Shrimp Boil Fundraiser RECAP

Just an update, we had a BLAST at the Shrimp Boil fundraiser. We are SO thankful for ALL who came to eat, chat and support us in our adoption.
We appreciate you!

We made $970 at the event! What a blessing!
We are another step closer to our fundraising goal!

I was so busy, I forgot to take (a lot) of photos...Here are a couple I managed to grab!

It's NOT too late to support our adoption! Check out our GoFundMe page!

We had some photos and details about our adoption! Thanks to ASHLEY for
setting it up and making it look cute :) 

A LOT of details went into this event, and we had to keep humor on our side!
We had a blast pulling it all together with my dad, Lummy. 

IN ACTION! These two (and Billy!) cooked their hearts out!

Double Trouble IN and OUT of the kitchen!

A sweet lady helped us keep the customers happy! 

SIBLING love :) We worked together and didn't fight. Haha. LOVE YOU bro!

Virtual Lemonade Stand Fundraiser

Our cuties are on the corner selling lemonade.

 If you cant make it by, consider donating online here.

2016 Updates and NEWS

Yup! It's 2016 and this blog has sat vacant for a while. We DO have an awesome family and we are SUPER crazy busy.

Here is a photo of us doing an impromptu family day within the margin of our busy lives.

Batson Family Photo

E is 7 years old, Grey is nearly 4 years old....and as their parents, we are.....tired :) 

We have 2 awesome and active boys, and we have a FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENT!

We are ADOPTING a little girl!

We have been prayerful and trying to find a program that would work for our family, we decided an international adoption with All God's Children agency and the country of Colombia is our path. 

We will TOTALLY need YOUR help, love, support, kindness and donations to walk

this amazing journey. We have NO immediate time lines, but we COULD have a sweet 

girl (under the age of Grey. 0-4 years old) between 12 and 36 months from TODAY!

Stay tuned on our blog for MORE info and this space will become details of our journey.

If you have tons of extra cash and want to support us monetarily, here is a link! We started a

Go Fund Me account to assist in the over $35,000 it will take to bring a sweet girl HOME forever.

School Supply Donation Link

Thanks for supporting the kids of Reynosa, Mexico!  As a mom, I know how important it is for kids to get an education.  Your support will pay for school supplies and discounted shipping of the supplies to our friends and partners at Strategic Alliance. 

The supplies will support kids in their Escuela Viva program. 
To learn more check them out online!

Donations for Trip

Thank you for considering a donation to Jerret's trip.  We appreciate your monetary support and thoughts while he spreads God's love.  Any size donation will help us with this endeavor.

Please note, you do NOT need paypal to checkout through this site.  Paypal is the third party that processes the credit cards.

 To checkout with out a paypal account look in the bottom left of the screen for "Don't have a Paypal account? Use your credit card or bank account"and click CONTINUE.

Parenting Insight

I had this super awesome blog composed in my head to share....and I lost it.  Between the cold, coughing, hacking, fighting with a sick 3 year old and catering to a sick hubby....it flew out of my head.
SO, I am going to offer some parenting insight on....God's Grace.

In parenting a 2 year old last year, I was SURE it could not get any worse.  BOY, was I wrong.  This three year old's attitude, questions, and sweet innocent face are TOTALLY messing with me.  He does EXACTLY the opposite of what I ask him to do....JUST after I ask.

God gave me some morning quiet time last week, and I realized that I do the SAME thing.  God says, learn my Word--I complain I don't have time.  God's Word says--Love your neighbor, and I gossip or judge them.  God's Word says honor your parents (and I believe that applies to in-laws, too!) and I snap at them.  God says to honor your husband--and I ignore or complain.  My list goes ON and ON!

But there is freedom from all of my issues and my kiddo's.  Its Grace and Love.  I love him SO much that I forgive all his silly attitude issues and constant fighting with me.  God does it for US, too--and I am SO incredibly grateful for His grace and love.

When I am ready to loose it with my little guy, I remember that God gave me grace so I should attempt to correct and love my guy.

And we're BACK!

I'm back from a long vacation of blogging. I had a sister blog going and lost track for a while. Starting a new job, getting pregnant and raising a just turned 3 year old is AWESOME.  I want to continue to offer news, updates and advice for all those mommas out there!

What's Up with us!?  Here we go

1. We are pregnant with our SECOND boy.  And NO, we don't have any names yet.  We won't have them until delivery :)  We are due late October
2. Eph is 3 and SO sweet, adorable and fun!  Of course he is challenging, obstinate and moody.  Welcome to living with a preschooler! 
3. We are EXPLORING minimalism while still finding deals with coupons.  Doesn't sound like a contradiction, but to a stock piling momma--IT IS!  Join us on the journey.
4. Both mom and dad have new jobs. New jobs=new demands.  Be patient with us.
5. We have grown SO much closer to the Lord.  Seriously.  It will show through our posts!
6. I still want to share great deals with you--so lets get to it!

TARGET (which I only go to once per month Unless there is a sale) has their large bags of diapers on 15% off or more clearance. Pair that up with a Target Coupon $1/1 (from 4/29 PG, expires 6/9) and the $1.50/1 Baby Dry or $1.50/1 Swaddlers from coupons.com and you get a STOCK UP opportunity!  I got size 2 &3 diapers for about $0.16/diaper!

If you don't believe me, checkout one of my favorite sites, Baby Cheap Skate.  They have a cool match up weekly and a few awesome diaper growth and stock up sheet at the bottom. LOVE that site!

If you are wondering, YES I considered the cloth diaper deal. And YES I even bought some cloth diapers. I "calculated" out how much time and energy (from my home) it would cost for these cute cloth diapers and realized I wasn't going to do it. It was a hard decision, but I think I will spend my time invested in other baby stuff.

Photos of E's 3rd bday are posted on facebook and other social sites. Check em out : )