Emily Makes Six

Sunday Brunch: Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

2012-02-05T10:05:00.002-07:00

This weekend has been filled with yummy food and great fellowship and we are in full preparation mode for Super Bowl so this Sunday we are enjoying something quick and easy for breakfast which is so healthy and satisfying. I created this last spring after returning from China with more than I expected. Being diagnosed and treated for Giardia left me with chronic tummy troubles so I concocted these yogurt parfaits as a way of bringing some healthy bacteria into my system. The greek yogurt is so delicious, great for the digestive system and the added flax is very beneficial for many different things. Flaxseed supports normal functioning of the digestive tract and the fiber, alpha-linolenic acid, protein and SDG lignans found in the flax have heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids while the SDG lignans have antioxidant properties that have positive effects on balancing hormones. All of which all of us need on a daily basis which is why this is my standard daily breakfast. Now I typically don't serve it parfait style given that I don't have time to eat breakfast until I settle in at work and may get some teasing from my students if I whipped out my Lenox Crystal while writing tardy passes but it is nice to serve it this way when you are entertaining. Of course if you aren't a fan of flaxseed you could always substitute granola instead. So after last weeks sinful Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, I hope I have redeemed myself with some healthiness. ENJOY and may you be blessed!

This is my favorite kind of Greek Yogurt, I find it at my local King Soopers as well as Whole Foods

I purchase my flaxseed with dried fruits at Whole Foods. I use 2 Tablespoons every day.

Voila, Delicious and Healthy!

On the Campaign Trail

2012-02-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening our family had the pleasure of attending a Rick Santorum Campaign Rally. It was so much fun and brought back some fond memories of times when we were campaigning for various candidates while living in FL. Election season was always a time we enjoyed, feeling strongly that as Believers it was our responsibility to contribute in promoting those whom we thought would honor the conservative values if elected. I had even thought early in our marriage that Mike was destined to serve his country in political office however our lives took a different turn so we were thrilled to once again stand behind a candidate who probably is one of the most genuinely conservative politicians we have ever supported. We were very impressed with Rick Santorum prior to the rally and were not disappointed after hearing him speak on Wednesday. Although, the numbers indicate that he won't make it to the Oval Office and we will happily support whoever gets the nomination but whatever the outcome may be in the primaries we are honored and proud of men and women like Rick who remain faithful to their beliefs and stand strongly consistent in them once they arrive to their political offices.

Sunday Brunch: Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding

2012-01-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

May I begin by saying that there is absolutely nothing healthy about this Sunday Brunch recipe that I prepared for Mike's Mens Group on Saturday. It is full of sugary carb filled donuts, sugary sweetened condensed milk, fatty butter and a little bit of booze if you like. Not exactly heart friendly but oh is it good and nice to share with friends when you want to wow them with something wonderfully delicious. I would highly recommend that you prepare this to share because the temptation of having leftovers will certainly sabotage any New Year diet goals.

The recipe is a Paula Deen special and one that reminds me of my college days and our late night drives downtown Birmingham to the Krispy Kreme for a fresh batch of warm doughnuts. Those were the days, when we could devour late night carbs and fat and simply work them off the next morning with a brisk walk to class. Ahhhh...to be young again.

I have a few things to share but haven't had a spare moment to post. We have soaked in some wonderful worship and teaching at our church recently, the kids are staying super busy, we continue to absorb new things about Joshua's medical situation, there are possibly some big changes on the horizon for me personally and our family is looking forward to getting together this weekend with some old and new friends. Soooo, lots of fun things to post about if I can ever get a chance but in the meantime find an excuse to indulge in some Paula Deen's Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.

Ingredients

1 pinch salt
1 9 ounce box raisins
2 Eggs, beaten
2 4.5-oz cans fruit cocktail (undrained)
1 14-oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated)
2 dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts
1 or 2 teaspoon cinnamon

Butter Rum Sauce:
1 stick butter
1 pound box confectioner’s sugar
Rum to taste

Directions

Cube donuts into a large bowl. Pour other ingredients on top of donuts and let soak for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together until donuts have soaked up the liquid as much as possible.Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour until center has jelled. Top with Butter Rum Sauce.

Butter Rum Sauce:

Melt butter and slowly stir in confectioner’s sugar. Add Rum and heat until bubbly. Pour over each serving of Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding. (In case your like Jack Sparrow and find yourself saying "why is the rum gone" you can substitute Apple Juice for the rum)

Enjoy and may your week be full of blessings!

Sunday Brunch a day late: Asparagus and Tomato Fritatta

2012-01-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well, another insane week as come and gone and here we are ready to hit the ground running for another one. Last week was just frustrating in that I felt I started behind and never caught up so yesterday I was still lost in about 20 loads of laundry and the house was a wreck so I worked like a mad woman to try to get caught up. Fortunately my sweet baby girl, Grace who just happens to be a wonderful organizer played "clutter catcher" which made cleaning so much easier. This is where I found her last night when she should have been in bed

organizing our kitchen junk drawer. I just love this girl. I have to take a picture and post the finished product...it is a masterpiece. Anyway, we started our day with a healthy breakfast of Asparagus and Tomato Fritatta. We don't eat out often (way too stressful with the pack) but when we do there are just a couple of restaurants that we enjoy. One is a little breakfast spot that serves this wonderful Mediterranean Frittata. I love it so when I saw this recipe I couldn't wait to try...I wasn't disappointed. It was just as yummy as our beloved breakfast spot and South Beach friendly (yay). So here is the recipe from Kayln's Kitchen. I substituted Reduced Fat Feta for the Havarti and served it with some Aussie Bites from Costo. YUM!

Asparagus and Tomato Frittata

Enjoy and have a blessed week!

19 Years of being "The Mrs."

2012-01-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

19 years ago today I said "I Do" to the man with whom I would spend the rest of my life. My wedding day was the most magical day of my life and I love remembering all the special details of a moment in time when I felt like the happiest girl on earth. It was a perfect day and the beginning of a journey that would take me places I never dreamed of going. Destinations in life to which I only arrived because of the man by my side. He is a dreamer, a risk taker and is never afraid of stepping out of the ordinary in an attempt to experience the extraordinary and on January 16th, 1993 he took my hand and has never let go. Holding me tight he has walked happily with me through some of the most joyful times of our lives while carrying me through the fires of pain and then holding me closer than I ever imagined when those fires left us standing in heaps of ashes. Through it all he has been as near as my own heart beat. The walk has not always been easy nor has it been perfect. There have been disagreements, disappointments, and many times when we didn't see eye to eye but our love for each other has never waivered. I am blessed beyond words to share my life with my husband by my side and to know that out of all the people in the world he is mine. And so I celebrate today, the day when I traded my Miss for his Mrs. with an excitement in my heart of knowing I have the rest of my life to love on my man.

This is probably my favorite wedding photo...I shared more photos of our wedding here.

Reconnecting and Rediscovering

2012-01-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Many years ago when we were just beginning this journey of life as a family, Mike and I participated in a parenting class at our church. I will never forget the words of the teacher speaking in length about the importance of staying connected as a husband and wife. Something that stuck with me was his encouraging husbands to routinely take their women out of the roles of being mommies and give them opportunities to just be wives. While this was directed to men there was also an encouragement of us wives in being willing to allow our husbands to do this for us. At that particular time in our marriage, doing this was somewhat easy. We only had 2 little boys with 2 set of grandparents eager for every opportunity to spend time with their grandsons giving us many chances to escape the everyday life of mommy and daddy and reconnect as husband and wife. Fast forward 12 years, and add 2 more kiddos to the mix and a cross country move far away from grandparents and we find ourselves in a very different place. Those reconnecting times as husband and wife are much more difficult to mine out of the all consuming responsibilities of doing family. Lysa Terkeurst says it so well in her book, Capture His Heart,

"When we are dating one of the things that makes us so exciting to each other is the new discoveries about each other that we spend time unearthing....All the newness is exhilarating and serves to stoke the fires of romance. Then you get married, have a couple of kids and suddenly every conversation becomes the Cliff Notes versions. There is no time for in-depth reviews and new discoveries. We slip into survival mode and stop discovering all together. I look at him everyday, sleep with him at night, talk, kiss and even make babies with him yet there is still so much I don't know and sadly what I do know has gotten lost in the shuffle of life. It helps to think back to those days of dating and resurrect the desire to discover what makes him tick a priority."

When you are a busy mom and dad taking care of a family finding those moments to rediscover each other is down right hard. It takes energy, effort and time that often isn't readily accessible and we go for weeks, months and years without knowing what lies deep within the hearts of our mates yet this is a vital key in keeping our marriages strong and vibrant not to mention fueling us with what we need to weather the storms that rise within our families.

I am blessed with a husband who has always encouraged me to sneak away with him and enjoy just being his wife but I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't always been a willing party. I get so consumed in meeting the many needs of our family that I don't believe I can take the time to date and enjoy the love of my life. This is something that I have vowed to make a priority in my life and after a little get-away he and I just experienced I am even more motivated to take advantage of every opportunity we have to reconnect and rediscover each other.

In an effort to take me out of my encompassing mommy role my man arranged for his sister to fly out and keep the kids over night while we escaped to the mountains. We spent a day soaking in this

and each other. It wasn't necessarily a time of discovering new things about each other but rediscovering and enjoying all those things that we already loved. We shared quite rides up the mountain on the ski lift where we laughed, reminisced and just enjoyed being together. Giving up the black runs, Mike skied greens and blues with me and patiently waited for his slow skiing wife at the bottom of each run. We sipped hot cocoa together like dating teenagers and enjoyed a couple of calm meals where we actually finished a sentence. We talked about our hopes and dreams reminding each other of how precious we are to each other. Mike even spent an hour checking out the new IKEA store with me and was willing to DVR the Bronco game to prolong our time alone. It was a blissful 30 hours and something that I hope to repeat as often as we can.

Sunday Brunch: Gorilla Bread and the Denver Broncos

2012-01-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

I know you are wondering, what in the world do these two have in common. Well, I woke up this morning feeling really sad after the Denver Bronco's loss last night. We have enjoyed the excitement of watching our guy, Tim Tebow navigate through this roller coaster of a football season and were so disappointed with the outcome of the game last night but as always, incredibly impressed with the character and humbleness of Tim as we watched his post game press conference. This is a young man whose priorities are in the proper place. I am amazed and encouraged by the way he responds in all situations, never pretending that he isn't disappointed or sad but always honoring the Lord in victory and defeat. We will miss our Sunday afternoons with him. So, to drown our sorrows I will be whipping up a pan of this:

This Gorilla Bread is a Paula Deen special and as with most of Paula's recipes...very sinful which just might be what we need to lift us out of the post game blues.

Paula Deen's Gorilla Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
2 12-ounce cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count)
1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside. Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts. Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top and invert.

Enjoy and have a Blessed Sunday!

2012-01-12T06:11:00.002-07:00

This week has been insanely busy. I have been buried at work and home. In all honesty, I haven't known whether I was coming or going but tomorrow morning, my man and I will leave it all behind for two days and head to the mountains for some MUCH NEEDED time alone and a little bit of skiing. My sister in law arrived from FL last night to watch over the pack so I am looking forward to decompressing and soaking in the love of my life. See you when we get back!

Sunday Brunch: Triple Berry Coffee Cake

2012-01-07T09:48:00.007-07:00

I love Breakfast and Brunch. It is my most favorite meal of the day. Although I don't get to do it as often as I would like, I enjoy trying new recipes on the weekends and love it when I can share these dishes with family, friends and co-workers. This weekend I had the opportunity to finally try this delicious Triple Berry Coffee Cake.....

It was amazingly easy which was an added bonus. In a moment of weakness I abandoned South Beach and savored a few small bites of this wonderful morning treat (would also make a great dessert too) and had an idea of creating a continuing Sunday post to include some of my favorite breakfast and brunch recipes so here you go. ENJOY!

Triple Berry Coffee Cake

2 boxes of Krusteaz coffee cake mix

2 cups of frozen triple berry mix (any berries will work)

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the two packages of white batter mixes with the needed eggs and water. Add 2 cups of frozen fruit and blend into batter. Grease and flour a bundt pan. (I just used Pam Spray for baking) Pour half of the batter in the bottom of the pan, add one package of cinnamon mixture from the box, take a knife and swirl into the batter. Pour remaining batter into pan and sprinkle with second package of cinnamon and swirl into batter. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for one hour.

Can be baked the night before and warmed in the microwave. Brew of cup of strong coffee and savor the deliciousness!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Awakening

2012-01-07T06:41:00.007-07:00

Well, we are back into the swing of things here at our house and as I look around this morning I see visible evidence that the chaos of life has returned. Yikes, how does this happen so easily? Before I run my Saturday defense against the mess I wanted to take the time to reflect on something I have been pondering this week.

I have been digesting alot of beautiful posts concerning picking a word to focus on through 2012. I was inspired to think about what theme I would want to represent my life for this year. There were many words that came to mind but nothing I could really wrap my heart around until yesterday as I was running at the gym and heard this song from Chris Tomlin...

I listened to Awakening over and over while I finished my work out on the treadmill and with each time I felt overwhelmed with emotion as I prayed to have my soul awakened so I could sing. See, I feel that for the past year, I've been asleep spiritually. I have gone through the motions of going to church, and even praying but I am ashamed to say that I really haven't allowed The Word to live in and through me and the passion for my God and a depth of faith in Him just hasn't been present in my life. For many reasons, my faith has been a little shipwrecked, desperately needing to be rescued and awakened to sing.

In thinking about being awakened to sing I recalled a time in my life when pre-dawn runs were a frequent part of my life. I would wake up before sun rise and run down the beautiful scenic road in front of our home. As I ran, the world would awaken. The birds would begin to sing, the fish would start making ripples in the waters of the Indian River and there were even some flowers that would open with the light making its way into the darkness. I absolutely loved this time of day. The whole scene was a beautiful expression of God's magnificent creation and I was always thankful that I was able to experience it. Remembering this, I decided that during this year I want God to awaken my soul to reflect His beauty just as He does for his creation along an inter coastal waterway in central FL.

So my word for 2012 is

"AWAKEN"

Celebrating Joshua

2012-01-05T04:36:00.004-07:00

On Tuesday we celebrated one year of our brown-eyed boys birth into our family. Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday while most of the time I feel the weight of a long year and it seems like forever. I love remembering my journeys to China. Those tender weeks of getting know your babies are priceless time. A moment where the hope and dream of holding your son or daughter for the first time becomes real are often placed into the recesses of ones mind once we arrive home and life begins. How encouraging and sweet it is for this mama to dwell if only for a day on a special time when a spicy little China boy blew into my life and left me with a joy that was beyond explanation.

A nervous and very jet-lagged mama

Daddy looking a little more confident

I see him for the first time

Holding him for the first time and him checking out my red lips

We are a family....

Back in the hotel room...already hamming it up

SO VERY THANKFUL!!!!

2012-01-02T19:46:00.002-07:00

This was me on New Year's Eve....

I know glamorous huh? While everyone was sipping champagne, I was spending a magical evening doing laundry, cleaning toilets, putting away about 30 containers of Christmas decorations and falling asleep before 10:00.

Maybe I am getting old or maybe I am just a mom with way too much to do and not enough hours in the day to do it but New Years seemed like just another day. I didn't even prepare anything special to eat. No greens or black-eyed peas for me. Not that we ever ate those anyway.

Oh well, I feel good to be heading back to work this morning with sparkling toilet bowls, half filled laundry baskets and Christmas all packed away for another year.

My marathon blogging will end today with the reality of leaving my lazy mornings spent savoring my coffee and blogger in exchange for heading back to work.

It has been so good for me to organize my thoughts and be reminded of what a blessed life I lead with my wild and crazy pack. I have enjoyed catching up on the lives of some of my favorite old families in blog world and have loved discovering some new blogs that have now found their way to my favorite list. WOW, you women are amazing, inspiring, creative, thrifty, thoughtful, beautiful and how fun it is to get a peak into your worlds.

Although, I enter back into the time stretching machine of work in just a couple of hours I have committed to leave better memories for the kiddos by not falling behind with the our blog like I did last year so while it won't be a post a day I promise not to fall off the face of blog world.

Wishes for a Happy Day!!

We've come a long way...Joshua Part II

2012-01-02T05:02:00.012-07:00

As we prepare to celebrate the day of Joshua's birth into our family, I wanted to share some details about his 1st year with us. I know that I shared some highlights here but there was so much more to his year.

We arrived home from China and he completely embraced with open arms his new brother and sisters. I was in awe of how well he acclimated instantly to life with 3 other kids. The day after we got home my friend Sara, the kids and I hit Target and he found it to be a fun adventure. He was such a ham and although I am sure he didn't understand a thing we were saying he did a great job of pretending that he did which has been a pattern throughout this year. I have discovered that he is masterful at deflecting attention away from his struggles with humor and masking. His struggles have been few but I know that despite how well he settled in, the loss of those women and the life he loved in China coupled with having to cope with all the newness here had to be painful yet he continued to deflect the pain with hilarious antics and his intense curiosity revealed itself in his trying to "help". He watched everyone (especially me) carefully wanting to absorb all that he could and then try to gain our acceptance through helping. He quickly picked up all the cleaning chores, how to operate every electronic and appliance, what I did to start the car, how to prepare food and tons of other things. Just think about all we do during the day, there are so many things that we don't even think about yet he was watching everything like a hawk committing it all to his memory so as to call it up when he thought he could assist. I cannot imagine the information overload that he experienced yet he managed it well. His high energy and constant need for intense supervision wore us all out. We could never relax for we never knew what he would explore next.

Language has been more of an issue with Joshua than it was for Emily. He seems to fully understand everything we say but has a hard time communicating. He tries really hard but we still only understand about 20% of what he says. He never appears to get frustrated and will exhibit his extreme resourcefulness and try to let us know what he is saying through gestures and actions. I am not sure if it is language or issues with speech due to his cleft lip but this piece seems to be a long time coming. Speaking of his cleft we have had many different medical issues come up with Joshua that have kept us hopping with visits to the doctor.

We knew from the moment we saw him that he was very small for his age and that was confirmed by his pediatrician as soon as we arrived home. There were many questions concerning this issue that have yet to be nailed down. According to the birth date we were given, Joshua was almost 4 years old when we got home. A bone age scan revealed shortly after that he had the bone age of a 2 1/2 year old but blood work revealed that his thyroid was non-functioning. All of these inconsistent medical findings left us with so much confusion regarding Joshua's age. Every document we received from China was consistent with the same birthday and according to his finding ad he was abandoned around 2 days so a 2 year mistake just didn't see possible so we have leaned toward the belief after vacillating back and forth for a year that the birth date we were given in China is accurate and that there are some underlying medical conditions that are effecting his growth. We are still exploring and searching and hopefully we will find some answers soon. Currently he takes thyroid medication which makes him absolutely manic and his growth has been extremely slow even with the medication so it looks like there will be more doctor's visits in the future to continue to put the pieces together. I addition to the growth issues he had 3 surgeries...the first was a cleft revision which was painful but he did beautifully. The second, was to repair two hernia's that didn't exist, yes, a doctor insisted that he had two hernias, he underwent another surgery with three incisions only to discover that there were no hernia's UGH!!!! Third surgery was to remove a huge ugly growth called a granuloma which appeared on the side of his nose and was the result of a dissolvable stitch that didn't dissolve from his cleft and nose revision. He has been such a trouper with every surgery and enters the operating room each time goofing off with the doctor's and nurses. I love it that they now let mommies and daddies go with their kids into the operating room and stay with them until they fall asleep. It is not easy for the parents but I know with Joshua it helped him know that everything was going to be ok. He is doing great now and we are not planning ANY surgeries for a while. His lip and nose will need some future work but I am not in a hurry to do anything. I want him to have an opportunity to settle into life without going to see some doctor every week.

We are making decisions as to what to do about school for next year which is not very easy considering his growth physically and developmentally but are thankful that we have the support of all of our physicians as well as the school and are hoping between all of us we can choose what will be best for Joshua.

In some ways it seems that Joshua has only been with us a short time and others like he's been with us forever. The year has been filled with exciting new discoveries, disappointments, frustrations and a stretching for everyone in our family. Adoption is beautiful yet full of sacrifice for an entire family and we have never experienced that more than through bringing Joshua home. Joshua has a strength about him that I admire. He is strong and courageous and never gives up. Due to my being stretched I haven't always had my own strength to give him what he needs but thankfully Joshua is so forgiving and I am so grateful that God chose Joshua as my son and me as Joshua's mommy. God continues to grow our relationship equipping us both with what we need to love each other more perfectly. My days are richer and certainly more lively because he his with me.

He loves bedtime and is so easy when it is time to go to sleep

Just an example of the high heel shoes

Trash can on the head...the fun never ends.

Hair drying....Joshua style with a vacuum. Still learning what all these tools are for

And such a little doctor...maybe it is all the visits to the doctor.

Oh and the endless help with the chores...

His first morning home

Second day home

Second day home and we hit the mall...he found a little horse to ride.

Already checking our the Wii Remote...oh this was a sign of things to come.

Past Revealed through the Present.....Joshua Part I

2011-12-31T20:07:00.012-07:00

Exactly one year ago today Mike and I were sitting in the airport awaiting a plane that would take us to China to bring home a little brown eyed boy. As I sat in that airport I had no idea what was waiting for me in the little boy I had come to love deeply only through a photo. I had the experiences of our journey to bring Emily into our family although I was confident that this time would be drastically different. Unlike Emily, Joshua was older and we were told that Joshua had spent all of his life in an orphanage. He was described as shy and not liking strangers and the sadness on his face in most of the photos we had received led me to believe that this was one unhappy little boy. I was fully prepared for the worst of reactions but I don't think I could have ever imagined the reality of who this little guy was. You can read details of our journey here.

After spending a year with our boy my curiousness has exploded as to what his life was like before coming to our family. I have arrived at some confident conclusions and a bunch of speculations about his time in China. On the day we received Joshua, he arrived to the civil affairs office with an entourage of Chinese women and one man who obviously adored him. He was confident, secure and definitely was not afraid of strangers. He embraced us with little to no reservations. We were told that Joshua had just been on a shopping trip with these women and it was apparent then and now that this may have been something that he was accustomed to doing with these ladies. Their love for him was so clear as they seemed to have a hard time leaving wanting to make sure that we knew of all the things he liked. For example they really wanted us to know that he liked warm baths and was rocked with a bottle of milk each night. As they left the office there was sadness in their faces and the one man who hadn't said anything stayed behind and as I glanced his way I noticed that there were tears in his eyes (something that I know is not typically of Chinese men). Somehow I have come to believe that this man may have been someone very special in the early life of my son. So does our little guy have a story? I am confident that he does and it certainly is not the typical one written about so many orphans in China. We were given the gift of some photo's of his time before he was with us that further reveal my confident conclusions that he was well cared for, loved and probably spoiled rotten. He came to us very familiar with things that reveal he had definitely spent some time outside of his orphanage with women. Such things as, how to apply make-up specifically mascara, he is quite comfortable in walking around in women's high heels, and I also discovered that he is quite comfortable in nail salon. These are only just a few of the situations that he has shown familiarity. There are situations that my 14 year old who has lived with me all his life doesn't have a clue about that Joshua seems completely knowledgeable. Despite my curiosity as to what took place prior to me becoming his mama I am so thankful that my son had lots of love filling his life before God brought him to me. This face confirms in my heart that he was very happy boy:

Baby photos

All of these photos are taken in his orphanage and he looks so uncomfortable which contrasts with photos of him with his nannies where he looks so happy and content. I have often wondered just how much time he spent in the orphanage. I know that these photos are staged but I get a sense that this was just not a place where he felt "at home".

These are photos of Joshua with his nannies....

He seemed to love this particular nanny alot....

And this is the man who appeared to have a hard time saying goodbye.

It's A Brand New Year

2011-12-31T12:26:00.005-07:00

The ticks of the clock will soon usher in a brand new year and I have to admit that I am overjoyed to see 2012! 2011 was not the easiest of years for me and I am beginning this January 1st with a hope that this new year will be bright with a freshness that comes from living with purpose and direction and being intentional in as much of my life as possible. Last year brought so many new challenges most of which were in the form of a 25 lb little China boy. There were many old challenges that intensified throughout the year while managing the life of 4 kiddos, a husband, a house, 2 cars and a job proved to be beyond overwhelming. Most of my days began at 4:00 am and didn't end until 10:00 with me falling in bed exhausted, asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I spent 3 of my days making sure that 4 kids and myself were dressed, fed and ready for school, carpool at two schools, working a full day, pick up at school, arriving home to dinner prep, homework, laundry, baths and bedtime. The other 2 days of the week were much of the same minus work and add in a Joshua pre-school drop off, errands and a slew of doctors appts. Weekends were spent scrambling to get laundry washed, folded and put away, our house cleaned, bills paid and anything else I could squeeze into 2 free days. Combine all this with 3 surgeries for Joshua, managing life with a moody and rather explosive teenager who has Diabetes and trying to make sure that the girls don't feel neglected. It has been exhausting, I find my tank empty and very eager to find ways in this new year to keep the tank from running on fumes.

During this much needed break from the normal chaos of our everyday life I have tried to be more reflective in my thoughts realizing that two of the biggest things that I need to focus on during this new year is taking care of me as well as being a more proactive wife and mom. I think that as mom's we have a natural tendency to live a martyrs life or at least I know I do. We completely sacrifice ourselves to everything surrounding us and end up living in a survival mode. When we are simply surviving we can be nothing more than reactive in what we do. That has been me in a nutshell....treading water trying to stay afloat and merely reacting to anything that comes my way.

I am determined to seize this new year and attempt to do things differently. As I have thought about our year my thoughts have turned so often to someone who became very significant in my life. She entered my life like a fresh breeze bringing a sweet joy and calmness to my chaos. This adorable woman entered my life as our social worker and left us as a treasured friend.

Laurel Constantinides would softly enter our home like a ray of sunshine with the warmest hugs I have ever experienced. I couldn't wait for her visits and each time she came to our home we would settle in with a warm cup of Kahlua flavored coffee and chat about life. Sometimes our conversations would be very practical but most of the time they were deeply philosophical. Not in a very academic way but in a philosophical mommy way. During her last visit in July we ventured into one of the most inspiring chats I think I have every had with another woman. Little did know at the time that this would be the last time I saw Laurel for it was just a few days after our visit that Laurel and her three beautiful adopted daughters died in a tragic accident.

Laurel had a way about her that made you feel safe, she seemed to have the ability to look deep into your heart and see the reality of your emotions. Maybe it was her experience or her profession but I just think it was who she was. During our last visit sensing the extreme fatigue and discouragement I was feeling in managing my life while maintaining a healthy sense of who I was outside of being a wife and a mommy, she shared with me some profound thoughts. Things I wish I had wrote down to savor forever but only can rely on my memory....

She said, "Sweet Nichole,

You have to be BRAVE
Brave to take care of you.
Brave to express the emotions of your heart whether they are good or bad.
Brave to accept you have limits and ask for help when you need it.
Brave to love without expectation
Brave to accept the realities of life with hope and faith that they can change AND
Brave to believe that every day is a BRAND NEW DAY!"

I paraphrased and summarized what she spoke into me that day but hold these Laurel Inspirations close to my heart as I embark on this new year.

As I strive to be brave I am reminded of the words of Max Lucado in his Cure for the Common Life,

"God endows us with gifts so we can make him known. We exist to exhibit God, to display his glory. We serve as canvases for his brush stroke, papers for his pen, soil for his seeds, glimpes of his image. I pray that during this year I can "Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in me" (2 Tim. 1:6) I hope you can too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Gift of Friendship

2011-12-31T06:21:00.008-07:00

I couldn't let the year end without posting about friendship. Friends are the most important ingredient in our lives however, as we become grown up girls and as our life plates get full of so much food that is absolutely necessary to sustain the life of our families we forget to keep the seasoning of girlfriends. I don't think that I ever realized the importance of this until we moved from FL. When I left FL I also left my best friend, (my sister). Our friendship was easy and we never had to work at it. She was always there, loving me unconditionally and filling the cup of my life with more than I could have ever know. Arriving in CO with no relationships other than the ones under my own roof I had to find girlfriends and when you are a 40 year old homeschooling mom with a stay at home husband that can be rather difficult. Fortunately, God brought Sara into life right away. She and I bonded instantly. We shared a love for our God, Beth Moore, Coffee and Adoption then their family moved. Our friendship didn't cease to exist with her relocation but like my relationship with my sister it became more difficult. My heart ached and I wished for another girl to fill the friendship void and along came The VanKirks. We actually met them within a week of moving to CO but it wasn't until this past year that our friendship blossomed. Jenny, makes me smile, she is so calm, loving and encourages me with her patience and kindness. We are southern girls at heart and share a love for orphan adoption. What I love about this family is that our friendship is a family affair. Mike enjoys Jim and all of our kids love being together. Our family's aren't together constantly and sometimes Jenny and I will go for weeks without connecting but there is a wonderful contented state of our friendship that is always there and can be embraced at any moment. I love it!

I know that the following photos seem out of place with this post but I had forgotton to post photos of our annual gingerbread house decorating party at the VanKirk House. Jenny and her daughter Abby made and assembled all the houses and the kids got to decorate. It is a tradition that our family has come to love and we are thankful that we are included in this special time.

These next two photo's are just random of our kids with the VanKirk kids

Luke and Cody

Joshua and his VanKirk women...take note of Sammy's phone in Joshua's hand....these gals know the way to my boys heart.

Giving Thanks!

2011-12-31T05:41:00.009-07:00

Well, I think I have just about done it....all caught up in just 2 weeks. I know that in this massive updating I have missed so many thoughtful things that touched us this year especially all those moments absorbing Joshua's presence in our family. I have 3 posts for today just to make sure start Jan 1st in real time.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love everything about Thanksgiving and this year we celebrated with our friends The VanKirks. We enjoy this family so much and love sharing special occasions with them. Their son Luke is Cody's best friend and their daughter Lizzy is the perfect match for Grace and Emily. They have a another beautiful daughter, Abby who is growing up so fast and I am convinced that Joshua has a secret crush on her (maybe it is because she lets him have her ipod and phone) Their oldest daughters Sammy and Katya are out of the house so we don't see much of them however, Sammy was able to join us for Thanksgiving. We ate lots of yummy food and enjoyed sharing the afternoon/evening with good friends. Once again here are lots of photos of the fun as well as a few of Joshua's preschool Thankgiving party and Grace's Native American Day.....

The next four shots are me trying to get a good shot of Emily and Joshua

And finally, a decent one

This was the result

She tried to give him a good "talking to" but got tickled

This was the first

Kids Table Setting

The kids table

Joshua's Party

Grace's Native American Day.

One of my bosses made this on her daughter's Native American Day, it was so nice and fit Grace perfectly.

Not too happy that her brother was stealing the show at her party.

It's Pumpkin Time

2011-12-30T05:32:00.008-07:00

I am entering the home stretch, think I may have 1 or 2 more posts and I am caught up. I do apologize for the mammoth amount of photos with each post. With 4 kiddos, I just don't want to leave anything out so once again here we go with tons of photos.

Fall is such a fun time of year and this was great in that the weather here in CO was awesome. Normally we get our first snowfall in Oct. but it was gloriously warm which made this girl very happy. We loaded up the pack one Sunday after church and hit a great little pumpkin patch about an hour and a half from where we live. We had been there before and loved it. They have a corn maze, hay rides, corn boxes and a cheesy little slide. The kids had a blast although due to our being late in the season the pumpkins were a little picked over nevertheless everyone found that perfect pumpkin and my little wild man was just that WILD.

Had to post this one...Emily has developed a love for photography and likes to take photos of us.

Had to post this one of my boy eating corn...I just had to look away...seems I do that alot with this one.

Need I say more....I get this look often.

Sophie

2011-12-29T08:00:00.006-07:00

Introducing the newest member of our pack...Queen Sophie and yes she is reigning here in the palace. We all adore her treat her as if she is royalty.

After almost 2 years of begging, pleading and arguing her case Grace finally had success in convincing her dad of our need for a family pet. We knew a dog was out of the question due to the fact that dogs in CO are just too high maintenance especially labs and retrievers which is what we would have wanted and even though I absolutely love dogs I certainly didn't want to be out in the snow and freezing cold temps taking him or her for a walk so a cat it was. I did lots of research and found a breed that is as affectionate and loyal as a dog and are known for their "flop factor" meaning that they go limp like a rag doll as soon as you pick them hence their name rag doll cats. We lucked out and found a breeder who is not too far away from our home and chose a "waiting kitten" from her website. We brought her home in October and you would think that she has been with us forever. She is so sweet and cuddly and most of the time you can find her cuddled up on her little cushy bed in Mike's office. She sleeps with the girls and she even tolerates Joshua in all of his glory.

We couldn't be happier with our sweet Sophie!

Here she is batting at the snowflakes.

Watching it snow

Helping Grace with her drawing

One of her favorite spots...right on top of my computer.

Her first night home....is Grace a happy girl or what.

Fall at the Beach!

2011-12-29T06:40:00.016-07:00

I LOVE the Beach! The salt air, the warm breezes, sand between my toes, the smell and the incredible sound of the waves crashing. It is one of the things I miss most about FL. When Mike and I were dating we spent many evenings walking and talking on Cocoa Beach, in fact he asked me to marry him on the beach. We haven't had the opportunity to get back to FL as a family and enjoy the beach so when we began planning a Fall Trip to LA we were over the top with excitement when some new friends offered to allow our pack to stay in their fabulous Manhattan Beach house and what a treat it was to spend the week in such luxurious accomodations. We hit all the sites around LA, made college visits with Cody to Azusa Pacific and Biola, watched sunrises and sunsets over the Pacific and had the opportunity to enjoy The Bassali Family. Mike and Grace met Emad and his daughter Michelle on a daddy/daughter camping trip with Focus on the Family in August and both became fast friends so when we planned this trip to LA we were thrilled to have the chance to spend time with the rest of their family and soaked in their love and hospitality. Here are quite a few photos of our time on the West Coast.

These are photo's of our time on Manhattan Beach....it is a quaint little California Beach town. Cute shops and resturants and gorgegous homes. I had a blast walking on the beach just checking out all the homes.

Beach time!

Disneyland....it was a record hot day...lines were long and doing Disney with 4 kiddos is enough to wear a mama and daddy out.

Photo's of our visit to Azusa Pacific...what a great college. Cody and Mike got a tour of the film school and while they were checking out the movie editing classrooms the littles and I hung out in the courtyard mingling with the students.

Lego Land

I uploaded my photo's out of order so the next few are of us at the beach house with the Bassali Family

Mike and Emad....I love their smiles.

These two are like peas in a pod.

Back to Lego Land

My Man!

2011-12-27T10:26:00.007-07:00

I am devoting today's post to my man. He is my husband, leader of our pack, he keeps me stable and sane when the chaos of our life threatens to engulf me. He encourages me even when I prefer to wallow in despair. He continually directs me to stay focused on the positive. I love it how he brings clarity to my thoughts when everything is foggy. He is incredibly patient with my inconsistency and mood swings. He is an amazing dad to our kiddo's and while he is not always perfect his intentions are always pure. He has a passion for the God who lifted him out of darkness, into the light and is completed devoted to serve Him for all of the days of his life.

3 1/2 years ago he gave up a highly successful law practice in exchange for offering himself solely to serve God through ministry. Not knowing what that "ministry" would look like he moved forward with vision and a desire to share the Truth that had so radically changed the trajectory of his life with others and wanted to be available be used by God. During these 3 1/2 years the vision has not always been clear and we still don't have a complete picture of how God will use him but Mike has never waivered in his passion and hope for what God has in store for him. He continues to work diligently on his book and has maintained such a consistent excitement for what lies ahead once it is published. He seizes each and every opportunity to find open doors and be eager to offer himself to serve. We have had our share of closed doors and have a great excitement that God will eventually open a door that will be the perfect fit for what Mike is designed to do. He is connected with an editor and agent who are helping him complete and market his book to publishers and is currently taking some graduate level classes in Apologetics. He recently was asked to participate with a local ministry organization in the area of developing content which will be used to equip high school students with foundations of Truth as they enter college environments. This new endeavor is exactly where Mike's passions lie so he is thrilled with this opportunity.

Contentment fills Mike as he has the confidence that he is right where God wants him to be. He loves being at home during the day, carpooling Joshua to and from preschool, shuttling the girls to gymnastics two days a week and one can often find him doing dishes and laundry. He is faithful to his exercise routine at the gym and believe it or not loves doting on our family cat, Sophie. He has acquired quite a large Twitter following and really likes composing tweets that encourage fellow Christians throughout the world in their daily walks. I do not know many men who would find contentment in these simple things but Mike loves it. I know that he is eager to embrace what God has in store but for the time being he is quite happy where he is planted.

Mike and his girls before the Daddy Daughter Dance back in Feb.

And now we return to the regularly scheduled updates: Back to School and Back to Work

2011-12-26T15:03:00.007-07:00

Now that the Christmas festivities are complete I am returning to my regularly scheduled updating. I think I have about 6 more posts and I will be caught up. My goal is to begin 2012 with current posting so here we go...

After a wonderfully relaxing and non-eventful summer 3 members of the pack started back to school and I went back to work. Cody began his first year of high school, Grace started 3rd grade and Emily 1st. Our kids have the benefit of attending an incredible school. Mike and I are continually are amazed at how blessed we are to have our children spend their days saturated with a "Classical Education". We frequently say that if everything else was a bust with the move to Colorado, it would have all been worth it to have the kiddos in this school. Everyone in their lives while at school fill them with such encouragement, love and kindness and model for them character that will follow them forever. And I have the joy of working just a few steps away from the girls and even though Cody is on a different campus it is as if he was right with me.

As many of you know, I began working outside the home last year. My intentions were to only work for a year however, after a year of spending my days with people who have become my Colorado Family I just couldn't leave. I cannot begin to describe how much I enjoy my co-workers. We share relationships that are caring, full of encouragment and compassion and a whole bunch of fun. I think I laugh more with this gang than I have ever laughed in my life. I adore our students and their parents and am blessed to overflow by having the opportunity to love going to work. Yes, working does create difficulties particularly here at home when the house falls apart, and I feel incredibly guilty about not being a SAHM for Joshua but the joy that comes from being with my College Pathways Family out weighs having to scramble to keep up with the house chores. I really need this outlet. And I don't necessarily miss out on a whole lot in Cody, Grace and Emily's life because I am right there with them every day.

First Day! (actually 2nd day for Cody)

First Day for Cody

The girls walking to school..this is the path we take each morning minus the snow in the winter.

My girls and my office manager's daughter, these three enjoy mornings together before going to class. Blurry shot...UGH! Uploaded the wrong pic.

Grace got the FABULOUS, Mrs. White.....what a blessing!

And Emily, Mrs. Young....what a perfect match for my sweet girl and an answer to prayer. God is so very GOOD!

Here is a pic of a few of the ladies that I work with at a welcome home Joshua party my office manager planned. I absolutely love these gals!

And this one is my office manager, Nicky. She lights up my life. We sit across from each other every day and you would think we would tire of each other but we love every minute together. We are as different as night and day but have bonded like glue....I would do anything for her as she would for me. She makes me laugh, cry and loves my babies like they were her own. She is a beautiful British woman with so much spunk and fire and I love it that her "British ways" are rubbing off on me while my Southern-ness makes her laugh. She even has me drinking tea in the afternoon.

This is what I live with everyday...the fun never ends. Lovely "emergency attire" modeled by the Beautiful Nicky.

So far it has been a fabulous year...as I said the one word I can think of that covers it all is:

BLESSED!

These are a few of my Favorite Things

2011-12-26T10:43:00.002-07:00

Wow 2 posts in one day! Making up for lost time and fighting the distraction bug. So much to do around the house but I swear I think my motivation is on vacation. While I take a little break from trying to re-claim the house I thought I would post a few of my favorite gifts from this Christmas. Given that I work in a school I am blessed by students and their parents. I cannot believe how incredibly generous and thoughtful they are in remembering the lady who works the front office. Of course I received tons of baked goodies filled with love and I won't have to fork out $4.00 for a latte in at least a month. All of which I adore but here are a few gifts that were so incredibly special and unique and came from students, friends and family:

This is a pancake pen from Williams-Sonoma. It is fabulous, cuts down on the mess and I will use it every weekend for Saturday morning pancakes.

Oh my goodness, if you haven't tried these candles, you just have to. I received Fraser Fir from a student and have absolutely loved it during Christmas. It smells just like a real tree and crackles like a log fire and for us people who don't have a real Christmas tree and gas fireplaces it is truly a treat!
I received a Brighton Badge Clip from my mom and dad so I can wear my work badge stylishly. I didn't receive this exact one but I love the one they gave me which has a cross on it and can't wait to wear it to work.

Of course, no Christmas would be complete without this, a gift from my nana and granddaddy

Since moving to CO my heels get so dry and cracked especially during the winter months. I have tried just about everything under the sun to combat this and received these little treats which are WONDERFUL! Hopefully my cracked heels are a thing of the past.

And lastly, along the lines of dry feet I received a jar of this lovely cream as well which also works wonders on crackly winter feet.

I had asked for a pedicure and some time to get one but it didn't make its way under the tree so I am thoroughly enjoying my home foot treatments.

Sooo, what were your favorite Christmas Treats?

Our Family Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T06:22:00.013-07:00

It's the day after Christmas and I desperately wish that I could wiggle my nose and all the dishes would be washed, the new toys put away and most of all, the 10 lbs that I have gained over the past month and a few more would vanish but alas I am not living in an episode of Bewitched so I suppose I will spend the day cleaning up and disposing of all those tempting treats that seem to beckon to be eaten. Despite the mess left behind by the Christmas festivities, our family had a sweet time celebrating. Each year since moving to CO we have continued to carve out new traditions that make our Christmas special. We don't have extended family nearby to share the time with however we have come to enjoy the simpleness of it just being the 6 of us. It is quite different than what we have been used to in years past and many times throughout Christmas Eve and Day I miss excitement of being with our extended families but I think we have all come to love our quite little Christmas.

Our Celebration began with Church Services in the afternoon. we love attending Christmas Eve services all together and this year was very nice due to the fact that we shared an incredible time of worship at our new church. We made a church move back in August and it was so wonderful to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas during our time of worship. We ended the day with our Christmas Eve with dinner of Beef Tenderloin and all the trimmings then opened our gifts from FL and GA. After reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, I tucked the girls snug in their beds. (the boys were already tucked) As always, I was up late wrapping "Santa gifts" and once everything was in its place I settled in for what I knew would be a short little sleep.

The pack amazed us by sleeping in until around 7:00. In fact Mike and I were up before the kiddos which was nice. I was even able to get a cup of coffee before the excitement began. We opened our gifts to each other, ate french toast casserole and spent the day in our jammies. I cooked a traditional Christmas dinner and after being disappointed the night before over my Whole Foods Desserts, I decided to bake a quick Boston Creme Cake and Apple Pie which proved to be much better. The kids played in the snow (yes we had a White Christmas) for a while and then we drove around town to look at all the lights. We ended the day by watching a little bit of Cars 2.

So now as I sit in the aftermath of our celebrating, I am thankful that we have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus who through his birth gave us the ability have life everlasting. So as I reflect I am reminded that the God who spoke into humanity on that first Christmas night is still speaking today in 2011, if only I will listen!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Is it Christmas already?

2011-12-24T05:24:00.009-07:00

I cannot believe that it is Christmas Eve....where did the time go? I have a ton of stuff to do today to get ready for dinner and Christmas day not to mention a Bronco Game slap in the middle of the day. So in these early morning hours I am going to interrupt the regularly scheduled blogging updates from the past year for some real time blogging. Here are some of the sights around our house during this Christmas Season. I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving and it took me about a week to get everything done. This included having to duct tape the 12 year old tree to keep it from falling over. Gotta love duct tape.

I love it when our house is all Christmas'ed up and the kids enjoy it too. Joshua has been a mad man with the Christmas Tree. He cannot keep his hands off the ornaments. Our tree is not one of those fancy decorator trees but is simply a hodge podge of different ornaments that are special to all of us however due to my long time love of the Nutcracker Suite, the tree does bare mostly nutcrackers which I usually add a few to the collection each year. One of my favorite decorated spots is the mantle. Having lived in Florida for so many years and not having a fireplace, I love having all of my stockings hung by the chimney with care.

We didn't get to do alot of our normal Christmas traditions nor was I able to add some new ones that I had hoped to include this year. Life has just consumed us over the past few weeks and as I sit here on Christmas Eve I feel kind of sad that since moving to Colorado we just haven't had the time make those Christmas Memories. My greatest hope is that my kids will always remember a warmth that filled our house during Christmas time whether we baked cookies and attended Christmas events. May they always be thankful that in the midst of eating and gift giving that we directed their hearts to the simplicity of celebrating the birth of our Savior. Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

The Pack before church last week.

Our Tree, post duct tape

The kids have always had a tree in their playroom. This year we placed it downstairs in our basement. It is decorated with some special homemade ornaments from my nana and my dad. Here is one of the cross-stitch ornaments my nana made.

The little wooden heart is an example of some ornaments that my dad made. I love them. And the ice skates, well I found them at Pier One and thought they were darling.

Here is the whole tree and nothing but the tree.....

Our upstairs banister adorned with garland.

My favorite spot of the house....

More banister shots

Here are a few shots of the newest Nutcracker additions to the tree....

Oldies but goodies.....my Steinbach collection. I have quite a few Nutcrackers most of which are the inexpensive kind from Target and Pier One but thanks to my mom and my nana I do have a few nicer ones for the collection.

This little guy is a less expensive one but my Grace loves him...he is a little different from the rest because he is short and fat and has a perfect spot every year.

Ahhhh! The Lazy (and WARM) days of Summer

2011-12-23T18:01:00.006-07:00

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning....

And this is what I was dreaming of...... yes, shorts, t-shirts, warm weather and being in the presence of my family. In my quest for catching up the blog I am devoting this cold snowy day of missing my family to remembering the warm days of summer when my mom and dad came for a visit. It was a wonderful visit and after not having seen them for almost a year my heart was full. We hit a few sites around town but for the most part just enjoyed being together. As you can tell Joshua acted as if he had known Nammy (Meow Meow as he called her) and Bee all his little life. This is probably one of my most favorite photos:

She adores her Bee!

This is what he thinks of American Girl Doll Store:

Smores on a warm summer night with no bugs....doesn't get much better than that!

These next photos are just random of the summer.....Cody celebrating his 14th b'day with friends

A few shots of the flowers in our backyard..gosh I love summer in Colorado!

I just love his face in this photo...such a happy boy!

So how many more months of the cold? Way to many in my opinion!

Emily

2011-12-21T16:38:00.004-07:00

Encouraging
Melodic and Meek
Instinctive
Lovely
Yielding

That's my girl, my precious Emily....and oh how precious she is. From the moment she awakes in the morning she fills my heart with encouragement. She constantly tells me that I am beautiful and she loves me and how I need to hear both of those alot. When my tank is empty this girl fills me up. She always has a song in her heart and it usually something that has to do with her love for Jesus and oh how I can be taken into the presence of God just hearing her sing about His love. She is so meek and humble, never exalting herself and given that she never thinks about herself makes it so easy for her be aware of others. She instinctively seems to always be very aware of the heart and emotions of those she cares about and knows exactly how to give them what they need. Lovely doesn't seem adequate in describing her beauty for it goes far beyond a physical attractiveness and she is very much yielding, trying always to please.

Life with Emily is FULL of joy. She continues to grow in her capacity to love more and more deeply. This year has been full of adjustments for her with the biggest being losing her position as the baby of our family. She absorbed the change with grace and love and embraced her little brother with acceptance and compassion. I think she understood completely that like herself he was rescued and was up for the challenge of fulfilling her role in the mission. She quickly became his caregiver while spending her mornings with him while I was at work. She rose to the occasion and worked tirelessly at keeping him out of trouble during the mornings when Mike was trying to get work done at home. After being a super big sis in the morning she would arrive at school for afternoon kindergarten and oh how I loved to see her sweet face in the middle of my work day. Emily grew in so many ways during her year of Kindergarten. She developed sweet friendships and learned to be strong. She gained so much confidence and independence while maintaining her humbleness and huge heart.

This school year has been fantastic for her. She confidently walks to class each day, eagerly answers questions during class time and has the most loving teacher we could have ever asked for who is truly a gift from God. Academically, she amazes us....she reads so well and loves math but scores her highest in loving! She continues to love gymnastics and we feel certain she will be on the competitive team soon. Oh how I love watching this girl do things were were told that she would never do because of her club feet. Music is certainly in her future and we are trying to figure out how to fit in some piano. She adores her daddy and gives the most wonderful hugs in the world. I love her so much and am so proud of how she has weathered the storm of life with her typhoon of a little brother. When life gets really tough....Emily is my soft place to land.

Grace

2011-12-19T09:24:00.002-07:00

Gorgeous

Responsible

Adventurous

Confident

Exquisite

And an incredible Big Sis

There are so many other adjectives that I could choose to describe this sassy, rambunctious daughter of mine whose quick wit keeps me on my toes. She is elegant and thoughtful while tough as nails. I love her so passionately. She is definately her mama's daughter given that she has so much of me in her. She loves to clean and is incredibly neat and organized. She can plan a party and entertain just as graciously and beautifully as I can and loves to cook, sew, do craft projects and for the most part is far more on top of things than me. I don't know what I would do without her.

Grace is growing into such a beautiful girl but having an older brother who is not always nice to her causes her to have a toughness about her that often hides the tenderness of her heart. She loves deeply and I love it when she and I get a rare moment alone and I can see that hardness melt away and the softness rise to the surface.

This year was not always easy for her. After being homeschooled for Kindergarten and 1st Grade Grace entered 2nd Grade a little behind academically so she worked very hard to catch up and did a great job although academics is not something that comes easy for her. She has to work super hard in school and 3rd Grade has proven to be just as tough as 2nd even though she is up to speed with the rest of her peers. She loves the 3 S's Social Studies and Science,& Socializing and is usually more concerned with what accessories are allowed than if she knows her spelling words. She recently began training with the competitive gymnastic team at her gym and practices twice a week. Grace loves animals and enjoyed a few horseback riding lessons and played quite a bit of tennis over the summer. She amazes us with her athletic abilities and we hope we can continue to channel these abilities into something that brings her much joy. I cannot begin to express how much of a help she has been this year. She is so responsible and eager to help when I need it and as I said earlier, I don't know what I would do without her. I pray that Grace will always remember that "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Prov. 31:30.

It's Tebow Time!

2011-12-18T09:00:00.003-07:00

Well, I am on a roll with my blogging and considering that the last two days were a little weighted with some heavy journaling about Cody, I decided to make today's blogging about my newest passion and a little hilarious. A passion that some of you who know me might find shocking considering that since August I have spent my Sunday afternoons watching me some Bronco Football and I am not ashamed to say that it is all because of this guy:

Tim Tebow has turned me into an crazy NFL Football Fan. I love this guy. He makes me smile. Mike and I love saying, "thats our boy" (like he belongs to us) when he does something fantastic, usually in the last 2 minutes of the 4th Quarter when I am in need CPR. I watch ESPN waiting for interviews with him and read every article in our local paper that features anything about Tim. Why? you may ask.... well, I love the way he allows his Faith to shine brightly in everything he does and says. I love to see how his joy overflows and his testimony causes everyone around him to strive to be more kind, more positive and to "Believe". Here is a link to a video where he was mic'd during a game. Blogger wouldn't let me upload the video so here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grM2sb7VYSs&feature=email

So guess where I will be this afternoon...... watching our boy! GO BRONCOS!!!!!!

Diabetes and a Teenager

2011-12-17T15:19:00.004-07:00

This little gadget is something for which I have been so grateful this year.....

It is not the latest and greatest mobile device but is my most treasured electronic for it keeps my son alive. In addition to keeping him alive it allows him to live as close as he can to a normal life of a teenage boy which includes eating much of what he wants and when he wants. I realized after blogging about Cody that I had not even touched on his Diabetes.

Well, Diabetes and teenagers go together about as good as oil and water. Combine ravenous appetites, raging hormones, massive growth spurts and the desire for independence and life can been pretty volatile and blood sugar numbers a crazy roller coaster ride. Fortunately, Cody's insulin pump has helped prevent any emergency visits to the hospital but we certainly haven't been free from our share of frustration and anger over the fact that we deal with this beast every minute of every day. It can really be a pain and for a teenage boy difficult to face the reality that he is not like all his friends and that this won't go away but will be with him forever. My heart has ached for Cody as I have watched him struggle with the emotions of having this disease. He has questioned God and frankly I have too but in the end I have tried to encourage him to see that God may open doors in the future for him to help others who may have this disease. That is really hard for him to see right now when he has to stick his finger 6-8 times a day and feels pretty yucky most of the time and hates having to count every carb that goes in his mouth. So this year hasn't been the greatest on the Diabetes front but I am thankful that we are surrounded with extremely loving and supportive doctors, nurses, diabetes educators and friends who make Cody feel like any other teenager and encourage me when I feel like I am a terrible mom. Cody spent the night with a friend for the first time a few weeks ago and had such a great time. We know that it can be super scary for the parents of Cody's friends to take on an overnight stay and were so grateful that we are blessed with friends who are willing to allow our son the opportunity to do something as simple as have a sleep over.

Cody

2011-12-16T04:42:00.007-07:00

Day 3 of Blogging and I am enjoying catching up....gotta long way to go but I think I can do it if I keep this up for 9 more days. This third day of blogging is devoted to my big boy, our #1 son. This guy fills my life with so much emotion I could not begin to describe it all nor would I want to mortify a 14 year old boy with the intimate details of his life. Yes, I have a 14 year old. It is really hard to believe sometimes but it is true, he is growing up and fast. In fact the kid has gained about 45 pounds and grew about 7 inches since May. He wears a size 12 shoe and is just enormous. I cannot keep food in our house for as soon as it makes it into the kitchen (and sometimes it doesn't even make it to the kitchen) it vanishes. I didn't grow up with boys so this massive consumption of food leaves me in a state of awe most all the time. In addition to shooting up like a weed, Cody has had some ups and downs in many areas of his life. Now that he is a teenager, I walk a fine line of sharing details without losing respect for his privacy. Cody is an amazing guy, the gifts and talents that God as given him are incredible and more than anything throughout this year I have been continually reminded by the God who created him that HE has great things planned for our son. God orchestrated many miracles to bring Cody to us and as his mom I have the awesome responsibility of giving Cody every opportunity to fulfill the plans God has for him. That is not always easy to achieve as the parent of a teenager but I will never cease to remind Cody of what a miracle he is and how he can to some incredible things for God. I think as parents of teenagers one of the best things we can do for our sons and daughters is to remind them, that they were "wonderfully made by God" . How easy it is to constantly nag and criticize their attitude, lack of motivation and responsibility. We can easily slip into fussing constantly about their sloppiness and hygiene and while all that and important part of growing up, I have come to learn that what most of them need is just to be told they are loved more than they could imagine, they are amazing and they have the most incredible future ahead of them. One of the ways we have encouraged Cody to see beyond the difficulties of the high school experience is to give him a window into college.....we traveled in October to visit 2 colleges. Some might say, why would you do that at 9th grade? Well, we felt it was important to let him see that beyond the days of high school lie an exciting 4 years of being able to carve out a place where he can shine and be the man God has destined him to be. Our visit to these schools seemed to have encouraged Cody in the here and now and gave us hope that "this too shall pass".

Christmas Memories

2011-12-15T04:03:00.004-07:00

Oh, how I love Christmas. The decorations, the food, the music, gift giving, singing Christmas carols at church, watchin my kids get more excited by the day, I just adore it all. It is something that I look forward to every year and have since I was a little girl. The celebration of Christmas was always such a special time in my family and there are traditions I enjoyed as a child that I still keep within my own family that bring such a warmth to my heart as I remember how special it was being a little girl at Christmas time. As the day draws near Christmas memories tend to flood my heart. I usually wake up so much earlier during the month of December and during these quiet moments with the lights twinkling on the Christmas tree before the hustle of the day begins I think of all those special Christmas pasts that were shared with someone who is no longer with me. Yesterday those memories flooded my mind as I drank my morning cup of coffee out of this cup.....

I love this cup and only drink out of it at Christmas time. If you notice the little ornament on the handle, it spins and a certain little boy who was also an early riser would scoot over to me as I would sit on the floor in front of the tree and would spin this ornament on his tongue. He was relentless in trying to get to this cup and would love it if I happened to leave my empty cup on the floor so he could spin and spin. He also loved the ornaments on the tree and had a few favorites, one being these little bells...

They hang perfectly now so I can see them from my kitchen and I can be reminded of my boy who now spends his Christmas in the arms of our Savior. Oh how I miss Christmas without him and am so thankful that as the memories flood, I can smile knowing that one day we will spend Christmas together again.

Joshua

2011-12-13T04:05:00.007-07:00

On the first day of blogging my fuzzy mind said to me you have to share about the spice in your life and no, this will not be an x-rated post for at this season of life the Tabasco of my world bottled up in a 30 lb little China Boy who we affectionately called while in China, "Typhoon Chuin Chuin". Given that I haven't posted anything about this wild man in a year, this post could be a long one so I will try to hit the highlights.

Our little typhoon blew out of China and never looked back. He embraced his new life with such enthusiasm and energy and had little to no residue from life in an orphanage (although we don't think he spent much time in his orphanage, more about that in later post). From day one he was filled with spunk and happiness and never met a stranger. He engaged all people with such a healthy social appropriateness causing everyone he met to fall in love with him. In all honesty, I was unprepared for his high energy, curiousness and extreme need for social interaction. The transition into our family was a breeze for him while I find myself still adjusting. Maybe it is because for the first time in my life I haven't been home full time with my baby. I went back to work a week after returning home from China and while I think Joshua and I have a strong bond there is nothing like being a stay at home mama with a new child.

Joshua spent his mornings with Mike and we quickly realized that if we didn't find a more structured environment for him soon our house wouldn't survive this typhoon so we enrolled him in a preschool down the street. He thrived in the structured environment and when summer rolled around I had my chance to spend some uninterrupted time with him and did this boy wear his mama and siblings out. Our neighbor describes him as "intensely curious" which is putting it mildly. He has 4 people with their eyes on him almost all the time and has managed to destroy almost every electronic in the house, break his fair share of precious things, waste countless rolls of toilet paper by stuffing it in the toilet, ruining a dozen of his mama's Ann Taylor blouses with bleach and the list could go on and on. Even three surgeries couldn't slow this kid down. He is the energizer bunny on steroids.

Having said all of this, his joyfulness is refreshing and his love, so forgiving and endless. His smiles melt my heart and his hugs fill me with a warmth that is indescribable. I am convinced that there are some issues under these layers that will one day be revealed. We continue to chip away at pieces that make up this little man. There are quite a number of physical issues that we were unaware of coupled with tons of questions and speculations about what his life might have been like while in China. He has one heck of a story, I am sure and hopefully one day we will be able to put all the pieces together but in the meantime we take him as he is just like Our Savior accepts us. We love him passionately with reckless abandon as Jesus loved us and we see ourselves in Joshua, broken, bruised and in desperate need of safe places to land.

12 Days of Blogging

2011-12-11T11:12:00.005-07:00

After posting for the first time in almost a year, I was thinking yesterday about how much I missed blogging. I really enjoy recording my thoughts, feelings as well as events of the life of our family. It really is quite theraputic and oh how I need therapy these days not to mention that I really hope to leave a record of our life for our kiddos to enjoy as they grow. So in honor of the 12 days of Christmas, I am going to try a "12 Days of Blogging". Hopefully I can catch up from the past year get back into the bloggy mode.

We're Still Here!

2011-12-11T09:25:00.006-07:00

I cannot believe that it has been a year since I have posted to my blog. This year has been chocked full of so many things that I have wanted to blog about but just haven't had a spare moment or energy to record any of it. The addition of our 4th child to the pack has been, hmmmm, how shall I put it......I think that intensely challenging is probably the nicest way to describe life with our little typhoon. For almost a year now we have been living with a cross between Curious George, Dennis the Menace, Ernest T. Bass (from Andy Griffith) and finally my newest description, Buddy from the movie Elf. Life is exhausting as we try our best to simply keep this kid safe not to mention our house intact. Needless to say, grabbing a moment to blog about the adventures of our "Typhoon Chuin Chuin" has been next to impossible when the little stinker takes advantage of very chance he can to "help" around the house. I have some posts that I hope to do over Christmas Break to catch up on all of the kids but just wanted to quickly get something on the blog that lets everyone know that we are still here. We have one more insane week a school and work and then 2 weeks at home....YAY! Here are jut a few recent photos of the pack.......

Our big boy with the newest addition, Sophie the cat...more about this little princess later.

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA

2010-12-28T08:23:00.003-07:00

We just received these photos of our brown-eyed boy. In less than a week he will be in my arms. That's right we are going to China!!!!! We would love to have you follow our journey to bring our sweet Joshua home. You can join us at

www.minotfamily.com

Minot Family Christmas!

2010-12-28T07:27:00.012-07:00

The celebration of Christmas 2010 has come and gone and I am always surprised at how much work and preparation goes into planning for just a few hours. I have to admit that for many reasons this year just wasn't the treasured celebration that our family usually enjoys. Sure we did most of our traditional things but due to my crazy busy work schedule and the kids hectic school schedules we were left with very little time to make memorable moments. We were all so very tired and worn out as work and school came to an end for a few weeks and spent the first week of our break passing a stomach virus through our family. Not fun at all....in fact as we sat down to our Christmas Eve dinner of beef tenderloin, cheesy mashed potatoes, spinach and apple salad and lemon veggies none of us had much of an appetite. Not even for Paula Deen's incredible chocolate cake. So we picked a bit, stuck the left overs in the fridge and opened our gifts. The kids were delighted with their gifts from GA and FL and I always love to just watch their sweet faces as the joy bursts when they receive their most wanted gifts. After gifts we loaded up in the van and looked at Christmas lights around our neighborhood and then back home where we all settled down for the night.

Christmas morning arrived very early and I enjoyed some quiet moments reading some Christmas books to the kids while we waited for Mike to wake up so that the kids could open their gifts from "Santa". They were so patient and I treasured my time of reading to them as I had not had time during this season to read one book to them. We opened gifts, ate a breakfast of french toast casserole and then the kids commenced to trying out all their new things.

We ate left overs for lunch so for the first time in MANY years I didn't cook on Christmas day. Then we enjoy our good friends The VanKirks for the evening for some delicious desserts and coffee while the kiddos played and shared their Christmas toys.

As I laid my head on the pillow Christmas night, I thought about how each Christmas of our lives takes on a different flavor. Some years I am filled with creativity, wonder and time to make special memories and others (like this year) I am doing good to accomplish little things, worn out, tired and ready for it all to be over. But despite the season of my life, the celebration is always the same.... we remember the birth of our Savior when God stepped down from heaven and became human all for us. It was a simple act of great love that gave me a gift of eternal life with Him. I rejoice and celebrate the glorious birth of my Redeemer!

Me and the kids on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning with my gift....a fire pit for evenings outside on our patio

Grace opening a long awaited gift (3 years to be exact) a FurReal Pony

Finally a DS of her very own

The breakfast table set

Dad finally gets up...happy kiddos

After waiting for an hour they are so excited to open gifts

Santa gifts arrive - Emily

Grace

Cody

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Emily and her Christmas Eve Dinner

Cody

Grace and her Florida Santa Hat....a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Minot

Our Christmas Eve Table

Me with a canvas print from Sara for Joshua's room...what a treasurePillow Pets from Nammy and Bee

Chatty Girl Book exchange from Becca and Leah

Grace's Christmas Concert at school (little did I know she was getting sick...poor baby)

Decorating the Tree

Cody's 8th Grade Choir Concert

Giving Thanks!

2010-11-26T07:08:00.007-07:00

Our Thanksgiving celebration was very quiet this year and I will have to admit a little lonely. While the rest of my family joined together in GA we remained here in CO where it was just the 5 of us. I found myself missing my extended family like crazy. Being so far away is very hard sometimes. I prepared a feast to feed a crowd and we hardly made a dent in the food so looks like left overs for the next 2 days. We ate and then enjoyed some joke-telling by Grace, some entertainment by Emily and Cody and I watched a movie which is a treat for me ( I usally don't sit down long enough to watch a movie) But for one afternoon I enjoyed my kids to the fullest and it was truly time for which this mama was thankful. So another Thanksgiving has come and gone....we are a few pounds heavier and have more memories which I will treasure forever. Looking forward to getting our house all Christmas-ed up today and then back to the busyness of life. Lets hope that busyness includes packing for China!

Here's how we gave thanks this year......

Post Feasting Photos with my kiddos

We finished our day with Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Bread Pudding as featured on Pioneer Woman.....It was DELISH! (I even had some for breakfast this morning)

Grace told a few jokes from her joke book after dinner.

This girl ate 5 stuffed eggs....they are her favorite.

The girls were not interested in posing for any photos, silliness reigned for most shots

The Thanksgiving table compliments of Grace

Table settings complete with placecards and Thanksgiving notes to us all.

Looks like the Tooth Fairy will be visiting our house!

2010-11-26T06:57:00.002-07:00

Little Miss Emily lost her very first tooth the day before Thanksgiving. We didn't pull it, it actually fell out while she was eating a banana. I actually thought that she might have swallowed it but found it mushed in a chewed up banana. The tooth fairy didn't make it the first night (due to the cold night
what an excuse, hee hee) Here's my toothless girl.....

Massive Catch Up

2010-11-24T06:12:00.003-07:00

Well, it is the day before Thanksgiving and I am on day 3 of a week off from work and school which really has been nothing but a time of catch up. It has been an insane couple of months. I have been stretched beyond capacity between managing home, the kids, their school and my new job. It has been quite the adjustment. Work for me has required so much of me and I have to admit that my days are not the easiest. They start around 4:30 am and usually don't end until 10:00 at night. My house is never clean, laundry is, well indescribable, I am treading the waters of life just trying to keep my head up. I don't think I ever imagined how hard this would be but I am thankful that my working has allowed my kiddos to attend such an incredible school. Each day when I drag myself out of bed which is getting harder as the mornings get colder, wishing for a day at home I remind myself of just how wonderful it is that my kids get to spend their days in such a safe and nurturing environment.

My hectic days leave no time for computer therefore, I have lost touch with the blogs I love to follow, face book friends, my chatty girls and even my own blog is severely out-dated. I did find the time this morning when I was woken up by Cody at 2:15 am and couldn't go back to sleep, to update so you will find a massive catch up below. So grab a piece of pumpkin pie and a cup of coffee and see what we have been up to. Sure wish I was reporting that I was heading to China to scoop up my brown-eyed boy but alas as of today we still do not have our TA. But we sure have passed the time while we wait and I am confident in just a few weeks we will be on our way to become a 6-pack + 1.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

A Treat at Focus On the Family

2010-11-24T06:04:00.003-07:00

Last weekend Mike and I were treated to a special time at Fo*cus on the Fa*mily where we enjoyed hearing about the new and exciting things that are taking place with this organization. It was such a refreshing time as we listened to new leadership share their vision for Focus and how they are returning to the mission of preserving the family. Jim Daly, the President of Focus (pictured above) has done a beautiful and admirable job of re-tooling the ministry of Focus and Mike and I were so encouraged at the work they will be doing in the future. In a world where it seems that Christian Families have little hope and that the morality of our country is declining at lightening speed we are thrilled that Focus on the Family is committed to see that families are equipped with resources to weather the storm.

Thanksgiving...Kindergarten Style

2010-11-24T05:54:00.003-07:00

Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. I just love it and try to soak in as much of it as possible which is rather hard to do when my neighbor across the street puts her massive Christmas display up the week after Halloween. Nevertheless, I try to enjoy the fall leaves, pumpkins and all the things that remind me of a holiday that has always been filled with good food and time with family. I love remembering all those Thanksgivings spent at my nana and grandaddy's house where there was so much food we ate on it for days and we spent an entire day surrounded by our family. I do miss that and wish so much that my kiddos were experiencing the warmth of the holiday where we give thanks for all the goodness in our lives. To begin the Thanksgiving celebration Emily's Kindergarten class treated us to a wonderful performance of song, prose and dance. It was just delightful and obvious that these little 5 year olds had worked super hard on their program. We then feasted on delicious pies and treats and were reminded once again of how thankful we are for the heritage of our country.

A Few Fall Photo's

2010-11-24T05:38:00.004-07:00

Our Fall has been rather uneventful...in fact outside of school and work we have done very little which makes me rather sad. We didn't make it to an Air Force Football Game (which I really wanted to do) and for the first time since Cody was born we didn't make a trip to the pumpkin patch. We did manage to get to the Balloon Festival and the Colorado State Fair. I was really lax on my photography but here are just a few random photos from the past few months....

These were just too cute....Mia Jian wears these darling headbands and after my visit to Iowa I just had to have some for the girls. Emily's head is not a good headband head but they do look cute for about 10 minutes.

A Visit From Bee

2010-11-24T05:25:00.004-07:00

The HIGHLIGHT of my Fall was a visit from my daddy. He came out for a visit a few weeks ago and it was the most wonderful time. I miss him so much and it was great spending time with him. I had to work every day and wished to have had more time with him but we maximized what little time we did have together. We celebrated his birthday with him, took him to visit a few sites and just soaked up our time with him. Emily especially enjoyed being with him every morning. The two of them were like two peas in a pod. They caught up on all our house projects, played games, colored, picked and pressed fall leaves and had a grand time. When he left we all missed him so very much and are already looking forward to our next time together. Bee, thanks for coming for a visit!

Emily's Mother Goose Day

2010-11-24T05:12:00.003-07:00

We are so blessed to have our kids attend a wonderful public school that does so many wonderfully special events that enhance a deeper learning of things that are classic and traditional. While homeschooling, I loved and ascribed to teach in this classical way however, it really was against my nature therefore I am thrilled that my kiddos are in this environment with teachers who do an incredible job filling their lives with this type of education. One of the events that Emily enjoyed was Mother Goose Day. Her class spent a few weeks learning Mother Goose Rhymes and then memorized one and recited it to none other than Mother Goose herself (aka her principal). Emily's rhyme was "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat Where Have You Been" and she dressed as a kitty cat. Her teacher, Mrs. Garcia moonlighted as Old Mother Hubbard for the day and I swear I think she missed her calling. It was a grand celebration with fruit tarts and milk.

I just had to post this one so you could see humpty dumpty...is he not the cutest thing?

Celebrating 8 years....my Grace.

2010-11-24T04:50:00.006-07:00

On Sept 13, 2002 a sweet little girl entered my life. Her presence in our family is quite a miraculous story and one that I cherish. From the moment she was born sweetness filled her heart and I am grateful and honored that I am her mommy. My Grace is filled with spunk, creativity, and love. She has a huge heart and is tender but at the same time she has a will that is a strong as nails. I love that about her because I know that God has something great planned for her. Her tenderness and love is amazing and I stand in awe every day at how God continues to fashion such a beautiful little girl. She is helpful, kind and a great friend. We celebrated her special day with a group of friends at a horse farm near our house. Grace LOVES and I mean LOVES horses so getting to ride and pet horses was such a treat for her. Here are a few photo's of her special day:

Bronco Time

2010-11-24T04:40:00.003-07:00

Since moving to CO we have been in awe of the enthusiasm surrounding NFL football. I guess growing up in the south and then marrying a die-hard FSU fan our lives have seemed to center around college football. Once our kids were born we even gave up our trips to Tallahassee and Mike would only occasionally watch the Seminoles play. We caught the Bronco fever though when Tim Tebow signed with Denver and made the trip to Denver for a pre-season practice with our friends the VanKirks. It was really fun being in the stadium and seeing Tim with his rookie hair cut. We have even found ourselves watching some Sunday afternoon football.

First Day of School

2010-11-24T04:25:00.004-07:00

We celebrated the beginning of the school year this year with all 3 of our kiddo's heading off to school. After 2 years of homeschooling this was an exciting day as well as scary. Cody was so incredibly brave as he entered 8th grade in a huge junior high where he knew all of 1 person. I really can't imagine how he felt but he has done fabulously well and as we sit here 4 months into it he is really happy. The girls did great and absolutely love their teachers and their classmates. We don't miss a minute of homeschooling and I realized just how much my kids needed a school environment.

Here are a few shots of their first day:

Welcome Back!

2010-09-16T04:27:00.005-06:00

For those of you who may be visiting our blog for the first time, WELCOME. This is the place where I, Nichole ramble about a lot of stuff, mostly my family which includes my man and the awesome kiddos to whom I have the pleasure of being a mom. I also enjoy writing about the things that I love like cooking, decorating and most of all my walk with the Lord. For those of you who have followed our blog, WELCOME BACK to the new and improved "Emily Makes 6". Sorry that I have been private for so long. It wasn't really my intention to stay private this long but there were some circumstances that caused the long bout of secrecy. More about that reason later. As you can see we got a cute face-lift including a brand new name as well as the face of a brown-eyed boy in the header. Just in case you haven't figured it out we are "expecting". This little sweetie......

will be joining our pack and is the reason we were private for such a long time. At the time of discovering our new son on a waiting child list we were not planning on adopting again and had not collected a single document for our dossier. Knowing that our time frames for bringing our little guy home would be long and we were starting from scratch we wanted to wait until we were at lease within shouting distance of travel before we shared our news. We now have our LOA and we are shoutin'. We still have a few more documents to acquire before we make our journey across the globe to scoop up this bundle of cuteness but we are heading down the homestretch.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that we are once again journeying to another son but I think I always knew in my heart that Emily wasn't our last. The thought of it all is a little scary sometimes, I mean we have A LOT going on in our family right now so this is certainly a big 'ol leap of faith but I am totally convinced that as God's children we are at our best when we are hanging on for dear life to the ONE who knows what the future holds. HE sees the glorious end and I know that I am always so much closer to My Father when I am following Him step by step, trusting in that hand that is guiding me to the finale that HE has planned. Is the walk easy? NOOOOO! Is it full of tough stuff? YESSSSS! But is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!! The way that God brought us to our little guy is nothing short of miraculous and I have shared the amazing details on our new blog Our Brown-eyed Boy. Click the star button on the side bar and it will take you directly to this blog or you can just click here. We would love to have you follow along with us as we run this race to our little boy. It is sure to be an "Amazing Race" minus any "pit stops" and eating anything strange...(I hope).

Thanks for checking back in with us despite our MIA status for so long. I posted quite a few entries while we were private so if you want to catch up on what we've been doing you can check out some older posts. I have listed the new posts on the top of the side bar for easy reference. Just click on the title and it will take you directly to that post.

I hope your days are filled with lots of fun and excitement.

What's in a Name?

2010-09-14T04:55:00.002-06:00

Now that we are not private anymore I decided to give a little explanation about the new name of our blog......What's in a name? Names can really say alot about someone or something so when we realized that once again our family would be growing and there would be a new little face in our pack of kiddos" I knew that a new blog name would be in order. In all honesty I am not that creative and giving the state of my mind in recent years I couldn't for the life of me think of something cute until I thought about how we refer to our family.

Cody came up with a name for us when our Grace was born. Out of the blue, my then 5 year old said, "Guess what mom? We are now a "5 pack". Well, it stuck and from that point we have referred to ourselves as a 5 pack and then when Emily came along Cody let me know that we would be a "full 6 pack". So now that we are adding a 7th little one to the pack I decided that we will be a Six Pack + 1 and what a perfectly sweet little pack it will be.

East Coast Adventures

2010-08-07T07:48:00.007-06:00

Cody and I just returned from our whirlwind trip to the east coast. We spent 12 days in GA and FL and and enjoyed catching up with our family and friends. It was a sweet time coupled with some emotional difficulties as well but overall he and I were so thankful for the moments to spend with those people we love the most. Our trip began with our flight to Atlanta and 4 busy days of soaking in the goodness of my GA fam. We were able to attend a family reunion with my Nana's family and I was able to see aunts, uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in years...it was just wonderful. My aunt and uncle hosted us all at their beautiful home and the food, well let me just say that I am a part of a big southern family where the women CAN cook. We enjoyed my grandparents pool and back yard, time with my cousin Leslie, her husband, Brian and their son Ryan and my best friend from college made the trip over from B'ham to spend the day with us. I was just as full as I could be after 4 days of being with my family. Here are some shots of our time in GA....

My cousin Leslie, my aunt Vicki, my Nana,

me and my Mom

3 Generations...we were missing my sister and our daughters who would have made it 4.

My aunt Vicki, my Nana and my mom

My GA Family

Me and my cousin Julie....we were best buds when we were kids, almost inseparable. I haven't seen her in probably 10 years....it was so sweet catching up with her and meeting 2 of her 3 kiddo's

This is my nana and two of her siblings (one of her sisters was missing)

Cody and my cousin's son, Ryan doing what they do best.

Cody and my Granddaddy

My nana and my mom

Cody and his Nammy

Cody and the beautiful scenery of my aunt and uncles back yard

My Grandaddy, Aunt Geraldine and mom relaxing by the pool at my nana and granddaddy's.

More relaxing by my Aunt Vicki, cousin Leslie and Nana, being in my nana and granddaddy's back yard is like being in a botanical garden.

Cody and my cousins son, Ryan, the two of them were two peas in a pod

Cody and my other grandmother, Mee-mee

Me and my Mee-mee, it was so good to see her. She is my daddy's mom and hasn't been doing well. We spent the afternoon with her and it was such a wonderful time.

Ryan and Cody being silly in the pool

My nana and granddaddy have a diving board in their pool which was quite the hit for Cody.

More pool time.

After spending 4 days in GA we loaded the car with my mom and dad and headed south to FL where we spent a couple of days with my sister and her family and then a few days with my mom and dad. It was such a nice time. Cody hung out with my sister's kids, we swam, shopped, visited some of our favorite restaurants, I had a latte in my favorite coffee shop, we spent an afternoon at Downtown Disney with my parents and got fully saturated with the heat and humidity of central FL. There were some emotional moments that were reminders of the preciousness of life and family. I was reminded of how much I miss the closeness I used to share with my family. Being so far away is difficult, the distance and lack of frequent contact inevitably creates voids. Voids that make your heart ache for what used to be. Life doesn't stop just because you are not there. There is a moving on so to speak which can be difficult to digest. Saying goodbye was just gut-wrenching mainly because I love my family so very deeply and while I see the goodness God has brought in the life of our family since moving I hate the fact that the more time we are separated from our family the greater the emotional distance becomes. Nevertheless, our time in FL was treasured and we are still glowing in the warmth of being with all of our family.

Cody being silly with my nephew, Garrett

Me and my friend Robyn.

Me, Mike's Dad and Mom and Cody

Cody and his nammy

Cody and his BeeAll three

Me and my mom and dad

Soooo, that was a recap of our adventure to the east coast. I didn't get one pic of me and my sister. I just can't believe that we missed that one but then she and I are usually the photographers of the bunch. We don't know when our next trip back will be given that this year is full of LOTS and LOTS of stuff....but we can't wait until we can visit again.

TO OUR GA and FL family and friends.....thanks so much for loving on us and all the special things you did to make our visit THE BEST!!!!

What we've been up to?

2010-07-14T09:23:00.004-06:00

It's summertime and I LOVE IT!!!!! I enjoy everything about summer, the warm weather, longer days, the beautiful flowers, birds, butterflies and hummingbirds. Watching the kids play outside until dark, taking long walks on the golf course, bike riding around the neighborhood, incredible hiking, sitting on my front porch in my jammies drinking coffee and not freezing to death. Oh and how could I forget summer desserts....I just love them. All the yummy fruit just makes for delicious sweet treats. I wish it would never end...... Here is what we've been up to this summer. Nothing spectacular just having fun.

Mike and I before rare date night.

My sweet Emily looking so cute that I just had to snap a shot.

And my adorable blondy looking just as cute, I just love it that my girls still like to dress alike

The girlies

Some watermelon cookies that we made...so easy and pretty cute as well.

Ok, this is just down right sinful.....blueberry cheesecake with a blueberry sauce. What a great way to use all of our yummy blueberries and to make myself feel better I know I got my antioxidants for the day. I also made Paula Deen's Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake and oh my goodness....more sin in my life.

To work off all those sweets we have been gardening up a storm. The previous owners of our house had landscaped using some nice plants but they had gotten overgrown and frankly were colorless. Given that for most of the year we have absolutely no color in our yard I was bound and determined to fill my yard with of color, even if it only bloomed for a couple of days. Here are some shots of the fruits of our labor.....

My front porch coffee spot

We dug up this entire bed and replanted some beautiful perennials

After months of waiting the kiddos FINALLY got their playground.....and are enjoying it to the fullest.

And last but certainly not least was the NEW rooms. The girls decided to re-locate to our guest room giving their old room to our "brown-eyed boy". The whole process took me a week but it is finally done. I painted the girls new room and finally hung all their accessories. They absolutely love their new space. Brown-eyed boy's room is almost complete and once it is I will post pics on his blog. Here are a few shots of the girls room.....

Well that is about it for our summer so far. We have a family reunion in GA and a trip planned to FL upcoming and will squeeze out as much fun as we can before I start my new job in August. Hope you all are having a blissfully happy summer too!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-14T09:01:00.002-06:00

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Don't really know why, I just love celebrating in a patriotic way. The whole day is full of faith, family and being reminded that the USA is the greatest place to live in the world.

This year we were kind of low key and I have to admit I missed being with family on this special day. I did make some yummy food and abandoned the healthy eating for a meal and savored the bbq pork ribs, Pioneer Woman's Brisket, Potato Casserole, Baked Beans and Dressed-up Coleslaw and to top it all off Pioneer Woman's Peach Crisp with Ice Cream for dessert. We caught some of the fireworks sitting on our patio and then when it started raining we took a drive to a spot where we we able to see the later half of the show from our car. All in all it was a great day!

Future Planning via Grace

2010-06-25T06:13:00.003-06:00

One of the reasons I blog is so that I might keep a record of all the happenings of our family. I gave up scrapbooking and journaling along about the time our Connor was born. There was just too many things to do during the day and hours of pasting pictures and journal into albums in a cute fashion was the first thing to go. Then along came blogging....a place where I could write and keep a track of all those special moments in my little world. I try to stay caught up with all of our events but I have to admit that often times my kids say and do things that I let slip through the cracks and those memories get lost in the sea of my forgetfulness. I have decided that I am going make better attempts at making notes of all those things that I know I and my children will treasure as we grow older.

Well, one of those moments happened the other day while Mike was driving with the girls in the car. Emily and Grace were sitting in the back chatting away, as usual. They are truly chatty girls and love to plan for the future. Mike came home with a smile on his face and couldn't wait to inform me of my oldest daughters future plans. Oh I love it that she is thinking to the future so here is what she sees her life like when she "grows up".

First of all she will live near her mom and dad so that she can come and visit alot. Next she will have lots of animals including horses. She will be a veterinarian, caring for all types of animals. She and Emily will also own an ice cream shop but Grace will be the "boss". Grace will close the ice cream shop each week for me and Mike so that we can have our Bible Studies and Small Group Meetings in her shop where she and Emily will serve us all ice cream, free of charge. In addition to this busy life she also wants to have a family and be a mom. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW! My girl has a great life planned and I am praying everyday that she will be a girl who always seeks God's direction for that future, I ask Him to protect her little heart and mind. May her heart and body always remain full of purity and innocence and may God grant her every desire of that little heart. I am so blessed to call her my daughter!

Summertime

2010-06-19T06:50:00.006-06:00

It is Summertime and I LOVE IT!!! After months of endless complaining about the cold and the snow I am in my glory soaking up the warmth and sunshine. I couldn't be happier. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, I can go outside without 10 layers of clothing, the kiddos can play outside all day. It is just wonderful. We have been quite busy, doctor and dentist appointments galore, VBS, home repairs and lots of yard work. Yes, yard work.....I have never been one that enjoys yard work or gardening but given the fact that the color just explodes out here in the west during the summertime we have wanted to spruce up our yard with some color so we have been digging out and planting some new plants and it has been fun. The kids have even gotten in on the gardening. I can't wait until next year when we hopefully see the fruits of our labor. Here are a few shots of summertime so far.....

These are our iris's which just popped out. They were planted by the previous owners of our house and are such a treat.

We have two bird feeders and absolutely love watching the birds. The birds frequently fly into our large window on the back of the house and here is veterinarian Grace and her assistant Emily nursing a little finch back to health. He survived his accident thankfully.

These next shots are of our trip to a place called Glenwood Springs. We went there a couple of times last summer and loved it so we decided to go again. We swam in the hot springs pool and did a few incredible hikes. The snow was melting therefore the rivers were raging which was a little scary for this mom as we hiked some narrow trails right above that fast moving water. Nevertheless, I am always struck by the incredible detail of God's perfect creation as we get out and enjoy HIS beauty.

Here are the girls after a busy day, enjoying a snack in bed before night, night.

Grace in the hot springs pool

I took this shot last year of the pool. It is amazingly warm....my kind of swimming.

On our hike

I had to have my Starbucks

The hikers

Hanging on tight to my girl.

Silly Grace

Serious Grace

Here are some shots of what we saw during our hike

The Cheese Keeps Moving

2010-06-17T11:29:00.002-06:00

Just a word of warning this is probably going to be a rather long post. I really don’t intend to be so wordy but sometimes I just have a lot to share….so if you would rather skip the details, here is the condensed version…Beginning in August, I will be entering the working world, the kids will be going back to school full-time and life is going to be beyond crazy. There you have it and if you want the expanded version you can read on…….

The winds of change are blowing once again through the life of our family. Have I ever mentioned that I don’t like change? Well, I don’t….not one bit but for some reason God just continues to “move my cheese”. Most of you who know us and/or read this blog know that 2 years ago, my husband sold his law practice, retired at the age of 49 and we packed up our family and moved across the country. These 2 years have been full of physical, emotional and spiritual ups and downs. I have felt like I am on one of those heart stopping roller coasters most of the time. I have had such a difficult time settling into my new surroundings and new way of living and I stand in amazement of all of you military wives who do this type of thing every 2-3 years. Anyway, one of the decisions we made when moved was to begin homeschooling Cody and Grace. It was something I had said I could NEVER do yet at the time I felt a strong “calling” to give it a try. If you are interested you can read my post about it here. So, shortly after leaving everything I knew and loved, arriving in a place where I knew nothing about my surroundings and only knowing enough people to count on one hand, I began this thing called homeschooling. I embarked on this new endeavor with excitement, energy and determination that I would prove myself wrong in that I COULD do this. In my heart and mind I knew that I was doing what God wanted me to do, I had read everything I could get my hands on and was convinced that this was going to be life changing for my kids and family. Little did I know what was in awaiting me. Without boring you with the details may I just simply say that after the first year, I was spent. Exhausted beyond imagination, frustrated, grumpy, wrought with guilt over what I had failed to accomplished and in all honesty, fighting what I am sure was mild depression. I was lonely and my kiddos were not at all the picture of the close knit family that I had read about in the homeschooling books and magazines. All the things I had dreamed that homeschooling would be had not come to fruition. In all of my efforts something got lost along the way. It just wasn’t working….but why? It seemed to work beautifully for all those around me. I was doing what I thought God had called me to do and trying REALLY hard but I just felt like a square peg in a round hole. So we tweaked the plan a bit and enrolled the kids in a part-time school thinking that it would make the whole experience better. We quickly discovered that while it didn’t make my experience better our kids loved the “real school” days. They made friends quickly, loved their teachers and began to thrive in that environment. Their days at school were great while the days at home were miserable ….they wanted to go to school. LIGHT BULB moment! Our kids needed full-time school but what about all the stuff that I had read about how homeschooled kids are so much better adjusted, protecting them from negative exposure they get in the school environment is the best thing a parent can do as well as the argument that you can do twice as much at home as they do in full-time school. Coupled with the statement that “giving the gift of homeschooling to your kids is the greatest thing you can give them”. I mulled over these things and many more, prayed like I had never before and heaped on some more guilt over my failure. Oh yes, that ulgy guilt thing….we mom’s do guilt well and I was totally consumed by it. That is until God impressed upon my heart that while this lifestyle may be perfect for others it wasn’t for me. I read this passage and was overwhelmed with the fact that we are all created differently and for different purposes as they relate to the Body of Christ. My kiddo’s needed me to just be their MOM, not their teacher and I needed to listen. We had done what we needed to do to give them an easy transition into our new life and it was now time to move on. And I needed to be ok with moving on. Admitting without guilt that I had tried, done the best I could with what I had and trust that God would redeem that which had been lost over the past 2 years. God has equipped some wonderful men and women with the gifts and abilities not to mention a love for teaching kids and allowing those people to give my kids what I could not was something that I needed to trust God to do. It was past the time for me to do what I do best….be a MOM! I LOVE being a mom and for me having to wear the hat of teacher somehow caused me to lose this love. So the decision was made that the kids would go back to school full-time.

In an effort to achieve the best situation for the kids I will be giving up my status as a “stay at home mom” and entering the world of working moms. I have just accepted a part-time office position at the school where we wanted the kids to attend. We feel in love with this particular school and it’s educational philosphy and because of the long wait lists the only way to enroll them was for me to work there. I am very thankful to have been offered a job that is #1 part-time, #2 in the same place where my kids will be and #3 with some really nice people with whom I get work. I am quite anxious as I embark on this new lifestyle wondering how in the world will I do it all….work, taxi service, cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands. ….and not to mention having our little guy come home from China right in the midst of it all. I know it won’t be easy but my current thoughts are it has to be better than shouldering the responsibility of educating 3 kids all by myself. So here we go….I am preparing for some bumps in the road but praying to be pleasantly surprised by smooth sailing. If you think of it and would be willing to pray for us as we begin this new endeavor here are some specifics:

• Pray for Grace and her ability to catch up with lightening speed. She is about a year behind and really struggling with reading. We cannot allow her to repeat 1st grade because of her age so she is going to have a really tough year academically. I pray that her self-confidence will stay strong and that she will make lots of new friends and that God will give her a teacher that can come along beside her and birth in her a love for learning, a love that I think I have squashed.

• Pray for Cody and his adjustment into Junior High. Academically he will do fine but I pray that God will place some really nice friends who are kind and helpful in his life right away. I pray that he can stay focused and organized, be able to change classes, keep up with his “stuff”, manage his diabetes while at school and just keep a tight reign on his emotions which sometimes go a little hay wire when he is anxious.

• Emily, pray that she will have a great beginning to her school and not miss her mama too much.

• Me, well that I can be a good time manager and not get overwhelmed with what I know will be one crazy life. Just keeping my head above water is my greatest hope.

• And Mike, pray that God will equip him with the knowledge, insight and willingness to fill in the gaps that are left by my not being able to manage our home and family full-time.

Thanks so much for praying for our family during this transitional time. There is lots of excitement and some fear as well but I am confident that we are doing the right thing for our family.

Summer Haircuts

2010-06-10T07:27:00.003-06:00

Well, after a couple of weeks of deliberation, and alot of hounding by my man and my daughters I found myself sitting in the salon last night getting my girls long beautiful hair chopped off. I have to say that I had to fight back tears when I looked down at the floor and saw all those locks piled on the floor nevertheless, I thought my princesses screamed of cuteness with their new bouncy bobs. Here are the before and afters......

Inward Living

2010-06-06T08:11:00.002-06:00

For the past year the majority of my posting has been of the surface nature….updates and pics on what we have been doing as a family with a sprinkling of a few other topics that I find interesting. But I have written nothing about the condition of my heart. I have always enjoyed writing about how God is moving through my life as a way of bringing attention to my love for my Savior as well as offering encouragement to any reader who might be experiencing a similar circumstance. I also love to go back and read past posts and see the hand of the One who made me revealed in my own life. Nevertheless, those types of posts have been few and far between and I was thinking yesterday after I posted about Grace’s end of the year party that I really haven’t shared anything deeper than the happenings of our family and in all honesty that thought produced some conviction in my heart. It all made me question why I haven’t had anything that I felt was worthy of sharing. Needless to say, while cleaning my house yesterday I did a lot of searching within my soul, did some talking to myself (which I do when I need to process emotions) and then arrived at church last night to hear Gods word speak to the emptiness of my life. Emptiness that hasn’t come from a lack of activity, we have been more than active but there has been a lack of meaning, purpose and direction and for months what I would have testified as a lack of “joy”. This year has been difficult in many ways. I have felt loneliness, isolation, frustration, guilt and the list goes on. And you pack all that onto a miserable cold winter that just seemed to never end. Recently, there have been some added circumstances that have heightened and intensified those emotions, all of which have left me questioning a lot about decisions that have been made and the current state of our life. Having said all of that, I found myself living in a state of the past, thinking about all the things that lay behind me. The life I and my family once knew invades my thinking frequently and I clung to these memories with a death grip convinced that if I could only duplicate those past scenarios’s my joy would return. My life looks and feels so different today than it did just 2 years ago and for the most part I haven’t fully embraced the new life mainly because I didn’t care for it and frankly after 2 years it still doesn’t “feel” like it is “me”. A fish out of water….that has been me. Constant chaos….that’s my life. No intimate connections, little to no personal time to myself, severe lack of private time to connect with my husband and a deep longing for friendship. Pretty sad huh? The downward spiral of negative thinking has left me in a pitiful state. I have made half-hearted “outward” attempts to fix the problem never acknowledging that perhaps I should look a little deeper. I am sure that God has been consistently prodding me to do this but I just wasn’t willing until last night. I sat through worship with an apathetic attitude and even felt distant from what was taking place…it bothered me that I did feel disconnected from the music that brought praise to my God. It was a different service because it was a communion service but I was in no way prepared to hear the words of God and how they would pierce my attitude. Our pastor has been doing a very long series on the Book of John. For the past couple of weeks he has done a mini-series on John 17 which is the prayer that Jesus prayed for us prior to his death. A powerful chapter that will overwhelm you if you digest it as it written, a prayer by God’s Son to His Father for you. Anyway, here are a few highlights from the sermon. It was entitled Inward Living.

Living Inward means this:

Living Joyfully
John 17:13 I am coming to you now but I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have joy within them

Jesus wanted us to have joy.

What is joy? A deep inner sense that GOD IS ENOUGH. It certainly is not a circumstantial exemption card meaning that we aren’t guaranteed that life is always going to be full of outward circumstances that produce ‘joy’.

You can CHOOSE this joy ---which is an inward celebration that HE IS ENOUGH.
The outward stuff may not pleasant but oh if HE is ENOUGH then joy abounds.

We search for happiness but happiness is circumstantial, Joy is not.

Living Nourished

Oh this one was a biggie for me!
John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world anymore than I am of the work……:17 Sanctify them by the truth your word is truth.

To live nourished means that we are digesting the amazing food of his Word. My pastor drew an analogy of being at an all inclusive resort where everything was paid for yet one does not take advantage of any of it.

I have been living among lavish banquet tables and buffet lines yet have been severely mal-nourished. I am so ashamed to say that it has been a while since I have fed on HIS Word.

Psalm 19:7 the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. I just love that “reviving the soul”

Oh how my soul needs reviving. I think I have been in soul cardiac arrest for a long time.

Love this one to as it combines the first two points…..The precepts of the Lord are right giving joy to the heart. Psalm 19: 8

Living Loved
John 17:23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have LOVED them even as you have loved me.

I think I get this one. I mean I know that I am loved but do I let the world know that I am loved and do I rest in that pure love every minute of every day. When we know we are loved we act differently. Am I acting loved by My Father?

We ended our service with two beautiful worship songs Breathe and He knows my Name. (If you haven’t heard them you can listen here and here)

And I left determined to work on Living Inward by:

Joyful Living
Nourished Living
&
Loved Living.

I pray that you will too!

Schools Out

2010-06-05T11:07:00.004-06:00

We officially ended the school year a week ago with a wonderful luau celebration with Grace's class at school. As most of you know we homeschool part-time and enjoy the benefit of having a great program that Cody and Grace attend 2 and 3 days a week. This program and the teachers at this school have been a blessing in my life and the lives of my children in so many ways. Despite the constant taxi service accomodating the conflicting schedules of Cody and Grace I have loved it that my kids have experienced the school atmosphere, they have made some wonderful friends and I have had the joy of doing all those "room parent" duties that I love. The interaction with the other moms, teachers and staff have been a ray of sunshine in what has been a very lonely season of life and I couldn't be more grateful for this addition to our homeschooling life. Because of the time lost with the kids being at "school" we still have lots of catch up to do at home so we really won't have a summer break but it will be nice not to be in the car so much. Nevertheless, we hated saying goodbye especially to Grace's teacher and her classroom assistant. Both of whom were very special to Grace this year. Grace's teacher poured into her so much love and affection and I am thankful that Grace had the joy of being in her classroom. Her teacher is re-locating to another state so our goodbyes were difficult but our memories will last forever. Here is a sampling our our end of the year party.....

Grace and Mrs. Emery (I swear they could be sisters)

Grace and her classroom assistant, Mrs. Carver
The next few shots are of Grace and her buddies

The Food....we have had some of the most creative dishes this year.

LIMBO

Grace's teacher had each of the students create a book where their classmate wrote things about each other. Here, Mrs. Emery is reading what Grace's class wrote about her....no one told me to bring the tissues.

A visit from one of my Chatty Sisters

2010-05-28T10:25:00.002-06:00

As you may see from this marathon posting session, we have been busy as bees around here and I haven't even posted anything concerning school activities. I am literally counting the days to when I can soak in the easy livin' of summertime but we still have a couple more days of busyness and then I can breathe a sigh.

In addition to celebrating Cody's 13th birthday we had a visit from one of my chatty sisters and her family. I have posted a few times about this group of women who I came to know online while we were waiting to travel to adopt our Emily. A bond formed between all of us during that time and then we were able to pass that love for each other down to our daughters. Describing what we share as a group of women and daughters is beyond words. We spend our days chatting online which we love but when we are able to get together face to face...the fireworks fly. Our family was treated to a special visit from Julie, Caroline and their family as they were beginning their vacation here in the west. We were so appreciative that they took the time for a visit with us. They only spent one night but it was packed full of lots of fun. We wore them out squeezing in as much as we could. All the kids got along beautifully. And as always I stood in awe as I watched how Emily and Caroline seemed to pick up right where we left off last time we were together. Emily and Caroline spent their days in China together in the same Foster Care Villiage in Kunming, China so I am convinced that there is a unique connection that these two little girls have to each other simply because they shared something very special during the beginning of their lives.

Julie and company, thanks for sharing a bit of your vacation with us....we loved having you.

Emily and Caroline

The chatty mommies and the "Sisters Chinese"

Me and Julie

Super Silliness

Hiking fun on a BEAUTIFUL CO day

The whole gang

13...where did the time go?

2010-05-28T06:46:00.006-06:00

On May 22, I officially became the mom of a teenager. My first-born celebrated 13 years of life and what a beautiful ride these past 13 years have been. Cody's birth and presence in our family is such a miracle....a work of God that unfolds each and every day of his life. I was able to spend 3 years with him before our second son was born and have been reminded over the past few weeks how precious that time was. After waiting for many years for God to make me a mommy I soaked in every moment with Cody during those early years. He filled our life with indescribable joy.

These 13 years have not always been easy for Cody, in fact he has walked many roads that a child should never have to travel but has done so and absorbed it all with such an accepting attitude. He is my deeply passionate kid...everything he does and feels is intense. He thinks so deeply and cannot be satisfied with surface. He demands explanation and takes nothing without feeling the truth deep in his heart. He is highly emotional and loves so deeply. Little did I know that 13 years ago when he was placed in my arms that he would bring so much passion into my life. He keeps me on my toes. He is bright minded, has amazing creativity and thought processes that amaze me and I pray today and everyday that He will forever be a man after God's own heart, that he will follow his talent and passion as that intersects with the incredible things that I know God has awaiting him. I ask God to protect his heart and allow him to see the goodness of life and that although life doesn't always play out like we think it will, God still makes a way for incredibly beautiful things to unfold. So, as my #1 son officially enters manhood may I always be passionate about expressing my love and appreciation for him, may my amazement at who he is becoming as a man overwhelm me with pride and may he always know how so very precious he is in the sight of the one who made him.

Happy Birthday to Cody, I love you "to Pluto and back"!

My first moments with my new son.

Happy Daddy!

Fascinated with the lips, already he has amassed quite the library...a sign of things to come. He is my reader.

Had to throw this one in with my alma mater's hat....today, he tells me he wants to follow in my footsteps and go to Samford....I couldn't be happier plus his Aunt Lissa and Mr. Jay could keep and eye on him if he makes his way to B'ham.

First day of Kindergarten

He loved Tae Kwon Do

One of my favorite pics of all time....Oh he will be such a good little Sigma Chi

Video Games......his greatest passion and my nemesisMagic Basketball I love this one...reveals his occasional softness