Giving Thanks And Other Antics

This time last year, Clint and I were longing to add another child to our family. We were overjoyed with the one beautiful child we had, but we knew our family was not complete. Now one year later, here we are, and boy have we completed it! Last February we began this crazy journey full of some serious highs and lows, but here we are with FIVE beautiful, HEALTHY children and so much to be thankful for! I will admit, that in that first moment when I was told I was having four babies, I could see little or no reason for thankfulness, there was only fear. Now with the babies already 12 weeks old and having them home for 9 weeks, I can fully appreciate the blessings of this year. So, with all of this in mind, I have to take a moment to thank the Lord for all Clint and I have . . .

LORD, we give all our thanks to you for the amazing blessings you have bestowed on us this year, even when were not accepting of them. You took our fear and turned it to joy! We were unable to imagine life with 4 new babies and we were sometimes unwilling to accept that this was coming, but You pushed us on. You gave us strength of mind and body when we had little left. You gave us hope and perseverance. You blessed each member of our family in different ways and You gave us the tools we needed to make it through each day and each stage of this journey. With Your perfect love and guidance, You brought us to the other side and what we found was a beautiful gift. Thank you for seeing us through to the end and never giving up on us. With Your constant blessings we will continue to grow as a family and face each new obstacle head on. In Your name. AMEN.

As I said we have much to be thankful for. In addition to my five beautiful children, I am so thankful for my amazing husband who has been a rock through all of this and has risen to the challenge of having a much more hands on role with baby care this go round (not that he didn't help with Jackson, it was just that his help was not required quite as much). I am also thankful for the best family I could ask for. They have been so unbelievably supportive and have dropped their lives time and again to help us in so many ways. I don't know what we would have done this year without our families! For friends who have gone out of their way to help even when it is not very convenient for them, for strangers who have brought meals or said prayers, or helped with some household things, for the amazing doctors and nurses that cared both for me and my babies (without them we may not have had such a wonderful outcome). For all of this and more, I am so thankful!!! We have been blessed beyond belief by the generosity of others. The experiences of this past year have given us the opportunity to see human nature at it's finest and I am here to tell you that in a world where we often feel doubt and mistrust toward others, there are still some AMAZING people!

Now, that the thanks has been given, on to the entertainment portion of the post. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The meal was cooked at my sisters' house (about 6 blocks down) and then transported to my house. The original plan was to eat at their house, but at the last minute we decided to transport the food because babies were in the middle of a nap. We decided that it probably isn't very often that someone cooks Thanksgiving dinner at one house and then loads it up, turkey and all, to take to another house. I think the turkey rode in the back of Clint's pick up! Cooking was less chaotic over there though. No bottles and formula cluttering the countertops (and no crying babies!). Once Thanksgiving dinner was safely transported, of course we dug right in. Everything was fabulous as usual, thanks to the star chef, my mother, Susan Haefele!

Jackson with his prized turkey cupcakes (he looks a little creepy in this picture for some reason)

Kristen and Jackson: The transport

The excess turkey had to be taken out of the kitchen to make room for all the food, so after dinner, Jessica went to retrieve it so the rest of the meat could be cut off. Well, in the process, she managed to trip and fall all the way to ground! If you are worried about the turkey, don't be, she saved it, though she did end up with a large portion of her hair doused in turkey juice. It didn' t look very pretty, but it smelled good enough to eat :) Jackson thought this was very funny and was telling the story later. Here is his version:

Jackson: Jessica, you fell and dropped the turkey! Right momma?

Mommy: Right

Jackson: You got turkey juice in your hair! That's the funny part! (okay, now when you read this last part you have to imagine him saying it in a mocking, making fun of her kind of way and then the fake Ha, Ha laugh that followed, I wish I had video of him telling this story!)

We also had some lovely dinner music provided by Jackson and his guitar. At one point he turned to me and said, "Mommy take a picture of me looking like a rockstar!" Here is said picture:

I thought Rockstars wore pants?!

One generation, holding what we have of the next so far! (This is all I plan to provide of the next generation, the other three can provide the rest!)

We're ready for our close ups . . .
Jackson

Kynlee (not looking like she's rockin' here, but she definitely knows how!)

Gage (enough said)

Westin (could this be any more appropriate)

Brooklyn (quiet little turkey)

I will admit that this picture was staged. He did drop his cupcake and he did make this face, but I did not capture the actual moment. Is it scary that he can recreate the pitifulness on command!?

It was a great Thanksgiving filled with good food and good company. Now on to the Christmas holidays!