My weekly post

It has been one of those weeks. A week that kind of drains the life out of you. Nothing within my nuclear family but something that is outside my immediate home that has a profound effect on me. Makes me realize once again that our choices and decisions affect far more people than just ourselves.

But...on so many levels this week has been grand! How about this - SASHA has found a family!!! Such wonderful news! I am always so delighted to find out one of these precious children has found a family but I usually feel a twinge of sadness that it isn't someone I know so I can't kiss their cheeks! Weird, I know but I have never claimed to be anything other than strange!

My email was hacked into this week so everyone in my contact list was notified that I had been robbed at gunpoint and now needed money to get back to the States from the UK. Ha!!! They hacked the wrong person's email. Anyone who knows me knows that I wouldn't dream of vacationing with all of my children anywhere that wasn't within a days drive. I told my Aunt that the only hostage I am is to the whims of my children!

Tristan and Eden had a date night with their dad this week and they were over the moon excited! They had ice cream and played at the park! They came back talking about their adventure but their absolute favorite part was that Mark bought them each their own pack of gum! My children are gum addicts. They ask for it by 8:00 in the morning. Sometimes they ask for gum before breakfast. *note to self - leverage the gum addiction to my advantage

This morning I met with some fellow adoptive mothers from our church to brainstorm. Our church has an adoption fund that adoptive families can apply for financial assistance. We are looking for ways to bolster the fund, create more awareness for the fund and to also begin designing a resource guide. We are hoping to create a support network for adoptive families. It is in the beginning stages but I am so excited!! It gives me a small avenue to channel some of my passion to advocate for the orphan in a local capacity. There are some really neat things on the horizon city-wide with other churches in regard to orphan care as well.

So in the midst of feeling depleted emotionally I have had so much to be grateful for this week. A husband who loves me deeply, a husband who cares about spending time with his children and creating memories with them, a family for Sasha, my children who leave chewed up gum on every surface in my home and other families to partner with on behalf of children who need homes.

And....my friend Lisa's little girl continues to grow, puzzle the doctors and defy the odds. You can read more about her here. www.madelinegracewiegel.blogspot.com That is a whole other element to be thankful for this week. I had a cousin pass away after her battle with cancer and the spouse of another cousin have a very scary bout with bleeding on his brain. I have been reminded that life is really a gift to us. A precious gift. I have tried to be more purposeful in taking the extra five minutes at bedtime to read the additional story, to take them each aside daily to tell them how much I love them and to kiss them as often as possible.