New Puppy Pics and Name Suggestions...What do you think?

Cast your vote on the right for our new puppy's name! :) Here are pics...sorry for the quality...they were sent via phone camera because he's not done weaning yet, so he'll be in Ohio until late September....P.S. He's a shitzu-chuiwawa (totally didn't spell that right) mix :)

Weekly Update :)

I know I haven't written in a week. :) We've been busy. I finally finished my syllabus and stuff for the first day of class on Thursday! I am excited...and yes, even teachers get jitters :) It's craziness...I bought two new pairs of pants yesterday too. I feel like a 7th grader all over again!
It is also the time when my online tutoring picks up, so I'll be doing that for up to 9 hours/week, teaching at OCC, and still doing one night at Sylvan because I love it there. The people are so cool. So, it's back to 3 jobs for me... :) I wouldn't trade it for the world because I feel like I am contributing to the family more and I still get to keep doing what I know I was made to do and that is teaching :)

As most of you already know, we have made the gigantic (well, for us anyway) decision to stay at our house long term. It is off the market, for in our opinion, the long haul unless God has other plans. It's a great decision for our family. We're so excited! We're even having a bonfire to celebrate. :) If you are reading this, you are welcome to come. It will be Friday, September 12th, starting at 7pm. :) You may bring your llamas and a chair.

Let's see...other than that, we are in the midst of the "I do it myself!" stage with McKenzie. That means EVERYTHING by the way....and if you don't let her, she will go back to where she started before you helped her and do it again. What a little miss independent! Kylie is doing so well eating and she normally sleeps 10 hours/night without waking up! However, last night, she was out of sorts and woke up twice. Boy, did that throw mama off! :)

Also, as much as we miss Abby, Rob's sister Nickole offered us a new puppy! We will be getting him in late September as he has to wean from his mama. He is black and white and a Shitzu-Chiwawa (I have no idea how to spell that) mix. We are so excited, but are looking for names. Any input would be much appreciated!!!

So, that's all for now. We went camping again last weekend, but didn't take as many pics. I know the last ones didn't load, so I'll have to check on that.

We're Getting There

As most of you know, we've had a very difficult summer. There have been lots of challenges before us, but I personally just wanted to share with everyone some of the things that I have been challenged with by God and through this journey.....Nothing is permanent and there is no doubt in my mind that without the firm foundation of God in our family's life we would have made it through this summer unscathed as we have. God is forever showing His face in our family financially, health-wise, safety-wise and just in the overall security and peace.
My favorite thing about our season of life right now is our kids. As much as I often find myself going, "grrr......" when it comes to McG, I find myself relishing in the very same breath when she says, "Mama, will you lay down and snuggle with me?" Or when I have those moments with Kylie. They will not be here forever.
We've had it be just Boomer for a week now. It's so hard. We know how much Abby would have loved camping this weekend. Boomer has taken over the "dominant" role now and we find him being much more protective, like he knows he needs to step in where Abby once was. It's tough. And McKenzie is struggling. We talked about Abby and Heaven, but there are so many times when she says, "When Abby comes back...." She saw the body, she saw the burial site, she said "goodbye" but she doesn't get it. We tell her that when Abby comes back, she'll be with Jesus and we'll all be together again because that's what we believe will really happen. It's just hard for a two year old to get the concept of Jesus' return. But, we hope at the same time, w'ere being an example for her.
We're in debate about the house and keeping it on the market. The idea of planting roots here in Ortonville is something we haven't really "considered" all that much seeing as how our house has been for sale on and off for 4 years....a few months at a time each year. But, we believe in God's will as well. If the house was supposed to sell, it would. When God's ready. But, one thing we've both never really considered is that maybe we're not supposed to move? We're praying for God's will and direction.
God is faithful. God is good. All the time. We are so blessed and reminded day in and day out of his mercies. We thankful to all of you who have supported us through this summer....and a special shout out to those of you who called, sent cards, and just loved on us through the loss of Abby. We love you much and pray that you will be blessed because you went that extra mile in our relationship with you to acknowledge what a huge loss it was for us. :) We're blessed by you --- and you know who you are :) Thanks again!!! Love to all,
Team Clifton :)

Even More Pics

McKenzie's "owie"...she was playing SuperWoman and flying on the swings....she went too far forward! Ouch!!!!

Buildin' sandcastles with daddy....

Thanks to her new friend Kaitlyn....McKenzie got to borrow her "blue shark"

How We Spent Our Days...

McKenzie and I building "towers"

Daddy playing with the colors on the camera...McKenzie's outfit was almost all pink as you can tell :)

Me reading with McKenzie in her bunk....it was way more fun to read up there and play than to sleep...we learned about 2AM when she wanted to come down :)

Me and the girls posing for daddy :)

Camping Pics

McG all settled in..."Where's the marshmellows?"

Our campsite....

This is our first set of pics. Day #1....We had a blast. Set up camp, a fire...and McKenzie Grace was ready to camp! There was no holding her back. There were lots of fun moments...walks...ice cream....swimmming with daddy...reading...campfires! After four days, we were ready to come home :) We had a wonderful time...it was long, long, long overdue to have family time like this and the girls were awesome!!! We're headed back out again this Friday (yes, 4 days).....hopefully, we'll have just as much fun :) We will be camping with our friends Joe and Trisha this time so Rob can at least have one more guy around :)

Abby's in Heaven now

Abby had just turned 9 last month. She had started carrying her back left leg which prompted us to take her to the vet. Her doctor said that it was bone cancer. She had a tough last month, but she was well taken care of and loved on during her last days here with us. She was a great dog. We love her much. Today she had a stroke and a few seizures. Kelli rushed her the vet. He said it was "her time". We all got to kiss her and share our hearts with her. Kelli and I petted her and cried on her as she took her last breath. We buried her in Independence Oaks county park on her doggy bed where this picture is taken, so that we can visit and think of her often. She was such a good dog. There are things about her personality that we could learn from. Living in the moments, loving unconditionally, forgiveness, happy-simple days, non-hesitant to respond to protect those she loves, etc. We sincerely believe that she is in Heaven enjoying her new life with others that have gone there before us, and that we'll see her again.

Kylie is LEARNING TO CRAWL!

We're excited to show our little peanut trying with all of her might to get around the house. Today (though this video shows yesterday), she made it about 7 feet across our living room floor! She is quite the little "squirmy wormy"! She is really just trying to keep up with "sis" and getting ready to go on the trampoline, but she's great nonetheless. We love her! :)

Don't forget: To hear the narrative of Kylie crawling, you have to hit "pause" on our music to the right. There's a control panel with a button with two vertical lines ( ll ) next to each other on it. It's right underneath the heading for the artist that is currently playing :)

McKenzie is READING!!!

Yes, the proof is in the pudding right now. :) We have included the video for your viewing pleasure. I have started the applications for Harvard, but they don't have that great of a women's basketball team, so we'll have to see how it all pans out. Regardless, we'll be heading toward a wonderful future with our brilliant daughters :)
P.S. Kylie is also learning how to crawl. :) We need to babyproof the house. Video to be posted later :)
Don't forget: To hear McKenzie read, you have to hit "pause" on our music to the right. There's a control panel with a button with two vertical lines ( ll ) next to each other on it. It's right underneath the heading for the artist that is currently playing :)

High School Musical? and McKenzie can READ!!!

Ok. I am 30 years old and I admit I am fascinated by the new ABC Series: High School Musical: Get in the Picture :) I really like this show and I am convinced Bailey will win. If you watch it, you'll have to write me :) I never, ever get to watch TV, so I watched the last episodes online on ABC.com while I was "working" at Tutor.com last weekend. Then, I watch last night's episode this morning on the elliptical. I know I am such a nerd.....
In other news, McKenzie is a genius. We have these books in a series we call the "David" books. They're written by David Shannon and are fabulous for kids her age. Ok, so last night, we were reading before bed and she said, "Mama, go get the David book please." So, I did. Mind you, I have not read her this particular book (or any "David" book) in over a month...at least. Well...after the first page, the girl started reading the pages! No prompting whatsoever! Words like...recess....attention...chew....wait your turn...etc. The girl is amazing! We have it on video and I was all proud, until I called by BFF Jen from high school. She was like, "I know! Lily (her daughter...now almost 7?) did that too at McKenzie's age! Those books are amazing!" Oooh....shot down, but still a proud mama! As soon as we can, we'll load up the video for all to see :) Ok...gotta jet to bed. :)

Wowsers....

Well...wow. Where to begin? I was thinking before I started this that I should blog about life in general right now, but there is so much to write about!!!
So...I figure I'll break it down. Let's start with praises to God! :)
PRAISES
1. Rob still has a job at Ford Motor Company today! :)
2. Kylie is sleeping so wonderfully through the night every night.
3. McKenzie Grace is growing and growing and growing....and jumping and jumping and jumping on her new trampoline :)
4. We are all healthy, safe, and protected in the arms of God's grace.
We have had an eventful few weeks, most of which you have all heard about....So, for fear of being repetitive, I will say that we have grown over the past few weeks and have learned to trust mankind (and more specifically our law enforcement officials!) a little less, but to still give as God commanded us to...just with a bit more of a guarded heart :)
We put our house up for rent, as well as FSBO (I love using the lingo!....For Sale By Owner) in hopes to actually save money and maybe outlast the market. If you want more info on our master thinking plan, we'll tell you later.
We are still praying over Abby Dog but she is getting worse day by day. We scheduled a follow-up appointment for her on Tuesday. It's getting closer and it breaks our hearts. Just pray for peace. The time is getting close.
Holy babies, Batman! My sis is due Dec. 11th...can't wait to meet Kelli :) Ha Ha. If she's read this far into our blog, it's worth a shout-out to Baby Webb :) My vote is for Meredith. Love it. Beautiful Name. If it's a boy...There's always Caden....Malachi....Keegan....Eli....I'll let you know! My college BFF (yes, I do decipher between college and high school b/c technically my high school BFF has known me way longer though she chose to ignore me almost all of 8th grade!) :) is due December 24th...yes, the eve of Jesus' b-day. It's #3 for her and for the first time, they decided not to find out what they are having. See, they have a boy and a girl already, so what is there to know? Anywho, they made a boo-boo on the first "boy", which was a girl, so whose to say these people are right anyway? Our friend Suzanne is due in November....And we're due....
HA HA HA HA HA HA.....Totally kidding!!!!!!!!! The itch never goes away, but Kelli is NOT ready to be a mommy again yet. :)
So...that's where we're at. Rob is working tomorrow then we are going to Paige's 4th birthday party. Shout out to Paige girl! :) We love you! :)
We're blessed and loving life and trusting God. Thanks for all of your support for us. Special shout-out here too to our neighbor Scott "Re-Po Don't Mess With Me" Crum who helped get the Navigator back from D-Town and Pastors Shawn and Lisa for harboring our Naviagator under the truck CBI (Clifton Bureau of Investigation) protection laws....and for cleaning out the crack dust. We love you guys! Peace out... :)