Christmas Eve

Normally our kids open their gifts on Christmas morning. However, many of the kids bought gifts for each other and they wanted to see how their gifts were accepted. So......

 

Joselin was very excited to share her gifts.  She said that this was her best Christmas ever.  Funny how when you can give then the experience becomes so much richer.  We let the kids stay up late in hopes that they would sleep in past 4 am.

 

Larissa was very anxious to go to sleep so that Santa could come.

 

After the kids went to sleep all the elves got to work........

Merry Christmas

We had a fantastic Christmas.  Yes, the kids received lots of gifts and food was in abundance.  Although that did add to the joy, that wasn't what made it a great Christmas. 

 

On Christmas Eve we stopped all of our activities and we went to church in the afternoon.  It was nice to stop and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.  Sometimes it is so easy to get involved in every day life and not stop and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. 

 

We have been blessed in so many ways and sometimes we forget that when trials come our way.

 

 

After church on Christmas Eve Larissa and Michelle played very nicely together.  This is actually a rare thing because Michelle has control and jealousy issues that impair her ability to play nicely.

 

Before we went to church we tried out a new potato soup crockpot recipe.

 



 

John and Sarah made it and it was ready for us when we came back from church.  It was delicious.

 

Theresa's Crockpot Loaded Potato Soup

7 cups chicken broth

8 cups of diced potatoes

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 cups onions, FINELY chopped

3 cups celery, FINELY chopped

1 stick butter

2 cups heavy cream

2 lbs bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

8 oz Colby cheese, shredded

8 oz Monterrey Jack, shredded

8 oz Sharp Cheddar, shredded

16 oz Velvetta, cubed

2 lb bag of Ore Ida Southern Style Hashbrowns, thawed in the refrigerator overnight

Salt and Pepper to taste


Place chicken broth, diced potatoes, salt and pepper in large pot. Boil until potatoes are tender. Do not drain.


In separate skillet, saute onions and celery in butter until tender. Mix half the onions and celery in the potatoes and broth.


In batches, blend this until smooth. (She didn't say, but you could most likely use your immersion blender here if you had one)


Place in Crockpot. Add remaining onions and celery, heavy cream, bacon and cheeses. Stir until cheese is melted. Add hash browns and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on high for 2 to 4 hours until hashbrowns are done.


Serve with extra bacon and cheese on top if desired (naturally we did)

This recipe filled the big crockpot that we have all the way to the top although we did add a little extra heavy cream.  We used my new mixer to puree the vegetables and it did a great job.

 



Larissa's new closet....uh, bedroom

Last week Larissa asked me if she could move into the closet. Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention and said she could. Little did I know, she was serious. I short time later I could hear the sound of items being tossed and went to investigate what I had just approved.

 

I couldn't turn this picture around, she emptied the closet.

 

 

That night we threw a mattress in there and she seemed intent on making the closet her bedroom.

 

Several days passed and I realized she planned on staying so I dug out a bi-fold door from the garage and installed it.  There used to be a regular door there but we kept it off because it took up so much space.  The door was quite dirty and Larissa said it was her job to clean it since it was her door.  She was quite happy with her door.

 

The next day I built in a pallet.  The room is long enough for a twin mattress but it blocks the doorway.  The room isn't quite wide enough for a twin bed so we built a sleeping pallet and double folded a king size mattress topper.  It is quite comfy.

Finished.  Now I need to paint the hallway....

 



Larissa did some wall decorating of her own.

 



 

My husband thinks that this will be very temporary.  I am not quite so sure.  It took her 7 years to get out of our bedroom.  She is now 5 feet away......I think that she is very happy for the moment.

 

Well, would you let your kid sleep in a closet?

It Feels Like a Dream

Earlier in the week Joselin spent the night at our house.  She was in a mission to see what everyone wanted.  I think that she also wanted to talk to me about her new boyfriend.  The old Joselin would not have talked to me about her boyfriends.

I was driving her home and she told me that it feels like a dream.  I asked what was a dream and she said her life right now.  She said that she didn't ever believe that she would be living the life she is living right now.  She has a normal boyfriend relationship, a new apartment where she could have her dog and most importantly she feels like a part of the family.

All the kids are questioning each other about what they want for Christmas.  Packages are piling up under the tree.  All the normal activity of a big family....and she is a participant in it all.  In the past she was on the sidelines.  She was moping and just never happy.  Now I can see the happiness.  The willingness to talk about stuff and confide in me.

We haven't always had this trust.  It has taken so long to get to this point. Our troubles with communication started in Guatemala when we went to pick her up. The problems weren't because of the language differences, they were because of trust issues.  When she met with her mom she was given a cell phone number.  We didn't know this.  We also didn't know that she lost it.  We found that out about 2 years later when she was mad and yelling at me for taking her moms phone number.  Huh???  We did not take the phone number.  I never saw it and have no idea what happened to it.  She didn't believe me.  She had spent so much time being mad about it that she couldn't change direction.  It took her a few more years to believe that I really didn't take it. 

Without trust, building a relationship is very hard.  When your child is unable to talk to you about things because she doesn't trust you then it the typical opportunities to build that relationship do not exist.  We had many one sided conversations.  On a few occasions she did open up to me then she retreated back.  It was so frustrating.

So, yes, it does feel like a dream.  After so many years of trying to build that relationship it has finally happened.  Trust has finally happened and we can build from there.

Crafting Away

I went Christmas shopping and Sarah kept the kids busy......

 

(Photo credits to Sarah)

 

 

One week to Christmas, I am not ready.....are you?

Adoption Complete

 

We got to the courthouse a little before 11.  Around here you get to court at the time you are told and then you wait until you are called. You don't know the order until you are there waiting.  We were told that we were last, thankfully there weren't many cases.

 

We waited our turn.

 

Emma decided this morning that she didn't want to go and that was fine.  She went to school.

 

We got into the courtroom and then we had to wait again.  Apparently the judge didn't know there was an adoption and he had to read the complaint.

 

Larissa sat a little too long.

 

Kassi with her GAL.

 

Our judge after the adoption.  He was the same judge that completed Anthony and Larissa's adoption.  Same DSS adoption worker and lawyer too.

 

Officially we have another teenager. 

 

Welcome to the family Kassandra Ann-Marie.

 

Celebration at Wild Wings.

Baptism

 

Our teen made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as her savior.  She was baptised on Sunday.  Today....adoption.  More on that later!