Gingerbread Success

 

 

We always make a gingerbread house at Christmas time. This year I did

things a bit differently since we have so many helpers in the house now ;)

We started with a base (milk carton) and then went from there. Worked

perfectly! And everyone could put their own personal style into their

very own little house. Lots of fun for everyone. So funny that making a

gingerbread house was the first thing Shelby asked to do this year once we

started putting the Christmas tree up. Looks like the kids really do

remember the "little things" around the holidays.

Great Film Preview

A must see clip of a future film!  http://vimeo.com/55307071

Take the 5 minutes to watch all the way through.  I guarantee you will smile :)

Four Short Years Ago

We were in China for the second time getting our baby Faith!  Click here to take a stroll down memory lane.  She was such a little one back then.  She still continues to keep us laughing and guessing on some days ;)  I can't imagine how boring our lives might just be without our baby Faith in it everyday.  So glad we took that leap of FAITH to make her our daughter!

My Favorites

 

Secret Surprise Santa

The kids had a HUGE treat yesterday at the house. We had all started building our annual gingerbread houses, when out of the blue in walked Jolly Ole St. Nick himself! Yes, Santa said he was flying by and smelled the candy and heard the giggles, he just had to stop in to join the fun.

 

Elise was the first to dart out of her chair and run to see him.

 

 

All the kids were SO excited!  Santa stayed and talked to all the kids individually.  Asking them lots of questions and just chatting it up with Santa.

 

 

Then he gathered everyone around to remind them the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birthday!!

  

It was a very special day that I hope lives forever in the heart of my kids :)

 

A huge thank you goes out to Santa for reminding my kiddos how very special they really are.

The Angel Adventure

Faith is getting ready for her big Christmas play at school. She needed to be dressed as an angel. And well since my sister is fully aware of my "crafting" ability, she came to the rescue :)

Focused

One focused little ballerina :)

B-Ball

It's that time of year again...basketball! All the boys are playing this year. Ian is doing great with his first team sport. Amazing how quickly he picked up on all the rules. They all scored baskets today!! Each boy is on their own team, so we are quite busy on Saturday mornings.

As you can see, the girls favorite "play" is the playing they get to do with Papa at the games ;)

Doctors Doctors Doctors

Seems like this month is full of doctor visits with all the specialists. Ian went to hand surgeon, Elise will be visiting the prosthetic clinic, Shelby has a full day at the Cleft clinic next week too.

Today it was just me and my Shelby baby hanging out at the allergist to try and figure out why she has been breaking out in mild hives every single day for the past 30 days. Diagnosis: Chronic Hives not caused by anything external or environmentally. She apparently has something off kilter internally. So no real "cure" but lots of Zyrtec and Benadryl...sigh

On the upside, we got to spend some one on one time and shared a lunch together. Just the two of us, special lunch date with my special girl :)

Making the Lists

>
> And checking them twice. The kids prepared their lists for Santa this year. We added this Year's new ornament to the tree. Ian was happy to see his name finally on the tree. We made his new stocking last week too.
>
> Ian is looking forward to making some new hand made additions to the tree this year. He sees all the ornaments the other kids have made, and I am sure he feels left out a bit. I assured him he would make some ornaments this year to add to the tree.
>

P.A.R.A.D.E.

Oh yeah. What could be better than another parade this year? A parade at night...for Christmas!!

Tough Times in Adoption Journey

I visited Sonia's blog today to see some truths being revealed about real.life.adoption.  Thought I would link a few of the blogs that commented on her post today.  Adoption is hard folks. 

I don't sugar coat any of my posts here, but I don't always post about the bad days either.  God called us down this path, He didn't promise us it would be easy.  He did promise He would lead us through it though.  Hanging on to that fact, that I am not alone in this journey of life.

Take some time today to read a few of these posts.  I think it will give you a bit of insight into my life as well as others who have accepted the call of adoption.

http://teamoehlkers.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-year-ago-this-month.html

http://toconsideritjoy.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-yoke-is-easy.html

http://provided4.blogspot.com/2012/11/where-we-are.html

http://likethelove.blogspot.com/2012/05/true-confessions-of-ugly-mom.html

Video Must See

First Tree

 

The kids did all the decorating this year. Ian was SO excited to help with the Christmas tree. Looks great to me!

I remember a time long long ago where I thought every ornament had find its perfect spot. Not anymore. Now I simply watch to see that every child has found their perfect spot in our family.