Happy Thanksgiving from Our House to Yours...

Thanksgiving has always been such a special time. When we were little every Thanksgiving we spent with Uncle Joe and the boys... either at our house or theirs. Some of my best memories were the times we spent together... all 8 of the cousins. This year was our first year without Grandpa. I knew it was going to be hard... but I also didn't know how much being away from my family would bother me until the week of Thanksgiving rolled around. Mom and Dad went to Ohio to Amish country...Jean, Chris and Tabitha are WAY OUT IN ARIZONA (hint-hint)... Daddy, Frances and Kelsey were in Memphis since Grandma Goff was in the hospital... so Jamie, Jodi and I were all just doing our own things separately. By Tuesday, I was pretty SAD. However, after a little plotting and planning... and a special surprise of Mom and Dad coming home from Ohio early...we all met at the movies in Georgetown to go and see "Happy Feet" at 5PM on Thanksgiving evening. It was a lot of fun... the girls were only mildly traumatized by the scary birds that tried to eat the baby penguin, and the mean seal that chased him... and the "bad fish" (aka the killer whale)... Overall, though they really enjoyed the movie and thought it was great fun that we took up an ENTIRE row at the theater! (Although, Jean and Chris... there were several seats left...so there is plenty of room for you to join us next time!!!!) Family is important to me. It always has been, and always will be. They can be the first ones to make you crazy - but they are also the first ones there to defend you, to encourage you, to pick you up when you are down... and to love you unconditionally like only a family can do! My family is very important to me... and on this Thanksgiving I want to say THANK YOU Mom, Dad, Daddy, Frances, Kelsey, Jamie, Chuck, Briana, Jean, Chris, Tabitha, Jodi, Chad, Austin, Bryson... and of course Tim, Ali, Rachel and McCaleb for being the wonderful family that you are! Each of you have added something special to my life - and for that I will be forever grateful. I love you all very much...

Having her cake...and eating it, too!

Birthdays are always eventful around our house. Tim has made a great effort to be off and spend the day with each of the children on their special day... and we usually do something fun as a family. On Rachel's special day this year - he made her feel like a Princess all day long. He kept telling her that she could certainly decide what we would do - it was her Birthday...sure, you can pick out what you want to wear...it's your birthday. You get the idea. :) So, this year we had lunch at Chuck-E-Cheese with Mamoo and Papoo... and they even brought a cake! We planned to follow that with a movie and then dinner before returning home. This was a big deal that we built up quite a bit - since last year we weren't able to make it to Rachel's birthday movie - as we were taking her to the dentist for a tooth injury from playing too rough! It also meant we didn't get to go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, but had Chinese food instead so that she could have soup. (Her tooth was knocked loose... there was no chewing for her for quite a while...) Well... the movie didn't start as early as we thought - and we decided to kill time at Target... when Rachel began asking about her Birthday Cake. I told her that we had a cake, but that I didn't make is yet since Mamoo brought her a cake to Chuck-E-Cheese. Well, being the Princess that she is...she decided that she wanted to go home and make her own birthday cake instead of going to the Movies... so that is exactly what we did. Tim then proceeded to ask her what she wanted to do about dinner..."It's your birthday, he said... you can have WHATEVER YOU WANT." (Big mistake...) Rachel replied so very sweetly..."Oh... Ok... I'd like spaghetti." (Daddy was not so very happy...he and Aunt Jamie have the same opinion of spaghetti...) That's when I smiled sweetly and said...maybe with just a tad bit of sarcasm... "It IS her birthday, honey."

Rachel's Big Day...

Rachel's Referral Photo! 4 Days Old...

Rachel the Four-Year-Old!
Rachel turned 4 on November 1st. I took it terribly hard - she, on the other hand is trying to figure out when she turns 5. I have been wondering why it was so difficult for me... and I think that I finally figured it out on Friday. (I've been home sick for a week... so I've had lots of time to lay around and THINK.) When we got our referral on the girls, Rachel was 4 days old. Ali was already 11 months old. As the pictures would come in and the girls would grow... Rachel went through all the "baby" stages. Ali seemed to change to a little, tiny adult... she was so grown up the day they brought her to us . (The differences of being in a different environment in the beginning...? Or just her personality...?) At any rate - when we first met Rachel and Ali, Rachel couldn't even walk. She could pull up and hold onto things... and she was crawling like crazy. With McCaleb, our referral came when he was 8 months old... so we missed out on the beginning stages with him, too. Although we did receive many updates and photos of him, as well as a video. For that we are truly thankful! So I guess that even though Rachel isn't our youngest child... she was the youngest when we fell in love with her and accepted our referral... and the youngest when we were able to bring her home. We've certainly seen the most changes with her - even if we weren't "there" with her during all those changes. Rachel is such a preciuos little girl. Very unassuming and kind... and generous and loving. She is quick to cry if she feels she has been hurt or disappointed...(if you were at church this Sunday... you would have seen that first hand) and she cries just as quickly if she hurts your feelings. However, she is also very funny - and loves to make you laugh. Just ask Miss Joanna at the office! I guess I simply hate seeing these "toddler" stages fade away - and her grow into this little person. It's a bittersweet happiness about her special day! More pictures to come... once I scan those in! :)

The Jamie/Maggie Connection

While I plan to put an entry in for Rachel's birthday... which was last week...I still have that whole "memory stick is full - don't know how to clear it" dilemma. The problem? All my birthday photos are on FILM... which needs to be DEVELOPED... and then SCANNED. I really don't like digital cameras... except for the fact that you can see the pictures right away - and utilize them, as well. So to fill the time...stretching, if you will... I will answer one of the questions that has been asked from my past posts. Why do I think that Maggie looks like Jamie? We weren't really in the market for another dog when little Maggie was brought into our lives. We had just put Hunter (my old, faithful, toothless companion) to sleep in January at the ripe old age of 14. We had JD and Molly - and life was good. We were content to go horseback riding and camping, without many cares... and both JD and Molly loved to go on trail rides with us. I always said that the next dog would be a yellow lab names Maggie. In June of 2000 - right before our family went to Arizona - we drove out to Perryville to see this adorable, little, bossy puppy. It wasn't the bossiness that made me think of Jamie. It was her eyes. She was adorable - and when she furrowed her brow just the right way... she looked exactly like Jamie. We left for Arizona, trying to decide if we should bring her home. (Of course we knew she was ours the moment that we saw her... it was kismet. She was the only yellow female in the litter, her mother's name was Maggie... and the girl selling her was named Mollie. Kismet.) So on July 4th we drove BACK down to Perryville and picked up this little fireball. She is a pistol. She loves to chase balls, to run, to chase balls, to swim in the pond, to chase balls, to jump off the dock, to jump in after balls, to catch balls... and lets see... did I mention she is OCD about balls? I buy tennis balls by the 2 dozen! Her favorite person in the whole world is Matthew...although she is beginning to like the kids... now that they can (almost) throw balls. So how else does Maggie remind me of Jamie? Well... she is very task oriented...obsessive about some things...compulsive about others...but mostly she is LOYAL to a fault! OK - so here is one of my favorite puppy pictures of Maggie... look closely at those eyes (make sure you enlarge this one)... do you see the resemblance???