fathers, miracles, beaches and blogs...

Well, where do I begin...there has been so much going on, and I am WAY overdue on an update.


The main reason I am so behind on blogging lately is I have been a soap-making machine, haha! This, along with attending to Stephen 24/7 (my real full-time job ;) and taking care of our home, has left me completely exhausted at the end of the day most days!


Here is just a tiny sneak peak at my soaps...these bars are Lavender Vanilla.

DH and my mother both said that it smells so good they could eat it. There's real dried French Lavender buds, ground Madagascar vanilla beans, and raw organic sugar to give it some extra sweetness. It won't be ready to go yet for several more weeks, as all soap has to "cure" in order to let the lye cook out and be safe to use on your skin!


Father's Day was really, really nice. Stephen was feeling fantastic and had several surprises for Daddy. :) I found a precious card that was able to record voices, and after 1500 tries, I recorded Stephen laughing on it for DH. He LOVED it. We also picked out some nice shirts for him. But his big gift was a hammock. He'd been wanting one for awhile, and I found one that was very inexpensive at a great store here that has outdoor things that are discounted!


We experienced nothing short of what I'd call a miracle on Father's Day as well. During church, Stephen started babbling and making consanant sounds, for the first time, while the preacher was giving his sermon! He said "ba-ba-ba" and "ma-ma-ma" and we were stunned. Then he never stopped!! He has been saying it constantly since that day. DH said it was by far the best Father's Day gift he could have received. Before he was only laughing and squealing. At 9 months, almost 10, we were concerned about him not doing this. But not anymore! Praise GOD for what He did!!! We are thrilled! Hearing him "talk" every day is like beautiful music to our ears.


DH's parents came for the day as well, and I cooked a yummy dinner of Oven-Baked B-B-Q Chicken, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Macaroni Salad, and Lemon Blueberry Pudding Cake for dessert (I was going to make another chicken dish, but changed my mind, haha). It all turned out really good!


The next day Stephen started acting like he wasn't feeling good, again (ugh). I always know something is up if he (1) doesn't sleep well at night, (2) sleeps better during the day, (3) doesn't want to play, and (4) just looks like he feels bad.


Sure enough, I took him to the doctor that Tuesday and he had another ear infection (gggrrrrrr) and hand-food-mouth disease, which can cause ulcers in the throat/mouth and a nasty rash on hands/feet. He never got the rash on his hands/feet, but he did on his bum and other private areas. It was awful looking...think yeast diaper rash x 10. He was miserable. :( We were pooped from lack of sleep! Finally the rash went away, and at our check-up yesterday his throat was almost clear. The ear infection seems to be better too! Thank the Lord.


Another reason I have been busy this week is packing. DH and I made the decision to take a vacation this summer, during 4th of July. We are driving to Florida for a week and staying with his brother and sister-in-law who live there! We really prayed about it seriously because (1) Stephen is still little and has the medical issues and (2) we don't have much money right now from paying medical bills. However, we had set aside emergency money from our income tax return in case we needed it, seperate from Stephen's donation money in savings, and then Paul was paid extra from his 2-week AT drill.


We really debated over using the money from income tax and drill for other things, but after all we've been through, we thought the beach would be really great for all of us. Plus seeing family will be really good! We are super excited and really thanking God we get to go. We leave this Thursday so this will be my last update until we get back next week!


Just for your viewing pleasure, here are some recent pictures of the little guy. I love his eyes in these pictures. He woke up from a nap and was being super cute. We played peek-a-boo with the blankie. :)

Finally, a friend commented on my blog and shared a link to another person's blog that I have really loved reading lately. She has some beautiful things to say about the Lord and about being a mother, and her blog is not the typical mommy-type blog either. She is humble and talks about adoption alot too. One of her latest blog-posts is titled "Parenting on Your Knees." If you're a parent, you should really read this one. Just click here.


Thanks for reading, and thank you for the encouraging comments you left me on the last post. Thanks for continuing to pray for Stephen also! Oh, and happy 4th of July! :)


Blessings from the Fleming Family +