hope

you know, some days when January drags and snow piles up and routines weigh heavy, well, you just need to hear a good story...a story dripping with hope.  baby Hope, in this case...i've been following this story since it first aired on CNN.  it moved me then.  the update moved me today.  it's a beauty.  she's a beauty.  she has hope~ and best of all~ so do her birth parents!  it's a beautiful display of sacrificial love by all four parents~ filled with real, raw gripping pain and promise all on the same page.  read the article and watch the attached videos that contain the original stories and updates...

Hope

brothers

these two...even that much cuter when they sleep! :)

they play hard, they laugh, they banter and scrap~ overall they are pretty entertaining together...

the moment i walked in to see them asleep in my bed, all cozy and peaceful~ it was too good not to capture! love you Hudson and AJ~ even if many days you test my basic survival skills as your mother!  must be true love, right?

it's gotta count for something

Hudson's Christmas card for his teacher...

i thought his sentiments were sweet and a great reflection of how he cares.  hope it counts for something on those challenging days of teaching! :)

sisters

helllllllooooooo.....i'm back after a wee Christmas"break" (ahem...notice the quotations, because by break i really mean the opposite of break) to this little blog of mine~ my place of mostly sane reflection and quiet contemplation to record the highlights of this roller-coaster ride i feel i'm on.  the actual break isn't anywhere to be found yet, but i figure there will be a time and place for that sort of thing down the road...it will be grand i'm sure.

so yes, Christmas happened.  it was joyous, it was memorable, it was yummy and it was special and soooo very blessed.  Jesus coming to earth as a small newborn baby~ well, i felt the weight of that fact amidst all the trinkets and glitter and hustle and bustle.  every year the holiday season carries such a sweet Peace with it~ an indescribable Peace which is by far the best gift ever...so thankful for what that means in my own less than perfect and crazy life....

anyway, Christmas 2017 was also a little nutty.  in the best possible way, actually.  two sweet little sisters have come to share life with us since late November, and we have fallen hard for their dimples and squinty-eyed grins and silly expressions and giggles and oh sooo feisty personalities.  they are strong and resilient and protective and brave and funny, and just like little human sponges~ literally soaking up our affection and care.  all eight of us have poured out our unique offerings of fun and nurture and warmth into their beings~ and we have been sooo blessed in return by their sweet spirits and hugs and runny nose-kisses.  we are not simply foster parents, Jeff and I.  we are more accurately a whole foster family.  this is a group effort...and i know i've said this before, but our six kids do this so very well.  Joelle had only been home an hour from school and she was in there like a dirty shirt with these two cuties.  all six of them shine in this area of giving, and it's transforming two wounded and wary hearts for now, and for however long they remain with us.  we hope, we pray, that their futures will hold light and bright moments and experiences, warm days and nights, secure family connections and safe places to blossom and become the beautiful girls they were created to be...that they'd one day know the One who created them in a way that gives their earthly days hope and joy and purpose and peace.  this will be our life prayer for them...for now, we listen to them chatter away, roaming the house calling our names in the sweetest voices, sitting at the table giggling with us through dinner, and we realize this is the stuff that changes us most.  the unexpected result perhaps, but we will be forever changed by sweet E&H....

Christmas sightings

Dutch croquettes...good thing i made them when i did because one day later my house got a little bit nuttier~ like extra crazy (think two and three year old additions, E&H).

yes~ croquettes and poinsettias make me happy.  so traditional and wonderful...

rolo pretzels with Lay...

the mantle...extra full this year, matching our hearts.  

more on that soon, because i want to remember the chaos of this season too. 

wishing you a Merry Christmas with more of the true and lasting free Gift of Christmas in your life this year~ Jesus!  not sure what that means for you?  don't hesitate to ask me or someone else who would be happy to share the reason for the Hope we have.  

hugs from me to you...enjoy this time with friends and family!

    

room

can't help but enter this Christmas season with thoughts about "room" on my mind.  room~ like having room...you know?  we all recall the first Christmas story, yet some years different aspects stand out to me in new and amazing ways (i'm thankful for that!)...yes, there was the wee baby King, Saviour of the fallen world, the promised Messiah, born among the most primitive and basic furnishings and lowliest surroundings~ placed in a manger, within a humble stable, cold and dark.  no fanfare, no satin sheets, no press release, no royal welcome.  his magnificent arrival, however, was not before his travel-weary parents had been told by the keepers of the inns of Bethlehem "sorry, we have no room".  it has me thinking~ what if they had known, what if the inn keepers had understood the magnitude of that refusal, "sorry, no vacancy"?  what if they'd grasped that the opportunity to host the greatest, most divine and life-altering event was there, standing right in front of them in the form of the virgin Mary, great with child?  goodness knows they'd probably have found a way to make it happen, and inconvenienced themselves even by offering their own personal place of rest to share in the arrival of baby Jesus.  somehow, someway, they'd surely have found room!  wouldn't they?  but they missed it.  they didn't know...

makes me wonder how many times i've missed the opportunity to make room for the presence of Jesus in my own life.  the busy pace, the schedules, the lists, the important, well-intentioned things we do that often crowd our life with good and purposeful things and people and plans~ and i wonder~ did i miss Him today?  did i fail to open my hands, my doors, my heart to the people, the causes, the needs that matter most to Jesus?  to His very children who long to be invited in to feel the welcoming arms of acceptance and care and love extended to them?  

Christmas has me thinking this year especially.  i want to live more open handed, arms extended, eyes lifted in a manner that says "God, what have you got for me today?"  where can i make room in my life for more of that perspective, because i'm certain that those places, those occasions, those opportunities bring me closest to the heart of Jesus.  without a doubt.  i suppose it's a daily life approach that displays a gratitude for the grace shown to us, and then offers out grace generously to the needs all around us.  all the time.   

that's really what Christmas is about~ re-gifting The Gift given to us!  making room even when it's inconvenient.  i want more of that.  

broccoli anyone??

if this doesn't give you the heebie jeebies, nothing will.  you are unshakable and basically fearless.  congratulations.  you deserve a medal.

 me, on the other hand~ totally weak in the knees and in need of an instant nap after my discovery and capture of this terrifying arachnid... 

yes, this is the very shiny, blackest of black, slinky and ominous Black Widow spider who emerged from the bag of broccoli i ripped open one day as i prepped for supper a couple weeks ago.  this fella was very much alive and unfazed by the three days it had spent trapped in a plastic bag in my fridge.  it emerged from its hiding place deep in the florets to the open air with purpose and total creepiness, right there on my kitchen island.  i wanted to list the house right then and there, just pick up and go, wash my hands of all of it.  instead, i kind of went into robot mode.  instantly aware that ignoring it wasn't an option, and putting up a "for sale" sign and making a beeline for a remote location probably wouldn't work long-term either, i decided to fake calm levelheadedness in front of my two boys.  i kept my eyes peeled on the horrific sight before me and called to Hudson to grab an empty yogurt container.  he did.  i put it near the spider and thankfully it scurried right in.  i secured the lid and quickly took it outside to sit on our back step.  then i breathed deeply...thankful this spider hadn't gone unnoticed and feeling pretty proud of my stellar spider wrangling skills and my protective instincts for my kids.  i really felt this had warranted the "mother of the year" award.  whatever.

and one last look at another angle....see the red hourglass on its belly???

you can click on the photo to enlarge, but then again, why would you want to?

moral of the story...perhaps you might want to soak/wash your broccoli before cutting it?  or have some gloves handy?  or never eat broccoli again, because that wouldn't really be the worst thing, would it?