Thanksgiving Day

Luci enjoying a ride on her daddy's shoulders
John and his brother, Bernie, enjoying Thanksgiving lunch outside.

Lorene is busy getting drinks for everyone.

Bernie bought all the children reindeer ears so Savannah, Kelsey & Nicholas decided to wear theirs!

Buddy and his four children also enjoyed the meal outside.

Nicholas lost his first baby tooth during Thanksgiving lunch!

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. I Chronicles 16:8

Our family has so much to be thankful for. Our church had a testimony time last Sunday night and it was a blessing to hear the many testimonies of our church family. I have so much to be thankful and one of the things that I am most thankful for is that all four of my children were in church together on November 8th. As I reflect on 2009 it has been quite a year. We traveled to China and brought Abigail home on April 2nd. We had waited two long years for the day that we would be united with our daughter. It was a very good trip and we were blessed beyond measure.

Our first granddaughter was born on July 27, 2009. It was difficult knowing that we had a granddaughter and not knowing when we would see her for the first time. God blessed me with the ability to travel to Boise on August 20th. It was love at first sight! Luci has stolen our hearts and we all long to see her, John, and Melissa again soon.

Shane started pre-school in late August and it has also been a blessing. He loves school and it has allowed me and Abigail time together that we previously did not have.

Jeremy returned to Liberty University in mid-August to begin his Senior year. As always, he had done very well, take his studies very seriously, and has begun dating a lovely young lady that we are all growing fond of quickly. Again, we are blessed beyond measure.

Our family traveled to Boise in October and spent a wonderful week visiting with John, Melissa and Luci. We were thrilled to have Lorene and Bernard travel with us and were blessed to be able to bring Luci home with us for two weeks! It was a precious time for our family and one that we will always cherish. John and Melissa flew home on November 7th and our first Thanksgiving celebration of 2009 took place on November 8th. We had 35 people celebrate an early Thanksgiving with us and it was a wonderful time of fellowship.

Our second Thanksgiving celebration took place at Lorene's house on Thanksgiving Day. We very much missed not having John Anthony and his family with us so we made a short video and sent it to them. It was a great day even though daddy wasn't feeling well and did not join us and Roy and Carol could not attend as they were celebrating with her family.

The Lord has blessed our family with so much this year and we have so much to thank Him for.

John & Melissa Fly Home and Early Thanksgiving Celebration

Our family many years ago when it was just the four of us
Our family in 2006 - Melissa and Shane have now joined the clan!

Our family in 2009 - we now have Abigail and Luci!

Everyone enjoying the warm sunshine after a big meal.

The children enjoying wrestling with one of the older boys -I can't tell who it is.

John, Melissa, Kelsey and Lisa waiting their turn for food.

Roy watching the children play and perhaps reflecting on the day.

More fun to be had by attacking one of the older boys.

"Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, said the LORD of hosts". Zechariah 1:3

Our two weeks with Luci flew by and it was a precious time of bonding with our granddaughter. We were blessed to have the privilege to bring her home with us and very much appreciate John and Melissa allowing us to do so. We know how much they missed her. John and Melissa flew home on Saturday, November 7th. We were excited to have them with us. John had not been home since my mother passed away in June 2008 and Melissa had not been to Virginia since June 2007 when her brother graduated high school. It was a joyous reunion for our family to see them again, especially for Jeremy since he did not make the trip with us in October.

We had an "early Thanksgiving" celebration on Sunday after church. I invited Melissa's family to dinner. Counting babies, and there were plenty of babies!, we had a total of 35 people at our house for dinner. How blessed are we! I was also thrilled that John and Melissa joined us for church services. All four of my children and my granddaughter were at church together. It doesn't get any better than that! The weather was warm and it was a blessing. As you will see from the pictures, children of all ages enjoyed the warm Fall day and hours of fun playing outside occurred after dinner. It truly was a special time for many reasons and one of which was that all four of my children were home for the very first time! Our family has grown significantly over the years so I am including pictures reflecting us "then and now". There is never a day that I don't miss my mother but gatherings such as these are a poignant reminder of how much she is missed by our family. I hope she is looking down from Heaven and smiling at us all.

We enjoyed the remainder of the week visiting with John & Melissa and dreaded the time when they would leave and return to Boise. John, Abigail and I drove them to BWI on Thursday evening. It was rainy drive and while we enjoyed our last moments together, we were all sad to be saying good-bye again. We all miss them very much and I am already counting down the days until we all together again..........a little trip to Boise after the holidays may be in store for me!

Back Home to Virginia and Shane's Third Anniversary for Gotcha Day

Shane in his "King's Kid" t-shirt (a program for young ones at our church)
Shane in August 2006 (17 months old) opening up the gift package we sent him.

Shane as a baby at New Day. How cute was he???

Shane at 7 months old when he arrived at New Day.

Luci and Shane spending some bonding time together.

Luci just had her hair washed and a nice warm bath!

Luci likes her cousin Kelsey!

Luci really enjoys the outdoors and being strolled.

Great-granddaddy Leroy getting to know Luci

Luci's first morning in Virginia! She is happy to see grandma!

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou riseth up". Deuteronomy 6:18

We left Boise, Idaho on Saturday, October 24th. Saying good-bye wasn't as nearly as difficult as it normally was because John and Melissa had already purchased airline tickets to fly home to Virginia on Saturday, November 7th so we knew that we would see them in two weeks! I mentioned on my last post that we had a new addition in our house and it is Luci! We brought our precious granddaughter home with us to meet the rest of our extended family and to give her mommy and daddy a little "down time" as they both work full-time and share the babysitting responsibility. I respect and admire them for this but know how hard it must be to work full-time and to watch a 3 month old baby full-time when you are not at work. We were overjoyed to have the opportunity to bring her home with us. We arrived home around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. We were all exhausted but glad to be home. As usual, my sisters stepped in and help out even when I am not home. Sharon and Andy put up the crib, boiled water for Luci as we have a well, put the car seat in the van for little Luci, etc. so when we arrived home, all was was set!

Saturday, October 24th was a big day for several reasons and one of them was that October 24th is Shane's adoption day. It is hard to believe how quickly 3 years have passed by. We brought a 19 month old home with us and now we have a 4 1/2 year old that is in pre-school. I am including pictures of him at 7 months old when he arrived at New Day and a few as he has grown into the big boy that he is today!

Two weeks have flown by and Luci did wonderfully! She slept all night every night except for one in which she woke up briefly. I had to go out of town for work for two nights so she stayed with her great-aunt Sharon during the night and with Mandy, Susie and Lorene during the daytime. We call her the "community baby" as she was sometimes as three different houses in one day! She even went to church several times and did great with all the strangers admiring her. On the days that I was home, we went for a stroll every day and she loved her stroll! Our house is overfull with a car seat, bouncy chair, stroller, baby crib, swing, etc. and I love it!

Shane and Abigail adore Luci even though Abigail has had to adjust to not "being the baby" of the house. She seems to have great motherly instincts and tries to take care of Luci. Our big family "early Thanksgiving celebration" is the next post. As always, God is go GREAT!

Our Trip to Boise

Daddy with his two little ones at the zoo.
The great grand-parents with grandma (yes, I am a proud gradma!), John Anthony and Shane.

A beautiful last day in Boise before we fly home.

Abigail having fun at the zoo.

Uncle Shane and Aunt Abigail spending bonding time with little Luci.

Shane enjoying a ride on John Anthony's motorcyle.

Check out the message on Luci's shirt.....

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" III John 1:4

I am really behind on blogging! That is because I have a little new addition in my house these days!......but more on that with the next post as I want to keep our "family happenings" in chronological order. Our family including John's parents (but minus Jeremy as he could not get away from college) traveled to Boise to visit John, Melissa and Luci on Tuesday, October 20th. I was extremely excited to see them all again!

I will never forget my first glimpse of Luci when we arrived. We were at the airport and John went to the meet John Anthony at his car as he was waiting at the airport for us. He had never seen Luci and brought her into the baggage claim area where the rest of us were waiting. She had on a onsie that said "Special Delivery -take me to grandmas". Her little lower lip was quivering as she had never seen her grandfather and had not seen me since she was 3 weeks old. She was absolutely adorable!

We had a great week with a visit to the Boise zoo, Shane and Abigail playing at the playground each day, and general sightseeing. John Anthony took them both for a short ride around the parking lot on his motorcycle and both loved it. We took walks down by the river and I have included pictures. Shane and Abigail adore Luci. Even though Abigail is struggling with not being "the baby", she is great about playing with Luci and talking with her. She seems to have a motherly instinct and it is great to watch she and Shane interact with Luci. We left for home on Saturday, October 24th. Six of us traveled to Boise and seven of us returned home to Virginia. More about that on the next post.......