Love Thursday...

Love is...
keeping eachother warm on a chilly autumn day. (Julianna and Zoe are sharing John's jacket.)


Eccl. 4:9-10 "Two are better than one...""...If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

Wordless Wednesday

I've Been Tagged This Time...

Rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
Jamie tagged me, and I copied this text directly off her blog, can you tell, J?
1) I went to kindergarten twice. (No, I didn't fail...(come on, People, aren't you my friends?!) In NJ (where I was born), they start K at age 4, then we moved to Charlotte when I was 5.. which is the age they start K here.)
2) I believed in Santa Claus until second grade (in fact, I brought a show-n-tell from my grandfather (aka "Gramps") and told my entire classroom they were Rudolph's REAL bells! Yep, my Gramps had told me so. That was the day I learned Santa was a lie. *sniff
3) When I was fifteen, I said I never wanted to have kids. I said a lot of things in those days....
4) I once wanted a hundred cats. *blech*
5) I once wanted to marry Michael Jackson. (ok, I'm trying to be humble here....)
6) I drew the tattoo for one of my bosses. A "Gold's Gym" guy. (I recently was thinking about how strange that is.)
7) I pierced my own ears... five times, and I pierced my brother's ear.
8) I had my first apartment when I was a senior in highschool. Bad move.
9) I once collected spiders. ew.
10) And ants, which ate through the baggie inside my desk at school and invaded the classroom. They were red ants.... I got called to the principal's office (and they called my parents!). Kinda harsh, eh?
Ok, I tag Becky, Jess, Jeanie, Lindsay, Lisa, Michelle, Reba, Meghann and Shawnda (again). Have fun, Ladies!

Tag, You're IT!

Let's have some fun : ) Most of my friends are relatively new bloggers, but how new are you? Too new to know what to do when you've been tagged?!
Here's how you play this one: List seven or more of your favorite children's books and their authors. Afterwards tag a few of your friends and let the game go on. (And how about a favorite book-reading picture to go along with the theme???) : )

My favorites are (not listed in any particular order):
1) It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach (humorous tale about not complaining).
2)Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
3)The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (I love Eleanor Estes in general, but this is a particularly good one for little ones!)
4)The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward (I love animal stories!)
5) Blueberries for Sal (Classic! Love reading it to each of my kids... Kurplink, kurplunk, kurplank)
6)Night Noises by Mem Fox (Reminds me of something my family would have done for our sweet granny and gramps.)
7) Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox (sweet story about an old woman remembering things from her childhood).
8)Dear Juno by Soyung Pak (another good one about a little boy's grandma and their relationship through writing letters).
9) Stelluna by Janell Cannon (about a little bat who gets befriended by a bird family after being separated from his mommy).
10) A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza (a heart-warming tale about adoption).
Um. I know I'm leaving some out. (Best-Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill, and Curious George (the old ones) by HA Rey, and Mike Mulligan et al by Virginia Lee Burton... all so good!)
But now I have to list my favorites for older children:
1)Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley(all mommies with little girls need to read this! The second one is great too, More Milly Molly Mandy)
2) Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (a favorite series, wonderfully sweet stories)
3)Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery (another animal book, so fun to read with my Noah)
4)Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat (more animals)
5)Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan (very adventurous and historical WWII story)
6)All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (so innocent and wholesome)
7)The Borrowers by Mary Norton (creative story about tiny people, loved the whole series!)
8)Secret of the Andes (totally cried at the end when the little boy figures out who his family is...)
9)A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck(another tear-jerker about two children and their hilarious grandmother and their wonderful summers together)
10)My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (imaginative, one of Spencer's all-time faves!)
OK, I might have to do this once a year. I know I am leaving out tons, like all of the DeJong books (Along Came a Dog, Shadrack, Hurry Home Candy...) and of course Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins series, and Ralph S. Mouse, (my boys LOVED them!), The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (I cried on that one, too)....what about Charlotte's Web by EB White... so classic!) OK, so what books did you love reading to your kids?
I tag:
Becky at Madeira Madness
Lindsay at the gibson crew
Jamie at bringingbeautyfrommypain
Meghann at thehasty4
Reba at nickandrebeccaswan
Shawnda at spiritofadoption
Lisa at 3orange1blonde
and Jess at muchmooregrace
Have fun!

NaBloPoMo

OH WELL! So much for National Blog Posting Month ; )
Have any of you ever felt like two days were actually one very long day? Since I had posted that slideshow Friday after working on it much in the afternoon, I forgot to post something on Saturday! (I kept thinking I had just posted the video!). OH WELL! So, Becky, I'm the first to crack (sure didn't take long now, did it?) HA!
Maybe I'll make up for it by posting two today ; )

The BaaMoo Farm...

...or as Julianna calls it the "MooBoo Farm". ; )
As previously mentioned, the kids and I had a wonderful visit yesterday with Lauren's birthmother, Jamie. About a month ago, Jamie had suggested visiting the BaaMoo Farm together, recalling her own memories from her older daughter's childhood.
The farm was well-run and clean, with many activities for the children... and a very helpful staff, (they even suggested for us to come early to beat the schoolgroups! I am so glad we did!).
Honestly, I was surprised at the opportunities this small farm afforded the children: feeding bottles to calves and meal to chickens; collecting eggs from the hens; gathering pumpkins from a field; taking a "hayride" (although we didn't sit on hay!); and we all (that's right, "all") even got to milk a cow! : )
Now, I know that makes you want to go... Doesn't it?!
I took so many pictures, I decided to make a little slideshow so I wouldn't have to leave any out! Enjoy. : )

Love Thursday

Well, I have a lot of things on my mind today that I could blog about. But no time to do it! However, since I am taking the National Blog Posting Month challenge, I thought I'd copy a few other ideas from blogs I frequent... like "Wordless Wednesdays" (pictures only to be featured) and "Love Thursday" (highlighting some warm fuzzy in my life). So here's my first attempt:


"Love is not self-seeking." (1 Cor. 13)
One of the things that I love about visiting with Jamie, is her consistent care and attention to all of my children when we are together. No one would blame her if she spent all of her time soaking up hugs and kisses from Bidgie alone. But she doesn't. Jamie always goes above and beyond what any adoptive mother would expect her daughter's birthmother to do. She frequently brings treats or presents for each of the children; but even beyond the material, Jamie hugs, talks, chases, encourages, listens to, and laughs with each of my children... and that is one of the most beautiful expressions of love I have yet to see.
She has a love that delights in making others happy, even above herself.
Thank you for loving us, Jamie. : ) It was so good to see you today!