pictures

The other night we went to the church fall fellowship dinner and I tried to use the night setting on my camera. Well I have no idea how to use it but let me tell you it wasn't pretty at all! But the picture below is one of my favorite from the few I took and that actually came out. It's pretty neat don't you think!
I love the fact that despite the confusion surrounding Kristofer you still see his beautiful face! Just like this picture you have to stay focused on God through the storms, turmoil and confusion that may surround you! When you stay focused you are more apt to see Him working amidst the confusion.

More Fall Colors!

As promised here are some more fall colors for my friends and family in Florida who do not get to see such beautiful colors. This week we had our first frost of the year and the very next day the colors seemed to POP! This is a tree on the side of the house.

This tree sits in our neighbors front yard. This picture does NOT give it justice!

This little tree sits in our front yard, the church is sitting next to it.(white building)

This is the view from our front porch. This picture again does not give this tree justice. It is absolutely gorgeous! Here right now. The leaves are really starting to fall.

Tonight we had a Fall Fellowship out at the lake. It is so much fun! Everyone brings their favorite soup and dessert to share and we roast hot dogs over a camp fire. We had a great turn out with two new families that showed up! It was great fun! I made a blueberry cake. SO simple!!! Just a white cake (boxed) then when it is cooled use frozen blueberries (thawed) add them to a blueberry pie filling and spread over the top of the cake. Then to top it off I spread a whole tub of cool whip over the blueberry stuff. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! Everyone seemed to really like it! Just Yummy and simple to make! I am all about simple!!!

Wild & Crazy

Today is the last day of October. I must say that last two months have been wild. We have been at the doctors office so many times with each of the kids I am about doctored out! But today that last day of Oct I believe we are heading for the holidays with healthy happy kids! That is what I am praying and believing for!
Just wanted to share a bit here of how our family has been watched over and blessed. Last week our van just decided to quit working again. Not fun specially when Sean had to work. Needless to say we had it towed to the mechanic and he worked his magic. It is back up and running. Sadly though we had to rent a car but we got a great deal for the weekend so that was a blessing. The mechanic who always expects up front payment decided to give us a break and is allowing us to make payments. A huge blessing! We also finally have heat in the van! Last Feb. when we had the first ice storm go through the van lost all heat. It was not a good thing! We finally were able to get it fixed, the blower went out. God has seen us through so many rough patches this year! I am looking forward to the next two months. Although busy months for us in ministry I am so looking forward to what God has planned for our church and our family.
Last night at midnight I had to run back to the store for the party items we signed up to bring for the kids. Unfortunately Sean did not call and was not answering the cell at work so I was up and out really late or early if you see it that way. Thankfully the school does not "celebrate" Halloween, they are having Harvest Parties. But we all know that the kids will come home with candy and spooky treats.
Last year we had a party at church celebrating Jesus. This year I have opted not to the harvest party at church. It did not go over as well as I would have liked it to last year. So this year we will just have our own family fun night. Bought the kids some candy (in lew of trick or treating) and a few little gifts. Such as bouncy punch balloons, whoopee cushions (Kris ask for those) and some silly string. We'll go out to get movies later tonight and then come home to play some games. The kids really want to go trick or treating and I did when I was a little but that was a different time. There are so many dangers out there now and maybe there were then and its more known but I think it's just getting worse morally as well as just the dangers in this country. Plus there is NOTHING about Halloween that celebrates Jesus what so ever. So we will do something as a family tonight and just have some great family fun times.

AMAZING!

We received the boys report cards last week and I have had little time to just sit and share with our family how well they did. Michele over that An Adoptive Family's Life blog reminded me that I hadn't shared with the family and since i know most if not all the family comes to read what is going on with the kids thought I better let ya'll know. We are so proud of both boys!

Jaron has a very tough teacher this year! Put it this way, if Jaron does not put the date on his papers he gets 5-10 points taken off so even if he had a 100% if he forgets that date he ends up with a 90-95%. Which really stinks cause how many 8 year olds remember to put a date on things? I mean I am good to remember to put a date on letters and cards I send out. Anyway the boy did fantastic for his first grading period! He got all B's and A's! YAY JARON! I know he could have had all A's had he just applied himself a little more. But as we stress with all the kids all we really want is for them to do their absolute very best!

In fact that is the theme in children's church this year. Doing everything in excellence to give God the glory. I stress every week as long the kids are doing their absolute best in school academically and behaviorally then they are giving God the glory through their actions. I explain to them how their actions and behavior can be a witness of God's love and work in their lives to their classmates and to their teacher. They all are doing great!

As you know if you have been reading this blog for any time, Kristofer had a very hard time the first 7 weeks of this grading period. But we have a fantastic group of people from the OT assistant, his teacher Mrs Moore down to the lunch aides. They really stepped up to help him move forward and push through that difficult transition. He is doing so much better! Although I am sitting her listening to him and Eli playing this morning. Just when I though all the kids would be back in school today...he woke up with pink eye in both eyes and Eli has it in one eye as well. I can't wait for my kids to all be well at the same time!

Anyway, we were sure how Kris was doing academically. WE see his papers but I don't keep every page that is sent home. We were pleasantly surprise to see his grades! At our school the grading system lists the percentages but until they are in 3rd grade they actually receive S, N, & U. I was expecting more "N" but he had all "S" and one "N" in PE. His actually percentages were As and Bs. His percentages were even higher than Jaron's. Which surprised Jaron. SO we are very happy with how he is doing! His behavior in class has gotten a lot better to.

We know that for Kristofer academics present struggles for him and he needs the extra one on one instruction to help him push through to focus and get his work done. Jaron told us that he is super proud of Kristofer but thought the special ed teacher was giving him the answers. We had to explain that the special ed teacher does what I do, and works one on one and helps him focus not give him the answers. That made Jaron feel better and he shared how he was worried Kristofer wouldn't be smart.

Jaron is such a great big brother. He worries about Kristofer and loves playing with him. He gets so frustrated when Kristofer goes into his own world. But he understand that when they get home from school Kristofer needs time to retreat from "having" to participate and be attentive to things going on in the room. It's just his way of destressing. We all need that time when we "escape" from the pressures of the day for me writing and playing video games gives me that escape.

When I Call...

When I call on Jesus allthings are possible! Sometimes I need to be reminded of that. DO YOU??

EWE something stinks..

OK all weekend we have had some strange smell in the house, near the corner I sit in all the time. NO, IT'S NOT ME! LOL! But seriously this smell has just gotten worse over the last few days. We have torn the house apart trying to figure out what it is. So yesterday I couldn't take it, and I flipped my chair over thinking maybe I was missing something. Still nothing there. I figured something had to have gotten trapped under the house. That is till I bent over and smelt the chair. OH MY GOODNESS! Oh the stink...I almost lost my lunch!
We have been dealing with mice since the weather is changing again. SO I dragged the chair outside gt a knife and ripped the back off...the stench that came out of that chair about knocked me over. It was so bad! Inside...a small dead mouse that had gotten trapped in the springs and cushion. SO bye bye chair. The smell was so strong from such a small creature.

I wonder....hmmmm

If our sins smell as bad as that dead mouse, why doesn't God throw us out like I have had to do with the chair? Sin is death therefore we can assume it smells like that dead mouse or worse. And yet unlike the chair a soon as we ask for forgiveness we are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ! Which makes us clean and pure in His sight! Thank You Jesus for grace and mercy and for the powerful blood that washes my stink away as soon as I bow before You and ask for forgiveness!

Events of the last few days...

We have had such an eventful weekend. It started Friday when Sean went to take the van to the mechanic. It wouldn't even start so we had to have it towed. Had to rent a car so Sean would go to work and finally got the van back late Sat. night. We have to go into town today to settle things with the mechanic and find out the damage. We still have to get the blower fixed or we will not have any heat this winter in the van. Which by the way we are suppose to be down to 28 degrees tonight...ugh! The first freeze/frost warning. I am so NOT ready for winter. I feel as if I have just been able to really start enjoying the outdoors again and mending to my garden and now things are starting to go dormant and after this week we will lose half if not all the plants. Only part of the seasons I hate is not having flowers all year long like in Florida.
So early Sunday morning around 4 AM I was sitting in our bathroom with the shower on full steam. Eli was coughing up his lungs it seemed. It got to the point we decided he needed to go to he ER. So I head with him there where he had two breathing treatments and an oral steroid. CROUP! It is scary to watch your child not be able to breathe right. I knew what it was, have dealt with it so many times with Kristofer. Kristofer seemed to live with breathing treatments for the first two and half years of his life but this time was the worst for Eli. Thankfully last night he slept through the night and s feeling a whole lot better today.
Friday afternoon after taking Sean to work the kids and I went fall leaf collecting. Jaron has a leaf project so we were hunting for different kinds of leaves. While on our drive we saw a bunch of the woolly worms. My camera is out of juice so I found some pictues of the worms. Found two different kinds and the moths they turn into. I have posted the one of them before but I will post them again. It is the strangest thing to be driving down the road at 55mph and see these things crossing the street. Specially the big black ones. We have one right now that is as long and wide as my index finger. The other kind is smaller in size but just as hairy. The kids love them and honestly last year we didn't see these things like we are this year. The farmers almanac say if you see them crossing the road going south or southeast we are in for a bitter winter. We will see.

A Gentle Reminder