Joy and Thankfulness

We are pretty low key around here. I haven't been feeling well, so we have hardly been out of the house or seen friends since we got back home. This morning I was praying for more joy and thankfulness in my life, and today I have really felt God's blessing on us. The boys have been playing together well, there were less protests about doing their chores (it always takes a while after traveling to get into the groove again), we got our tickets for Peter Pan switched to Friday night with no problems, we almost slid into a pole on the way to the zoo (a sudden ice patch on a corner), but at the last minute the van turned and we barely swiped the curb (I am pretty sure God moved the car because the steering was doing NOTHING and we were moving so fast I was ready to brace for impact), we got to see an Alaska Imax movie for FREE, we got to enjoy the aquarium, the boys are playing nicely again, I have medicine that is not expired for my lungs, we are going to have quiet time now, my friends are coming over for Bible study tonight (with chocolate from CO and NY/DC - yum!), my friend called and can hang out on Friday night, we get to see the African Children's Choir this Saturday... Yesterday was so bleak and discouraging, and even with the COLD WINDY SNOWY GREY weather today, there is a lot of Joy and Thankfulness. Overflowing. Off to read the Secret Garden and Peter Pan...

If you wanna see a cute picture...

...than check out Megan's blog. Cute post from our time in CO. I am still under the weather, so thanks for being patient waiting for me to post something more than cute stories about the boys.

Little boys.

Last night Seth got sent to bed ahead of Gavin. When it was Gavin's turn to head to bed I gave him the option of sleeping in my bed (they fall asleep faster.) After a while I heard a few odd noises and went up to check. Gavin was asleep on my bed, and Seth was out of bed wanting to know why Gavin was in my room. I settled him and forgot about it till we went to bed and I turned the light on in my room. Gavin was sprawled out on my bed, with his head almost off of the bed. There was a pen sticking up out of the rumpled covers. And Gavin's face was covered in ink. I just laughed - he didn't write on anything else, just his face, and then he fell asleep. Too funny. Love being a mommy.

Song. If you are interested.

This song speaks to my journey over the last few years.

I had some great heart to heart conversations in Colorado. After some time and distance I have a little more perspective than I had in the middle of my crisis years. "Less like scars and more like character."

I hit rock bottom and shattered.
Ironic that I have started quilting in the last year or so. :o)
To find the reality that pain and suffering add value and depth and quality to life not possible in any other way, and that it has become worth it in ways I can't even put words to yet...

I have become less. May Jesus become more.

So thankful I can feel again. Now if I could just stop crying about everything! :o)

LOVE IT!

The boys and I are having a LOT of fun in Colorado Springs this week with old friends. We are staying with Aunt Lindy and Uncle Josh and Lorien. Lorien is the best. She has the cutest jibberish I have EVER heard from a little one. She is really enjoying having kids at her house and watching them play. We are looking forward to spending time on an outing with her and hanging out with her tomorrow all day.

Today we played with Megan, Linus, Juliette and Christian. We had a great time. The kids played dress up, legos, pop-gun hunting the deer (Cash the dog) and everything else. Megan and I visited. At one point Juliette was crying and it seemed that Gavin and Linus had hurt her. I called Gavin in to talk to him. I reminded him to tell me what really happened and not what he wished happened (he is such a story teller that we have had issues with him making up stuff a lot before.) He says in a really indignant voice, "I REALLY DID punch her!!!" Oh, my stinking word!!!! That kid cracks me up! Looking forward to dinner with them tomorrow, and eating some of Megan's yummy food. Can I just say that the pumpkin carmel pie with whipped cream after lunch today was sooooooo good!

I am so thankful for my amazing friends. I am so rich with them. So very rich.

Denver

We are busy. We have played a LOT with cousins. We have had LOTS of weather. We have worked on LOTS of projects. We have had LOTS of coughing and getting up in the night (mostly Abby's littles.) I got to take the boys swimming with some really great adoptive families and meet a lady whose blog I follow and have a lot of respect and admiration for. My cousin and I got to hear her speak last night. She shared about following Jesus unreservedly and leaving our nets behind. I need to be working on saying unconditional "yes" when asked to do things. I have a problem with saying "yes" and I think my boys are developing that same issue. They are master negotiators and it is driving me crazy! :o) I am learning about being a much better mommy.

Seth LOVES playing with his cousin Isaac and is starting to look out for the girls more. A lot of the time it is hard to get his attention he is so busy playing, but I have had amazingly deep conversations with him. Seth and I were talking about the civil war (he saw a segment on a battlefield on a National Parks special we were watching) and the civil rights movement, and he asks all sorts of great questions about how things operate. A lot of things he asks I kind of know the answer, but don't know it well enough to explain it to him well, so I tell him to ask Daddy. So he asks me, "How come boys are so much smarter than girls?" (After I had just explained a lot of history stuff to him in depth, mind you.) Seth has had a great time watching football with Uncle Greg and cheering, "Go Vikings!" This is a HUGE Packers house, so that doesn't go over too well. He has watched too many football game commercials, though, cause the other night he asked me for more Bud Light. When I questioned him he pointed and said he wanted more root beer. :o)

Gavin is in the middle of the mix and playing about as much with Hannah (and sometimes Audrey) as Isaac. He is my little lovey and funny guy. I miss sleeping in my own bed with Andrew - Gavin moves around and kicks a lot at night! :o) It is so much fun hanging out with my little guys. Gavin was like a fish in the water at the pool, walking around on his hands and grinning from ear to ear, and jumping in with his face under the water.

I have been reading to the boys. Right now we are reading the Secret Garden and Peter Pan. Also, we have been reading some nursery rhymes. After reading what little boys are made of and little girls are made of, Hannah was saying, "sugar and spice, sugar and spice" and giggleing. I asked her if she was made of sugar and spice. "Yes." "Audrey, are you made of everything nice?" An indignant, "NO!" These girls are so cuddly and funny and I love getting to know them and spend time with them.

I am really excited to spend some time with two of my best friends in Colorado Springs this week, and hope to see my aunts and uncles as well. And then the long drive home and jumping right into Thanksgiving and Advent seasons. I am very excited about celebrating Jesus with our family and friends! And I am learning to be more Thankful every day. I will get busy posting pictures when I get home again. I have a LOT to post! And I have a few things up my sleeve, but you will have to wait to find out about those things... :o)

A lot.

I have had so much to do. And I have been doing it. And the blog has fallen by the wayside. I have so many pictures to post that I don't know where to start. And now I am on my way to CO and won't have access to the computer to put new pictures on for a bit. So it will have to wait some more.