Cliche End of Year Blog

I hope the end of 2011 finds you well. I hope 2012 brings you abundant joy! I am so thankful for all the loves in my life. My beautiful family and friends. My lifelines. My church family. My online community. My blog followers who always have a kind word. The foster care system. Loving biological families. The justice system. My nieces. The sweet little loves that come and go in my life.

May you find what you've always been looking for in the coming year. Build on your dreams. Start a new dream. Sing at the top of your lungs. Laugh until you cry. Read all the books on your list. Write in your journal. Join a group. Find "your" person. Hang on tight to the love in your life. Live. Love. Laugh. Pray. Smile. Cry. Be joyful!

Happy New Year!!!!!!

Backyard Football!

 The new field got put to use! My sweet nieces, brother, hubby, and my boys! It was so funny!

Mini Miracles.

All of my mini people are home tonight. My girls are safe with their daddy. Baby M is home from a wonderful visit. His family brings me joy. My previous foster loves are doing well and growing up! My own three boys are in jammies playing with new toys. My mom, dad, brother, nieces, and a great friend are all coming tomorrow. I've only had one Christmas with my niece and that was when she was 14 months old. I can't wait for tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve Service.

Had to shoo them out, they were trying to unwrap.

Final Advent Candle.

Shane in his new bed!

His 'big' gift!

Mittens and Hats from Great Grandma.

Preparing for round two with more family!

Our Son.

Another package arrived today! This is our sweet "little man" He's two and a half now. His grandmother sent us the nicest package. His pictures his school pictures, a selection of his school work, and a book for the boys! Her letter was one of the sweetest things I've ever had sent to me and makes the foster care work and the heartache of handing him over worth it. "Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As I look at J... I see this bright little boy who is so smart and I can't express to you how that makes me feel. The first year of a childs life is the most important and because of you and your family J...is excelling in school. He will be moved out of the two year and into the three year old class. He knows the ABC song and his colors and he is potty trained. I know his early success is because you loved and cared for him as if you had given birth to him. For that I am grateful. Love Always J..." I'm so thank for that letter! And so happy he retained his giant smile!

Best. Memory. Ever

Johnny had his light bulb go off last night. He zooms off to Home Depot. Proceeds with hours of sawing, banging, and the smell of spray paint. This is what follows first thing this morning.

Of course we must hide eyes!

One. Two. Three. Turn around.

This is what they saw in their very own back yard!

Their very own Super Bowl field!!!!!!

The hugs followed quickly. I wish I could have had video too!

"I'd been thinking about this."

Overcome with happiness!

My firstborn!

My child who rarely hugs unprompted was hugging!

To excited!

Best daddy ever!!!!!

Our Daughter.

We got a card from our daughter. Foster care is so weird. We had this little girl for 6 months. She has no idea who we are, maybe a photo of us is in her room. Maybe. We get pictures once or twice a year. It's a feeling I'll never get used to. I'm thankful for a glimpse into her life.

Blessings Overflow!

My husband is home for a week. My family is coming for two days. We didn't get paid until today (the 23rd) Therefore I had to make the last minute food run two days before Christmas. I don't like the crowds. So. I did what any normal person with three children would do. I got up at 5am to go to Walmart. There was no one there. However, they were restocking the shelves. So in EVERY aisle there was a person and a pallet of boxes that I had to work around. Then they would slam the large pallets and I would jump and squeak each time. I had a headache by the time I left. I got home before the sun came up. I think my tired hubby thought he had to go to work. I sent him upstairs. Then I brought in bag after bag after bag of food. So much money spent. I stared at my piles of white Walmart bags. I watched my cats inspect and then pounce on the bag containing their food. I looked at this abundance in the sunrise light coming in through my kitchen windows. And I thanked God for the overflow of Joy I have in my life.

That's My Boy

Today I mentioned to no one in general "I need to clean out the fridge" Shane said that he would do it for me!!! Then before I could blink he moved on to the pantry! This was after cooking the meat for tacos the other night. My boy is growing up.

Taco Meat

My clean and organized pantry!

He 'fixed' my pictures on the fridge.

My fridge and freezer!

Suitcase of Love.

I've been thinking about what to invest myself in next year. Here's a shocker, it has to do with Foster Care. I've been doing a bit a research and reading lots of foster care blogs. There is a terribly sad fact. When children leave their birth home or leave their foster home to another home, they take their belongings with them. Whatever they may own, in most cases it's put into brown paper sacks or garbage bags. So my new mission for the year? I want to stock each child in Gloucester's foster care system with a suitcase. Then I'd like to move on to the surrounding areas Mathews, Middlesex, Yorktown/Poquson. It's going to be at least 100 suitcases. I'm going to start small. Yard sales and thrift stores. I'm hoping to have fundraiser and raffles. Every child should feel they are of worth. It's hard to feel of worth when your possessions are shoved into a garbage bag. So there's my mission. I can't wait to get started!

My Christmas Miracle.

Oh, there's a story. I wish I could tell it. It's not my story to tell though. I thought one day it might be, but God has other plans for us. I will say that I just got to witness one of the most miraculous sights. I watched a family be formed, right in front of my eyes. I've never been in the room when a baby was born (well besides my own) so I've never seen something like that. I imagine that's what it's like to see a baby place into the hands of the ones who have waited so long. So through my tears, I smile. We did what we were meant to do.

My personal Handy Manny.

I love my husband. I love that he can be sensitive and loving. I love that he'll rush home to take care of me if I'm sad or sick. I love how he loves our kids. I love that he can be soft. I also love that he's a 'mans man" He can hunt and fix things. Like this mess!

 

That is our ceiling! There was a tiny leak, then a large leak. Then water pouring out through the light fixture. All I could see where dollar signs of a plumber. However. My hubby came to the rescue. Cut the ceiling open, fixed the pipe and stopped the leak!

Pre-massive cut.

My JUST mopped floor.

And now he's out under the truck trying to figure out why it was leaking all over the place. I have no doubt that he'll fix that too. I'm so thankful for him!

The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn (Book Review)

The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn is a fictional story based on two real life events. The Encounter is a short fictional novel that follows Johnathan Rush as he returns to his hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska from his warm Miami home. After a suicide attempt and at the advice of his pastor he returns to find his birth mother and put his anger to rest. With the help of local reporter Erica, Johnathan starts at the childrens home where he was left by his mother. The journey leads to a lady named Mercy. Mercy has information on Johnathan's mother. Will what he finds help him overcome his anger or will never be able to forgive and move on.

The Encounter is a short and easy read. It is fairly predictable. I found it a nice uplifting and heartwarming story.

This copy of The Encounter was given to me for review by Booksneeze.com. I was not compensated in any other way. 

I feel sorry for your kids!

So a blog I follow posted a status. She's going to homeschool! Woo. I love her. She's an adoptive mom, a foster mom, a 'going off the grid' mom, she's been a single mom, a teen mom, and she's awesome! I know homeschool starts conversations, some heated. But this, this was one of the comments:

 "Ive never understood homeschooling. Dont U have 2 B VERY highly educated? I only kno 2 momz personally that homeschool thier kidz. 1 becuz 3 blockz iz 2 far 2 walk (OMG!) n the other becuz it would B 2 much of a hassle 2 put them in school (gimme a damn break!) n both R dumb az a box of rockz n in my mind pure lazy. I feel sorry 4 thier kidz."

Oh lady, I feel sorry for your children. So, no I don't think everyone should homeschool. This lady's children need to be in school, far far away from her. Maybe she was kidding. I hope she was joking. 

Snow Globes!

 We made snow globes! We used baby food jars, a small toy, hot glue, and glitter! It was very easy. Hot glue the small toy to the bottom of the lid! Fill the jar with water and glitter. Screw lid onto jar. Shake and instant snow globe!

Advent

We've never done Advent before, but I'm excited to start! I found this book "Celebrating Advent". It's a two year book. The first year you make an Advent tree and the second year you do a Jesse Tree. There's reading and follow up questions and then we put a symbol on the tree. The kids have colored the symbols. We also put together an advent wreath. I stole the rock idea from Brandy! The rocks are from Forks, so my favorite peaceful place with the Advent candles! I'm so excited to get started tonight!

All hail the conquering hunters.

All three of the men came home with the bacon *ahem* deer. My brother shot a large buck on Wednesday. Johnny shot a doe on Wednesday shortly after we arrived at my parents. And my dad got his first deer in six years (and his first buck) on Thursday! They took the meat to the processors and came home with:

Johnny and Dads.

Justin's!

I know lots of people are against hunting, but holy moly! Look at all this meat. I have three carnivorous growing boys and a husband! This is a blessing, even it's a gross blessing!