2 under 2

Life has been GREAT and BUSY with 2 sweet boys!

The boys are growing SO fast! Jackson has become such a big boy! He loves to help Mommy with sweet Drew and the house work! We could not ask for a smoother transition for him. Drew had his 1m check up and he weighed in at 10lb and 11 oz and measured 23 inches long!

Mother's Day/Drew's Baby Dedication was a VERY special time for us! Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins joined us at church for this special service as we dedicated sweet Drew! This was also Drew's 1st time at church!

Birthday Parties! Jackson and I have been partying like crazy! Since Drew has not had shots Marty has kept him in while I took Jackson to his parties.I've enjoyed this Mommy/Jackson date time as well as watching him play with his friends and visiting with my friends!

Father's Day-Marty, Jackson, and I took Paw out to eat for Father's Day and to celebrate his retirement! :) Drew enjoyed visiting with his Nanny Nancy and Poppa Beary while we were away at dinner. The boys and I worked all week on a craft for Marty's Father Day present and then Jackson and I had a little shopping date and went to pick out a tool box that Marty had mentioned he liked.

Jackson took water baby swimming lessons at LA Tech. He has learned so much and really enjoyed it! One of my fav stories from swimming lessons...Jackson tends to be distracted by the pretty little girls at swimming lessons. Tonight while he was gazing at one of them she smiled back. He then raises his hand up like a claw and goes "Raaaaaar" followed by a big cheesy smile! Such a ladies man just like his daddy!

Swing Set-We decided that boys needed a good swing set for some outdoor recreation.  When we received two boxes, it appeared as though assembly would be a breeze.  Then we opened those two boxes!  After 20+ hours of assembly, 1000's of parts, and a 67 page assembly guide, the boys now have a swingset complete with a clubhouse, slide, monkey bars, and 3 swings.

Peach Fest-Afternoon at the peach shed visiting with cousin Debbie, the goldfish, and yummy peach ice cream! 1st Parade with both boys, oppressive heat, and Jackson went to the rodeo with Paw and Daddy!

OH MY! Has it really been 5months?! Time flies when you're having FUN! After lots of prayer we have followed God's plan for our family and I began the journey as a stay at home mom! We could not be more happy with this decision. God has blessed and provided for our every need! The last few months have been BUSY but oh so FUN! Babymoon-over night getaway, Salt Grass, and George Strait! Jackson's 1st haircut! Jackson's 1st trip to the Circus and lunch at Cracker Barrel! Jackson's 1st trip to Chuck E Cheese! Easter egg hunting, homemade ice cream, and time w/ family! The pregnancy did not got any easier but I fully enjoyed every minute with Jackson Reid! I am so thankful that I was able to spend so much 1 on 1 time with him before he became a Big Brother! Jackson was also able to continue going to Mrs. Sammye(whom he LOVES) a few days a week to play with his friends!

Holy, Holy, Holy, is The Lord God Almighty

It's been 4 months since we last blogged! WOW! I've thought several times over the past few months I need to blog, I need to update, but for one reason or another I(Sheila) just couldnt find the energy or honestly the desire to do it....

We were blessed in September with a great surprise...Jackson is going to be a BIG Brother!!! You would think that we would be over joyed and that would bring lots of smiles to the Cantrell home that simply wasnt what took place. I was very sick and hospitalized from the beginning. This caused me to be pulled away from Jackson at just 11 months of age. :( As much as I wanted to focus on the excitment and this AMAZING BLESSING that God had blessed us with I simply could not. I was extremly sick and on bed rest with the possibility of major preg complications...this caused anger, fear, depression, basically every emotion except for excitment. To be honest I spiraled into the valley so fast that I didnt think that I deserved to be loved by anyone...much less my Heavenly Father.

October I tried to be full of energy and excitment for Jackson's BIG Day! His 1st Birthday! I was def lacking energy but I did manage to have the energy to celebrate with my baby boy on HIS Big Day! What a great day it was! It was everything I had envisioned and we are SO thankful for great friends and family that made it SO special!

The following weeks were hard...we experienced situations and events in our life that I never thought possible and as hard as we tried to cling to the truth of knowing that HE is Holy I found myself sinking deeper into the valley. I could begin to share with you all of the diffuclt sitations that made life so hard but I choose to share what we learned, how HE worked, and how God and only God was able to FILL our hearts, life, and home with absolute JOY!

We celebrated CHRISTmas OVER JOYED!!! We had no idea how much magic and excitement a little one could bring to Jesus Birth Day! Jackson lit up as soon as he saw what Santa had delivered! Our house is now a playhouse and to be honest we wouldnt have it any other way! As I thought about Jesus Birth I began to think about what Mary must have felt....What a TRUE miracle and Blessing I have been blessed with to carry our 2nd child! No matter the diffuiculties or bumps in the road we may experience over the next few months we are THRILLED about the arrival of Jellybean in April!

As we look forward 2012 we are excited and encouraged about God's plan for our family! I (Sheila) have never been more happy about where I am in life. We know with out a doubt God has used bad for good and richly blessed our family!

We have heavy hearts for sweet friends and family that are experiecing hurt right now. God has taught us over the past few months that no matter how hard the situation, no matter how deep the valley, when we follow HIS will WE will rise upon the mountain.

As easy as it ewould be to look back on all that went "wrong" we choose to PRAISE HIM! He is love, faith, provider, great physician, father, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!!!

This week has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me...sadness, excitement, fear, faith, joy, anger... I've never felt so unsure of myself... of my FAITH! Why? because I allowed Satan to blind me with FEAR!

Our adoption file has been officially closed for now...although, we know without a doubt that is what God has called us to do at this time, it does not make it easy!Even after God made it clear we did not want to see it. We searched in hope that a miracle would happen... Our agency along with every other agency we contacted told us basically the same thing...adoptions are just not moving...that country is not open at this time...you do not qualify for that country...every door closed in our face. So, for now, we will not be moving forward in our adoption journey BUT we WILL be seeking HIS guidance and having FAITH that is HIS timing we will complete the journey.

As hard as it was to accept that we could be closing the adoption for now...I am however, excited about the work that God has done in my life this week! He has humbled me, loved me, and showed me grace. I've experienced spiritual lows and spiritual highs...and through it all HE has carried me! He has reminded me HIS plan is always the BEST plan!

10 Month Update

Jackson's new favorite activity is eating! I'm not sure who's child he is, but his favorite is stewed squash and onions. Neither of us are fans! He also enjoys anything bread. Ice water is his drink of choice. He just returned from vacation in Gulf Shores where he fell in love with Lambert's and "girls in bikinis". We took him to the beach for a week's vacation just before Marty started back to work and Jackson started "playcare" at the Best home. We spent one night in Fairhope and took Jackson shopping at an old time toy store before heading to our condo. We went outlet mall shopping twice and Jackson loved playing in the sand on the beach. He really enjoyed his sandbucket and toys he got for a gift just before leaving. He had a blast floating in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and eating breakfast on the balcony overlooking the gulf. He has developed a love for the ladies and did a lot of waving. He tried out the dining at Tacky Jacks, LuLu's, Zaxby's, The Tin Top, and The Mellow Mushroom, but still prefers Cracker Barrel. He continues to learn new things. He says bye-bye, he crawls, claps, pulls up,rolls the ball, loves walk with support. sleeps 12 hours a night in his crib. He still loves reading and music. His favorite song is the Hot Dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. At his last check up he was in the 98% for length and FINALLY almost 20 pounds! HAHA Mommy's skinny boy!:)

Heavy Hearts....

Adoption Update!

When we became pregnant with Jackson it was suggested by the agency that we "freeze" the adoption for 18 months. Soon after we made the decision to do that Kazakhstan closed international adoption. We knew that this was all part of God's plan. Our prayer has been that in 18 months it would be open. It has been 18 months....and it is still closed. We were informed this week that our agency will no longer have a Kazakhstan program. So, that means BIG decisions for us....Do we continue to wait it out and be forced to change agencies, do we change programs(country) and stay with our agency, If so, what program?! For quite sometime now we have questioned if we were perhaps being led to a different area of the world...so should we change to that program...but why would God have made it SO CERTAIN and SO CLEAR that we were to adopt from Kaz if He was going to call us somewhere else? As you can see our hearts are HEAVY... We DESPERATELY want to FOLLOW HIM! No matter WHERE that may be BUT we have got to be certain that its what HE wants and not our own desires! We ask that you please be in prayer for our family (Marty, Sheila, Jackson, and Jackson's sweet baby bro/sis!) P.S. We have to give our agency a decision by September or our file will be removed!!!!Yikes!

WOW!Time really does FLY when you're having FUN!!!!! Jackson will be 9 months old in just 6 days! We have truly had the BEST 9 months of our life! Jackson brings more joy to our life every single day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!:)

Yes, it is true, DADA won! Jackson officially said his 1st word on June 5, 2011. We were hanging out in the living room watching Will play on the wii. Jackson was laying on the couch playing with Sheila and looked up and said "DADA!" It was def a PROUD moment for daddy and Mommy... well, she had to admit Daddy won! No seriously, Mommy was pretty excited too watching Daddy light up every time Jackson uttered that single word! Jackson worked hard to polish it up and have it just perfect for Marty's 1st Father's Day!

LOVES to play with his Fisher Price Sit and Stand. He likes to dance! :)
Loves reading more everyday!!!! (This makes Mommy and Daddy proud!)
Peek-a-Boo is his fav game!
Mickey Mouse is his new BFF!
loves to giggle and play with Beau and Bella! (& they are GREAT with him!)
7/7 Waved Bye Bye when we were leaving Nanny's!
Eats EVERYTHING he can get his hands on!
Cracker Barrel is his fav restaurant!

Enjoyed a week getaway with Mommy and Daddy to South LA and NOLA!
-Daddy had to take a class for work so Mommy and Jackson tagged along and hung out at the hotel. Mommy and Jackson had lots of fun swimming and hanging out! Then we drove over to NOLA to see cousin Karla and show Jackson the sights! We had a super busy day going to Cafe Du Monde, strolling the French Quarter, River Walk, and hanging out at the Aquarium! Jackson was the BEST baby! Never fussed 1 time and LOOOOVED the aquarium!