More Holiday Madness

We had an awesome and crazy Christmas.

How about you?

Nana and Pop came to visit.

Sadly, we were all sick. 

We still enjoyed visiting, just didn't have a lot of energy.

Visited with True

Who is my Dad's dog.

He (my Dad the dog) didn't quite know what to do with all those people.

Visited with more Family

 That's not all, just my Mom, Sister, Brothers, Me and our kids, grandkids, great-grands

(Missing are my Aunt, Uncle and their families who were in other parts of the house)

Love, Love, Love Christmas in Tennessee!

It's the only time we all get together and visit and catch up.

Santa came by

Just to say HI

Then he came again, 

I think everyone was happy with what Santa left.

We even got a bit of snow before we left Tennessee

I hope everyone had a great holiday (whatever holiday you celebrate)!

Now let's talk New Year's resolutions.....

It's the Holiday Season

And Busyness Abounds!

The Nutcracker

They both liked the Mouse King best

An Oral Report for School

He was wonderful (of course)

It's a castle from The Castle Diary book.

A wee bit of leaf raking

A trip to The World of Coca Cola

(love the 4D theater and the tasting room)

Finally, a dinner date with our favorite friend (and his mom),
eating our favorite food.
Tonight, we discovered fish tibs!
A new favorite.

Christmas Parade

Love this time of year!

So many fun things to do.

Saturday it was the local Christmas Parade.

Got there early to get primo seats!

Judson and Randy marched with their scout troop.

Ansley's scout troop.

And the most important parade float!

Ho Ho Ho

Today, we go see The Nutcracker!

Thanksgiving Vacation

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go.

We had a great time, as usual.

Horses, 4-wheelers, fishing, gardening

All with Nana and Pop.

Love it!

 The first thing to greet us when we drove up.

A powerful reminder NOT to eat too much.

If  I can still see my feet, I didn't eat too much, right?

 4-wheeling!

Loving on Sadie!

Sierpinski's Triangle out of candy corn.

Fishing with Pop.

Hanging of the Green with Nana.

Last but not least, a nice creepy black widow.

(RIP)

Clay-Mation

Judson's First Attempt at Claymation

(just because)

Girlapalooza

Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta descended upon Six Flags today.

Randy took Ansley as a father-daughter thing.

All I can say,

A great time was had by all.

Smiles abound.

Happy National Adoption Month

Did you know that?

It is.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/01/presidential-proclamation-national-adoption-month-2012

Obviously, my family is pro-adoption.

But you might be surprised to know that we support efforts to keep families intact.

Because we believe children should be able to be raised by their birth families whenever possible.

Yes, even if the families are poor.

Yes, even if they will not be raised Christian.

Yes, even if....

But there are times when that is not possible....

Do you know the numbers?

In America, there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care.

Of those, about 1/4 are available for adoption.

According to the latest UNICEF numbers I can find,

there are 163 million children worldwide who have lost 1 parent.

18+ million have lost both parents.

Many more children have been placed in orphanages due to poverty or sickness or societal norms.

We, personally, believe everyone should help orphans.

 

No, we don't believe everyone should adopt.

 

But some can foster.

Some can offer respite to those who do foster or adopt, 

especially in situations where the children are medically fragile 

or have other special needs.

 

Some can offer financial support.

Organizations like:

Reece's Rainbow

Help raise awareness of kids worldwide with special needs

Many other wonderful organizations also help with this

EAFS

Help orphans in Ethiopia and also help families in danger of breaking up stay intact.

Connected in Hope

Helps women to have a source of income.

This helps in so many ways.

AWESOME!

 

There are hundreds of wonderful organizations,

here and abroad that could use your help.

Find a cause 

Get involved.

 

Yes, if you want to adopt.

I encourage  you to.

Soul search and figure out what you and your family can realistically manage.

Find out facts.

Search the internet for good agencies.

BUT 

I BEG BEG BEG YOU.

Do not go to an agency and say:
"we want a little girl, as young as possible and healthy"

If your agency does not run from that,

you should run from that agency.

You will be the reason one more country's adoption program is shut down due to corruption.

So Happy Adoption Month. 

Blessings of adoption have been flowing through our family
Long before we adopted our two.

Trick or Treat

We did things a bit differently this year.

Instead of a neighborhood party

We went to a Trunk or Treat up the road.

Everyone had a good time.

Sawyer was a bit of a challenge

But

We persevered.

This is the first time we've really done 'theme' costumes.

But when Sawyer said he wanted to be the Tin Man,

I made everyone else pick a character.

Ansley refused to be Dorothy or the Wicked Witch.

But she was cool with being Glinda.

In case you like the B&W best

Or the colorized version

Happy Halloween!

We Survived!

October is almost over.

Last thing on our list:

HALLOWEEN.

Here are some highlights from the last few weeks.

Soccer.

Coaches and his new buddy, Shaaz.

Love the coach on the left.

Have seen him in action in basketball and soccer.

He is WONDERFUL with the kids.

So happy he donates his time to this cause.

Birthday.

My little man is growing up.

I have seen quite a few positive changes in him over this last year.

(Don't get me wrong, he can still throw down with the best of them but....)

Swimming.

Last night of class was water safety.

Happy to report that both A and J passed

Level 1 and Level 2.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get them in Level 3 next session.

Duet

I apologize for it being all wonky.  I will keep trying to 'right' it.

A little back story:

Dad taught Judson how to read music and where the keys are

Judson taught Turner which keys to play

Plus 

Turner just spends hours just picking out sounds
They picked out the music and started playing

Catching Our Breath (Hardly)

The past two weekends have been busy ones.

Soccer

and

Boy Scouts

Mostly

One weekend was scout camping

One weekend was scout forestry badge

There's a person in those trees!

Then we have soccer

2 practices plus 1 game per week

Notice that Michael Jordan'ish mouth hanging open.

He really enjoys soccer and has begun to get the hang of it,

even scoring some goals!

This Saturday is the last game.

They have a potluck afterwards.

Yeah, I'm a loser.  

I signed up for chips!

Ansley also started back with the Emory-China group.

She is with the older girls in their Mentoring group.

Their first meeting she painted pottery.

LOVED IT!

We are also getting ready for Halloween.

We are doing a theme this year for the first time.

Can you guess?

Notice behind Sawyer.

(NO, not the sewing machine on the floor)

Ansley is snapping beans.

One of our neighbors has been very kind to Judson

(Judson helped him gather a whole truckload full of food for an organization this man works with)

He offered to let Judson pick beans in his garden.

Judson picked about a bushel of beans!

Ansley probably snapped half of them by herself.

Surprisingly, Sawyer snapped quite a few.

BONUS

The man offered Judson part of his garden plot next year to plant!

 

 Now if Randy makes it through FEDERAL jury duty the next 4 weeks

(IF he is selected)

And he survives his marathon this coming Sunday

We'll be home free!