Bookopoly - Yes it's a "book" game - it has Becky Bilby written all over it. And then, the day after Christmas, it's a book party game at my house!!! (Complete with Eggnog!!)Roll the dice and advance to Read. Collect Bookstores and trade them in for
Libraries. Who knows! You may soon be elected President of the Book Club or you
may be tossed out of the game for three turns and sent to WATCH TV!Sounds too good to be true!!!!
I have not had email since early this morning and you'd think I was going through severe withdrawals over here. I run to the computer every 20-30 min. to check and see if it's working, I even called Joe to ask if he emailed me because I wasn't able to get emails. And yes, I'll admit, I even said, "Well how is anyone supposed to get ahold of me without email??" And his reply, "Ummm, guess they could call!!!" Duh - I knew that!!! It was just a reminder of how much I rely on this silly computer!!!
As our oldest son reminded us yesterday, "Wow, you guys are almost 40 - that's kind of old!" And then I gently reminded him we are a few years from 40 yet - don't push it!!!
Chloe was carrying around Aaron's bucket - I am covering her in prayer - we DO NOT need a two-year-old to get the stomach flu!!!!
One thing to share - we bought a new Christmas CD a week or so ago and I just got around to listening to the whole thing - Wow - the last song is a tear-jerker. It is Third Day's new Christmas Offerings CD and the Last Song, "Merry Christmas" was written because, as I understand it, one of their band members is in the process of adopting from China and they thought their little one would be home by Christmas and now is not going to be - you must listen - it will remind you of the preciousness of these little gifts!!! Click here for a small clip of the song.
Well - we had baked chicken (no turkey for just the 6 of us - we go smaller!!), corn casserole, broccoli with almonds, stuffing, mashed potatoes, orange salad and rolls but Posh had other ideas....
MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, 
Here we are - Father Christmas got in the mood to decorate today - and this is LATE for him - we are usually ready for Christmas by Nov. 1. Maybe he's mellowing in his old age!!!
Think they look like they're related????
It's been a day - many of you had no idea this was even happening but this was a big day for us. We applied for a Child Of Promise (special needs) child that was to be decided on today. We waited all day and saw others being turned down but we were getting hopeful since we were hearing nothing. Finally - just when we were overly optimisitc - we got the call about 3:30 that we had also not been chosen for this little one. We told ourselves over and over that it was all in God's hands (and it was) but that doesn't lessen the disappointment. God is good and He'll pick us back up and probably make us want to do it all over again when a new list comes out but for right now we are disappointed, sad (many tears shed over here) and just plain bummed!"Take care, Becky -- may you rest quietly in the peace of knowing that whileSo - there it is - our day in a nutshell - not the best ever - kind of one of those where you'd just rather crawl into bed and forget it, but don't get me wrong - I have much to be thankful for - and I am confident that God's plan is better for me than anything I could come up with myself. And my prayer was too that this little one would just find a home - and that she did. One of my favorite songs has been a good reminder for me today - it goes like this:
this little girl isn't part of God's plan right now, He does have a child in His
plan for you. I tell myself this all the time -- one of these days, He's going to show me the face of the child He has planned for us. And when I hold that little one in my arms for the first time, I will completely understand why other things in life fell
through... and I will even praise Him for it. I can't wait for that day!"
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your nameEvery blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord Blessed be your name.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious nameGod is still "showing Himself to us" though in the midst of this - we got a
call today that we had been accepted for another grant!!!! There is
the smile in our day!
Ok - I know pride isn't good but I have to say I'm proud of my Micah!! When he started taking guitar lessons he said, "Ok, but I'm saying this now - I AM NOT PLAYING IN CHURCH - that is too embarrassing." So - we haven't pushed him - but when our music director asked him to play this Sunday night for our Harvest Dinner - he said he would!!! 
He put a lot of work into it as he didn't know all of the chords yet. But he did such a good job and I am proud of him - it's a great start and we'd love it if he kept it up - just had to share his debut!!!
it is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This is one very powerful book with insight into how women were treated in China - and probably still are being treated much this same way. It is also wonderful because it goes into friendships and what they mean to us as women - it ends incredibly sad and regretful - but it does make you view your relationships in a different light.
Another powerful book I am almost finished with is I Wish for You a Beautiful Life - written by Korean birth mothers. Wow - to read these letters that mothers have written to their sons and daughters after they have given them up for adoption is heart-wrenching but also enlightening to me as an adoptive mother. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one - it is wonderful insight into why birth moms even came to give up their little ones.
Most people sing in the shower - not me - I pray. Hey, I know it sounds corny, but I don't get up early enough to spend time praying quietly in a corner somewhere so I use my shower time to the fullest!! This morning, however, God was barged in on.....many times. I am standing in the shower - enjoying the scalding hot water, steam rising, quiet, solitude and beginning to talk to God when the door bursts open and in comes Aaron, "Mom, does this match?" Now you and I both know that there is no way to see out from behind a closed shower door, but he obviously didn't realize that and was surprised when I told him he'd have to ask someone else or wait for me to get done. I am getting back to my shower, when, BANG - the door flies open again - this time Chloe - - "Mommy - Drum!!!" I didn't even need to open the shower door to know that she had drug her drum with her into the bathroom and proceeded to serenade me. We got through a few bongs on the bongos and I directed her to the door, encouraging her, "Go find your boys." (that's what she calls her brothers). Off she goes - barely out the door and in comes Caleb, "Which sleeves do we wear today - long or short??" Ok, I'll cut him a little slack on that one - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were in the 80's and were wearing short sleeves, but today we woke up to 2 or 3 inches of snow - need I say more?!?!? I told him to look out the window! Ahhhh, back to my shower (which, so my mom doesn't panic) was almost over by this point. (You have to know that as kids we were timed in the shower - no wasting water for us!!!) Just a last rinse of the hair and I was done - not so fast though - as in comes Chloe again. "Oh Danny Boy - the pipes are calling!!" You got it - she was singing "Oh Danny Boy" - 
now really, we do not even listen to that song, but Joe feels he must pester the rest of us by singing it at the top of his lungs while we are driving in the car!! Needless to say, the parrot in our house picked it up and now sings it whenever she wants a good laugh! Ok, I had a good laugh too but I have to apologize - God did not get His (or my) "quality time" this morning as early as He should have ~ maybe tomorrow's shower will be better!!
I thought it was funny - my boys obviously did not. You have to picture three boys - ages almost 9, 10, and 11 gathered around this mug - I'm in the other room with Chloe just listening in......Here is their conversation - as best I remember it:
Sandra is hosting a Holiday Traditions post. People are encouraged to add their names to the link and then post their family holiday traditions. I feel like most of our traditions aren't that "special" or "unique" but we do have one that we do yearly that the kids SO look forward to. Starting December 1, we read one Christmas book everyday until Christmas. I know - it gives away my profession of being a librarian but we truly love this one - librarian or not.
It's that time - our hockey games start today - just want to share my woe!! This year is the first year our boys are on three different teams so here we go! Aaron needs to be at practice (about 20 minutes away from us) at 11:45, Micah needs to be in Worthington (about an hour from us) today at 1:00 pm for a game, and Caleb has a game (about 20 minutes away) at 3:00 pm. Can you say, "We need more arms, legs, etc., etc."? Hang on to your hats - this will be a season to love or hate!!!
This is my new occasional post - I was inspired by Katrina over at Callapidder Days. She does a weekly feature on games that they are enjoying and, being another "game family", thought I'd post some fun ones we've been playing as well.
of the 174 Impression Cards, which might read "The one who loves being a dentist" or "The one who is obsessed with neatness." All players vote for the face that best fits the description. Other players advance if they match Player One's guess, while Player One advances one space for each match. Play then rotates to the next player. There are almost 200 comical faces to choose from such as vintage female faces, old time male faces or crazy animal faces. It says 10 and up for age, but Aaron loved it and he's only 8 1/2 so you can really gear it down if you need to! We just loved it and HIGHLY recommend it!You can get this at Boardgames.com for $21.95 or Amazon.com for $18.99.
For 3 - 8 players. Ages 10 and up.
Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant
Where Did They Hide My Presents? by Alan Katz and David Catrow