A Date to Be Remebered

Today we helped at our church's Hands of Christ program- a time for families in need to come and eat breakfast, sing carols, and receive gifts.  Afterwards our church held a a parents day out.  We told AC and B we were going on a date...the truth was we were going to shop like mad since we are a little behind in that area.  Well, the baby girls were not happy in the nursery, so they ended up coming with us on our shopping frenzy.

When AC and B got home this afternoon those sweet things had formulated a plan to give us a date at home.  Much to their disappointment, I had already started dinner in the crockpot (Steak and Black Bean Chili was deemed very unromantic according to our 7 year olds) , but they set out to create a romantic atmosphere in the dining room, AC insisted on doing my hair and make up (very interesting), and she even layed out an outfit for me to wear.

They thought of everything....right down to a candycane in our water.

Desert was a banana split with extra cherries.

T and I said we were too stuffed to eat it, so our excellent hosts offered to finish it off for us.

Love them so much!

People are people

People are people. They all need food, water, and medicine, but mostly they need love and truth and Jesus.  I can do that.  We can do that. We can give people food, water, medicine, love, truth, and Jesus. The same God created all of us for a purpose, which is to serve Him and to love and care for His people. It is universal. We can't do it in our own stength or out of our own resources, but as we follow God to wherever He is leading us, He makes the impossible happen.
Kisses From Katie

Re-read and re-read this today....thought I would pass it on just because I love it.

Questions and Answers

So, I've gotten several emails asking questions about different things and I thought I would just answer them in a post.

Why do all of your girls have double names?
I have always loved double names.  All of our children have family names (addressed in detail below) and we just liked the way the girls' sounded as a double name.  A few of you asked if that's a southern thing and I'm not really sure, but we do have lots of friends with double names.

Do your children have family names?
Yes, we decided on doing that because me and my siblings have always said the first born grandson should be named after our brother, Brian Andrew, who passed away when he was two.
Anna Cate is named Anna Cathleen- Todd's mother has Anna in her name and my grandmother is Anne.  My mother's name is Cathleen.
Lyla James is named after Todd's grandmother, Lyla, and his grandfather who was James.
Mary Connor is named after my great aunt Mary and Connor (actually Connors) was my great grandmother's maiden name.

Why did you all have to do IVF and how many cycles have you done?
I had an ectopic pregnancy and actually almost died because my tube ruptured and I was bleeding internally for several days.  When we arrived at the emergency room, my doctor said if we would have waited a few more hours, I probably wouldn't have lived.  Having never been pregnant, I thought the pain and nausea I was experiencing was just part of pregnany (and I thought people were crazy for doing this more than once!)  At any rate, I lost one tube from the rupture and the other tube had so much scar tissue, we were advised to look into infertility treatments, specifically IVF.
That was a very frightening and emotional time for us, one of the hardest we have ever faced.  IVF wasn't as mainstream as it is now, neither Todd nor I had ever even heard the word.
But we did a cycle and God's hands were on us because it worked the first time and we soon found out we were expecting twins!  We had 6 embryos left to freeze.  When we decided to try again, only 3 survived the thawing process and none resulted in a pregnancy.  So, we did another cycle of IVF and twins again!  The best possible outcome for us.

Do you all plan to have more children? 
We believe that God's plan for us is already laid out in the way He sees is best and we trust in that.

Have you always had AC and B in the same classroom?
This is the first year we have ever put them together.  From preschool at age 3 through kindergarten we had them in seperate classes.  We actually had several reasons:  we wanted them to really work on some things in their relationship like talking for one another and competing with each other and I knew their teacher would be able to help us with that.  Also, it's easier as far as homework, field trips, class parties.  I don't know that we will always keep them together or what we will do with the little girls. 

I think I covered them all!

A Synopsis of Today...

Finally, I bought a few Christmas presents.

Tonight I sat down to wrap those gifts..

and I have no tape.

After school AC and B, burst through the doors chattering about reducing, reusing, and recycling.  Because they see an art project in everything, meet Reused Roberta...

Do you see my tape???

A Holiday Favorite

Edie at Life in Grace is hosting a Christmas appetizer recipe party and I love appetizers!

This is a favorite of mine for many reasons:  it's simple, looks pretty, contains butter, and goes well with wine....perfection, in my opinion.

Pear-Pecan Bites

1 cup finely chopped pecans

2 ripe pears

1 quart water

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

• Bake pecans in a shallow pn at 350 degrees, 5 minutes or until toasted.
• Cut each pear into thin slices, leaving stems intact.  Combine pear slices, water and lemon juice.
• Beat butter and blue cheese at medium spped with mixer until smooth.
• Drain pear slices on paper towels.  Spread butter mixture on bottom half of pears, coat with pecans.  Cover serving plate and chill at least 30 minutes.
• Makes 2 1/2 dozen

A Day Full of Christmas

This morning we woke up to find Frosty, our elf, was a busy bee during the night....

 he rolled the hallway to the children's bedrooms with toilet paper!

We headed out to do some Christmas shopping and to get our tree.  My safety-first husband watched several videos on Christmas tree safety before we left and insisted on getting LCD lights and using ribbon for the ornaments instead of hooks.

LJ is apparently making her list....and tearing up the magazines because that is so fun!

MC seems to be getting some ideas for her list, as well!

Tonight we will have our traditional tree-trimming dinner:

Tortellini Tapas with Spicy Ranch Dip

White Chili

Candy Cane Breadsticks

Brownies with Ice Cream

Hope y'all are enjoying a wonderful day too!!

December 1

This week has gone by way too quickly.  I have a to-do list a mile long- sound familiar?-, but that has been put on the back burner because strep is visiting us.
AC came home from school Tuesday with a low fever, which meant she had to miss our town's Christmas parade and she also stayed home from school yesterday.  We enjoyed a day of much glitter, monopoly, playing school, and pondering her profesion when she is an adult.
We sent the boys off to the parade and Brian seemed fine, but last night they both broke out in rashes.  After a quick trip to the Dr's, it's confirmed and they will be home for the remainder of the week.
It's just been a weird week.  With all of the Christmas decorations and festivities comes lots of joy and excitement, yet I have heard from many this week who are facing struggles...sickness, divorce, family problems.  I'm having a hard time processing it all. 
I am loving this season of life..a time to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus and all of the blessings He has given us, yet I'm weighed down by the lows so may are facing. 

The poor and the hopeless are desperate for water,

their tounges parched and no water to be found.

But I'm there to be found, I'm there for them,

and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.

Isaiah 41: 17 The Message