First, I'd like to begin this thankful post by saying I am truly thankful I was not on the Mayflower voyage to the new world, thankful not to be among those pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. We watched a movie with our kids recently on the pilgrims and if that animated video was even 10% accurate in depicting what life was like on that boat for months and then the first few months in the new world, it was rough, y'all! And cold and there was no food and everybody was dying, and on that boat? Seasickness and close quarters and nothing to do for weeks and weeks that turned into months! Eye-opening, that little Charlie Brown cartoon was!______________We put up our Christmas tree this weekend, and I love that my children have NO CONCEPT of spreading out the ornaments! Even when I started laughing about a particularly crammed section of the tree and got out my camera to document it, they were looking at me like, "What?" They had no clue why it was funny to me to see about 30 ornaments in a 6 inch section of the tree!
______________A family trip to Target, buying and wrapping gifts for children who may not otherwise get gifts this Christmas. Such a blessing! Every year after Thanksgiving our church takes a week and for about 4 different nights we send buses to low-income apartment complexes all over our city and pick up bus-loads of people, bring them to our church where they are served a hot meal complete with dessert by our church members, entertained with a spectacular Christmas show, delivered the Gospel message, prayed with, invited to come back to our church any Sunday, and then when they board the bus to go home they are greeted with bags full of groceries for everyone and toys for every child, geared for their specific age! It is a great ministry and a blessing to be a part of!
______________These babies arrived in the mail today! What are they? Well, plastic molded flowers to be exact. But really? Pure happiness is what they are! What am I going to do with them? Well, what couldn't you do with them? I've already made 2 rings, one for me and one for my daughter, just glued them onto a blank ring (that you can buy for less than $1.00 on Etsy.com). Want some of this happiness for yourself? Here's where I got mine.
______________My kids and I made little paper cities today. Printed them from here.
Oh so fun! Although there was some frustration when the cities kept falling over (my kids haven't mastered the art of a delicate hand, yet), so we taped them to the floor!
I was busy cutting out the 22nd or 23rd little .5 inch person
and looked up to see my 3 year old getting a little crazy with the tape!
Notice in this picture 15 minutes later he's still sportin' the tape head. Yeah, he thought it was hilarious and wanted to show Daddy when Daddy got home from work. Big Brother was happy to do the honors of pulling the tape out at the end of the night. Thankfully my 3 year old is tough and didn't yell at all about all his hair being ripped out!
All three of my kids playing together with smiles for hours over toys that cost us nothing, except some paper and printer ink?More than priceless!Find more
Tuesdays Unwrapped here.
I warned you guys yesterday that I have projects in mind. Many, many projects I want to complete! And because I'd like to pass on the neurosis, I mean inspiration, I'm sharing a few (a mere fraction of my long list) ideas with you. I know it's kinda crazy to think of tackling extra tasks during this busy time of year, but these crafts are sure to make any holiday extra merry!
- We really need a new duvet cover for our master bed and I'm thinking of trying something like this.
- This ruffle necklace is so cute and seems really easy, would even make for good Christmas gifts!
- And I admit that the instructions to make this fabric basket intimidate me a little so I probably won't attempt it, but oh my at the cuteness! And just think of all the things you could store in something like that -- so practical!
- While we're talking about crafts that are over my head, this softie doll is out of my league, but it is so sweet, I really may try it!
Happy weekend before Thanksgiving! The stores will be crazy for the next 5 weeks straight, so stay home and craft!
The fact that this post is marking 7.2 months waiting and not 7 months is a blessing! The 7 month mark passed last week with little notice of the milestone!
We are surviving this wait without losing our minds (even though it has admittedly been longer than we expected at the beginning of the adoption process)!
All that is not to say we are not ready, more than ready, to see her face, learn her age, and mostly to bring her home.
But we're getting closer.
And we're going to use these next few months without her to really get ready. I have a whole slew of projects in mind to tackle! Can anyone say nesting? Yes, I think it may not only be a pregnancy instinct but occur for pre-adoptive mamas, too! Feel very sorry for my husband! I'm broaching this idea to him tonight! A little Christmas break project! Hey, our current shoe and backpack shelf only accommodates 3 kids!! And the project does say it's for skill level: beginner!
Find more Thankful Thursday here.
We have a new member of the household. A caterpillar found in our backyard garden and brought in on Sunday has now taken up residence in a pickle jar on the breakfast room table. The 5 year old's vote won out and so she is named, "Caroline", which is what the 5 year old has named nearly everything/one she's been privileged to name for a couple years now. The 3 year old lobbied for "Tessie", or maybe he would have spelled it "Tessy"? Doesn't matter, he yielded to Big Sister's wishes and Caroline the Caterpillar it is.
Here's her close-up there on the underside of the leaf:
Did I mention I know nothing about the care or keeping of a caterpillar?
In fact all I really know about caterpillar eating habits and life-cycle came from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. So, after the first night when she ate nearly all of her nice green leaf, I picked her some more, and threw in an apple slice for good measure. You'll be glad to know I did stop before I added a piece of chocolate cake.
And just when I thought Caroline the Caterpillar may have died, lo and behold, she began creating a silky, weby, cocoon-like thing around herself!
My limited (as in I only had about 6 minutes to devote to it) Internet research tells me it will take at least 2 weeks for the metamorphosis and that in all likelihood, if on the very remote chance that this thing survives to emerge from the cocoon, it will be a moth, rather than a butterfly.
But, we'll take what we can get.
In other "This Is Our Life" moments from the past couple days, the 3 year old managed to get a hold of some dental floss and had big fun before he was caught all tangled in it. Anyone else ever have the feeling they live with Curious George?
And then there was this Kodak moment while baking some cornbread with the 3 year old. And I wonder why when one of gets sick around here we all get sick! Stirring with one hand, licking with the other!
Find more
Wordful Wednesday and
Not So Wordless Wednesday.
I choke up on the thought that because of this, this one decision, his whole life will be different, the pessimist wants me to wonder if he really gets it, if he really means, “Jesus I give you my life.” Or if he’s just saying the words that seem right to say.
I know it will be a journey, the journey of a lifetime, this walk between the Lord and my now 7 year old boy. There will likely be times they walk closely together and times my son runs ahead too far or lags behind.
But this is one area in parenting, the only area, where I do have all the answers. And they are absolutes, they are true, and I believe them beyond a shadow of a doubt. There are so many uncertainties in this life, so much room for debate, so many times I honestly need to answer, "I don't know."
But this much I know, and am so grateful to be able to tell my son, "Jesus loves you. He loved you before you were even born, He created you. He died for your sins. He wants to have a relationship with you, but you have to make that choice. He's not going to choose for you. You only have to ask once and really mean it. Sure, you'll mess up, and you'll need to ask for forgiveness, but you'll never need to ask Him into your life again. . . "
I’m just so thankful to have a loving, all-powerful God and Father to lead my son to. Grateful that although I have no idea what his life has in store, God is good and he’s got my son right in his grasp. I’m grateful to know the end even while the middle has yet to unfold. And I wonder what it is like for parents that don’t have that.
What do they give their children -- what hope, what guidance, what legacy, what purpose, what truth, what eternity, what assurance?Find more
Tuesdays Unwrapped here.
My little girl doesn't really like regular jeans, says they're uncomfortable, mostly because of the whole snap or button at the waist. Typically I'm great with that, I love dressing her in skirts and dresses anyway, but there is a practicality to jeans, especially in the winter, so I made my girl some ruffle pants out of soft denim material.
She's a fan of the elastic waistband (and if we're being honest, who isn't?)
I love that they're cute, a durable fabric, and practical for times when skirts or dresses are not best!
I bought the denim at my local Joann's Fabric and followed this tutorial for ruffle pants.
They really were not hard to make, and I ended up spending way less than if I'd bought her some jeans!
I was walking out to the car through a parking lot with my 3 year old one day this week, holding his hand, when he said, "M-ahhh-m" (in this drawing out the word kind of way that he has of saying "Mom" like a 16 year old would, but he only uses this when I have done or said something he just really can't believe I would do or say; otherwise I get a pleasant "Mommy".). I couldn't imagine what his tone was about, I hadn't said anything that could have possibly offended him.
But then he said, "Stop stepping on my shadow!"
The nerve of me!
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My 7 year old is going through a phase where he loves putting on little magic shows for us (he recently saw a magician perform at our preschool's bookfair). But, his skills are a little lacking. Tonight, for example, he held up a blanket with his little sister behind it, turned to my husband and I (the audience), said, "I'm going to make her disappear!", and then turned to the held up blanket and whispered very loudly to his sister, "Now, run!"
Not exactly the master of illusion, but hilarious to watch, none the less!
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My 5 year old daughter is really bummed that she's likely going to be too sick to go to school tomorrow, too, she loves it so much! But wow, I'd forgotten how great it is to have her home! She totally entertains my 3 year old, who has been very cranky this week as he recovers from an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. Now, my daughter, who has Strep throat along with a cough and a full-body rash? Her mood is mostly lovely. You wouldn't even know she was sick aside from the initial fever, positive Strep test, very apparent rash, and coughing. Funny how the gender stereotypes of men/boys being terrible patients seems to apply even to my young kids. When my boys are sick or hurt, and often for days afterward, everyone knows! They complain, they whine, they're cranky, they are demanding, and generally hard to deal with.
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I don't know how teachers deal. I was emailing my daughter's kindergarten teacher this week about her sickness and expected days out of school and she replied that many kids were absent, several with confirmed Strep, and of the kids that were in class she said, "EVERYBODY is complaining about something -- head, throat, tummy." Now that times a classroom of kids would be hard to put up with all day! Hurray for the cooler weather but boo for all the sickness of this time of year!
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Speaking of sickness, can I just get a "Praise God!" right now for pediatricians that prescribe parents medicine, too. I love this about our family pediatrician! When I took my 3 year old in on Monday for his fever, I knew I wasn't feeling too great, and likely had caught his same sickness, but I wasn't about to mention it. But, our pediatrician has 5 children around my age, and grandchildren similar ages to my kids, and treats us like family. He heard me cough once and said, "That sounds bad; I'm giving you something, too." No arguments, no negotiation, that's just the way it was. And good thing, too, because there's certainly no time for me to get in with my own doctor!
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But we're surviving, I finally made it to the grocery today and stocked up on some yogurt probiotic drinks, even found some my kids like, and chocolate ice cream to make chocolate shakes. I served my daughter a shake for a snack today and she wondered as she drank it, "Why can't I have regular ice cream, too?" She's not demanding, she just likes chocolate ice cream a lot. And she had a point, I mean if you have Strep Throat why not chase a chocolate shake with a bowl of chocolate ice cream? So, that's what I let her do!
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I just recently came across this, and was really happy to see a positive news article on adoptions from Ethiopia. The article points out that Ethiopia wants to work with countries like the U.S. because they want to do their adoptions the right way. And even goes so far as to say, "Other countries should look at what Ethiopia is trying to do."
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Happy Friday!
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All three of my kids playing together with smiles for hours over toys that cost us nothing, except some paper and printer ink?
