To all my friends near and far, friends that I’ve known for years and friends that I’ve just found, to family both near and far, to family we will see this Christmas and to those we will miss, I wish you all a Merry Christmas from our family to yours! And to those who have sent us your beautiful cards, please know I took this task off my to-do list this year.
*Editor’s Note: Our other two children and the Prez were at Scout Camp on July 4th. I wish they went a different week, but anyway that is why I don’t have pics of them like these. 🙂
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to share a post about ways to share the love with others around you on Valentine’s Day.
One thing I’ll promise is that these are EASY things to do! With six children in the mix and mayhem and memories that are made here, I am usually not able to put together anything that requires more than three ingredients … whether it be food or art … or both!
These first few photos are from our Valentine Dinner last year. For several years now, Valentine’s Day has been a celebration of our family rather than for just the Prez and me to celebrate LOVE. I will admit that sometimes it would be nice to go out on a date, but our reality is that this is just not a reality right now.
So, I decided several years ago we would start a new Valentine’s Day tradition of having a meal complete with foods I know our kids LOVE, and that have a color theme of red and pink!
I found some more pictures from our Christmas season. It was fun to post some happiness. The Prez wanted it noted that the gift of me that keeps on giving is NOT like the dessert of the “month” club. 😀
Now for some more sights.
Saturday Night BINGO at the Country Store down the Road
Watching the Christmas Parade (yes it is called that) in the “Big” City Down the Road Continue reading
The PREZ surprised Momma big-time this year … with an iPad air! Whatsupwiththat!!! What did I get him? Um, myself! 😉 You know the gift that keeps on giving!
Here is the Prez himself (photo taken with that iPad).
Now I can’t get into my MacBook laptop but it is nothing a Genius Bar dude or dudette won’t be able to navigate (iCloud seems to have a steep learning curve for me anyway). So in the meantime I do have some photos that appeared on my iPad from my iPhone? At least they are communicating!
I thought I’d go back and share some sights from the Christmas season at our house. Continue reading
I love Christmastime. This year though, my heart hurts. I don’t recall a Christmas like this one where I honestly am looking forward to it all being over. If not for my little ones especially, I think I would just skip it. Thankfully, the Prez and some of our children decorated one afternoon while I was gone. I came home and found many things already out.
We all decorated the trees together, but a lot of things just haven’t been the same. You see, I had this wonderful dream that this home would be so special because it would be the first home where all eight of us have lived from the beginning TOGETHER.
But now, that dream has died because in all honesty so much sorrow has happened here already. The vision I had of this first Christmas in our new home, the one we dreamed of for years, didn’t work out. Since just before Thanksgiving, everything we knew to be true has been clouded with the reality that more was broken here than even we already imagined.
I know Christmas isn’t about family times only, far from it, but since 2008 and especially since 2010 it has felt like we are trying to be the family God has brought together through birth and adoption … and we just can’t quite get there.
But now I realize I can’t force it. The Prez can’t force it. Sure we are a family, but the roots I had hoped and prayed … oh how we’ve prayed (yet people will say “if you just pray”) would develop … so many of them that appeared to be there were not rooted as I thought and then others … have never taken root. I love all of our children so deeply, and that is why it hurts so much I think. When our children war against one another in one form or another, oh how it breaks a Momma’s heart.
I don’t know about anyone else, but if you like me, have dreams that have been dashed, a heart that feels like it has been broken in multiple places, a home that just is filled with reminders of all that is broken, a grief that seems almost too much to bear ... just keep holding tight to Jesus and never, never let go.
If you are suffering from a broken heart, maybe one or both of these songs will be a blessing to you.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmF2rsDHOZc&w=420&h=315]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSMjgNMdzEI&w=420&h=315]
I do sincerely wish you a Merry Christmas. May 2014 be filled to overflowing with HOPE for you. I know I’m hopeful for the sun to rise and I will continue believing in Jesus’ promises, particularly that His mercies are new every morning.
I’ll give a gift to anyone who can tell me which movie has this quote, which seems quite applicable to my blog at the moment:
This place is a tomb! I’m going to the nut shop where it is fun.
OK, now don’t go and google it! That would be cheating! As for the gift, I was just kidding! But if you know it, do share! It is a fun movie that always makes me smile. 🙂
So, in an effort to take away the tomb feeling around here, I thought I’d share another more practical (and fun … well it was fun) reason why my blog is collecting cobwebs.
My three youngest students and I have a very special week planned! Our three older students and their brothers are in some special classes this week, so it seemed the perfect week to jump into some “icy” fun with some penguins! 🙂
I noted recently that our two firsties are a bit rusty in their math skills, so some remediation was in order this week. Good news is they don’t think of it much as work! They had so much fun!
We started off our school time with an adorable and very successful Craftivity: Penguin Inkblot Painting. I can’t take credit for the idea. I found it on Pinterest, but you can click HERE to see the link yourself.
Since we covered SYMMETRY last week in our math lessons, this was a great project as we saw symmetry created before our eyes! They were enthralled with seeing this in action and taking part in making it happen. 🙂
Here they are in progress:
{I put the paint on just like the link suggested, and the kids {even my two-year-old} did the rest}. Continue reading
