The Wall Bloggers

A year ago today... My heart was breaking as we waited for our adoption referral.  We waited our ten months (the average for a referral time with our agency), and I asked God if He would let us hear who our child was by Christmas.   (For more from last December, see  Father May I? ) As as I went to the Christmas Eve service with our church, and saw one of the couples from our small group who had prayed with us for our referral news, they asked.  I forlornly put my head down, with a few unshed tears, and replied, "No.  No, we haven't heard." I thought that God answered, "No.  Not yet." I was wrong.  He did answer. A year ago today, one loving father was making one of the most difficult decisions of his life... A year ago today, one loving father let his son go...  Not because he didn't love him enough; because he loved him too much. Thank you, M---.  The decision you made changed our lives.  Thank you for shelteri...

Our state received extra snow last year, thanks to the El Nino weather pattern.  Because the La Nina pattern tends to follow the next year, many forecasters predicted very little precipitation for us this winter.  And so, Tuesday, when it was 55 degrees, and the kids and I were having lunch on the back patio, I did not hold out much hope for snow before Christmas. Thank goodness,  I was wrong!  A storm stalled over us yesterday (much to the forecasters' surprise), and we got lots of the happy white stuff.  Abel got to see his first snow.  When he first got out in it, he tried pointing at all the falling flakes.  After that, he was disappointed that I took him inside, and he went banging on the back door to get out in it.  By yesterday evening, he got his fill, when I bundled the kids up and took them out to shovel with me, while we waited for Scott to make it home. (Please excuse Abel's pink gloves; when we couldn't find his red ones,...

Because I am a little controlling about my house, Christmas decorating tends to be a chore for me.  The last several years, I've spent three hours on a Sunday afternoon taking down the regular decorations around our kitchen, family room, and dining room, packing them away, and putting up the Christmas decorations.  And the last several years, I've gotten grouchy with anyone who got in my way during that time of intense disorder and chaos (my least favorite states for my house).  Needless to say, it has not really been a fun time in my household. This year, probably because we were starting a week later than usual decorating and probably because I have two kids now, I decided I just did not have the energy to do all that.  And really, what's the point??  Christmas is about remembering Jesus coming for us, not about me decorating my house in frustration. So this year, I pulled out six of my favorite decorations, put them on our mantel, and called it done. ...

After eleven years and 127,000 miles, Scott's Saturn has driven on.  That amazing little economical Saturn saw us through life in the college dorms, life in married student housing, our first apartment, our first home, our first relocation, and the addition of our two kids.   We're happy to say it ended up in good hands, with my cousin, Angei, and her husband, Adam.  We had a wonderful time visiting with them for a speedy 12 hours, before they needed to drive it on to its new home.  We even got to show them some small town fun at our annual Christmas parade. Thank you for the loyal service, Saturn.

A season of giving thanks...   Naturally, we began Thanksgiving morning by dressing the kids in their Aggie attire. And then we continued by re-establishing a Thanksgiving tradition my family had throughout my childhood.  Starting before I could even write, each member of the family made a "thankful" list, writing (or drawing) the things he or she was thankful for.  Then we would go around, allowing everyone to read his own.  Since Adrianna has gained confidence in writing and drawing, we hoped this year would be a good place to start.  Adrianna, of course, took to the idea instantly (it involved using colored pencils and paper!), but we had no idea how Abel would stick with us, coloring his own paper throughout almost the entire process.  Adrianna wanted to keep at it long after even Scott and I were done, but eventually, she ran out of space on her page! Later, we headed to Scott's parents' house with our traditional mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, a...