Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving Weekend of course began with Thanksgiving!  I know I have so very very much to always be thankful for and this year I've really tried to focus on the good in my life and grow in being content with where we are in life!  Of course these 4 precious ones are always at the top of my thankful list along with my husband, the hardworking, loving guy he is! 

This year for Thanksgiving we were with Peter's family and had a wonderful time.  The kids also had a blast with all the games and people willing to play with them! 

One of the kids most favorite days they talk about, is the day that Henry the Elf arrives at our house. It is a fun day spent at home, eating a fun Christmas breakfast and decorating for the season!

Painting Ornaments

Henry is here!

The kids are such a perfect age for all of the holiday magic! We are soaking in as much of their joy as we can while they are still little and enjoy every small part of it!

Christmastime is upon us, we can hardly believe it. But so far it is off to a great start and we have so much we look forward to packing into this last month of the year! I am glad that we are on Christmas break from school and soon will be taking a break from activities and rest and enjoy this season to its fullest! 

Foster Pup #52 - Scotch

We had another sweet guest to our home before Thanksgiving. I was a little nervous about keeping him because my experience with huskies in the past was that they are very mouthy and very hyper. But they had a very large litter of pups who needed a short foster for just a couple days so I let my bias go and we game this sweet boy a chance. 

It may have helped that he was a pretty young pup, but he was such a sweet boy. The only problem we had with them was he had a very upset tummy (which isn't uncommon) so that made for lots of messes to clean up. But clearly, the pictures show that he was one sweet and special guy! 

Even with a large litter (I believe 10 pups) they had inquiry after inquiry for these gorgeous puppies so they were quickly scooped up. Stay tuned on here as we have some very special pups arriving with us soon!  And pray for our sanity too as this is the first time we will be taking the whole litter of 3 :) 

Soccer Season

This year we were extra busy with 3 kids in soccer. Fortunately we were able to make the decision to play Eli up a year so that we only had kids on 2 teams instead of 3!

 

This was a great year for the boys as they had very talented teammates and coaches who knew the game well. They didn't particularly "like" practice because it was challenging and lots of instruction but that's okay because they gained a lot of new skills this year.   It was challenging but good for both of them!

And this was the first time that little miss was willing to participate in an activity and I am so proud of her for putting herself out there. Even when in the middle of the season she got embarrassed and wanted to quit, after lots of discussion over 3 weeks with her she was willing to get back out there and we were super proud of her for trying again! 

It was a great year of soccer, it is always fun to watch the kids play, and even if it was really cold by the end of the season we were fortunate that there were only a couple practices and one game played in the pouring rain!  Now we move indoors for swim lessons and gymnastics!

Foster Pups: Lucky #50 and #51

We had two more very hyper pups in the house!  We wondered who our #50 would be and we ended up with a 50 and 51!  I didn't even get their names though, but they were cute and crazy pups! They sat still about as much as the kids did. 

Proof that they do eventually settle down!  I sure do love puppy snuggles in the evening!

Fostering in the winter proves a bit challenging since we can't play with the pups outside much, but we've done it before and will get through this winter too!  Next pups coming soon :)

Called to Love 2017

This past weekend I had the huge privilege to go away for the weekend with my MIL to the Called to Love Retreat! It is a retreat we look forward to every year to get away and glean some wisdom, spend time with common minded adoptive mothers and enjoy meals we don't have to cook!

 

They spoil us well with gift bags and yummy snacks!

The retreat is at the gorgeous Oregon Gardens, so we are also able to go out and explore the gardens in all their beauty. Do you see it?

More than anything the retreat is a time to be encouraged on our journeys and get a few new tools to helps us navigate the road as adoptive moms.  It is a time of great refreshment for me (even though I miss my husband and kids like crazy) and really just encouraging to continue on trying to do my best.  

There really aren't many better places to be in this world, than in a group full of adoptive mother's. We share a common bond, choosing a complicated journey as parents. We love fiercely, our hearts break for children who need parents and birth mothers who sacrifice so greatly.  I didn't know the journey my life would take when I chose to step in as an adoptive mom but I am so grateful for resources and camaraderie along the way!  It really did re-energize and renew me as I carry on trying to be the best mom I can be!

Halloween 2017

Well Halloween feels like an eternity ago, but I am just getting to sharing it. Better late than never I guess! 

We had a fun family get together to carve pumpkins this year! After some convincing, most of the kids enjoyed taking out the pumpkin guts! 

Daddy did another great job with the power tools and gave the kids the pumpkins they wanted!

All the finished products! 

And our kiddo's

For Halloween itself, Malachi made a yummy dinner of homemade raviolis!

And then it was costumes and time to hit the streets for some candy!

I really did a horrible job of photography taking this year but something about the chaos of crowded areas and 4 excited kids getting candy made it a bit difficult!  But it was a fun evening nonetheless! I can't even believe the start of the holiday season is upon us!