Thankful for family....

Each year for Thanksgiving (we think this is our 7th year) we take a road trip to Southern Oregon to where Bill's family is for Thanksgiving. This year we left Tuesday afternoon for the 8 hour drive and arrived in time to tuck the kids into bed.

Wednesday we headed right over to Uncle Jake & Aunt Jaime's house to hang out with them and the cousins!

Uncle Jake took the kids out for a ride around the neighborhood (and into the hills that overlook Medford) in their rhino. I don't really need to tell you that they loved it!!

It was awesome to get to spend some time with Jeremiah, we are always happy for each moment we get with him. Here's a great shot of all the kids lined up!!

Love this picture of Syrah!

Before we arrived we taught Sadie how to play the card game "13" which has become a family tradition anytime we hang out with family. Here is Sadie holding her cards at her official first game!

Monkey see - Monkey do! Grandpa Bill and Sadie

Syrah and her cousin Koen

Just love this picture of me and McKayla... she made me laugh and smile so much!!

Sadie & her Auntie Jaime on Thanksgiving! Jaime did an awesome job with Thanksgiving dinner... Thank you Jaime!!

Grandma Cindy and the girls... Grandma made the girls the aprons they are wearing and had a special day planned out for them. She is always so thoughtful when it comes to her time with the girls!! She also is a great hostess for us as we stayed with them for this trip! Thank you Bill & Cindy!!

Syrah baking cookies with Grandma Cindy

Sadie doing a little scrap booking with Grandma Cindy.

The kids... Jeremiah, Sadie & Syrah at Grandma Mary Lou's house.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and found many things to be grateful for!

for the troops...

I received this email today and tried it out right away... this is a really great way to tell someone in the military that you appreciate what they are doing...

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, Lets Say Thanks you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.
Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Another email I received today had information on how to send a Christmas Card to a soldier that has returned from war and is recovering from injury.

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to
this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of
how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much
would get. When you are making out your Christmas card list this year,
please include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001



I hope you will take the time to do one or both of these... the small seconds it would take is nothing in comparison to the sacrifices these men and women make for our freedoms each day.

our week in pictures...

Weekend fun

This last weekend we had such a great time enjoying the company of great people!

Saturday morning Sadie and I were invited to have breakfast with two of the most amazing teachers. Miss Black (3rd grade teacher) and Mrs. Klein (5th grade teacher). It was a totally special morning and we are so grateful for the time we had with them both!

Saturday afternoon we got to celebrate my sister-in-law, Lauren, birthday.

Here is Sadie with Eric and Lauren's dog Watson!

Watson gave Syrah a bath... Syrah loved it!!!

Happy Birthday Lauren, we are so glad that we had the opportunity to celebrate you!!


Saturday afternoon we went to Glazed and Amazed where you paint pottery. The girls both received gift cards for their birthday and were SUPER excited to go make a project.

"Should I do this one? Samuel would love it!" (Samuel is our dear friend who loves all things bugs, you can go to his site bugs blog and learn tons!)

Sadie truly had NO clue what to pick the options are endless!

Once they both found the perfect piece they started working away.

Sadie drawing out her design.

Syrah on her second coat!

Sunday we had a great day; after church we had some friends over for some good talks, good food and always laughs.

Today (Monday) Syrah celebrated the end of another soccer season. This is the last year with Coach Sheala and we will miss her. She has an amazing way with these kids and we are sad that next year Syrah won't be under her tutelage. Thank you Sheala!

Come back soon to see how the Glazed and Amazed projects turned out.

it's beginning to look a lot like...

Happy Anniversary to us!

I feel so unworthy of the Love that is given to me by this man:
He has patience with me when I don’t have patience for anything.
He loves me past all my garbage.
He looks past the outside to see my heart.
He holds me when things are dark.
He puts me before himself.
He fathers our girls selflessly.
He strives to always be his best.

He admits his failures and uses those times a tools for the future.
He still looks at me the way he did when we met (except he knows my faults now).
He pushes me when I can’t push myself.
He encourages and challenges me to be ALL I am called to be.
He accepts and loves that I am not perfect.

He LOVES me unconditionally!

I got mail...

I was SO excited on Saturday when our mail arrived; I got a package and I knew just what it was!!

It was coffee!!! Anyone who knows anything about me knows I LOVE a good cup of coffee!

But this coffee is MORE than just a good cup of coffee... this coffee also supports and amazing cause!

Just Love Coffee is helping bring together orphaned children and their forever families. Not only do they assure that the coffee is purchased under fair conditions (Fair Trade Coffee), but they are also allowing families in the process of adopting a way to help raise money for the extreme cost that can go into the adoption process.

Our dear friends the Caceres Family have had it laid heavy on their hearts that adopting is what God is calling them to do. This process is long, sometimes overwhelming, but a great joy is brought forward in their obedience to the Lord and the excitement is building to meet their newest child whom God will provide. The financial cost to adopt is pretty amazing, I am sure there are many who have looked at the overall numbers and decided it wasn't the choice for them, but Just Love Coffee has seen the need in helping families with the process by finding a way to make fundraising available.

If you happen to purchase a bag of coffee at your local coffee shop, grocery store or online; I would ask that you consider making this purchase through Just Love Coffee to support the Caceres's Family in this very exciting process. You can purchase one bag or two or put yourself on an automatic monthly order. You can do something to help give a child a home... you can make a difference. Please visit the Caceres's path to adoption page to read more about this process and what God is doing in their lives!

Halloween

Saturday the kids were able to dress up enjoy a fun fair hosted by our church.

Here's our little hopper! This is a costume that my Grandma made me when I was in Kindergarten and it has held up so well both girls have had a chance to wear it!

Sadie really wanted to take advantage of her hair and make herself transform into a lion. I actually had a good time getting her hair this big (it actually could have been bigger - this only took us about 5 minutes!).

We meet up with our dear friends the Caceres's at the church where we ran into some other old friends

Grandpa from last year was there to look over the young ones (you know how he can worry!) and he looks amazing for celebrating another year of life!! We also found a new friend... Officer Micah, he was concerned at one point that a lion got out in the petting zoo - so glad he was there to protect us!!