WHEW....We're back!

So we made the trip to Tennessee this year.  400 miles, one way.   This year, we did it in the DRIVING RAIN.  Ever been over Mount Eagle Mountain?   In the rain? Yeah...lots of rain and fog.  So, not fun.

Buuut....when we FINALLY made it, we had a great time.  Visiting with family for 5 days.  Our annual Christmas Eve party had about 40 people. (all related somehow or another)  Lots and lots of kids.  Love Christmas even more when there are kids involved!

We had our annual visit from S.C.  Ansley is pretty sure she knows who was in the Santa suit. All but one child was willing to sit on Santa's lap.  Sawyer LOVED Santa.  He could not get enough of SC.  He did pretty good about giving everyone their turn but he would have loved to sit in Santa's lap for the whole night.

Then, of course, we had Christmas morning and Christmas with my Dad on Christmas Day.  Yet, I was so busy playing with toys, etc I didn't get many pics.

All I can say is "There's nothing better than seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child"

A Song for the Holidays!

Oh the Fun We Had!!!

From the Santa Cow, to hiking, to eating, and most of all spending time with family, it was a very busy and exciting and wonder filled weekend.   LOVED IT!

We put up the aluminum tree.

It's older than I am and I'm way older than dirt!

Notice the color wheel.

The kids and I made 'white trash' because we just haven't eaten enough this month.

*Had a video of the kids singing Rudolf but it won't load right now*

Judson, Randy, Uncle Troy and Cousin CJ walked up Stone Mountain.

We also got to meet Santa Cow and his Elf and make ginger bread houses!!!!

More Baking

Only this time, it was the guys.  Randy, Judson and Sawyer had to make something for the Dad-n-Lad bake off for scouts.  

First, Dad and Sawyer made P-nut butter cookies with P-nut butter cups in the middle.

The finished product!

Then Judson and Dad made their world famous Rolo-Pecan Delights which Dad renamed Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan Napoleons because he watches Food Network and he knows all those technical names and such.

The finished product.

Then Mom went against her will happily to take pictures.

Some of the more notable entries.

Christmas is for Baking

This is our week for baking.  Yesterday was Ansley's turn.  She had to make a plain white cake for her Daisy troop.  Each girl could choose from 3 recipes:  Banana bread; Blueberry muffins; Plain white cake.  Ansley did had to do everything by herself.  (measuring, mixing, sifting, etc)  The only thing I could do was place the cake in the oven and take it out. 

We had practiced making the cake twice before with Mommy helping.  She did everything today.   She did really well. 

I went to pick her up.  Her first comments:  "Mom!   I didn't win but I sure had fun!!!"

Works for me.

Redneck Christmas

Complete with stuffed deer in the background.

Target shooting.

(if you are looking for cheap fun, this fit the bill.  They had a lot of things for the kids (big and little) to do that were free.)

We finished up our outing with a burger at Johnny Rockets!

The kids had a great time.

Do You See What I See?

She is 14 years old.  She loves her tree.

Now, you might 'see' that a 4 year old is doing math.

I see a 4 year old's handwriting is very legible.

That was not the case even 6 months ago.  

He could not hold his pencil with enough grip/strength to make a character that you could see,

Much less distinguish.

As for doing the math,

I fully believe most (if not all)

kids are able to achieve this kind of result.

His oldest brother was doing it at 2.

His sister was doing it at 4-5 year old range.

His brother with Down syndrome(age 7) is doing it.

Let me tell you, it ain't the teacher.

It's a little bit of one-on-one time and a lot of sibling rivalry.

Yay for December!!

Lots of exciting things to do:

1.   Delivering Scout Popcorn

2.  Christmas Parade

3.  Putting up Christmas decorations!
  A work in progress.  Pics to follow.

4.  Homework.   (School must go on)

5.  This week we hope to see Santa!!!! 

We're Back!

Our Thanksgiving in pictures!  (Mostly)

The kids had a blast.  So fun to watch them interact. 

Goodbye

We have/had a very large Poplar tree in our yard.  We all loved that tree.  Then it started dropping limbs.  BIG limbs!  Then Randy and I did not like it so much.  So we decided to have it taken down, much to the dismay of our oldest.  He cried.  He did not want the tree chopped down.  He wanted to doctor it and try to save it.

In the end, it had to go.   

We did ask them to leave enough of the stump that the kids could use as a table and/or jumping platform and/or fort.  

Sorry for the sporadic posts lately.  We're very busy and my computer needs a 'doctor'.  Between the two, posts are just not as regular as I'd like. 

What Can We Do? *EDITED*

So, it's Adoption Awareness Month.  What can we do to help?

I know you think I'm going to say, "Adopt".  But I'm not.

Adoption is NOT the answer.  It's not scalable and in some ways creates more problems.  Plus, there are very few folks willing to do it.  Good, bad, indifferent.  That's just the way it is.

In my opinion, there should be more folks putting emphasis on keeping families intact.  Folks like the Baer family.  http://baeressentials.org/

Yes, they've adopted but now they are working in a community in Ethiopia trying to help preserve families.  Doing wonderful work.  Check 'em out.  Maybe you can help them.

There ought to also be more emphasis on changing societies views of children.  Whether these children are of mixed race, have a disability, born a girl when society demands boys, whatever.  Helping change society whether in the US or in another country is a long, drawn out process.   There are organizations working towards this.  Did you know that Reece's Rainbow also works within Eastern Europe to help educate parents about Down Syndrome. To encourage them to raise their children instead of giving them up for adoption?  There are others doing the same thing.  Foster families help keep families intact.  Respite families also help. Find an organization you can support. The internet if full of such organizations.  Do your research and make sure they are legit because there are plenty of  illegit ones too.

There also ought to be an emphasis on the ones left behind.  Do the math?  Out of 147 MILLION orphans in the world, the US adopts around 12,000/year.   (Internationally, not sure domestically).  Not too many other countries come near that number of adoptions.  If we can support the older kids with education and job skills, they will be in a position to control their own destiny and hopefully not repeat the cycle.  Organizations like  Gladney (the agency we used for Turner's adoption) do things like sponsor education for orphans.  I know they helped Tamirat get an education and helped provide money for transportation, etc.  You can check them out here:  http://ontheirown.org

I do believe there is a need for adoption.  It should NOT be a business of finding kids for families.  Rather it should be a service of finding families for children. 

These are just some of the organizations we try to support.  I know there are others, like Amazima.  They are worth checking out.

You are right Lori,  I love AGAPE.  They do very good work!

National Adoption Month

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.”
From the book Radical by David Platt

 Since November is National Adoption Awareness Month, I thought I'd tell you about some orphans I know.  I won't tell you about Ansley and Turner because they no longer are orphans.  There are more.  Millions more who are orphans.  Some by social reasons.  Some, true orphans who have no parents living.  No matter the reasons for their circumstance, the reality is THEY did nothing to deserve their status as ORPHAN.  It was thrust upon them and something NONE of them want.  

This is Tamirat.  

The tallish one with the head dress on.  He's celebrating the Epiphany during Ethiopian Christmas.  He became an orphan when he was 11 years old.  His Mom died leaving him and sister and a brother without a parent.  His sister was younger and adopted into an Italian family.  His brother was older and joined the Army. So he was ALONE.  At the age of 11, he went to live in an orphanage by the name of  Kolfe.   Kolfe was better than living on the street.  However, Kolfe is an old war prison, many decades old.  Until recently, many windows were busted out and bathrooms were in disrepair.  He is 20ish now.  He does not know  his actual age but he's guesses.  He had NO ONE to help usher him into manhood. The boys mostly just raised themselves in a very Peter Pan sort of way.  He did the best he could and has turned into a pretty good guy from what I know.  I am hoping to meet him some day.

This is Silas. He had the misfortune to be born in a country the limits the number of children allowed in a family.  I don't know much about him, except what I've read on Reece's Rainbow.  I just know I like the spunky face and I want him to find a family to love  and accept him.  

This is Andrew.  He had the misfortune to be born in a region who places NO value on kids who have any perceived imperfection.   This happens a lot in Eastern Europe.  He, too, deserves a family.

So, in honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, I want you to know some names.  See some faces.  Not just say, "I'm sorry" or "I'll say a prayer" but REALLY see them as human beings worthy of life and love and everything we all want.  I could put you in contact with some blogs/stories that let you see what happens to these children.  It's not pretty.  But it's enough that you know their faces.  You know their names.  It's enough that you open your heart and mind and become involved.  It's enough that you don't ignore them.