Thanksgiving Focus

I stumbled into a great idea for making Thanksgiving a day of thanksgiving!

At 8am I grabbed a sheet of paper and asked G to name 3 things he's thankful for.

Mama
House
Neighbors

I told him 3 things I'm thankful for.  Listed them.  Done.

At 9am we each added 3 more things.

We repeated it every hour.  Or - whenever I remembered.

Towards the end of the day, he was randomly approaching me:

"Kitchen, Mom - write I'm thankful about our kitchen."

"We already wrote down kitchen, G.  We sure are thankful that God gave us a kitchen, huh?"

"Then write down stove.  I'm thankful about we have a stove."

At dinnertime when we prayed, we prayed through the whole list, thanking God for everything.

Super simple idea - but it kept the point of the day in front of us all day.  And Friday he was still talking about things he's thankful for.  Loved it.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep the Christmas season about Christ...

Mother's Day

Had a nice day with my handsome sons

A Healthy Weekend

We've finally replaced sickness with FUN.  Hooray!

Time with friends

Time with family

I even made a big Easter Dinner.  Ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, and cranberry.

Took me all of 15 minutes.  It takes long than you might think to open all of those containers and get everything in & out of the microwave.

It's good to be back.

Christmas Day Highlights

So what was in all those packages?

Well, there was lotion!

Joseph.  Yours is not lotion; it's soap.

One of the most exciting presents came from Mr. Jim (and Mrs. Pat)!

Didn't matter what was inside.  It was from Mr. Jim!

But the inside racetrack was great fun.

A toolbox.  Can you feel the joy?

Joseph had picked out some shoes for me to give him.  He was all sarcastic-y surprised to open the box. 

...and find that I'd wrapped something else in it.  Surprise.

Some books that were re-gifted from Joseph's youth

... still captivating. 

In fact, G sat happily and played with each gift he opened.  It makes me wonder about exchanging the "Christmas morning flood" next year for some kind of "Advent (Hanukah?) one-gift-each-night celebration."  Has anyone done that?  Thoughts?

After gifting, we were off.  My family was all out of state, but we got to celebrate with Joseph's relatives.  So fun!

And it involved G wearing a tie... You know he was thrilled to look so handsome.

And then the day was over.  A blur.  A fun blur.

Hope you had a fun blur too.

Our Second 4th

Nothing is our first holiday with G any more.

Love that.

Easter Feast

Today a cold cut sandwich from the hospital cafeteria gave us a break from the same old holiday meal.

We were instead feasting on good news.

First - Jesus is risen.  Seriously, it gets to me more each year.  Knowing that a completely innocent man chose to die so that I could choose life... amazing!  Totally celebrating today that Jesus is alive!

Second - G had another good appointment.  Both eyes are holding tight.  There's no sign of cataracts.  The retinas seem to still be attached (there's still the one place that can't be seen due to the condensed blood).  The doctor used the phrase "beautifully attached."  Sounds good to me!

Next appointment is Tuesday.

Happy Easter!

Happy Valentine's Day

If you were here, G would gladly share his sucker with you.

Fun Times

Two enormously exciting things happened yesterday.

Excitement #1. 

G brought home a birdfeeder he made at school.  Oh the joy!  The pride!  Never was a peanut-butter-filled ice cream cone more cherished... nevermind that it had been largely crushed into many small pieces.

 I can't wait!  Let's put on my boots with my sleeper and get this outside!

I think this bush would be a great place.

..but I don't know if I can part with this marvel of craftsmanship.

Yes!  I'll hang it right here.

We identified a suitable spot for the remaining crumbs - carefully placed on a paper plate - with some snow thoughtfully sprinkled over them.

And G was ready.  He turned around, looked up, and started calling: "Birds!  Birds!"

Surprisingly, no birds flocked straight in for their delicacy.

As of this morning, it still hasn't been eaten.  Very puzzling.


Excitement #2

G & I accomplished some Valentine tasks.  While we were out, we purchased a chocolate bar for Joseph.  While we signed cards for G's classmates, he also did one for Joseph.  I stuck the bar & the Valentine in a brown paper bag; told G that I would surprise Joseph on Monday by making his lunch for him, and he would find his surprises at lunch.  No big deal.  We moved on.

Six hours passed.  We went to pick Joseph up.  As soon as Joseph entered the car, G exclaimed: "Jajesh, you wanna see yo chocolate inna bag surprise?!"  Fortunately, G's speech issues worked in my favor.  Joseph didn't understand.

However, as soon as we got in the house, G started dancing.  "Jajesh, you wanna see yo surprise?  C'mon Jajesh, you see yo chocolate!  Das a bag fo you surprise!"  He dragged Joseph straight to the place where the "surprise" was hidden.  When Joseph realized what had happened, he roared.  G was still dancing - totally excited to surprise his brother.

Fun times.

Encouragement from G

As I mentioned, we have guests coming for much of this week.  Which explains why I stayed up late last night cleaning hiding the mess as best I could.

When G woke up this morning, he looked around & in his most innocent cheerful encouraging voice, said:

"Mama, you cleaned dit up!  Good job!!!  High five!"

Christmas Day

I've been feeling better about how my family celebrated Christmas this year.


We've really increased our focus on Christ - building anticipation for the celebration of his birth.


I've worked hard to decrease consumerism - removing materialism from the holiday.

Um.

It's possible that we're a work in progress. 

I did tell my boys that we give gifts to remember the great gift that God gave us.  That counts for something, right?

Oh - and some of my shopping was... unconventional.  The night before Christmas Eve, I told Joseph that I needed some help.  He got down a couple of bins of his old toys for me.  I opened the first one and discovered a Mickey Mouse lunchbox - something to put things in! - with Mickey! - and it had horses in it! - the perfect gift for G.  Below that was a tractor, with a hitched wagon - could it get any better?  I went to the book store opened the book bin, and found five terrific "new" books.  Voila!  At one point, I asked Joseph's opinion on a gift and he rolled his eyes at me: "I wouldn't want to impose on your sentimental gift selection experience, Mom."  But, he really didn't mind.  And -G?  Those gifts have been his favorite so far. 

The only gift I purchased for him that he seems to like more is.. seriously.. the book Dogs. Such a funny boy.



So Christmas Day was fun.  The boys enjoyed their gift opening.  G seemed to hit overload with just a couple of gifts left to open.  I tried to stop him, but he insisted on pressing through.  Perseverance!

I had warned Joseph that this was going to be a less materialistic Christmas for us.  He totally wasn't expecting the Kindle.  So fun to surprise him!

And my mystery gift from G?  Two ornaments he made at school.  What could be better? 

We have lots of guests coming.  Today my cousin visited.  Looking forward to the celebrations yet ahead!

Christmas Eve

Preparing for a white Christmas

 Such handsome boys!

 10,000 tries later - a photo of all of us

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Suspense Is Killing Me

This came home from day care.

What could it be?

A Monkey and The Grinch (two separate tales)

This first story will only work if you can assume a French accent, so we’re going to practice that first.


Say: “oh”

Not, not like that. Say the word “boat” – that kind of “oh.”

Now – pronounce it up through your nose: “oh”

Well, if that’s the best you can do….


I went last night to buy new Christmas pajamas for G. A very important tradition for maximizing Christmas morning photo ops.

There were 1000s of options to choose from! 

Unfortunately, none of the options were Christmas pjs.

G & I searched and searched. Finally I spotted a green pair. I pulled it out for a closer look. But NO, they had ruined the potential Christmas-y-ness by sticking monkeys on them. I put them back and kept moving.

Very deliberately, G stopped me. In his most thoughtful voice he said (remember to imagine your French accent here): “Mama.  I like moh-nkey.”

The second story...

While we waited in line at Kohls,

and waited in line,

and waited in line,

G demanded answers from the man in front of us.  What was in his bag?  Were those books?  Which books? 

Finally we got to the register. 

As we checked out, G's new friend came over a gave him a book!  He'd added How The Grinch Stole Christmas to his own purchases for G "since he likes to read" with a "Merry Christmas!" 

Made our night - and our cashier's too.

Who would've thought that a Christmas trip to Kohls could result in some fun memories?

Gifting Success!

Thanks to you - gifts happened!  Chocolate covered pretzels for every teacher/assistant/van driver/principal/secretary/random helping person.  Hooray!

Oh - what's that?  You want to know what the envelope is doing inside each bag?

Well, that is the handwritten note that was completed for each recipient.  Boo-yah!

Excuse me?  You're wishing that you could see a note?

Why, it just so happens that I took a photo...

... of the hand-crafted cards that G created!

Feeling pretty good about this accomplishment. 

Now, if only I had written notes to my actual friends & family.  I'm still hoping to achieve that goal.  They may be New Year's Cards, but I have a dream....

Oh Christmas Tree

We got a Christmas tree up.

In recent years, I've taken whatever was left on the lot on Christmas Eve.  Joseph and I have unpacked the first 20 ornaments that our hands touched, and we've called it a day.

If something happened, like the tree got wobbly... Whatever.  Pull the kitchen chairs around so that if it fell, the stand didn't tip & dump water everywhere.

Seriously.

This year I was pushing Joseph & Bapi to get us a tree already.  And we unpacked ALL the ornaments.  And I took photos of my sons.

(G was busy talking on his phone - er - on his pack of tissues.  Funny boy.)

I'm mindful that this may be the best Christmas I ever have.  I'm trying to savor as much as possible.

Reader Updates

Since the suspense has been killing you...

Yay Diane!  I get to send you a copy of that CD!  Hopefully I'll get that done soon so you can still enjoy it before Christmas.

Thanks to both all five of you who played.  I really do wish I could send a copy to everyone.  I appreciate you sharing my memory.  And - in case you're the bitter type - Joseph drew the winning name, so send all your hate mail to him.

In other news - you know that easy cookie recipe I helpfully posted?  Not so much!  G and I experienced some ..challenges.. with the recipe, but I figured it was just us - - until I got complaining texts from my sister.  My sister who also did not win the CD.  My sister who USED to read my blog.  Sorry K.  Anyway, unless you're an Almond Bark Application Expert, you might want to stick with your standard recipes.

Evidence.  How the cookies are NOT supposed to look:

At least we had fun smashing up the oreos:

And - G got to have his first ever beater.  He was timid at first.  But did catch on:

Any story that ends up with licking a bowlful of chocolate has got to be good, eh?

So Many Firsts!

Making a paper chain..

Discovering snow..

Bundling up to play in the snow (for the 5 minutes Mom lasted).. 

Making Christmas cookies..

 

 

...and eating them!



Last night I put dinner on the table.  G looked at it pensively.  Then he got up, walked over to the fridge, and stood there - pondering.  After a minute he decided, grabbed what he wanted, and stated matter-of-fact: "No Mama.  I gonna eata cookie."  This is my boy.

The Christmas Story

Mary drove a dump truck

with Jesus in the back

Eventually Jesus ditched her when the ultimate form of transportation became available - a BUS!  Apparently even angels & wise men were also fond of public transportation.

Back at the barn, they caught up with the rest of their friends - you know, the other wise men, the hula girl, the worker guy, and one sheep.  Mom will probably join them once her construction gig is finished.


Isn't it good to know the outtakes?

Best Christmas Music

Love love love this CD.



After the earthquake in Haiti - when I knew that G was alive but adoption paperwork had been destroyed - when I wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to come home - when I was staying awake all day & night trying to make something happen - when I sobbed without crying because there were no more tears & no time to waste

- when I felt despair closing in around me

- then I needed to fight back.  And the only way to do that was to acknowledge that God is good.  To drown out every other thought and replace them with the certainly that God is in control, and His plans are good, and His plans cannot fail.  In the bible, God promises joy to his people.  I don't remember which verses I was holding on to then.  Here are some that might help you, if you need them today....

"He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”  Acts 14:17

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.." Galatians 5:22

"Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy," 1 Peter 1:8

So - in the middle of the night - I would put this CD on - with the songs "Unspeakable Joy" & "Glory in the Highest" on repeat - and I would sing until I was really singing.... until I was grounded, remembering what is true, and giving God the praise He deserved regardless of how my circumstances looked to me.

I bought an extra copy of the CD to give away to one of you.

Send me an email or leave me a comment if you are interested.

I'll do a drawing this weekend.


p.s. I know people don't like to comment, but if you win, you'll be happy; I'll be happy.
We'll have unspeakable joy.  Trust me.