All I Want for Christmas

Today on the way home from picking Landon up from school, the song "All I Really Want" by Steven Curtis Chapman played on the radio. If you have not heard this song, it is about an orphan who only wants a family for Christmas. As the song played, the words pierced my heart.

In May 2007, I had a pregnancy that ended with a miscarriage. From that point, my Crohn's Disease spiraled downhill and I was sick through the most of last school year. During that time, I did not know if I could get pregnant again. Adoption has always been on my heart since I was a little girl. As the song played, I knew it was more than emotion. We are trusting God to continue to lead our family - maybe one day we can answer this prayer for a child . . .

All I really want for Christmas
Is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose
Shoulders to ride on if I win
There’s so much I could ask for
But there’s just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time celebrating with both of our families over Thanksgiving. Last Wednesday, we drove down to Myrtle Beach to be with Greg's family - had Thanksgiving lunch, played football in the backyard, and enjoyed our visit. Then, we headed back home Thanksgiving afternoon for dinner with my family. At the end of the day, we were stuffed.

My mom and I always hit the stores for day after Thanksgiving shopping. Even though there were no deals we were really going after, it was a great time to be together. I came home to Christmas decorations and boxes and boxes. We enjoyed the down weekend together and our home is now decorated and we have started counting down the days until Christmas!!!

Animal Crackers

After watching a recent report on my favorite morning show, I decided to try to only buy foods without preservatives. Last week I was at Target looking through all their organic and health boxed foods. Surprisingly, the animal crackers the boys love stated "All Natural." I looked at the ingredients and sure enough no preservatives, no hydrogenated oils. We consumed the box this week and while at Wal-Mart tonight I decided to buy another box. However, even though made by the exact same company, Wal-Mart's crackers are packaged differently and lower in price. Since I still had the box of the Target crackers, I decided to look at the ingredients. I couldn't believe it. The crackers from Wal-Mart actually had the hydrogenated oils and preservatives. After looking at the company's website, they actually make two different types of animal crackers, the "All Natural" ones and "Original" ones. I guess I will be heading back to Target for our animal cracker supply.

Spelling Test

Every Wednesday Camden has a spelling test. Each night before the test, we review all his words. He always knows his words and does well on the tests. However, today he came home with several words misspelled. He clearly knew the words and even spelled one of the missed words right in a sentence at the end of the test. I asked him if something happened during the test to make him distracted.

Camden: "No, mom, I just wanted to see what it was like to not get them all right. One of my friends always misses some words so I didn't want him to be all alone."

Thyroid . . .

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my hair was falling out, more than normal. Since I have blood work taken regularly for my Crohn's Disease, I asked my GI doctor if there were any other levels he could check to find a cause for the hair loss. Thyroid. Tests taken, levels a little high but not to worry. I started researching symptoms of hyperthyroidism and decided to go to my PCP to follow up. He ran more blood work. Yes, it is my thyroid. Tomorrow I will go for a thyroid scan. It may be my medicines causing the higher levels, so the only way to find out for sure is the scan. Never seen my thyroid before, actually don't even know exactly what it does. But tomorrow I will get the picture, actually three . . . hopefully this will be our answer.

October Pictures

Ben Lippen Homecoming

Camden's 7th Birthday Party

Test Run for Tent Set-Up

Soccer Boys!

Church's Fall Festival

Halloween

In my camera . . .

In my camera, you will find our October. It has been a crazy month. No down time, but lots of fun. Here are the highlights:

Homecoming at Ben Lippen
We had a great time tailgating, watching the elementary kids sing before kick-off, and loved the halftime parade.

Camden's 7th Birthday!
Camden had his 7th birthday party at Woodlands Park. We had a guide from the Nature Company come with lots of reptiles and frogs. The kids had a great time exploring the animals, taking a nature hike, and playing "What Time is it Mr. Fox?"

Two Soccer Games EVERY Saturday
Both boys are playing soccer this fall with Daddy as their coach. This is Landon's first year of on an official team. All three are having fun.

First Camping Trip for Camden
Greg took Camden with the RA's from church on their first camp out. It was pouring down rain, very high winds (trees were falling around them), and chilly. Regardless of the conditions, Camden LOVED it. He asked the RA Director if they could go camping every weekend. Camping gear is on the list for Christmas.

While Greg and Camden were gone, Landon and I went to the opening night of High School Musical 3. We had a great date night!

Road Trips . . .
We have taken a couple road trips. First, I had a doctor's appointment in Chapel Hill with my GI team. We had a great appointment. We are praying that my current medicine will hold my Crohn's in remission.

After that trip, we headed to Atlanta for a long weekend. We had a great time shopping, eating out, meeting up with friends, and of course the boys favorite - swimming in the hotel pool :).

Fall Parties, Church's Fall Festival, & Halloween
We had a great time celebrating at our church's Fall Festival. Camden dressed up as a ninja and Landon was a Clone Trooper. For Halloween, we went to a friend's house. The boys made slime and cotton candy with the Mad Scientist and jumped in a bouncer while practicing their karate moves. Landon decided to be a fire fighter instead on Halloween.