Our secret...

I am finally ready to announce our secret and the reason for our unspoken prayer request:

Tada!

Yes, we are still in the planning stages right now, but we just received our final draw of our NEW home last night! We are very excited and cannot WAIT to get moved in. We have found the perfect lot out in the country and in a really great school system... which is a huge plus. It is amazing how planning changes when children are involved. :)

I will say that I have a picture of the actual floor plan, but I don't want to post that for the world to see. Just some details though... It will be a 3 bedroom, two bath split floor plan (meaning the master is on one side of the house and the other 2 bedrooms will be on the other). There is a two car garage and a huge living room and kitchen. We will have a fire place and a back deck as well as a HUGE HUMONGOUS walk-in pantry!! There is also an unfinished upstairs that we will plan to finish sometime in the future.

I wanted to send out a special thank you for all of your prayers and I would like to ask for you to continue to pray as this will be a long and sometimes daunting process. Oh, and our plan is to be in the house by January 27th, 2012... Jackson's 3rd birthday! Yay!

An update

Our little neice arrived. :) Annabelle Faith was born on July 18th. She was 5lbs 11ozs and 19.5 inches long. She was 4 weeks early so the doctors were watching her closely to make sure everything was okay. She did have to be air lifted to a larger hospital in the area because they have a NICU unit and they would be able to better handle her under precautionary measures. She only stayed in the hospital 6 days and came home July 23rd. We are so excited to have her here and she is just so tiny. Her older brother is very protective of her and loves her very much.

The evening Annabelle was born, Wayne and I had already planned to take Jackson to a baseball game. We went ahead and went and I am glad we did. We always have a lot of fun and I think Jackson really enjoys himself. On the way out (back to the car) Jackson started singing "1, 2, 3 strikes you're out; at the 'ole ball game"! All by himself. Too cute!

That Tuesday, our meeting went well. Thank you for the prayers. Still keeping information about that kind of quiet but hopefully it won't be much longer because it is exciting news! :) Keep on praying though.

Ten pounds down, by the way. I am excited about that as well. I definitely have my mind set on this and I will do this! :) Thank you for keeping me accountable (eventhough you may not know that you are).

I really think that is all the updating for now. Other than cakes, cakes, and more cakes. I will post more pictures soon.

Weekly Lists, Wharped Into Monthly Ones

1) Nine cakes this month has been and is continuing to keep me really busy.
2) We will probably be gaining a niece this week. Please keep the family in your prayers as this is the first pregnancy after 2 failed pregnancies for my brother and sister-in-law. We are all very excited that Miss Annabelle has made it to term, but are still a little nervous as the doctors are telling her Mommy and Daddy that she hasn't been gaining any weight.
3) Jackson is ready to go to the "baseball game" tomorrow night! He has started to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" with me!
4) Wayne and I have a meeting Tuesday night that I want all of my praying followers to pray about, please.
5) I am excited to be hosing a cookout for our Sunday School class this coming Saturday! It is going to be around 100 degrees but we WILL still have fun! :)
6) In addition to that cookout, I have 2 cakes and another birthday party to attend! Whew! Life in the fast lane!
7) We have totally given up on potty training for now. Maybe in a few more months... maybe...
8) I just remembered that I have to go get wipes tonight for day care tomorrow! I am out here and they have been asking for them for two days now! Goodness, I hope I don't forget.
9) I saw this:

"Losing weight is hard.

Being fat is hard.

Chose your hard."

and it really made me think. There is a lot of truth to this "quote". I read on a blog that I follow that Jennifer is putting away all of her "fat" clothes to use when she gets pregnant again as her maternity clothes. Kudos to her by the way! I am on a mission to do the same. Week one down, 5.7lbs. lost... My own goal? Fifty pounds before I turn 30, which is May 9, 2012. I am on a mission. My mind is set. I am determined.
10) I really want to think of one more thing, just to make this a well-rounded list of TEN things, but I am racking my brain too hard on a Sunday afternoon! So, I will just go and do some laundry...

Sunday nap...

Happy Independence Day

As I take time to celebrate our freedom and honor those who serve so that I can remain free, I am really excited that I have a three day weekend. Please know that I am not deminishing the importance of what those men and women have been through and are going through, but I am just excited. I like having the extra day off to spend with family. Especially when the hubs worked all weekend and we get to share at least one day off together.

We started our weekend off Friday night with a ride in Papa's jeep. Jackson was excited to take his first ride. The top wasn't fully down, but all of the windows were down. I think Papa is just a little nervous about having the top completely down while Jackson is still in a car seat.

We rode to Michaels Arts and Crafts and then had dinner at Chick-fil-A. It was a nice evening spent with Nana and Papa and Jackson always enjoys their company! Mommy does too! After getting in bed AFTER 10pm Friday night, Jackson arose early Saturday morning, as usual. I don't understand his sleeping methods. If you go to bed late, you are supposed to get up late, but not Jackson. Eight o'clock EVERY Saturday is his wake up time. No matter what time he goes down on Friday night.

So, I got up and got him some cereal and started the movie Nemo while I worked on a Thomas the Train cake. Had to deliver it by 1pm so I needed to get on the ball. I had baked it and did the base white icing the night before but had to do all the hard stuff Saturday morning. And, I will have you know that I finished right at 12 noon... just in time for me to hop in the shower and get ready to deliver it! Whew. Kinda cutting it close... but I did fine. The lady that I made it for was very pleased and I already have another order for one to do in August!

After I delivered the cake, Jackson and I had lunch at Wendys and he flirted with the girl at the next table. I didn't realize until she left that I actually went to high school with her. Its aggrivating to know that you know somebody but can't place where you know them from. I am not sure that she recognized me either because she didn't say anything. Oh, well. After lunch... it was nap time. Since Wayne is working the night shift this weekend, I rested with him while Jackson napped. We all got in a little snooze.

After Wayne left for work, we met mom for dinner and went to the mall for just a quick walk through. Window shopping. Then I headed to Wal-Mart for some dish detergent. Of course while we were there, I was suckered into buying more Hot Wheels cars to keep Jackson from screaming through the store because he didn't want to ride in the cart. I bought him a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse video too. When we got home it was bath time and then we watched a portion of the movie. I thought he would fall asleep watching the moving since it was after 10, but he had me fooled! As soon as I laid him in the bed though, he was out like a light.

Today was church day and I spent the afternoon with a friend. We went and got shaved ice snow cones for our boys and went to our local lake/pond to eat them so the boys wouldn't get red juice all over my friend's  van. All in all, it has been a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow will be a day spent with Wayne and an evening at my brother's. He is planning a huge cookout for his and his wife's families. Bring on the hotdogs and hamburgers!!

Be safe this holiday weekend!!

Busy, busy, busy

And may I say it again... busy! Not just with life in general but with cakes!! I still don't think I have caught up on my sleep. Last weekend I had 5 cakes to make (that consisted of actually baking 6 cakes because one of the finished products had 2 cakes and the other was made for my family as I had leftover chocolate batter). In addition to those, I had one to make for the Wednesday before and I made one last night. Goodness gracious! Prayers are definitely being answered. Thank you. I will say that it is amazing to see the amount of orders that come through Facebook. My cake album is the only photo album that I have that is "public" and I always "tag" the person I do the cake for to their cake! Their FB friends see the pictures and search me out! Talk about networking!

Anyway, I am sure you are ready to see some pictures! I am ready to post them. Oh, and if you are a FB friend, hope you enjoy a second time around!

My Little Pony -- "Star Star"
Another ladybug cake and another "Alyssa"
My cousin graduated from high school last weekend. Yay!
Umm... this one has a bit of a story behind it. You see, this was the cake that was made with the "extra" chocolate batter. So, I used the extra icing from my cakes that evening (which just happened to be the graduation one) and decorated this cake. Since I was eh hem "re-using" my materials, I decorated the cake with a recycle sign. Genius, right?!? LOL
I have actually made one of these before, but I added the thin blue line to this one (yes, it was my husband's idea ... must give credit where credit is due, right?). My husband's police department had a Family Day last weekend and I was voluntold by my husband that I was to make the cake. It was definitely a big hit and I am glad that I was able to do it. I really like the finished product on this one! (not that I don't like them all!)
This one was for a friend of ours. He turned 32 last weekend and I really wasn't sure what to put on the cake, but he IS a sports fanatic, so I made sure to include his two favorite teams.
And last but not least, this one I did Friday night. It was on a whim. Chandler's mom called me Friday and needed it for Saturday so I had to think quick on my feet. This was also the first time that I used "whipped" icing and it was not what I normally think of whipped icing like on the cakes at Sam's Club. It was more like the consistency of meringue. I don't think I will be able to use this again. Way too soft for cake decorating but luckily it turned out okay for this one.

Why?

There are so many things that happen in life that you just have to sit and ask … “Why?”

Why do people do the things they do?
Why are things happening as they are?
Why doesn’t life always turn out like you plan?
Why are decisions made that can hurt so many or maybe just ones closest to you?

I don’t know why. However, I do know that there is a greater plan. There is someone greater that will help me and you get through the “whys” of life. I pray that you know Him. I pray that I will stay close to Him. I pray that he will help me get through the “whys” daily -- because I need that. I need His help.

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16