First night of Christmas break

Well the kids are all home for Christmas break!! What fun!! It feels like the old days with the boys and all their friends over all the time. I have missed all the boys, I've missed the endless raiding of our refrigerator, the endless gym clothes after basketball games and working out, the wet clothes from football in the snow, and of course the wet towels from the hot tub after. The messy rooms, the extra laundry, the loud t.v., the spontaneous break outs of wrestling, the late nights....I really have missed it all. The things I have missed the most are the hellos...the Hi Mom, I'm home...the Hi Mama K...the hugs...the thanks for the dinner....the goodbyes and good nights...the hugs and the laughter! It's so nice to have them home!

This picture was the first night of break, the boys were heading to The Milwaukee Bucks game! They had Executive seats, fourth row...so they decided to wear their suits and ties. Aren't they handsome young men! Mine are the two short ones.

Well if you have kids or grand kids returning from college, the military, from out of state or just visiting...enjoy them and love them! And if your kids are little...enjoy them and love them too. Because believe me...they grow up way to fast. Before you know it, you are dreaming of days gone by. So enjoy your Christmas and thank God for wherever He has you right now!

Peanut Butter Balls (Buckeyes)

I was covered head to toe in chocolate....but it is done! 1o dozen Peanut Butter Balls! Rolling and dipping, rolling and dipping. Now let's hope I can stay away from them. Enjoy your Christmas cookies!!!

The recipe: 1lb Butter, 2lbs Peanut Butter, 3lbs Powdered Sugar

Christmas Hoopla

My friend Melanie from Melaniejoy has tagged me for this Christmas "hoopla", here are the rules.....

1. List 12 random things about yourself that has to do with Christmas

2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word

3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this"if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.

4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

1. On Christmas Eve we always open one gift....our new pajamas.

2. I always make Peanut Butter Balls (Buckeyes) for Christmas.

3. I'm usually in a Cookie Exchange with my sisters and friends.

4. Our family goes out to eat on Christmas Eve night after church, we usually end up at the Olive Garden.

5. I love white lights. We put them on our trees and in the garland on the banister, on the mantel, anywhere!

6. I love Nativity scenes, my favorite is my Willow Tree one. Of course now they have a new one...its on my list.

7. We always take a photo for our Christmas card. Some years have turned out better than others.

8. I remember the year I got my Mrs. Beasley doll for Christmas...I still have her.

9. Our first Christmas, when we were expecting my doctor gave us a envelope with the sex of our baby on it. We put it on the tree....but we opened it right away. What a great gift.

10. As a kid I remember being told that at midnight on Christmas all the animals talk. I use to try to stay awake just to hear what my dog would say.

11. We always play the white elephant pirate game with some friends, we search for months for just the right gift.

12. I love Christmas...the fact that Christ came as a baby, born in a manger, born to seek and save the lost! His hands went from an infant to the hands that were nailed on the cross. Praise God for all He was and all He is.

I am tagging my sister-in-law Angie at By Faith....Ang Baylis, but if you'd like to play along please do. Merry Christmas!

It's her drivers permit

Can you believe it?? My youngest just got her driving permit this week! She is very excited and ready to start driving. And of course now that she is taking driving training she is sure to point out all I do wrong. Your following to close, your in the wrong lane, etc. I wasn't to concerned until last night when she informed me that I am to cautious of a driver! That can't be a good sign.So please keep us in your prayers as we travel down this road one last time.

Footprints on our hearts

I thought a good place to start with our foster care story was at the very beginning. So this is how we got called into our ministry. I remember it like it was yesterday. Our boys were four and five and our daughter had just turned one, we had started talking about possibly having more kids or were we done. When one morning I awoke with a dream that I could not forget. I had dreamt that we were foster parents and had a house full of kids...when I told Chris he wondered if it was in fact a nightmare. I remember not really being too affected....until a week later. We were sitting reading the paper, when what did I see? It was a ad placed in our local paper for...yes, you guessed it...for foster parents. At this point I knew, so I told Chris, I really think we should look into this foster care thing. He wasn't quite on the same page yet....but by the next week he was. It was about one week later when our boys came into the house with a little boy who lived on our block and asked if they could go play at Mikey's house. Since we were new to the neighborhood I said o.k. but I'll have to walk over and meet Mikey's mom and make sure it's o.k. We walked down the street to Mikey's and as I spoke with his mom she invited me in. It was then that she introduced me to her foster kids...I think I started crying right then and there. I remember staying for over an hour and just talking with her about foster care. When I got back home I did cry, I told Chris, we are suppose to be foster parents we can't ignore all these signs I think this is meant for us! He agreed!

So we talked and decided that instead of having anymore kids we would become foster parents to kids who were in need of parents. We made phone calls and had workers come out and do our all our paper work. And within a few weeks we had received our first phone call. That was fifteen years ago...God has blessed us so much during those years. I still thank God for all his "signs" and prompting and for using our family. And as kids have come and gone the one thing we have always hoped and prayed for was that those kids would feel God's love and know that at some point in their life they had felt and known Jesus and His love! We prayed and continue to pray that God's will, will always be done in "our kids" lives, we prayed for their forever families and that they would know Christ at a young age. And of course God was faithful and we have so may stories that glorify God and all He has done!

Foster care is not always an easy job, its usually like riding a roller coaster and never knowing when it's going to drop or turn. Foster parents in most states have a bad reputation, unfortunately most of the stories you hear are the bad ones. But there are a lot of good foster parents too. One of the hardest things about foster care is that the better you do your job the harder it is in the end.

Our motto was "Some people that come into our lives, make footprints in our hearts, and we are never the same." We'll we know that we have hundreds of tiny little footprints all over our hearts and we are so thankful!

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

When things are quiet around the house...this is where I can find Christian! I love turning the corner and seeing his little legs sticking out from under the tree. His daddy set up his old train under the tree, and he just loves it! What a beautiful sight...it makes my heart warm to see. Experiencing Christmas from a child's eyes!
And oh what fun he had today!!!! His first time sledding this year...he loved it! We have a small hill in our side yard, it was just perfect for him. His dad would take him up to the top and Papa was waiting at the bottom, he would lay down on his sled and giggle all the way down. It made me want to give it a whirl! Enjoying the sights of this Christmas season!

As Christmas approaches I always get filled with so many feelings, some are the obvious feelings...the excitement as we prepare to celebrate Our Saviours birth, the joy of being with family and friends, watching our children and grandson as we celebrate and the thank fullness for all the season brings. But another area is going to the mailbox and getting our Christmas cards, I love hearing from family and friends, catching up on what is happening in their lives. But even more special are the cards we receive from our foster kids and their new families. We maintain contact with alot of our kids throughout the year, but with some we wait on that Christmas letter to come, usually with lots of pictures!!!

So as they have started to arrive, I thought I would post a few very special stories throughout this Christmas season. My mind has been stirring with lots of ideas! Foster parenting has been an area in our lives for 15 years where God had shown us so much of His love and His faith fullness..and so much of His Sovereignty!

Without going into to too much of one story, which I will share, would you please pray with us that we would recieve a Christmas card from one of our kids, K. As I've been thinking about Christmas and of the true meaning, this would be one of the best gifts I could recieve! And it would truly be another gift that was sent from above! Gifts of books, clothes, iphones, and such do not compare to what this one letter would mean to me!