Gotcha Day 22

Christmas

What a fun day of celebrating with my crazy family!  So blessed they could all be here. 

Benjamin has grown so much this year. He towers over everyone else. Caden read the Christmas story to us and Mary and Joseph would have been proud of how he narrated their journey.  Amanda came with Ben and she is always a welcome addition. Christmas is always better when Tara comes “home” from Austria for her school vacation.  Wesley rode his motorcycle from Cape Girardeau to be here and he gifted me with my first ever 2,000 piece puzzle. Yikes! Mallory was here for her first time and she jumped right into the madness. 

It was a wonderful day filled with fun, family and food.  And laughter. So much laughter.

Wesley’s motorcycle

Motorcycle lessons

Wes has decided he wants a motorcycle, so he took lessons on driving it and completed it today. 

20 year anniversary

Twenty years have passed since the kids were adopted.  It’s been a wild ride, with lots of unexpected bumps along the way, but I’m blessed to be their momma!

Wes moves to Missouri

Wes moved in with Carly and Michael.  Turns out, he’s not a fan of holding a full time job, which I required him to do to live with me.  

An unexpected twist

Well, I certainly didn’t see this one coming, but Jacob turned his house over to his mortgage company and it was sold at a sheriff sale, unbeknownst to any of the family.  

Today, they showed up to change the locks and that is the first anyone but Jacob knew anything was wrong.  Needless to say, I was beyond heartbroken, angry and sad.  All of the hard work and money we put into the house was just wasted. To top it off, I suddenly had both Jacob and Wesley living with me again.  Not at all how I expected this day to go.

Christmas celebration

Lunch dates

Wes got a new vehicle

Because they're dorks like that

We had our traditional Chinese Thanksgiving dinner, where I snapped these pictures of my kiddos. Of course, they took me quite literally when I said get closer together.

Zac and Sarah's wedding

Today, was Sarah and Zac’s wedding. Missing from the day was Sarah’s daughter, Maddy, who died almost four years ago, at the age of 11.

It is well known folklore if a cardinal visits you, it is someone visiting you from heaven. Literally moments before the ceremony was to begin, a bird flew into the building. Perched above the couple sat a red cardinal for the entire ceremony.