Happy Day

Today it snowed.  I love snow days. The world seems to slow down a bit.  Kevin even worked from home today.  A double blessing!

Titus and I puttered around in our pajamas til 4 in the pm.  I love pajama days.  I love my little boy in his soft footy pajamas.  Long live footy pajamas!

 We baked gingerbread boy cookies.  We counted scoops of flour and molasses and smelled each homey spice as we added it to the mixing bowl: ginger, cloves and cinnamon.  Yum!

Daddy took a play lunch break.  Titus made his first snow angel and went sledding multiple times.   It's all fun and games until someone lands face first in the snow.  Oops!

We snuggled and cuddled and read all of our beloved Christmas stories.  Remembering and rejoicing that the Kings of Kings came to earth as a tiny babe.  Hallelujah!

These are the memories I pray my child holds in his heart.  Snow days with his parents relishing time together and creating fond winter memories.

Around our home

On the door

 On my lap

On the wall

On the floor

 On my laptop

On the counter

 On my heart

 Just some things both big and small around our home today. 

I'm pausing to take notice and find joy....even when rooms are messy 

and there's so much to do and my toddler is well, being a toddler.

I'm especially focusing on the last one. 
The Savior so small and His mama. 
What a gift He is.

Thankful

This year, it has been clearer than ever to me how blessed I am.  Though there have been a couple rough patches and some harder times, God always colored my gray clouds with silver linings.  To even try to start naming my blessings is an impossible and overwhelming task.  And to think that I don't even know about some of them.  God is surely good!

Our Thanksgiving season this year was wonderful....it was simple, and it was delicious.   It was simple because we made the conscious decision to keep it as stress-free as possible and focus on why we are thankful people.  

We spent time with family in Columbia again. Uncle Chris, Aunt Jocelyn and their children were wonderful hosts.  We had a delightful time together.  It was so good to have Grandpa and Grandma with us; it's been 8 years since we've celebrated Thanksgiving with them.  It was so good to be together celebrating family and all of our many blessings.  This year we missed Uncle Eric, Aunt Kate, Elle and Zane but we treasure the years that we were all together.   Maybe another year we can all be under one roof again....

For me, this Thanksgiving was much different than last year.  Last year I was helicopter mama.  Titus needed constant care and attention.  But, this year I sat back, relaxed, played games, had some great conversations and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Titus had lots of older cousins willing to play and entertain him.  He spent individual time with each of them and had more than enough attention.  What a difference a year makes! 

Second annual foursquare game

Now, we are ready to bring on Christmas!  

A sweet, simple Christmas, long on memories and new traditions and short on stress.

And in full celebration of the birth of the King!  

Friday Nights

As a high school student, Friday night was a night for going out with friends, maybe a football game or watching a movie.

As a college student (not married yet) Friday night was a night for fun or relaxing after a week of classes, maybe finishing assignments, or being home with my family.

As a young wife, Friday night was a night for spending time with Kevin after a long week of college classes and teaching preschoolers. Usually it called for going out to dinner, renting a movie, and laying on the couch until we called it a night.

As a mama to a toddler, Friday night is about being with my little family. We don’t have to do anything special or even go anywhere. Just being together is enough.

Friday nights have definitely changed over the years. Yes, I still enjoy going on dates with my husband. And I would love to settle in on the couch early enough in the evening to watch a movie before I get to the point I can barely keep my eyes open. Sorry, Honey!

There are times we still get to do those things but most often I am spending time with my guys. There is no way I would trade the sweet moments we have together as a family for all of the quiet dinners or lazy evenings in the world!

Family Game Night can get a bit intense!

This little boy plays a mean game of Hungry Hungry Hippo, he generally wins fair and square.

I did it!

"There's strategy in EVERY game." Daddy

Which to choose?  Which to choose?

Found it!

 

Savoring

My child, he is all kinds of wonderful. I'm blessed!  I'm blessed to call this little boy mine.  I'm blessed that our days are spent together.  I'm blessed to be a stay-at-home mama.

Even when the day is so soaked with hard and crazy that you could wring it out hundred times and still be knee deep in it all, his sweet grin and beyond-his-years words light our little world right up. He's a gift.  I live for moments and days like this.

When the October sun and sky are perfect for making and discovering our shadows.  We play outside and enjoy the world God made. This simple time together is my favorite part of life.  Memories I'll keep in my pocket the whole year through.

Thank you, God for these gifts!

Home Sweet Home

October is turning out to be quite the month. Decisions about adoption, my birthday, putting a contract on our first home.  My. oh. my!    For years, Kevin and I have dreamed of owning our own home but the timing was never right in our lives for one reason or another.  After much prayer and endless discussions we decided to once again become serious about the home buying process.  We did our homework:  we saved money, we researched areas, we made a list of our must haves and dreams in a house, we crunched numbers, we went to countless open houses to view homes in our desired areas, and we found a realtor.

After several attempts to find the "one" our realtors, a husband and wife team, suggested we look in another area that had not been on our radar.  We hesitantly agreed to look.   Lo and behold, the first house we saw in this new area we both liked.  It had almost all of our must haves and many of our wants.

Two other couples also really liked this home because in a matter of hours there were three offers on the table.  We felt for sure our offer would be rejected because we were also asking for a 83 day closing period (due to being locked into a lease agreement).  Surprisingly, the seller chose to work with us and thus began negotiations and contracts.  Our realtors were out of town on "vacation" but instead they found themselves writing a contract, emailing, talking us through said contract via phone, us signing and email back all round midnight.  What a crazy night!   But the exciting news is we are under contract and closing on Janurary 15, 2013.

Blessing #2

Sometimes I wonder what it's like.

What it's like to decide to grow your family and botta-boom, less than a year later there's another delicious baby to hold and love.  A new name added to the Christmas card. Ten more finger nails to clip.

I can't quite wrap my brain around it. It's not how our story has played out, so I wonder. Simple as that. Just like I wonder what it would be like to live in Hawaii or if it's going to rain tonight or what this new year will bring.  I wonder stuff.

I used to be jealous. Oh yes, I was. Wow, she's expecting again? She *just* told me they were hoping to get pregnant soon. Woe is me. When will it be my turn? Where's the chocolate!  Those feelings came from a place of deep sadness, but it doesn't make them ok. Jealousy is a stinker. It steals joy and makes you think crazy things. It's a slippery slope into empty and lonely.  It's wrong and it's yuck. No thanks. Moving on. 

I have no lingering infertility sadness or a desire to give birth that just won't quit. God has poured that out of me and healed me. He has brought adoption into my life and it's the gift that keeps unwrapping itself. Not only does it give Kevin and me the opportunity to be parents, it's also opening my eyes wide to the hurt and the need and the beauty of this world. My heart is in a peaceful place right now and has been in this sweet little space for a while, thanks be to Jesus and all the grace He doles out on me. Clearly, it hasn't always been this way. I used to fret when my ideal family portrait didn't match up with what He was cooking up for us :

Waiting countless years for a kiddo? Fret like a maniac. 

I want to adopt again stat. I don't want to wait. Fret. 

Our kids need to be two years apart. I read in some random magazine that two years is the golden rule of sibling spacing. Fret.

That's not a way to live out this precious life. It's not the way to appreciate all the good staring me in the face and wrapping itself around me. So I'm done with that. God's gifts abound and I'm seeing them. Truly seeing them instead of past them. I take Titus' sweet little face in my hands and smooch him til he wiggles and giggles away. He'll be be three this winter.  And for a year I've fretted, I've worried, I've prayed.  

Maybe there are people who look at me and wonder what it's like to not be able to grow your family when you want to. To need tens and tens of thousands of dollars to do it. To wait and wait and wait without a due date. To grasp a photo in your hand and love a baby born across an ocean. To look into almondy eyes and want to do a backflip because being in love with this child is the best.thing.ever.  To be such a perfectly perfect match must be something. 

If you're wondering, it is. The best kind of something.

After eighteen months of praying and waiting and wondering, and hoping we are pleased to announce that we are once again going back to Taiwan for our next little one.  For a year it seemed as if God was closing one door after another:  THOGL is only helping childless couples, 2012 child advocacy laws in Taiwan slowed adoptions way down, most agencies began shutting down their Taiwan programs due to the confusion of the 2012 laws and changes looming.  But, finally God opened a single door and we are trusting Him and longing to meet and hold our second little blessing.   

So yes, I wonder, but mostly I pray prayers of thanks and tag on extra whispers for our next littles. I'm here and ready when you are. Keep heaping that peace to my heart, Lord. I rest my head on the pillow of God's promises. It's comfy here. I'm content and hopeful. He's got this whole thing covered - something He's proven time and time again. He's the one who hands out the gifts - whether I've hoped for them for a moment or for years. Who better to receive them from?

Our palms are open wide.   

I know this...

There are days that are nearly perfect.  The sun shines brightly, the skies are a beautiful blue, the wind whips your hair all around, the giggles and squeals echo.  I know this because yesterday was one of those afternoons.  It was nearly perfect.  The pumpkin patch is one of my favorite family adventures that we take each year.  I love the pumpkin patch:  the bright fall colors, the changing of a season and all it entails.  I have lots and lots of photos of our perfect day.  Oh yes, I do! 

We have been excited to discover that both the farms we have visited last year and this year didn't just have a pumpkin patch, but also a large open area filled with fun activities.  Since yesterday was a chilly day we were one of the few families brave enough to bundle up and enjoy the patch.

We kicked off our visit by trying to get a few necessary "kid sitting with the pumpkin" photos.  Titus was less than impressed. 

Titus spotted the barrel train and wanted to ride.  We couldn't tell if he was hating the ride or loving it because he kept this same face the entire ride...

Next up, a ride out to the patch to check out all the pumpkins.  We each chose a small pumpkin to bring home and decorate our front porch with.  Kevin and I each found our pumpkin pretty easily but Titus had a very difficult time picking just one.  Personally I can't blame him!  Mommy and Daddy finally chose a baby pumpkin for him.

We left the pumpkin patch and decided to attempt the maze.  At first, Titus was a bit spooked to have corn stalks on all sides.  Shortly after he gained his confidence and became our guide.

This was our challenge.  Photo courtesy of KC Pumpkin Patch

After pumpkin gazing and corn mazing we took a wagon ride back to the farm to enjoy a few more fun filled fall activities (giant slides, bouncy balls for adults, and another train ride for Titus)

 

And a few pictures, just because!