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.

We're thinking globally...and we need your help!

This semester, we are thinking globally in the "Bacak School of Higher Learning." (This is my Mom's nickname for our little homeschool. It's really more sarcastic than arrogant, keep in mind.)
The kids and I are studying the globe. All about it. We are going to spend a week studying each continent. We will study about the people, a little about the economy and government, the weather, and most importantly to Emma, what animals are indigenous to that area of the world.
We also will be praying for a specific missionary on that continent, and their work to spread the gospel there. We would like to send a small package to them, or let them know that we are praying for them. The kids and I have been looking at the Great Commission:

"Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved." Mark 16:15

So this is where we need your help. If you know of a missionary that we could pray for, let us know. We have a missionary in Africa, Europe, and Asia (Brooke). But we need missionaries for Australia, North America, and South America. (I am doubtful we will find one in Antarctica. Maybe a missionary to Polar Bears, which sounds like something my daughter would want to commit her life to!) I know we could tap into the Mission Board, but I think it's more fun to pray for people that our friends know and support. So let me hear from you...

Thanks!

A Few Highlights from our Christmas 2006

Highlight #1...
Studying the Christmas story with my kiddos. It was different this year...maybe because Emma knows Jesus, and is just that little bit older. But we studied the scriptural account of the story all through December, chunk by chunk, and some days they journaled about it. Emma's journal pages about Christmas have been priceless! Seeing them grasp Christmas for what it really is, even just a little, has been awesome! This is us making our Happy Birthday Jesus cake for our party on Christmas Eve.



Highlight #2...
On Christmas Eve, we go to Santa's Wonderland for a little family fun. We drive through the lights, and then get out, EVEN in freezing rain and lots of mud. (Getting out in mud means 10 muddy feet coming into our house!) But it was still fun! I had a moment, standing by the fire because it was stinkin' FREEZING, trying to keep Treston warm. I was watching Jax dance around in the fake snow. Emma and Justus ran off to the petting zoo, but Jax would not leave the fake snow. He danced to the down-home country Christmas music, which was quite pitch offensive, but still fun. It seemed to be the happiest moment of his life! He was having so much fun, and I couldn't have been more content myself watching him. I love Christmas!

Nothing completes family fun for the Bacak kids like a petting zoo. Seriously.
It kind of grosses me out. I want to bathe them on the spot, instead of bringing in barn-like germs to our house, on my children, but I have to stifle this urge for the joy of my children.







Christmas P.J.'s. How I love them. We all sleep in brand spankin' new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. You can see that Justus and Treston are wearing the cutest matching firetruck pajamas. So darn cute!










Can I interrupt this Christmas story, mainly because I got this picture in the wrong order, and say that this was me and Rusty's 10th Christmas to celebrate together! 10!!!! Years!!!!! How old are we anyway???
We were up late one night, wrapping some presents and watching "A Christmas Story" which has been a tradition since year 1, and a movie that we love to the point of obsession, and I asked him, "Could you have imagined ten years ago that we'd be here, celebrating Christmas with our four kids?" But we both kind of went..."yeah!" It's exactly where we wanted to be. God is good.

Santa brought a trampoline. But Santa could have dropped off some elves to assemble it in the freezing rain, right?
Seriously, Rusty and a Christmas angel we call Willis, who hardly knew us but still volunteered to assemble a trampoline in the dark, freezing rain, worked for four hours, and when they were done, they could not feel their hands. I did the very last part with Rusty after we sent Willis home, thanking him profusely, and offering him Happy Birthday Jesus cake and it was really, REALLY cold. Rusty took a hot shower, and still came out with cold hands. However, they both survived, thankfully, without losing any fingers to Hypothermia, and we now have endless bouncy fun in our backyard! Turns out I can still do Cheerleading jumps with the help of a trampoline. The kids are loving it! And girls, you'd better stand in line to meet this guy Willis, because I know what it's like to be married to a true servant, and it makes my life blissful. SERVANT HEART- #1 on the list, ladies!!!! Not kidding!!!

Turns out Justus is the sweetest big brother ever! He is always loving on Treston, which is almost always resulting in pain for Treston, but he is so loved by his siblings, it's crazy!!!
Justus, the music-crazed two-year-old, got his own headphones and immediately shared them with Treston. He did this with all his toys. Precious.
Treston got this Bumbo seat, which is so cool!
And fun to say!




And Lastly, because I've lost count, because it's really late at night, and I only blog well when pumped up with caffeine in the daytime, I conclude our Christmas highlights with cousin time.
We had a blast with our Bacak cousins, though I'm lacking in the photos to prove it.
We also had a blast with the Seay fam cousins. There are 150. Okay, just 15, but look at them!
(They are wearing their Cousins Club t-shirts from Aunt Liz and Uncle Robbie.) Imagine sleeping 15 kids and 12 adults in one house for three days. Add a few more to the dinner count, if you will. It's so much like going to camp. I pack for an entire day before going. I label all of the kids' socks, and anything else I can stick a label to. The excitement of being all together is great, life-long memories are made, there are fireworks shows, bonfires, roasted marshmallows, a chocolate fountain (new this year, and quite messy), huge dinners, which look more like mass feedings for the kids but taste nothing like camp food, politics talk, church politics talk, and late night laughter. But by the third day, you're so tired you just can't wait to get home and SLEEP.
Christmas is so wonderful, but it truly couldn't come more than once a year.
However, I hope we spend this whole year with this same excitement over what Christ's presence in our lives means.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday too!

We're Savin' Trees!

We're saving trees...no paper letter this year. That's why God made blogs. Let me give you a quick year update on us.

And then there were four...
Everybody meet Treston. He is new in the Bacak household. You can scroll down on this blog and read about how this unexpected journey began not even one month ago. God is so amazing!
Treston is our foster son, and our intent is to adopt him the moment that becomes possible. The last thing we thought we were getting for Christmas this year was a beautiful four-month-old baby boy, but God exceeds what we could even imagine to wish for!




He was placed in our home on December 6th, and he's fitting in beautifully with this crazy group.
We are all crazy in love with him!
Please pray for Treston, and what the next year holds for him.










Emma is 6, and in Kindergarten.
Jax is 4, and in Pre-K.
Justus is 2, and in full-blown toddler mode.
Treston, 41/2 months.










What's new this year? HOMESCHOOLING.
I would not have believed you had you told me one year ago that I would be embarking on this adventure, but here we are! Again, God's plans for us are so much better than our own! He made it clear that this was right for Emma and Jax this year, and I'm so glad we listened. It's been awesome! Watching the light go on as they learn is my joy! We have taken many, many fun field trips to art museums, the Fire Station, Police Dept., a cotton field (and picked cotton), a plant nursery, a Veterinarian office, Doctor's office, (good thing I knew one), and many more! Hands-on learning is our favorite. Doing school in our pajamas while Mommy drinks coffee is also our favorite. I'm busier than ever, but feeling more fulfilled than ever in my role as their Mom and teacher.


We got away to Mexico in May...heaven on earth. This is our happy place. This was our second time to this wonderful resort called X-Caret in Playa Del Carmen. We highly recommend it. We don't know when we'll get to go back, now that we have another baby, but when we dream, it's in Spanish, at this beautiful place.







Another highlight this year was flying Kathleen, Justus' birthmom, here from Las Vegas for Justus' second birthday. Don't they look alike? Which is great, since she's so beautiful. We had a wonderful weekend visit with Kathleen! We wish we saw her more. Kathleen is Muslim, and we got the chance to talk to her about Jesus. We are praying daily for her salvation.






Another highlight of the year...my sweet Emma came to know Jesus. She has had countless talks with her Daddy about spiritual things, and Rusty knew when she was ready. (I prayed that we would know.) And boy was she ready! She prayed that prayer, and the Holy Spirit came in and made a change! She loves the Word, and can't get enough of it in our daily Bible Study and prayer time! Her heart is so sensitive to the things of God, and she has a heart that desires to please Him. Seeing my baby girl come to salvation was the sweetest moment I've experienced as a Mom yet!
(This is our wonderful Pastor Butch at our home church, WHICH WE LOVE, Living Hope Baptist. You can see the link here on the blog. We are overflowing with gratitude to the Lord for this Body of believers, where we feel so at home.)

So that's it. 2006 for the Bacaks in a nutshell. Thanks for reading, and we hope you experience God's love like never before in 2007!