Season's Greetings

Today I took the kids to In-N-Out for lunch today after dentist appointments. One of the things Sarah always does is check for the scriptures they have on their cups and burger wrappers. She held up her burger wrapper which had a Revelations verse(not sure which one) and then I noticed that the front of the wrapper said, "Season's Greetings" with some red and green holiday decorations.

Seems to me that if you are going to put a Bible verse on your product it would just make sense to say Merry CHRISTmas too. But, maybe I'm a little off here. What do you think?

Making memories

Today was a lazy day that ended up with us decorating for Christmas without ever planning to. Jonah went out to our front yard and cut a tree down for our tree and the kids and I put out all of my Nativity scenes around the house. After dinner we decorated the tree with lights and ornaments and then, and only then, was it time to put the train together. It was definitely the highlight for the kids. They laid on the ground and watched that train for at least 30 minutes before I sent them off to bed. These are memories being made and they are so sweet for me to watch.

6 years and one hour ago...

I got the call that there were 2 little girls who had just come into care and could I be there in an hour(I lived an hour and a half away). I rushed to pick them up and headed to McD's for dinner. At dinner Alana(5 mo.) soaked through her car seat and left a puddle of pee on the table so we rushed out to go to Walmart and buy diapers and some other necessities for both girls since I had NOTHING! I remember the look on Sarah's face when I told her she could pick out a pair of shoes(since the ones she had on were 3 sizes too big) a winter coat and some underwear. I would give a ton of money to have a video of that trip and the look on Sarah's face as she took 30 minutes choosing a new pair of shoes. When we got home and tucked the girls into their new beds I remember telling Jonah how strange and wonderful it was to have 2 little girls sleeping in our once empty rooms. I couldn't have guessed that night that those precious, scared and filthy little girls would become mine 2 1/2 years later.

Oh the difference a year makes

The following pictures were taken a year ago, almost to the date.


Sarah has matured and grown so much over the last year. She is working on growing her hair longer. ;)


My Alana-girl is also working on growing her hair longer. Even though it is thin it is nice to be able to do more with it and she LOVES having her hair done up pretty as much as I love doing hair.



My sweet boys. Judah and Isaiah don't look too different in the pictures but in real life they have both gotten much taller and, Judah especially, have begun to really fill out their clothes for a change.




This was taken last week. Don't mind Judah's normal angry-face-while-taking-pictures-face. He is one stubborn boy. Look at how beautiful Justus' face looks here compared to last year. It has been one long year of dietary changes and tests but we finally have his eczema somewhat under control.


Taken while my parents were here at our new house. My parents surprised me for my birthday by coming to visit! It was the best present ever... Yes, that is my beautiful mom.



Sarah-bearah at 10 years old. She's growing up too fast.


My mommy and baby playing with silly putty early one morning.

My sweet boy

(picture of Kai when he was about 19 months old.)


Today, driving in the car, Malakai says,

Kai: Hey Mommy?

Me: Yes, Kai.

Kai: When I get to heaven I am gonna give Jesus a really big kiss and God a really big hug cause I love them so much and miss them. Heaven will be really fun cause I'll get to be with my best friend all the time, huh?


Uhm, where's the tissue? Sometimes I wonder if they understand God's love for them and then they go and say something like this.

Crayon Cupcakes

I found that the "Crayon turnables" did not melt as quickly as the regular crayons and I'm not sure they would even melt if I left them longer. Next time I make these I will use only regular crayons and think they will come out much better. Also, let the pan cool about 10 minutes before you stick it in the freezer. It will help the cakes to come away cleaner from the pan.

First poop is a momentous occasion, right?

At least we think so. Justus was so proud of himself and showed each of the kids and his Daddy the stuff that was in the toilet. For the life of me I couldn't get a picture of him looking up because all he wanted to do is look in the toilet at what he had deposited;)

Taped and on to texture

Already I am not up-to-date on these pictures and these were taken on Thursday night. They will begin the texture on Monday and by the following Monday we will be painting! Can you even believe it? I can't.

Yesterday, Jonah and I drove 2 hours away to pick out our counters and then went from place to place trying to find a slab of slate for our hearth. We also wanted to pick out the tile for our bathrooms. Once we are finished with these things all of the purchases will be made. Amazing! I am having a hard time with the tile thing. We really like the look of honed slate but I'm not sure if it will look OK quite yet or what color I want to go with.



This is my laundry room. Jonah is walking into the "house" portion which begins at that doorway and goes promptly upstairs.



The family room



The hallway with our beautiful sunset through the window. Don't you just love that transom window above? That was my idea and I LOVE it!



The master bedroom with coffered ceiling.



The girls' bedroom. They have the best view.


The boys' room view isn't that bad either;)


From the top landing looking down the hallway.

I'm back

and so very happy. My amazing husband fixed my computer and so you can look forward to more pictures and more posts(as long as I have stuff to post!)

We also have some new friends in our furry family that just showed up on our doorstep(literally) 2 weeks ago. The Mama(the name she has been dubbed) showed up 2 weeks before that and would just hang around. She has a collar on her with no identifying information on it and just has not left our front porch since she has been here. I don't think it hurts that we are feeding her often.

Amazingly, Jonah said we could keep a few of the kittens and since we found a home for 1 or 2 of them at a winery close by we will end up with at least 2 and maybe 3. So, we are trying to come up with names but are having a hard time. We let the kids try it but that didn't work out too well since Jonah and I would like to like the names too as well as we have started a tradition of Hawaiian names for our animals. We COULD stop that if we needed to but...

The little girl in Jonah's boot has been dubbed "Boots" but it sounds so pet-name-generic to me.

So, what do you think? Names anyone?


This little guy is very stripey with black and white.


This is "boots" and has been claimed as my cat since she is so sweet. She has black and white stripes and then brown "cheeks".


And these are the other 2. The multi-colored one is so sweet and loves the kids(she is Kai and Alana's favorite one) and the black one is very mellow and loves to be petted. Jonah, however, will not let us have a black cat even though he is Sarah and Judah's favorite.

Life keeps moving

This is the house view from the well house that has yet to be built. Just one more thing on the to-do list for Jonah.


And my computer is still broken. Today we passed our BIG inspection, praise God! The insulation was being finished today and the dry wall will begin to go up tomorrow or Friday. Soon the tape and texture will begin and we will have actual walls! I spent this past Saturday morning writing scriptures on the framing and I am so glad I spent the time to do so. I took pictures of each verse so that we will remember where they are in the house and I prayed, using the verse, as I went. It was very relaxing and peaceful. The next time I share house pictures you will see some real walls on the inside!