A request please:)

As I blogged about thanksgiving and blessings I did not think about Aaron Bell, friend a classmate to my children. I should have. My children and I have prayed for him. His mother has taught my children and is now the Liberian at our elementary school. Although she has taken a leave as their only child Aaron fights brain cancer. He is taking treatments and is a incredible young man! I thought about his dad's words today and realize there are so many things in life I take for granted. Aaron has a map on his site that shows who has looked at his page. If you have a minute and do not mind, please sign it. Aaron is only 12 and he is fighting a battle I cannot imagine.....so most importantly pray for Aaron please:)

Puzzles

Scott loves puzzles. He has really enjoyed the big boys living room and the ability to have a puzzled on the table there without a million little hands carrying off the pieces. He and the boys are on their third puzzle since thanksgiving. It is a great time to sit and talk. Last night Preston, our friend, sat until 11:30pm talking and putting the puzzle together with Scott. It is a calm and frustrating thing...lol. It never fails that you can spend 30 minutes looking for one piece only to have someone walk up and the first try slide the piece into place! But, the joy of finding a tough piece is pretty cool:)

Falling behind on blogging

Zackery Paul age 12
Ryan James age 9
Michael Stefan age 10
Carlton Andrew age 13
Sarah Morgan age 18

Daniel Jesse age 9
Kayla Rose "Rosie" age 11
Seth Nathaniel age 6
Samuel Adam age 11
Natasha Ruth "Tasha" age 11

Mary Angelita age 10
Victoria Grace age 8
Isabella Rose age 10
Mercedez Salome age 12

Once again this Fall I have fallen behind on my blogging. To many things running through my head. At the time when I need to blog the most I am the most crunched for time. And sometimes I simply do not know where to start!

This past Wednesday an appointment opened up for Sam and Zack with our therapist and Scott was taking them. He asked if there was anything we needed to talk about? I stood thinking and finally laughed a little and Scott smiled at me, "not sure where to start?". That is how it is with my blogging sometimes, so much of my life never gets blogged. I can describe parts, yet so much is left. In a "where do I start?" thought I can just walk away from a free computer(not a normal sight in my house) and never even begin. These last few blogs have been in an effort to "begin again".

This week my dad had surgery to repair his rotor cuff on his left shoulder. It went well and I am once again thankful for Clara Ruth and her love and care for dad! I have had a different child home sick everyday. Sinus infection for me, and a mountain of waiting work.

This morning I thought of my Granny. She always told me to never leave a washer or dryer running when I left the house, telling me the danger of impending fires. If I followed her lead I would never get my washing done. Although this morning I put a load in my washer and took the kids to school. On arriving home I could hear a terrible noise from outside! The washer had gotten out of balance and the whole tub knocked the front of the washer off, the tub spinning and grinding in the floor!! I turned it off and decided we might need a new washer...lol. But, my granny's warning became a serious thought. I was just glad I came in when I did!

Above are pictures taken last Sunday on the way out the door for church, or the ones who were dressed on time and stopped for mom:)

Creative girls

Yesterday Tasha's teacher called Scott and asked him about the girls, Tasha and Bella. Apparently they cooked a scheme to get out of homework. Tasha went to Bella's teacher and told her that we sang at the Darryl Worley telethon and mom wanted her to come and tell the teacher that we did not have time to do homework. Then Bella returned the favor telling the same story to Tasha's teacher. Mrs. Garrison told Scott , "you sure do have some creative girls!" Not a good thing in this context! My girls had to verbally apologize and will still be working tonight on multiplication tables! The silly part is that they never said they had homework (likely because we would have gotten up and done it before school). The point was to not do the work and they won that.....both receiving zeros and having a different (not nearly as easy) consequence. Raising smart kids is not always easy.....especially smart kids who spend more time getting out of work than the work would have taken! Thankfully, I am pretty open with our teachers, if I sign a note, I also add my cell phone number. I never send sibling when I can send a note or call. I guess Tasha and Bella now understand that:)

Tree climibing

No climbing trees. This is a rule in the back yard. Mostly because of Sam and Zack, safety is an issue. I do not think I have any other children who would jump out of a tree at 15 feet, but they sure would if dared. I was taking pictures of kiddos swinging when I spotted Ryan and Daniel starting up the tree. When I called to them, they said, "We're getting down, but could you take our picture first?". So here is a picture of my poor tree climbing deprived boys:)

Granny and Elvis

The Holiday dinner at the nursing home was really nice. Elvis was there to entertain. He wasn't really bad, nor really good, yet he tried very hard and that was extremely entertaining:) Jacob, John, Caleb, Mercedez and I were blessed to be able to be with Granny and enjoy the evening!

Darryl Worley Telethon

Tonight the children sand on the local Christian TV station as they hosted the Darryl Worley telethon to raise money for the cancer center at our local hospital. The kids did well. One picture was taken at church while the kids practiced last Sunday and one was taken today:) Super fun to be part of something so great. At the time the kids sang over 50,000 had been raised!!

My friend Mildred:)

My Mary holding Seirra:)

Mildred and most of her children....several biggies are missing:)

Mildred, here sister and their children and grandchildren:)

Seth loving the baby, Seirra, along with Rayshon and Darrius.

My friend Mildred was in Savannah over Thanksgiving. She and her sister spent Friday night and Saturday in and out and her children here playing. What a joy:) I have been friends with Mildred since I began adopting, actually while Scott and I were still fostering. She has a grown son and began adopting not long after us. She is now living in Chicago, but hopefully will be moving back this way in the Spring.

Santa at Thanksgiving!!

Santa came for Thanksgiving to sit with the little ones and big ones:) The kids were funny. Cade in total seriousness told his mom "I didn't know Papa was Santa Claus". My children all know, except perhaps Seth who yelled out the back door after Santa left. He happened to miss seeing the sled take off...lol....Santa was enjoyed by all!!

Thanksgiving

Caleb and Zachary (my nephew)
Rosie and Mr Cooper, the youngest family member and my nephew.
Seth and Cade (my nephew, Sandy's oldest)
Mary and Granny Holt

Dad and Clara Ruth

Jennifer(on left) with her son Skylar and Sandy (on right) with her little Chance
Chelsea and Chance along with the pumpkin Chance carried everywhere:)

Victoria, Alexandra (my niece) and Mama Nell, my mother's birthmom.

Thanksgiving at the Smotherman house was big this year. My family all joined us for Thanksgiving lunch. I ended the day wondering with Scott about thankfulness. We talked about dear friends who are facing cancer or children going to Iraq. Those families were so thankful to be together this year. I don;t think thankfulness comes with age, for there are surely many young children who realize the blessings of each day. But, I know that as our children grow, they will remember days like today and be thankful they had them. We never know what each day holds. We know not what each hour holds, yet times of love and family are such a blessing. These days of being together are not going to last forever.....we will always be family, we will always try to find time for each other, but we will not always be here as we were today. I am so blessed by my family and days like today make those blessings all the sweeter:)

Crazy fans

My bunch has some definite "crazy fans". In our rival game against Adamsville High School Caleb, Doug and two of thier friends painted on shirts and numbers. Chelsea was a big helper in the painting category! I think someday Caleb and Doug will look back and laugh thinking about thier "crazy spirit", but either way they sure lead the crowd! Also pictured is the student section holding up newspapers during the line-up call for the other team. BTW, that picture is one of Mercedez' first real shots! She walked over and took a bunch of crowd shots:)