Lots of changes in the Wade household

Ryan will be changing jobs again and at the end of the week, he will no longer be at Dyson (almost 2 years to the day).  He is excited to return to the hi-tech field and we are hoping he will be able to manage the work/life balance this time.  He will be managing a team in Northern California, Portland and Seattle, so it will be great that he can work over our summer and Christmas trips :o).  It was a hard decision for him, but I think he will be happy and he'll have opportunity within this company to move up.
We also had another hard decision with Ainsley.  She has been complaining of her heel for several weeks and I finally took her to the doctor and they said she has Sever's disease.  Sounds like a nagging, chronic injury that with rest will heal, but typically comes back (sounds like my mom had it as a child).  We tried ice and ibuprofen with little success and we are tired of hearing about it.  Just when it seems to get better, it gets worse.  We are going to take a break from gymnastics for a bit and try swimming.  We have been having issues with one of her coaches anyway, so it was the straw that broke the camels back.  Hopefully, this isn't the end of gymnastics for her since she is very talented and super strong!  She will continue in a more recreational capacity just to keep her skills.  It will allow her to try some new things and maybe that will be good for her.  She started piano a couple weeks ago and is picking it up very quickly and loving it!
Speaking of piano....Reggie had his recital today and he has really come a long way.  Here's the video:

Here's a few pictures of our Easter.  What a beautiful day it was to celebrate Jesus!  We went to the Williams and swam in their pool, ate a wonderful dinner and the kids enjoyed an egg hunt:

 Reggie and Noah

Reggie just finished his first typed report on the Missions in California.  We all learned a lot, but it was quite entertaining to use the computer for a project.  Ainsley was very interested and a good helper and can't wait to have her own report someday.  The typing was painful to watch....I think it took him 3-4 hours with Ainsley reading and spelling things for him.  It was fun to watch them work together.  We are definitely going to download a program that will teach them to type!  When he finally finished, we changed the font (size and color) and moved things around and Reggie got so excited every time we did something new.  He was truly amazed and I couldn't keep myself from chuckling.

Ryan and Reggie at a Giants game:

We had good intentions of planting our garden weeks ago, but I just couldn't get out there.  My mom guilted wonderful Ryan into throwing a few seeds in the planters, so we will see what happens.  We started very late, but it has been 2 weeks and things are really growing (peas, green beans, carrots and watermelon).  The yard has also been alive with bees and the orange tree and lemon tree smell lovely and we can see lots of fruit starting to grow on them!  Our young trees have also produced a few apricots, peaches and plums :o).  I'm not sure why it is so exciting to watch things grow, but we love it!
We finally solved the cat poop problem with these metal grids (actually supposed to be for stucco):

Spring Break

Well, amazingly we had just about everybody getting sick before our trip to Universal Studios. Reggie had a fever and sore throat Monday night and Ainsley had a terrible stomachache Tuesday evening so we thought she was getting the stomach flu that K had. He threw up again on Sunday night and that was an amazing mess but at least this time he made it into the bathroom. 
Ryan took Reggie to the doctor on the way to get grandma Peggy on Tuesday to see if he had strep so we could get him on antibiotics and feeling better, but no such luck. In the past when he has had fevers it's been several days but he was feeling much better on Tuesday afternoon. 
We had plans to go to the movies but since Ainsley was out of commission, just Reggie, grandma and I went to see God's Not Dead. It was more of an adult movie so probably a good thing the little ones didn't go. It was fabulous!!! 
The next morning we made the drive down to Glendale where we stayed in a fancy Hilton property, courtesy of Ryan's Hilton points. The kids were so amazed at the glass elevator that overlooked the pond with fish and turtles. That was an activity in itself! We could also look out our window and spy on who was in the elevator :o). 
The pool was well over 90° so right when we got there we headed down to the pool for awhile which was good since we were stuck in the car all day. The weather was kind of chilly so it was really good the pool was so warm. Grandma Peggy found a Shakey's pizza and was so excited to go there for dinner. Unfortunately they had changed the pizza crust and it was not like she remembered :(. Even more unfortunate was the look on K's face during dinner and him motioning that he was going to throw up. He didn't give us much warning but luckily there were a couple empty plates which he filled to the rim. Grandma about tossed her cookies too! He was fine after that and starving the rest of the trip and the next several days we could not feed him enough. 

The next morning we were treated to a fabulous breakfast at the hotel including omelets, hash browns and bacon :). We left bright and early to head to the park and thankfully we got there early because it was very quiet and the kids were able to go on the despicable me ride a few times. I had to close my eyes on that one....it was a motion ride and I did not want to be the next throw up victim. K barely made it on the ride because of his height. He had to be 40 inches tall and the first measurement you have to slide underneath and he fit underneath which meant he was not quite tall enough. I gave the guy a hard time and made him feel bad and he said well you can take your chances and see if he passes inside, so that's what we did. Thankfully, I left his hair long on top and he passed with flying colors at all three different measurement stations!!! The kids were too chicken to go on Jurassic Park or transformers, but we got K to go on the transformer ride (it's was his favorite!). We got lots of pictures with characters and saw most of the shows and pretty much did everything in the park and never really had to wait in line!!!! Ryan's work buddy hooked us up with front of the line passes so we were really spoiled :). It was a really long day but the kids did great and we had a lot of fun. 

(Isn't Reggie getting tall???  He blocked grandma!)

 Ainsley thought this guy was so cool.  We were watching him for a long time-you would never guess it is a real person!

The next morning we went in the pool again for a couple of hours and K made some progress going underwater and going back-and-forth between Ryan and I with no life jacket. It was a big step for him!
Then we packed up and made the long trip back. It always feels so much further on the way home. We were all happy to be back and sleeping in our own beds.  In the small amount of time we were home, the kids taught grandma how to play UNO....not sure she's such a fan.  They played one game that was an hour long and we had to leave for dinner before they finished!  They also played some BINGO :).
Saturday was packed with Reggie's track meet, Ainsley's gymnastics and K's brothers birthday party. It wouldn't have been a proper visit without a trip to Sweet tomatoes so before grandma Peggy got on the plane we had dinner there :). And that was spring break!!!

3 a.m.

I woke up to the sound of puking and quickly jumped out of bed, only to find K on the stairs with lots of dark spots on several of the stairs in front of him and the pungent smell of puke!  We went in the the bathroom to get him cleaned up and I suggested that since we were up that he go pee.  He just looked at me and said he didn't want to go.  I encouraged him again and he said, "it feels like something is going to come out of my butt!".  I tried to keep from laughing and told him he might think of sitting on the toilet in case he had to poop.  He finally decided to do that, but wanted me to stay with him.  He had a series of blow-outs and between the smell of vomit and the noises coming from him, I was ready to toss my cookies.  Then he says to me, "my fots (farts) sound really gross....I think you should cover your ears mom!"  It was quite comical.
Ryan and I spent the next hour cleaning the carpet and I felt pretty sick by the time we got back to bed.  I woke up to a rumbling stomach and thankfully it was only diarrhea, but I felt pretty yucky most of the day.  Glad to be feeling better now and hoping the rest of the house stays healthy!

Maui

Maui has been a lot of rest and relaxation. We spent most of our time at the beach, laying around, reading, watching for whales and body surfing! This year we learned that you could hear the whales under the water so we spent quite a bit of time holding our breath to hear them talking and it was truly amazing!!!! I also read a fiction book (the last hunger games book) for the first time in years (even Ryan who prides himself on how few books he had read in his lifetime).

We've been trying not to get too off our sleep schedule so we've been going to bed every night around 8:30 and we're up at 5:30-6. I have been exercising in the morning since there's so much time before we can do anything. Today we woke up at 6:30 which is 9:30 at home so we're in trouble :(.

The last couple days here called for wind and clouds so we sort of last minute decided to make the trip to Hana. We experienced torrential downpours, sun and lots of rainbows all in a 10 hour span.

It was definitely worth the journey but we were very tired. We saw colorful eucalyptus trees, many waterfalls, black sand beaches, caves (where we got eaten by mosquitoes. I counted 17 bites yesterday morning just from the knee down!), a bamboo forest, and some amazing scenery and views. The road was just as windy as you hear but neither of us got carsick probably because we were so focused on the amazing amount of rain hitting our windshield. We got caught outside in the rain twice and by the time we got to the car we were absolutely soaked. There was a lot of laughing going on :). Our last stop was The seven sacred pools at Kipahulu. There was a 4 mile hike to see a 200 foot waterfall and we were not really thinking we were going to do it because of the rain but then it cleared off in 3 minutes (because that's what it does here) and we decided to make the hike. It was awesome, but seemed like 8 miles! We were very happy to get back in the car and take the unpaved, windy, one lane road (with a several hundred foot drop to our immediate left). We downloaded an app that told us where to stop and little stories about interesting things along our drive which I would highly recommend.

We spent our last day at the pool getting wind blasted and sun burned :).

Back to reality tomorrow......

Swim meet

We got up at 5:30 AM last Saturday to volunteer at Reggie's swim meet. When the home team hosts all parents are expected to participate. Ryan was one of the meet marshals (Responsible for keeping the kids in line) and I was check-in and lead timer.

It was a pentathlon meet so all the kids participated in five events. It was great because the meet was quick and it kept Reggie busy. He got a B time in his 50 freestyle and 100 IM-that is really great for him! I'm not exactly sure what a "b" time means but I know it is good. He has improved so much the last couple months and it has been super fun to watch. If he gets his initial start dive better and his exchanges at the wall, he will be right up there with the top kids :).

I ended up doing a few more jobs… Hospitality… Snack shack. It was really fun and although it was a long day, we all felt accomplished. Head timer was a bit tricky. I had to use two stopwatches when they started the race and if another parents failed with their stopwatch I had to hand one off and then find the fastest swimmer and stop my time when they hit the wall! I ended up with exact times four times and sort of became a little competition :). One of the parents said he's timed at a lot of meets and never had the exact time of a head timer. Who knew I had this hidden talent??!! Too bad it isn't worth anything!

Court Outcome

Well, I wish there was better news. I can't share too much but court took a different turn and I am trying to remember why... Maybe it was because the potential biological father was there and his paternity test was not yet available, but they decided to discuss the visitation issue instead of terminating parental rights.
I took the stand for about 20 minutes and then we broke for lunch. We returned at 1:45 did not reenter the court room until 3:45 and we were finished at 4:30. Lets just say it was not a productive day and we left very frustrated. The next day I was cross examined and Ryan took the stand for a bit. The father did not like how his attorney cross examined us so they had us all leave while they had a pow wow. They parted ways, so after almost 3 years and being on the last hearing, he was appointed a new attorney and that was it for the day. Well, almost....if you remember the visits were dramatically reduced pending the hearing. But we weren't able to finish the hearing because of the new attorney, so they went back and forth and the judge changed the order to increase visitation to one 8 hour visit per month. I have to tell you that we are disgusted with that outcome but even worse was the antics and disruptions in the court room that were allowed. I don't ever want to go back because it makes me so very discouraged. The next date is mid-May and Ryan has been called back to be cross examined. Feels like this really isn't ever going to end :(.
We are looking at having the court appoint us an attorney but if there's a cost involved we will not take that option due to the fact that this may go on for many years and could very well bankrupt us. Other than that, I guess we just be patient and pray A LOT!!!!  I am very glad that there are so many other poisitive things in our lives that we can focus on. We did go home on Friday with a new appreciation for our kids and especially cuddly appreciation for our children and especially Khalif, so there is good that comes from bad....we just have to be aware and look for it :).

Court

This Thursday and Friday, Ryan and I will be in court all day.  We are really hoping that the judge will make a decision that K will be able to be adopted.  Please pray for this process and that truth and justice will prevail.

We did get some good news a week or so ago that visitation will be reduced from 2, 8 hour visits per month to 1, 4 hour visit per month, so it feels like we are finally moving in the right direction!  This change in visitation will be huge for K's stability :o)!!!

Art and organization

We have a bunch of artists in this house!  I don't know where they get it, but they all are good at it and love to draw/color.  Maybe it is because Reggie does it so often and the other 2 participate with him.  Very recently, even K has started drawing things and taping his artwork to the wall.
Last Friday, the kids had an art assembly, followed by family drawing night in the evening.  Reggie had scouts, but chose to skip it to go to art night.  They drew 3 different sketches and then the artist did a raffle of 6 drawings and Reggie was the very last winner and was so super excited!  they have been drawing the same drawings all week on their new nicely organized table.

I finally got the organization bug after a year and a half of living here (maybe it took me that long to recover from moving).  The laundry room has been driving me nuts because it hasn't been very functional and my initial ideas to make it functional didn't work.  I guess with my children if it has a door or drawer, nothing will land in the right spot.  Thank goodness for wire cube cubbies!
My small laundry room project turned into quite the overhaul.  I absolutely love it now, but Ryan was less than thrilled to help me with my project.  The nice thing is that his old office is completely cleaned, the art area and photo books are all in one spot and the laundry room is wide open!  I still have to get a couple cabinets and then I'll be satisfied, but now I'm motivated to work on the garage and other non-functioning parts of the house.  
It doesn't look that exciting, but it is a big improvement :o).

What happened to the last 5 weeks?

I guess we've just been doing the usual stuff....school, sports, birthday parties, homework, date nights, housework, blah, blah, blah.  Thankfully, there's nothing too exciting to write about.  Everyone has been pretty healthy, except for a few colds.  Allergies should be starting really soon as the flowers are starting to bloom on the trees and the smell of spring is in the air.
Until Valentine's Day, I hadn't taken a single picture!!!  I took this one at K's party and got him doing the monkey bars which he is obsessed with.  He was so excited to have me there :o).

Video of the monkey bars:

We went to see the Lego movie yesterday with some friends and it was really entertaining.  It had a good message for adults too :o).  The kids got some Christmas money and have decided to spend it on going to the movies.  They are patiently waiting until RIO 2 comes out.
Reggie started track a couple weeks ago and is loving it.  I am very glad he has a friend doing it with him.  It changes the entire experience.  He is so competitive even in practice, always looking over his shoulder to make sure he is winning.  His friend was telling his mom that Reggie is REALLY hard to beat.  He has an interesting running style and it will be interesting to see if they get him sprinting on his toes.  The timing for ending swimming wasn't the best....everything was really starting to click and he got moved up a lane to swim with the faster swimmers.  He will go back next week because he is participating in a swim meet in March, so we'll see just how much he improved.
Now that I think back over the last month, maybe it was a blur because Ryan traveled every single week.  It was really hard keeping up with the ever changing schedule!

Court

Court was last week and it was interesting.  We have been waiting to get DeFacto Parent Status since September and our judge just can't make a decision.  That is why we are almost 3 years into this process!!!  My prayers have been directed toward the judge because he will ultimately make the decision and he really struggles in that area.  Well, God is good and fixed that problem on Tuesday.  We had an unfamiliar face sitting in the judge seat.  She was wondering why there was such a delay in giving us this status, so even with opposition, she granted us DeFacto Parent Status as well as held the March court dates that they were trying to push out yet again.
Unfortunately, while waiting to enter the courtroom, I had a conversation with K's dad.  The relationship that I have worked so hard to build between us is unraveling quickly.  We do not agree on what is best for K and he was enraged by my honesty.  It confirms we are doing the right thing, but it is really hard and a bit scary.  Please pray that his emotions will settle.
Not sure who our judge will be in March, but it will be a game changer if it isn't out usual one.  What a miracle that would be......

Cats

We have 4 very large planters that have become the local cat litter box.  This weekend we decided to clean them out and get ready to actually plant some fruit and veggies.  I got several ideas online and decided to go with a 3 part strategy.
Here's a picture of what we came up with.

Unfortunately, the next morning a cat decided to walk right through the skewers and was not deterred by the chili pepper or lemons (cats aren't supposed to like citrus).  So, I rearranged the skewers to cross and point toward the outer rim and so far so good.  I also put motion activated Zurg out there to scare the cats away.  I sure hope we can get this figured out.  It is so gross!!!

Christmas break

We got up bright and early (3:45) for our 6 am flight to Seattle on Dec. 21^st!  Everyone was excited and I was happy to be done packing and organizing.  The airport was nuts and we were very thankful that Ryan is A list preferred because we went to the front of the baggage line that was out the door and down the street!  The flight was great and we didn’t leave any bags at the airport this time!
The Christmas festivities started immediately.  We headed to Grandma Peggy’s and hung out with Ryan’s side of the family for the day.  It was super fun and the Cougs played, so it added a bit of excitement because not everyone was rooting for them.  They Coug’d it bigger than ever and Uncle Shane and a few of us had big smiles on our faces :o).  We had great food and great company and it was fun to see everyone.  

 Watching the Cougs, Coug it!

 Thanks to Holly for taking such great pictures :o).

We stayed the night there and then headed up to the lake the next day and the cousins were so excited to see each other.  The volume was ridiculous!  The weather was terrible, but the kids went out in the fort anyway and played in the snow piles (it snowed the day before we got there and then it rained and rained and rained).  We played lots of board games, grandma taught the kids some new games (chicken foot) and we ate and ate and ate!  We laughed a lot :o).  

 Eating snow...

Christmas was great, as usual.  The kids didn’t wake up all that early, so it was nice to not have to peel open my eyes.  Mom and Dad hosted so everyone came around 3.  The kids were getting hungry, so since the turkey was done early, we decided to get them going (always seems more relaxing to feed them first), but it seemed that everyone else was really hungry and we couldn’t put stuff out fast enough.  It was the craziest holiday dinner I can remember and there wasn’t much left over!  Our white elephant gift exchange was strangely quiet this year…no steals (maybe everyone was too full from dinner!) and I am thankful that the gifts we chose were very small and packed well.  We have come a long way with the white elephant (one year there were leftover dead fishing worms and a gay sex book-poor Grandpa Geno got that one!). 

The next day Grandma Pam came up to the lake and we had Christmas again with her.  Our activity that day was making the dreaded butter cookies.  They save this task every year for me because the cookies really aren’t so fun to roll out, but we’ve really got a system down and it went much quicker this year, thanks to kid participation :o).  Ryan and I also made Toffee before Christmas and Aunt Pam got the last piece…it didn’t last very long.

  

We headed back down to Grandma Peggy’s for the weekend and they went to see Walking With Dinosaurs and they all loved it!  Ryan and I had our own date night and went to the Mongolian Grill…we miss that place!  It was very nice to get out and about and do some shopping.  It is nice that there’s extra room at grandma’s place, so we can stay there and the kids can spend a little more time with grandma. 
Ainsley was starting to get a little stir crazy, so I took her to a gymnastics class on Monday.  My old gym is so flexible and they just let her join the team class.  She must really love gymnastics because she didn’t know anyone and was still willing to go!  After that, we all met up for bowling at Riverside Lanes :o).   Mom was worried about her arthritic thumb, but she managed just fine.  I didn’t quite live up to my 4-bagger college nickname, but I did get a turkey :o).  The kids used the bumpers, so they weren’t doing so bad either.  Afterward, we went to Taco Del Mar (we try to go to our favorite places that they don’t have in CA) and ate too much…seemed to be the theme for us!
A couple days later we went roller skating for the first time.  The kids looked like deer on ice, falling all over the place!  I was pretty worried 5 minutes in because they clearly were not getting it, but as time went on, they seemed to pick it up.  We realized about 20 minutes before the session ended that the girls’ wheels were locked, so we unlocked them and then it became much less work and a lot more fun.  Ainsley can’t wait to do it again.  Even Reggie enjoyed himself and he was dreading it.  Even mom got out there and showed her stuff.  She was worried about falling, but did fine and I think it was a good reminder that even if you are old, you can still have fun and try things.  Ryan had the opposite problem and thought he was 12 again.  Skating used to be the cool thing to do and he was hot stuff, but that was 25 years ago.  He entered the race at the end of the session and didn’t fare so well.  He was in the lead the entire time and kept having some balance issues and finally wiped out rounding the last corner and landed on his hip.  He got a huge raspberry that is now black and blue and still very tender.  At least he walked away!

 Enjoying the Seahawk game....happy to be able to watch it...they don't give any preference to the Seahawks in the Bay Area!

 Juicing all the lemons we brought :o)

Our last day was Maggie’s birthday, so grandma took the kids down to the Rinehardt’s bright and early and Ryan, dad and I stayed and cleaned the house.  Usually we leave so early that we can’t ever clean up and it was nice to be able to do that, especially good that the kids were gone.  They had lots of fun there and grandma made one last batch of moose munch and then we headed to birthday dinner at the spaghetti factory.  Another place we don’t get to enjoy!  Reggie has turned into quite the garlic fan, so he had myzithra and garlic pasta.  Must be Aunt Liha’s influence!

From there we went to Grandma Pam’s in Issaquah to stay there so she could take us to the airport in the morning.  The kids loved her house…Reggie just couldn’t get over how soft the carpet was.  They are funny kids!  They did lot of art in the morning and enjoyed staying there.
I have to say, the weather was so drizzly and dreary almost the entire time we were there and we were very happy to come back and see the sun!  It was hard to be cooped up for that long.  I haven’t had a twinge in my back for months and sure enough about a week in, it was a bit unhappy.  Not sure if it was the weather or the lack of activity, but it was a reminder that I have come a long way and I don’t want to go back!  It has been around 70 here and today we played Frisbee, went on the trampoline and had a good bike ride.  Just to feel the warmth of the sun is heavenly.  

Long week

Ryan left for Chicago bright and early Monday morning and it was just like the good old days when he used to travel and things went awry.  It started a bit early this time with a flat tire on Sunday morning.  Ryan was at the Seahawk/49er game, so I had to solve that one on my own and get out the old air compressor because Ainsley had a gymnastics team party that day and I had my girls night out!  It took forever to get to a drivable state, but it managed to hold air for the rest of the day and night.
My GNO was great as usual.  We went out to dinner at Uncle Yu's, the best chinese restaurant ever and then we headed to church for the Women's Christmas Event.  They brought in a speaker who was fabulous and it was just a great way to kick off the week.  I went to the tire place bright and early Monday morning and they found a screw in my tire (probably from our garage....I wish I could say Ryan put things in their place and picked up after himself, but it is clear where the kids get it!)

I am not sure what was going on with the kids, but I couldn't get any of them to move.  I would ask them to get dressed in the morning or brush their teeth and it was like I wasn't even talking and then when they did acknowledge I said something, they would start to move toward completing whatever it was and never get there!  I watched K and Ainsley wander aimlessly in their own little worlds.  It was amazing and extremely frustrating, but we were managing!  There's a lot of running around when there is only one of us.  Ainsley has gymnastics from 3:30-5:30 in Pleasanton and then Reggie has to be on the other side of Livermore (a good 20 minutes away) at 6 for swimming and somehow we squeeze dinner in there.  That schedule is 2 nights a week and is a bit challenging.
And then came Thursday....I had toffee making day with my girlfriends, while K was at a visit.  Problem is transportation didn't come and the visit didn't happen.  So, poor guy had to come with me, but he did great!  The best part is we didn't have to deal with all the issues he has when he has a visit, so that was a real blessing.  We made our toffee and Moose Munch and it was a nice break in the week.  Until I got home and the social worker decided to schedule 2, 8 hour visits for next week on his school days, one of them being his pajama day.  He has been looking forward to pajama day for several days and was in tears when I told him.  Mama bear came out and I told him I would fix it.  Long story short, after many phone calls to his dad and social worker, I finally got it figured out, phew!  However, the amount of stress put on me and disgust for the lack of regard for K was more than I could stand, so I have escalated things up the chain in hopes that someone will think about this little child for once.  This system is so very broken and I could write pages and pages of terrible things that we have experienced, but I am choosing to see if there is any way I can help fix it.
On to better things....Reggie had his swim party that night and although I didn't feel like going, the kids were super excited for Mountain Mike's pizza.  It turned out it was just what I needed....the coaches he has are great and it was fun to hear their stories about the kids.  I had no idea there were so many talented swimmers on our team!  Reggie got most improved swimmer and he felt really good about it.  That was one of the first things he told Ryan when they talked the next day.  Reggie is funny because he will swim fast when they are doing relays in practice and will swim faster than some of the big kids, but put him in a swim meet and he'll take his sweet time :o).

Thankfully, the week ended much better and we went to Wonderland for the Foster-A-Dream Christmas event.  The kids made cookies, played games, sat with Santa and picked out gifts.  The amount of gifts they get is ridiculous and it initially bothered me, but it has been a long year and my kids have to put up with a lot of extra junk due to the foster process, so I say good for them.  I was looking for the adult present shop....I could really use a spa day or an IPAD, but no dice!  I did get a very small manicure set :o).  I digress.....anyway, they gave Ainsley a new bike and I just couldn't go for that, so I talked to her and she didn't even want it anyway, so we gave it back for someone who really needed it.  Then we went out to lunch, which we never do and they were so very good that day!  Ryan finally flew home (thank goodness he made it out of Chicago, just before the snow really hit) and met us after lunch to take Reggie to a birthday party, while I took Ainsley to her gymnastics/dance performance.

 Santa doesn't look very excited...

Ryan had quite the week in Chicago.  His boss was fired last week and his new boss is interesting to say the least and he had really, really long days.  He was so ready to come home and we were asleep by 9:30.  It was the first good night of sleep I had in a few days.
Today was also fun.  We had a message at church that was tailored to the both of us.....how to have hope in hopeless situations.  It is just awesome when you go to church and feel like the pastor is talking directly to you!  We even visited scripture that I had quoted earlier in the week...Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose :o).
From there I took Ainsley to her gymnastics party where they exchanged gifts and watched a slide show.  The food was terrible and we left absolutely starving, so we came home and ate a bunch of toffee!  After dinner we went to a live walk-through nativity.  It was so impressive.  They build an entire village and have actors, dancers, live animals and village activities from that time period.  It was really busy and I wish we would have had more time to explore the village, but the kids did write their names with feather pens and dipped them in ink and Reggie wrote his name in Greek.  We saw how they made "flashlights" from pinch pots, wick and oil and how they made bread.  We learned about the census and it really felt like we flashed back in time.  Mary came in on a donkey and we saw the story come to life.  It was beautiful and a good reminder of what this season is really about.  I think K thought baby Jesus was really in the hay!