Before and After Part 1

First, I would like to introduce you to new situations. And first, here is the before and after about my hamsters.

Before: We didn't have any hamsters. After: We got Freddie and we kept him in a box and kept him in a box until we made his cage and we did the same thing with our second hamster Spencer.

Now, I want to introduce you to our second situation. And next here is the before and after for my Grandpa Farrell.

Before: I saw Grandpa Farrell down in earth (I'm down there now). After: Grandpa Farrell died. Here's the story: One day we were at Mom's house (That's my house) then we went to the nursing home and Grandpa Farrell was there for a couple of weeks and he died June 20th, 2011 and we went to Branson and stayed there until Thursday, the day before Grandpa Farrell's funeral and after that, we went home.

And that's Part 1. Don't go away, because there's going to be a Part 2.

From, Alex

Summer Fun

This summer has been great. Two very small animals joined the family, Harry Potter's the new interest in the family, Mom's doing great on her work, and the house is cleaned daily. (Almost!)

And in all this, there's also been a death.

My great grandfather, Farrel Dablemont, was in a nursing home for a few weeks before it happened. He died on June 20, 2011, at 1:00am. His funeral was June 24, and he was buried in Houston, MO.

Onto a few other things:

Family Welcome: Welcome Freddie and Spencer the hamsters to the family!! Sometime in mid-April, these little guys were brought home by Mom!

Vacation: We went on vacation on June 21-June 23! We went to Branson and stayed at my uncle's parents' condo.

That's pretty much it.

From,

Ryan (who's using this account because he forgot his password for his account)

Spring

I am amazed at quickly life is speeding by me. My little ones are big ones now and the school year will be ending in over a month!

I read a wonderful blog that gave me an idea for a Memorial Box. Right now, it is just a shoe box but it will become much more once I find the appropriate receptacle. It is based on Joshua 4: The Lord told the Israelites to take twelve stones from the bottom of the Jordan as they passed through its waters to make a memorial. For generations it would stand to remind them of the faithfulness and greatness of God.

21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea[b] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

So, in our family box will go small articles that serve as reminders of how God has worked in our family - an amazing wedding, an emergency C-section, a journey of faith to a daughter on the other side of the world...

There is no excuse for not believing and persevering through times when we can't see what the future holds when we hold in our hands the tangible reminders that God's Hand holds us always.

Mama

National Adoption Awareness Month - November, 2010

And Orphan Sunday - November 7, 2010

I am hoping to find a way to host an adoption event here in Bolivar in the month of November with a local group of adoptive parents. Also, as God's infinite wisdom would allow, I pray He'd let us open our home to one more child sometime in the next 2 - 4 years. Hang in there, Riley, if it's God's will, we'll find you!!

Love,
Mama

Check out www.cryoftheorphan.org for more information.

Why Love Orphans? from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

School Times

School is going great! I'm in third grade, Alex is in kindergarten, and Katie is in MWF Preschool. Daddy is me and Alex's computer teacher, and he works at the front desk 11:30-3:30. He has done so much for us! Thank you Daddy!




Just a quick little update.

Ryan

Summer Fun

We have been so busy! Ryan is disgusted that we haven't posted a blog entry in so long. Therefore, a quick Cohen update. Last school year ended well and our summer has been great. We celebrated Alex's and Ryan's birthdays. We went down to Branson for a long weekend with wonderful friends - the Clarksons. We had an amazing vacation to South Dakota - hiking, staying in cabins, seeing wildlife and Mount Rushmore. It was a total dream come true for me. We had breakfast with SpongeBob and Patrick at Silver Dollar City. This week Aiya has been visiting and we went to the Republic Aquatic Center and had a party at Play-4-Fun.

School starts this Thursday. Ryan is in third grade, Alex is my BIG KINDERGARTNER, and Katie is in MWF Preschool!! Eric also will be in school -- he is teaching computers and working at the office at PCCS (Polk County Christian School).
We will have a wonderful, busy, blessed year. We are very thankful.

Love,
Mom

Recent News from January-March!

How does time speed? Seems to me like everything that recently happened had happened 2 hours ago! Not really, but time does seem to hurry. Many recent events, including my dentist appointment to take my teeth out, the 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, cousin Samantha's birthday, Groundhog Day, President's Day (no school on President's Day, go figure!), Katie's birthday, Valentine's Day Parties, our trip to St. Louis, my Grandma Rose's funeral, Zaide's birthday, etc. Many days, many things. Well, goodbye.






Ryan

Recent News In The Cohen Household!

Well, our St. Louis trip was tough and fun. On Saturday, we arrived at our hotel at about 8:10-8:15.
We had a 2 hour swim after unpacking, and then went back for a snooze. Sunday was fun-filled day for us Cohens. We headed to the Science Museum. The hit was the limited "Dinosaurs Unearthed" with over 15 models of dinosaurs that moved, and 5 complete skelitons. Alex liked the Triceratops model, Katie was impressed by the Build-A-Bear dog Mei Mei she got, as well as my Horno, and Alex's Rebel (Star Wars talk!) . I was amazed by the 62-foot-long skeliton of an Omeisaurus. As well as the Discovery Center, I pretty much covered all our Sunday. But wait! There's more! When we got back, we hung back at the hotel for awhile. We watched SpongeBob for a few minutes, and Mama headed to a 4-hour meeting. Then we went swimming and back to bed. Monday was my great Grandma Rose's funeral. Then back home. I am sitting here typing this at 9:93pm while Alex is playing a Star Wars Wii Game, and Mama, Daddy, and Katie are hanging out. Well, that's all for today. Gonna see if I can watch SpongeBob. Bye!

:( Not So Happy

Dad is sick. I'm not happy so please keep him in your prayers. In fact, we had to leave school early so..

Happy 38th Birthday to the best Dad in the world!

Well, I'm late in posting because these last few days were crazy but anyway.

Happy Birthday to my Dad! He really deserved going out with his friend Matt last night. He is the best Dad. While going out to El Rodado last night he got to wear a HUGE sumbraro . Sopapias, flawn, and fried ice cream were the huge menu of desserts we had. It was fun. Plus we got a new Wii game.

On Dec.23, Aiya and Joshua came to visit us! A 1-week adventure filled with fun and friends. Toys were enjoyed by us all. One day we headed up to Springfield for the day. We ate lunch at Lone Star. Joshua refused to try new things but at least we ended in goodness. The hit was problably Jump Mania and Christmas. Christmas was awesome and Jump Mania was nice. I got to see some friends of mine, Cora and Emily, and we had fun jumping and sliding down the slides. Me, Cora, and Emily played "follow eachother around" where one of us was leader and we led the others around. Plus we got a Wii. Fun, fun, fun. Now I gotta go to find something to do.

In case you didn't know (which most of you don't already)I am one of the authors now.

Ryan.

Proud

Ok, I'm proud of them.

Our family is growing every day. I am so proud of the little ones in many ways:

Little Katie continues to grow. She likes her teacher, and T-Th Preschool and seems to do stuff a LITTLE longer than me and Alex. For example, today in the snow, she stayed out longer, but enjoyed ice cream cake and hot chocolate. I am amazed that she has begun going potty in the toilet and so are my mom and dad.


Big Alex is the oldest of these two. He likes going around telling people "my name is Alex" and "i am 5 and a half" whenever he has the chance. He's in MWF Preschool and he's proud to be entering kindergarten this August. He's often crabby, but is very loving. And he's often saying he's often scared of stuff but does overcome it in the end.

Me, of course, you know about, so..

Keep Cool, Ryan

Katie and the Mullet

Busy week for Katie - she snuck into my bathroom and had my makeup all over her and everywhere by the time Eric found her. Then, Friday Ryan was working with scissors for a school project and left them out. Alex came and said Katie was cutting her hair and Eric found her behind the couch with little piles of hair all around her.

We had fun decorating the tree and watching fun Christmas shows. This is a good time of year!


Getting in touch with her inner redneck


I like her little pageboy bob though.

Thankful

I am so thankful for God's blessings in our lives. We have all gotten through H1N1, two rounds of strep and some other severe upper respiratory infection - all in the last two months. Eric and I had a great time at my 20th High School Reunion. It was so much fun and great for me to be back "home" after so long.

We are all well now and looking forward to family and fellowship with the upcoming holiday season. We are trying to instill in the kids this year a sense of gratefulness and an appreciation for their blessings. We are going to focus on giving as a way to show our thanks. The kids are going to do boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

We are also going to be giving to Love Without Boundaries this year. A wonderful organization that helps special needs children in orphanages in China to get basic care and medical care that they need. They help with nutrition, foster care, orphanage supplies, and life-saving surgeries. The link is:
www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Love,
The Cohens

Happy Halloween!!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

NH/MA Vacation

We had a wonderful time this July on our big vacation to see Aiya and our cousins and family in MA. We spent time in NH - all of us together in one condo for a week! It was beautiful and the kids had a great time. I was going to post about everything but Ryan wrote a story about it the other day at the computer at his Nana's. I'll let him tell it and I'll post the photos.
----------------------------------------------------------
My Days in NH
By Ryan Cohen

Ryan was on his way to St. Louis. He was very exited. He was going to Massachutes. He was going by plane with his mom, dad, brother Alex, and sister Katie. When they finally reached the airport, Ryan was so exited (and a bit nervous) he could not control himself. They went down an excalator and went potty in a family bathroom. Then they had lunch at an indoor restaurant we are familer with, Burger King. Then finally, finally, it was time. Ryan and his dad sat with each other while Mom had the littles. Then pretty soon they took off for awhile. Aiya picked them up in Massachutes and drove them to her apartment (which had a swimming pool). The next morning they packed, picked up Auntie Lee, went to Dave and Sandy’s, and drove to NH. Then, when they got to their cabin, their cousins were waiting for them. The next morning, they went to Storyland, Ben and Josh rode the Bamboo Chutes and everyone else (except Ryan and Dad) went on too. Ryan would not go because he was too afraid. A few days later, Ryan thought it over and when they were at Storyland that day, Ryan was told by Mom that if he did ride the Bamboo Chutes, he would get a Thomas Train. At first he refused, but then he changed his mind. So they went on the Whirling Whales, then the Bamboo Chutes. Ryan liked it (so much, he rode again before they left) and Mom bought him ‘Salty and the Ocean Cars’ Take Along Thomas. Then Ryan, Mom and Uncle Jon hiked up Mt. Willard and Ryan LOVED the view from the top. Then Ryan’s family drove for awhile and played in the river. The next day, they drove back and did many other fun things. Then Aunt Marilyn came to St. Louis and that day they had their first ice cream man. They got some Bakugan and ate at many great restaurants. Then they drove home, looking forward to camping in South Dakota next year.

The End

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school and all three of the Cohen kids are now in school!! Ryan is in first grade, Alex in Mon, Wed, Fri Preschool II and Katie starts Tu,Th Preschool I. They were all excited and so far it is going well.
I made them all stand in the yard so I could take their photo. Katie was a little ticked off - first because Ryan held her hand and second because I think she wanted to get to school and stop the photos.

Happy Birthday Ryan Foster!!!

Seven years ago today my life changed forever...I became a Mom. It seemed unreal when the showed me the little bald blonde haired blue eyed baby over the blue curtain in the C-section room. All I had pictured was a dark-haired dark-eyed little Eric - what I got was a blonde curly-haired mini-me! A book-reading, dinosaur and Thomas-loving kid voted "kindest in Kindergarten" with glasses at age four just like Mama. He's our helper now with the "little ones" as he calls them.

Ryan - no matter what you do with your life or where you go, we will always love and support you. We are so proud of our little man that is growing up too fast.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

More Crazy Days

It’s the 5th of July and everyone’s doing well. We spent almost a whole afternoon with the Havens yesterday and the fireworks were probably the hit for everyone except Emory. Little Annie was so brave! I think she’ll do well with next year’s fireworks. The kids had sort of a slumber party and to them, it was pretty fun. The hit of the slumber party was the “poolhouse” and the flipflop pool thingy. What a 4th of July it was! We’re looking forward to my and Aunt Elyse’s birthday this coming 30th of July and Cousin Joshua’s birthday on the 23rd.

Anyway, today and yesterday Mama stays home and the kids are excited. Friday the kids had pictures and they were awesome! Katie started watching “The Fox And The Hound” but soon stopped for a special reason [ which I’ll tell you later]. Soon I started watching it until we decided to color. Anyway, the special reason was the toys in the room where I had pictures for graduation and Mrs. Suzie went with us. When Mama came, we were in the room with Mrs. Suzie. Afterwards, we went to Kathy’s for dinner. The boys sat next to each other and had a blast doing that. These days were fun and we’re looking forward to our trip to New Hampshire!

Love,
Ryan

……. And now, the rest of the story…..

July 4th weekend has been a fun time in our house. Lori has tried to work from the house a lot more while she plays catch-up to prepare for our vacation. We have all enjoyed it. We got to sit with a ton of friends for the fireworks and the kids really loved it. Alex seemed tired but he didn’t cover his ears as he used to. I am afraid my little man is growing up WAAAAAAAYYY too fast. Before that, we spent some time with the Havens family. Matt, Valerie, Ryan’s VBS Group Guide Jen, Annie, and Emory allowed us to intrude on their celebration and share in the festivities. It was very nice to have as many adults as kids. I am sad to say that there is no legal way to keep my parents and have Valerie’s dad adopt me, so I guess I’ll have to savor the memory of that ribeye for a long time! Anyway, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I left there with a full stomach, no hair, and a patriot soul.

Here are some pictures, once the weekend is over, it is time to get everything ready for
NH, MA, and the OUCH convention!

Eric

A little Independence Day trim

The family at SBU for fireworks

Emery shared his fireworks and smoke bombs

By His Name, I am free.

I am free. His Love is greater than anything I will ever face.
There is nothing in my life that means anything without Him. I would trade it all to know and be known by Him. When I tempted to fall back into bondage and put back on the chains, all I have to do is call on His Name. Nothing can hold me - fear and death will not conquer me. By His Name, I am free.

Happy Birthday Alex!!

Happy Fifth Birthday Alexander Fisk!!! My charming, stubborn, snugly, red-headed angel that can do complicated math since age four (including multiplication) but has just this week finally agreed to poop consistently in the potty chair.

I am so thankful for your sweet angel smile and your wonderful laugh. You have taught me more patience and a lot about Wipeout. I will never ever forget the first time I heard your cry and the first night of your life, just me and you snuggling in the hospital bed. How perfect you were then and now...We love you forever.