Bridal Shower....Check!

 As promised, I have some pictures to share from Stephanie's bridal shower this past weekend.  It was a lot of work, but so much fun to pull everything together.  Of course, I did not do this alone.. my mom, Michelle, and Carly and I worked together beautifully to pull this big deal off.

I'm undecided as to which camp I fall into... Pinterest has either made throwing a bridal shower easier than ever OR Pinterest has set the bar way too high with thousands of pretty tablescapes, decorating ideas, and party favors just to name a few. Either way, I think the consensus is that the party was a success and better yet, it's already finished.  :)

 My sister came over on Saturday and that's when we decorated for the party and relocated the kid stuff and clutter.  My house almost looked like a museum and I can tell you it will not likely look like that ever again.  We went all out, rearranging my pictures and decorations for things that had to do with the bride and groom to be.

 The drink "station".  Not pictured were the Mason Jar glass beverage dispensers located on the left..  After going through my pictures, I  am bummed that I missed several details.  Stephanie asked me afterwards if I got all the details and I thought I had, but I guess in the craziness, some were forgotten. I'm sorry, Snephanie!

 Mark asked if we were going to have to look at Stephanie and Brian over our fireplace for the rest of our lives since I relocated the picture that was originally there into the dining room where it should be.

 We took the top off this changing table/buffet and relocated all the baby stuff into Ellie's room.  I like it better that way so now we can have a buffet in the dining room from now on instead of a poop station.  :)

 I wanted a table runner for the top of the buffet so imagine my delight when I dug this wrapping paper from the Target Dollar bins out of the archives.

 There were tons of people and tons of gifts!

 Stella was the assistant and Carly kept track of who gave what.  I never did like that job.

 This is Stephanie's mother in law to be with her first grandchild, Ava.  She is a darling, sweet little baby. Connie's not too bad herself either.  :)

 Our house was packed to the gills with women.  I sent Mark off with Luke, Nash and Ellie which was essential to maintaining order is this crowded situation.

 I bought this file off Etsy and then printed the 20 x 30 poster at Costco.  Foam board and some Modge Podge later, it was a sign welcoming people to the shower.

 The food was so delicious. My mom made pulled pork, deviled eggs, a southwestern GF orzo salad,and coleslaw.  My sister order fruit and veggie trays and a pretty cake and these adorable cookies that I forgot to get a picture of!!  Insert wailing.  Also, the picture of the full food table is on my phone which turned out crappy.

 I found a version of this cake on Pinterest and my sister had a family friend with a cake business whip it up.  The only disappointment is that the ribbon was supposed to be more gold and less copper. I didn't eat any cake, but I did cut it and it was so moist that I almost wished I did eat gluten.

 We only played two games, one a fun wedding scratch off game and then the ring game.  Stella loved the rings and managed to collect them from all the ladies at the end of the shower.  Currently, Nash has custody of them so they don't, as Stella said, "junk up my room".   What a wise little girl!

 Stephanie (pictured in the middle) and her bridesmaids.

I have to confess that when I received the invitation to the wedding in the mail recently I started crying.  It was the weirdest thing.  I suppose it went from being hypothetical to very real. That does not bode well for the actual wedding day!  We are all so excited for Stephanie and Brian.  It won't be long and there Big Day will be upon us! You know, baby showers follow bridal showers, so I guess I hope we do this again soon.  :)

This is Me Stepping Out Onto the Water...

In addition to the normally hectic pace around here, we just hosted a bridal shower this past weekend for my niece, my Grandma passed away on October 16th, followed by my nieces' grandmother passing and then last week Mark's grandpa who lived in Detroit passed away. It was all a little stressful to say the least.  In the middle of these major life events, we had dentist appointments,doctor appointments galore, and for a few days last week I thought I might have Mono.  I slathered myself with essential oils and with all the funerals and shower behind me, I'm ready to press on.  Did I mention we home school too?  :)

While moving forward sounds lovely after the above mentioned events, we are stepping into turbulent waters once again.  This past week there was another hearing for Ellie.  Based on current events regarding Ellie's birth mom and conversations with Ellie's worker, we were expecting to hear that the county had recommended to the judge that Ellie's mom's parenting rights would be severed and therefore she'd be available for adoption in the near future.   Oh, it was the closest we've come to any sort of answer or closure we've had thus far.  While we are saddened for Ellie's mom, we were getting very comfortable with the idea that we would be providing for Ellie and keeping her safe and healthy for the long haul.

Needless to say, things did not go as expected.  I can't share much, but in the 11th hour a man has been tracked down who is believed to be Ellie's birth father.  Oh, yes.  Her mom was going with the story line that she had no idea who he was, but when it became apparent that she was out of the race, she gave mystery dad a name and a last known contact info to go with it. This was the social worker who counseled her to do so stating that she could possibly have a chance to have a relationship with Ellie in the future if he was found and wanted to parent Ellie himself.  So now we are waiting for the court order paternity test and the results.

Apparently upon hearing the news that he fathered a child which he knew nothing about, he has stated that he wishes to parent Ellie himself. Does that make anyone want to throw up or is that just me? The worker was very apologetic that she had to break this news, but it occurred to me that if she didn't press Ellie's mom into this confession, we wouldn't wondering if after living with us for almost a year and a half, if Ellie's going to go live with some guy her mom hooked up with or stay with us?  The reality is that not only is the law on dad's side, but even if he doesn't wish to parent Ellie, one of his kin could petition to do so in his place.  Seriously.  It could go lots of different ways, but I thought/hoped that we were past that point.  Evidently, we are not.

It's was one of those surreal moments when the music stops and the room starts spinning.  As I'm crying on the phone (mid I-think-I-might-have-Mono phase) I start consoling the profusely apologetic worker saying that God has a good plan and I may not like the way things are going, but that in the end everything will just work out fine.  I believe that, but I certainly don't like where we stand today. I don't like it at all.  I don't want to wait a few more weeks or months to know if we get to keep her.  If feels as if my obituary will list my cause of death as waiting.

Hours after hearing this news, I was reminded of the Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel of St. John.  Jesus is telling them that he wants them to eat his flesh and drink his blood (the Eucharist) to have eternal life.  The Jews are freaking out.."As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.  Jesus then turns to the 12 and asks them if they want to leave too.  Peter answers him and says, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."  John 6:66-69

This is exactly how I feel.  I don't like this leg of the journey God has us on, but what choice do we have?  If God is good and wants good things for his children, then how can we be angry about the turn of events?  What else is there but to move forward TRUSTING.  Not to steal the Jews thunder, but "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"  :) I think I can, I think I can...

I had a clear thought during Sunday Mass that I am going to make it through this additional time of waiting one day at a time. Profound, right?  Jesus gives us what we need to live the life that we alone have. I'm not going to know now.  I just have to keep on going.

 When I am most in need of comfort, it often comes by way of the Saints.  St. Therese of Lisieux said, "When we surrender to discouragement or despair, it is usually because we are thinking too much of the past or the future."

And I believe anyone who is suffering should take their cause up with St. Francis de Sales who said this...

" The everlasting God has in his wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that he now presents to you as a gift from his inmost heart.  This cross he now sends you he has considered with his all-knowing eyes, understood with his divine mind, tested with his wise justice, warmed with his loving arms, and weighed with his own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.  He has blessed it with his holy name, anointed it with his consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God."

I hardly ever dream, but this morning I remember grasping at the tail end of a dream in which Ellie's social worker's supervisor called me on the phone to give me words of encouragement regarding the situation.  In the dream she wasn't speaking plainly about what would happen, but she spoke in code rather.  I remember feeling hope (but not necessarily peace), but desperately wanting her to spell out what she meant would happen with Ellie. I wanted concrete words and a declaration. My mind was still trying to interpret her words when I woke knowing that it was just a dream, but none the less, feeling like it was significant, I wanted to slip back to sleep to mull over what seemed to be a very important message. In reality, the peace will come when I trust.

I'm not Joseph with his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the interpreter of dreams extraordinaire, but the lesson I learned is that I'm not just satisfied trusting,  I want the details and an answer, now.  I think God is telling me to live this day, do the work he was called me to, and to keep praying and trusting.  The same joy and peace that was present the first time she went back will be there again if that is the Lord's plan for us all. I have to keep reminding myself that he brought her to us and he loves her more than we do.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear...can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life span?...Your heavenly father know that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be give you besides.  Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."  Matthew 6:25-34 (in a few less words) :)

I don't know anymore now than last month what the future holds, but I know that it will require me to lock my eyes on Jesus and step out onto that turbulent water. If start looking around at the dark, rough waters, I am sure to slip under.  St. Peter, Pray for us!  St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us!  St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!  Mary, Star of the Sea and help of Christians, pray for us!

That's about all the Jerry Springer I can take for now so onto the month of October in 78 Pictures... I tired to keep it to 50 or less, but that didn't really work out.

 My dad came over to stain our play set. I looks sooooo much better!

 Brooke officially turns 11.

She picked donuts for her birthday breakfast so we used a Trader Joe's pumpkin muffin mix and then dropped those babies in a bag of powdered sugar.  Oh, my!  Best GF donuts EVER.

Brooke sewed me this apron for fall.  I love it and wear it every day.

 Stella took these pictures on Brooke's birthday showcasing how grown up Brooke is getting.

 Teepee art.

 Our village.

 Pumpkin Patch.  How perfect that Ellie was looking the other way!

 It was very crowded and so I will never go on a weekend again. Let it be said, let it be done!

 Kids had fun, but even they said it wasn't as fun as in the past because of all the people.

 Brooke overtook Luke.

 Ellie was not happy on the horse drawn wagon ride.  She was exhausted, poor thing.

 We've had some really nice weather in October and even in early November.  We still have shorts in the drawers because they have been needed.

 We've still been doing art once a week.  This week's project was painted paper to use with future projects.Yes, it was messy.

 There is now an Otter group for the 6-7 year olds so Stella gets to be a part of FNE too.  We are going to recruit for the girls to see if Brooke can get in there as well.

 This was what Ellie did at the meeting.  Crawled around the parking lot.  It's a lot less harmless than it looks...I promise.  :)

 So I ran for Parish Council at our church a few weeks ago and had to have a bio and picture for the bulletin.  One morning before breakfast, Brooke took my picture in the front yard. We did get a little silly with it as you can see.

 Fortunately or unfortunately, I was not chosen.  Allegedly, the vote was very close, but in the end, I think it is a blessing.  I'm kind of busy already as you know.  :)

 Our least favorite project to date.

 I took a bunch of donations to St. Vincent de Paul one day when my mom was over.  She had my dad's Jeep so we loaded up the back full of stuff and then I brought this dresser back.  We ran into friends and she and her daughters helped us get it into the car.  It had an awesome (green) mirror to go with it and now I need to start thinking about what color I want to paint them.

 Geocaching trackables.  My people are crazy over geocaching and there are these little things you buy then you drop them in a cache so hopefully they get transported here and there with people logging the progress on the Internet.  We are dropping these off in FL when we go next month.  More about that in a minute.

 I made lip balm (and cute labels!) as one of the favors for the bridal shower.  I love the way they turned out!  The labels were designed on the PicMonkey website for free.


Making lip balm is fun, but expensive at first and time consuming.  I would do it again, but it's definitely a labor of love.

 Nash's glasses broke and after using Gorilla Glue to fix them, I decided it was time for a pair.  I was all set to order the same ones he had, but paused at the $164 price tag. I ordered these from Zenni Optical online for under $30!  We also bought a strap for the back from Amazon which has been a game changer.

 Ellie get's a pre-breakfast ride.  Whoever said kids in large families get lost in the shuffle has never experienced the love and fun siblings have for and with each other.

 Our woods are now bare, but this is what they looked like for a week or so.

 We bought a membership to the Cincinnati Nature Center so we can enjoy all the hiking trails they offer. The kids last about 3 miles at a time.

 Leave it to the crew to find a letter box while we were hiking.  Apparently it's a sort of geocache.

 I did 195 steps will Ellie on  my back.  There was a lot of burning going on.

My Grandma "Babe" being laid to rest.  If there is such a thing, it was a beautiful day for a funeral.  My grandma was just a month shy of her 98th birthday when she passed from complications from Pneumonia (and just old age).  May she rest in peace.

 My sweet aunt and cousins from Utah mailed me these beautiful squash.  I was complaining about there not being any worthwhile squash in our grocery store and they, having had their fill from their garden many times over, sent me some.  That was a first!  I was so appreciative to have it and we ate all of it.

 Wardrobe planning for our family pictures.  This is how it's done folks, although Ellie ended up wearing a solid color shirt instead.  It is way more fun raiding the closets for clothes and accessories than actually taking the pictures.  It was Mark's sacrifice for the day.  Week?  Maybe month?  :)

 Stephanie came along to help with our group shot, but I snapped some of the kids after that task was complete.

 Too cute!

 Brooke is getting too old!  She looks so pretty all dolled up even though she's a "casual" girl, according to Brooke herself.

 Brooke took this one of us.

 Yes, my son is posing in front of the Porta John.  He thinks they are hilarious.  Maybe it's the word, but while we are driving he yells out excitedly, "Porta John!" and makes sure everyone takes notice.  He's weird.

So the gap in Luke's teeth is getting wider because the expander is doing the job.  Since he's having such a hard time with eating, the orthodontist is going to put some other retainer in its place while we wait the 4 months for braces.  That will be much nicer for him.

The week of Halloween we carved pumpkins for our art project.






We used templates printed free from the web.  And this little girl walked around getting into trouble.

 The kids Trick-or-treated twice in one week because the county had something for foster families at the agency.  It rained that night so the Trunk or Treat was indoors.  Thankfully, the weather was better for Halloween.

 If you could only see her face!!  Stephanie drew a nose and whiskers just like Stella had and it was adorable.

 Chief was a "ruff-eree" and Brooke was a wolf.

 Mark took the kids around and pulled Ellie in the wagon.  He stopped to chat with the neighbor's and Ellie tried to escape.  I feel like that sometimes too.

 Luke was a soldier and Nash was a policeman.  I took a group picture of them all, but I didn't factor in that I couldn't post ones with Ellie's face in them.

 I pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Halloween was a family affair!  My sister, niece and fiance, and my parents came over.  Well, that was after my parents moved on from the tow truck drama.  Their car stopped working as they were getting on the highway by their house so they pulled over, and my mom walked back home to get my dad's car.  They left the keys under the mat and money for the tow truck driver and made their way to our house because they were bringing the dinner.  No time to wait, when dinner is at stake!

 I hate Halloween candy.

 Another project...this was my favorite project. Thank you. Pinterest.

Well, if you've hung in there this long, here's a few more nuggets for you...

I'm praying...for the repose of the souls of our loved ones.  Contrary to popular belief, the Church "still" teaches that the faithful departed pass through Purgatory on their way to heaven. And let's not forget the ongoing saga with Ellie!

I'm reading...Something Other than God by Jennifer Fulwiler.  I'm a sucker for conversion stories.

I never want to forget...the holiness of Grandpa Smith.  We are glad that he's making his way to Heaven, but his presence will be greatly missed on this earth.

My favorite things...Doterra oils.  I am certain that the blend of On Guard, Oregano, and Thyme took away my Mono-like symptoms in just two days!

In the kitchen...did you know that they now make GF Cheerios?  My dad bought some for us at his Kroger and they are delish!!   

A few upcoming plans...We are going to Orlando to hit up Disney in just a few weeks!! That's going to be crazy, but that exhausting kind of glad-we-did-it kind of way.  My parents were deciding if they wanted to come with us or go on a cruise.  Mark and I looked at them like they have three heads. It is pretty close to being the happiest place on earth, but seriously, Royal Caribbean gives Disney a run for their money and you don't have to take tantrum throwing kids along...unless you want to.

Other news in Ellie...She's officially a walker... and a diva of a toddler!  She's tall enough to cherry pick things off the end of the counters and table tops.  She already throws a whopper of a tantrum, so look out!  She's going to be a handful.  The nice thing is that she still takes 2 naps a day which is always a bonus.

Well, that's all folks. Stay tuned for some bridal shower goodness next...

xoxo,

Katie