Counting Blessings

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

I love the fall, I love to cook, and I really love

to eat.

Last year, my Mom died the week before Thanksgiving.

The year before that, she found out she was dying

the week before Thanksgiving.

Needless to say, I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself.

I've been focusing on what I don't have.

This morning, for some reason, I was thinking about a song

that my Mom used to always sing when I was growing up.

"Count Your Blessings".

Even while she was dying, my Mom was thankful for everything

that she had. She was thankful for her life, her family, her faith,

EVERYTHING.

I started singing,  "When you are discouraged, thinking

all is lost.  When you're heavy burdened with the

weight of cost.  Count your many blessings, name them one by

one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

While I was singing, I started thinking of all that I have

been blessed with.

Our two youngest sons.  Boys the Lord brought back to us

despite our doubts.  Our two older children.

Children that the Lord picked out for us and brought into our family.

Children whose hearts have been changed, whose lives have

been changed.

My parents who loved me unconditionally and who raised me

to love and serve the Lord.

My husband, who came into my life when I never expected it.

I have been blessed with a very happy marriage, so many people

have not.  I have been blessed with more blessings that I could ever count,

could ever name.  I miss my Mom during the holidays.

It's hard to have a new life without her, but I am so thankful for

all of the blessings that the Lord has given to me.

I have been blessed beyond measure.  I have been blessed more than I could ever

deserve.  I am truly thankful.

Getting Ready for Football

The first time I ever saw a football game

was when I lived in Nebraska.

Nebraskans love their football and their

Cornhuskers.

Before Jon and I started dating, we went with

some friends to a local college football game.

Jon loves his football.

Jon also loves his sons.  He couldn't wait to introduce

the Big K. to all there is to know about football.

I love watching the boys watching football with their

Dad.

This week, in our house, we're getting ready for all

of the football games that will be played, and watched,

on Thanksgiving Day.

Adoption Day 2010

November is Adoption Awareness month.

November 20th is National

Adoption Day.

National Adoption Day was started to draw attention

to the thousands of waiting children.

Children who are older, emotionally scared,

physically disabled, waiting.

Children who are waiting for a family, a home, a chance, love.

Jon and I have had the privilege, the pleasure,

the blessing of bringing four of these waiting

children into our family.

We made the choice to adopt.  We made the choice

to adopt from this country.

We made the choice to adopt out of foster care.

I thank the Lord every day for the children that

He has given us.  I pray every day

that the Lord will heal the scars of their hearts.

I thank the Lord every day for the birth mothers and

fathers of our children.

I pray every day for the time when our children may choose to meet their

birth parents.

On days like Friday, I celebrate.  I celebrate

the joy of adding to our family.

I celebrate the miracle, the gift of adoption.

I celebrate that the Lord has answered my prayers.

Our prayers.

During this month of Thanksgiving, I am thankful

for the family that the Lord is growing for us,

and for the extended family that celebrated our joy

with us.

I am thankful for my sons.  My two youngest

boys.  I am thankful for the privilege of being their mother.

I am thankful that the Lord chose us to be their family,

to raise them up into the men that they will become.

P. and Baby J.  Daddy and I love you more

than you will ever know.  Thank you for being our sons.

We look forward to watching you grow.  We look forward

to our lives together as a family. 

The Greatest Gift

A little over three years ago, we receive a call.

A call asking  us to bring a baby into our home,

a temporary, "emergency" placement.

We had usually said, "No" to any type

of  foster care placement in our home.

Jon and I both felt that the Lord was leading us

to adoption.  That day, we said, "Yes."

So began or journey.

One week became one month.

One month became two.

The county called us again.

They asked if we would take the baby's older brother.

I will never forget that call.

We didn't say, "Yes" not right away.

We prayed. 

Peyton moved in with us, the Friday

before Thanksgiving, three years ago.

I will never forget the night he entered our lives,

He was so small.  He was wise beyond his years.

His first words, "Brother, cuppy".

For one year, the boys were a part of our family.

We laughed with them, held them, comforted them when they cried.

For one year, we were a family of six.

We believed that adoption was the direction we were

meant to take as a family.

We prayed that we'd be able to adopt our boys.

We watched them grow and change.

We came to know their birth mother.

We believed that the Lord led us to adopt siblings,

who better than our two brothers.

They fit with our older two naturally.

During that year, we learned lessons that many foster parents

before us already know.  You open your home to children,

and in opening your home you open your heart.  You

open your heart to their pains, their joys, their birth families.

 With each day, each visit, each event,

we learned that a child has no voice.

Our boys endured visits, abuse, neglect,

pain that no child should have to endure.

Helplessly we watched our sons, our children,

suffer. It was a pain beyond comparison.

Two months before my Mom was diagnosed with cancer,

we made the decision to have our sons removed from our home.

It was the hardest decision of my life.

I remember my Mom saying to me,

"Sometimes you have to close your eyes and trust that God

will lead you through."

I closed my eyes and trusted.  I handed two

of my children back to Him.

I prayed daily for them, their future.

I told my older two children that God would bring

them back to us if we were the family they were meant to have.

Throughout my Mother's illness, we saw our boys.

We saw the changes in them.  Our hearts hurt for them.

They were no closer to a family than they had been when they

left us.

We prayed for them.  Our family was broken without them.

Each visit was like having them home.

Last fall, my Mom passed away.  Two months after she died

the county called. Our boys needed a home.

They came back to us.

We had no idea how long they would be with us.

They were our sons. We couldn't let them go to another home.

We couldn't.  We prayed that we would be able to adopt them.

We prayed that we would be able to say good-bye to them again.

Imagine our joy, in April, when their birth mother gave us the best gift

ever.  She believed that our family was the best place for her sons,

our sons.  She gave us something that we'd been praying for,

hoping for, trusting for.  She gave us back our family.

On Friday, November 19th, on National Adoption Day,

we will celebrate with so many others the greatest gift ever.

Adoption.

Time Marches On

As much as I would like time to stand still, it doesn't.

Life moves forward, time goes on.

We have enjoyed many fun things this past month.

My Aunt Pammie came all the way from Arizona to

visit.

She brought gifts for the kids and stories

of my Mom to share with all of us.

Her visit was a blessing to us in so many

ways.  How much I wish that my Mom were there to share the

time together.

Halloween came again.  We celebrated with

our traditional Halloween dinner,

Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas.

Despite Jon's misgivings, I let all of the children

use knives.  Baby J. had a great time cutting his tortilla

to bits.

After dinner, our four little monsters enjoyed some

trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

Notice Wolverine's fight stance.

He learned that from his father.

Baby J.  walked happily through the neighborhood

saying,"Trick-or-treat.  Thank you.  You give me

more?"

Jon and I also celebrated the two year

anniversary or our older

children's adoption.

We enjoyed cake for breakfast,

and PRESENTS.  Being adopted rocks.

I can't believe that it's already been two years.

It's been a hard fall.  I have been dreading this

month, this week, this time.

Tomorrow, my Mom has been gone for one year.

It seems so much longer.  It seem so much shorter.

I am thankful that she was there to see our children adopted.

I'm thankful that I could tell her how much I loved her.

I am thankful that she was able to celebrate their first adoption

anniversary with us.  I am thankful that she is my Mom.

She made me the person that I am today.

I pray every day that I will be to my children the person that she is to me.

I know that time marches on. I wish that it didn't, but it

does. I am happy that I am able to make memories

with the people that I love.

I am thankful that one day my Mom and I will see

each other again.  Once again I will say,

"Mom, I love you.  Thank you for being my Mom.

Thank you for all of the happy memories that you made

with me."