Happy Thanksgiving

We have so very much to be thankful for, and these people in our lives are among our greatest blessings!

When our kids and THEIR kids gather and then you throw in an Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Grandma it is a great big group of happy!  We are very fortunate in that we actually ENJOY one another's company.  It makes holidays a lot more pleasant that way!

Grace (James' fiance') was so sweet in helping the kids with their art projects.

Pre-dinner activities included making turkeys, coloring pilgrims and a word search.

 

 

 Crock pots began to arrive in mass.  There were so many crock pots all around the kitchen. It was like someone had called a crock pot convention!

 

Of course the pies had a good turn out also!

And Ruth made an adorable turkey from fresh vegetables.

 
But the people!  They are the REAL treasures!  From the youngest -

 

 to the oldest

And all those in between!

 

 

And we are extra thankful to have Isaac home with us for his first ever Thanksgiving in America!

While the blessings of a large family are many, it is getting rather tricky to arrange seating for us all.  One of our daughters hosts Thanksgiving at her home each year, and her husband and kids are so patient with the mob descending on their house.  In order to allow a walker, wheelchair and lots of kids room to move, the tables aren't set up until it is actually time to eat.  I was amused watching as the family shuffled around setting up tables, then counting and recounting chairs.

 

 

We added in a princess table....

Nope, still not enough.  We'll add one more table to the end...

And we had enough!

No meal is perfect, of course, and we had our little problems...

And one little guy just couldn't quite make it through the meal.

 But it was a great day filled with lots of laughter, good food, and most importantly those people we love the best.

 I can hardly wait for Pat to join in our Thanksgiving Day next time around.  One thing we discovered about him last summer (while he was being hosted in the States by our agency) was that he LOVES to eat.  This may be his favorite holiday!  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Isaac's 12th Birthday

Isaac's birthday went by without anything posted here about it, but it WAS remembered.  He ended up having two celebrations.  One was with the immediate family and a couple of neighborhood friends, and another a couple of days later with some of the adult sisters and his nieces and nephews. 

Chocolate is "too sweet" in Isaac's opinion but he LOVES strawberry, so he requested a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and didn't much care that this resulted in him having a pink birthday cake!

And two days later....

Happy birthday, Isaac!  We are so glad you are a part of our family!

Heart of the Bride Grant!

This morning my cell phone rang and the number that came up appeared to me as if it would be a solicitation call.  "Hello," I said.  The person on the other end asked to speak with me.  Hmmmm...  What followed was not a sales call, far from it.  It was from the "Heart of the Bride" organization with the news that our family had been selected for a grant!  What welcome news that was!

From their website: "In keeping with our overall mission, we will only be helping families who have already made sacrificial commitments: we will be sharing the burden, not taking it. Ultimately God will be the provider to those who are called to adopt. As a ministry that shares His heart for orphans, it is simply our desire and joy to be a part of that work"

As our fourth international adoption in just a couple of years, I have said since the beginning that we need God to show up big time! I was thrilled to see a bit of that happen today.  Thank you to Heart of the Bride for your commitment to orphans and for your help in bringing our boy home.



 

First Snow

Isaac has been asking every time the weather gets the slightest bit chilly, "So it snow now?"  He got his wish this week when we awoke to find this.

So began the hunt for hats and mittens and snow pants and boots....  I was feeling very lucky indeed that we had a pair of boots that would actually fit over Jen's AFOs.  (plastic braces on her feet and legs.)

And out we all went into the cold.

Isaac stopped to trade out his new wheelchair for his old one.  He uses the old one for outdoor play.

 Four happy kids!  Tikvah headed to the back yard to have a snowball fight with some neighborhood kids, while her younger siblings stayed in front to slide down our small hill.

 

Just imagine the FUN these three had!  They are all from the southern part of China, so in terms of climate think Florida.  Yeah, it was a wonderland!

Soon Tikvah and her friends wanted a warm up break.  Abigail thought that was a grand idea too and came in for hot chocolate, soup and sandwiches.

 

But my two who have mobility issues, THEY could not be convinced to come in.  The fast and smooth movement is something they don't have a lot of in their lives and they crave it.  They went down this small hill so many times, playing happily for another hour or so!

 

Here is a little two second video that I accidentally ended up with.  Apparently Jen was the ringleader.  Amazingly, it was timed perfectly to hear her say, "Ready?" to Isaac.

 

 They finally tired - I can't imagine the energy they burned dragging themselves back UP with their little sleds.  They had an amazing afternoon!