Roper's Round Up

Today 9 years ago around 3:30pm Chase and I exchanged vows and were pronounced Mr. And Mrs. Roper for as long as we both shall live. We were 18 and 19, expecting a son in May and never imagined what would lie ahead 9 years later. None the less, we are here 9 years later, with 4 amazing kiddos and a love more stronger then I could ever imagine to know.

Being young and immature(although mature for our ages) I never knew what it really meant to be married for "as long as you both shall live." Are those words you live by or just say? At the time, I can admit that I didn't fully grasp the seriousness of those words. The dedication and work it would take to choose to live those words.

3 things I contribute to the success of our marriage thus far and what I believe have gotten us to this point with so much stacked against ourselves is first and foremost God, laughter and fun, and thank God, us growing up TOGETHER. So much growing up happens from 18 to 27. And we have been blessed to do it on the same path with lots of work and dedication to keep our marriage strong and healthy. There is nothing Chase nor I wouldn't do to keep our marriage vows to one another. Trust me, we have had our times of desperation, times of sadness, and times of forgiveness.

I am so proud of us. I'm thankful to God for choosing Chase for me as my husband and shaping him into the man I never knew existed out in the world. For Chase's dedication to our marriage and for giving of himself fully. For loving me the way he does. I look forward to many many more years of memories, laughter and since you can't go through life without hills and mountains to climb, I'm thankful that I get to go through them with my husband, because when there's times I feel like I can no longer hike up that hill and the desperation gets to be too much I know it's Chase's hand I get to hold and God's arms that are picking me up to carry me through.

Happy 9th Anniversary Honey!

As Long As We Both Shall Live,
Sabrena

Just a quick update. Things have been busy busy on the Roper front. We are all healthy and well. Thank you, Lord. All the boys got flu shots this year and I'm seeing such a difference. It's amazing. I felt like last year by this time we were all sick a million times. I'm just hoping we make it through the winter this healthy!

We are all gearing up for a visit from "Santa." Excited for Christmas morning. Our shopping is done, we have made sugar cookies, no bake cookies(which sadly I ruined some how, they didn't harden..lol), watched all the great Christmas movies over and over, sang many songs, decorated the tree, and are now ready for the big "visit."

This year is especially exciting for me since I got to go pick out a Christmas DRESS for Gracie! I found one that, when I saw it, knew it was the "one." I was so excited and she looks just adorable. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures up.

Also, this year Chase and I have chosen to do whats called the "Wiseman" gifts for the kids:
Gold: A gift they really really want.
Frankincense: A gift they need.
Myrrh: The gift of time.(something you do with them)

We are really happy with the choice to do it this way. It will help us not over do it with gifts and teach them the real meaning behind Christmas and what we believe about Jesus' birth. It also made the shopping a lot easier as well.

Please continue to pray for Noah. He is doing pretty good. Like normal we have good days and some not so good days. Right now he has started to hit his head on things again when he is mad, and that is hard to deal with because he does it so hard he bruises and then I'm left with the reminder on his poor little head. He use to do this, but had stopped since this summer. I thought it was a "stage," from frustration, and I guess it was not.

Life is good. God is good. And we keep slowly moving forward. I hope you all are having a great weekend. And are gearing up for time with family, friends, good food, and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

Linus Van Pelt: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'". That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie brown.

Blessings of great joy,
Sabrena

Some special days have come to pass and I just wanted to send out my love:

Happy 7 Months to Gracers on the 10th!
Happy 3 Months to Sophers on the 11th!
Happy 2 Months to Carsyn on the 13th!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Also, if you scroll down on the right, there is a visitor counter, I'm almost to 500 and just want to give a "Shout Out" to my 500th reader, so if you notice that its you, leave me a comment and let me know!!

Hope your having a great week!
Sabrena

Sadly, since our other computer crashed and we can't take it in until next Friday I don't get to post any Gracie pictures. I need a cord for my camera to plug into the old tower, and I don't have that cord. So, I will take lots and post some when we get the other tower fixed.

If you hadn't already make sure to read about how you can help fill Jacob's Stocking this year, below! Be Blessed!

Have a great weekend!
Sabrena

For quite some time now I have been following the story of Amazing Jacob Duckworth. Who at the age of 3, was diagnosed with Adrenocortical Carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal gland affecting only 15-20 kids a year. His story touched my heart and his mother's faith left me often speechless and touched reading her journal entries about his fight and since his passing.

Last year his mother, Heather, started Jacob's Stocking. Please click the link and read about this Amazing boy and his family. And if you can in anyway help, please send them a book or gift card to fill his stocking this year!

If your a friend or family member wanting to get something for us this year, please think about sending a book in our family's name to Jacob's Stocking!

Lets fill it up,
Sabrena

WOW! I have never seen anything like what is going on in our area. It is flooded all over. Chase walked part way to work, and we thought for awhile there, he wasn't going to make it home. Thank God he did though. The area he works in is a lake. The pictures are crazy. To see more of them check out our local paper The Olympian.

I hope everyone is safe and sound. Please be praying for everyone in this mess. Ive read that 2 people have died, sadly, already.

Blessings,
Sabrena

(Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian)

Sadly, our computer crashed. We hooked up our old tower to save pictures off of that one and I thought I would use some of those pictures for tonights post.

Please pray that our picture files can be saved and that it doesn't cost too much to do it. We didn't back up our pictures and Gracie's birth all the way to now are on there and my heart is breaking at the thought of losing them all.

Have a great weekend! Stay warm....LET IT SNOW!
Sabrena

I love this video. So creative and fun. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.



ENJOY!
Sabrena

I've been bad about keeping up lately. Lots going on and I keep forgetting to get Fun Photo Friday's up. But, I will get it up tomorrow.

Couple things I wanted to share.

Noah is doing well. He is making some great progress with his speech. I am getting excited about how much is coming out of his mouth now. We have even heard him repeat us when we weren't talking to him. That's exciting for us. And we are rejoicing for answered prayers!! We are learning to be creative with him. Distracting him from what frustrates him most. That is helping to keep the fits to a minimum and not to escalate. It's working out so much better for us and Noah. His Occupational therapist gave me some great ideas to help him. I'm exciting to see the progress he makes from working with her more as well.

We just had a conference with Connor's teacher, and he seems to be doing really good in calls and is thriving in Math. That doesn't surprise us, because he loves to do math and he seems to catch on and "get" it. One thing Connor was concerned about this year was making good friends. He came home a couple weeks ago pretty upset about kids not wanting to play with him. So we sat down and talked about it and afterwards we prayed about it. Asking God to bring boys' into Connor's life that would be good friends and I'm happy to report that God is working in that part of Connor's life right now. He has come home 2 different time since praying about it telling me about a couple kids that he didn't even realize "knew" him and asked him to play. What an opportunity to share with Connor about answered prayers. Nothing makes me happier then to show him that God is faithful and will answer prayers. Not always in our timing, but I think Connor got to see that first hand and it was awesome to see.

Dawsyn is testing lots of boundaries lately. But for the most part is a pretty good listener. We just started going to open gym time and he loves it. He had a blast running around and playing with the kids. Dawsyn is at an age where he is cracking us up almost daily with things that come out of his mouth. He is so different then Connor was at 3. They both have great sense of humors, but Dawsyn has things that come out of his mouth that I can't help but laugh when I probably shouldn't be. An example of this is the other day when he realized that he had "boobs" (found his nipple), and explained how he could also feed Gracie like mom does. Or when he will be singing his ABC's and gets towards the end and adds "Butt" in as a letter. Not appropriate but really funny. He also says the sweetest thing's like this morning when he went around telling Connor, Noah and Gracie that they are his best friends. After asking me who my best friend was. It melted my heart.

Gracie is on the move. Not crawling, but rolling. And she goes from one side of the room to the other, just rolling around. She seems to be really enjoying her new found freedom. Although, will let me know she is not in the mood to be put down quite clearly with her little "fits." Man, she is all girl. Her little screams and "talking" its all so girly. I love it!! I'm excited to celebrate her first Christmas. Dress her up in a cute Christmas dress. And buy girl toys. It's an exciting time for me!

Our family enjoyed a nice low key Thanksgiving at home. Just our family. Chase and I cooked, and it was fun to be in the kitchen together.

We have our tree up early this year. Although, the kid will NOT leave it alone and that is adding in a whole other thing to drive me completely mad, I'm enjoying having it up and getting our family geared up for the season! This is such a fun time of the year.

Babes are calling. Until next time...Be blessed!
Sabrena

Our family has SO much to be thankful for, and it's great to have this day to reflect on all that God has truly blessed our lives with and also celebrating Gracielyn's first Thanksgiving as well. We hope your day is filled with joy, good company, good food, and love. And that you are truly reflecting on all God's gifts and miracles.

From our family to yours, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

OMGosh, this is hilarious. Watch my little ELVES. ENJOY!

Sabrena

Yesterday my friend Anne and I took our boys(minus Noah, who was napping) to see the Bee Movie. We had a great time, and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

We go to leave after the movie and Dawsyn, having sat for over an hour to watch the movie of course needs to get his energy out and runs to the door, trips and falls face first into the doorway, cutting his head open.

I knew instantly that when I picked him up there was going to be blood, so I swooped him up like a baby and ran to the bathroom, and sure enough he was. Thank goodness, I had been through bleeding, head wounds before with Connor, because I was able to keep my head on straight and not lose control. Although, you should have heard some of the women in the bathrooms reactions. A lot of "Oh my gosh, is he ok," "He's going to need stitches," "I'll get the manager." It's nice to know so many people are willing to be helpful.

Got the bleeding cleaned up and off to the hospital we went. Where we waited for 3 hours to get in and be seen, and they only glued it closed. After waiting that long, I was really hoping for stitches, but none the less it got fixed.

After they placed the band aid over the glued wound, I said to them, "I can't go home to my husband that has been home with my 6 month and 2 year old all day with only a band aid on his head, you have to wrap it like he has a horrible head wound." To which they looked at me like, are you for real? Then I let them know I was just kidding around with them and the dr. said we need more humor in medicine. Yes, we will wrap it for you. So Dawsyn came home looking like he had just been in a car accident instead of just tripping and hitting his head on a doorway. It was quite funny and he wouldn't let us take it off because in his words, "the dr. said I'm a pirate."

Thank goodness, he's fine. And all is now well. We enjoyed the Bee movie and recommend it.

*On a side not I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to my good friend Anne. Who was with me and so helpful with getting it cleaned up and such. And SO brave.(LOL..she HATES blood) Also, after she went home and fed her baby, she came and walked the hospital with Dawsyn, Connor and I as we waited the 3 hours to get in. Isn't she the best???!!

Anne, your friendship means the world to me and I can never thank you enough for all that you are and do for me. God answered a prayer when he brought us closer. In everything that is happening right now, I can't imagine going through it or getting through it without you. There's so many things you have done and the saying "Thank You" just doesn't seem to do any justice, but none the less, I say Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for listening, allowing me to cry, and being the amazing person you are!

I love you Annie!!


Sorry about no photo's on Friday last week was a LONG one, and Friday was not the best of days. It shall return this Friday, so stay tuned.

Give thanks, theres so much to be thankful for!
Sabrena

ETA: I started this on Sunday, finished it today(Tuesday) This happened on Saturday.

I recently had my 25th birthday (okay it was my 28th) and on that day I decided that with my new wise age should come a change in my normal daily routine. A change that involves me praying with Sabrena and the kids everyday before I leave for work. I call it my "Pray with Sabrena and the Kids Everyday Before I Leave for Work" plan. So far, it has been going pretty well.

Basically, I aim to take a few minutes before I head out the door to gather the kids together and pray a blessing over their day. Then I sit with Sabrena and do the same with her, except for this morning when I left after only praying for the kids. I later found out that she then started feeling very ill and is possibly showing signs of mastitis. So as you can see, it is really important that I not miss a day.

In all seriousness, I think it is really important not only to show my kids how important praying together and for each other, as their father, but to show my wife how much I think of her each day. Plus, you can't go wrong by starting your day off talking to God. If your husband doesn't do this with you or your kids and you would like him to, I suggest simply asking him to start. Tell him why it is important to you and chances are he will agree and make an effort to start. I slipped up today and probably will again and its likely your husband will to. Just be encouraging, pray for him to remember and I am certain that your family will grow in spiritual ways that you never thought possible before.

My bestest friend Anne is out of town. This is my post to keep her updated on everything I couldn't call her about this weekend.

Well, I hope you are having a good time. We were being silly yesterday with all the kids and doing karaoke and we sang "Smooth Criminal" and thought it was the perfect start to this blog entry to you. (wink wink).

So, Gracers rolled from her back to her tummy yesterday! That was exciting. We all were rooting her on this morning to do it again. Very fun.

We used the cook book too! We spent a lot of the day pureeing cauliflower, carrots, and sweet potatoes. We made the meat loaf and mash potatoes for dinner last night. It was really good. The kids did ok with it. I think only because it was something new. And Dawsyn was having a hard time with the texture, but they did well. There was celery, onions and pureed carrots in the meat loaf and cauliflower in the mash potatoes, which you could NOT even taste. I was impressed. We are planning on making the chicken nuggets today. So the cook book is a hit so far!

Today(Sunday) I was sad that I couldn't call you to say Happy 2 months to Miss Sophie girl! Gracie was 6 months yesterday and I can not believe how quick time is going. Soon they will be running around having tea parties together! CANT WAIT!

Well, I will add more to this as the day goes on. Miss you and hope you are having fun!

Loves,
Sabrena

I can NOT believe it has been 6 months since I first laid eyes on my little girl. I remember the anticipation I felt that day and how excited I was. Finally to have a daughter. And I have to say it has been more amazing then I ever thought up in my head. And it is different. Different in ways I never realized until I had her. She brings out a softer side in all of us. The boys know they have to be careful and delicate. She looks at them and lights up. Its amazing to watch the love on her face she has for those boys and vise versa. We all are greatly changed by having her apart of our family. And we are enjoying every minute.

Gracers(as I call her) has started solids. She is eating rice cereal with sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, or squash as well as still breastfeeding. And seems to really like it. She is rolling from tummy to back and from back to tummy. She doesn't care to be left on her tummy too long so I think I have at least one more month before she becomes more active. I am praying for that anyways. I don't know what I'm going to do when she is mobile too. She reaches for everything and enjoys having things in her hands to put into her mouth. I will post a better update after her 6 month appointment on the 23rd. I can't wait to see how big she is now and get her allergy tested. I'm hoping she has outgrown her early allergies to milk and soy. Since starting solids everything has been looking great, so that is good news.

I have posted below Gracie pictures at every month...ENJOY!

WE LOVE YOU,
Momma, Daddy, and Big Brothers!

I just found this stroller and it is exactly what I NEED. So feel free to make a great investment for my psychological well being. LOL. Seriously though, how cool is this stroller?

And if you want to get it for me, I like the charcoal, black or red one! In that order. (WINK WINK)

Sabrena

Hope you had a great week! It's finally FRIDAY!
Sabrena

Noah has an appointment for his evaluation FINALLY. January 14th. Please be praying for Noah as well as the eval. Pray for guidance for the neurologist. Just that God is working fully in this whole situation. Also, that nothing will happen between now and then to delay the appointment.


Thank you for your prayers.
Sabrena


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-Noah's thanks!

If your a reader let me know. Leave us a comment!! My ticker keeps going up and I am curious who's reading?

Thanks,
Sabrena

So, I got an espresso this morning. So excited for a little jolt of energy. Dawsyn so kindly carried it into the house for me. I go into the kitchen to do something and he comes in looks at me with sadness in his eyes. I knew right then, he spilled the coffee. I walk into the living room to find my totally full cup of "energy, get me through my day", espresso spilled all over the carpet. Couldn't freak out at him, he was only trying to help, although inside I was CRYING...why???!!

So, I get a towel, while in my head screaming a few "choice" words. I wanted that coffee so bad, not to mention I paid for it. After cleaning it up and getting kids situated, I sit down to read an email I have from my dear of a husband. And this is what it said:

I know your not excited to get older, but oh the wiser you have become!! (wink wink). I just want you to know that you bless me life everyday. Thank you for being a man that adores his family and puts us first. Thank you for being the daddy that takes the time to explain things to Connor, or wrestles on the floor with the boys. That is disappointed if he misses giving Gracie her bath every night. Thank you for realizing the importance of a sense of humor and for making me laugh everyday. I could never put into words what you mean to me and how much I appreciate all that you are in my life. There is nobody I am happier to celebrate then you. And I am so thankful that God gave me this day, November 2nd, to celebrate the greatest man I have ever known. My heart is yours forever!!

Happy Birthday baby,
Your wifey!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! WE LOVE YOU!!! YOUR THE BEST!!

Love: Connor, Dawsyn, Noah and Gracie

I just wanted to share my little munchkins in their costumes. The kids had a great time. Their Meme came over with dinner and took Connor and Dawsyn trick or treating. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Meme thank you for loving us all. Your love for my children and time you invest in them is priceless. I can't thank you enough.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Hope your Halloween was full of fun!!
Sabrena

There's many more cute cute pictures of the Aunties, but they are not on my computer. I will have more of those to share soon.

Have a wonderful week, be blessed!
Sabrena

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9