Merry CHRISTmas!

May your holidays be filled with the HOPE of Jesus, and the JOY of God's love!

From our family to yours,

Honor

People often comment that I have a way with words.  That I can encourage a variety of emotions to stir, all in one post.

I, my friends, have nothing on this teenager.  Her name is Honor.  Click her name to read. 

Shallow.

I'm in a bloggy blah mood...but I think it's because I don't want to talk about deep topics.  I feel kind of shallow right now.  I wonder if God is going to do a work in me soon?  Here am I, Lord send ME!

So in the mean time, I stole this from Jaime at Fearfully.Wonderfully.

I totally stole this from Whitney at The Glamorous Life of a Housewife

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Under the tree, I like wrapping paper.  There is something about tearing open a gift that a gift bag just doesn't deliver.  I have memories of sitting in a wrapping paper flood.  Honestly, I would like the smell of wrapping paper to come as a candle scent.  Don't judge!  Ha!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Growing up, it was artificial all the way!  And my mom was a bit of a matchy girl.  The tree was either all shades of blue, red, green, etc, depending on her mood.  I loved it.  I love personalized ornament trees too, so we do both in our house now!  And yes, all on an artificial tree.  But I want a real one next year.  When we first got married, we got the plantable kind.  They were SO heavy, but such good memories!

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the night of Thanksgiving.  This year?  The week BEFORE Thanksgiving!  I love it!

4. When do you take the tree down?  I have taken it down Christmas night, or at the latest the next day.  Once Christmas is done, it's done. 

5. Do you like eggnog? Yepper!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Cabbage Patch Kids and Pound Puppies.  (That was Jaime's answer and those were favorites...but my  most favorite?  My pink and gray ten speed bike.  Oh yeah, I was cool!

7. Hardest person to buy for? My mom and dad.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My kiddos (all THREE this year!!!)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? You can email them and it's ok to do so?  I must investigate this!  I want to do that!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Hmmm..Gold shoes.  Thanks big sister, Renee!  (wait, that was for my birthday, but it still counts!)

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, and Charlie Brown's Christmas
 
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Black Friday...or randomly before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.  Ok, um, Yes.  Go Green!  (heheh)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies! 

16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? White lights!  But if we get a real tree next year, I think I'll throw caution to the wind and go with colored lights!

17. Favorite Christmas song? There isn't one I don't like.  Seriously.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel to my parents and his family's Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen.  And of course, Rudolph.

20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? Bear angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Eve at the in-laws.  Our family Christmas morning.  My parent's house next, then his family's.  Lots of gifts.  Complete with a birthday cake for Jesus!

22. Favorite children's Christmas song?  I Want A Hippopotomus For Christmas

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The overemphasis on gifts.  I'm all about the shopping, but the stress can be daunting.

24. Favorite ornament theme or color?  Like I said above, we usually do colors that match our living room (red/black).  But now that the girls make ornaments at school or church, I treasure those.

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? Why alienate one?  Both, I say!

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? It sounds selfish.  I only asked for diamond earrings.  But by diamond, I told Tony, the $9.99 kind at Walmart.  heheh.

27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? My dad wears a Santa hat when he passes our gifts.  So sweet!

28. Age you discovered who Santa was? Don't even TELL me Santa isn't real?!?!?

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Eggnog latte from Sta*bucks

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors?  For Christmas?  Red and green!

31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof? Yep...lights are strung!

32. How does Santa get into your house? Chimney or magic key?  Magic key!

33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards? It depends on who it's from!  :)

34. Favorite children's Christmas Cartoon? Charlie Brown Christmas!

YOUR TURN!!

Only God. Only God.

I'm not sure when I'll have time to do another post this week, because I'll be busy living life with my blessings!  Woot woot!  Which is just one of the many things I 'm thankful for! 

So, I thought I'd do a variation on the Memorial Box Monday posts that Linny does over at A Place Called Simplicity. 

She asks us to think about a time God has been faithful, or a time where His voice has been clear.  Then, choose a memento to represent that time and display it where you will remember.  This allows us to recall the goodness of God when times might not look so good.

Well, God has come through in a big way lately.  He not only blessed our family with Stinker, He included a good relationship with her siblings.  We are able to text, call, and see them just about whenever we want to or they want to!  He has somehow created a relationship between us all that does not include jealousy.   We are constantly aware that S's siblings could be jealous that she is with us, while they are not.  But they aren't.  They have confirmed in many ways that S needs to be with us, and they with their cousin in order for everyone to heal.  They have said to us directly, that our home is the best place for S.  How could two children, who have endured just as much as S, extend such caring and grace?  Only God.  Only God. 

Our families both welcome S's siblings into the family as well.  They ask about, pray for, and care about those kids just as much as us.  And her siblings love our family as well.  Matter-of-fact, S's sister recently asked for a get together, so we could all get together and eat and enjoy each other's company.  How could two families, so vastly different in backgrounds and history, be so accepting and open to one another?  Only God.  Only God.

God was also wonderful to my family, by blessing my mom with a wonderful surgeon who did her hip replacement.  She was so hesitant to have surgery again.  So worried about the outcome.  Well, worried until she handed it over to God.  Then, in the holding tank (that's what I call it), right before she went in for surgery, we got to see her.  The peace that was in that curtained room was breathtaking.  The peace on her face.  The calmness in her voice.  Only God.  Only God.

And my mom is healing!  She is stretching, and working out.  She is doing the therapy they are telling her to.  My dad is such a good support for her.  He sees the future for them.  And it looks so much brighter than it did mere months ago.  Man performed the surgery.  Man helps with therapy.  But the ultimate Physician?  Only God.  Only God.

Finally, as weird as it sounds, I'm so thankful that Abby started sobbing when I was leaving this morning.  I think other mothers do the same thing, but I often question my parenting.  Am I good enough?  Did I respond correctly?  Why did I yell?  Was I tender enough?  Did I just act like a child, just like them, just then?  Will they need therapy as an adult?  Those are some of the questions I ask myself.  (and God)  Make no mistake, we are trying to raise our girls, all three, to be independent and confident in who they are.  This usually means that when I leave in the mornings (I leave first) they give me kisses and tell me they love me, and run off to play or finish getting ready.  I'm going to be transparent here.  Sometimes, I get sad.  I hate that I have to leave them in the first place.  Then, I hate that they so easily let me go!  So when Abby started crying this morning, I was, in a weird broken-hearted-yet-joyful sort of way, happy.  She wanted her Mama to stay with her.  She didn't want me to leave.  Oh, my heart!    I have since called and checked on her at my sister's house, and she's fine.  Just needed some more Mama squeezes this morning.  And I'm so glad to do it!  Just over three years ago, Tony and I were longing for a child.  We ended up with gorgeous twins!  (and now S too!)  Only God!  Only God!

There is much more I could write, but I want to know something.  What is your "Only God!" story?

What are you thankful for?

Happy Turkey Day!  Thank you, GOD!

Bonding and Birthdays

On the eve eve of our family birthday, I'm feeling sort of reflective.  But oddly enough, it's a swirl of emotions about our first babies in China, and our newest chickie here.

We prayed and prayed about attachment and bonding before we ever left for China.  We wanted our girls to be loved so much that they'd transfer that bonding to us.  Well, having twins, we got a little of both types of reactions.  I often joke that Abby had the reaction of, "Oh!  YOU'RE Mama and Baba!  Where have you been all my life?"  Seriously.  One Cheer*io and she was hooked on us.  (And we were hooked on her too.)

Laney?  Well, she didn't like us.  It took her a while to warm up to us.  And by a while, I mean...like 20 bags of Cheer*ios later.  Heh.  Even today, we're working on bonding.  But I'm thankful we have come so far.

Then, there's S.  I feel like we're somewhere in the middle.  She can be silly and affectionate (as in, sit on me if I'm layinug on the floor...NO personal space.)  Or, she can be distant and stand-offish.  Like, tonight, I kind of snapped at her during homework.  After she got out of the shower, I went in to apologize.  I told her I wanted to give her a hug.  She was like, "No.  It's fine.  I don't want a hug anyone."  I won't lie, my feelings were hurt.  She hugs my mom, and others! 

But I have to step back and remember:
A.  She's 11.
B.  She's emotional. 
C.  I had just snapped at her.
D.  We're still settling into our new normal.
E.  It's totally uncool to hug.
F.  Any other thoughts?

So other tween moms...tell me everything is normal.  Yes, I'm the QUEEN of OVERANALYZING!  So it's ok if you tell me that too!  Hehehe.

Ok, last request...since our Family Birthday is coming up, do you have any good ideas for how we can celebrate?  We can't until Saturday because Tony has a meeting, but we want to do something fun!  Three years ago we became a family!    Any ideas?

Bahahaha

Two things:

1.  My mom's surgery went smashingly well!  She has a new hip and has been doing therapy beautfiully!  Now if she'll just EAT to keep her energy up!  Thank you for praying!  God is good!

2.  We're all pathetic.  How in the world did NONE of us see on my sidebar that you can follow my Tweets.  But, um, upon further inspection, my last tweet was some 180 days ago?!?!?!?!  Yikes, time to take that off the blog. 

That's it.  It's 2:30 AM and I couldn't sleep.  Random, I know.  But that's how I roll.

(Yes, I'm a little slap happy)

WOW. Talk about suspense.

Ok, if anyone was still checking back to see if we got guardianship,WE DID!  Matter-of-fact, we received the paperwork today that makes it 100% official!  WOOT WOOT! 

Our stinker is no longer a "foster child"  but a child of ours!  (Well, not adopted, but loved just the same.)!

This is a picture from one of the recent "makeover" sessions.  WOW.  I need to schedule them appointments at EB's makeup counter, STAT! 

I know it seems odd that I chose THAT to be our first picture of her posted on here, but that picture, friends, speaks volumes.  S (she doesn't want me to post her real name yet--she prefers Stinker.  ODD GIRL) is such a fun girl.  She is always up for an adventure and loves to laugh.  She is so tender with the girls.  She cheers them on when their afraid, does gymnastics with them to make them strong, prays with them, tickles them, encourages them, and just plain loves them.  And, oh, that feeling is mutual.  We're so thankful to have her as a part of our family!!!! 

Sorry for delaying that good news.  The hearing was Friday, followed by a HORRIBLE virus hitting our house Saturday.  Satan did NOT like what happened on Friday, for sure!  So, I'm finally among the living tonight.  Bottom line, THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYERS!

On one last VERY important note...my mom is having hip surgery tomorrow.  Total hip replacement, actually.  PLEASE pray with me for accurate surgery, my mom's safety throughout, swift healing, and strength for my dad and family.  You guys are the best at praying,   THANK YOU for loving us, through this blog.

BIG DAY TOMORROW!

Isaiah 43:2 (NLT) "When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you."

That was the scripture on my daily devotional today.  I thought it was a good reminder.  I posted it in case any of my two readers needed to hear His promise today.

Also, tomorrow is a big day for us.  At 3:45 we will going to a guardianship hearing for S.  We will find out tomorrow if we can gain guardianship of her.  We KNOW what our hearts say.  We pray it aligns with the judge's heart.  But, ultimately, God's will be done.  


STAND IN PRAYER WITH US, PLEASE!

ANGEL TREE

Oh, my heart.  You have to go HERE and follow the link for the Angel Tree sponsorships.  Or go directly HERE and scroll down to stare into the most beautiful eyes of some of the most gorgeous children.  Each of these children need sponsorships to help their family find them.  You will help lower the costs to bring them home, and away from the tragedy of certain death for them!

WHAT could be more important than saving the life of a child?

You don't even have the exccuse of..."Oh, if my husband would agree, we would adopt."  Or, "If we had the money to, we would adopt."  Well, YOU might not be the one who adopts one of these cuties, but you might help another family take that leap because the costs are lower!  Or who knows, God might knock on your heart by having one of their faces leap off the page at you.

Go ahead and look.  Don't be afraid.  Sponsor one, or sponsor all.  Help save their lives!

He is MIGHTY TO SAVE!

The past few days, all of my girls (Abby, Laney, and S) have been walking around singing, humming, and dancing to the song, "He is Mighty to Save". 

...Savior!...He can move the mountains...He is mighty to save...He is mighty to save!
...Forever.  Author of Salvation...Our God is mighty to save...He is mighty to save!

Those might not be the exact right words, but that's what we've been hearing!  What's cool is that S has had very little church experience.  She basically knows nothing about the Bible and does not have a personal relationship with Christ.  But GOD!  He is working in her little heart.  She sings praises to Him all day.  She BEGS to go to church for youth group and the weekend services (during which she sits with us).  She is learning about the purpose and power of prayer.  And sweetly enough, our daughters have been a huge part in learning about God.  They teach her so much!  Thank you, Jesus!

Well, like I said, all the girls have been singing it.  I heard a bit of Laney's rendition last night.  Her's went something like this:

...Savior, He can move the mountains!  He can move the cars!  He can move the heavy stuff!  He is mighty to save!!!

Bwhahaha.  I thought that was so funny!  But, Sister, He CAN move the heavy stuff!  We just have to let Him!

Also, if we come to mind tomorrow...please pray for us.  We have a court hearing.  S will be staying with us, YAY GOD! but some other changes may occur within her family.  Thanks for praying. 

Awwww

No pics to accompany, but had to share two sweet moments that happened over the past week.

A couple of weekends ago, S had a friend stay over (we talked about it in an earlier post).  Well, S had a blister on her lip, so S, her friend, and Tony went to the pharmacy to get some lip balm for it.  While they were there, they bought me a rose.  It was entirely their idea, I guess.  But they came home with a long- stemmed red rose for me.  They said they got it because I was so sweet and nice. :)  I looked for the sarcasm and found none.  Ha!  (See how much I trust two sixth grade girls?)  They were honestly trying to be nice!  That rose sits in a C*ke glass on my counter.  Every time I look at it I smile.  And I thank God that He chose us to have S for this season of our lives.

-----------

And then yesterday, Tony and Abby ran to the grocery (after he let me sleep in until 11!!!  Yes, be jealous!)  Well, S and Laney were out back playing and our neighbor's grandchildren were out there.  Our kitchen window was open so I could hear and see them.  S walked up beside Laney, and I heard her proclaim loudly, "THIS IS MY SISTER!" and point directly at S.  Oh, my heart!  S immediately ran back in giggling to tell me.  I could tell she wasn't sure how to process the emotions that went with Laney's declaration, but was pleased, nonetheless.  We knew she loved it when she repeatedly told the story to Tony's mom and dad and mine later that evening.  She also wanted to tell a co-teacher I work with this morning.  Sweet Laney.  Sweet S.

Oh, God!  Prepare our hearts now, if she is to only be with us a short while.  However, if she is ours for a loooong season, we will be overjoyed!  If our home is the safest place for her to be, Lord, bless us with this child!  Your will be done!

The room....

Ok, we painted S's room. 

A picture is worth a thousand words...so here are a few pictures...let's hear your words!!

The room before....(our old office)

And below the room after (the room of an 11 year old girl)

Don't fret, the brown office chair will be leaving...a cute white chair awaits. 

P.S. - Tony updated his blog, believe it or not, so check it out!!!

My heart!

So I was sitting on the floor at home talking to the family.  We were just being lazy and hanging out. 

Abby was getting sleepy and ready for bed.  Abby looked over at me and said, "Mama, sit on the couch please."  When I asked why, she said, "I want to love on you." 

Awww...my heart.

We hugged, snuggled, and LOVED on each other!

Thank you, Jesus!

Duck Tail Run...


The girls (including S) and I attended the Duck Tail Run in Gas City with Rob and Ally and my parents. It is quite an awesome car show. Rett stayed home and went shopping with her sisters. Regardless, I just had to share some sights from the show...

Laney immediately spotted this rat rod.  My dad was pushing her in her stroller and she immediately wanted to show it to me.  We went back and she wanted to pose with her favorite hot rod :)

 Abby spotted this one from a distance.  It is her favorite color...PINK!!!  Here she is posing with her favorite hot rod. 

 I did not pose with this, but you have to admit, it is sweet!!!!

 

 FLAMES!!!

 PINSTRIPES

And more PINSTRIPES

You could actually qualify this event as an art show :)  Next time, I think that is what we'll tell Rett so maybe she'll come along.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. 

UH-MAZING!

Yes, I know how to spell it, but I'm in awe...this weekend was UH-MAZING!

Our little eleven year old S is settling in and becoming one of us.  She is getting into a routine and melting our hearts daily.  I figure she's truly settling in because I sigh, grin, giggle, sing with, pray for, hug, get firm with, and roll my eyes at her at least once daily.  Life couldn't be any sweeter.

S had a friend spend the night Friday night and it was really big fun.  I told Tony before we brought Abby and Laney home that I couldn't wait until the girls' first slumber party.  Their first sleepovers.  I had plans...big plans of what we would do.  I have such fond memories of having friends over and my mom making the time so special.  Or, heading to one of my friend's houses full of excitement.  I wanted to recreate that for Abby and Laney...and now, S.  And I think we did.  We sang in the kitchen (into whisks of course), and they taught me dance moves.  They baked brownies and oogled over a neighbor boy who S is sure she's in love with now. :)  They stayed up until 4:00 am (we were snoring they informed us) and got up early.  They let me sleep in and fed Laney (Abby went with her Baba to pick up some tires.)  I mean, could it get any better?  We geocached all day, which all the girls love, and just had a fantastic day.  We topped it off with church that evening (which S's friend came too!) Unbelievable.  It definitely filled my heart up with joy.  Now, the next time though, my neice Kristy is coming over and we'll party like it's 1999!  hahah! 

I wish I could share pictures...but alas, I cannot.  Just know there were lots of smiling girls, both young and old.  They weren't too cool to hang with us, OR with Abby and Laney.  We just all had fun together!

I am still a roller coaster of emotions, because, simply put-fostering is hard.  There are meetings, counselors, appointments, dos and don'ts a mile long.  But would I trade this time with S and her family?  Nope.  Not in a million.

I'm going to kind of switch gears here.  All the fun we had this weekend made me think about those who cannot or will not have that opportunity.  WHICH, led me to thinking about my friend, Adeye's, blog.  She has such a heart for the orphan.  And the least of the least are her passion.  She is sharing information about a little girl who is languishing in a crib on the other side of the world who needs rescued.  She's raising Yulia's ransom and sharing about her in hopes that her family will come forward.  The adoption is NEARLY paid for!  PRAISE GOD!  But can you help?  Read her blog and pray about what you can do.  Is Yulia yours?  If so, email Adeye IMMEDIATELY!  Yulia needs saved!  If she's not, can you spare a couple of dollars to help her family-yet-to-be found bring her home?  Hop over and read her latest three posts.  You'll be changed.  I promise.

Just Because

Just because I need a cute kid fix, I thought I'd post pictures of the girls.  My MIL took these when they were at her house recently.  I uploaded them to Picnik.com and played with the features.  I settled on HDR-ish because I like the cartoon quality with the silly faces.

Ok, ok, ON TO THE CUTENESS!

TOTALLY Newsworthy!

While blog hopping...I stumbled upon THIS BLOG.  OH MY WORD.

Read it.

Process it.

Then pray...I did.

THIS BLOG is WAY more newsworthy than my little bit 'o news below!

Ok ok....for anyone who was actually wondering what I was talking about....

We have our first official "foster" daughter!  YAY!

This is a big deal because this is the same child that was my student last year that started coming home with us once a week.  She and her siblings (who are still at home with dad) spent a lot of time with us at the end of last year and over the summer.  Unfortunately, we don't have the legal space for all of them.  They're not in any danger per se (so don't email me) it was just a yucky situation where the youngest kiddo needed out.  We'll call her S from now on.  She's S because she's a STINKER!  hahah.  Not really.  She's perfect.  A little ornery, very pretty, funny, and smart, and just a great kid!  She makes her bed, asks permission, AND wanted to learn how to do laundry last night!  I know it won't last, but let this girl dream, ok?

THANK you so much for praying.  We can now help S get back on track and be as successful as she deserves! 

I'll keep you posted!

JUST what I needed.

Psalm 59:16 (NIV) "But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble."

This is the scripture from my daily devotional.  God knew JUST what I needed.  He loves me, he's strong, and my fortress.  


But what I needed to hear more was that He is my refuge.  And today, I needed to remember that.

Thanks for praying friends!

Whisper the Prayer a LITTLE Louder Please!

Thank you for those of you who prayed for us today.  I still can't reveal much but I can give you some of the ingredients in today's recipe.

1 dash of courtroom

Several sprinkles of tears

A pinch of fear

Mixed thoroughly with prayer.

Bake for two more days.  See end result Friday late afternoon.  Could be warm, toasty, with the aroma of love.  OR, could be burnt, deflated, and moldy.

I'll update you as I can.  Please continue to storm Heaven!!!