Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day 2011! I hope all of you are having a wonderful Mother's Day!

Jack and David made me the most beautiful card:

 My ever poetic and romantic husband also manged to find this card which surprisingly expressed just what he wanted to say:

 And I received this wonderful surprise from my mother-in-law:

Psalm 37:4 says Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (http://bible.us/Ps37.4.NIV) I cannot remember a time when I did not wish to be a mother. As a child, I remember thinking about what kind of mother I wanted to grow up to be. I truly believe that God put that desire in my heart and he fulfilled that desire over and above how wonderful I imagined it could be. He gave me this sweet guy

He made Jack persistent and from his persistence I have learned to have so much hope! He made Jack attention-consuming so that I would not multi-task my way through his life and miss the wonderfulness of each moment. He made Jack sweet and loving to provide me with even more of his love. I could go on and on.....

But God has also richly blessed me with a desire that I did not even fully realize that I had. In fact, he both gave and fulfilled the desire without me taking much notice of it. Did you see the card from my mother-in-law? It's the kind of card that a mother would give a daughter. It's the kind of card shared between two people filled with love for one another. There's nothing like a mother's love and I've privileged and blessed to receive that kind of love from my husband's mother. She's really not even his anymore :) She's mine!

Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday--Decorating Nana's

This is Nana.

Each year, Nana (my grandmother) chooses her very favorite of all her grandchildren and great grandchildren to come decorate her house for Christmas*. Jack has been chosen every year since his birth. And, of course, I was chosen every year since my birth.

This year's other chosen few were

Rachel

Tunnel Deborah

and Noah.

This year, Nana also asked Anne (Noah's mom/Jack's Oma) to come and bake some cookies to feed the troops.

Here was the blank canvas we started with....

Jack's not big on decorating so he decided to provide some entertainment

in the form of

flipping...

Not to be outdone in the cuteness department.....

Noah did a little improvisational

twirl and

step

dance!

Next up, the big kids tackled the yard decorations....

while Jack protected the cars.

I forgot to get a shot after the boxes were taken away.

But I did remember to capture the beauty that is Nana's Christmas tree.

*So it may not be 100% accurate that Nana chose only her favorites to come decorate the tree. The truth is she invited all the grandkids and great grandkids but the rest of you slackers her sweet grandchildren were too self-involved unfortunately previously obligated to other activities. Let this be a warning, next year, y'all better be at the tree decorating or I'll really talk some smack about you! They were all greatly missed and we look forward to having a much bigger group next year.

Jack's Great Aunt Ninfa showed up later and helped finish up the final decorating but by then the food was on the table and I was too busy stuffing my face making sure that Jack got a good meal in after all his hard work.

We had fun guys! Thanks for having us over, Nana!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts

Don't forget to check out this week's installment of Life is Therapy.

How to Get the Perfect Group Shot

Getting the perfect group shot is just a matter of following a few easy steps.

Step 1. Have all your subjects look at the camera.

*ahem* That's everybody look at the camera.....

um, guys, the camera?

he-lloooooooooo......over here, kids!

JACK! ANJA! BROOKE! JEANIE!

um, yeah, so if everybody looks in the same direction or nearly the same direction or they look like they are thinking about looking in the same direction at some unspecified future interval, go ahead and snap your pic and call it a day.

Don't forget to check out the latest installment of Life is Therapy.

Wordless/Full and Special Exposure Wednesday--Family Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving, we get together with as many of David's five brothers and sisters as possible. The celebration size waxes and wanes depending on how many of the nieces and nephews are able to make it too. It's always a large gathering and as you can see, everybody breaks out the cameras and the hugs.

We always take over David's youngest brother Rob's house. He has a great floor plan to squeeze in lots of people. I love our family and I love seeing them all together. It's a good thing because there are people everywhere!

This year, Jeanie and Grandma sported matching casts.

It was thrilling to see Jack right in the thick of everything this year. He did not stand to the side and watch. He jumped right in with all the other kids.

There was tooty tot singing and dancing.......

and we all piled on the trampoline. I'm pretty sure we had to have reached maximum capacity and we did not even have all the kids on there.

Jeanie couldn't jump on the trampoline but she was a great sport and took her baby cousin for a ride.

So many cute little girls in one family!!! (and those are just the ones that made it to Thanksgiving)

There was little time for contemplative reflection

but lots of time for silly happiness

and playing

and sisterly love.

I think Jack's face pretty well sums it up!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Don't forget to check out this week's installment of Life is Therapy.

Just a Quick Thank You

I just wanted to say, "Thank you!" to the wonderful people who help to shape my perception of the world as a world of possibility and hope, a world of compassion and love. I cannot tell you how very much you've meant to me just today.

My bloggy friend Jennifer of Dust Bunny Hostage is one of those people. She has graciously put up a guest post from yours truly hoping to spread awareness and help me out with supporting Apert International. Please stop by and leave a comment with some bloggy love! :)

Don't forget to check out the latest installment of Life is Therapy.

I can't leave you without a picture of the cutie tonight. Here's an oldie but a goodie. This was the afternoon that Jack first got his glasses back in August of 2006 when he was barely a year old.