Thanksgiving 2015!!

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Psalm 103:2 ESV

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On Thanksgiving Eve, we were blessed to have Richie and Lydia come by for dinner and a visit.

We had a wonderful time with them, as always!

 

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We were so happy to have Louis, Kelley, McKenna and Cassidy here on Thanksgiving day.

We had a very special and wonderful day together!

They also brought Quincy and Zona,

making five indoor dogs! :-)

Here's our best attempt at a doggy group picture!

(The little one with the white heart on her head (and the big ears ;-) is Sadie,

Victoria's new Corgi puppy!)

 



 Brielle was very excited to have another happy lab puppy to play with! ;-)

 My sweet sister and nieces . . . .

It was so nice to get caught up with everything going on in their lives!

 

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 Louis and Kelley blessed us so much with bringing lots of  . . .

bottles of sparkling ciders (several different varieties);

a big box of Lindt Lindor assorted yummy truffles (7 different kinds!);

and homemade stuffing and her awesome cranberry sauce!

Thank you, two, SOOO very much! 

We loved having you here!

 Oh, they also brought us a big newspaper stuffed with the Black Friday ads,

so Kyle could shop for a printer.  (Which Ted and I did secure on our shopping trip yesterday! ;-)

The cooks . . . .

 And Daddy saying, "HEY!  Wait a minute . . .what about me?!!!!!)

 Okay, that's better!

The fantastic foursome that prepared most of our meal. 

 

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

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When we finished eating,

Ted read the "Thanksgiving Day Proclamation" by President George Washington.

It was very enlightening and refreshing to read about when and why our Thanksgiving holiday was established.   Then, we all had a chance to thank the Lord for all He is

and all the blessings and provisions He abundantly bestows on us. 

 

Now, our God, we give you thanks 

and praise your glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:13

 

After dinner, we played a game very similar to our favorite Reverse Charades.

The only difference is the  cards are displayed on the guesser's forehead . . .

like this . . . .  

 Sadie got lots of good lovin' and socializing on her first Thanksgiving!  

 We sure had a wonderful day!

 

In thinking over all the things I have to thank the Lord for this Thanksgiving,

I really came to the realization that I just don't thank Him often enough for all of His blessings and provisions.  There are soooooo many offerings of thanksgiving that should be continually on my lips,

both for all the little things and all the big things in my life,

every day of the year!  I surely want to work on this in the coming year!  

 

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise . . ."

Hebrews 13:15

Lovely Lindas' Lunch

Once again, the lovely Linda W. and Linda C. blessed Caroline, Valerie, Victoria and Lydia so much

in having them over for a birthday celebration. 

They are so sweet in providing an amazing lunch and a wonderful time of fellowship together.

Thank you, Linda Lois and Linda Kaye!!! 

We thank God for the blessing of YOU!

 

 

1/2 Way Through Adoption Awareness Month . . .

Below (#1-8) are some orphan statistics we recently received from Randy Loveless at Antioch Adoptions.  They start with worldwide stats, then U.S. stats, then WA State stats.   He writes, "Some come from my own research, and others come from a great book on adoption/foster care and the Church called Orphanology by Tony Merida."  #9.  on embryo adoption is an excerpt from an online article by Together for Adoption.

1.            Worldwide orphan estimates - UNICEF estimates 210 million, though this does not include some classes of orphans, such as trafficking victims, middle eastern orphans, etc. (Based on our own research, this number probably does include "single orphans" which means they still have one parent, but there is a high risk that the one parent remaining may also die from disease, etc. or is unable to provide/care for the child.)

 

2.            United States orphans - legally free kids, not counting foster children whose parents have rights still attached - about 130,000

 

3.            United States foster care - including legally-free kids - about 500,000.

 

4.            Number of professing Christians in America 225,000,000.  This works out to about 450 Christians per child in the system in the US.  Or, 1,730 Christians per legally-free child.

5.            Washington State foster children - 10,000

6.            Washington State legally free children - 1,573 

7.            Number of churches in Washington - about 5,000 

8.            The local (both US and WA state) numbers clearly show that the Church is capable of addressing this problem on her own.

 

9.  "Embryo Adoption and the Protection of Life (Laura Godwin, Nightlight Christian Adoptions). There are more than 500,000 embryos in storage. What is their future? Well, there are four options for these embryos: indefinite cryopreservation; objects of research resulting in destruction; destruction; or life. As we consider adoption, some will be called to adopt newborns, some to adopt children in orphanages around the world, and some to adopt waiting embryos. All life is precious in God’s eyes. Whatever our individual emphasis may be, let us stand together in protecting and preserving all life. If you are starting the adoption journey, you may want to consider your role in giving life to one of these embryos. Your adoption will just start earlier than most . . ."  Excerpt from an article online by Together for Adoption.

 

"Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan . . . " Isaiah 1:17 (nasb)

 

"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing."  Deuteronomy 10:18 (nasb)

 

"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan."  Exodus 22:22 (nasb)

 

"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' "  Matthew 25:40 (nasb)

 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans . . . "  James 1:27 (NIV)

 

"Adopting a child may not change the world, but it will change the world for a child!"

We are not all called to adopt, but we can all do something!  We can pray, give financially, support families that are adopting, sponsor a child, visit orphans, etc.   

 

 "With man this is impossible,

but not with God;

all things are possible with God."

Mark 10:27 (NIV)

 

Sweet Sisters!

A few weeks ago we stopped by the Tevis farm after church to get a family picture with Richie and Lydia in it for our Christmas card.  The following pictures ended up happening soon after the family picture was snapped. :-)

(The boys didn't really have any interest in getting a brother photo! :-)

Valerie's Birthday Celebration!

Yesterday, the whole family (minus working Kyle) went out to celebrate Valerie's birthday! Daddy was even able to take the day off!  Valerie thought it would be fun to head up to Olympia and do some thrift store shopping at Value Village, as they were having their Veteran's Day 50% off sale! Then, we enjoyed visiting a brand new Hobby Lobby store that recently opened up in Lacey.  What a fun shopping experience, especially in their Christmas area!  Then, a Costco stop, before heading to Thorbeckes FitLife Center to check out their facility for playing indoor volleyball.  (Which they found as a possibility in their racquetball court . . .with a special name . . . Wallyball!) Turns out, they were having a special Veteran's Day sale too, with buy a month family pass and receive a second month free!  So we did that, and then we all (minus me and B and B) had a great time playing indoors for a couple hours!


Too bad they still had their Happy Halloween sign still up! : -(

Valerie's choice for lunch:  Panda Express!

(I wasn't able to get a photo at Thorbeckes, but they all had a great time there!  So much so, that they are currently on their way back there this afternoon to play some more while I  type this!  The boys are especially looking forward to swimming in their pool!  So, I think it was definitely a big hit, and we'll get good use out of our buy-one-month-get-one-free family pass during these next two rainy months!  It was great timing!  Thank you, Lord!)

Happy Birthday, Valerie!  We love you sooooo much! 

Busy Weekend, Quiet Weekend

Last weekend was a super busy, but GOOD one!

After the 5K, we were very blessed to have a group of friends come out to our house

for an afternoon of fun together.

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I don't think we've ever had such a large Dutch Blitz game before!

It was definitely more on the wild side!

 

 Then, of course, we HAD to play our favorite game . . . . reverse charades!

Hmm . . . .looks like Valerie is trying to sleep . . . .

 and maybe counting some things???? ;-)

 Wow . . .that looks like a big wing span!

 Hmmmmm . . . . .the "Three Stooges?!!!"

 

Then at church on Sunday,

our family gave a special announcement for the upcoming Christmas Talent Program.

We are trying to recruit participants,

so we played (yes, Richie's a master on the jug!) a little upbeat tune called the "Fisher's Hornpipe"

while Timmy and Joe held up signs that said . . . . 

 "OR NOT?"

(These signs had an arrow that pointed to Kyle,

while he dropped his spoons! :-) 

"BLESS OTHERS"

 

Please join us on December 13th!!!

 

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Now, this weekend is a nice and quiet one, while Ted and Kyle are in Iowa at the

Freedom 2015 conference.

We are planning to catch up on some things,

and I'm hoping to get my fall bulbs planted before the ground freezes here soon! 

Celebrating Birthdays Quadruplet Style!

From early on, we've tried to give each of the quadruplets a special day to "call their own" in celebration of the special gift they are to us, and the unique person that God has made them to be. 

Over the years, it has changed to giving them a couple different days . . .

one in which they pick their favorite breakfast, dinner and dessert choice,

and then another day where they can choose a family activity.

So far, Kyle, Caroline and Victoria have celebrated their birthdays with their special activity,

and we've fit in almost all of the special meal days!

 

This year, they decided on going out to our favorite Chinese Food restaurant for a combined dinner celebration.  We did this back when Papa Bob and Meemom were still here . . . in early October!

 

For breakfasts . . . .

 

Valerie chose monkey bread!

Victoria chose Caroline's amazing fruit Danish . . .

this time with peaches!  

(Thank you, Caroline, for making it!!!)

Caroline chose waffles with strawberry topping,

and egg casserole.

 Kyle chose "Dutch Babies" with apple topping!

 

 

For the desserts, we only got two out of the four in,

as we have been baking soooooo much for other things in the past couple weeks.

(We did bake and take two cakes to Kyle's birthday bash on the beach.  Unfortunately, we just didn't end up getting them out of the camper to the beach to share with our friends!  And then once we got them home, we didn't take a picture!)  

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Caroline requested Valerie's special peach pie!

(Thanks Valerie for making it!!!)

Valerie requested homemade cheesecake with cherry topping!

Victoria asked for mint brownies,

and she actually did get them made for her on her first day of work at the Veterinary office.

But we didn't get a picture of them that day,

thinking we would make them again for her birthday celebration. 

But after all our baking, she decided that was probably not needed! :-)

 

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Here are some pictures of all the sweets we've made recently . . .

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The following five photos were of desserts made for the dessert competition at the WPC Heritage Weekend conference in Vancouver.

Caroline's Caramel Milky Way Bars
They won second place!!!

Valerie made these Fudgy Reeses Bars

Our special sugar cookies!



Valerie's special peach pie!



Victoria's beautiful pumpkin roll!
She also made the most amazing apple spice muffins with sea salt carmel topping.
But they needed to be somewhat assembled once we got there,
so we missed getting a photo of them!

This counter full of goodies were made for a Family Fun Harvest Party at church.
They were part of a raffle that benefited Richie and Lydia's adoption fund!

 And then today,
we took these goodies over to a dear friend's house who was also hosting a fund-raiser for Richie and Lydia.

 

This picture below was taken today at the Christmas décor/egg-nog latte and baked goods sale

(by donations)

that our friend hosted.  Thanks SOOOOOOOO much, Brooks!!!!
What a very special blessing!