What Are The Odds??

I know this is a great picture, it is 18 years old! And, I think it is pretty brave of me to post it, me being 9 months pregnant, wearing a pink jumper!
This is a picture of me and one of the nicest people in the whole world, really even after 18 years she still ranks that high in my book, Marae Abbott! This was taken at a baby shower she gave me for McKenzie!
When Scott and I found out that we were getting stationed in Monterey CA we were very excited, we moved to CA the day after Christmas 1989! We stayed in a hotel the first week there looking high and low for an apartment that we could afford, it was very expensive to live there. I think we found a place but it would not be available for another week and we could not afford to stay at the hotel for 2 weeks.
Before we left Scott's best friend from High School mentioned to us that his cousin, whom we had met briefly, lived not too far away in Scott's Valley, and that if we ever needed anything to give them a call. Well, being young, dumb and broke, we called them.
To make a long story short we stayed with them for a week, at first perfect strangers, in the end great friends! We loved their condo it was decorated so cute, Marae was so gracious feeding us and making us feel like we were honored guests. Even after we moved into our own place we kept in touch going on day trips with them to San Francisco and shopping. I have such great memories of our time with this great couple! (Her hubby was equally nice)!
Why am I mentioning this you might be asking?? Well, after we moved we kept in touch with Christmas cards and would hear of their growing family and we would send notice of our growing family but for the most part we have not seen each other for a very long, long time!
Well as we were coming home from Yakima yesterday it was lunch time and we stopped in North Bend to grab some lunch. Scott and I wanted Blimpie and the kids wanted Arby's so we got our sandwiches and then headed to Arby's drive thru. After we got our food we pulled the car over to divide it up and realized we were a couple of straws short so Scott went into Arby's to get some straws and who was sitting there? None other than our long lost friend Marae Abbott and her whole family and Scott's best friends family. Scott ran out to the car and hauled us all in and what a surprise to see her there with her cute family. She has not changed sweet as ever, as a matter of fact Kelsie's middle name is Marae after our friend Marae Abbott! She took a picture of her and Kelsie I wish I had my camera, it was a great surprise!

Twice is Nice!

(Thanks Julie for the picture)

We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year. On Thanksgiving we drove to Scott's brother's house for yummy turkey and the fixin's, except for the salad and chocolate pie that we (Scott and I) forgot! We are still in debate as to who was the one that actually forgot the salad and pie! The food was good and no worries the pumpkin trifle was delicious! The kids had fun swimming and playing games! Thanks Dan and Lynn for taking on our crew for Thanksgiving, and for keeping the boys until Sat!

Then on Friday we packed up Kenzie and her stuff and headed back over to Yakima so that she could meet her ride back to Idaho on Saturday morning! When we arrived in Yakima we had another yummy feast at grandma and grandpa's house waiting for us. We even brought along the salad and chocolate pie that we forgot on Thanksgiving. Instead of turkey we had roasted chicken which Katie and Kelsie said was much better than turkey and when they grow up they are going to serve chicken on Thanksgiving instead of turkey, go figure! We had a candlelit dinner and 2 yummy chocolate pies for dessert! Thanks grandma and grandpa it was a fun evening and we felt so special sitting at the fancy table all decked out!

We sent Kenzie off this morning, but she will be back in 2 weeks! She told us the next time we see her she will be 18! They grow up so fast and we loved having her home. We had a fun week baking, shopping and decorating the house for Christmas. She had fun visiting with her friends and helping out at cheer practice!

Growing Like a Weed

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Just a quick post, notice in the header picture how Kelsie is now taller than Katie, we knew it would happen she has been sneaking up on her since she was about 5 years old. Katie has always managed to edge ahead of her but I think Katie is now done growing, for the most part, and Kelsie has a few more inches to go! I wonder if she will be taller than McKenzie, I guess only time will tell!

Grateful Day 20

Today I am grateful that gas was $1.75 a gallon! I didn't have to take out a second mortgage to buy a tank of gas! Hope it stays this way for a while!

Today I am grateful to have my family gathered around...maybe next Thanksgiving Gracie and Destina will be here with us too! Until then I look forward to the next trip to Haiti and spending time with my girls!

This is a video of Gracie eating, not really exciting, but to us we were very happy this was towards the end of the week and she was starting to feel better and enjoyed food. The best thing about this video, besides the fact that she is eating, is that is shows her cute dimple, I can't wait to see her with fat cheeks again!

Grateful Day 18

Today I am grateful that we successfully, drove to Yakima and brought McKenzie home for Thanksgiving! We had a fun busy day! (She found a ride from BYU ID to Yakima!)

Grateful Day 17

I'm grateful today because I got an email telling us that our "parent/guardian" interview went well. This is where the parent or in our case the person who took our children to the orphanage had to meet with the US government and be interviewed to determine if our children are really orphans. Doing this step now will save us time in the end, we hope!

Grateful Day 17

Today I am grateful for a great movie! "August Rush"

We watched this movie this past weekend and our whole family loved it! It is a great story with great music! If you haven't seen it you should, and the little boy in the movie is so cute! Check out the trailer below then go rent it for your Thanksgiving Parties!

Grateful Day 16

Today I am grateful that November is National Adoption Awareness Month!
There are so many ways to make a difference, this is one of the ways that I have chosen to make a difference, and come to find out it has made a difference in ME!

I found this quote on another blog:

why adopt……..

i don’t know…………

but if you have entertained the thought…..you probably have entertained angels...

Grateful Day 15

I am grateful that my kitchen painting is done, we actually finished late Sat night! It was also great because I was forced to clean up a few clutter spots and it has been nice having a REALLY clean kitchen this week. I'm sure it won't last long and the clutter will find its way back! And I really love the new look!

Grateful Day 14

I just got an up-date on our adoption and was told that my girls are doing great. That all the kids love school and Gracie is doing good. So today I am grateful for Nadia, she is the orphanage director and cares so much for the children in Haiti and works hard to make a difference in their lives. And for Chareyl who works hard and cares so much about all the children she is working with! She is an amazing woman! And I am grateful for Harry who works so hard in Haiti to give these children HOPE!

I have to borrow a story from my friend Marilee she posted this today and it made me cry, just imagine if you were one of these little children!

Earlier that week Nadia told us that when airplanes fly over the orphanage Abie always runs to her and asks,"Are my parents on that airplane?" Nadia would tell her "No" and then Abie would say, "When do my parents come to take me home? I want to be with my family."

Nadia and her mom!

That is Chareyl hiding behind Destina!

Harry and his wife Pascal

Conspiracy Theory!

I came across this great little video, it really hit home. We have always tried to make Christmas about Christ and being together as a family, limiting gifts and focusing on being of service to others. The "media" would have me believe that if I don't cater to each of my children's wish list and get them everything they could possibly want then I don't have the Christmas Spirit, and my Christmas will not be as meaningful. Really the opposite is true when we take the focus off of gifts we feel the Christmas spirit.

Grateful Day 13

Kenzie has been at school since the first of September and then before that she was gone all summer so she really hasn't been home for more than 2 weeks since the beginning of June. While in Idaho she seems to find a ride to Utah most weekends and had been hanging out with her cousin Madie and my sister. She has been spoiled, she has gone to a Ute football game, eating out at our favorite restaurants and spending time with my family.

When I was talking to Kenzie on the phone a week or so ago she said she really misses having family dinners and DOING THE DISHES! She will be coming home for a week at Thanksgiving and I will do my best to make sure she doesn't miss doing dishes for a while!

Anyway, today I am grateful for my sisters! My older sister has really opened her house and made Kenzie feel welcome, taken her shopping and added to her wardrobe, taken her to meals at her favorite places, and treated her as her own. My younger sister sent me this picture and it is great to see Kenzie hanging out with her cousins. Thank you!!

Grateful Day 12

This one is kinda stupid,

but I am grateful nonetheless, for...

Silk Plant Cleaner!

And even better...

a beautiful day outside to clean them!

Grateful Day 11

This post has a meaning but first there is a story behind what I am grateful for today. Scott is not a romantic kind of guy, no love letters, or a trail of rose petals, unless you count the ones in my garden, no candlelit dinners by a roaring fire that he lovingly prepared. As a matter of fact when Scott proposed to me it was probably the most un-romantic thing possible, and every time I bring it up his response is always"well you said yes!" So for that story....

Scott and I were painting my sister's kitchen, and he needed to go to the insurance office and sign some insurance papers. When we got there he was complaining about how much his insurance was. The insurance lady was trying to find ways to lower the cost of his insurance, she asked him how many speeding tickets he had, too many, no that didn't work, she asked him several other questions and finally she said "Are you married? because your insurance would go way down if you were married."

About an hour after we returned and continued our painting he looked at me and said "So do you want to get married?" And yes, I said yes! So now whenever we are painting we always laugh about "our proposal!"

Well I have been complaining about the paint job in our house from the day we moved in. I think they forgot to paint altogether and just left us with primer. Slowly we have been repainting one room at a time, and I finally told Scott that I was going to go out and buy some paint and do the kitchen, it doesn't need a lot of paint, there are not that many walls. Well, Scott would have none of that. You see he can't stand the idea of "letting" me paint a room by myself, apparently I am not anal enough to do a good job. He is nice enough though to let me "help" and we always have a good time when we are working together. So I am grateful for husband that likes to paint and do other "manly" jobs around the house. After 21 years there is nothing quite as romantic as watching my husband paint, fix, or working on the honey do list, do dishes and even clean a toilet once in a while, without too much complaining!


On a side note when I clean out my closet and get rid of old clothes there is always that old sweatshirt and old pair of jeans and a tee shirt or two that I always say to myself "This will make a good painting, or cleaning outfit". Well here is my 10 year old sweatshirt if you look close you can see the hanger/dust marks on the shoulder, sometimes it does pay to save an old outfit or two.

Grateful day 10

I am grateful today and everyday that someday I will be the mother of these two little girls! They mean the world to me!

Thanks Shannon for passing this picture along to me!

Grateful day 9

This one is short and sweet and I'm not going into detail but I am grateful for... Car Insurance!

Grateful day 8

Drum Roll Please..... Today I am grateful for the numbers...20422, 20423, why you might ask? It is our file numbers, our coveted IBESR numbers, it is these numbers that means our case is finally in the court system in Haiti! We have been waiting for these numbers for a long time! Our girls are one step closer to coming home!

Grateful day 7

Grateful for teacher work days! It was nice having all the kids home today without any commitments or places to be. It was fun playing basketball, outside in the nice weather, with Ryan. Hanging out with the girls and getting Jayden's hair cut! And dinner together as a family 2 nights in a row!

Grateful day 6

Morning came early today and I really didn't want to get out of bed, I thought to myself that no one would miss me if I didn't show up at church so maybe I should, just this once, sleep in and not go. In the end I drug myself out of bed and got the kids all ready to go and we made it there, a little late. I was very glad I went the messages were what I needed to hear today. I am glad that most Sundays I just get out of bed without a second thought and I am glad that today I resisted the urge to just sleep in. I am grateful for church and the messages of Christ's love for us that we learn each week!

Check out the link below for a wonderful slide show of the life of Christ!

Reflections of Christ

grateful day 5

Today was the last football game of the season. We have had fun going to the games cheering on the football players along with watching some pretty cute cheerleaders! So I am grateful for.....Football Season!

Fall Family Photos

Make a Smilebox photobook

Grateful day 4

This picture isn't really related to my post but it is a picture of Destina passing out some candy to the kids at the Orphanage . This is where my kids spend most the the day sitting out in this covered carport.

While we were in Haiti in Oct we were able to meet one of the founders of Haitian Roots. Haitian Roots is an organization that sponsors children in Haiti to go to school. It costs $250 a year to send a child to school in Haiti, which is what the average person in Haiti makes a year, so although they have a public school system most parents can't afford to send their children to school. So I am grateful....
that there are such wonderful people that care so much for children living so far away and that they work so hard to provide an education to these precious children. One person can make difference! http://www.haitianroots.com/

Grateful day 3

Scott and I had a bet on who would win the election and I won the bet so....I am grateful I don't have to do dishes for a week!

Swimming

I posted in June that Destina is a little fish in the water, here is some video taken in October of her "swimming". Remember this is her 3rd or 4th time EVER in a swimming pool!

Grateful day 2

Grateful...
for sunny days after rain.
that the election is over and I don't have to watch campaign ads anymore!
for the people working behind the scenes on our adoption, you are wonderful people!

Grateful...

Life has been hard at the Gordon household some of you know more in depth as to why, others know the surface stress that our family is under. Even with all the stress there are so many great things in my life, so since Thanksgiving is just around the corner I am following my friend's lead and listing the things I am grateful for everyday until Thanksgiving. Things that I am grateful for...

kids who make me proud in and out of the home, they are all shinning examples of kindness, love and respect for others.
extended family, who have supported us through our tough times.
friends that remind me to be grateful for friends!

Thanks, Jennifer for the great idea of listing daily the things I am grateful for until Thanksgiving!

Goofy Girls

Destina and Abby dancing and being silly, Scott and I are giving dance instruction. Good thing we are not on camera!

Halloween

The kids had a fun Halloween this year, it rained all day and then about 4 pm the rain stopped and it was dry and fairly warm for trick or treating! Jayden went as the "grim reaper" a costume I really don't like but Scott bought it for Ryan a couple of years ago, and I was too cheap to buy a different one. Kelsie went as a "hippy" she dressed up for school and totally has the self confidence to wear silly things and look totally ridiculous and have fun with the whole thing, way to go Kelsie! Katie didn't really dress up she just went to go hang out with friends, and Ryan was the "homeless guy". He and Jayden had fun trick or treating with their friends bringing in way too much candy, but a great time was had by all! As for Scott and I we hung out at our friend's house along with quite a few other families, eating yummy soup and the best dessert ever!