Thoughtfulness

I know it is already the new year, but I wanted to share something from a few months back.

This past year Thanksgiving came with a surprise for me; My beautiful children had come home from being out with dad, and while they were gone they had bought me a gift. I lit up when I saw the present all wrapped up and them so exited. As I stood in the kitchen unwrapping my gift, I could not help but be overwhelmed with joy. I'm so honored that God has chosen me to be their mother. So as I was fighting back tears (I didn't want them to think something was wrong) I opened my newly colored coffee mug that the kids had all drawn on. It was beautifully made - and just the right price point (from the dollar store). Well just as I was going to start thanking my kids,telling them how much I love them, and that I'm so grateful for them.

OUT IT CAME......
My oldest son Mason blurted out that he picked out the same one for his tummy mom (he is adopted). Wow?! all those "oohs" and "ahhs" I wanted to give out felt like they just left the building. It seemed to be almost like a physical pain I felt - and my gift didn't seem as special. At that moment it was as if my 7 years of investment as his mom (day in and day out) was not seen by my son or at least didn't deserve something more (something separate, something only mine) than the one who only birthed him. This was my "thank you" gift for being his mom, and it was the same as what he got for his tummy mom... As I felt the color and air leaving my body, I stared at my son then my husband. I felt like it had been a good hour with nothing coming out of my mouth (Hubby says in was maybe a few seconds).

I looked back down at all three of the kids (and fighting back tears for a different reason) they were all smiling; Mason was smiling the biggest of them all. I turned back to Mason and said "Yes, it is the same mug, and I bet tummy mom loves her's as much as I love mine, thank you so much sweety"

I gave each of my kids hugs and kisses, told them that I love them, and how grateful I am to have each and everyone of them.

When the kids ran off to play, I stood in the kitchen and I began to think about the day God placed Mason into our lives, and about his tummy mom, and all sorts of "What if's" fluttered into my mind.

SO MY THOUGHT'S....
what if we hadn't got are precious son,
what if parental rights weren't terminated,
what if he wasn't placed into foster care,
what if his tummy mom had changed her life for him (able to reunify),
what if, what if,
what if my husband had not let Mason pick out the same gift as tummy mom's gift?

Well as I was thinking about all the things I don't know, I realized that what I do know is that I'm thankful for each and every day God allows me to be called mom by these beautiful children - And although it can be hard at times, that makes all those other "What if's" flutter away as quickly as they come.

Praise Be To God

New Traditions

This year our family started a new tradition. And apparently, it is somewhat common, but we had never heard of it. It is called the Jesse Tree.

This is how it works.

-You make an ornament every day leading up to Christmas

-Each day either before or after making the ornament you talk about what the picture symbolizes

-You read out of the bible

It is a wonderful time that really keeps the reason for the season in focus

Here is a link to where I got ours


And if your wondering where we found out about this great new tradition; it was from a great friend of mine Anna (and she has a blog too, check it out)

Traditions

Every year my mother and I get together and bake sweets for family and friends. It is a great time of talking, laughing, and mother-daughter time. We did truffles one year, then cookies another, etc.

This year me made brownies. Thankfully there was not a lot of baking because most had a cream cheese filling - but, the cutting felt like it was never going to end.

There was a total of.....

560 pieces and 12 bags of toffee (a must have every year)

All the brownie recipes came from Taste of Home's cookbook-Brownies & Bars Cookbook. The toffee recipe is from my mother.

Take The Time

A must read blog post on foster care.

ONE CHILD

Down It Came

So I somewhat naively thought that letting the children see the tree all lit up last night would keep them from touching it out of curiosity... well, you guessed it - Miss Eliana could not resist the snowman with all its bright colors.

From holding it, to mom saying not to, to her letting go completely; down it came - braking all over the floor.

So the crafty mother that I am, I came up with a solution. The snowman had not broke, only the bulb around it (thank goodness, it was a gift). So I super glued the snowman to the inside of a mason jar, poked a hole in the lid, pushed in the lights that make the different colors, twisted it on, and vwala...



Snowman back in business :) I did however make sure he was placed farther back in the tree this time - away from where Eliana can reach.

Lights, Camera, Christmas Tree

So I had this idea last night to wake up all of my 3 children so they could see the Christmas tree all lit up.

It was a hit, and they oohed and awed; then I remembered it was still bedtime :( I feared the battle of going back to bed - but amazingly they did... quietly :)

Now there was a point to this, and that was....

It is precious and worth going out of the ordinary occasionally to get a little special time with just mom and kids. Sorry dad, but you were at work.

National Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. The focus of this month is the adoption of children currently in foster care.

This subject is very dear to our hearts since we adopted our oldest son through foster care.

Join in this month and help a child find their forever family.