Oh the Bliss!

The Best Gift Winner in my book is ME because I gave Addison the most awesmest brush in the world! What's that? An awesome brush? Yes. It's awesome because it holds secret magical untangling powers. I don't know how it does it but it does. It boasts of it's awesome de-tangling powers, calling itself the Knot Genie , which is a daring thing to do unless your product really works. It really works! I saw this little beauty on a favorite website of mine, Zulily , where I got a great deal. Addison tries very hard not to complain while I do her hair, but the tangles she gets sometimes are out of this world, so I know it's not feeling good when I'm brushing. Pretty much every time I brush her hair is ended with, "I do NOT like it when you brush my hair." Which I was fine with because I have a feeling, compared to other hair-brushing battles I've heard of, her reaction is pretty mild. But I did want to do something to help my poor, rat slept in, dreadlock...

Ben was the first of three surprises. (Addison was the only "Mark and Sarah's" planned child.) It was about 16 hours of labor, the first 10 I "tried" to go without an epidural... I'm no Wendy Wilson people, so got the shot and slept for a few blessed hours. When I woke up I spent 3.5 hours pushing... about 3 hours of which were totally unnecessary - but what did I know? And then he was born... He was born at least 40 years old, just like Mark, so every birthday until then will just be a stepping stone to get him to the age he's really supposed to be. Ben is fantastic, really, I LOVE having a 7 year old Benjamin! He's really enjoyable because he gets super excited about things, and he has the best smile and the brightest eyes and greatest facial expressions. He loves math, and won an award for it last trimester at his school. And he loves Legos. Did I say loves? I meant LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES legos! He is the SWEETEST BROTHER EVER - to Mia. No...

I read this (from a 147 blog ) and it it struck me, so I'm posting it here. "While Katie (Davis) was home we were talking about November being "orphan awareness month". Her response was "there is a month reminding people that there are orphans??!" the look on her face showed that she was SOOOO perplexed. It was a sad reality for me that we have to have a special "Orphan Sunday" for believers to acknowledge all of the orphans in the world." I am SO grateful to live in America and to be an American, but good grief, sometimes the things we Americans do, don't do, or need reminding to do, just gets to me. Sometimes I feel like we. have. no. clue. Like when I get frustrated with my kids because they don't take care of their stuff and I tell them there are children who have nothing and it goes in one ear and out the other because that statement really doesn't register with them. Why would it? Every single person they know has every si...

Addison: Mom, what will you give me if I do nothing wrong for a whole day? Me: Sounds lovely, but it's not possible. Mom and Dad can't even go a whole day without doing one thing wrong, because we are human and we can't be perfect. Do you know who the ONLY person to go, not just one day, but his WHOLE LIFE without doing one thing wrong is? Troy: (raising his hand, of course) Is it ME? Oh Troy... **Incase you were thinking maybe Troy is a good answer, the correct answer is JESUS. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin , so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

My mom is awesome and loves to read and Christmastime was a great way for her to share that love with us kids! I've carried on the Christmas book warm fuzzies by starting a new tradition in my own little family: I buy a new Christmas book (or two) each year - and date it with a lovely Sharpie so I'll remember when it was the book struck my fancy. Here is a little list of some of my favorite Christmas books: (OH! And because I like to abuse my blogging power by plugging adoption/orphan care anytime I can... Did you know that READING to a foster/adopted kid is one of the BEST ways to bond, infant and teenager alike? Well it is! The more you know...) Alrighty, here we go... in no particular order... Who Is Coming To Our House? Super cute little rhyming board book about the animals in the stable getting ready for Mary and Joseph to arrive. We all sing the songs at Christmas, priests and pop-stars do it, but do we know where they come from or why they were written? Stories Behind t...

I was introduced to All Sons and Daughters by the ever awesome Beckey B. and have pretty much fallen in love. I listen to their cd over and over and over, repeat, repeat, repeat... you get the picture. I recognize this is not everyone's type of music, but this song is breathtakingly beautiful because the words are. so. powerful. It's long, and slow, and you won't listen to the whole thing because I know you, and you don't plan on spending more than 1:16.2 minutes (that's 1 minute, 16 seconds and 2 milliseconds) reading a post. I know because I timed myself reading three of mine and averaged them out. :-) (That's not entirely true, I guessed the average because I hate math.) Back to my point... this song is like 6 times the length of time you're willing to spend here, BUT, just for me, because it's December and it's the month of giving, because the 6th is St.Nicholas Day and you want to observe it by giving the gift of time, listen to the entire song...