Decking the halls

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.

In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.

~Larry Wilde

Be merry all, be merry all,

With holly dress the festive hall;

Prepare the song, the feast, the ball,

To welcome merry Christmas.

~William Robert Spencer

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

~Charles Dickens

Yes, we deck the halls, put up lights, trim the tree,

  add plenty of glitter and sparkle and do all kinds of things to welcome Christmas in our home.

And we make sure to have fun.

I learned from the best of them...my Grandmothers, Mother and late Mother-in- law.

All lovely women who have taught me well to keep Christmas for my own family.

Because to me by doing this we are honoring it.

And it's not all about Santa, elves, reindeer and gifts.



It's the joyful celebration of the real reason.

black and white Wednesday - wonder

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

~Norman Vincent Peale

I love Christmas.

And I feel incredibly privileged to be able to experience it through my children's eyes.

I become ages 8 and 5 again in a way.

Monday evening we started decorating indoors.

The sparkly snow house is a new decoration this year.

I captured this of Grace (after her bath), when she came downstairs and saw it for the first time.

We have one tree up and will be going to the tree farm on the weekend for a real one.
I've never had a Christmas without one.

Hope you are starting to enjoy the magic of this beautiful season!

Both images post processed with 2 of my favorite Florabella actions.
 Ambrosia (color) is wonderful for Asian skin tones and really makes the reds pop in the image.
And Black and White Truffle, just because I plain old love it.

The quest

The quest isn't what you might think it's for...

not a tree.

But that elusive Christmas card picture.

About 5 weeks ago I realized my weekends were pretty full taking pictures of other families.

Except my own.

So I actually scheduled time on our calendar for that Christmas or Holiday picture or pictures.

This session was 'take 2.'

 Take 1 was at an entirely different location and day (and those ended up being my faves).

I rarely dress my kids in traditional red/green colors for the card 

so this was a little different for me.

Though I like them very much (especially the one below),

I didn't 'love' them.

The ones that made the card will be appearing later in December.

But for now these will share my festive mood. :)

Gratitude - National Adoption Month/Black and White Wednesday

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

 ~Meister Eckhart

Somehow the words 'thank you' aren't enough.

10 years ago I sat in my OB/GYN's office as he told me in a very kind manner

that I wouldn't be able to have any more children.

In a way I already knew what he was going to say after several surgeries,
and infertility issues for years.

At the time we had a 15 year old son in high school.

I could have never dreamed that 10 years later, I'd be sitting here at the computer writing 

 a blog post about adoption.

And be a mother to an eight and almost five year old.

There are times I still can't believe they are ours.
It's an honor to be their mom.

Every single day I thank God for this opportunity.

Has it always been easy? Why of course not, nothing worth having comes easy.

Certainly life in general isn't at times.

But taking a risk with that leap of faith, with perseverance and patience to adopt

will bring you so much joy.

And you'll be giving the gift of a family to a child who has none.

As for our future, we hope to adopt again.

Right now it isn't right for us financially but we're hoping it will happen,

and we haven't aged out of the China SN program yet.
Somehow I believe there's another child out there for us.

For now, I count my blessings.

I am one extremely lucky momma to 3 incredible children.

Please check out more black and white's at Lisa's blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The last leaves

I'm always a little sad to see the last of our Fall.

Monday we didn't have school (it was a teacher education day).

We ran some errands and then stopped at our favorite park before going home.

There was 1 tree  that still had about a third of it's leaves. Large, bright yellow Maple leaves.

And so many on the ground.

Of course Grace and Will collected a few and then had to throw some.

I love  their expressions in the storyboard...Grace's concentration as she's getting ready to throw

and Will laughing.

We've already been wearing warm coats, hats and mittens.

Snow is coming I'm sure. And Thanksgiving is next week. :)

Farewell Fall.

black and white Wednesday - and she dances

"Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another."

 ~anonymous

"Dance as though no one is watching you, love as though you have never hurt before,

sing as though no one can hear you, and live as though heaven is on earth."

~  unknown

A few months ago, 8 year old Grace asked me if she could take a dance class.

She had been swimming for over 3 years and we'd just decided to take a break.

I was a little surprised about her request with dance because we'd tried it before.

About 4 years ago she tried her first dance class,

 and enthusiastically went the first time.

It did not go well as she cried when I left the room and when I came right back,

 sat on my lap and watched the other girls.

We went a second time and again she couldn't leave my lap. She refused to go back.

And that was okay because trying new things and transitions were very hard for Grace at that time.
She was only 4.

In September, she chose 2 classes to try. A jazz/tap combo and ballet.

The day we enrolled her, on the way home in the car she nervously told me she wasn't sure if she could take the classes.

I left the subject alone.

Time went by, we bought the new dance wear and shoes. She didn't say much.

The first day of class she smiled and confidently walked into the studio, she didn't even look back.

I'll admit I had tears in my eyes.

I'm so proud of this little girl.

By the way she loves BOTH classes and will perform for the first time in front of an audience in December.
I think she's growing up.

The vintage frames and black and white Truffle action are by Florabella.

30 Days of Giveaways at Ni Hao Y'all!

Stefanie at Ni Hao Y'all is giving away some FABULOUS prizes for the next 30 days. 

It's an awesome way to get a jump start on your Christmas shopping.

Click on the link to see how you can enter.



National Adoption Month - over 140 million orphans

"I am only one, but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything,

 I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

 ~ Edward Everett Hale

"Adopting a child won't change the world,

but for that child the world will change."

~ unknown

There are a few things I could have spoken about for this post.

Early intervention and screening, which is so important,

having a support system for yourself after you're home with your child.

My primary support was and still is Grace's travel group.

 And also quite a few wonderful adoptive moms I've met through blogging and in person.

But I think I'd rather ask the question...why don't more people adopt?

That question haunts me.

Probably because I don't think of these children as a nameless face or a statistic.

They are real, living, breathing people who have distinct personalities, names, likes and dislikes.
They laugh, cry and love. And need to be loved.

They may live in a foster home, an orphanage, or on the street.

They lack one thing.

A family that is theirs and loves them unconditionally.

I often think about the children in Grace's orphanage and Will's foster home that I spoke to,
played and laughed with, touched and held on our trips to China.

 Do they have a family now?

I imagine most folks who don't want to adopt are afraid.

Afraid of it possibly not working out, the expense or not having the money, etc.

There are all kinds of reasons.

Both times we adopted there were events that happened in our lives

 that could have made us pull our paperwork.

With Grace's adoption, Dan lost his job twice.

We kept moving forward and he was employed eventually.

For both adoptions we took a leap of faith and made the commitment.

Each time we didn't have all the money when we started the process.

And somehow it came.

 Sometimes in surprising ways.

I'm asking you to consider adoption and if it's the right thing for your family,

to research and find out everything you can.

And if you feel like this isn't for you,

I'm asking you to consider helping a child financially 

 through one of these organizations which will benefit them directly.

Or give to a family financially that's waiting to adopt.
Any amount will help.

An Orphan's Wish

Half the Sky

Love Without Boundaries

Loaves and Fishes International (Will's foster home)

New Day Foster Home

Pearl River Outreach

Starfish Foster Home

 Please email me with any questions about our experiences.

And I'll have one more adoption month post to come soon.