Foster2Forever

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Our family wishes you a great year!

As we come to the end of another decade, I reflect on how much my life has changed.

I celebrated the beginning of the millenium 2000 with a large group of single friends. Five years later, I married a wonderful man that I had known since before high school. In 2009, we adopted a 2-year-old little boy & just 2 weeks ago, we received the most beautiful 4-month-old little boy that will soon be available for adoption.

My life has changed drastically & I LOVE it! This holiday season has been the best EVER! And I can’t help but smile constantly. I have been truly blessed!

Because of the recent wonderful changes in our family, we had to cancel our plans to travel to spend New Year’s Eve with friends. It doesn’t really matter, because we are exhausted! We will spend a quiet evening at home with our children.

However, tomorrow, on New Year’s Day, as my husband is watching football & the kids, I will be hitting Dillard’s for 50% off clearance sales!! Whoopie! Maybe I’ll actually purchase something for myself too!

Also, ScrapMatters.com is having a sale!

WISHING YOU A HAPPY & BLESSED NEW YEAR & DECADE!!!

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Sweet Dreams

This week, I made a little time for myself to put together a scrapbook page.
This was such a cute picture of our foster girl that I just had to scrap it again, this time using a pink & brown kit to match what she is wearing. I used this cute Sweet Chocolate Dream kit designed by LDRAG Designs
It is available at Scrappity-Doo-Dah now.
Beginning December 15th, this kit will be available at
Digiridoo Scraps and Sunshine Studio Scraps.

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Christmas Lights….Continued

Last night, we began a tradition of taking the kids to look at Christmas lights. We had a difficult time finding the “Nature in Lights” park on Fort Hood. In our journey, we came upon this house where they decked the halls, doors, windows, roof, trees & the rest of the yard with boughs of Christmas lights. When our teenager said that he wanted his Dad to decorate our house like this, my husband’s response was, “I’ll pay somebody!”
{We still don’t have our lights out}
The park only cost $5 for the vehicle. Our 2-year-old was so excited!
He was looking out the window waving to all the other cars.

Stinkpot really enjoyed driving us through the park!


We saw Frosty the Snowman.


A cute winter village.


And even a patriotic display.


However, after a while, as it got late, Stinkpot got cranky!
With displays for about 5 miles,
it was after 10 pm when we finally left the park!

As we left the park, we had to drive through this crazy tunnel of flashing lights.

Next year, we will leave early & try to arrive around dusk. We left our house at 7pm & finally found the park around 8pm. It took around 30 minutes plus to wait in line to pay admission. After we actually got into the park, the drive was very smooth with only a small delay as we left the park.

This was such a fun family Christmas outing, we’ll look forward to it next year.

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Christmas Lights

Christmas is always a hectic time of year. Add on top of that an active 2-year-old boy & a crazy work schedule & sadly, decorating our home for the holidays becomes more of a chore than joy. We (actually just my husband, as Bubba & I were too tired) finally put up the Christmas tree late last week. We have yet to even start decorating the outside (& we have a new nativity). This is truly sad as Stinkpot is so excited to see Christmas lights on the neighbors’ homes. Hopefully, we will have decent weather this weekend to finally put out the Christmas lights.

When we do finally decorate our home we won’t decorate our home like this person. Read their decorating story below:



“Good news is that I truly outdid myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people coming up to my house than ever.”

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THE PRINCESS & THE PEE

Monday was another workday that began at 5 a.m. I was scheduled to take samples at an out-of-town dairy at 7 a.m. Now, dairies do smell horrible. The manure & urine from the penned areas flow into large ponds.

In order to take samples, we walk around the pond & dip samples from various locations. It was cold & damp with dew collected on the tall grass around the pond’s perimeter. The legs of my jeans were soaked. After the lagoon was sampled, then a sample of manure was taken (fortunately, I didn’t escort for this one).

Afterward, I’m driving down the highway wondering, “How am I going to get this smell out of my nose?” I felt like it lingered on me. I checked my boots again. “No visible signs of manure here.” I went to the state agency in Stephenville for some documentation & visited with the staff some. As I got in my car, I noticed the smell again. “Is it me?” I checked my boots again. “No cow manure.” This was beginning to frustrate me.

At 11 a.m., I couldn’t hold off on eating lunch. When your day starts so early, you become famished earlier. After I ordered my meal & began chomping on some chips & salsa, again I wondered, “why do I still smell manure?” I went outside to check my boots again & find a boot scraper. (They can be found at the doorstep of many fine establishments in rural Texas.)

As I stood in the sun, checking my boots once again, my answer was revealed as a yellow water ring around the calves of my pant legs. Apparently, the hem of my jeans was wet not just from the dew around the waste lagoon….

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Our Fallen Hero

This morning started VERY early!

I had to leave the house at 5 a.m. to get to a 7 a.m. meeting out of town. On the way back, in the small town of Hico, people were lined up along the highway along with many American flags. Hico was welcoming their fallen hero home.

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Shawn Hefner gave his life in Operation Enduring Freedom on Friday, November 13, 2009 in Afghanistan when he stepped on a mine. He was only 22 years old.

I am blessed to have men overseas protecting my freedom!

Please pray for the Hefner family & the town of Hico!

 

http://www.iheartfaces.com/

GIVEAWAY

Foster2Forever is giving away an autographed copy of Spoken from the Heart signed by Laura Bush, the former First Lady herself! (I had to stand in line for over an hour for this!) Go to this GIVEAWAY link and register by July 31, 2010.

 

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A Visit from the Pastor

A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door.

Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote “Revelation 3:20” on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, “Genesis 3:10.”

Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.

Revelation 3:20 begins “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Genesis 3:10 reads, “I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked.”

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones? They still are!

“A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Prov. 17:22)

HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!!

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SNAPFISH – BUY 1 GET 1 FREE PHOTO BOOK

SNAPFISH is having a Buy 1 Get 1 FREE sale on their Custom Cover 8×11 photobooks. Each book has 20 to 150 pages and sells for $29.99. Just put 2 of the 8×11 photobooks in you cart & use the coupon code FALLBOOKS09. This promotion expires Friday, November 6th.

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Frustrations of a Working Mom

Today Walgreen’s had a WONDERFUL special to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation. They were offering photo DVDs for only $1 and donating that to the cure. I put together a DVD of 80 pictures of my foster girl to give to her mother this week. My hope is that it will give her the motivation to get her life on track, if not for herself, but for her little girl.

Lately, I’ve been struggling with trying to juggle it all! I have responsibilities at my job, at home, at church & even by being part of a local cancer non-profit. I want to be the best mother to my 2 toddlers & don’t want to short-change them. Sometimes I feel as if I’m spread too thin & feel insufficient in every aspect of my life.

I found this handy little chart that I’m going to print & start using these verses to turn around those negative thoughts & lift my spirits when I am feeling insufficient. My hope is that God blesses you this week!

HANDY LITTLE CHART – GOD HAS A POSITIVE ANSWER:

YOU SAY

GOD SAYS

BIBLE VERSES

You say: ‘It’s impossible’

God says: All things are possible

(Luke 18:27)

You say: ‘I’m too tired’

God says: I will give you rest

(Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: ‘Nobody really loves me’

God says: I love you

(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )

You say: ‘I can’t go on’

God says: My grace is sufficient

(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: ‘I can’t figure things out’

God says: I will direct your steps

(Proverbs 3:5- 6)

You say: ‘I can’t do it’

God says: You can do all things

( Phil ippians 4:13)

You say: ‘I’m not able’

God says: I am able

(II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: ‘It’s not worth it’

God says: It will be worth it

(Roman 8:28 )

You say: ‘I can’t forgive my self’

God says: I Forgive you

(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: ‘I can’t manage’

God says: I will supply all your needs

( Phil ippians 4:19)

You say: ‘I’m afraid’

God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear

(II Timothy 1:7)

You say: ‘I’m always worried and frustrated’

God says: Cast all your cares on ME

(I Peter 5:7)

You say: ‘I’m not smart enough’

God says: I give you wisdom

(I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: ‘I feel all alone’

God says: I will never leave you or forsake you

(Hebrews 13:5)

I’m Clever

Sway