Deidra's Thankful List

1. Me
2. Candy
3. Mom and Dad
4. My family
5. Sisters and Brother
6. God
7. America

Emily's Thankful List

1. Mommy loving me
2. My toys
3. TV
4. My friends, Hope and Clara
5. My shoes
6. My clothes
7 The world
8. Blankets and a warm bed
9. Reggie
10. Lucy
11. Daddy
12. Grandma Davis
13. Food
14. Computers
15. Clocks
16. Our house
17. Dishes
18. Flowers

Tracie's Thankful List

1. Mommy and Daddy
2. Melina
3. Our house
4. Trampoline
4. TV
5. Reggie
6. Our cats
8. My friends
9. Ms. Lucke (her teacher)
10. My clothes
11. Deidra
12. Books
13. My pillow pet
14 Grandma
15. Emma
16. Josiah
17. School
18. Flowers
19. Coloring Paper

Josiah's Thankful List

1. Mommy and Daddy
2. God
3. My sisters
4. Food
5. My family
6. My house.
7. My friend, Hayden
8. My bed
9. Trees
10. Band-aids
11. Football
12. Daddy's grill
13. Pens
14 Trash cans
15. Dishes to eat off of
16. Our clean house

Mom and Dad's Thankful Calendar

We all made a thankful calendar for the month of November to show the things that we are thankful for. We got a bit off track, some of us made it farther than others, but that's ok. It's about focusing on our blessings. :-)

Here is the one that I made...
1. Faith
2. Parents
3. Grandparents
4. Andy
5. My brothers, Zach and Jimmie
6. Hubby cooking
7. Friends
8. Cousins
9. Therapists
10. Visit with Dad
11. Deidra
12. Girl Time
13. Our house
14. Josiah
15. Paying cash for things. Not having to use credit cards.
16. Emily
17. Mother-in-Law
18. Father-in-Law
19. The families that we met while fostering that can understand our journey
20. Time out with my Mom
21. Tracie
22. Doctors
23. Melina
24. Family

Celebrating Melina's First Thanksgiving

Andy and I got up and started baking about 5:30 this morning. We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, and a black and tan pumpkin trifle. About 9, we put the turkey in. We made a cranberry turkey with thyme, stuffing, sweet and savory green beans, a cauliflower, cheese, and ham casserole, and garlic mashed potatoes and gravy. Mom made a small ham and corn pudding and brought that and Jimmie made mac and cheese. Melina ate her turkey and rice and sweet potatoes and fell asleep in her high chair. It was a wonderful day and I had fun cooking with Andy in the kitchen. The kids didn't like dinner and didn't eat much. Tracie wasn't feeling all that well and was running a fever. Poor thing! Mom and I were going to go for a walk after dinner, but it was just too windy and cold. We sat around talking instead while Andy snoozed and the kids watched Snow White on tv.

Mom saw Deidra's new bedding that she got for her birthday and saw the paint colors that Deidra had picked out and Mom offered to help her paint her room. I think it will look cool once it's done.

Mom left aroudn 5ish to go bring Thanksgiving dinner to her friend, Margaret, and I sat talking with Jimmie at the table for awhile. Deidra got a case of the giggles and passed them on to me. And then, we got Jimmie going too...I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. He wound up taking Deidra back to their house to spend the night, so Andy and I took the kids to Walmart after everybody left to get faucet covers as we found out that we were under a freeze warning. Got home and put the kids to bed. I was suffering from a bad stomach ache that I've had on and off for the past couple of days, so Andy cuddled up with me on the couch for a little bit while we talked and watched an episode of Criminal Minds and then I fell asleep. It was a great day and I'm so thankful for my family that God has given me!

Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was very nice. Started the day off with a bad run-in with the top of the pumpkin lid when I was trying to open it and thought I was going to need stitches. That got Andy out of bed quickly at 5 am. lol. It was a bad cut and I can't do much or it starts bleeding again, but thankfully it wasn't bad enough to require stitches. Never had stitches and didn't want to start now. After baking some bread and some pies, I went to mass and it was beautiful. I love our new priest so much. He does such beautiful homilies and such nice blessings. Came home and got the littles dressed for the day and Andy and I planned out what time we were going to start everything. Mom and Jimmie came over around 1. Mom brought mac and cheese and we made turkey, cranberry apple sausage stuffing (first time I made homemade stuffing and Andy said it needs to be a new tradition, he enjoyed it that much), mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin bread, and green bean casserole and corn. Dessert was fudge pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and tropical cake. So yummy! My brother, Zach, even showed up for dinner, but he didn't stay long. This was the first family function that he's been at in quite a few years though, so it's a start. Andy started not feeling well after dinner, so he took a nap and Mom and I watched UP with the kids and she played baby dolls with them. After everyone got up, we did a small bible study with Mom, Deidra and I. We just went over Psalm 27:1-5 and we kept talking about what certain things meant to us and how we could relate in our lives so we didn't get super far, but it was beneficial to all of us anyway. Mom took Deidra home with her to spend the night since she was off today and Andy and I really enjoyed one another's company yesterday. It was a really nice day!

We talked a little bit about what we were all thankful for in the morning...

Josiah is thankful for family.
Little E is thankful for our dog.
Deidra is thankful for her PS2.
Baby T is thankful for Mommy and Daddy.
I am thankful for my family, my husband, my children, this baby on the way, my parents, my brothers.
Andy told me yesterday that he was very thankful that I was his wife. Awww!

Turkey day plans...

After last years fiasco, I was unsure of what to do for Thanksgiving this year. However, I felt God telling me to reach out and not be afraid. So, I invited Mom and the boys over to our house this year. She accepted and is going to bring some macaroni and cheese over. I felt my apprehension go and I really think that this Thanksgiving is going to be a good one. We have so much to be thankful for this year.

So thankful...

I am so thankful for God, my faith, my parents, my family, my friends, God has really brought some amazing people into my life. I am going to start spending a lot more time with them. I decided that I get too busy tending to things around here, that I don't spend enough time with the people that God brings to me and want to be a part of our life. I am so thankful for my children. They all bless me in different ways and I am constantly learning from them. I am so thankful for their unconditional love that they give and for their loving little hearts. I am so grateful for this baby that I have growing inside of me. I am SO thankful that yesterday marked the first day of my 2nd trimester. I am thankful that God has really been leading me lately and that I am letting Him guide me. I am thankful for my husband and how great he's been with my pregnancy as I know that I can be quite moody sometimes with how sick and tired I've been at times. The nausea has been the worst over these past couple of weeks and it seems to set in around 4-6 pm. He's eaten my slop that I've cooked because I couldn't manage much more. He's helped take care of the kids and he takes them out on the weekends for Daddy/children time so that I can get some quiet time to rest or do whatever I want. I am thankful that the girls' adoption is finally starting to get rolling as well. I really want them to be adopted by the time this baby is born. I am thankful for my beautiful house and for all the blessings that God has given to us in Texas with Andy's job and that his company is so great to work for and that they always seem to be understanding of him. I am thankful for friends old and new. I am thankful for a lot of things and I could continue to go on and on. I am also thankful that my parents are able to be friends. I still continue to pray that they'll be able to get back together, but God's hands are in that and He knows what is best. Abba, thanks so much for blessing me and my family. Thank you for all that you do for us! I ask for your blessings over all my family and friends during this Thanksgiving season and always.

Thanksgiving drama...

Well, we went to my Mom's and made it through 15 minutes before Andy made a joke and my Mom took it the wrong way. It hurt his feelings when she snapped at him, he walked outside, I came back in after going to check on him and my Mom and I got into it. I walked back outside and told Andy to go get our stuff and that we were leaving. He walked in to try and let her know that he was just making a joke and that he didn't mean anything by it and she kept going saying that he's being sarcastic and she doesn't like sarcasm. I started walking stuff outside to our van and he brought the rest of the stuff out apologizing that if he would have known that he was going to start something he would have kept his mouth shut. I walked back inside to tell her good-bye and she blew up at me and said that I'm always sticking up for him. I told her "you're my Mom, I love you, but he's my husband and I love him too and he didn't mean anything by it." She just looked at me and said "well, good-bye." I turned around and left. I cried all the way to Wal-mart to go get some stuff to try to salvage Thanksgiving for the kids. We're all starving...not the Thanksgiving dinner we planned on having today...but I think we're just destined to spend the holidays with just our family from now on. This makes 2 out of 3 Thanksgivings that the day has turned out badly with them fighting. Andy feels like he can't say anything around her anymore and that she just doesn't like him. Then she comes over and gets upset because he's too quiet and won't say anything around her. I don't know how to make her see that is just his humour and it's all innocent. I don't know he's still all in shock about what happened and feels bad and I feel stuck in the middle and really don't know what to do.

Give Thanks

I used Marcee Duggar's Give Thanks freebie and the turkey is from scrapbook flair.

What a blessed Thanksgiving we had!

Mom and Jimmie came over around 12:30 for dinner. We were setting the table and getting all the food ready to be served on the bartop when they got there, so it was perfect timing. We said a prayer together and went around the table saying what we were thankful for...

Mom was thankful for family healing that has been happening in our family this year (she talked to her sister whom she hadn't talked to in 12 years yesterday and My Dad is admitting his faults and apologizing for them and it's been a big help in healing for all of us.

Andy was thankful for being able to have everyone over for dinner at our new house and for all the food we were being able to eat. Of course he was thankful for family too!

I was thankful for family and friends and that we were able to add children to our house this year.

Little J was thankful for family and her new sister (Deidra)and for her good foster home and for her mom and dad and for her visits. Just the fact that she mentioned our home and that she thought it was a good one had me teary eyed. She definitely made everything worth it (all the trials that we've had with her so far) when she said that.

Deidra was thankful for Baxter (our old family dog who just passed away before we moved down here...she mentions him at all her prayers) and for her family and friends.

My brother Jimmie was thankful that he wasn't hurt anymore and made it through football season this season without any hurts or broken bones and that he was still healthy and he was thankful for his family.

Mom and I went for a walk after dinner and dessert around our neighborhood in the freezing cold. We made it just in time when we got back for it to start sleeting. I was having a pretty hard time with cramps (AF arrived yesterday just in time for her turkey time too I guess) and bleeding pretty badly and so Mom took me up to Wal-mart to get me a heating pad when I took several 500mg tylenol without it helping at all. Wal-mart was totally dead and I jokingly said that if you wanted to go to Wal-mart that was the time to go as I had been in there the night before Turkey Day and it was a madhouse in there then. We came home and just spent family time together and Mom read to the kids for awhile. Mom brought a little kitchenette for them to play with in the playroom too, so they are loving that. She found it at a yardsale over the summer and had it in her backyard for Deidra, but she washed it up and brought it over here so that they'd have it here to play with. It was a great and very blessed Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

I'm so very thankful for my dear husband who loves me so unconditionally and works so hard to provide for us. I'm so very thankful for my beautiful daughter that has such a big heart and although she's had a few issues adjusting to us doing foster care, she really has such a big heart and cares so much about each of them. She's such a big help with them too. She makes friends wherever she goes and I'm always given compliments by her teachers and her friend's parents about how sweet she is and how she's always surrounded by her friends. I'm thankful for Baby J and his sweet demeanor...he brings so much joy to this house and I fall in love with him more and more all the time. I'm thankful for Baby D and it's so neat to see him making progress with coming out of his shell. He's so quiet and gets so scared about things and is quite shy. I'm thankful Little J...she can be so sweet and affectionate and it is nice to have another girl in the house. I'm thankful for the opportunity to do foster care and truly make a difference in these children's lives.

I'm thankful for my Mom and my Dad and I'm grateful for my Grandpa and that he just came through his last medical scare and will be home in a few days. I'm thankful for my brothers too and for all of my family.

I'm thankful for our beautiful new house and sharing Thanksgiving dinner with our family here.

I'm thankful for my faith...I can't imagine my life without God or trying to get through some things that I have had to without Him.

I'm thankful for my friends that I have had in my life over the years and the new ones that I'm making here in Texas. I'm thankful for all of my dear friends that are my readers here and know me in real life too. You are all a part of who I am today!

I hope everyone has a truly happy Thanksgiving and a very blessed Holiday season!

Thanksgiving Break...

The girls are on their Thanksgiving break starting today...I thought it was odd that they had the day before Turkey day off, but whatever. I was a little worried about how the girls were going to be together, but (knock on wood) Little J hasn't been bad at all this week and the girls have been playing very well together.

They were both up early today and they asked to go outside at 8 this morning. Since it was about 70 this morning and we are having a cold front come through to knock it down to about 35 degrees, I told them to go for it while they could. They've been playing in front of the house in the field and watching the house across the street being built and then they started playing with the neighbors. The neighbors fed them corn dogs and the girls came in to get everyone apples and crackers and they're having a picnic. It's started getting cold and so they came in to get their sleepign bags. They're sitting down on the sidewalk cuddled up in the sleeping bags just having fun. I'm glad they're enjoying themselves and everyone is getting along so well together.

I've been working on my chores while they're peace and quiet and I'm going to start my baking soon too.

I wish Andy could be home with us on Friday, but he's out of personal and vacation time at work and so he has to be there. It'll be nice when January comes and he's got personal time again.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Appetizers
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip with Graham Crackers
Pumpkin Bread

Beverages
Dr. Pepper
Reese's Cup Hot Chocolate
Almond Toffee Crunch Coffee

Main Course
Turkey
Cheesy Potatoes
Stuffing
Sweet Potato Crunch
Texas Macaroni Salad
Salad
Cranberries
Green Bean Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Corn Salad (cornbread, regular can of corn, and a can of creamed corn with hamburger mixed in)
Cucumber Salad

Desserts
M&M Bars
Sugar Free Pumpkin Pie
Sugar Free Peanut Butter Pie