It's Turkey Time

Well emotions are high around our house tonight. Everyone is so excited about Thanksgiving. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with Larry's side of the family and the kids absolutely LOVE going to visit. We know we lose our son whenever we visit because Uncle Joe and Tia Diane adopt him for a few days to play with cousin Daniel. Alliah loves to stay with Grama Silvia because she's babied so much by her. But she has a big decision to make this year because Uncle Tommy wants Alliah to spend time with him and cousin Alexis. So what does that mean? Larry and I are kid-less and get to spend time talking to other adults in adult conversation - without any kids interrupting! That is nice (as long as it's not too long!). We're especially looking forward to spending time with Larry's mom and his step-dad David. Hopefully the whole family will be able to spend lots of time together laughing, sharing stories, eating, eating and eating! I'll be sure to take my stretchy jeans this year. I can look cute while being comfortable...heck yeah! Larry has chosen to pass on Flag Football on Thanksgiving morning. He could barely walk last year and now that he's another year older I'll encourage him just to sit back and enjoy another piece of pie. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! I'll post some pics when we get back....

My November Throat

Well it's that time of year again... I get a severe sore throat every October or November and takes away my voice. Right now my voice is scratchy and deep, almost non-existent. There's not a lot of pain, but it is uncomfortable. Sucrets and hot tea make it a little better. Unfortunately, my kids anticipate this time of year! I can't raise my voice louder than a whisper and sometimes I'd rather just let things go than try to make a big deal out of something little just for the plain fact that it hurts when I talk. I still sang both services at church and had an 1-1/2 Christmas choir rehearsal to top it off. By the end of church last night I sounded like Oscar the Grouch - no, more like Mr. Snuffleupagus. Last night while we were in the car, I tried to talk to Angel and he couldn't hear me because my voice is so messed up. While I was still speaking, he cut me off and said, "Oh, Mom, you're throat is sick again?" Alliah jumped in asking, "Is it like last year when you couldn't talk and had to write stuff down that you wanted us to know?" I told them no, that it wasn't that bad. Angel's reply? "Awwww.... why not?"

Chore Charts

A few weeks ago, we decided we needed to have a family meeting to talk about the dreaded subject of chores. We believe our kids need to have chores so they can learn about personal responsibility, make a contribution to the family, to teach them to be organized, clean and take care of their things, and to also give them a little bit of moola so they can buy ice cream on Fridays after school. So we all sat down around the coffee table, broke out the pizza and handed each kid a piece of paper and a pencil. They were so excited to find out what this family meeting was going to be about. I layed out, in detail, what needed to be done and gave them the choice of when they were going to do that particular chore: morning, afternoon or evening. Now since THEY had the "power" to choose when to do what, they feel like they are in charge of their schedule and feel empowered to do chores! What a concept!! It's been three weeks now and I am AMAZED at how well these new chore charts are working. The kids put a checkmark after each chore is completed and if they complete all their chores that day, mom or dad drops a little money in a glass jar we bought just for them. I think each kid didn't complete all their chores only a few times. Angel and Alliah are such good kids! We certainly have been blessed with kids who LOVE to help, and now are starting to notice when help is needed and they step up! These chore charts are life savers and voice savers, too. We don't need to remind them, they just know what needs to be done. I'm left standing in the hall saying, "Ha-le-lu-yuh, thank-you Jesus!" :D I love them chore charts!

Wise Advise

Here's some of the wise advise emailed to me from my friend, Lillian:

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
*****
The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.
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Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are ' XL.'
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If you can smile when things go wrong, you must have someone else in mind to blame.
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The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so that he can tell when he's 'really' in trouble.
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Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words 'The' and 'IRS' together it spells 'Theirs.'
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Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
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The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
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Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
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Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth...AMEN..!!

Great Words

This was sent to me by my sister Liz. I liked it so I thought, "Why not share?"

Happiness keeps You Sweet,
Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Failures keep You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only God keeps You Going!

Oh How They've Grown!

I'm BAAACK!!!

It's been almost a week since my last post. So much has happened in just one week! Soccer season came to a close. Saturday was both kids last games and we are so glad! (In a good kinda way) Of course, we enjoyed watching the games and going to the kids practices, but sometimes our schedule felt a little overwhelming! Angel had his pizza party and received his trophy Saturday afternoon. Alliah got her medal on the soccer field, but her party isn't until this Sunday. Ahh.... no practices today...no practices anymore...well, until January. Baseball starts in January. :D
And...Larry and I went to a Family Life Marriage Conference this past weekend, too. It was AWESOME!! We had the best time ever and God did so much in our marriage and in our lives. God poured His love out on us both and we know that our marriage will never be the same. We even had the opportunity to renew our marriage vows and spend time alone just enjoying eachother, falling in love all over again. I'll write more later...

I LOVE YOU LARRY GONZALES!!!

Too Funny

In the wonderful spirit of Thanksgiving, this short story was sent to me by a special lady named Sue:

A game warden was driving down the road when he came upon a young boy carrying a wild turkey under his arm.

He stopped and asked the boy, 'Where did you get that turkey?' The boy replied, 'What turkey?'

The game warden said, 'That turkey you're carrying under your arm.'

The boy looks down and said, 'Well, lookee here, a turkey done roosted under my arm!'

The game warden said, 'Now look son, you know turkey season is closed, so whatever you do to that turkey, I'm going to do to you.

If you break his leg, I'm gonna break your leg. If you break his wing, I'll break your arm. Whatever you do to him, I'll do to you.... So, what are you gonna do with him?'

The little boy said, 'I guess I'll just kiss his BUTT and let him go!'

Thanks, Sue....I needed that laugh!

Family Is Everything

We had a Family Get-Together at my Mom & Dad's place this past Saturday afternoon. My Grandpa Fermin, 82, my Tia Susie and my Uncle Ray came to visit. It was so nice to see them because it has been way too long since we'd been together. Growing up we used to visit my dad's side of the family every Friday night for pizza and movies. Those are precious, wonderful memories!! Here are some pics we took that afternoon:
Grandpa & The Girls...
Grandpa & The Men...
Fermin I, Fermin II, Fermin IIV, Fermin IV...
While I had the camera out, we took some individual family photos, too.
Liz's Family...

My Family...

Nicole's Family...

Fermin's Family...

We missed my oldest sister Connie's family. It was her husband, James, birthday and they had their own party going on. Her oldest son, Pete, is in the Men's group photo though. Yes, Family Is Everything!

Off To The Movies.....Again

Tonight is another Family Night out to dinner and to the movies. We saw the previews of the new Madagascar movie when we went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Larry promised the kids we'd see it on its opening night. We all LOVE the first Madagascar movie. It is so funny! Whenever we're running late, we get the kids moving by singing the "I like to move it, move it" song. I bought our tickets this afternoon (love Fandango) and Larry will probably pick the place to eat. If we left it up to the kids it'd be MacDonalds or Wendy's. The kids are all dressed up to go out and are super excited! Alliah put on her slacks and dressy jacket and Angel even put gel in his hair lol. A Night out on the town with my three favorite people? Priceless.

My New Toy

Lately I've been experiencing ETD (Emotional Technical Difficulties). This is primarily due to this "pause" in our second adoption journey and the lack of my patience. Larry and I met for lunch today and there happened to be a birthday party going on in the restaurant. I was already having a shaky morning and I was looking forward to being with Larry. But of all things, this party just HAD to be for a baby who looked to be under one years old. Like I said, other things had been going on that made the ETD more and more apparent, but this took the 'birthday' cake. The room was buzzing with about 25-30 new moms and their babies laughing and talking baby talk and, of course, comparing their baby's development with the development of the others. It took everything within me to hold back my tears. In my mind I was screaming, "I want MY baby to find his way home!!!" Hhhmm...I can usually handle days like these and take it in stride, but for some reason, today, I can't - or I should say, couldn't. So....what else was there to do but return to my office and buzz around blogspot to read about other families who have been where I am and know what it's like to wait without ANY knowledge of when or from where my baby will come. After reading many, many, many stories I had the need to go to..........WALMART! Why you ask? Well, let me tell you. While I was reading the other adoption blogs and stories of how other Forever Families came to be, I thought of my two precious babies that I already have. On one site, a mom excitedly uploaded videos of her kids, They were uh... screaming. Yes, screaming. I guess she just wanted to record 'something' using the Flip Camcorder she had just purchased. The camcorder was amazing! So amazing I went and bought one! It's the size of my hand, can record up to 60 minutes and has a pop-out USB port so it connects right to my computer. It runs on recharable AA batteries and I'll tell you, it just fixed me up in a minute! So, please, don't worry about me. I share these thoughts so I can go back and read the blog entries for myself - especially when I've made it over the hill I thought was a mountain. I have days like this one every once in a while and then I gather my thoughts, pick myself up, cancel all the invitations to my pity-party and I get over it. I thank God for being there for me and for ignoring all the "not so nice" things I sometimes say to Him. I came home so excited to use my new toy (like the mom with the screaming kids) but I recorded my Alliah singing a new song she learned in music class. It took less than 10 minutes to open the package, put in the batteries, press the record button and upload the video here. I'll be posting more videos for sure, so keep reading!

We Voted!

We're all sitting here in the family room watching the electoral map flash across the screen. There's lots of blue. Larry, me, and the kids are watching in anticipation 207 to 135 Obama. We took the kids to the voting poll and we're here waiting to see what' going to happen... As republicans who stand for biblical truths and righteousness, we have no choice than to put our trust in the Lord no matter what happens. God is greater than this election and HE is ultimately in control!

My Felicia

My mom said my sister Liz and my neice Felicia are supposed to be coming over this weekend. I miss them so much and hope they can make it! Just had to post this beautiful picture of my neice. I remember when she was so small like Isabella is now. I was her most favorite person in the whole wide world, with the exception of her mommy. I sure do miss those days! (Felicia sent me this updated pic. She didn't like the one I posted. She said it's 'blah' She's all dolled up in this one and looking way too old in my opinion. :D I'll find some pics that I love, love, love of her....not that I don't love this one too. I can't wait to see her this weekend!!!)

Saturday Special

This past Saturday we had a lunch-time get-together at our house with my parents, my sister Nicole and her family, and my brother Fermin and his family. We surprised my nephew Isaiah with a walker and he loved it! Nicole (his mommy) zoomed him around our house. He went backwards a few times all by himself...he'll get the hang of it soon. Here are some pictures of baby Isaiah sitting in his new walker eating chocolate frosting for the first time. He did all he could to get every ounce of it in his mouth. He cracked us up!!











And this is our precious Isabella. She's my brother Fermin's new baby girl and is growing so fast! This was her first visit to Tia Kristie & Uncle Larry's house. She smiles and coos now and is such a good baby.

Little Fermin

This is my nephew Fermin who will be eight this November. All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth!