I tried, again, to load a video from iphoto but it didn't work. Shame, It was darling! Eliyah and Justice playing together, independent of anyone older. We had a great First Day of Christmas. Yep, we're celebrating all 12 days, Christmas through Epiphany. And we celebrated Advent. So we will have been consciously celebrating Jesus for 6 weeks! Our days of Christmas celebrations are less defined than I hope they will one day become. We want to do something special each day. Some of our friends also celebrate Epiphany and we'll be sharing a meal with them that day. I'll post more later on why we have chosen to remember Epiphany. It's quite relevant, you know, if you are a Jesus follower and interested in being missional.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Happy Christmas
I tried, again, to load a video from iphoto but it didn't work. Shame, It was darling! Eliyah and Justice playing together, independent of anyone older. We had a great First Day of Christmas. Yep, we're celebrating all 12 days, Christmas through Epiphany. And we celebrated Advent. So we will have been consciously celebrating Jesus for 6 weeks! Our days of Christmas celebrations are less defined than I hope they will one day become. We want to do something special each day. Some of our friends also celebrate Epiphany and we'll be sharing a meal with them that day. I'll post more later on why we have chosen to remember Epiphany. It's quite relevant, you know, if you are a Jesus follower and interested in being missional.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Happy First Birthday, Justice!
Grandma Debbi's Eggnog
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
She's Official!
Our baby girl is legally ours forever! The court hearing lasted about 10 minutes and then Eliyah enjoyed having her parents' full attention as the three of us went to lunch. The adoption party on Saturday was really lovely. (The court hearing had been re-scheduled from last Friday.)
We are so happy.
Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Friday, December 11, 2009
Joy to the World, Banner instructions
Jenny, Sara and I made this lovely banner the day after Thanksgiving. We made it from a kit from Oriental Trading. It turned out so pretty! I sent the banner kits to my sister and S-I-L's so they could make some lovely-ness as well. It would be really fun to do with older kids. Unfortunaly, there were no instructions in the kits. Here are some brief directions.
1. Coat the punch-out letters with glue and cover with glitter. (We used tinsel glitter, silver/gold mixed) and set aside.
2. Choose 13 papers as 'backing' papers. Cut along edges with craft scissors.
3. For each backing paper, choose a coordinating paper. This is your 'front' paper. Use the rectangular cardboard tag as a template and trace tags on your front paper. Cut them out and glue onto the cardboard tags.
4. Poke a whole through the front paper to complete the wholes on the cardboard tags.
5. Glue the front paper/tags onto the backing paper. Poke the holes all the way through so the ribbon can be strung.
6. Glue the letters onto the front papers.
7. Make some spacers from the cardboard shapes. We used stars. Cut paper to shape and glue onto cardboard. Poke holes in the paper to match those on cardboard.
8. Thread ribbon through the letters, leaving a little space and the word spacer shapes. (see picture for how we did it) The ribbon that came with our kit was bright red and so I bought some burgundy to match better.)
9. Embellish with shapes or bows, if you wish.
10. Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Adoption Hearing Date Change
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Reenactment
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Autumn Afternoon with the Boys
Last week, while Eliyah napped, Eric and I played outside with the boys. The afternoon was warm and sunny and the leaves perfectly crunchy. Justice loved exploring the yard on all fours while Aedyn jumped in leaves and smacked the stone path with a stick. Looking at these pictures puts my difficult weeks in perspective. I have a truly blessed life.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Shake It
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Where is Jesus Christ?
Me: He's in Heaven, waiting to be with us.
A: Ae'yn want to play with him!
Me: Jesus loves you! He wants to play with you, too.
A: Ae'yn is Jesus' friend!
I love my job!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Happy Hemi-Birthday, Eliyah Grace Tuleen
She's scooting a bit and vocalizing loud squeaks. She LOVES watching and reaching for her brothers. Her first two teeth came in this week. Our Eliyah is such a Sunshine Baby, always grinning and constantly interacting. She prefers looking into peoples eyes over playing with any toy or even eating. Every day we are delighted to be her parents!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Night She Slept
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
9 to 5 (and 31)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Imagine
This week Aedyn met 2 new friends. A few days ago I walked into the dinning room to find him standing on a chair that he had pushed up to the window saying, "Hello, Mrs. Star!" He told me she had black eyes like Eliyah and that the sun was 'so bright' to see her. Today I went to get him out of nap time and he said, "Get Thomas, too."
Miss Congeniality
Eliyah has been with our family for just over 3 months and in 3 more she will be officially our baby! December 11 is our adoption hearing date. We should have a party. (You coming?) She is such a sweetheart! She's now so social that she would rather smile and giggle than take a bottle.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
August in Review
I just uploaded 60 pictures, our record of August 2009. The kids and I were home, mostly; playing, eating, and sleeping. We did get to the farmers' market in the capital city as a family one Saturday which was a nice outing for us. We also went out to lunch TWICE as a family. These are Big Successful Events to me. You see, a two year old and virtual twin babies are major work. Eric has had some brutal rotations that kept him away about 100 hours a week and I have a hard time functioning cheerfully on the very little sleep I get.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Bearing False Witness
This post isn't about my family. I'll do that later. But first I've got to get this off my chest. I have been so disgusted by some of the comments made by people (famous and not) whom I consider Family members, Christians who are either deliberately misleading others about health care reform or those who are doing so with irresponsible ignorance. Of course people can disagree about any issue; but obscuring an opposing position is cowardly and rude. I urge you, my blog friends and strangers, to fact check so you can positively contribute to the conversation.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord
Below is an article from CNN.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama appealed Wednesday to faith-based groups to help garner support for his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.
President Obama speaks at the White House Wednesday.
"I need you to knock on doors, talk to neighbors, spread the facts and speak the truth," he told religious leaders and reporters on a conference call that was streamed over the Web at faithforhealth.org.
"This debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people," he said. "I believe that nobody in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks health insurance."
Some 140,000 people participated in the call, the coalition of more than 30 faith-based groups that organized the event said in a written statement.
Obama urged the listeners to reject misinformation about his plans, noting, "There are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness."
He referred to some assertions as "ludicrous," and cited as an example rumors that the government is planning to set up "death panels" to determine the fate of the nation's elderly.
"That is just an extraordinary lie," he said, adding that it was based on a provision in the House legislation that would allow Medicare to reimburse someone who voluntarily sought counseling on how to set up a living will for the end of life.
"It gives an option that people who can afford fancy lawyers already experience," the Harvard-trained lawyer said.
In addition, the plan does not provide health insurance to illegal aliens, it does not represent a government takeover of health care and it would not lead to government funding of abortion, he said.
"These are all fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation: that is, that we look out for one another; that is, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper. And in the wealthiest nation in the world right now we are neglecting to live up to that call." Watch a discussion of the emotion and rhetoric of some town hall meetings »
Obama, who took no questions, said the opposition was no surprise. "Throughout history, whenever we have sought to change this country for the better, there have always been those who wanted to preserve the status quo," he said. "These always boil down to a contest between hope and fear."
Prior to the call, Obama's director of domestic policy, Melody Barnes, said the president still believes that including a public option is the best way to achieve low-cost, affordable health care.
The public option has been a sticking point among some Republicans, who consider it to be the camel's nose under the tent of government-run health care.
But, she added, "he also said he's open to other ideas.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Beautiful Weekend
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
7/4/09
Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Week in review
Twins being wiggly (I have a video of the wiggly part, but can't get it to upload.)
Brothers reading.
Aedyn making yogurt pie for Fathers' Day. (That's sour dough starter in the jar, it's not for the pie.)
I am tired. I can't get more than 5 hours of sleep on a good night and none of those hours are consecutive. Thankfully, Eric's schedule changes this week so he will be able to help with the early morning routine when everyone needs diaper changes and fed at the same time. I also have a mother's helper coming for a few hours each afternoon, mostly to play with Aedyn, and this helps tremendously (THANK YOU S and J) and I'm able to get something on the table for supper, even if it's scrambled eggs and toast, repeatedly. BUT I'm grateful for each day with our three kids!