One year ago today...

One year ago today, I launched my personal joy dare.  (See http://onethousandgifts.com).  It was an interesting day as it was a much anticipated day off of work.  However, a neighboring community was decimated by tornadoes that day.  We had Jim Cantore in our city which we all know means bad news on the weather horizon.  I committed to count to 1000 in a year on that day, and well, I failed.  As of this morning, I have 685 things listed in my joy journal.  I do continue to count as I try to make it to at least 1000.

Flashback Friday

Bracelet of Faith

The bracelet pictured above was worn through much of our journey to adopt Julia.  After completing Beth Moore's Believing God study, I felt I would miss the blue cord of faith around my wrist.  Through that study I learned that a bracelet could be so much more than a pretty ornament.  It can also be a reminder to pray as it is always in front of you and often in your way.  It can be a conversation starter for a journey you are taking which opens the door to plant seeds.

This bracelet has three charms on it.  There is the Chinese symbol for love.  Love launches adoptions, and China is a culture and a people we have come to love.  There is a small disk with a reminder to "trust God" engraved on it.  The engraving is wearing thin.  Finally, there is a mustard seed because the mustard seed of faith was all I had sometimes during that journey.  This is to be one of Julia's final Gotcha Day gifts as she reaches those last years before adulthood.

I have been thinking of bracelets quite a bit lately.  For years I have looked for something meaningful and beautiful to wear around my wrist, something to remind me to pray for needs and represent my life.    I have not come up with anything yet and am now considering a Pandora charm bracelet.  I have seen them around for years and like the idea of charms that do not dangle so much, but they seemed too bulky for my taste.  They also seem prettiest when they are theme based, and my style in charms is too varied.  Therefore, I have not really looked at them too closely. I finally paid a visit to the store, tried one on, and brought home the catalog.  I have decided that this is the way to go to build a meaningful bracelet, so I will start saving for one.  I have looked at other brands but really like the new Pandora clasp.  I have charms on an old bracelet that I would like to transfer over which is concerning because Pandora voids their warranty for bracelets that have other brands of charms on them.  Really?! Yet, I still think this is the way I will go to get a meaningful trinket to remind me daily of the blessings in my life, to remind me to thank God for them and to continually bring them to Him in prayer.

Proud Mama here

Just sharing Savannah's art project- a reproduction of a Van Gogh.  She worked really hard and was a bit intimidated at first, but WOW, what an accomplishment!


Remember that you can click the picture to see it bigger.

Of course I have to tell the story behind this piece.  Everyone in the class had to do a Van Gogh imitation, and they met with the teacher to make their choices.  Savannah, however, did not have a choice as the teacher had chosen this for her.  Her classmates were complaining about the difficulty of the pieces they had until they saw hers and decided Savannah had the hardest one.

A concert

Andy and I had the pleasure of watching a whole bunch of 4th graders (including our favorite pictured above) present their recorder concert.  They were fantastic!  They followed the recorders with some vocal arrangements including Michael Jackson's The Man in the Mirror.  Wyatt is kind of built like Michael and moves similar to him, so this was most appropriate.  Wyatt was so wound up for the concert.  Since we had him all to ourselves, we celebrated afterward by treating him to a quarter pounder even though we had already eaten dinner.  Wyatt generally needs a second dinner - so much energy!

Here he is in action! (You might have to scroll down and pause the Playlist).

First Raise!

Zach texted me from work yesterday afternoon to say that his manager was so excited to see him and tell him that he got a raise!  WhooHoo!

Flashback Friday

Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day 2009

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

On this day to celebrate love, my family was full of surprises.  Normally, this is simply a day when we make a special dessert - always a cake or cupcakes, and all the kids decorate them.  Each of the children gets one of those little hearts full of chocolate, and typically they will also get a couple of balloons.

We changed things a bit this year and made cake pops instead of cake or cupcakes and bought decorated sugar cookies instead of the candy hearts.  The kids themselves had some surprises in store
for us.

I am not normally a big fan of sugar cookies and chose these because we rarely have them, but they have always been Zach's favorite.  When I picked them up, I thought they looked so amazing that I had a bit of regret over not getting one to share with Andy.

Zach
When Zach texted me to say that he was stuck in traffic and would be pretty late getting home, I should have known something was up.  For one thing, he usually does not text me and certainly not when he is supposedly driving. Secondly and more importantly, his love language is gifts.  He arrived at home bearing gifts for everyone: DVDs for Wyatt and Julia, CDs for Andy and Savannah, and a big box of Turtles (yum) for me. While we are talking about Zach, I should add that he started squatting  545 lbs this week.  His favorite Valentine's Day gift was learning that he is the first junior (possibly in the history of the school) to make the 1000 lb. club which means that his hang clean, bench press, and squat combined total 1000 lbs.  So there you go moms.  Looking for a protective spouse for that someday for your daughter?  Zach's a pretty strong guy.

Wyatt
Wyatt provided a super sweet moment today. He left a very carefully constructed Valentine's Day card along with a candy bar from his school party on Savannah's bed for her.  Seeing Wyatt and Savannah today is a huge blessing because they are crazy about each other.  When he first landed in our family, Wyatt rejected Savannah outright and carried that for a loong time.  I had finally resigned myself to the idea that they would likely learn to tolerate each other but would never be close when God did some heart work.  Seeing that card today was sweet joy.

He clearly took his time on this.

Julia

In typical Julia style, she brought some levity to the day.  Wyatt and Julia each received cards in the mail today that contained some money.  Unbeknownst to me, they have been putting their money together to try and save for a Wii U, and they were very excited to have a little more to put toward the goal.  Julia always makes cards for Andy and me, and she had one prepared.  She handed it to me while I was texting Andy about the afternoon.  Julia was very anxious for me to open the card even though Andy wasn't home so that she could "take something back."  In her impatience, she asked, "What are you doing on your phone? Where's your love for your daughter?"  Hello, a conversation with your dad trumps getting your card back to reclaim something you had intended to give away.  I finally opened the card and was not surprised to find $2 which Julia promptly took back. Julia normally has a big and generous heart, so I did not correct her as this was just plain funny.  

What about Savannah?

When I was running around trying to get sugar cookies only to find out that my first choice location was sold out and stressed about errands in general, Savannah was showing the love by working on the cake pops.  

and these were oh so yummy!

What a blessed day!

P.M. update:


We received a call from my brother tonight.  Danielle cut her finger, needed stitches, and he could not leave work.  Therefore, we got to spend the evening with Regan and Ira.  Wyatt, Julia and I raced to their house and were greeted by my exuberant niece and perfectly content Ira.  Julia was a great help and told Danielle that she is Regan's "fave" cousin when we left.  That was fun, and fortunately, Danielle only needed three stitches.

Ira is blurry because he is bouncing.  What I learned about Ira is that there is probably not a happier baby in the world.  However, if you lose his favorite pacifier (which Playtex no longer makes), he is not going to be happy.  So even if this old lady has to crawl under a crib to retrieve said pacifier, then she will.

Reagan is a good little helper and obedient to clean up her toys when told to do so.  Julia worked on teaching her to say "Happy Valentine's Day," and while she called Julia "Julie" when we arrived, she had Julia down by the time we left as they were inseparable.

For God so loVed the world

   the world thAt He

   gave His onLy Son

        that whoEver 

       believes iN Him

      should noT

                 perIsh but

have everlastiNg

                   lifE.

John 3:16

Happy Valentine's Day!