Heart for Adoption

Please check out the gofundme link below.  We met the Bestwicks on our journey to Wyatt.  They have a heart for children with broken hearts and are returning to China.  Supporting a big family and special needs kiddos is not easy or cheap, so they are fundraising.  If this is your heart and you can spare a little, please consider helping this family out.

https://www.gofundme.com/rosalie2018

I have to say that it seems appropriate that this fundraising launches on Sanctity of Life weekend.  💖

Christmas Break Art

As is typical for Savannah when she gets some downtime, she gets creative.  This piece was based on a photo she took during a school trip to Chicago.  The buildings were drawn using ink.  She then painted the background (skyline) which was a full page and then merged the pieces using Photoshop where she also added the reflection of the buildings on the river for an impressive mixed media piece.  

God has put more talent in Savannah's pinky than I have in my whole body.  When I want to just ask where did she come from?  I have to remember that Andy is a pretty talented visual artist.  His sister is an amazing artist - actually owns her own fine art business, and his mother is an art teacher. Dianna (Andy's sister) recently did a piece inspired by the statue of David that is totally amazing.  Savannah has some talent from my side of the family too. My dad could draw.  

2 year olds are moving targets

We gathered yesterday to celebrate Kallie's second birthday.  I regret not taking the camera because the phone neither handles moving targets nor zooming very well, so I have some images that are blurred.  It was a fun, laid back celebration that was at risk of being postponed because our roads are less than ideal right now.

Kallie started the day as Rapunzel, but as you will see, her family knows her well.  Clothing, princess dolls and dress up clothes came to her in abundance yesterday.  So ultimately, she changed into an Elsa dress from her paternal uncle and aunt and then into her new Minnie Mouse outfit from her Nana.

Kinsley had not had a nap and was subdued with some screen time.  By the time we left, our basketball team had pulled off a victory, and Kinsley was sound asleep.  It was barely dinner time.

Obviously, Kallie loves princesses and clothes.  When asked how much laundry this clothes loving girl produces, Tessa responded by saying that Kallie's room door is kept closed all day long.  Otherwise Kallie would be asking to change clothes all. day. long.  In other words Tessa is in trouble when Kallie gets big enough to open the door and change her own clothes. Kallie also likes dolls of all sizes - particularly Disney Princess dolls and small toys such as Little People.  Her young cousins provided her some Weebles for playtime.

Funniest birthday story: Kallie is full of personality and pretty easy going.  She slipped and fell backwards on the kitchen floor.  It was one of those falls where everyone took notice, but Kallie needed to assess the situation to decide whether she was having too much fun with Wyatt to let that phase her or if she wanted to cry and get some comfort.  After probably far too much thinking, she went for a third option and re-enacted the fall for her captive audience.  I. am. not. even. kidding.  It was hilarious, and the crowd reacted with much laughter.  So acting maybe in her future?  She doesn't speak much, but her facial expressions do plenty of talking for her.  

Oh my goodness!  Happy days of being two to you Kallie!

Happy New Year!!

 We are one week into 2018, and here's how the first week went..

We hosted a New Year's celebration.  Kinsley was the recipient of a game for Christmas that we broke out on New Year's - The Pie in Your Face Game.  Very few adults participated, but the kids had a blast with it.  Despite my concern that we would have a big mess and lots of sticky kids running around, clean up was very easy, and even if it had been messy, the fun would have been worth it.

Kallie started the year with a bang - quite literally.  She fell from a chair onto a tile floor and busted her head.  As is the case with any head wound, the blood was scary.  Her blonde hair was quickly turning red as we raced to find the source of bleeding to see if she needed stitches. 

Other than the dramatic fall, New Year's Eve was a casual event with lots of good company.

The Christmas decor came down on New Year's Day - at least the indoor stuff did - too frigid for outdoors.  In the process of removing ornaments from our sad tree, I discovered this.  Nobody has confessed to this added decor.

Saturday gave me the opportunity for a girl's night out.  I have such smart friends.  I was lost in the Breakout and certainly little help, but it was fun, and I would do it again.  Someone from another group mentioned wanting to do this with their dad.  That got two of us to talking about how our dads would do with this.  In his younger years, my dad might have enjoyed the challenge, especially one like ours with so many numbers, but I can't see him paying to do this.  Mom would have been great at it and would have done it.  I miss the fact that we don't get to do things like this with her.  I would love to do this with my siblings and their spouses.  I have said for years that it would be fun to play Laser Tag with them too.

Today we returned our girl to school.  75 hours down, and 75+ some change to go.  She's thriving!

Sav and I enjoyed a movie date before I drove her back to school this afternoon.  The Greatest Showman is an enjoyable movie, but  I don't think it lives up to the hype.  Spoiler alert - I think the group dance scenes all have a High School Musical vibe which is very strange given the time period for the movie setting.

Other than the above, we have certainly bemoaned the crazy cold temps.  I have had a complete freakout over the coming rise in tuition for Wyatt and Julia - more than our combined income increases for the coming year, and more than I make per month at my second job.  Praying hard about that one.

I did decide on some goals this year.  Including:

• paying $1000 off of a debt that I am working hard to unload - that won't pay it off, but that was a goal last year too, and I am on target with that one (that goal was not set until June)
• organizing our basement (that will mean lots of purging)
• painting my bedroom and the furniture in it
• organizing the armoire pictured below - anybody else have a space that looks like this?  I will actually only organize my side. This is one of those places that I periodically pull everything off of and redo it only to find my efforts undone in a matter of days, so...

• I am still working on a word for the year - leaning toward THRIVE
• I have a jar by our front door where everyone is free to write down memories, silly happenings, blessings etc. that we can review on New Year's Eve next year.
• While I did not make this an official goal, I am months away from the deadline to settle my dad's estate, so there's that- a bittersweet goal as we sell off the last of his possessions, including the last home he shared with my mom. 

Starting the year hopeful for provision, blessing, good health and joy for the year.

Creativity

I love Julia's creativity.  It's a reminder that we are created beings.  I think the arts and humor are two very key things that separate us from the animal kingdom, and for me these two things prove we are not evolved from animals.

Loser Christmas

I have decided to dub this Christmas the Loser Christmas.

I am not a particularly organized person.  I think I am drawn naturally to organization, but I have learned that I will never get anyone in this house to nest the dishes or even put them back in the right cabinet after I have emptied and scrubbed and organized the cabinets.  My attempts to organize anything are met with rebellion, so someday when my kids all leave, I will have a room of my own organized and off limits to anyone else. There was that time, years ago, when I emptied and organized a closet for one of my children's room, and that child literally tore it all apart.  I pushed everything back into the closet and told said child that the closet was no longer his.  He could not access it, could not store clothing in it - could. not. have. it! Until these little sinners leave the house, I will have to live in this state of disorganization.  UGH!

This year we lost a few things around the holidays.

Before Thanksgiving I was in Bath and Body Works, and they had aloe infused socks decorated with penguins....you can't find a more perfect gift for Savannah.  I bought them at full price- fearing they would sell out as they often do with those socks.  I have no idea where they are. We were out shopping yesterday, and they had the socks on the 1/2 price sale, so I just went ahead and purchased another pair.  Savannah had been brainstorming about where the missing socks might be and searching for them.

Just days before his birthday, I bought Wyatt a Google Play card.  Now this one is a true mystery because I watched Andy put it up so that we would both know where it was.  We went back to get it - gone.  After days of Wyatt tearing the house apart to find it, Andy caved and replaced it.  UGH!

Last year I bought a scarf to go with a sweater.  I bought it online, and it did not match when it arrived.  I have been looking for a simple shirt to wear with the scarf.  I bought one two days ago, and I have no idea where it is.

My tweezers went missing.  I  bought new ones a couple of weeks ago.  You guessed it, can't find them.  I bought new ones last night.

I have never experienced losses to the degree that we have replaced so many recent purchases.  It's ridiculous.

Anybody else ever had a Loser Christmas?  - and no I do not like the word loser.  It does make me laugh a bit as I am reminded of a funny Jackie story about when she dreamed that she wrote a blog titled When God Called Me Stupid. Jackie did not like the word stupid. Her sister shared that story when our Sunday school class gathered to share stories about Jackie.

Now if only I had lost some pounds from my belly instead of all these items.  Hmm.

P.S. I have found my shirt.

Christmas Cheer

This is how Christmas morning unfolded at our house.

Because three out of four of our kids are teens and the other is an adult who works nights, people were posting their Christmas morning celebrations before we were all out of bed.  Andy had time to make eggs and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast before most of the crew got out of bed.  I should note a Christmas miracle that Zach was the first one up and was up fairly early for that matter.

We did not put gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve.  I had to snap a picture to commemorate the fact that the gifts were actually only on one side of the tree because we have a little dog who has peed daily under the other side of the tree.  If I am honest, some of us thought it would be a Christmas miracle if she just dropped dead.  We even had a conversation about how we could pawn her off on someone else during our Christmas Eve gathering.

Julia ended up liking most of her stuff and receiving a few surprises, so she actually only returned one gift.  Julia received some clothes and boots for Christmas.

Wyatt's gifts were very small as we were holding back in hopes that we could make up the difference in a Nintendo Switch - it happened today.  He received a new ornament (Chinese takeout box) as Wyatt's personal ornaments have never been a match for the other kids.  He also received a really cool agate rock and some goodies from the Asian market.

Zach wanted music, so he received an iTunes card, some Carhartt socks because he works outside, and some cooking sauces.  Logan had his name for the family exchange and delivered on some CDs Zach wanted.

Savannah needed and received clothes and boots.  In this picture she is looking through her gift from Zach - The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh.  Austin had a little something to do with that one too.

Zach will receive the sweatshirt he is holding up when it arrives.  He's wanted that for at least a year. 

Santa (aka Zach) provided the family with a fun toaster.

There were socks, lots of socks, and I think everyone who received them was very happy to get them.  I think I am the only one who did not receive socks, but at the gift exchange on Christmas Eve, I received slippers and then Zach got me a pair as well.  I love them.  Apparently Zach and Tiffany bought them the same day, and both pairs were already purchased when Tiffany notified Zach of what she had gotten for me.  Tiffany also got me a Tervis bottle, and it was funny talking with her today and finding out that she also bought herself slippers and a Tervis bottle when she bought mine because she liked mine so much.

Andy received some cooking gadgets he requested - a bread machine, an avocado slicer, and a pasta press.  He was so anxious to play with his new stuff. Andy got me a new fitness tracker.  My three year old (maybe older) Fitbit Zip has been trying to die for months.  It's erratic and draining batteries far too fast.  My employer allows us to participate in a program where we get points for our fitness.  I  then turn them into Amazon cards.  It's not much each year, but it's worth tracking for many reasons.  I really had hoped to upgrade to something with a heart monitor, and Andy delivered on that front too. The girls came through on some Trades of Hope bracelets I wanted, and I have to say that they are so much nicer in person than on the website.  I also wanted to try a bath bomb, so Zach got one from Lush for me.

After our morning celebration, we travelled out of town to celebrate with Andy's side of the family.  It was the first time in three years (I think) that the whole family was able to be together.  Julia is the youngest cousin on that side, and with so many young adults, holiday schedules are very hard to coordinate.  It was really nice.  It would be really cool to take a vacation or get a weekend away with that side of the family some day.  I forgot to take the camera and failed to take any pictures.

Update on my sister's car - upon initial inspection from the mechanic, it can be fixed.  :)