The MOST AMAZING chocolate chip cookie you have ever tasted!!!
Something just wasn’t right! So I woke up this morning to the realization that something was wrong in my kitchen. I didn’t quite know what it was at first – just a feeling of “off-ness” settled over me. As I walked into my kitchen, I didn’t see anything out of place. The typical cups in the sink that weren’t loaded into the dishwasher the night before. The finished puzzle on our desk that Greg had finished the night before. Sawyer’s (our schnoodle) toys sprawled haphazzardly around the kitchen floor. But nothing major was sticking out to me, then I saw it. Sitting on the counter… OUR COOKIE JAR WAS…
Touched by adoption – Grace’s story
Adoption is a true calling from God Have you been touched by adoption in some way? Maybe you yourself have adopted or someone in your family or church or neighborhood has adopted a child or sibling group? Perhaps one of your kids goes to school with someone who is adopted. Maybe a friend has adopted and you have supported them either financially or prayerfully to that growing family? Our family has been touched by adoption in several ways. 🙂 We personally have adopted 5 children (one domestically, 3 from Russia, and 1 from Guatemala), our brother and sister in law have adopted from Guatemala and are currently in process of…
My favorite things – January edition
Sharing 5 of my favorite things for this month Happy 2019!! Took some time off for the holidays to be with my family. How were your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations? To be very honest, mine wasn’t the best this year. Greg had to work on and off throughout the week, he went to the hospital to catch a few babies, and then we were sick on New Years Eve. YUCK! Truth be told – SO GLAD that school started back up today and I’m back into a normal schedule!! I am a schedule fanatic. Planners – oh yea!! Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you I am…
Random Acts of Holiday Kindness can make a difference!
Serving others with random acts of kindness not only affects the ones you serve – but it blesses you too! One of my love languages I have found is gift giving. I LOVE to encourage people with something a little special they weren’t expecting. Whether it’s something in the mail, a text, a little gift, or a gift card – it doesn’t have to be anything large or expensive. It’s the thought that counts and makes a difference! Have you ever experienced giving something like this or been on the receiving end of someone’s random act of kindness? One of my favorite random acts of kindness anytime of the year…
If you love big….expect to grieve big.
When grief days hit you unexpectedly hard We had a pretty significant anniversary this past weekend. 11 years ago on November 4, our 10 year old son, Seth, was killed in a car accident. 11 years doesn’t seem like a significant number but the entire weekend a few days ago was lining up to be the same way it was 11 years before. Let me explain…Seth was at a soccer game on that day. He was with 2 of his brothers and our wonderful babysitter for the weekend. Our sitter’s brother was the goalie for the soccer team that was playing so she wanted to take the boys with her…
Creating a house into a home
Family Room remodeling is a pain during the work, but so worth it in the end! Today I wanted to share with you another room in our house that we updated this past year. Next to the kitchen, our family room is probably the most used room in the house. It’s where we hang out and watch tv – like most homes. When we first built our house 15 years ago, our family looked VERY different. The older 6 were in grade school and the importance of bedrooms was higher on our list than a great room was. Now, when we’re down to only 2 at home, I wish we…
Fall is finally here – and so are the many fall traditions!
Some traditions that our family does includes apple picking and dessert making. Don’t you just love some traditions? One of ours that our family does is to go apple picking once fall hits and the apples are ripe! We’ve been doing this since the older kids were just little. For several years we went apple picking with my brother and his family. It was so fun to see the kids playing and picking with their cousins! Sorry for the poor quality pictures – cameras back then were not NEARLY as clear as they are today :):) For weeks after, we’d have apple everything: apple pie, apple crisp,…
Protecting our children’s eyes when they’re online
Have children who are active online? How do you protect them? A few weeks ago my husband Greg and I attended a seminar given by Protect Young Eyes organization. According to their website (www.protectyoungeyes.com), their mission is to keep kids and teens safe from the dangers lurking on portable, Internet-ready devices. Our 6 older kids are grown and living independently, but we still have our 2 littles at home that we need to supervise and teach appropriate technology use. I was so impressed with this seminar and learned so many things – first and foremost – get rid of their use of youtube (even youtube for kids!) The predators on…
Big family transitions in a small 6# baby
Thoughts from a first time grandma (Oma) Our family had a wonderful addition this past spring! Last summer our oldest son, Caleb and his wife, Sidney, told us that they were expecting – and we were overjoyed. Surprised as it had only been 3 weeks prior that we were in Montana watching them get married! 🙂 But we were so excited for them! Watching them become parents during those 9 months was a beautiful thing to witness. I was surprised once again when they asked if I wanted to be in the delivery room during labor. They also asked Sid’s mom, Brenda, to be there as well. I had never…
5 Tips to enjoy Christmas – which is 3 months from today by the way!!
I. Love. Christmas!!  I love everything there is about Christmas. The real reason of celebrating Christ’s birth, spending time together with family, cooking & baking, going Christmas caroling ( I’ll have to tell you sometime about when we had a tradition of taking the older 6 caroling – ask them and they’ll say they LOVED it as much as I did – NOT!! :):)) I love searching out the perfect gift for the perfect person, watching Hallmark Christmas movies, decorating for Christmas and today is the 3 month mark!! 3 months from today is Christmas!! Do you have ways to get yourself ready for Christmas so as to not…
