Decking the Halls and Stalls...December Edition

Because there was a lot happening this month that means there are even more pictures than usual, so I decided to do a separate Christmas picture post.  It's twice the viewing pleasure!

This month went incredible fast.  It helped that Mark had a week of vacation and that we did several fun things, so many fun things really. I'll explain in a bit.

Outside my window...cold and dark.

I am thankful for...health!  So much sickness going around...yuck.

I am pondering....how Christmas music suddenly disappears from the radio stations on December 27th.  It's almost as if Christmas never happened.  The Church in its wisdom celebrates the birth of our Lord for a few weeks into January until the Epiphany and technically beyond.  It's no wonder people feel a post-Christmas type of depression because it's here in our culture and then it's gone in a flash.  Let's not forget that we are celebrating the birth of the long awaited Messiah which really demands we savor and meditate on the significance of this blessed event.  Jesus' birth does matter and the salvation of all mankind is something we should ponder past December 25th.

I don't want to forget...Nash asking, "Does Santa live in Mason?"  Mark said we failed our 4th child if he doesn't know that Santa lives in the North Pole.  We just don't talk about Santa very much around here as much as we talk about preparing for Christ's birth.  The Jolly Old Elf does make a stop at our house and drops off one present for each little one, but between you and me, we didn't even leave gluten free cookies for Santa.  Gasp!

A few plans for the future...In January we will be making another attempt to go skiing (last year we had 3 failed attempts so we're going for broke this time), I will make reservations to camp in Michigan in July as I pine for summer, I am taking an online photography class from Clickin' Mom University to further my photography skills (I'm so excited to make this long time wish become a reality!), and Luke will make his First Reconciliation.

I am praying for...Mark's Grandpa (who we call Great Grandpa Smith) because he's 97 and has a bum shoulder.  He needs his shoulder because his legs are no good from a childhood bout of polio.  It's greatly affecting his independence.  Also Mark's Aunt had yet another back surgery not to long ago and some friends' special intentions.

A favorite quote...What really hurts is not so much suffering itself as the fear of suffering. If welcomed trustingly and peacefully, suffering makes us grow. It matures and trains us, purifies us, teaches us to love unselfishly, makes us poor in heart, humble, gentle, and compassionate toward our neighbor. Fear of suffering, on the other hand, hardens us in self-protective, defensive attitudes, and often leads us to make irrational choices with disastrous consequences.
-Fr. Jacques Philippe,  Interior Freedom, p. 47

News in Ellie...Ellie had a check up a few weeks ago and is growing healthy and strong.  She's a petite little lady weighing in at 13 lbs.  She is still wearing size one diapers which Mark pointed out is unusual for a now 5 month old baby.  Ellie can sleep through the night, but there are many nights where she needs to be flipped over one or more times.  She's a belly sleeper and for some reason or another, rolls onto her back and then lays there crying, demanding we flip her back over.  It's annoying at times, but not as bad as needing to feed her in the night.  She usually takes 6 ounces now and it takes at least 20 to 30 minutes to feed her one bottle. That may also have something to do with her trying to suck her hands while eating!!  Nash was a slow eater too so it's not totally new to us, just frustrating when things get busy.  This past week Ellie "found" her feet so now when we change her diaper, the foot goes in the mouth.  It's so cute!

Another notable event regarding Ellie (that demands it's own paragraph!) is that her social worker burned out and quit.  It's no wonder this happened because they are over worked and so very stressed.  As it turns out the old worker "K" wasn't really dotting the i's and crossing the t's.  It has very much felt like we have been living on a fostering island with little to no guidance.  Things have gotten a bit more tangled and so I'm really happy that Ellie's new worker "B" seems to be a no nonsense kind of lady.  She's also been a foster parent herself so she's got both perspectives.  Ellie's parents still haven't made any "new" progress and there is a lot of work to do for them to be able to get her back.  I keep praying through the anxiety that will creep in my mind from time to time and tell Jesus that I trust in His perfect plans and that with the help of His grace, we will ride this out patiently to the end, one way or the other. Thy will be done!

News in Nash...he is LOUD and crazy.  He likes to carry big sticks around and pretend it is a gun, a crucifix on a pole, or whatever his silly little head can dream up. He's a guy who loves numbers.  He asks regularly what time it is or how many ounces we put in Ellie's bottle even though numbers mean nothing to him yet.  He now sleeps diaper free at night which was the last big hurdle to total potty training freedom. He probably could have done it a few months ago, but being sleep deprived already, I didn't want to tackle that issue if it meant a wet Nash in the night.  So far, so good.  Nash had his follow up eye appointment and it turns out he's grown a little and now needs a slightly dialed down prescription for his glasses.  He is going back in two months and at that point, we will schedule the surgery.

News in Stella...she is a leopard print crazy girl right now.  If she could she'd wear leopard print every day.  She's still dramatic as ever and driving me crazy at times.  She comes out at rest time and asks if rest time is over yet.  I need to stop and problem solve this issue, but I just haven't taken the time.  Instead, by the end of rest time, my nerves are frazzled and I'm yelling at her.  No amount of "I'll come get you when it's over" helps.  As it turns out Stella is a master Lego builder.  She can follow the directions all by herself and only needs a bit of clarification here and there.  A new Lego set for Christmas seems to have cured the rest time dilemma temporarily because she's so busy building, she forgets to come out and ask when it's over.  Score!  We are not independently wealthy, so I'm going to have to come up with a new plan.  :)

News in Luke...he turned 8 and got a "sophisticated" watch from my parents.  It's digital and has a few bells and whistles.  A few nights a week he comes downstairs for an extra hug and a kiss because he's suddenly worried about me dying.  He's been asking questions and getting this sad look in his eyes to the point of him breaking into tears.  I first noticed it after his birthday in the middle of the month.  Hopefully, the phase will pass soon because it's very sad. :(

News in Brooke...a few months ago our parish held a logo contest in celebration of it's 50 years in existence.  The idea is that t-shirts, car magnets, letter head, etc. will all spring from this new logo.  From the minute Brooke heard about this contest, she was all over it.  I let her enter her hand-drawn logo thinking that the sketch of a 10 year old would soon be dismissed.  Imagine our surprise when Brooke's design showed up among the 4 finalist in digital format!  The lady in charge sweetly did that for Brooke. The parishioners voted a few weekends later and she WON!!!!  The lady in charge of the contest called at 8 AM that next Monday morning to say that Brooke's design won by a lot!!!  This is an incredible blessing and honor.  Brooke was so surprised and kept saying, "I've never won anything this important before!".  It is so sweet!  I do not have a copy of it right now, but in the near future you will get to see what all the hype is about.  :)  All glory to God in the highest!

Here's our month in photos...

Putting up our outdoor Christmas lights is at the top of Mark's least favorite things to do.  I chalk it up to his childhood where every year he drew the short straw and had to put them up by himself.  This year Brooke and Luke took charge with a little direction from Mark and made our house look a lot merrier.

I can't even count the ways Ellie brings us joy.  We are all head over heals in love with this girl.  She has become such a part of our family that it's hard to remember a time she wasn't with us, nor a time where we'd ever be without her.  People ask how we will give her back and the simple answer is with the help of God's grace if that is His will. And if we are blessed, we will get to love others just like her.

Snow tubing at local water park.  Yes, strange, but true.  We got discount tickets and decided we'd give this new venture a whirl.  It was fun, but not something I'd do regularly.

These snow machines make it all possible.

This is the view from the parking lot.

They advertised a "magic carpet" that takes you to the top so you don't have to do the hard work of hoofing it up the hill, but it hadn't been installed yet the time we went.  To Mark's delight, our consolation prize was 6 free tickets to the water park in the summer.  I would say this was worth the walk.

Check out Nash's face!!!  So adorable.

It was cold, but that doesn't stop Stella from sweating like it's summer.  Yummy!

Taking our free hot chocolate break.

Nash wanted to take a picture of me.  :)

There was also a snowy village area where they had little kid sledding and you could throw some snow balls around.

We attended the Horse Parade and had the pleasure of meeting up with my niece, her bf and puppy and some of our home home school friends.  The distraction of the company took the edge off the wind. :)

During Mark's week long vacation we took two days and drove up to Detroit to visit Mark's grandpa.  Great Grandpa Smith turned 97 this summer and still lives at home by himself.  Besides his hearing and possibly his stamina, he is as witty and kind as ever.  Above, Luke played Grandpa in a game of King's Corner and got beat by a really old guy.  :)

The house he lives in is the house where he and his wife raised 12 children.  It is filled floor to ceiling with memories of a life full of love.  There are close to 100 descendants from Grandpa and his late wife, Virginia.   The photos on the refrigerator are just a fraction of the children, grand children, and the great grand children that they have been blessed with.  You could stare at them over and over and never get bored.

He had his children set up this TV tray in the living room with his wife's picture so that he could see her from his chair.  They had a beautiful life and he misses her terribly yet he NEVER complains.  Not about the pain of her going to her heavenly home and leaving him behind, nor any of his physical pain or inconvenience of living with crippled legs from a childhood bout with Polio. He is the most delightful person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and I just pray that his Guardian Angel keeps him safe in his house until it's his turn to go home.

Entering their home is like stepping back in time.  The funny thing is is that it is so comforting in it's familiarity.  Sure they may be some new this or that from year to year, but it largely remains unchanged and that is endearing.

We only spent one night and the morning we were leaving we went to Mass just down the street from his house and met sweet, Sister Francesca that takes Communion to Grandpa each week.  He can no longer make it to Mass regularly, but she brings him the Eucharist each week.  What a blessing!

After Mass we went out to breakfast at "The Golden Basket" (some hole in the wall diner that received good reviews on the Yelp app Mark uses to find food in strange cities).  While we were eating, I read on the marquee next door at Joe's Army Navy Store "Unique gifts for the whole family".  I laughed and decided we should check out that bold claim.  Of course the kids were all over that, so $57 later, we left with pretty much a gift for everyone in the family.  It was quite comical.

It was so neat that Grandpa got to meet Ellie.  We were able to take her with us and he was so taken by our willingness to foster and so astonished that not only do we get the pleasure of enjoying her, but that we get paid every month to cover expenses!  A father of so many obviously has a love for children.  His enthusiasm was so sweet.

If the pleasure of his company wasn't enough, he sent us this flower arrangement thanking us for coming to visit him!  He appreciates the effort we make, but it's hardly to our credit since he's so pleasant to be around!!  He's in rough shape due to his shoulder so please say a prayer for him.

Onward and upward to "Deck the Stalls".  A clerk in the Magistrates office of our county hosted this gathering for foster families at the Arabian farm where she boards her horse about an hour away from our home.  The kids watched the blacksmith make horse shoes, got to meet all the horses and feed them treats, made a craft, had a snack and came home with a stocking full of goodies and a toy!  This event came up rather last minute and I think we might have been one of the few families to take advantage of this outing.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed it so it was worth the drive.

The barn was so nice.  One of the nicest, fanciest, and cleanest I have ever seen!

Luke is always looking out for Elles!!  He is going to be a sweet daddy some day.

Luke turns 8!  We serenaded him over ice cream.  We had an ice cream "bar", lots of candy toppings to choose from, so much easier than making a gluten free, so-so tasting cake!

The pictures are crooked behind Luke because they always get knocked when Stella squeezes behind his chair to get by.  Why, yes, it does bother me. Anal much?  :)

My nephew, Jamie created this cool balloon hat for Nash.  They are two silly boys.

Mark's parents came through with a big Lego train set.  A dream come true for this 8 year old.

Luke is so sweet that he let Nash dig right in and help him open his presents without one word of complaint.  He's a keeper!

The next morning was Luke's actual birthday and he opened up our gifts to him (Lego sheets and comforter and a magnetic dart board and then small gifts from the kids) and the birthday card from my sister he forgot to open the night before.  He got money from my sister and as you can see from his face, he was thrilled.

Luke's one birthday request was to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast as in the days of old when we were gluten eaters.  I found these at Whole Foods but we were greatly disappointed.  Moist and tasty would not be adjectives I would use to describe them.  They have to be heated in the microwave and by the time they were cool enough to eat, they were tough as shoe leather.  We didn't open the other box and I returned them because they were $7.50 for a package of 4.  Oh, yes!  No thank you.

To round out our fun filled month, Brooke, Luke, Stella and I headed to the Dollar Tree so they could do their Christmas shopping.  I had Brooke type up a list of all the people they would buy for (and then I fancied it up with a title and lines!  I almost changed the font, but I restrained myself!) which made the trip so much easier.  Luke and Brooke got their own carts and then Stella and I tackled her list.  I have to say that Brooke and Luke are doing much better.  They really put some thought into their gifts.  Stella did okay too, but I did persuade her to select a few things that were more appropriate for the receiver.

Stella's list.  We have learned the hard way to write down what was purchased for each person because in the past, they don't remember who they bought what for when it was time to wrap.

Luke ended up buying Mark one of those long "nosed" lighters most everyone uses in the place of matches and the cashier looked at me and said you can't buy them if you're under 18.  I told her from the outset that I was purchasing everything and that the dividers were just to keep the kids' stuff straight.  That didn't stop her from turning to Luke though and asking if the lighter was for him.  He looked at her incredulously and said, "Most certainly not!!".  His tone of voice was priceless and if the cashier weren't so clueless, I might have laughed out loud.  He couldn't believe she would think that of an 8 year old.  I almost peed my pants.

Because I didn't have enough fun at the Dollar Tree, we stopped at the Peddlers Mall on the way home.  Think aisles of booths of crap, from antiques to junk and everything in between.  Luke enjoyed himself because he found a few treasures to buy with his birthday money.  While dinner was reheating in the oven, it was a present wrapping extravaganza.  The kids each picked out their own wrapping paper...Luke got a non-traditional silver with blue and white diagonal stripes, Stella chose cat paper and Brooke snagged some dog paper.

Mark snapped a few pictures, but had to use the "auto" mode, hence the flash.  What an amateur!  :)

Nash wanted some snuggles which involved some back scratching.  Anything to get this busy boy to be still a minute.

The Monday before Christmas my mom calls while we're at the library and asks if I want her to come over on Tuesday or Wednesday to help me get ready for Christmas.  Yes, please!  I chose Tuesday and boy, did she deliver!  She did so many things, but my favorite was that she ironed our clothes for Mass.  Ironing takes a lot much time and before Ellie, I had lots more time, but not so much anymore.  I'd rather be wrinkled than not have Elles.

It's kind of painful to have tons of pictures of the cutest foster baby ever and not be able to share them.  Elles is a doll and the fact that she can now put her feet in her mouth ups the "awww" factor.  I love the rolls and the elbow fat and her cheeks and her wide, beautiful mouth and the way she giggles... :)  It's hard to believe we've had her for 5 months already!  Most days she's a dirty, rotten, short napper, but otherwise, she's perfect.  It's so hard to comprehend that we get to have her with us and her parents aren't trying to move heaven and earth to get her back.  I'll keep you posted...

And on this yummy note, I'll see you back here in 2015! :)

Click on the "older posts" button on the bottom right to see our Christmas photos.