We BELIEVE

Last night was so amazing! We took the kids up to Williams where they have the Polar Express. We got pictures taken with Santa and also got to meet with Mrs. Claus. The kids wrote letters to Santa to make sure he knew what they were wishing for. Then the BIG excitement began when we got onto to the train and went to the North Pole. Everyone drank hot chocolate and ate a cookie. Once we got to the North Pole, Santa took a minute out of his busy night to come onto the train to hand each child a bell. The bells that Santa gave were huge, not the little ones. He talked to each child.






When we left the North Pole, we sang Christmas songs as the elf and one of the cooks danced down the aisle.




The children told me "Mommy, I believe. Look I can hear the bell".

What an amazing way to begin the Christmas season!

Chalene

Seriously, When Will it END

When we began the adoption process, I just knew we may run into problems. The problems I felt we would run across were ones from Satan. We strongly feel we were called to adopt the girls. We had 3 children already, we didn't need more. God changed our hearts and we obeyed Him. For that, I feel like Satan is big time working on our family dynamics.

Since the girls have been home, it has literally been one thing after another. Every aspect of life has been changed at least once to twice. I am getting tired of it and I am also getting mad.

Seriously, when is it going to END?

The newest one is that my father is in the hospital with pneumonia. Boy, is that a scary thing. You hear so many times, a person going into the hospital with it and not coming out. When it is your parent, it just scares you even more. I am not ready to lose one of my parents and I hope God isn't ready to take one of them Home just yet. :( Sometimes, this is part that is so hard to be human. My faith should be stronger - is something that someone may say. But, I just haven't had the time to sit and reflect and pray. I need the time, but when and how do I get it now?
I am very thankful that he is improving slowly. He is still on oxygen, but he is gaining some strength back.

I know there are people who are hurting worse than I am and I should be thankful for the good. I really am thankful, but at the same time I need time to digest this situation. This is one of many that have occurred in the last 5 months that the girls have been home. I really need time to think, reflect, and pray.

My prayer for tonight:

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you stay in the center of our lives. Lord, give us strength to face these bumps in the road. Help us to make the right decisions with the Blessings you are going to give us. Lord, thank you for everyone who shows love towards us and help us to continue to show love towards them. I ask you Lord to help my dad with his recovery. Lord, give him and my mom strength to fight this infection. I also ask you Lord, to keep Leigh Ann safe as she travels home tomorrow from Ghana. Lord, wrap your arms around Akwesi for his comfort as he says goodbye to Leigh Ann. Continue to show him that You planned his life and how special he is to be a part of our family. Lord, I love you and pray these prayers in your name, Amen.

Chalene

What a Day!

Last night as I sat and watched the election, a deep sadness filled our house. Both Jarett and I really believed and wanted McCain to win the election. He stands for so many things that we believe. Do we completely agree with every word he said? No. But his values are the same as ours.

We just believe that values are there for a reason. They aren't there to bend! I think because I have been the classroom for 14 + years, I have seen children grow up and become adults. I have seen a difference with the homes of children that have values that are black and white and homes of children where values are bent. Big Difference!

This has been such a great election. Jarett and I have learned so much and really got involved. We even got emotionally involved. This was our first true election that we knew exactly why we chose who we chose. We believe our choice was a good one and we don't have one regret except, our man didn't get picked. :) I knew deep down that Obama would win. He reminded me so much of Clinton and how he ran his campaign. I have to say that I do like what Clinton did in office (except the you know what. I hope that Obama will go into office on January 20 and do what he has promised so many people.

I do see some good in Elect President Obama. I am glad that he is the first African American to be in such a high office. He gave an awesome speech and I hope he means every word he says because he is holding such a high position to go back on his word. I don't trust him, but I do trust God. I trust that God will lead and protect all of us.

****Thank you John McCain for giving such a good fight for office. Thank you for your love of our country and for trying to pass on your dream onto us Americans! You ended this journey with grace and integrity. Thank you for showing others how to loose a battle and still come out with your head held high. You worked hard and I hope you don't stop working for us.

True American Lover,
Chalene

Thank you in advance for commenting respectfully if needed! :)

Hal-o-lot-of-FUN!

We had such great time last night witht all the kids and going trick-o-treating! It has become a tradition for my brother and his family along with my mom and dad come over. We eat pizza and go trick-o-treating. It has been so fun to do this each year!

This year we did something different. In the past, we used to go to a store and buy all the costumes for the children. This year we told the children that we were going to make all the costumes instead of buying them (We used to do this when we were young). It was amazing! The children thought for a while what they could be. This new method opened the door to creativity. All the children chose things that you really can't buy and they were very creative. We did have to buy some little things but everything else was made or reused. Here is what everyone was starting from the oldes:

Karleigh was Victoria Stilwef. She is a dog trainer that Karleigh watches on TV.

Kaiden was a Raptor Dinosaur. He loves dinosaurs.

Rita was a PENCIL. She honestly chose this.

Racheal was Hannah Montana. Yes, you can buy her costume but the only thing we had to buy was the wig.

Karson was Shadow from Sonic. He loves this game.

Cousin Connor was a cowboy. He looked so cute as his belt kept falling off. :)







The really awesome thing about this is that the children are still playing with their costume. Usually, they throw them away and are done with them. Racheal really loves the wig and won't take it off. I actually thought she was going to sleep with it on, but she did decide to take it off to sleep last night. Jarett made every costume! He did such an amazing job! After almost 15 years of marriage, he can still blow me away with his creativity!

Chalene