More Family pics

The Cousins
There is nothing like 2 2year olds running around. :)
Or in this case, enjoying Gumby! :)

Wrestling with Popoo


A tender moment with Anna and Daddy

Will's sweet face.

Sam and Me

Here are a few pictures Becca took of me and Sam.
I like her camera! It works way better than mine.
I think I have camera envy. :)

Together Again

The Family Spades tradition continues on.....
The guys are together once again.

Some Christmas Highlights

I have more pictures to go through than I can count. We have had many visitors this week, and they are still coming. I just love having an open home where Love abounds.
I was able to rock baby Charlie and he is just adorable. I loved watching the older kids and younger kids interact with each other, and all of the craft projects and discussions.

Here are a few pictures of our week.

Anna working on her new Calligraphy set.



Almost all the kids :)


There's the other one .:)


Baby Charlie. :)
One of my favorite Sam pics
more to come. :)

A Message From Sam to Susan A.K.A Lucy

Hi Susan,
He did really well. He was watching a EweKnow and wanted to watch the "Sheep Show". LOL
But I got him to say hi to you. :)
Hope you had a wonderful and Merry Christmas. :)

Christmas Day

Did I catch Santa warming the fire? :)
His beard must have been singed off!


Sam was one of the first ones up. He was very happy to get his singing Cow! And chocolate gold money!

Sarah found body mist in her stocking.
Anna, was happy to be warmed by the fire, and was showing off her new
hair flower.
Erika just finished reading the "Letter from Santa" and claimed it was definitely
in Mom's handwriting..... :)
The older guys: Can anybody say SPADES?
I pray that everybody had a wonderful Holiday. It isn't over yet. We are continuing to have
a stream of visitors, both friends and family, and LOVE each and every one of you!
Thanks for visiting my blog this year!

Dutch Christmas Cookie

A boy and his cookie!



Marco asked for the Dutch Christmas Cookie Recipe.....

Here it is:

1 cup of butter softened
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of honey
2 TLB of Vinegar
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 eggs

Combine all ingredients and mix well until creamy.

Add:

1 TLB cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups of flour

stir together mixing well....

Separate in half, forming two logs and wrap in wax paper
Refrigerate for a few hours

Preheat oven to 350º
flour surface and roll cookie dough out a little at a time.
cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet
Bake for about 10-12 minutes
(If using for cookie ornaments for tree, bake hooks into cookies by
placing hooks securely in dough before baking)

Let cool on wire racks....
When completely cooled, time for decorating!

Icing:
powdered sugar
milk
vanilla extract
cream of tarter
food coloring
sugar sprinkles of all kinds.....

Pour 3/4 cup of powered sugar into cup
add about 3 TLB of milk to start
add 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
stir, and add more milk to thin if needed
If it is too thin, add more sugar
Use food coloring liberally and stir....

Spoon icing onto your cookie, then top with favorite toppings
OR just enjoy the cookie with no toppings..... :)

This has been a fun tradition for us for many, many years!
It is an honor to share the recipe. :)

Sarah and Sam

A Day of Visiting

Mr. Will


Baby Charlie
Mr. Sam
Baby Marcus
Joe and Sam and Marc and Will (Lord help the teeter totter) :)
Cousin Stuff
Brothers and Sisters

More Cousins

We had a full day of visits. It was so wonderful to see the little guys interacting with each other.
They got along grandly. I was so happy to see them run and play and kiss and hug.
Sam pulled me in the wagon (strong guy) and then I got to pull him in the wagon. When Will came over, Ya-Ya was replaced with Will, and those two played all day long!
We missed seeing Chuck, Jodie and the grand girls today. (hopefully their coughs will be all better tomorrow!) We are so blessed as a family.
Those two little grandboys remind me of the two bigger ones together when they were little.
I am so happy today.

Sam Meets Mr. Kitty Winkle

Samuel on the Farm

Joe , Becca and Sam, made it safely to Texas!
YEA!

We are so excited to seem them.
Sam could not wait to meet the animals.

Sam and Ya Ya were on the teeter totter. I managed a picture with him up in the air.
Sam and Sweetie Pie
A boy and His goat. Sweetie pie is so gentle. She let him put his arm around her
and walk.
Awwww. Grand sweeties, are so awesome!

Christmas Cookie Decorators!

Christmas Cookie Decorating is very serious business around here.
We started a tradition about 30 years ago, with a special Dutch Cookie Recipe.
We were too poor for ornaments to hang on our tree, so we baked cookies
with hooks in them, and hung them!

One of my favorite memories was when our youngest Son, Marcus, found out the ornaments tasted really good! He licked all the ones he could reach, and we got ANTS~!
It was so funny seeing him bending over and licking those cookies, thinking nobody had seen him.

So the tradition has continued through the years, and now we have a new group of cookie decorators. :)

Anybody Want To Guess What This Is ?

Real Men Knit

Yep, this is my dear husband, Knitting with the girls.
It takes a real dad to knit with his precious darlings! :)




Maybe he can teach ME how! He actually sews better than I do too!
I think I need to change the oil on the car now. :)

Anna's Self Photography

I found these on my camera this A.M.
When I was gone at the Dr. Anna gave herself her own photo shoot.
I think she did a great job! :)
Mr. Kitty Winkle has turned into a real Man Cat. :)

Thankfulness

Tonight, I am full of thankfulness for the many blessings in my life. Our son and daughter Timothy and Emily, (affectionatly known as Timily) came over with their new dog Stella. She is a beautiful dog and very sweet! What was really nice to see were the little girlies interacting with their brother and sister.
They put on an impromptu show of Christmas carols and made up songs they have been singing.
I watched as the older kids and younger kids interacted and it just blessed my heart.

I am so thankful that Adoption touched our lives; CHANGED our lives for the BETTER!~
Those 3 little girlies are so wonderful. They bless us each and every day and I am so thankful.
I was watching Erika today, and thinking back to the time we adopted her, and the Dr. at the orphanage told us she had been "left to lay" for her first 4 years.... She asked, "do you still want to meet her? Don't expect much."
I will never forget those words! Of COURSE we want to meet her. When we met, she examined us , knowing what was happening, because she saw the process many times before. It just hadn't happened to her. She thought to herself, "It would never happen to me!" And it did, and she savored the moment.

This i s me and Erika in Ukraine. It was her first day out of the orphanage and she was
trying on the clothes we brought for her.
We were in that room, with the smell I cannot ever forget, and she touched our faces sitting between us and said, "My mamitchka, my papitchka!" (my precious mother, my precious father)
And here we are today, with such a wonderful, sweet child. Her adoption file was full of sadness and doom. Her profile picture was of a baby screaming. (she was almost 8)
But, there was this little rose bud waiting to bloom, and she got to bloom in our house! YEA!
The same with Sarah and Anna.... they are our precious little roses.



This was Sarah on Mother's Day. She was 5 and turning 6 the next month.


This is Anna just before she turned 5 . Can you tell she loves Cats? LOL
This was her final visit before we picked her up for good.Thank you Lord for blessing us with 3 wonderful little girls. My heart is full of joy.

Good News!

The fancy shoulder doctor says NO SURGERY! YEA!
But... I was diagnosed with a Frozen Shoulder, which cannot be operated on because
I have another underlying problem having to do with hyperactive nerves.
He does not think it is MS related, but I don't know that it isn't.
Either way, I am going to take a steroid to try and calm the shoulder and arm
and a medicine to help with nerve pain. I just started it, so we will see what happens.

Worst case scenario, would be to go in and deaden the nerves from sending messages to the brain.
HOPEFULLY, the next few weeks will show improvement and then I can work on unfreezing this shoulder!

The Great Physician

I'm going to see a surgeon in a few hours. He is highly recommended by our doctor.
He is a shoulder specialist and works in sports medicine.
How about that? I never pictured myself seeing a sports surgeon. LOL
The checklist I had to fill out was interesting. It asked all sorts of questions like,
can you comb your hair, put a penny on a shelf in front of you, raise a 1 lb above your head, dress yourself etc. I felt like I got an F on a test!

It got me to thinking about another Surgeon. OUR GREAT PHYSICIAN, who has the ability to penetrate into our hearts dissecting our motives, our actions, our deepest of thoughts.
I have been praying that the Lord would give me insight into this dilemma I am in. It has been so painful personally, to be in a "dependent" position. So here I am, the one who takes care of everybody else, having to be taken care of myself. I don't like that feeling. I actually HATE that feeling and I had to look inside. As I have prayed and whimpered and begged for healing, He has remained silent, until now.
My heart was ministered to last night, as we had our family prayer. My own personal sin of "independence" overwhelmed me. My do it yourself attitude, my lack of dependence upon HIM pained me to see. I was actually feeling that I had no more value. A washed up, aging person who is of no good use except to cause expense. These were the sinful thoughts going through my mind. And it is SIN.
I found that I had been getting worth outside of Christ. If my own personal value is anywhere except in HIM, it is wrongly placed. He is the one who chooses to value us; who am I to tell Him he is wrong?
So in confessing that sin, and praying for forgiveness, I am still in pain in my shoulder, I am still in need of help and assistence, but the attitude is changed because the heart has been realigned with the source of life.
I am once again abiding in the Vine.
Thank you Lord for that.