one has a much more extensive video dictionary! Awesome!
I have made a new list of signs that you are almost sure to see if you walk into our home on any given day. Ready?

Loud
Hurt
Gross
Touch
Not (also use for Do not or to negate almost any action)
Dirty (also the sign for dirt)
Diaper
Change
Need
Good
Work
Firefighter (We use a different sign than what's on the website. Make a B handshape, and put it to your forehead, facing thumb out, like the badge on their hats. Justus points to himself and then signs this about 100 times a day. He wants you to know HE'S going to be a firefighter!)
Name Signs:
Justus (Make a J handshape in your hair, on the side of your head, like for curly hair.)
Treston (Make a T handshape, and tap it against your chin a few times)
Emma (Make an E handshape and sign girl with it)
Jax (Justus made this one up himself...tap your index finger to the side of your forehead, like the sign for "think", and then turn it out into an X handshape, in one motion. It's easier than it sounds.)
Mom- sign for Mother
Dad-sign for Father, but Justus baby signs these with just one finger, FYI.

Okay, so now let's put those into Justus sized sentences. This is like a cumulative test.
Practice Sentences:
Justus, please don't touch. (Justus please not touch)
That's too loud! Treston is asleep. (Loud! Treston sleep)
That's yucky! Don't eat that. (gross! not eat)
You need a diaper change. (FYI, I don't sign "dirty" for a dirty diaper, I sign stinky, by just holding my nose. Dirty is not really appropriate for a dirty diaper.)
Does that hurt? I'm sorry! (Hurt? Sorry)
You want a firefighter book?
Where's Daddy? At work. (Daddy Where? Work)
Good job Justus! (Good Work)
Your clothes are dirty. Let's go change. (Clothes dirty. Go change)

Remember, if you sign these things with no expression, it's almost meaningless! Take note of the expressions of the signers on the website. When you meet a deaf person, the expression will almost overwhelm you. But there is grammar built into expression! A deaf person would rather have expression than perfect signs! That's just a side tip when it comes to learning ASL. It also helps with communication with Justus. The more expression he has, the more likely we are to understand what he's signing.
Remember, he still uses baby signs. He doesn't sign these things perfectly. You have to be around him to get used to his signs. But it doesn't take long!
Thanks for those of you really learning! It shows how much you love our sweet boy!

Taking Action!

May 6th has come and gone. Hallelujah!
Sunday marked the end of a waiting period for us with Treston. It feels good to be on this side of May 6th. It's a day that's been circled on my calendar for months.
Many of you have asked me where we are with this adoption. My answer has had to be "waiting." There was a waiting period that had to take place before any legal action could be taken.
We waited.
Now we are ready to take action! We want to make what we already feel to be true, about Treston being our baby, a legal reality!
Pray for New Life's lawyer, who will be representing us. We have already seen God move; as Rusty prayed and fasted about this, God gave him the name of a patient of his who is a lawyer, experienced in family law. Rusty actually saved this man's life once, so we called in a favor. (He was in his early 30's with no risk factors for heart disease, and had come in with some chest pain. Rusty decided to check into it more, despite his age, and found a 90% blockage. The next day he had major bypass surgery. It's awesome when God speaks to your doctor!) This lawyer has been advising New Life's lawyer, and they decided to move the proceedings to OUR county! We are excited about this, because we have heard the judges are more conservative here and apt to move quickly, and we won't have to drive all over the world to attend the court proceedings.
We believe God already has a judge for us. We know He knows the outcome, but we are called to PRAY. So again, I'm asking you to pray also. Unless you have been through this, it's hard to imagine. But going to court to let someone else decide if your baby can stay with you is a strange thing. It can be very scary. We have clung to Phil. 4:6-7, as it says "Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. And then the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." We cannot worry, we can only pray, and be thankful for the amazing things He has done in Treston's life already.
The Adoption Party will be joyous! The Baby Dedication will be so sweet! Writing his new name will be fun! Please pray with us for this to come to pass, and for all of the details. Legal proceedings can be a mess, and lengthy! We are praying against that.
Some of you have asked about the details of Treston's situation, or even Justus'. I may have awkwardly evaded your question. I'm not always good at that, because I am naturally a forthcoming person. But let me tell you why...these boys have stories behind their adoptions. They have birthmothers, and birthfathers. I understand that people are curious about this. But these are their stories to tell. Some of the facts they may wish to keep private, and I'm not going to spill it to everyone we know, every person we chit-chat with in Target for that matter, for their sake. It's not that I don't trust you with this information, it's just not fair to them. As adoptive parents, we need to be discreet. I have not really explained that publicly, but I hope that makes sense. The real story is God had a plan for their lives. He picked them up and planted them in the family he knew from the beginning of time would be theirs. It grants us all a greater understanding of being adopted as Christians, as the Bible puts it. It is a true picture of the gospel story, living and breathing in our family.
Thanks for your prayers! We treasure them. We're going to make this boy a Bacak!!!

The Lady in the Orange Shirt

Get to know the lady in the orange shirt...

I think we're going to be great friends.

This is the cool new ASL website I found! It has a video clip for an entire dictionary of words! The other websites I found like this you had to subscribe to and pay for. But this one's free!!!! Don't you love free? It is exponentially easier to learn signs from a video clip rather than still pictures. This was a great find! The address is http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm It's a long one, so just add it to your favorites.

I will post a new list of signs very soon, so you can check this out. Those of you learning, keep it up! We have to learn quickly to keep up with Justus! He's amazing. He's putting together three signs at a time easily, when just a few months ago we were at one word utterances only. (And they were limited.) I'm so proud! Our home has changed so dramatically!

Justus is happy!

He makes jokes!

Our Spanking Spoon is not so tired!

He never throws his poop anymore! :)

He tells me what he wants for breakfast!

He tells Rusty things that have happenned in his day!

He knows all his shapes and colors!

He's learning his alphabet!

For all of this, we give great glory to God! He is good!

Just In Case I'm NOT the Only One Who Doesn't Know...

You all may know this, but just in case...
There is this amazing show on the Discovery channel called Planet Earth.
I got the tip from my parents, but scolded Heather for not letting me know first, and she just "assumed I would know."
Well we all know what happens when we assume.
So I'm assuming some of you don't know.
You may not be interested in a nature/wildlife show.
I would never have given it a first glance before I married Rusty, who LOVES this stuff, and then passed on a massive obsession for it down to my daughter.
This is Emma's absolute, hands-down favorite show! She thinks the "woman from Planet Earth" (narrator: Sigourney Weaver) knows everything, and is the greatest source of knowledge she has! It has opened up a new world for Em. I am very aware that I have nothing left to offer Emma as a teacher when it comes to animals. She has now surpassed my knowledge of animals. My only edge on her is I know how to read big books. When she conquers that, I will lose! She has an insatiable thirst to know everything she possibly can about nature and wildlife. After she watches a "Planet Earth" once, maybe twice, she has it memorized. She wants you to watch it with her, but she will narrate the whole time. You don't get to hear it from Sigourney Weaver.
So this show...it's pretty cool. I was just watching the filmmaker's stories about how they get the "never before seen footage" (which they say every 10 minutes). For instance, we saw some rare and beautiful birds from a remote area of the world do their mating dance and it was AMAZING. But the poor camera crew waited for 8 weeks, 8 hours a day, in a camoflouged tent, waiting...all day...doing nothing but sitting in the same spot, looking at birds. Can you imagine? All of these stories astounded me.
You truly do see things never before seen in nature. They are learning things no one knew about all kinds of species on land and in the sea because of new technologically advanced cameras, and somtimes filming with them from the sky. You've got to check this show out! It's so educational for kids and adults, but be warned: the circle of life is accurately represented. Animals eat other animals. I have to skip forward sometimes because I don't like that, but Emma doesn't like to skip anything. She can take it. Can you believe that? But if there was a hunter, of ANY animal present hurting an animal, she would be irate!!! She'd get on her six-year-old soapbox so fast! If you hunt, please don't mention it to Emma. She will never be able to see you the same.

It Will Change Your Life...

My husband is always re-inventing my life...for the better...with gifts.

Several years back, he got me this scrapbooking software.

I used to scrapbook by hand.

It was fun. But it was messy. We couldn't eat off of our table for weekends at a time, because there were papers, glues, scissors, and pictures spread everywhere. I would cut, stick, and create every free moment on certain Saturdays, and would literally be sore the next day.

I was headed for a terrible chronic scrapbookers disease, that has yet to have been diagnosed in the medical community, but just wait...it's coming. It will be known as CSD. It will consist of crippled hands, necks, and backs. Not good.

The software is still fun, creative, and best of all, sticker and glue-free. I can sit in bed at night with my laptop and scrapbook. I never pay for scrapbooking materials anymore. (Ch-ching. money saved.) I only pay for photo paper and page protectors. And ink cartridges of course. (You have to have a decent printer to pull this off.)

I do less pages, because you can fit more pictures on a page. Instead of 6 pages on a trip to the zoo, it's more like 2-3. You can make your pictures as big or as small as you want, change their shapes, coloring, add effects, crop, etc. I usually just pick a background or border, add my text, and I'm done. Voila. No chronic scrapbookers disease. Easy.

So this begs the question, why was I nearly two years behind on scrapbooking?

There is an answer.

We were cruising along, totally up-to-date each month in my books, chronicling our lives. Then a few years ago, my in-laws got us a SUPER COOL digital camera. We love it!!! It's awesome. But it was not compatible with my scrapbooking software. So I stopped. I didn't know what to do. I refused to go back to the old way. I refused to get pictures printed and payed for. So I just stopped. I became a delinquent scrapbooker. That wasn't me!!! I was so on top of things! I was so proud of my books! How did this happen to ME?

I would lay in bed at night and worry about how I would ever catch up. Almost a year and a half passed. What could I do? Rusty had bought me a different software to try to remedy the problem, but it was no good. My motherly self-esteem plummetted. You all know, we Moms don't need extra cause for the "mother guilt," as I call it.

Well this week, all has been set right. The 'lost years' have been restored. I have been a woman CRAZED! On a mission! Ask anyone who's been in my home this week. I have been eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing scrapbooking. First, Rusty and I went and got the NEW Scrapbook Factory...but not the old program I had. No...it's DELUXE. They're not kidding about the Deluxe. It's so much better! Then, I just gave in and took all my CD's of pictures and stood at the machine at Target until it practically exploded. I printed out all the pictures over the lost years, and slid them into books. Not creative. Not fun. But done.

Then I scrapbooked starting with November 06, almost to the day we got the call about Treston, for our family book, and started Treston's life book. I'm in February now. I'm getting there! It feels so good!

I will sleep better at night. My inner Mom rating, which will always find a reason to be low, is on the rise. I think this is God's gift to the over-weary scrapbooker. Especially those with many children. And cute children! Come on, who can resist pictures of these kiddos!

So come over anytime and look at my books. I don't know if you'll think they're as cute as books done by hand, but you have to factor in the time, money, and energy saved.

My husband is a genius.

Mother's Day is coming up. Seriously, this will change your life!

Modesty and Quaker Jane

Modesty has been a topic in our "Her Hands" class at Living Hope recently. Heather has written about it on her own blog allthingshendrick.blogspot.com and you can check out herhands.blogspot.com also. There were some amazing insights and comments that made this topic even clearer!

I guess I am not done thinking about it, so I want to hear from even more women on this. And men too, if there are men who read this blog. (I have no idea?)

I Googled "Modest Dress" and I came up with several websites. One being quakerjane.com. I guess you can purchase a lovely outfit such as this one, if you so desire. There were other websites with long-sleeve swimsuits and prairie dresses as well. I don't mean to mock these sects of people, because they may have a handle on this topic that we simply don't have. But I must wonder...why are we still so off-mark on this, women?

Are we so reticent to just give up articles of clothing to be obedient?

Have we not heard explicitly enough from men about their struggle with lust, and how just a glance in your direction "showing skin" causes them to think impure thoughts, out of pure reflex?

Are we so prideful that we won't let anyone tell US what to wear!?

Or have we exalted ourselves and "looking cute" so that we can compete with other girls, in order to feed our very poor and distorted self-images?

I really think it is a compilation of all these things, more some than others, varying from woman to woman. We had an honest conversation about this in our HOPE group last week. I think we need to keep re-visiting this topic again and again. We are slow. We are rebellious. We are ignorant.

Our pastor will talk about this very thing, even giving specific examples of things that are inappropriate to wear (which is probably not so easy to do, for a man) and I see girls wearing those exact things to church the next week. And as discussed on Heather's blog, these were in their "church clothes" category! (Which is a category Heather and other women pointed out should be eliminated!)

I can't just point the finger though girls. I'm in my 30's (that still pains me to say) and I am still finding things in my closet that need to go!

So what's the problem?

Well, one thing is for certain. I think we as older women need to be teaching the younger women very explicitly on this topic. I have decided that this topic and the issue of sexual immorality cannot be taught vaguely, with broad strokes of what it means to sin in this area. We need to be SPECIFIC! And with modesty, that is hard, because giving rules doesn't seem the most effective way to do this. But the Enemy is too good at convincing us, as we stand in our closet, that what we are putting on is okay. It's being worn by everyone. We're not doing anything wrong.

Women, what are the solutions here?

How do we bring our younger sisters along, gently but firmly?

As swimsuit season approaches, what needs to be said?

Anyone?

I plan on writing an article about this for Lily 7, so you all are my research.

Bring it.

Speak plainly. We need to hear it.

Signs for the week!

It's time for new signs! Some of you are already asking for them, so good for you guys!

My Mom, the wonderful Nana that she is, is learning quickly, and reminded me how important it is to learn the alphabet. I didn't really think about it, because Justus is not fingerspelling yet, but many signs use the hand shape of certain letters, and it's easier to learn the signs if you know them.

So if you don't really know the alphabet yet, that is a good place to start.

As for a Justus update, he's a super signer. I'm trying to include plenty of signs that he uses daily so that when you visit the Bacak household, you can freely communicate with our little guy. Some of you already are! It blesses my heart like you wouldn't believe!

New Signs:

Where?

Why?

shoes

clothes

get dressed ( it's the sign for clothes 1X, 2X for actual clothes)

popsicle (look at the sign for ice cream, but put up your pointer finger, like the stick in a popsicle)

apple

banana

color

like (as in "I like bananas")

swing (One of Justus' most commonly used signs lately. It's the sign for sit, but you move your hands back and forth, like you're swinging.)

Practice Sentences:

Where are your shoes? (where shoes, eyebrows raised)

I want a popsicle, please. (I want popsicle please)

What color is the apple? (What color apple, what, eyebrows furrowed)

The apple is green. (apple green)

Where are your pajamas (sleep clothes)? (Where sleep clothes, where, eyebrows furrowed)

What color is the truck? (what color truck, what, eyebrows furrowed)

Do you want to jump on the trampoline? (You want jump, jump, jump, eyebrows raised)

I like to swing. (I like swing)

Happy Signing, people! Let me know of any questions you have.

Dancin' Like David

There are many instances in our culture in which it is acceptable to dance.

An organized dance function, (Baptists, cover your ears, or eyes in this instance) a concert, where one might even bounce around, scream, and do a little mosh-pit business, any kind of sporting event, in which your team does something exciting. I've seen my husband bust some moves during the Aggie football season. There was probably a good bit of dancing and screaming when they beat UT this year. A wedding celebration, New Year's celebrations, and so on.

There are plenty of things that get us excited, and cause us to want to move our bodies because of it.

Church is not usually one of them.

No, in church, sometimes we act like we're at a funeral. Having sung on the stage during worship at many churches, people truly looked like someone had died. Like they'd rather be anywhere than in worship. Some can't even be bothered to open their mouths to sing, or stand up. It has always made me sad.

Our church has such amazing worship. I love that people come, and sing outloud praises to God, kneel at the altar when they feel the need, even raise their hands in adoration of the Lord. That might seem a little weird to some. I don't know. But when you are so moved by worshipping the Lord, you feel the need to respond, and I'm so encouraged by being in a church where people do.

However, there's usually not much dancing. Sometimes, we get to moving a bit...while in place... careful not to move our feet too much...containing ourselves, of course.

But why?

Why do we "contain ourselves" so?

We would not wish to be undignified, right? We don't want to seem strange to others. Besides, dancing would push our church into a whole other weirdo category, that is NOT widely acceptable.

Well, Saturday night's Easter Service at Living Hope was one of the best worship experience for Rusty and I! Wow! What freedom! What a spirit of gratefulness to the Father for sacrificing His Son, FOR US! Gratefulness to Jesus for paying the price for OUR sins, when He knew what was coming, and He knew how painful it would be. We watched clips from "The Passion of Christ" and having to visually appreciate what Christ did was moving. We celebrated what God has done for us! We celebrated that we serve a RISEN Savior! And it was good.

I was most moved by a member of our church, who I am not looking to embarrass by any means, but his actions spoke to me. I don't know him very well, but he is a young professional, super-nice guy, rather poised, maybe reserved, soft-spoken kind of guy. He came to the altar to pray during our celebration time, and suddenly started to dance. I mean DANCE, and BOUNCE. Praising and worshipping with his whole body. It was so beautiful. It was just like I've always wanted to, on the inside, but never have...dancing before the Lord. He shouted and praised with complete abandon, and a pure heart.

There is a passage of scripture that was immediately brought to mind...when David danced before the Lord in 2 Samuel 6. The Ark of the Covenant was being brought back to Jerusalem. There was much rejoicing! It says in verse 14

"And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly tunic. So David and all Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with much shouting and blowing of trumpets."

His wife, Michal, looked out of her window and saw David going nuts in celebration to the Lord. It says she was filled with contempt for him. She later chastised him, ridiculing him for acting a fool right in front of the servant girls. In verse 21, he answers her:

"David retorted to Michal, "I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord. So I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, but I will be held in honor of the girls you have spoken!" So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her life."

What an example for us! He was the king, and he was willing to abandon his dignified persona to "show his joy in the Lord." Easter is definitely a time worthy of such a celebration. Everyday we live as the redeemed from our sin is, actually. I have often thought of the songs we sing, declaring we will dance and shout before the Lord, taken straight from the Psalms, and yet we do not dance, and we do not shout.

Why?

Are we unwilling, like Michal, to look undignified, or to appear foolish?

She was severely punished for this, by the way.

I was so blessed by this on Saturday night, and encouraged by the worship of others. I was singing on the Praise Team, so I was privy to the worship of everyone there, and it was beautiful. Thank you, Church, for encouraging me. That is just one reason why corporate worship is so essential to our faith.

Four Months Today!

I wait for the 6th of every month...it marks a special day. Every day, every month he's here gives us more legal standing. Today is four months! He arrived in our home on December 6th. That seems like a long time ago, because I'm having a hard time remembering life before him now. But I can't believe how fast he's growing! He is finally sitting up, and feeling rather proud of himself. If you haven't seen his dracula teeth, they're pretty funny! And he's got his top two teeth ready to bust through any minute. He's rolls and rolls of our sweet boy, and this smile lights up our house.
Keep praying for Treston to officially become a Bacak! We are in the homestretch of our waiting period- one more month to go! Woo-hoo! And we need your prayers. In one month, we can start taking steps toward adoption. We have no idea how long this process could take, or what it will be like. It is unchartered territory for us. (This is absolutely NOTHING like Justus' adoption.) But we love this beautiful boy! We can't imagine life without him now. We appreciate your prayers, and will throw a huge celebration, if God allows us to adopt him, come adoption day!

I Want My Life Back!!!

This guy represents pretty accurately how I've been feeling.
I've turned into the Grinch. I've been...
Sick.
Sicker than sick.
We presume it's just a yucky virus, but I think it's one that could be released by bio-terrorists. Like on 24.
This is the longest virus I've ever had.
This was not the weight loss plan I had in mind.
I just want my life back!!!
I have realized how very much I love my life. Wow, I am thankless!!
If I ever complain about my life again, please knock me out.
I'll deserve it.
Being healthy, energetic, and able to be a Mom and teacher to my four kiddos is such a blessing! Seeing my poor husband, who is a superhero, take over, with the help of Becky (also a superhero), and a few others, broke my heart. I love being a wife, Mom, and teacher! I want to do it everyday! Every day that I can get up and do my job is a beautiful day!
Everyday I get to wake-up and drink coffee,
read my Bible,
turn on Curious George for sleepy-eyed children,
fix breakfast,
teach a Bible Story at the table,
hear the sweet and sincere prayers of my little ones,
teach Math,
clean-up,
do dishes,
wipe noses,
change diapers,
tie shoes,
administer spankings,
read books and sing songs,
kiss their ow-ees,
teach about birds, and watch their eyes as they learn something new,
find pacifiers,
rock and sing,
lay down and rub backs at nap time,
cuddle up next to a little boy who will be grown up and too big to snuggle after I blink my eyes,
braid hair,
fold laundry,
kiss my husband and ask how his day was,
make something for dinner that I can't convince my kids to eat,
give baths,
watch Rusty tickle, chase, and wrestle as they giggle and run,
and put little p.j.ed kids in bed.
I want this life forever.
I am so happy to be out of bed and trying to re-claim this life that I love so much. I am so thankful for it!

New Signs for the Week

Recognize this guy? I know it's tough, but his dog Spot, who is always in tow, gives him away.
You won't believe the difference a week makes.
Wow!
Praise God!
He is communicating so much more! He is signing like a champ, and even making sentences! (Prompted by me, but still...Awesome!) He must sign "I want ____" when he wants something. He's so good at this! I can't believe the progress we've made in one week. I have no doubt that in a few months time he is going to be a fluent communicator, signing and talking. His spoken vocabulary has literally grown in a week because of signing! I can't stop thanking God. You can't imagine what this means for Justus.
For those of you who are already learning these signs, you rock!!! If you have any questions, please let me know. I want him to feel understood and able to communicate with the people he loves and who love him.
I checked out all of these signs on www.lifeprint.com and they are all on there. You just press on the beginning letter of the word at the top of the screen, and scroll down to find the word in the dictionary shown on the left. I wanted to let you know, occasionally, there will be a sign that we use differently. Signs vary from region to region, North to South. The sign we use for candy, on last week's list, is slightly different. Instead of twisting your finger into your cheek, you brush the tip of your finger a few times against your cheek. I'd be glad to show you. Sorry I didn't give you a heads up on that one.
This week's list:
I (point to yourself)
you (point outward)
play
want
go
come
sit
jump (we use jump 3 X's to sign trampoline; one of Justus' favorite things)
Thank You
You're Welcome (look at sign for welcome)
What?
Out (for outside)
table

You can do a quick study on ASL and how it works, (and I'm not the end-all expert by any means) but to give you a few pointers, this is not English. You do not sign every word! This is a conceptual language, and you paint pictures with your hands. When asking a question, you raise your eyebrows. When asking a what, when, where, who, why question, you furrow your eyebrows together. This sounds strange, but it's a very natural expression. Grammar of ASL is actually built into expression. It's a very big deal. You cannot sign with a blank face. So to ask a question, make the signs, and raise your eyebrows. "Do you want to play?" is signed "play" with eyebrows raised.

Practice Sentences:
Do you want to play? (play, eyebrows raised)
Do you want something to eat? (you want eat, eyebrows raised)
What do you want to drink? (what you want drink, what? eyebrows furrowed)
I want to jump on the trampoline. (I want jump, jump, jump.)
Come sit at the table, please. (you come sit table, please.)
Thank you. You're welcome.
I'm going to play outside. (I go play out.)

Let me know of any questions you have. Happy Signing!

The Book Club Begins!

Remember I mentioned the book club? Well, get your books, because we are going to have an online discussion group! I finished it, and really loved it, cover to cover. I recommended it to Heather, and she loved it too! So we are going to facilitate discussion on this book on the "Mama Didn't Raise No Fool" blog at allthingswifeandmom.blogspot.com starting in mid-May.

I don't think the book will be hard to find, but if all else fails, you can order it on Amazon. I love Amazon.com! You can get used copies for cheap.

As you read it, start making notes on how this applies to our everyday! We are not going to just bounce around the theology of this book, but how it plays out EVERYDAY! This is our greatest calling...shepherding our children's hearts toward the Lord...getting to the root sin issues in our correction and discipline...making everything in our home about obeying Him!

I know y'all are going to have some amazing things to share and teach me. Heather and I both are going to have our husbands read it and join in, so share it with your husband if you like. I'll let you know when the discussion begins. Can't wait!

Signs for the week!

Look at this cute boy!!! His favorite things in life are simple. Firetrucks, and all things fire-related (hopefully, not fire itself), trucks, trains, tractors, and all things BOY, Curious George, popcorn, popsicles, cooking in the kitchen, especially when he can help cut things up (with his own special plastic knife) or crack eggs, which he's pretty skilled at, and Ryan Price's new piano CD. He loves it!
But if you know and love Justus, you know that his words are few. So we have a newfound resolve to sign 100% of the time with Justus. We are, of course, still keeping with his speech therapy and encouraging him in speech development! This in no way takes away from that. It actually enhances it. He more likely will attain a word if he uses the sign. But this sweet boy deserves some language and an ability to really communicate all that's going on in that head of his. Thankfully, because I am fluent in sign language, we can do this! So for those of you who want to learn some of Justus' signs, here's a short list of some words to start with and a website to go to. The website is www.lifeprint.com It doesn't require a subscription, like some others, and has a pretty good dictionary to access ASL. (Remember, only look at American Sign Language. We do not use Signed English. Yes, there's a difference.) Here are some Justus-related signs.

Yes
No
Finished (All done, or can be used for 'May I be excused' from the table.)
Truck
Train
Book
Eat
Drink
Popcorn
Candy
Sleep (night-night)
Please
Stop
Red
Orange
Blue

That should be a good start. Tell me how it goes, and come practice on Justus anytime. Of course, Justus can understand everything you say, but he needs these signs to talk to us, so using them with him really helps him learn to communicate in sign. He's a lot more likely to use them all the time if we do. Pretty soon, we're going to see just how brilliant our little brown bear is! He's going to have the ability to really communicate. I can't wait for that!!! We covet your prayers for him, and his language development!

Spring Has Sprung, People!

Yesterday was the official first day of Spring. My kids kept singing Happy Birthday to Spring! We celebrate the beginning of each new season, but especially Spring! It's so great!
The pretty little yellow flowers have started to pop-up sporadically, but we can just hope that the ground is ready to explode with the bluebonnets and red-blankets too! They're the best! We really loved living in Amarillo, but we were desperately lacking in color come Spring time. (Never lacking in wind, though.) It makes driving around town a scenic tour, and who can resist the pictures of their kids sitting in bluebonnets? Not us.
So bring on the Spring! More time at the park, pre-sweaty season, more daylight, and things get to actually live and blossom. It's the best! Thanks God.

Bacak HOPE groupies...on wheels!

This was so fun! I didn't know how the kids would do, but Emma was a self-proclaimed "skating star!" Jax avoided stitches by sticking to the Fisher Price skates, and Justus showed off his stellar agility by being the only two-year-old with "moves." Rusty went directly back to the place and time when he was a superstar Xanadu skater. Luckily, I got to just sit with Treston on the sidelines and be entertained. We were hoping there might be a couple skate where Rusty and I could get out there and make out and embarrass everyone. But no such opportunity arose.

Seriously. This is definitely going to have to be budgeted into our Summer Fun. We've got to do this again HOPE group! Y'all are the best!

Bustin' our own rhymes

Remember my post about the psychotic nursery rhymes? Well, we've been making our own silly rhymes around here. I'm kind of proud of mine for Emma and Jax. Ready?

Emma doodle, kit n' kaboodle,

Your Mama loves you so.

And when you go to sleep at night,

she kisses you on the toe!

Jax, Jax, there ain't no backs,

You'll always be my honey.

With piratey pleasure,

you'll find buried treasure,

and send us all your money.

I love this pic. My crazy kids...they are truly unique. I love every phase they go through. The superhero phase, the dinosaur phase, the pirate phase (Jax's current one), every one of them is fun. They are so fun!!!

One of my favorite Emma-isms lately:

"Dad, you know what I blame you for?"

(now this is a disturbing way to start a conversation, and not one we thought we'd hear before the teen years.)

"You're such a great Dad you're freakin' me out!"

Also, she declared that heaven must have all the animal books you could ever want. You would never run out. (Educational books that tell you everything you never wanted to know about seals, or sharks, or whatever.) She has this unquenchable thirst for knowledge for animals.

Also, she has decided that not only will she be a veterinarian, but she will go to Africa and treat the mountain gorillas, like in this book we got from the library.

Then I'll say "And tell people about Jesus while you're there?" She's like (shrug) yeah. But I'll take care of the gorillas!

Jax, and I'm almost afraid to tell you this, because I'm not sure how it sounds, but he likes to carry things around in his shorts. Like magazines, swords (made from sticks and clothespins), paper towel rolls, that serve as a holster to some self-made weapon, you name it. If you show up at my house, odds are he is not wearing a shirt, because they "make him hot" and he's got his pants loaded down with up to five things. Sometimes he wears his boxers, and then tucks a shirt in the front of them to make a loin cloth so he can be an Indian. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he answers "an Indian." There you have it. Good thing we come from the Cherokee people.

Love This Book!

I am reading "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. (What's up with the double D and Double P?)

I'm also doing the workbook alongside it.

I have not finished it yet, so a disclaimer could pheasably come later, but I am LOVING this book!

It's all about guiding our children's hearts to the Lord in everything!

Having biblically-based discipline and correction, focused on the heart issues, not behavior modification.

What are our goals for our kids? Are they our society's goals, or are they from God?

What are our methods of motivation, discipline, and communication? The world's, that which you might find on Dr. Phil or any Parenting magazine (by the way, most of that parenting advice from the "experts" in parenting magazines is JUNK if you ask me) or is it from God?

What is the purpose of our families? To be good, successful, happy, well-respected, or ONLY to glorify God? So far, I feel he is so on target, using so much scripture, and I feel challenged and excited about what I'm reading. It's very practical, and focused on our relationship to God and how this plays out in relation to our children.

I'm only on Chapter 9, so I'll keep you updated, but I just had to share this! Buying this book is worth the first 9 chapters alone!

I'm so anxious to throw out all the thoughts, goals, or hidden motivations I have for my children that are according to wordly standards, and making sure that what I'm doing ALL THE TIME is in line with my greatest burning desire for them- to know and love the Lord, to make their whole life about Him, to bring glory to God with all of their lives, and to hide His Word in their hearts in order to keep them from wandering away from Him. Let me share some verses with you that I pray over my kids everyday.

"How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your Word and following it's rules. I have tried my best to find you- don't let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I may not sin against you."

Psalm 119:9-11

"I am overwhelmed with the joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation, and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere."

Isaiah 61:10-11

This is our greatest desire for them! We are teaching them God's Word EVERYDAY, watching them hide it in their heart, knowing God will use it to keep them from sin. We pray for their salvation (praise God for Emma whose heart already belongs to Him!) and know that our first job is to bring up a little bride and three grooms for the Lord Jesus. I love this word picture of young plants springing up everywhere. Our home is that garden!

But it's not enough to just want that for them. I want to stop sending them even the smallest mixed message, conflicting with these desires. I want to be purposeful every second of everyday with them. I don't want to hold back any tiny crevice of our lives from the Lord. It's all His.

All that to say...I like the book.

It can be our first Bacak Book Club book! Who's in?

We're Putting On Thankfulness

"Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thess. 5:17

Sometimes we get a bad attitude in this house, grown-ups included. We know from reading scripture that we are supposed to take off our sin, and put on something in it's place. A LOT of the time, the Word tells us to put on thankfulness. It reminds us repeatedly, because we don't always get it the first time, to BE THANKFUL.

So when we recognize a stinky attitude around here, we put on thankfulness. When you are grumpy, the cure is thankfulness. When you are whining, the cure is thankfulness. When you are throwing yourself an enormo-pity party, with everyone around you invited, the cure is thankfulness. When you are fully embracing the role of the victim, the cure is...you guessed it...thankfulness. The list goes on.

We have so much to be thankful for. I feel shameful when I realize that I am being ungrateful to God, because He has poured His blessings on me! It's ridiculous. I'm so blessed, and all of us in America have more than we deserve. I am blessed in every way! From where does this wicked ungrateful heart come? Why doesn't thankfulness come naturally all the time?

It's sin.

Pure and simple.

And the cure...thankfulness.

When I start the kids out, putting on thankfulness, they don't like to start. They want to wallow a while longer. Sometimes I like to wallow too. So they always say "you start, Mom."

So I'll start.

Here are a few things I'm thankful for:

(see pictures above)

1. My husband, Rusty. I adore him. I respect him. I could never have dreamed him up. He is my best friend, and an amazing Dad!

2. My Emma. She's so precious. She's full of spunk...obsessed with animals, living in an imaginative world that I love being invited to, smart, a tender little Mama to her brothers, babies, and animals, and best of all, LOVES the Lord Jesus and His Word.

3. My Jax. He melts my heart. He is going to make one fabulous husband one day. He is so loving and affectionate. He also lives in an imaginative world, closely neighboring Emma's, with fewer animals, and more Indians, airplanes, swords, and office and medical supplies. He wins major points when he tells me "You're so bootiful Mom!" and "I love you", completely unsolicited.

4. My Justus. My little brown bear. He's so funny! He has a sense of humor I've never seen on a two-year-old. He's so sharp! He misses nothing. He's the best mime you've ever seen, because he communicates complex things with very few words. He loves books, fire trucks, big trucks, trains, little boy sound effects (shooting, sirens, etc.), and tickling.

5. My Treston. This little boy has stolen my heart. He's the world's best baby, I always say. He is sometimes assaulted by Justus' two-year-old antics, and just smiles away. He is happy when he wakes up, and happy when he goes to bed. He's one chunky baby, and so squeezable! We're all in love.

6. My church. Living Hope rocks. We have a pastor who is not afraid to tell the truth. (Maybe he is afraid, but he does it anyway.) Our church holds tightly to the Word being the final authority in our lives, and everyone is changed by this! The people of LH are so dear to us! It's our pleasure to serve there!

7. My house. It is a place where we can comfortably host a multitude of college students, Countdown, HOPE group, offering a room to whomever may need it, and live so comfortably. I keep reminding my kids that we are VERY blessed to have this house, and we must always use it to glorify the Lord.

My blogging time is up, but my list could go on. Our families, our friends, our country, our cars, a full pantry, our health. Really, God is so good to us, and we remember that when we purposefully put on thankfulness.

Nursery Rhymes...educational or psychotic?

Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home,
your house is on fire and your children are gone.






Jack Sprat, could eat no fat
his wife could eat no lean
and so between the two of them
they licked the platter clean.
(or as Emma says, the "splatter.")


There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what to do
She fed them some broth without any bread
Then whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.




Does anyone else find these bizarre? We all learned them as kids, and think them to be whimsical, but as I've been teaching them this year as a part of the standard Kindergarten curriculum, I'm wondering what the heck is wrong with us? "Your house is on fire and your children are gone"? What child would not be disturbed by this! And then there's the old woman, who beats her kids for no darn good reason. Child abuse is not whimsical. It's just not.

What a let-down...

Pop-Secret's cheddar cheese popcorn...don't bother.
It sounded like such a good idea...to me, and Justus.
I was let down.
So were the kids.
Popcorn is Justus' obsession, so we were branching out, but don't branch out with your precious H-E-B money on this one.
Just thought you should know.

The Amazing Race is back!!!

Race fans, did you set your DVR's last night? (And when I say "race fans" I am NOT referring in any way to Nascar.) Amazing Race is back!!! I've been waiting anxiously.
Isn't Phil great? Don't you love the way he talks? Did you hear him say "hooves" last night? Hilarious. He sounds so smart all the time. And he knows everything about everybody...you know, like when they get to the mat, he says "So, you've had some trouble getting along this leg of the race?" It's like he sees all and knows all in the race!!!
And this race is the All-Stars. It's going to be great.
Every time I watch it, I think about if I went on Amazing Race, who would I team up with?
There are a few options.

#1- My husband, obviously. I think we'd be excellent race partners. We work well together, and we'd both train hard and be in excellent shape. I think we'd go far. But we would NEVER do it because I hate seeing these parental teams who leave their children behind!!! It makes me so sad! Like David and Mary from Kentucky who were just on this last season are back in it for the All-Stars. You know their kids are like 'AGAIN!!!???' I think it's so sad that people leave their kids for 6 weeks, or however long it is, to win money. So we would never do that. In fact, I would never leave my kids for that long, even by myself. I can hardly leave them for a weekend. (We never do!) But for the sake of this post, let's just pretend I did.

#2-My brother Chris. My brother has a way of accomplishing things by working people and situations like no one I've ever known. Somehow, we would find the best flights, the best taxis, the sneaky tricks, and we would win! But I would get tired of him telling me what to do eventually, and probably tired of him being right about stuff, and we would have one of those entertaining blow-outs. I think I could run faster than him though, and that would be fun.

#3-My friend Heather. We would be an entertaining team to watch. People would enjoy the banter, like they do on Gilmore Girls. We would be fun! But Heather won't even do the little zip line in her own backyard, so we would eventually lose due to her aversion to risking her life. Oh, and her aversion to running. Neither of us would be able to read a map, so we'd be lost a lot. But we would have fun while it lasted.

I love this show, though! I will never be on it, but it's fun to imagine! Who would you team up with, I want to know!

What would life be like if you had a personal assistant?

Think about it.
What if you had a personal assistant to do all those little things that you just can't seem to squeeze in everyday.
I think about it. I don't think Business Executives should get personal assistants, I think Stay-at-home Moms should have them! That's right! We've got it all backwards. I think I would name mine Shirley. See Shirley's picture? She's good at everything. She's here a lot, so she's NOT too attractive, but has the telepathic ability to anticipate my needs, like Radar did for Colonel Potter.
My life would be so different!
For example:
-I wouldn't go three months past the suggested date to get the oil change on my car.
-My refrigerator would be cleaned out long before it reaches that disghusting mystery smell stage.
-Our broken lamp would get a new lamp shade put on it, instead of the broken one remaining forever and it falling down at the most innoportune moments.
-Prescriptions would be picked up on time.
-I would actually go to the doctor or dentist when needed.
-Our printer would never run out of ink.
-Pictures would be printed, scrapbooking would be updated, letters would be sent.
-We would never get a notice that says our power could be turned off soon.
-I would have new shampoo; the good kind from the mall. (The mall is too daunting a place with four kids, but it's not a problem for Shirley.)
-Patches would be sewn onto my kids Awana's vests securely, instead of patches hanging by a thread and screaming to everyone "My Mom stinks at sewing!"
-Closets would be organized.
-Cleaning out seasons of clothes, storing them in their storage bins, and replacing them with new, season-appropriate clothes would be a breeze. Love that Shirley.
-Best of all...there would be absolutely NO CLUTTER in my house. Not one out-of-place stack of anything. That's Shirley's forte. De-cluttering.

What would your life be like with a Shirley?

What if the super-famous were radically saved?

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if famous people came to know Jesus? I do. All the time. I've made a short list of some of the people I would like to first come to the Lord...some because I like them. And some because of the powerful influence it would have. Just for fun...

Oprah. Because the world hangs on her every word. She speaks with the most authority of all people in our day and age. If she ran for president right now, she would win. She instructs people how to live and they follow. If only she knew how to live- it would be awesome!




Gwynneth Paltrow. Pretty much because she's my favorite actress and
I like her.





Rosie. I used to watch her show, before I had a hundred kids and I actually saw daytime television. I loved her! She does some amazing things. She is very outspoken. (For some of the worst things.) I think she's friends with most of Hollywood. Think of the impact she could have!







Reese Witherspoon. Pretty much because I like her too, and once she knows

Jesus we can become best friends. She can come over...with her oscar and
everything, and we can hang out. She and I will have so much fun. Maybe
I'll invite you over to meet her. We'll see.






Madonna. Despite her heinous career, she is doing some amazing things in
Africa right now. Also, I found myself defending Madonna during her recent
adoption scandal. That was the stupidest thing ever! I'm sure people would
think if Madonna can be saved, then anyone can! (and anyone can, so that'd
be good.)


Lastly, Jon Stewart. He's stinkin' hilarious, but as lost as a duck in a desert.
People will always be captivated by humor. I think people view Christians as
so UNfunny. Jon could change all that.



That's my list. There are so many more. But I want to hear yours. What famous people would you most like to see saved?

9 Years Ago...

9 years ago today, Rusty asked me to marry him.
His proposal set the stage for our marriage.
He washed my feet after reading Ephesians 5 to me.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by God's word."
Ephesians 5:25-26

Rusty has done this. How appropriate that he washed my feet at the beginning of our marriage journey, because he has been a servant leader to the core! He has washed me clean with God's word by encouraging me in my walk with the Lord, refining me, calling me out, and leading by example.
This man gets up before anyone should have to in order to study God's Word. He has ever since I've known him.
He loves me unabashedly, and I have no idea why.
He leads our family, not according to his own wishes, but with a heart that seeks the Lord.
He does what he says he will do. His word is for real.
My husband is brilliant.
He's the best Dad in the world, and SO FUN!
9 years ago, he chose me. That still baffles me, but he did.
He has made me so much better! You really do become like your spouse after you've been married a while, and I got the better end of that deal.
Just like my relationship with the Lord, I don't deserve this man.
My heart overflows with gratitude!!!
Happy engagement anniversary Honey!

Happy Half-Birthday Treston!

How I love this little boy!

Happy Half-Birthday Treston!

Calling All Crock-Potters

I used to LOVE the part of my day when I cooked dinner. I was creating something wonderful. I would search and search for the best recipes. I had a subscription to Cooking Light and Southern Living. I would cut recipes out and glue them onto cute little notecards. I cooked things with LOTS of ingredients in them. Really good things, that even took some time. Creative things. One of our favorites was a Pork and Pear Saute. We loved that! It's been a thousand years since I made that. What happenned?
We had kids. Many kids. Once we started, we just couldn't stop. We have a kid every two years. We love them, but they've taken over dinner time.
I still love to cook, but that time of day is probably the most crazy time of my day. Cooking with Justus pulling on my legs, and "helping" me, and tending to a baby, managing art projects...well, let's just say it's not the same. I now cook things with very few ingredients. Casseroles. Things that can be cooked in one pot.
I feel I am being forced to adopt a new crockpotting lifestyle.
Our semester is back in full swing. For those of you who don't live in a college town, life here still revolves around semesters, even for those of us whose college years are behind us.
Our awesome HOPE group has begun (I love you Bacak groupies!), and we start a new Countdown class tonight. (Check the Countdown link if you don't know about this ministry that Rusty and I love so much!) So those are two very busy nights for us...getting dinner on the table, doing Math, which they do with Lisa in the evening, bath time, and all the chasing, tickling, reading, etc. that must be done before glorious bed time.
Tuesday night was my first HOPE group night since we expanded our family, and trying to cook dinner BEFORE Rusty came home, with all four kids, nearly drove me to drink! So, I've decided I MUST find some new wonderful Crockpot recipes and use this brilliant slow-cooking machine twice a week. For the sake of my sanity. For the children. No one wants me to start drinking, right?
So this is where I am calling to you.
Hear the desperation in my voice?
I need some wonderful crockpot recipes. I have a few, and Heather's new cookbook has provided a few new ones, one in which I'm cooking right now. (Or should I say slow cooking?) But we can't eat these same things every Tuesday and Thursday. I need to expand my reportoire. And not with any kind of beef stew, because I really hate that.
Anyone?
Just one recipe.
Give me one.
Friends, you could e-mail it to me if you want.
Let's have a contest!!! My whole family will be the judges. Whoever gives us the very best recipe wins a special prize.
A prize to be disclosed.
Grab your recipe books and run right back to your computer.
Thanks! The winner will be announced on a future post.

Ladybug Larvae! by Emma Bacak

I got ladybug larvae right. Now they are pupa. Now three of those pupa are ladybugs. Maybe in the spring, I might have ladybugs and all of them might be ladybugs. Daddy says they eat raisins. Soak the raisins for 5 minutes and cut them in half. Ladybugs like to eat bugs that live in flowers in the spring. In the spring, we'll get those bugs, and feed them to the ladybugs. We won't need a jacket when we catch them because it will be spring.
I was so excited when I saw this morning I have THREE ladybugs! Maybe someday, all my pupa will be ladybugs. One time, when they were just little babies, they runned and climbed way up to the glass. Can you believe that? But now they're not babies. But I still love them as ladybugs. I might have to keep them until the spring when they can look for food. These ladybugs are not eating the raisins right now or yesterday! I have to find those bugs, so they eat faster. But there's one little thing Daddy told me...catepillars are larvae for butterflies! And people, they're kind of like cocoons. I love this. I hope they all turn to ladybugs. I think each day, one by one, they'll turn ladybugs. Let's best see. Oh, but one thing...they're yellow. Not red. That's all.
Emma

Lisa's here!

We have wonderful Lisa living with us! Lisa is student teaching, and we are so glad she could stay with us this semester! She is teaching the kids Math, and doing a wonderful job! My kids are so blessed to have the wonderful college students we have in our lives. What would our lives be like without them? BORING. I've decided all the girls that come to stay with us should wear the same size clothes as me too. This is working out beautifully. It's fun to have girl roommates again!
Love you Lisa!

A Unique Opportunity

My husband has some unique opportunities to share the Gospel.
It amazes me sometimes! For example, this week a man was dying, and Rusty had to let him know that he didn't have much time left, and then immediately went into 'what do you believe about God?' This man believed the God-thing was a bunch of junk. But my husband did all he could to share Christ with this man. He prayed with the man's family, as he so often does. I wish I could say the man accepted Christ, but he didn't. He passed away yesterday. Rusty was grieved, not only to lose a patient, but to lose him before he would accept the Truth. I know this is discouraging for him, but the fact is he has opportunities that I will never have. He meets people when they can feel the need for God more than ever. He ministers to families in crisis. And I'm so proud of him that he seizes these opportunities so boldly. Every patient that he sees fills out a spiritual questionnaire, asking if it would be okay with them if the doctor prayed with them. This is not PC. I can't imagine the professional criticism he might receive from some. My husband is so bold, and I'm so proud of him for making his whole life and work about sharing his faith. I pray that God would open my eyes to see the opportunities that He gives me in MY life, and make me bold. Pray for Rusty, and that God would use him to bring people to the Lord through his medical practice.

Ice, Ice Baby.

Oh, how I'm loving ice days. These are pics of ice day 1. Today is ice day 2. The main reason I am loving it is because Rusty is home!!!!
Yes, that's right. If you know my husband, you may not believe it. But I convinced him that people would not keep their appts. (Which they wouldn't. People cancel their appts. if they are having a bad hair day.) So it's like Saturday, and then Saturday again. Awesome.
The kids have enjoyed playing outside, intermittenly. Here is Emma, breaking the top layer of ice on the trampoline. So fun! They have also been collecting icicles, of course expecting them to live when they bring them in the house.
Today, Ice Day #2, they actually went sledding!!! We are the few people in the Brazos Valley who own sleds. (And we'll rent them to you for a small fee. Gotta' make up for the loss of work somehow, right?!) We moved here from Amarillo, where we got snow, and loved it! So the kids went with Rusty to Wolf Pen Park today and did some ice/mud sledding. Well, first they just went down to the side of 6 and did a little sledding there, but a very nice police man came and told them there had been several wrecks off of 6, so they should probably move. What's funny about that was that Jax thought they were going to be arrested! So funny!
I am loving this ice thing. I have Rusty home, and the trees look beautiful. We had a little ice party last night with a few of our Hope Groupers...made a massive fire that set off our smoke alarms, and then watched American Idol. It doesn't get much better than that. Bring on the ice. We might have to sell our house due to lack of income, but for now, it's fun!

Justus Has Bounced Back!

He's back! With a vengeance!
For real, look at his face...doesn't it look great?
He's giving you his best CHEESE face.
He had 9 stitches removed last Wed. We underestimated how many there were, and it was so swollen initially, we couldn't even count!
But he has healed beautifully, and we are buying Mederma in bulk, applying it 3 times a day.
He's going to be perfect.
It didn't take him long to get back to his mischevious ways.
For example, in the last week, he

1. Took a bottle of blue Tempera paint and bounced on the trampoline, while pouring out the bottle all over the trampoline. The trampoline is now blue.
2. He took my super expensive Pro Active (miracle stuff) moisturizer and squeezed every last precious ounce into the sink and washed it down the drain. I almost cried. I had to call Heather and ask her to feel sorry for me so that I wouldn't cry.
3. He sneaks into the crib with Treston, while he's supposed to be sleeping, or sneaks into Emma and Jax's room after he's been put to bed.

That's our boy. He's a real, live two-year-old. Everyone stop and say a prayer for this beautiful boy, that he uses his powers for good and not evil.
On the up-side, he is learning new words! He is definitely improving in speech, PRAISE GOD! He has a new friend, Becky Blackmon, whom he calls "Be-Be" who is working with him three mornings a week for a few hours. This has been AWESOME! We are really proud of him. He actually verbally requests his CDs at night. For example "Baa, Baa" is Baa Baa Black Sheep, "shoe" is one, two, buckle my shoe, and "HO, HO, HO" is a Christmas Lullaby CD. Verbal requests!!! Yea!
Thanks for your prayers for Justus.

Martin Luther King Day

We are taking a day to learn about Martin Luther King. If you read my post on Rosa Parks Day, I promise not to rant.
But there's so much I didn't know about this man.
Did you know that he won the Nobel Peace Prize?
Did you know that his family's home was bombed?
Did you know he entered college at the age of 15?
There are many remarkable facts about him. Most of all, he was a man who was killed because he fought for equal treatment for people of all races. An excerpt from his famous "I Have A Dream" speech says...

"I have a dream today... I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls can join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

I am seeing that dream come true in our church. I worked in the nursery Saturday night. I worked in Treston's room, the baby room. We only had three babies. We had David, Treston, and Danaya. We had every beautiful skin color in one room. Fair skinned David, light golden skinned Treston, and beautiful dark skinned Danaya. It just made me happy. I am seeing more and more in our Church Body the break-down of the last surviving existence of segregation...the Church. Segregation was outlawed decades ago, but on Sunday mornings, it has lived on. Our churches are an intimate place for us, and our culture has been 40 years overdue in truly melding together our lives. Not just being together, blacks and whites, in the places we have to go. But being together in the places we choose to go... to share our lives with others. I am blessed by Living Hope, in that I see an increasingly beautiful tapestry of color being woven into one Body. And it's not something anyone is necessarily taking notice of. It's just people, families, being church family, being known not by the color of their skin, but as Dr. King put it in his speech, the content of their character. My dream is that my kids, as they grow up in one house with "blonde" skin, as Emma puts it, and brown skin, that they are shining examples for others to see. I am grateful for the other families around us doing the same.

Justus Update

A new healing picture will be posted soon. Justus' stitches were removed on Wed. night, and he is on the mend! Thanks for your prayers, and I will post an update in full color very soon!

Let's Throw a Party!

He did it!!!!
He slept all night! Not until 3. Not until 4. Until 6:20! I was already up! It was amazing!
He deserves an award...he deserves a cookie...though he has not teeth- that doesn't stop Justus from trying to feed him his favorite food. POPCORN. He deserves whatever he wants. A car when he's 16. As long as he will do this again. Now we're not new to this game. We know this may not happen again for 2 months. But he has done it, and we are ecstatic.
Sleep has always been a favorite of mine, so this makes me want to throw a party.

This pic is just thrown in for my family, and for his former foster family, the Le Walls. They are baseball fans. It apalls my family, but my kids have never been to a baseball game. They hardly know baseball exists. My brothers have told me in no uncertain terms what kind of parent this makes me. But neither Rusty or I are baseball fans really. Rusty will watch whatever sport is on TV, but he doesn't follow baseball carefully. (Like he does college football.) So...go Stro's? Here's the Bacak's show of support. Treston in an Astros cap, given to Justus by Nana and Pop-Pop. How cute is he?

A Lesson on Petting Strange Dogs

This is not the most flattering pic of Justus, but you all know how beautiful our boy is right?

So, we had a traumatic Friday night. Rusty took the kids down to our neighborhood park to play. It was about 5pm. The kids encountered a woman walking her dog on a leash. Emma, being the all-time biggest animal lover, asked her if she could pet the dog. (We have had to teach our children to do this, because their instinct is to touch every animal they see.) The woman didn't hesitate to say yes, and told Emma she wanted to teach her how to approach the dog correctly. She told her to stick out her hand for the dog to smell, and then pet the dog on the head. Emma followed directions, and the dog was fine. Then Justus' turn. (For those who are faint in stomach, read cautiously.) He did just as she said, and when he went to pet the dog on the head, he lunged at Justus' face and clamped down.
We rushed him to the ER, where they stitched him up, 6 in the lip, one on the nose. His lip was lacerated in several spots, but one of them went clean through to the inside of the lip, leaving a gaping hole. This freaked me out, obviously, when I arrived at the park. Rusty had called me immediately, and told me to get there ASAP with lots of rags. Justus' clothes were completely saturated with blood when I got there. I kind of lost it, despite Rusty telling me not to. We jumped in the van, and sped to St. Joseph's ER. (Luckily, Lisa had just gotten here, so we were able to leave the kids and run!) Rusty called ahead, spoke directly to the ER doctors, which probably sped us along in the ER process. (I know, it's not fair, but if you had seen my child, you would have begged for someone to attend to this boy!)
We got a great ER doctor, and she was very compassionate towards Justus. But holding a two-year-old down to stitch him up for 30+ minutes is never fun. Justus was a stud!!! He is incredibly stoic with pain, which we already knew from previous stitches experience, although very minor compared to this. (No, I will not be receiving Mother of the Year anytime soon.)
My brother was attacked by a dog, very seriously, when he was three, and this has always been one of the most traumatic events in the life of my family. My Mom has always said that she can still see it in her mind at any given time. I'm afraid Rusty feels that way now, and my kids might as well. This was a very bloody, ugly scene, and I feel grateful that I can't see it in my mind, because imagining it, and having to watch him cry while they stitched his face, is more than enough. We took a jog this morning, and every time we pass the park, my stomach tightens into a knot. We will never forget this as long as we live.
What can we gain from this? Well, for one, I want to make it known to all of you with children that even when an owner confidently instructs your child they may pet their dog, it is not always safe. I will for sure only be allowing my kids to pet Disney, and maybe only Golden Retrievers for the rest of their lives, because I'm pretty sure this has never happenned with a Golden Retriever ever in the history of dogs. But the direct quote from my friend Heather is "Down with Dogs!" BE CAREFUL with dogs and your children. Unless they are tried and true kids' dogs, avoid them! I would never wish this on your child. We couldn't identify what kind of dog this was, probably a mixed breed of some sort. But it was definitely NOT a scary looking dog. My kids are not even allowed within sight of the scary killer type dogs. This was totally unexpected, according to the owner as well.
Thank you, all of you who have called or have come by to visit. It means so much to us! Family and church family, as always, we love you.