Eight Kids in our home

Dale and I opened our home to 4 wonderful kids for the week. The Arbelaez's have been friends of ours for several years now. Mitch is Mikiah, Trey, and Drew's gymnastics coach, which gave us a chance to get to know the whole family. Jayden and Alyssa are ages 5 and 3. Jayden really has taken a liking to Trey, which has been a chance for Trey to practice his big brother skills again on a sibling younger than he is used to!!! It has been kind of funny to see what a 5 year old can do to a 15 year old! Lots of piggy back rides, etc.



John Kyle is the oldest child in the family and the same age as Drew. They have been hanging out since last Saturday and haven't gotten tired of it yet! Ginger, their dog, is also staying at our home. Ginger has stayed here several times now and makes herself right at home with Bella. They are friends too!



Alyssa is probably one of the cutest 3 year olds on this earth. She has a personality that matches her as well! Very precious and sweet!


Mikiah and Brianna wanted to dress as nerds, so they got into the dress-up clothes and came up with this.



For me, it has been fun to imagine what it would be like to have 8 kids fairly close in age. When Derek was 18, Mikiah was born, so we had 6 kids in the same house for a few years. We lost 2 babies in 2002 and 2003, so I've often wondered what it might be like had those babies survived. 2 more lives to know and love. I can't want what God didn't allow, but it has been a blessing to have the extra kids and all that comes with that for this week. I know the Arbelaez's will be glad to get back together this Friday and we'll feel like we fit our house again, but for now, we are enjoying the chance to say "Eight is Enough!!!" (Actually, Braden made nine today, and I might add he was a little out of sorts with the extra kids here. He didn't ask for this and he pretty well let us know that he thought we were all about him here!) Braden is a special little boy that we will always love, but Cooper is tops!