Swingin'

Yesterday at Star School waiting for Shawn to get through driving the bus.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I am excited about decorating for Christmas this year. Shawn and I went to Wal-Mart and got some maroon and silver christmas ornaments. Gig 'em Aggies! And I even made a wreath out of come cedar branches I cut off of a tree out by our house. I put a red bow on it. It looks a little scrawny, but I got tired of getting scratched up by the cedar. Oh well! We are supposed to get our tree this weekend, so that will be fun. Shawn is going to cut it down at a Christmas Tree Farm.

Shawn has some big ideas for what he wants to get Ashilee and Brytini and Bryce. We'll see what happens!

Misty's wreck

There has been a lot going on lately. Recently a good friend, Misty, (the twin sister of one of my best friends) was in a car accident. She fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree. She was in ICU for a week or so, and she had a cracked pelvis and a sliced spleen. She had a lot of mucus in her lungs, so she was on a ventilator for about a week. Things seemed to be getting better, though, and they moved her to her own room and after two weeks of being in the hospital she was moved to a rehab facility nearby. That was on Thanksgiving.

The very next day she was moved back to ICU. Her lungs filled with fluid. She had pneumonia. One of her lungs collapsed, and one of her lungs had a blood clot in it. (Not sure if it was the same lung or not) She is only 25, and she is fighting for her life. They said they almost lost her Friday night. Anyone that reads this, please pray for Misty!

Brandy (her sister) is set to get married December 22, and we are not even sure if Misty will be out of the hospital by then. We aren't sure what is going to happen. It is heartbreaking. She had been driving back and forth to school and that is when she fell asleep while she was driving.

Toe-tally fun!

Just a cute photo of our Henry (also known as "Hank" to some...)

Finally a Bridesmaid!

Brandy is getting married! December 22, 2007! So I get to be a bridesmaid now :) Woohoo... And hopefully the bridal shower will be December 1. Hopefully that all works out! I'm excited for Brandy and Will, and it's only going to be 5 days before our anniversary.

Fall Festival Star, TX

This weekend we had the Fall Festival... I helped run the cakewalk, and Shawn did the concessions stand. They also had Bingo, so when we were done at around 9:30, we went over there and it didnt' end til 1am. We won some little things, and a couple of useful things, too :) One was a bionic wrench, and also we got a cute pot for a plant that has a little chalkboard on the side of it. Here is a picture of Shawn in his Rodeo Clown getup... I did the face paint!

Pics from David's Wedding

Here are a couple of pictures from the wedding! One cute one of the kids, and one with Brandy and Leigha :) and of course, one of all 6 of us as we scrambled out to get to the wedding on time...

I finally talked to Pam after a while, and her Pinning Ceremony is December 13, a Thursday. She is graduating from nursing school and she will be an RN. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, but I would absolutely love to, cause I know it's been a long road to get to this point, and she did it!! I am really proud of her, she never quit and she has done so well with grades and everything. Now she just needs to move closer to me. Then it would be perfect :)

Anyway, we have a fall festival this weekend, the 27th, at school. And guess who was voluntold to put on a cakewalk? You guessed it, me. There are supposed to be around 100 cakes, and I'll probably be making quite a few of those. My classes are going to take over the home ec room and bake all day Friday. That part should be pretty fun, anyway... We have a concession stand to do this Friday, too! It is going to be another busy weekend!

God's grace

God is good! We got to go to David and Whitney's wedding this weekend and I finally got to see Brandy's baby! Leigha is a cutie :) It has been a long time since I saw Brandy, a few months I guess. She looked great! I think motherhood agrees with her. And we had fun hanging out til around midnight. We finally had to give it up though, cause we were going to church the next day at 9 at Living Hope!! www.lhbc.net I love that place! We really miss all of our friends who go there, and the authentic way that people live out their Christianity. Praise God for bringing us all back for a visit. We also got to introduce the girls to the whole family, so that was fun. I'll post a picture someday, but I am on Shawn's computer, so I can't do a whole lot...

I am at school right now and I am bored... I have things to do but I don't want to grade so I don't have anything else to do ;)

Wedding Weekend

This weekend my cousin David is getting married ( www.whitneyanddavid.com )... We have got new dresses and the boys have tuxes. We are ready :) And I finally get to see Brandy's baby!! She is already 2 and a half months old! Can't wait to see everyone, and I should have some great pictures to show, too!

A New School Year... Darn.

It is the second week of school... I wasn't ready to come back. I was enjoying my summer, thank you very much! But I guess I'll get over it by next summer :)

We now have four kids to get ready every morning! Bryce and Henry, and our two new girls, Ashilee and Brytini. They are in 6th and 2nd grades. It has been nice having older kids around, they really help out with the boys! Ashilee has decided she is going to do cheerleading this year, so we have practice after school til 5 on Mondays and Tuesdays... At least the lady that is keeping Bryce and Henry is nice enough to bring them to me in the afternoons. That is such a wonderful thing to not have to run off to pick them up and then go back to school to pick up Ashilee. That would be a lot of running around, especially since we are out in the middle of nowhere and I'd have to drive 20 miles round trip to get them.

I am also senior sponsor, which means I have to do every concession stand at every home game from here to eternity. I did NOT sign up for this!! Anyway, today we are doing benchmark tests. A practice TAKS test basically. In my opinion it is a big waste of time, but they didn't ask me. So I am in with a class of 2 people supervising so I decided I should update the blog.

Other than work, life is actually pretty peachy:) Bryce just turned 2 a week ago, and Henry is almost 6 months old now... Ashilee turned 12 in July and Brytini was 7 in March. We also just got a new puppy named Abraham. There is a story that is really sad as to why we don't have Damascus anymore, but I won't dwell on that today. Abraham is a mastiff (half American, half English?). He is a fawn color with black around his nose and mouth. He's a cutie...

As long as I'm rambling, we got Netflix this month, and I have to say that I like it a lot. Being out in the middle of nowhere like we are, it is a huge hassle to rent a movie and then be able to bring it back on time, and on the satellite it is more expensive and you have to wait for the movie to come on to watch it on Pay per view. This netflix is cool, we just send the one we watched in, and we get another a couple of days later. We watched Deja Vu last night, that was a good movie. I really like Denzel Washington anyway, and the story was really interesting. Two thumbs up from Marcie and Abraham:)

personality test

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

(OK, so I had to change a few answers so that I felt it actually described me... What do you think?)

Henry's Newborn Moments

Well I finally got to a computer with some pictures on it! Here they are, 3 months later almost: Pictures of the newborn Henry Cadence Lockett!! Notice he is wearing the same Aggie outfit Bryce was brought home in (he's 3 days old in that picture)...

Fostering: Jumping in with both feet!

Wow. One week ago today two girls were placed with us. One 4 year old and one two year old. Sisters. The two year old is definitely quite a bit older than Bryce (21 months), but we still don't know her birthday. The 4 year old was out of control. Already, at four years old! I mean, it was crazy. She seemed like she was trying at times to behave, and then at times it seemed as if she wanted to see how mad she could make you. Well, she was pretty good at it anyway. It finally became a joke. Just tell her the opposite of what you want her to do and she'd do it! We were at the store and she asked for a piece of gum. I said no. I was already getting her a Sprite and that was enough. She got the gum anyway, opened it, popped it into her mouth, and said, "Well, it's already open now!" That was a typical interaction! After a few days of that constantly, it's hard not to be on edge.

She was a safety hazard for the baby, too. Once when he was sleeping in his bassinet in the den, I knew she was curious, so I said "Don't touch the baby!" And then a minute later I hear Shawn (in the living room) sounding a little panicky and telling her not to carry the baby around without help. Then I hear "Marcie!" Lo and behold, there she is in the living room carrying the once sleeping, now screaming, baby around. She's only 4! There's no way I trust her to carry around a 2 month old baby! It scared me. That was the first day she was here. After that I moved the bassinet into our room and felt a lot better...

But anyway, when the foster agency heard about that, they said she needed to be moved. We agreed, because we couldn't live with ourselves if something happened to the baby and it could have been prevented. The two year old stayed though, and she and Bryce like to play together. THere is a fair amount of rivalry, but the good outweighs the bad so far :) They are both potty training, too! Bryce is learning pretty quickly, I am happy about that. The only thing is that Shawn is out of town during the week for the next 3 weeks, so I have 3 kids 2 and under by myself! I am going a little stir-crazy... When I did go out by myself it took me forever to get the 2 year-olds in the double stroller and the baby in a front carrier just to get out of the car!

So I decided to invite some ladies out that I know from school for lunch. That way I don't have to leave to get some adult conversation:)

Our first girl leaving...

Well we have been doing some respite care for about a week and a half. That just means short term care for a foster child so the actual foster parents can have some time away. But this time it was for a transition to a new foster home. It has gone pretty well. I can't really say much on here because of confidentiality issues, but I think we are going to do well as foster parents. I like having another person around, and it's fun watching Shawn. He spoils her more than I would! (We also know her from school. Shawn has her for fourth grade math and science.) Anyway, she is leaving Friday to go to her new home, and the people she will be staying with seem really nice. We are licensed now, so we are still hoping to have two other girls placed with us that we also know from school... We'll see what happens!

Before and after Henry

These are a couple of pictures that I never got to put on here! The first is (obviously) a picture before I had Henry. The second was taken on Cinco de Mayo (5-5-07).

Henry's 2 months old!

Well we had Henry's 2 month appointment on Monday and he is now 12 lbs. 7 oz, 22.5 inches long, and his head circumference is 40 cm.

This is up from 7 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches at birth. I don't remember head circumference... But all is well with him. He got 3 shots and an oral vaccine, but he did really well. He is usually fussier than Bryce was, but when he got his shots he only screamed once. Once! And then he just sat there. Later he was a little fussy, but no more than usual really.

Brandy is due late July, so she doesn't have long left. Sarah is getting married in June. And Kristen is coming down to Houston for the wedding also. And Brandy's baby shower will probably be that weekend, too. I get to see all my best friends (except my sister) in the same weekend! I am excited. So here is the countdown to June 22nd~ 38 days to go!

so we have been in the process of getting licensed for foster care since December. It is now May and we are still doing things... We had to switch agencies which meant we had to redo a lot of our inspections and training.

We are almost there! We have a shortened version of a homestudy this afternoon since our first one is only two months old, and we have to get our well water tested, and then we will be done (again)! We are hoping for two girls that we know from school and who were moved to a different foster family after their foster dad died in an accident. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks!

Time flies when you are having a baby!

Well it is now 13 weeks since my last post... oops. Henry is here and he is 6 weeks old now:) Everything went great with the C-section, I got to go home the next day. I was sore, but felt good other than that. He is finally becoming a little more interactive and alert which makes it more fun having him around :)

I had to take Bryce to get shots yesterday. He had to get 3 of them and he started screaming before we even put him on the table! It was bad... But he recovered quickly and the nurse gave him a sugar-free lollipop. I think he forgave her after that. Henry is doing great and Bryce loves to give him kisses. If he sees me holding him, he asks "Holdem? Holdem?" And then he sits down with his arms open for me to lay the baby in his lap. It is really cute:)

Well, more later! I'll get some pics on here soon, too!

Only 7 weeks left!

I had a doctor's appointment with my OB yesterday and the C-section is all scheduled... March 14, 2007 we'll be having Henry Cadence Lockett! That is the Wednesday of Spring Break for us, and that Monday I'll be doing preop stuff. I can't believe we are almost there.

We had a snow day about a week and a half ago and I have tried several times to put a picture on here, but it's not working... I'll try again later I guess. I am hopefully going to get some maternity pictures taken soon. That should be fun to do and cool to look back at later :)

~Marcie