Celebrating 15 Years... and counting

Christmas is over, my kids are still home for winter break, new kids are getting sick, while some are finally on the mend--- oh, and today is our 15th wedding anniversary. Life is good, I can't complain.

My lovely daughter Julia made this beautiful scarf, and even decided to model it for me.

Isn't she gorgeous?

Moving right on, a few days ago, I got to clean up a pool of vomit. Thankfully, this seemed to be the turning point for Dennis.


One day, I put Sveta's hair in her new hot curlers. She looked hot!


Dennis finally has his appetite back! Now he acts like he's always hungry!


See! He went and got out his new favorite treat---- pudding!

He loves when one of us feed him two in a row.

My Mom, Dad, and sister gave the kids some Christmas cash (Caleb's words, not mine as he is sitting here right now watching me type as he rubs my feet as an anniversary present). One of the things a lot of the kids wanted was a basketball hoop. Well, a new one is too expensive in my opinion so I found this used one off of Craigslist and offered $40, $30 less than the asking price. Can you call me Miss Cheapo? But really, it is awesome and for $40 you can't beat it!


Anna's new favorite pastime is curling her hair with the new curling iron she got from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. She does a really good job, and reminds me of myself when I was her age.

Now that Dennis is feeling better, he is up and about. Here he is playing Connect Four with Adam. Should I mention that Dennis won? LOL, just kidding, and Julia said, "Wow Mom," as she watched me type this.

Tonight, Rachel wanted to do the sweetest thing. She wanted John and I to wait till the kids were finished eating so that she could set up a candle light dinner for the two of us and be our waitress. She made up menus and everything. It was just so sweet. She even made a cake and had us blow out candles.

Caleb was the photographer. Pretty good, huh?

As we ate dinner, I saw Rachel watching us. On one hand, I could see such pride....admiration..... and hope in her gentle eyes but on the other hand I saw a bit of sadness too. My heart felt for her, because I sensed that thoughts of her birth parents came to her mind. Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt that she loves us very much and is very thankful that we are happily married and that she and her siblings are in a secure and loving home, but I know that a small part of her still wishes that her Ukraine parents could have had the same thing. What an amazing daughter Rachel is! I have no doubt that God has big plans for not only her but for all of my children.

I am so blessed to have such an awesome husband who treats me so well, and is able to set such a wonderful example of what kind of husband our boys should grow up to be and what kind of husbandly qualities our girls should look for in a man.

I am so looking forward to being the wife of my husband John not only for the next fifteen years, but for the rest of my life.