What Really is the Reason for the Season?

This time of year, it gets very hectic; shopping, planning, hosting, more shopping, cooking, baking, decorating. We all experience this and it can be very overwhelming.

I do truly love this time of the year. I love shopping, planning, hosting, doing more shopping, cooking and decorating(with the help of my mom and sister).

But then when I hear of such sad news, like this morning, of a very close friend, it brings me back to what the reason of the season is really about...family. I have focused on family all my life, whether it was me as an orphan dreaming of a family of my own; knowing how my first family was treating me was not right; the blessing of having yet another family; and then the ultimate, my very own family.

I try to live life being grateful for all that I have been blessed with. I thank God daily for giving me the life I am living and I'm talking about actually living, not what I have.

I know the circle of life happens daily, but when it hits close to home, it breaks my heart and especially this time of year. So hug your kids, hug your parents, hug your family.

On a Whim

I sent my family's Christmas card and letter to my first adoptive parents this year. I wonder what their reaction will be. I didn't write anything personal to them, just the letter and card like we do for everyone else on our Christmas card list. They are ages 84 and 86? Have they 'softened' in their later years? Will I hear from them? I doubt it. I think they, especially the mother, want to forget about me, even though she stated she still had pictures of me. I haven't sent anything to them since 2007 and never heard anything back from them.

What would I do if I were in their shoes? I hope I would have asked for forgiveness from God, then respond back to my child and ask for forgiveness and actually say sorry for the abuse. I hope I would be that type of person.

Snow

More like LOTS of snow! Usually I am the first one to step up to the plate and go out to shovel the driveway and front porch, but not this time. Our first BIG snow in our new house and wow, did we get snow! Over ten inches, but with the wind, came the huge snow drifts.

Looking out my front door, yes, I could see the drifts, but looking from the outside, the drifts were way taller. The plow came thru and right in front of our driveway, the snow drift grew even taller. And the drift in front of our door, was about three feet tall.

So I sent my two kids outside to shovel the front porch. Of course, my hubby says that is the reason why we had kids...he's kidding! But really, they are 11 and 15 years old, they can do it, it builds character. They did a nice job and I know they felt like I usually do after I shovel, they felt a sense of accomplishment for all the hard work. You can see the result from my facebook badge to the right.

We decided to hire a plowing company to plow our driveway for us. It's a good thing we did! It took him 50 minutes to clear out the end of our driveway with the huge snow drift! Our neighbor across the street is doing his by hand, lotta work since the drift covered his entire entrance to his driveway. We at least had the other end not covered by a drift to enter or exit.

And that brings me to my hubby. He decided to go into work yesterday morning. I woke up to find the garage empty. I texted him to see if he was at work. His text back a few minutes later said, 'Trying to'...what did that mean? All I could imagine was him being stuck in the ditch. A text later said he was helping a neighbor dig out...from where? The entrance to our street. The entrance hadn't been plowed, no kidding!!

The neighbor had a smaller car, my hubby has an Enclave. And he was prepared, he had a shovel with him and wore his non work clothes. His car got stuck so he would dig part of his car out, sit in the car for five minutes to warm up, I didn't mention that it was blizzard conditions in the morning...then he'd go out again and dig some more. The neighbor gave up and walked home.

My hubby continued his quest to dig out. Once he accomplished digging his car out, he still had to manage getting out of our entrance so he knew he had to gun it and go for it...I'm so glad I wasn't in the car with him! He said he gunned it and poof! White all over the place and when the snow settled, he gunned it again and making sure to note where the light pole was-all I could do was text, 'Crazy' to him...he made it out and into work. Needless to say, everyone that works for my hubby was disappointed that he made it into work, they thought for sure since we live further out that he wouldn't make it into work. They should know him better by now! And it's not because they don't like working for him, it's because they like to make bets on everything!

So now my kids are home with me again today, third snow day in a row. No more snow today, just very cold temperatures, -18 degrees windchill. The regular temp started off in the negatives!

The snow is beautiful tho, it truly is a Winter Wonderland here, I love it!

Today is My Gotcha Day

And this is the jacket I wore when I came to my current family. I look at this jacket and it speaks volumes to me. It shows how small I was at the age of 5 1/2yrs old. It shows the time of year, winter. Inside, I wrote my name on it, as if I was claiming it forever, three simple letters, K-i-m, written in the oh so familiar writing of a kindergartner. This jacket was all I had from my past, but look at it closely, it shows style, it shows warmth, it shows hope.

Hope is what I take from this little jacket. I knew leaving my first family is what I wanted, I knew it was right. I was shown a picture of my current family and asked if I wanted to live with them, I didn't hesitate, I nodded my head 'yes'.

Granted, I didn't remember my Gotcha Day every year, but as I am getting older and wiser and more grateful, I cherish this day more and more. This day marks the third time in my life at living the life God intended for me.

I was the typical child, the typical teenager, the typical young adult. Life is great when you get a chance to live a typical life. Now I live a typical life with my own family. But typical is far from how we live. We live a BLESSED life and without my Gotcha Day, I wouldn't have this BLESSED life!