Random Thoughts About the Last Week

My mom flew in from Kansas to be with us over Christmas. Even though it had only been a few days since we had left her, I longed to be with her. To hug her. To know she was OK. It was so good to see her. I love her so much, and my heart continually breaks for her. At this point I don't know what is hurting me more: the loss of my father or my mother's deep pain. I pray for her continually that she might feel the comfort of the Lord.


Christmas was as good as it could be under the circumstances. My grandmother came up from the coast to spend the day with us as well. It is hard for me to imagine her pain of loosing her husband then less than six weeks later her oldest son.

The boys LOVED the survival packs we gave them for their gifts. They unpacked and packed all their survival gear over and over again. They both have devoured the survival books that came in the packs, and have figured out what still needs to be added. I have been enlightened of all sorts of lovely survival facts. Did you know that animals eyes are high in water content? If you ever find yourself thirsty, just find ya some eyes and suck on em'.


I had been longing to give Grace her gift since we found it at a yard sell. It is times like this, when I have a great gift I know my child will be thrilled with, that I get a small inkling of what it must be like for the Lord to have a good gift for us. The look on her face was priceless...I think she was almost in tears. Daddy promptly got a huge hug and kiss. Needless to say she was thrilled with her sewing machine. I am looking forward to teaching her to sew.


William and Marissa were just as thrilled with their gifts. Marissa loves to play in her kitchen. So she got all sorts of yummy plastic food and cooking goodies. This is good for me...now I get to eat plastic sandwiches and fruit instead of Legos and math counters. William got a couple of good electronic educational toys...which he loves.

The best gift however came from grandma...the Wii. Oh my...can someone tell me how I can do five miles on the elliptical and not feel any pain, but a day of bowling and boxing on the Wii leaves me unable to move? Yikes...man was I hurtin'.

Noah got his big buck on Friday...a 12 pointer. It's going to be a long hunting life for him...it's going to be hard to go up from there. He was thrilled, and we were so very proud. This was a very hard moment for us though. My dad was an avid hunter...he would have been so proud of Noah. This was the first of I am sure many moments when I wished he were here to share the moment with. I know that this was just another heart breaking moment for my mom.

Speaking of Noah...we have some friends who are going to be adopting from an African country sometime very soon. One of their sweet children has some pretty serious hearing loss. When Noah found this out, he said, "YES! Now I have an excuse to learn sign language." Sweet.

Speaking of that family...you know who you are...our children always get to go buy each other Christmas gifts at the dollar tree. This is an event that they love and look forward to with joyful expectation. This year, rather than buy each other gifts, they chose to set aside that money to help with this families adoption expenses.

Speaking of adoption, we have our first follow up visit with our social worker on Thursday. Six months already...I can hardly believe we have been home from Uganda with these children for six months. Wow.

Umm...I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of for now. Hoping y'all hand a blessed Christmas.