November '12

The anticipated month.  November.  The month we finalized the adoption.  The month the visits came to an end and I regained my Fridays back.  Every single free day usually got filled with a visit from CPS, CASA, or Arrow Ministries.  All with good intentions, but added to the busy-ness of the fall.

Baylor Homecoming was the first weekend in November.  Derek was at a wedding in Alabama, so I traveled with the kids to shout for some green and gold.  The morning of the parade was not my finest. I hadn't had a quiet time, and I admit I was more concerned about my children not getting their outfits dirty prior to leaving the house then about their sweet fragile little hearts. One of those mornings that I am sure little soon-to-be-adopted children were wondering why they got stuck with that crazy lady. But we made it, I apologized later for my sinful reactions, and, through His Grace, we moved on.

We loved congratulating Jay Brown for Alumni of the Year.

Early mornings for this parade, but worth the fun.  My dad got there early to save our spot, mom arranged Leal's and extras for breakfast, and we had a fun time.  We even went after the parade to a local dentist to trade in our candy for toys.  Win win!

Nosebrothers and a rooster

Grandma came by and brought delicious Pamela's muffins for all of us gluten-free eaters.

The game was fun.  I got to see some old friends, and even saw an old baseball buddy at halftime, D'Ann Dunn, in town for her first Baylor Homecoming.   The sky turned dark as I met the kids by the outside practice field, and they had a rain delay.  So we headed home and finished the game from there.

That night I had many interruptions with kids for different reasons.  Then Levi woke up the Waco pukes.  We drove home with him getting sick the entire way home, but thankfully we had a makeshift trashcan.  That night Justin got sick as well.  First time we have had the stomach bug in our house ever, as far as kids goes. 

November was the month of sickness.  It took Levi a week for his poor body to recover, and Justin would go to school one day and come home sick for four days after.  The entire kindergarten wing was ill.  I never had a single free day that month, and somehow I didn't mind.  The Lord was gracious during that time, and I am thankful for how He slowed our lives down to a necessary crawl.  We missed soccer practices, soccer games, etc. and I was loving it.  We got to take our allowance to Barnes and Noble and buy a book and learn about money.  We had time to get haircuts during the day.  The Lord was truly just getting us ready to change gears in the spring.

We made it to the last two soccer games

 Gotcha Day.  You can read all about our post here.  A truly emotional day.

The next day Justin's class had a surprise baby shower for his teacher.  So we celebrated baby Lazar.

 We also gave her Christmas gifts as she was having her baby before the semester ended.

 We had a Gotcha Party.  I took maybe 6 photos.  Such sweet friends that were able to come and celebrate with us.  We hired Flip 'N Patties per Shane's request.  They didn't disappoint with their organic Philipino food.  It was worth every bite. 

Gotcha, sweet kids.

So fun to have so many names to celebrate!  The Lord's faithfulness is ever present in our lives.

These two are best buds. 

The newspaper article we got in the mail from the adoption day. 

This is solely to remind me next year how to do my pumpkins.

Thanksgiving was spent with the Michaelis family in Waco.  The kids loved playing with their uncles and grandparents.  Lexi was attached to the hip to Uncle Ryan. 

Lots of Wii and encouraging Levi on how to play and not just beat the poor kid.

Grandma's creative seating arrangement.

This photo...so awkward.  Just trying to change it up and ends up looking like a sea full of fingers.

Maybe practicing for CPR resuscitation.

Grandpa heated up the hot tub and had the kids swim one cold night.

Cruising in the car

 Lexi's shirt.  Bless the mommy that forgot the shirt that went under her outfit for family Christmas pictures.  So I rolled up the sleeves of one of mine for her to wear.  Yes, my three year old is wearing a gray shirt rolled up that her mother wore the day before. 

We finally managed to get the grown men and children to all sync with smiles.  The sunny day was preventing some of the preferred backgrounds.  Alas, we got our winner.

Looking at Justin's gap is too funny since it's long gone with two permanent teeth and a large space in between.

Brothers

Gracious hosts

Reenactment of the fingers once again.  We had a wonderful time with Derek's family and seeing how much we truly had to be thankful for this year.  Praise Jesus!

 Our church had it's second baptism at our community group facilitators house.  They had just finished their pool and three members from our group decided to make a public profession of their faith.  Sweet Debbie has been doing my hair for 12 years.  There were times I didn't know if I could keep taking her mouth but the Lord firmly had me stay.  Now, she is one of my best friends and encouraging sister in Christ!

Sweet Lisa is the mother hen of our community group and takes care of all of us.

Loved having my kids watch public professions.

Jimmy is our faithful leader and like a second parent to us.  I always can get a good laugh with him.

Thank you Jesus for changed hearts!

The Hughes are on their way to China!

Follow the Hughes as they embark on their journey of obedience and faith to adopt their new son and daughter and China! Follow them on their blog at http://www.ahundredmillionminustwo.blogspot.com/. Praise Jesus for redemption through adoption!

October '12 in review

The fall was busy to me.  Soccer practices twice a week in the evenings, Awana, church, kindergarten all day, getting used to three kids, different schedules, never sitting down, and just being exhausted.  But alas, that time has passed and a calmer season is upon us. 

At the end of September I got asked to represent foster families and give my testimony at a Jewel luncheon. As I prayed for discernment, the Lord revealed that it would only bring Him Glory, so I shakily said yes.  The few days prior as I was preparing my testimony, it was so beautiful to see, once again, how the Lord has weaved His way through my story.  I made it through my testimony with tears, sadness at the past, and praise and joy with the current and future.  The Lord is faithful, and I never tire of telling the story of how He continues to weave His way through our family.  I also enjoyed the luncheon because it gave me insight into Arrow's heart in so many other facets of their work.  I loved seeing the other side of it all, becoming friends with my caseworkers vs. just a nervous caseload family.  Thankful for the way the Lord stretched me that day.


Derek stayed home from work one Friday so I could go to Justin's class fieldtrip.  Such a blessing as we were still under the CPR-certified-over-21-background-check babysitter watch.  I was in charge of four kids, one of them being Lily!  Riding on the bus with so many kinder kids was hilarious.  Especially as they sang songs about a future farm concert.

 We went to Old Macdonald's Farm.  I had never been there before.

 Waited in line a long time to ride the horse.  We strategized and rode the train first because the line was short.

 Justin rode home on the bus with Chance.

 Picking out a pumpkin as your takeaway.

I rode home with Lily

I barely got a pumpkin patch day in.  I found one free afternoon, woke everyone up from naps early, and drove to the same church we have taken photos at for the last 5 years. Only to drive up and find no pumpkin patch.  At this point it was 5pm, and I wasn't about to rush anywhere in rush hour traffic.  So I found a nursery with pumpkins and a little bit of decor.  Didn't work on the outfits so much, but we made it.  And bought some pumpkins while we were at it.

Cinderella going to the ball

Some iPhone photo wonder.

Here birdie birdie

 A wet Sunday Church meeting outside on our new property.  Lexi just had to match mommy, thanks to hand-me-downs from the Hughes.

 Finally found some Rice youth attire

The kids left the animals before school as they were having community group.  Love it.

 I had inspectors in my home fixing things.  This was their office while I was getting ready one morning.

 A photo at Levi's school open house.

 Sent this to the Longhorn lovers in the family

 This one was for Papa who said their fingers would fall off and the proper way to display the fingers was down.  Levi believed him.

 Getting our nails done with arm jewelry up to our elbows

 For Uncle Aaron

The one week I helped out at Awana it was crazy hat day.  Think I scared the kids a little with my Baylor mojo.

 Right after Justin's school program we raced off to Chuck E. Cheese and used the boys' birthday coins from Aaron & Elise.  Everyone loves Chuck E.

 At gymnastics.  Levi was quite the tumbler on the bars.

 I randomly caught up on blogger and reminded myself of the cute pumpkin things to do in October.  I think at times my brain would shut down, not allowing me even think of simple things like painting a pumpkin.  Coming out of the fog now so that fun mommy can be let loose.  It's hard work to have intentional parenting, especially with needy adopted kids (and biological ones!).

The kids' preschool, The Friendship School, had a fall festival and I offered to help.  Levi kept deciding between Spiderman and a Baylor football player.  Lexi was either a Baylor cheerleader or a princess. 

Lexi's Walmart outfit was a bit short, so we added some layers to prevent a hoochie three year old.

Watch out!

I love the sweetness and simplicity of the school.

Lexi was quite the leftie thrower that day, even making the dad's eyebrows raise. 

Sic 'em, Bears!

Hunter's Creek Elementary had a fall festival.  Attire for the children was a "fun" project.  Hmmm.  They had to make an animal costume out of a paper bag.  Sounds great if you like this sort of thing.  We had a month to plan, and it took us about a month to get it done.  Justin thought most of then animals were sissy, and decided on a donkey.  He wanted it a certain way.  I bought an adult donkey costume that we mutilated.  Grandma was in town one weekend and helped us get started.  Justin wanted silver spray paint and glitter on it at first, and then the material.

First issue...Justin was too broad for the paper sack.  So we improvised.  Second issue, Justin wanted to help, and was quite opinionated, the entire way.  Third, we eventually covered up all the spray paint with the donkey material.  Used a stapler, ran out of glue...you get the picture.  Now I know there is spray craft glue.  But we finished it!

Dawn snapped a pic of the four of us in our seats

So people thought he was a bunny.  Don't let our fantastic efforts fool you!

The kids almost 40 songs in 40 minutes.  They had been practicing for a long time, even during the field trip. 

The kids' costumes were hilarious, ranging from "my mommy did all this for me" to hilariously creative. 

Sing away, donkey man.  And yes, we were the only barnyard donkey there that day.

The tail makes it stand out from being a bunny, no?

Our CPS worker had surgery, so the kids' previous caseworker, the beloved Rocky, came to do our last home visit.  It was mixed emotions.  Lexi was excited to see him, but then followed up with a question of whether he was going to take her back or not.  Broke my heart.  He was also aware of the mixed emotions, so he was great to be playful with the kids.  It gave us a good time to finish up loose ends on their story of how they ended up with us. 

Justin was just as excited to see Rocky as Levi and Lexi were.  They talk about him all the time.

Thanks for choosing us, with the Lord's leading, Rocky!

I noticed the weather was taking a dive in temperatures the next day, the last Saturday in October.   We had later soccer games, Shane was in town, our outfits required cooler weather, and presto we had ourselves a photo date with Shane the next morning at 8am.  And rewards to all for donut holes, a rare treat these days.

We got to Derek's work for the photos.  A wind tunnel and 50 degrees.  And no jackets.  Motivation to be done quickly with great smiles!

Trying to find a background.  Really liked the back light on this one.

Justin is always moving in our family.  Anything athletic brings him a calmness.

Levi is our adventuresome child.  He loves the outdoors, and will do a standing flip from anywhere.

We had Lexi put her hand on her hip, something that she now has down pat.  Just described her little personality too well.

Last photo of the bunch.  Happens every time!

Worth the freezing smiles!

We had a sip n see that afternoon for my friend Lori Bethancourt.  First shower at the new house, and Leslie suggested we keep it all in one room.  Easiest shower ever. 

Sweet Ryan Wells Bethancourt...with so much hair!  And Lori was such a faithful friend during the adoption.  I made a random comment about a shoe organizer by my back door and she shows up with a handmade cushion, baskets with the kids' names on them, and a stand.  Only Lori could love in such a creative way.  And something we use all day long!  Much less all the other ways she loved us, as did so many others.  Friends like this are rare, and I am thankful for her friendship!

That night we took advantage of the first cold front and brought out the fire pit.  Made the start of many homemade vegetable soups filled with so many things it would make your head spin.  A dump out the fridge and freezer sort of thing.  Put it in the food processor so the kids eat it more readily, and wam, you have yourselves a way to intake many veggies in a delicious way.

 Pumpkin carving.  I was still in fall craziness/overwhelmed mode.  This was the kids' first Halloween, first everything.  Needed to get these things done.  So a few days before Halloween we got Derek to carve us a pumpkin.

Stinky.

Lexi chose this, only to be told that our pumpkin wasn't round enough.  The other pumpkin had already rotted from the sprinklers, so we went with a different twist.

Ever since we started the hand on the hip, it's all she wants to do.

 Halloween.  Warm weather. Ugh.  But alas, our kids' attire matched the weather.

We almost had a Baylor theme, but I allowed everyone to make their own decision.

Baylor basketball was a no brainer for this guy

Spidey is back

Justin left our candy out in a creative way so that everyone could see the candy.

We went to a neighborhood party prior to trick-or-treating.  The kids had to get gummy worms out of whipped cream.

We ran into Isabel, who we've known since the kids were almost 1.  Miss this sweet friend.

And this....our pumpkin.  A cat.  Why not?

I loved the laidback atmosphere of trick-or-treating this year, without all the chaos and crowds we had at the last house.  We all came home and had just as much fun passing out the candy and meeting new neighbors as they came by.