Pumpkin Patch 09

Tonight we went to a pumpkin patch somewhere outside of the city. It was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast. Some of my highlights are as follows:
1. Carrie getting yelled at by the worker at the pumpkin patch and then him following us around micromanaging us.
2. Anniiyah announcing that she couldn't trust daddy anymore because he left her in the haunted castle
3. Carried telling a 6 year old boy "please do not talk to me" because he too tried to reprimand us.
4. Getting to walk out into a real pumkin patch and cut out our own pumkin.
5. After finding a pumpkin and letting Anniiyah hold it she was instantly exhausted and told caleb that he was breaking her muscles by making her hold it.
7. Caleb "milking" a fake cow.
6. At Waffle House afterward Makayla asked the waitress to open up her Mayo packet and put the mayo on her burger. We said "makayla, we can put your mayo on for you, the waitress doesn't need to do it" and makayla says "but I want her to do it, she is my best friend."

Fall is here...

In this picture the girls are Hannah Montanna and Ava is Lilly and Caleb is Bobby Ray and I am Hannah's mom and Anniiyah says "and Becky, you can be our #1 fan."

I haven't blogged in a while so I won't try and catch up. Fall is finally starting to hit Atlanta. I LOVE this weather. The next couple months are why I love Atlanta so much! The girls are continuing to enjoy school and life. We have a lot of hard moments...moments where life doesn't quite make sense for them. I wish I had magic words to help them better understand what is going on in their little lives but most of the time, I need someone to explain to me what's going on. We continue to hold on to the fact that 1. God is faithful and 2. He is present in their lives and in our family and 3. He loves our girls more than we ever could. I wish I wrote down on the funny stuff that they say but I can only remember a couple for now....Anniiyah is a little sponge. She absorbs all kinds of information and then talks ALL THE TIME!

Anniiyah: "Daddy, the good stuff is good...you know what I mean."

Caleb: "I really have no idea."

Anniiyah: "This bead stands for Pentecost...Pentecost is when God gave the people the Holy Spirit and they spoke in other languages."

Makayla: "That girl is crazy...FOR REAL"

Ava: "Movie and popcorn....boots, boots, boots!"

I start my new job at the GA Law center tomorrow. I will be the Eviction Prevention Casemanager (or something like that...still figuring out the title). I am really excited. I feel like my gifts are used so much more when I am working with people. The next month is going to be very busy and very full but I am excited for weddings and fun with family and great friends. Here are a few pics from the last month...

Beach 2009

We took a trip to Hilton Head Island this past week with the Henley's. It was amazing and as relaxing as possible with three kids. We took lots of trip to the ocean and took a lot of bike rides. Thank goodness for a really nice McDonald's play place that we could ride bikes to. All our girls LOVE the water. Enjoy some pics.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

This week is usually a big week for us every year... Even though we didn't know her yet, 5 years ago yesterday, our little Makayla came into the world. 4 years ago this week, we moved into our first house in Atlanta. Hard to believe that we would love it as much as we did. 3 years ago we settled into our new life post Mission Year, while we continued to live in community in South Atlanta. 2 years ago we bought our house and embraced Pittsburgh as our new community. 1 year ago we were still getting used to our new little baby and all the changes that come with it. This year, we have three wonderful kids that we are raising and loving and enjoying life with. I always have strong emotions when I think of 4 years ago when we pulled up to 911 Hank Aaron Drive. We had no idea what God was going to do after our one year commitment to Atlanta. It's hard to believe that so much of our life is still impacted by God leading us here to do Mission Year. Last night as we all stood around our table singing happy birthday, I looked at Makayla who was SUPER excited about the cake, the candles, the presents and the attention. She looked so happy and so innocent. I love my girls so much. I love celebrating special times with them. I know that it might not be forever but for as long as I can, I am going to keep loving them with all my heart. Below are some pictures of the party. Enjoy!

Good Days....

Today was a good day. After months of confusion over the case with the girls, I feel like we have some clarity. I continue to pray for peace and wisdom but I felt like God was present in our meeting with DFCS today. We will continue to be the "fictive kin placement resources" for the girls because it's the healthiest option for them and us. We know that we are as permanent as we are allowed to be. We know God is in control. We will have our girls as long as we are able and if/when something changes, we trust that God is present. We continue to pray for stability but we know that the state can't mandate stability. Stability for our girls means being there every night when they go to bed...it means praying together, reading together, growing together, laughing together...it means kissing scrapes and mending hurts. We are a family for now...and I love my family so much! Tonight I was leaving the house and Makayla looked up at me and said "but mommy, I really REALLY want to go with you so very much." How can you turn that down?!

I wish I could capture all the precious moments that take place in our home every day. Tonight, Caleb started singing a song from the Little Mermaid. I joined in making it a duet and Makayla would chime in with any word that she knew. Pretty soon we look over and Ava is singing at the top of her lungs. We all stood in the kitchen belting out at the top of our lungs "PART OF THAT WORLD..." I want to always remember these moments. Moments where I sit down on the couch rest and instantly have three girls "resting" on top of me. You know...there are good days like today where we sing and dance and laugh...and then there are bad days when we clean up poop off the floor for the 10th time...but I will take the good days and the bad days because that's part of loving each other. But...I will take singing over poop any day.

Back to School

Anniiyah and Makayla started back to school this week. It's going to be a challenging year but we are trying to be as prepared as possible. Anniiyah loves school and was instantly organizing her desk as soon as we got there. Makayla was....well, let's just say she was NOT organizing her desk.
We have been working on behavior a lot lately and having a lot of attitude checks. We sing a song that goes something like "Who's business is that business?" Anniiyah informed me this week that she really likes to be EVERYONE's business. She also lost her first baby doll named Lucy and when her mom bought her a new doll she decided to name it "Lucy II." Such a funny girl.

We went to the Zoo this week and the girls loved it. They have such a good time exploring and seeing new things. Makayla would walk up to all the different areas and say "OH my gosh...look at that!" I wish that I wrote down all the funny things that they say becuase I laugh at them all the time but then I forget it by the next day. Enjoy some new pictures.

The Starrs take on Savannah

We took mom to Savannah for an over-night trip. It was great to hang out in Savannah and then spend the day on Tybee. It was the first time the girls had seen the beach or the ocean. It was a little exhausting to have three little ones in the ocean at one time but we all survived.

Ava wanted to sit in her own seat anytime we stopped. Many tears were shed over getting in her carseat

Ava was a hot mess!

Sitting by the river

Ava thought that hiding in the closet was awesome.

Sitting in one of the many squares...

It was a little hot for Ava. She was not happy without her "paci"