
Greatly Blessed
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Welcome! I blog about adoption, adopting from China, special needs, clubfoot, limb differences, developmental delays, homeschooling, large families, large family life, sewing, crafting, book reviews, curriculum reviews, parenting, and more.
Greatly Blessed
3M ago
In July, I went to visit Annaliese, who moved to Belfast last year. I flew into Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, and took a 2 hour bus ride to Belfast in Northern Ireland. I explained to my students, "One island, two countries, both Ireland. Clear as mud, right?" Annaliese and her husband met me at the bus station, and our adventures began.
Aarron is a fabulous guide to the local sights. After a quick rest, they took me out for a nice long walk, then we had dinner looking over the water. When I got full, I tossed some of my fries to the sea ..read more
Greatly Blessed
4M ago
I feel like the blog is fizzling out. Different season of life, I guess. Here's some of what we've been up to.
We have a gray cat in the neighborhood that has been coming around to visit. I've been putting food out for him, because I find it so amusing to watch Grumman's little walnut brain be blown by the idea of another cat out there. I leave the door open a couple inches when he is here, and they "high five" each other through it.
We made it through the end of the school year, and all the end of school year events. Certificates we ..read more
Greatly Blessed
10M ago
We visited a state park with several families from our church.
This was most of us, before our hike.
An obligatory, "we were here" photo. I got in the habit of taking pictures of the kids when we went somewhere, just in case I needed to be able to describe what they were last seen wearing.
We had a lovely 2ish mile hike/walk through the giant sequoias and other evergreens. We saw some very Big Trees indeed at this pleasant recreation area.
There were trees you could walk through.
We spotted wild strawberr ..read more
Greatly Blessed
11M ago
It's really time to clean photos off my phone. Aside from there being 2,700+, it takes forever to find anything.
This was taken at Harry & David. The little souvenir boxes we're holding contain a chocolate and 2 cookies.
Lunch out, visiting a friend I went to school with.
Covered bridge, pointing out local flora & fauna.
The alpaca ranch!
Even though it was raining, this was a fun outing. The alpaca rancher was very knowledgeable and personable. There's a small gift shop, with some lovely knitted and felted items made ..read more
Greatly Blessed
11M ago
I know, it's been months since I've blogged. But we finally did something blog worthy. We took a road trip up to Oregon for spring break. My motivation was to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland. But, of course, it turned into so much more.
Fiona gets a little concerned when the suitcase comes out. Jack was responsible for the animals while I was gone, so it's a valid worry.
The drive up north was a bit rainy, and it was whooshing windy when we stopped in Weed.
We went to the Wildlife Safari in Winston. I got our t ..read more
Greatly Blessed
1y ago
I'm coming to terms with the reality that I'll probably never blog the rest of our summer road trip. As it's November. [eye roll] But I can at least share the very end of it. After heading down California along the coast, we came home inland, and visited different things on the way home. Our last stop was Yosemite.
I'm embarrassed to say we'd never been before. It's only a few hours from us.
Bridal Veil Falls
Grammy and the girls wandered off for a bit. I looked up from checking out a charred stump, and didn't know whe ..read more
Greatly Blessed
1y ago
We've acclimated to the school year routine. We're weathering the cooler temperatures. The nights are getting dark earlier. All signs that winter (my least favorite season) is on it's way.
I appreciated this reminder not to let the turkeys get me down.
Terrible dark pictures of Katie roller skating at a birthday party.
I'm thrilled she's so capable. I don't roller skate, so it's awe inspiring to me.
I'm reading my 5th/6th graders The Horse and His Boy this year. (We did Magician's Nephew last y ..read more
Greatly Blessed
1y ago
Gah! I got distracted and stopped blogging. Again. Let's see if I can do a photo dump and catch up a little.
Presents for the grandkids from our road trip.
The girls attended a week of Hand Camp again this summer.
Such a blessing! They had a great time, and it does my heart good to have them in an environment where limb differences are totally normal.
They came home tired, of course.
Grumman, impersonating a normal cat. He doesn't usually do boxes.
Oh, those pinterest ideas. Sigh ..read more
Greatly Blessed
1y ago
This was the last mission we visited, but far from our last stop. The mission was hosting the Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Exhibition while we were there. Various artworks had been reproduced on a large scale so we could walk around and enjoy them up close.
Standing before this panel, I was focused on the book, but Katie wanted to know when her arms would get bigger. She obsessed about arm size for most of this visit, and has brought it up a few times since.
"Mom! Look! A caduceus!" I may have been a little proud at the eye ..read more
Greatly Blessed
1y ago
The next day of our trip we visited two missions. First, San Miguel Archangel, to the east of Hearst Castle.
Even though it's a complicated part of California's history, I'm glad the missions were preserved (or rebuilt).
There's a tranquility about them that belies the suffering that occurred long ago.
I think with the 3 we saw on this trip, I've now been to 10 of the 21 missions.
Hannah took this picture for me. Notice I happen to be wearing a skirt that day. We took a walk outside the mission, and my mom wanted a ..read more