If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

I am thankful.  I am. . .and not just because it is Thanksgiving weekend.  I really am.  I have a super great family (far and near) and great friends.  I am blessed! This Thanksgiving was especially fun!  First of all, it was Dax's 7th birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAX!!!  He is so dear and I love him so much and I cannot believe that he is seven!  Where did the years go!?!? We also had fun friends over for several days.  The Ham Fam drove over from Woodland Park and we ate and boarded and played and laughed.  It was so much fun!  Andy and Britt fried our turkey.  The kids played.  Michelle and I cooked and cleaned and did dishes and cooked and did more dishes and cooked more.  We all had a blast together!  I'm so thankful that they made the trip across the mountains!  Thanks, Hams!!! The birthday boy! And we had some at another table, too! Brothers! Andy taught Gabby how to snowboard!  He is a saint! Brothers! Friends!

Gabby flashing her new smile and her Tooth Fairy money!  Well, Gabby will be singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," for the next several Christmases, I think.  This week she slipped on the ice in front of out house (with her hands in her coat pockest) and busted her teeth, her lips and her chin.  Three days later, after many tears and many missed meals, we headed to the dentist where we learned that she broke her teeth off of their roots.  So, four shots later, Gabby is Gappy. . .missing her front two teeth.  She's adorable.  The funniest part is that, after four days of not eating, she has had to relearn how to eat and talk and swallow.  I'm shocked!  But today she is eating and talking and everything!  She is as good as new. . .just short two teeth!

What a fabulous time I had in New York these past three days!  Andy has been in the Northeast for two weeks and I decided to meet him in the Big Apple during the last three days of his trip!  It was the best! First of all, I met one of my heroes at the airport.  I was waiting for Andy to land three hours after I landed and I started talking to this guy who was on my flight. . .who was also waiting three hours for his wife.  Turns out he lives in NY, but is originally from Ethiopia.  That led me to mention my kiddos from Rwanda and then he told me that he is married to Immaculee Ilibagiza.  NO WAY!  I couldn't believe it!  For those of you who don't know who she is, she is a Rwandan with an amazing survival story.  She is amazing and is using her life to inspire and help others!  Go read "Left To Tell" and then read the rest of her books!  She is great!  As a matter of fact, Gabby's middle name, Iribagiza, is just a different spelling of Immaculee's name. . .

If you cry at Hallmark commercials, you need to have your tissue ready!  I went to school today to have a "team" meeting for Tiki.  He has a "teaching team" that consists of the principal, his teacher, the school counselor, the school psychologist, the ESL teacher and a couple of other "team" teachers.  We meet every six weeks to go over Tiki's academic and behavior progress. This isn't about that meeting (he is doing VERY well by the way).  It is about an assignment they showed me.  Keep in mind that Tiki has been in my life for two years and two days.  He came to me without speaking English.  As far as I know, he had a limited knowledge of Jesus.  He had NO family.   It says, "First, I am thankful for Jesus because he made me.  Then I appreciate my brother, Dax.  Next, I am thankful for my mom.  Finally, I give thanks for my Dad. Bring on the tears.  I set in the meeting a cried like a baby.  First of all, his writing has gott

This morning I had "coffee" with a good friend.  I guess I need to explain.  "Coffee" is the grown up thing to call it.  She was a grown up and ordered a coffee.  I ordered a chocolate covered cinnamon twist and a Dr. Pepper.  And when I say "good friend" I kind of laugh because she really is a very dear friend to me, but we haven't really seen each other in a year and we have only talked maybe three times during the past year and I just met here when I moved to Colorado, but she is a dear friend.  On so many levels, I feel like she is my soul mate and I feel like we have so much in common and then on a completely different set of levels, I feel like we have nothing in common and I see so many things in her that I would love to be!  But, she is a good friend! Ivey.  Many of you have read her blog because I've pointed you that direction several times in my blogging.  I love her blog.  She is so real and so funny and such an open minded and do it y

Okay, not really too old, but from August. Andy and Dax were in a wedding in August and we just got some of the pictures and I am loving them!  Andy was the minister and married Adam & Katelyn Martin.  Dax was the ring bearer.  No more handsome minister and ring bearer combination exists!  (Nate Friend did an amazing job taking these pictures!)    

Okay, for those of you familiar with "Goodnight, Moon," here is the 2011 version.  It is hysterical (all things considered)! "Goodnight iPad" by Ann Droyd In the bright buzzing room There was an iPad And a kid playing Doom And a screensaver of-- A bird launching over the moon There were three little Nooks With ten thousand books And a huge LCD Wi-Fi HDTV With Bose 5.1 Six remotes, and 3-D And a Black Berry ringing With Eminem singing And a new Facebok friend And texts with no end And a viral clip of a cat doing flips And the bigs, bongs, and beeps Of e-mails and tweets And a fed-up old woman Who was trying to sleep Goodnight iPad Goodnight Doom Goodnight bird Launching over the moon Goodnight Nooks And digital books Goodnight Eminem Goodnight Facebook friend Goodnight LOLs Goodnight MP3s Goodnight LCD Wi-Fi HDTV Goodnight remotes And Netflix streams, Androids, apps, And glowing screens Goodnight plugs And power lights

When I asked Dax what happened to his smile (his cute smile), he said, "I lost track of it."   Well, I had more videos, but I they are not uploading.  Oh well.  We had a blast and there were NO injuries! 

Andy was on Rita Cosby's radio show this afternoon and he was wonderful!  If you missed it, you can go to her show "page" (click HERE ).  Look it up by date and by specific hour (1-3) and you can listen to the whole interview.  It is about 10 minutes long.  I'm so proud of him!!!