Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today is another first of many firsts for Kayleigh and Michael in our family as we hit their first holiday season with our family.  Today we will get to enjoy our larger family and all the fun that goes with it, cooking up the Thanksgiving meal and eating way too much, watching some football and generally just hanging out.  This year we have chosen to just stay at home and spend the day as a family, the first time in our 11 years in Texas we have done so (every other year has been a group thing with other families). 

Today we shall stuff thyselves and give thanks for many things.  Thanks for our family.  For friends and people we in some cases barely know who have been so supportive of our family this year in our adoption journey and regular life.  For God's provision of our daily needs.  For the graciousness and generosity many have bestowed upon us.  For good health.  For our troops who serve and sacrifice so that we may enjoy the lives we live.  On and on the list goes!

While the year has certainly not been without challenge, it has also been a year of tremendous blessings as well, which is what we choose to focus on.  For our family, nothing is as important as, well, family!  Over the years we've celebrated having the three best kids in the world, and it's just that much better to be able to celebrate now having the FIVE best kids in the world :)  People tend to think we're out of our minds having 5 teenagers in the house, but when you've got the awesomest kids, it's really not a problem. 

There isn't a day that goes by that I am still not taken aback (in a great way!) by something one of them will say or do that is so loving or giving to another family member, friend, acquintance or complete stranger.  They are truly and uniquely awesome people.  I am beyond blessed with my wife and kids!  We have been blessed in many other ways materially but really don't put a lot of weight in those things as the worldly stuff comes and goes, but at the end of my run on this earth, whenever that will be (well, hopefully not too soon!) I will have what is truly important, and that is my family.  Nothing else comes close.

6

Today marks the six month anniversary of our arrival back in Texas with our two new kids!  Honestly, I would have forgotten to make note of the day if some of the other black belts at karate class weren't talking about birthdays last night at class.  For me this is a very good sign as having Kayleigh and Michael in our family is just normal.  I am amazed and blessed by (and will continue to be so....) by how easily they blended in with our existing family and became ours.  It seems totally normal to see them and hug and kiss them, goof around with them, tell people we have 5 kids (LOL, peoples reactions are funny....), watch them in their activities, etc etc.  If you're looking for one of those stories of extreme success with adoptive kids, our family would be it!