Quick Update!

OK....so I don't really know where to begin but this is a very quick catch up!

• We are all finally in NYC! Yes that includes Dalton and Lyric!
• We enrolled Dalton and Lyric at Evangel Christian School. They will be going to the same school Dustin teaches at. Dalton will be in 2nd grade and Lyric will be in Pre-K. They are both so excited and everyone at the school was so nice to them.
• Samara will also be going to the school with Dustin and she will be in a daycare class where there is 4 one year olds! They are all kids of teachers at the school. Her nursery is next to Dustin's classroom. The kids will all start school on Tuesday since Monday is a Holiday.
• We are working on getting completely settled in our apartment. It will take some time but most of the boxes are finally unpacked.
• My grandma helped me fly to NY with all 3 kids she has been here all week and leaves tomorrow. She has been such a great help.
• I start my job on Tuesday.
• Dustin loves his new job!
• Tomorrow we are taking the kids Apple Picking! I'm sure we will get some pumpkins as well. The leaves up here are completely gorgeous.
• It feels great to have my family all together once again and to be back in NYC!

I hope to keep all our family and friends back in Oklahoma updated more often.

Update

It has been a long time since I blogged last and a lot has happened in that time. Just a quick update. My transfer to NYC has not been finalized and instead of getting upset over this I decided that God wanted me in OK for a while longer. So for the past few weeks I have been living with my dad and his wife in Elk City and traveling to OKC and staying with friends 2 nights a week. About two weeks ago I received a call from DHS that I needed to pick up Dalton and Lyric. It is a long story but I will not elaborate on here. I was in OKC at the time so my dad picked them up as well as Kuper ,my sisters 1 1/2 year old. My mom currently has Kuper and Dalton, Lyric, Samara, and myself have been staying at my dads. Dustin and I have filed for an emergency hearing to request that Dalton and Lyric move with us to NYC. This is a major step but one that we feel God is leading us in. We have already spoke with our landlord and we have received approval for Dalton and Lyric to attend the private Christian school that Dustin will be teaching at. Living in NYC with 3 children will be no small task but I know that God will be with us all the way.
I am currently in NYC helping Dustin get moved into our new apartment. I will return to OK tomorrow. I have enjoyed getting to see him over the past few days and Samara was so happy when she saw him....well actually she cried but sometimes that's what us girls do when we are happy! Speaking of Samara...she is walking like nobodies business! Yesterday she wanted to walk down the street instead of us carrying her. So we each held a hand and she walked down the streets of NYC like she was big stuff! Samara also absolutely loves having Dalton and Lyric around again. When they are wrestling on the floor she just gets in there with them.
Dalton and Lyric are doing well. Dalton is in 2nd grade and Lyric is in Pre-K in Elk City right now. They enjoy going to feed the cows with PaPa! Dalton has even helped bale hay!
I would like to ask for prayer for the following:
Please pray for us, Dalton and Lyric, the judge, and my sister on September 14th. We want what is best for Dalton and Lyric.
Please pray for timing regarding my job. I need to stay in Oklahoma until everything is cleared up with Dalton and Lyric but I also need to get to NYC as soon everything is finished. I'm not looking forward to spending another month without my husband.

MIA - Missing In Action!

So what have we been doing? Packing, going to NYC, packing, going to MiMi and PaPa Tad's, packing, getting ready for a garage sale, ....have I mentioned packing?!



Yep...we have been busy, busy! Everything has happened so fast. If you haven't heard...we are moving back to NYC! Dustin accepted a position at a private christian school in Queens, NY. I always told him he reminded me of Doug Heffernen! Now he will be my King of Queens! Only we won't be living in Queens...we will be living in The Bronx! More about that later!

We had already scheduled a trip to NY in July and it worked out that Dustin was able to meet with his new principal and for us to take care of some things while we were there. We also took time to eat and enjoy our friends.

This is Samara and Marcus. They are six weeks apart. They both love to eat and this night was no exception!

Samara on our way to Pennsylvania. Eating again!

Samara and Marcus trying to figure out the hotel tv.

Our main reason for going to Pennsylvania was to see Dustin's sister, Amy, and her little girl, Rachel. Isn't she a doll? We hadn't seen Amy in over 5 years and were so glad to get to spend the day with them.

This is our new home! We will be living on the top floor. The first time we moved to NY it took us 3 months to find an apartment. We found this apartment in 3 days and I was way more picky this time around. I specifically asked God for 2 things - an apartment with a washer and dryer hook up (so I wouldn't have to spend time hauling our clothes to a laundry mat) and a parking spot (so we wouldn't have to look for parking on the street every day or walk a long way to our house at night). These may seem like things you would expect but in NYC they are a rare commodity. I need to take a minute and just say...God totally cares about those little things. Our apartment has a built in washer and dryer so we don't even have to bring ours. We also have our own parking spot beside the house! We are so blessed! Not only that but the landlord wanted to paint the entire apartment before we move in and he let me choose the colors! That is so amazing to me because one of the things I was sad about was Samara's room and it not looking the way it does now. There are many other awesome things God has done for us over the past four weeks but I will have to share that later.

This past weekend we picked Dalton and Lyric up and went to MiMi's (Dustin's mom) house for the weekend. We had a great time and even got to spend time with Dustin's grandparents as they came for the weekend as well. The kids swam, played with the animals, drove the chuckwagon, and did all sorts of fun things. We even got to stay in the travel trailer which the kids thought was fun! We were so glad to get away for the weekend and take a break from the move.

Samara loved her Papa Tad. She wanted to be with him the entire weekend.

Monday night I took Dalton and Lyric back to their mom's. They are really doing good and seem to be adjusting well. Of course things will never be what I wish for them but I feel like my sister is doing better than she has in the past and I know that Dalton and Lyric need to adjust to one household. I really wish I could just pack them up and take them with us but I know that is not to be. We will still go to court one last time in October but this was the last time we have them before we move. They are both getting so big and are full of life. It's hard to believe that Lyric will be in Kindergarten and Dalton will be in 2nd grade. They grow up too fast.

That's what I have been doing while MIA! I'm sure I will continue to be MIA for 2 more weeks. Dustin leaves August 14th. Please pray for him and Richard as they will be driving to NY with all of our stuff. Samara and I will continue to be in Oklahoma until my job transfer takes place. We will be staying with NaNa and PaPa! Oh what fun that will be!

1 Year Check-up and Pictures

Samara had her one year check-up this week. She weighted 21 lbs and is 29 1/4 inches long. ShShe seems to be growing over night. Samara is in the 50th percentile for weight and height. She had to get 2 shots and her blood checked to see if she is anemic. That seems to get harder as she gets older, especially when she looks at me with those pretty blue eyes that are so sad.

I took Samara to have her 1 year pictures made today. They turned out great of course I think she is just the cutest 1 year old ever!

So shy......

Not Really!!

First Birthday Party and First Steps....

Samara had a great birthday party. All her friends and family came to celebrate with her and I think she had a lot of fun!

Here is the big birthday cake! I think it turned out so cute! Birthday Girl!



She did not really care for opening presents. There were too many people and other fun things to do!

This box looks fun to play with!

Time for birthday cake! Not so sure at first. She just took little tastes with her finger.

Oh yay!!! Cake tastes yummy!

Forget being proper....I'm digging in!

Nothing better than a fistful of cake in the mouth....

except for being able to put your foot in it too!

All cleaned up now and riding my new horsey!

Samara was exhausted after her party...but she was one happy baby!

The day after the party we went to church and Mamaw and Peepaw stayed the night so they came with us. Then we had lunch at Pops in Arcadia. We ate outside and it was so hot! That afternoon after Mamaw and Peepaw left we were playing with Samara and she took her first 3 steps! I though my heart would explode! I was so happy that Dustin and I both were there to see her first steps. She then took 2 steps but wouldn't you know the stinker wouldn't walk anymore when we got the camera out. She would just lean over like she was doing a belly flop because she knew we would catch her. I'm sure it won't be long before she is walking everywhere! She is growing up too fast.

Only God Knew...

Only God knew.... the gift he had in store for us on July 9, 2008. It makes me tear up just thinking about how I had longed for a child for so long and was blessed beyond belief on this hot summer day. Samara Diane Penland was born at 5:59 p.m. She weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. I do not really remember her crying just staring wide eyed at me. I'm sure I was staring just as wide eyed back.

Only God knew.....the way we would worry about her constantly and check on her countless times throughout the night just to make sure she was okay.

Only God knew.....the special place she would have in her daddy's heart, the smiles she would bring into his life, and the tender moments that daddy's and little girls share together.

Only God knew....the way I would love her so much that my heart would feel like it would burst, the excitement I would feel everyday when I picked her up out of her crib, and the special way she would hold my hand at night.

Only God knew....the joy she would bring into our lives.

There is no way to describe the past year except such blessing. Every day with Samara has been special and I will never take this gift for granted. I only wish we could hold on to her and this moment a little bit longer.

Today we celebrated her birthday with just the three of us. We let her open her presents and we sang Happy Birthday to her about a million times. She loved it! Saturday we will be having her actual "party" with friends and family.

Just a side note...we had a diaper blowout and the birthday onesie was no longer wearable!

Here are some things about Samara as she turns 1.

• Samara has only 2 bottom teeth. She got these when she was 9 months old. I keep thinking she is getting some more in but not yet!
• She still does not have much hair although she is really working on it! Her hair is still light and in the sunlight it looks like she might have some red in there.
• She is pulling up and wants to walk really bad. She tried really hard today but not quite yet. That being said, she can crawl faster than I ever imagined.



• Samara loves to climb and mastered her first set of stairs at PaPa's last week. She about gave me a heart attack!

  



• She can say baby, mama, dada, nana, dog, no, turtle, and tickle-tickle.
• Her favorite toys are her baby dolls, stuffed animals, and her walker.
• Samara loves to eat big food and is learning to drink out of her sippy cup. I do not know of any foods she does not like.
• Samara is very alert and is interested in everything and how it works. She can be very serious. (Don't know where that came from!)

• She loves kids but is not so sure about strangers. She does not really like being touched by people she doesn't know. I guess that is a good thing.
  
  

  Turning 1 is such hard work!
  
  

Birthdays, Fireworks, and Independence

It was a crazy busy weekend but we had a great time celebrating our country's Independence! We ate great food, spent lots of time with family, popped fireworks, and just enjoyed being together. My grandma had to have an unexpected surgery on Friday and thankfully everything went well. She was released from the hospital today and is doing great.

Samara had a great time celebrating the 4th. She really wants to play with all the big kids. She even stayed up for the fireworks which is something for her since she is usually asleep by 8:00. Fortunately the fireworks did not scare her one bit. She was such a good baby all weekend and was so happy to be spoiled rotten all weekend by her grandparents!

Here are some pics of our little firecracker!Our family!PeePaw & Mamaw with the grandkids! We bought them all Old Navy t-shirts! Samara was too interested in other things!Friday night we celebrated Dalton's 7th birthday! Happy Birthday Dalton!Saturday morning, Samara and I took a swim in Mamaw's hot tub. She had turned the heat of earlier in the week so it wouldn't be hot. Samara was fascinated with all the bubbles the jets made.Kuper! He had played hard!Here is my precious Lyric! She was lots of fun as usual!

Isn't that a cute 7 year old!

It was hard not to think about this time last year. I was 9 months pregnant and we were greatly anticipating the birth of our baby girl. It is amazing how much change a year can bring. It was much more fun celebrating the 4th with her in my arms compared to in my belly!