Consumption.

We have been consumed by baseball. A good consumption. But consumed, nonetheless. Our mantra has been... There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.



Mason has officially hit the age of really competitive sports. Granted, it seems most of the competition is among the parents. It gets a wee bit crazy.



He has thrown himself into baseball and works every.single.day on improving himself. He is lucky to have his dad as a coach... wish I had known my husband in his baseball star days. That's hawt. Ha. 



Along with league ball, he is playing on a travel tournament team. The competition is intense, as is the time commitment. But we all love it, and we are really lucky to have an awesome group of kids and parents on our team.



Hello bleacher butt... it's gonna be long, hot summer. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

one spring day.

Hey birdie birdie...

Life as I know it is crazy. I have been trying to post pictures of our spring break trip for oh... several weeks now. Yeah... can't quite seem to finish it.

So today... today, I would like to introduce you to a bird.

We have been pounded with rain. I am pretty sure it has rained more in the past several weeks than it has in the last 11 years that we have lived here. After yet another torrential downpour yesterday afternoon... we headed outside to play while we had our chance.

Hey birdie birdie.



As I stepped out onto our porch... I heard the chirpings of a baby bird. As soon as he saw me... he hopped right on over like he had been waiting to greet me. I admit... I was a little freaked out and was waiting for him to peck me.



I ran back inside the house and the dude seriously came after me! You know those moments where you think to yourself, "Is this really happening to me right now?"

Yeah... totally that kind of moment.



I had no idea what to do with this little guy. He couldn't fly more than a foot or two and he seemed to be starving. His chirpings told me so. Ha.



So feed the baby birdie we did. A worm...



Some wet bread...



Yeah... we were clueless. We later found a nest in a neighbors tree and placed the birdie there. We did not really think that was where he belonged... but figured maybe he would find a foster mommy. Ha.

The little dude was not there today though... hope he found his way. Anything had to have been better than the bucket we offered him.



*

Please keep Kirill and the Davis family in your prayers as they travel back to Russia and appear in the Russian Supreme Court for their appeal hearing on May 24th. Tesney and Greg are so thankful for the blessings you gave in raising nearly $20,000 for their appeal. Thank you again... a million times over!

And... if you are feeling lucky and wanting to help another orphan and have a chance at winning a DSLR camera... this time a Nikon D3000 or a $500 gift card to B&H Photo. What what!

Renee is hosting a fundraiser for the Walters family... they are adopting Dillon... a handsome little guy that happens to have Down syndrome. They travel in two days and are $6,000 short. So what do ya say... can we help this sweet family get Dillon home?

For each $5 donation... you will get a chance at winning the Nikon D3000 or a $500 gift card to B&H Photo... or a slew of other great prizes. Awesome!



*

Goodnight!

$19,809.01 raised.

552 contributors.

1960 raffle tickets.

$19,809.01 raised.

wowzers.

i.am.blown.away.

thank you.

thank you.

thank you.

and now.
for our prize winners.

:::

Canon EOS Rebel XS Digital SLR camera

or

$500 gift certificate to B&H Photo

 and

a lifetime membership to ClickinMoms.

Sheri Holthe

:::

Cirque

by Lisa Tarkett Reed

Nancy Stinnett

:::

Custom blog makeover (by yours truly)

Rebekah Pett

:::

UltraHD Flip video camera

Amy Conner

:::

Organic Bloom Frame

by Lindsey Smith Photography

Maria Yakkey

:::

Schmetterlingszauber

autographed by Conny Wenk

Leslie Echols

:::

(3) handmade hats

#1 Carla Skelton

#2 Glenda Howze

#3 Marlene Prange

:::

$50 gift certificate to Uppercase Living 

Jason Sheehy

:::

Hand crafted jewelry (various)

Anna Albano

Shylo Ulcak

Robert Micek

Rachel Thornberry

Carla Skelton

Kara Dickman

David Graves

Kimberly Giesting

Allen Parrish

Leah Neff

Shane Culver

Holly Caufield

Stephanie Dalby

Robert McPherson

:::

Signing Time full collection

autographed and donated by Rachel Coleman

Jocelyn Gilbert

:::

winners... congratulations!

and once again.

thank you!

thank you!

thank you!

moments from this week to cherish.

Watching this community of giving, good hearted people come together and rise the Davis family above $16,000 for their appeal of Kirill's adoption. This has seriously been nothing short of amazing.

And I have to say, this comment took the cake...

That penny is from my 5 year old daughter. After seeing the video and hearing that I was going to make a donation, she ran to get her piggy bank and said, "I want to give too, Mama. I only have a penny, but he can have it." So we added a penny to our donation. :) Oh the simple faith of children!

Um... what a great lesson for all of us! *sniff*

There is less than 48 hours left for us to rise the Eicher family above $6,000... we can do this, you guys! Every $10 donation gets you the chance to win one of these awesome prizes... nice! Please take a moment to blog, facebook, tweet... be part of something huge!

Spending the day with my kids and grandmother, enjoying life in the slow lane. The weather was beautiful... quite possibly the nicest day yet this spring. Having the best lunch ever... those were Gram's words. 



Sitting in DC traffic along the cherry blossom route... looking for the rare parking spot to open. Grabbing the one spot we found... and taking a few snaps.





Gigi... love her. We spend a lot of time together and have so much fun. She and I... we are one in the same. She.cracks.me.up.







Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible. ~Stephen Covey

Payton adores her big brother... as in, she is pretty much obsessed with him. She wants to do what he does, wear what he wears, eat what he eats, play what he plays. And bless his heart, he more than embraces her and her obsession.



Oh... forgot one... she wants to sleep where he sleeps. The other night, I went in to check on them after bedtime. I was helping Payton adjust her bipap mask and once I got her settled, she goes, "Maymay. iPah." Haha... yeah, she totally ratted him out. He had the iPad under the covers hiding from me... he was so mad at her! Love it.

The two of them have since been separated... Mason on his top bunk and Payton on the bottom. They both are such restless sleepers, that neither of them were getting a good night sleep. Seems to be going well so far...

And speaking of Mason and his sisters... I tweeted this earlier this week...  

Fave part of day so far: Mason taking the time to say goodbye and kiss each of his sisters before running off to school. #itsthelittlethings

I just loved that moment... as insignificant as it may seem. I think because rather than a "Bye!" and a quick kiss for me, he also gave each of his sisters his undivided attention in saying goodbye to them, waiting for their response and them giving each of them a kiss. All while the car pool lane waited.

I dunno... it just really hit me. How did I get so lucky?