2008...REALLY?

How is that possible that it is almost 2008? In just a matter of hours it will be a New Year. This time last year we were frantically packing our belongings to make a huge transition from Kentucky to Texas. Here we are a year later...another child in tow... and trying to figure out how an entire year has blown by. The older I get, the faster the years pass. Is it just me?

As we are staring 2008 in the face, we are also anticipating another milestone in the Judd home. We will be celebrating our son's first birthday at home...and more than likely his first birthday EVER celebrated. He is clueless. He could really care less how old he is, when asked, he just looks at us like "why do you keep asking me that." Apparently age was never discussed. American kids are taught from birth...hold up one finger..you are one...2 fingers you are 2. Not Clark, he pretty much doesn't even care. So, we won't be making a huge deal out of it this year. I will make him a cake and we plan on taking him to an indoor play structure to play. We will save the party for another year. However, this celebration for us brings with it thoughts of Clark's birth parents. I wonder if they ever wonder where he is...or how he is doing. As we celebrated Christmas, we were reminded of what Mary might have been feeling 2000 years ago. She knew she was with child, but that he would be the savior of the world. He ultimately gave his life so we could live eternally. I wonder if Clark's mother knew from conception that she would have to give her child up... not knowing what would become of him. I wish I could tell her just how much he is loved and cared for. To thank her for giving him life...for giving us our son. For her to know that I could not love him any more if my very own blood ran through his veins. He is our son regardless of DNA. I came across this song on another blog...I wish I knew how to post music...I don't...so I will just use the words.

Boats and Birds by Gregory and the Hawks.

If you'll be my star
I'll be your sky
you can hide underneath me and come out at night
when I turn jet black and you show off your light
I live to let you shine
I live to let you shine


but you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your stardust to remember you by


If you'll be my boat
I'll be your sea
a depth of pure blue just to probe curiosity
ebbing and flowing and pushed by a breeze
I live to make you free
I live to make you free



But you can set sail to the west if you want to
and past the horizon till I can't even see you
far from here where the beaches are wide
just leave me your wake to remember you by


If you'll be my star
I'll be your sky
you can hide underneath me and come out at night
when I turn jet black and you show off your light
I live to let you shine
I live to let you shine
But you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your stardust to remember you by
stardust to remember you by.

Isn't that neat? I really like the tune...if we figure out how to post music, we will do that.

Here is an adoption poem that I absolutely love. I plan on putting it in Clark's life book that I started making for him.

LEGACY OF AN ADOPTED CHILD

Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears

One gave you up, that was all that she could do
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

Now, you ask me through your tears, the age old question unanswered through the years
Heredity or environment, which are you the product of
Neither my darling, just 2 different kinds of love.
---- Unknown

I just love that poem! It is my favorite adoption poem that I have come across. It tells the story the way I want Clark to understand it.

I will post again to let you know what he thinks of turning 4 years old on Sat., Jan. 5!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET CLARK!!!

Anyway, as we look back upon 2007...our lives have forever changed. We were blessed with a son that God chose for us before the creation of the world. We had to wait on God's perfect timing. God taught me more about trust and faithfulness during this year than probably in any year prior. He placed me in a situation outside of my comfort zone, in a country thousands of miles away, and taught me to be utterly dependent on him. He was my ONLY source of strength. My husband was back in the states and I was in a foreign country with our daughter and I didn't speak the language...no pressure there!! But God blessed beyond measure and placed me with other American families and protected Ali and me the entire time. While in Ukraine God reminded me of the verse "for I know the plans I have for you..plans to prosper you and not to harm you." I clung to those words and he returned us safe and sound to the comfort of our own home. God is forever faithful.

May 2008 bring wonderful memories, good health, and happiness!!

I will leave you with a few pictures that were taken last Friday right before Jay and family left. He received a car carrier with lots of Hot Wheels in it from Mimi and Papaw and he didn't open it until Friday. He was thrilled with all of his new cars.

random pictures...

Christmas memories...

I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone! The years seem to pass faster every year.

Our Christmas was wonderful. It was amazing watching Clark take it all in. A child who, prior to 4 months ago, had never been given a gift...now had a ROOM full. He didn't quite know what to do. He actually gave up on the unwrapping after awhile and just wanted to play. I believe he still has a few gifts under the tree to unwrap! He was so cute though. He loved the Carnival Capers set that he got to go with his Thomas the Train. He played and played and played with that.

Ali was so excited also. She got more Star Wars Lego's (which she loves), an MP3 player that she didn't know what was getting, PlayStation 2, a sewing machine, lots of craft projects, movies, cd's, tons of books, clothes...I could go on and on. (she gets very spoiled by both sets of grandparents)

We had my side of the family in and that was a lot of fun to be together. Ali and Abby enjoyed spending some time together...and Clark is totally IN LOVE with his Unca Jay!! That is all we heard this week "Unca Jay...Unca Jay.." Sorry Aunt Paula...he does love you too!! :)

Here are some pictures of our Christmas......

Christmas

Have a Merry, Merry CHRISTmas!

We wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! What a gift we were given that night in a manger so long ago. May our thoughts first reflect on the blessings we have and the salvation we have in Christ because of that gift.

We are excited to watch Clark experience his first American Christmas and first Christmas with his family! We waited a long time for this. We thought for the past 2 Christmases that we would have had him home...but we wait NO longer. I think it might be a little overwhelming for him to get all these presents...but I think he will be on cloud 9. Imagine...never having been given a gift. WOW...so much we take for granted.

Ali and I redeemed ourselves.....from that disastrous candy making ordeal. Wew! We had our baking day and made a couple of batches of different cookies. I am posting pictures of our candy cane cookies...they turned out so cute! We also made snicker doodles that are oh so good, if I might say so myself. (grin)

Ali is spending the weekend with her Nona and Poppy. I have full confidence that she is NOT getting spoiled. (yeah right!) We have been busy wrapping gifts and trying to get the house ready for Christmas...since we are hosting this year. So...we will be busy this weekend. Ali asked yesterday if Clark was going to their house also...I told her "no", but jokingly told her that I could pack him up a back and he could go also. She quickly replied "that's ok, I'm not complaining." She loves him, she really does.

Again, have a wonderful Christmas!

cookies

Our firstborn is 11...how did that happen?

I am in shock that my girl turned 11 yesterday. It is scary how fast time passes. Those of you with little ones...you will see! It seems like just yesterday she was little like Clark...and then they grow up before your eyes.

We had a fun family day to celebrate her big day. T.C. didn't work, due to working a midnight shift because of a space walk. Anyway, that meant we had all day together. She wanted to open her gifts first thing, of course. We then headed out to Boston Market for lunch. We always let her choose where she would like to go for lunch or dinner. She chose Boston Market of all places. (we were hoping she would choose a Mediterranean place that we love...but she didn't..ha!) After lunch we did a little Target shopping (our favorite store)...then it was home to let the little one sleep. While Clark was napping, Ali and I tried our hand at making peppermints from scratch. Ok, that is a whole blog entry in and of itself. I don't highly recommend candy making....like ever! Buy the candy! I have never made candy...and will probably never try it again. It was SUCH a mess. We had dried up sugar goo all over the kitchen. Maybe there are some of you candy makers out there that know the tricks of the trade....we do not. I even bought a candy thermometer just for the occasion. It has to reach a certain temperature before you do the final stir...I don't know...I must have messed up along the way. The directions said "as soon as it cools...stretch it and pull it like taffy" Ummmmmmmm....it was so freakin' hot we could never quite "pull it and stretch" like the recipe called for. So needless to say...our peppermints don't resemble peppermints at all...more like pink globs. Maybe we will have better luck with our cookie baking...let's all hope so!! Let's chalk it up to making a memory with my daughter...regardless of how they turned out. We did have many good laughs throughout the process.

Anyway, after the candy ordeal and Clark waking up from his nap...we headed out to the Kemah Boardwalk to check out the Christmas lights. The kids rode the carousel and we all road the little Kemah train. Clark was so excited. ALL trains are "Thomas" and he just kept saying "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas"...he insisted on sitting on the outside like a big boy and not in my lap..until we went through a tunnel with a western scene inside (that has a little fake shoot out going on)...then he climbed in my lap and just about strangled me. Heehee.

After returning home...we sang Happy Birthday as Ali blew out the candles that were in her PIE!! We had already had birthday cake at her party...so she said she wanted pie. I bought her a piece of apple pie and cheese cake...she couldn't believe her luck! T.C. and I commented that we just can't believe she is 11. What a blessing she has been.

I will explain the video clip a little bit. You see...Ali decided that it would be great fun to snoop through ALL of our Christmas bags that were in our coat closet. She found them all....all, I tell ya. Except for a few things that had not come in the mail at the time. She claims the coats were moved out of the way and she saw a sack and decided it would be fun to go through ALL the bags. Bummer for her as she won't have many surprises on Christmas morning. Anyway, she found matching night shirts that I had gotten for she and Sierra's birthdays. I wanted to have it on video when she opened it and tried to pretend she was surprised. It was pretty funny. Though she knows we know that she found the bags and has been told that next year the bags will be locked in T.C.'s trunk. Ha!

Ali's birthday

Partying like rock stars....

Ok, maybe not...maybe just partying like 10 and 11 year olds. What else do 10 and 11 year old want to do on their birthday? Well laser tag, of course! In Ali's words "it was just SOOOOOO cool in there." Ali and Sierra had their joint birthday party after church today. We thought we were going to be late (what's new?) to her own party! We had exactly 5 minutes to run home and change clothes after church. The kids had a great time playing laser tag, eating pizza and cake, and playing in the game area. It was amazing how well behaved the kids were in the party room. All the adults were commenting on it...we never once had to quiet them down! (now that's amazing!!) Ali will officially be 11 on Tuesday. She was a little disappointed that we weren't giving her the gifts from us until Tuesday....patience kiddo, patience! Here are a few pictures from the party.

birthday party

Star Wars..........

We took a field trip this week to Space Center Houston. Ali has been dying to see a Star Wars exhibit that they have going on. On the last shuttle mission, the shuttle took up the original light saber that Luke Skywalker used. Oooohhh ahhhhhh! Ali is a huge Star Wars fan and thought it was about the coolest thing ever. They also have one of Luke Skywalker's costumes from Return of the Jedi. There is also a full scale X-Wing Starfighter. She just kept saying "this is so cool...this is so cool." Ummmm, ok...whatever you say.

There was also a cute traveling circus exhibit. You could tight rope walk, try on tons of circus costumes, etc. Clark liked playing with all the props.

Clark continues to do well. He rediscovered this past week that the ONE thing he has total control over is his bladder...and he decided to use it against us. When he would get in trouble for something and he would be angry, he would wet his pants. Arrggghh! We assume it is just a control issue...they had total control of the children at the orphanage. They basically never had to think on their own, let alone be allowed to disobey. They knew what was expected and they did it...end of story. So this new found pants wetting was irritating, to say the least. My mother had the fabulous idea for us to warn him that the next time he wet his pants due to being angry...ALL of his favorite toys were getting locked in Daddy's car trunk. It worked! (he LOVES his toys) I talked to him about it not being ok to wet his pants when he was angry, etc. He gets it...now when I remind him to be a big boy and not wet his pants he will tell me "no wet pants, toys bye-bye." So far so good!

Other than that little issue he is doing great. He loves to irritate Ali, however...though she is pretty good at dishing it out as well. They will get along great...then before I know it I hear "MOM...he did so and so...or MOM, Ali did so and so." My favorite words these days are quit tattling..ha! He loves to do things to her when I am not looking and then look totally innocent when I turn around. One of the cute things he is doing is admiring our candy dish on the coffee table. We told him about not taking candy without asking, so he will go right up to it and say things like "cute candy, Mama." (and I do give in once a day or so) He continues to love the Christmas trees and lights. He has rearranged the tree many times over. He loves to drive around and look at the decorated homes. In Ukraine they call snowmen "baba's" so that is what he is still calling them and we think it is so cute. Santa is still Noah also! He loves to point out baby Jesus in the Nativity sets. He is learning to say bedtime prayers and that is so special to us. Even though he doesn't have a clue what he is doing...he is learning.

Ali's 11th birthday party is on Sunday. She is having a joint party with her best friend, Sierra. They are having a laser tag party at a place called Main Event...they are very excited. I can't believe she is turning 11 years old on Tuesday...where does the time go? Seems like yesterday she was Clark's age.

Here are a few pictures from Space Center Houston. I had to include a picture of a truck we were driving behind the other day. The camera was in the van...and Ali HAD to have a picture of. She LOVES Elvis and couldn't believe his face was on a truck.

Space Center Houston

From Christmas lights...to little sheep (and lots of things in between!)

Well, it has been a fun week in our home! Clark was able to experience his first "drive around town looking at lights" night! We made a stop at a local park here in Dickinson for their Festival of Lights to start our evening off. It was wonderful, except for the fact that it was around 80 degrees...just didn't feel all that much like Christmas. We nixed our usual stop at Starbucks as we just couldn't bring ourselves to walk around drinking hot chocolate or coffee. Anyway, the kids loved it and we ended our visit with a stop off to see Santa...I mean Noah! Then, we headed around town in search of lights. Who knew we would find beautiful lights right in our own neighborhood. When we wound up back at home Clark just burst into tears as he just LOVED seeing all the lights. He said "no home, more lights."

Yesterday the church we are attending held something called "Bethlehem Village" for the children. It was the neatest thing and the kids had a great time. They made a little mock town in the children's building and had different "shops" that you visited. The children made a mosaic box, formed baby Jesus out of clay, made perfume necklaces, kneaded dough for bread, ground grain for the bread, made a little musical instrument, etc. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday we also made our gingerbread house. Clark thought that every time I handed him candy that it was for him to eat. I believe he about had his fill of sugar! It took me a minute to realize that his side of the house didn't have candy on it...and the fact that his mouth was full just gave it away. Ali did most of the hard work herself!

Today was the children's music at church. Ali hates standing in front of crowds...so she cried half way to church dreading it...and our son sat blissfully unaware (in his car seat) that he was about to wear a sheep hat for an hour in front of the whole church! Ha...gotta love it. So...there we were proud parents as our children march in with all the other children...in walks Ali...then Clark the sheep. They each take their places...all seems to be going well. Ali realizes it isn't all that bad standing in front...and Clark actually does the arm motions for the first song...ahhh, I breathe a sigh of relief. Then song 2..3..come along...so far so good. Then, that's it...he suddenly realizes it isn't all that much fun anymore...and we loose him. Yep...he looses total interest. The remainder of the time he could either be found turned completely around on the risers staring at the kids behind him...or playing with the little girl's dress beside him (she kept telling him to scoot over by the way!). Then while everyone else was standing (oh not our boy) he begins playing with the hem of the little girls dress...yes, same girl...and I take a deep breath HOPING he doesn't lift her dress up!!! Shew....he doesn't and they finish the musical. However, the funniest part was at the very end...he decides to finish with gusto and actually does the very last arm movements!! Guess he wanted to have a strong finish.

Christmas fun!

No white Christmases in Houston....

We heard the funniest song a couple of weeks ago on the local Christian radio station. Here is the link to listen to a little clip of the song. I have tried finding the entire song...but with no luck. Click on #4 "White Christmases in Houston" and see how true it is! http://www.branded-duo.com/music.html The rest of the song goes on to say that "we feast on tamales and sip on ice tea." It definitely made us chuckle.

The kids are enjoying the Christmas season. We will be making our annual gingerbread house this weekend. We cheat, however, and buy the kits...it's still fun, right? Sarah, don't go bragging about your Halloween house to me...OK!!! Heehee! You won Mommy of the year over that...so I cheat...ummm, it's what I do. Ha! Though I will buy extra candy...because the kits just never have enough...and you have to sneak a little while you are making it of course. Ali is also looking forward to our cooking day. We are going to spend a day making cookies and such. Then I will eat way tooooo many and feel guilty...such is the Christmas season.

Clark and Ali are out on the "jumpy" (as Clark calls it)...aka...trampoline as I type this. They love that thing. They will get on there and act so silly. Usually Clark ends up in his undies because his jeans just won't stay up while bouncing! They put a huge ball in there with them and he will bounce and flip over it. We need to get him into gymnastics!

Yesterday the kids and I went into Houston to meet a friend from out of town. We were stationed with them in Florida, and have been friends ever since. Mary was in town for a family funeral. They are stationed in Hawaii now...so it was great to get to see her. We met her at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We saw the "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit. She is "supposedly" the world's oldest "woman." WHATEVER!!! It was a monkey they are calling a woman...a huge evolution exhibit. GAG! No thanks...Ali was so disgusted (she hates anything about evolution) that she wouldn't read anything! She just walked through with her arms crossed..ha!

museum

A visit to see Noah, oh I mean Santa....

Clark's latest funny is that he is convinced that Santa is Noah...yes, Noah from the Bible. We realized last night at bedtime it is because in a children's Bible we read from at night...the picture of Noah has him dressed in red clothing...and you guessed it, a hat! We just kept wondering why every time we see something with Santa on it he just says "Noah"...every single time. In fact, if you ask if that is Noah or Santa he will tell you Noah! So we think it is so cute, we just refer to Santa as Noah now.

Here's a picture of the cover of his Bible storybook...of course he confuses the two, have you ever seen Noah dressed like, well, Santa??

I took the kids to see "The Nutcracker" yesterday. One of the perks of homeschooling is that I can get them into school performances for the school price...SWEET!! So we all 3 attended "The Nutcracker" for $22.50! The evening performances will run you are whopping $35(each) for the cheapest seats...see why that is exciting? Clark really enjoyed all the costumes, the huge tree, the snow falling on stage, etc. He did great up until about the last 15 minutes and he got a little antsy to move around. Then, after the ballet I took them to have their picture made with Santa. Ali humored me and got in the picture also! (she wasn't too thrilled..ha) Clark really could have cared less to see Santa...but he did hop right up for the photo. It was pretty cute. He LOVED the HUGE tree that is in the mall, though. He is enjoying that much more...seeing all the trees, lights, etc. rather than all the presents and Santa hoopla! We aren't complaining...I am sure by next year he will be the typical American kid telling us he wants this or that...or this AND that!! Right? So we will enjoy the awe and wonder of all the more wonderful aspects of Christmas through his little eyes.

At the mall the kids were able to play in some pretend snow that they had shooting from machines. It was so neat...it was soap suds. It looked real from a distance. It was not bubbles like you think...but actual suds like when you are washing your hands...but blowing out in small clusters. That is all you get here in Texas! If you want to see snow.......you have to go to the mall and get soap suds. Heehee!

Today the kids and I attended the SWAT group at the church we are visiting. It stands for Servants Worshipping All Together and it is for 3rd-5th graders. They meet twice a month for fun activities as a way for this age group to get to know each other. Today they met and went shopping at Wal-Mart to spend the money they earned for a needy family in town. (they made and sold cookie mixes to the congregation to raise the money) It was wonderful to see the kids picking out items for others. Then in 2 weeks they will get together and wrap all the gifts. Ali is really enjoying this children's group. We are attending a great LCMS church called Hope Lutheran.

I think that is about all the not so exciting news that we have. I have posted pictures of our trees, etc.

preparing for Christmas