Fall Soccer Recap

Brogie recently wrapped up his second season of soccer. Flit, who was an adoring fan last spring, decided it was time to get some soccer action of her own this fall. Brogie played for the same team he played for last fall, the Hornets, moving up a bracket into the Under-6 league. Teddi played for the Cyclones, in the Under-5 league. Flit made a perfect Cyclone, spending much of her time twirling around on the field. Out of many, many teams playing Brogan and Teddi just so happened to get assigned the same team colors--making their own sweet little team!

Mama and her littles!!

Opening day . . .

sweetness, captured by big sister.

Brogie's team patiently waiting their turn

for team pictures. Love the number line-up!

Run, Brogie, run!

Flit's teammate is ready to go-- game face on!

Flit, not so much. If you look closely

(click to make it bigger),

you will see that she was practicing her newly

acquired skill . . . finger snapping.

Oh yes she was!

(At least she was guarding the goal!)

A foggy Saturday morning.

Flit, a little more into it here, very happy with her "kick-in"!

Post game, off the field giggling, and straight to Daddy.

Did I do good brother?

Daddy and his team!

Everything finally "clicked" for Teddi in the last game. She got it. She stopped twirling, and started playing, and she scored her first goals of the season! Two of them! One for the opposing team, and then one for her own team. (Okay, so she kinda got it.) I must tell you, she was equally proud of both goals. We just smiled and clapped, and said, "Good job Ted! Next time kick it in that end"! And she did! I even managed to get the second one on video. You can't actually see her kick it in, but you will know by her victory dance, that Flit scored!

Brogie scored many goals during the season, but since he and Teddi played most of their games at the same time (on parallel fields)--I had a hard time catching any of his goals! I did capture a good one last fall though that I never got a chance to share, so I posted it below. I love the way he shyly high-fives his coach, and then immediately looks to the side-line for Daddy's reaction-- a big thumbs up!

All in all it was a fun time, and a great learning experience! The season went long, due to several "rain-outs" early on . . . I must say, we are thoroughly enjoying having our Saturday mornings back!

Blessings from our sweaty little nest ~

Tina

~ A Thanksgiving Greeting ~

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

~I Chronicles 16:8

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and His wonderful deeds for men,

For He satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things.

~Psalm 107:8-9

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

—Psalm 9:1

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name."

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Praise Him from who all blessings flow!

Happy Thanksgiving from One Blessed Nest

With love ~

Tina, Bryan & Family

Doing Things Differently --and a Giveaway

When Advent Conspiracy was brought to our family's attention last year, we decided it was time for a change in the way we did Christmas. We did some simplifying (okay, a lot of simplifying), and we spent our money differently. Very differently. I would like to take it a step further this year, but am still figuring out how that will look.

We halted the extended family gift exchange on my side a few years ago, and instead have come up with more creative ways to celebrate the season . . . a white elephant exchange is great fun, costs little (or nothing if you recycle an item from home) and brings lots of laughs! We all then use the money we would be spending on each other, to do things like filling our shoe boxes for orphans.

Last year for Bryan's side of the family we "shopped" from the World Vision Catalogue, choosing items that we knew would be meaningful to each family member. Things like a donation to "Education for Girls" for my mother-in-law, a retired teacher. A donation towards stocking part of a fish pond, for Grandpa . . . medical supplies for my sis-in-law, who is an RN. We also purchased water through Charity Water in honor of my parents-- a life giving gift to those in need, in honor of the people who gave me life! It's truly a win, win situation.

A little plug for Charity: water, if you are unfamiliar -- Private sponsors support all of their administrative costs, so 100% of the donation you make goes straight to building wells. One-hundred percent. That's as good as it gets.

Last year we also started a new tradition for the littles, a full blown birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Eve. We made a donation to Charity Water for our gift.

As a visual for Brogan and Teddi we brought a bottle of water to the party for Jesus --explaining to them that when we do this for Jesus we are really doing it for other people who really, really need water. Water = Life, I think that it's the perfect gift for Jesus--it's exactly what He gave us. His life.

I think this year, for Jesus, we will make a donation to the orphan babies at Bill and Lynsay's Morning Star Foundation, to enable them to keep loving on His littlest lambs.

Another great idea -- Taylor and Frankie have asked for TOMS Shoes for Christmas. (Although Taye has told me all they really want is water.) If you aren't familiar with TOMS -- for every pair of shoes you purchase, TOMS sends a pair of shoes to a child in need. "One for one. Using the purchasing powers of individuals to benefit the greater good." They have put shoes on the feet of thousands upon thousands of children. You can read the TOMS story here. I love it!

Keep reading, there really is going to be a giveaway . . .

Another idea I'm pondering is teachers gifts. How much Bath & Body*works, coffee mugs, or chocolate can one teacher need, or use? I just had an email from Love Without Boundaries about their 2009 gift guide. You can see the gift guide here. For a $10 donation you can purchase a school backpack for a Chinese orphan. I think that would be a great "teacher gift", don't you? For a $20 donation you can purchase 10 cleft bottles. A cleft bottle can be the difference between life and death for a cleft affected baby who has no ability to suck. I think cleft bottles would be the perfect "gift" for Teddi's speech therapists. I will let Teddi make cards announcing the gifts purchased in her teachers/therapists honor. I can't think of a better reason not to buy chocolate!

I would love for you to share with me the ways you and your family already do things differently, or plan to do things differently during this fast approaching Christmas season. In fact I have a sweet little bracelet (that is now sold out) from a great little Etsy shop called Water4Christmas, that I am going to give away! All of the items in the shop have been donated, and again 100% of the proceeds will go straight to Charity: Water. Thank you to my friend Beccy, for bringing this great little shop to my attention (Beccy has some great jewelry on the site as well)!

(Hand made elastic bracelet with sandcast, recycled glass,

fair trade african beads and a blue stained glass water droplet.

There are still bracelets with a clear water drop available on the site.)

So if you would like a chance to win this sweet little bracelet, just leave me a comment telling me one thing you already do differently, or at least one thing you plan to do differently this year. I will draw a name sometime after Thanksgiving!

If you haven't seen the new Advent Conspiracy video for 2009, here it is --

Worship Fully

Spend Less

Give More

Love All

Blessings from my nest ~

Tina

Prayer Request

There are currently Canadian adoptive families in Uganda waiting to bring home their children. These families have done all of the required paperwork. They have jumped through every hoop, and now there is a problem. A BIG problem. The Canadian government has decided to halt all Visas for children coming home from Uganda. These families are stuck, their waiting children are stuck. There is also a family in Nepal, in the same situation. They need our prayers.

Linny has covered all of the details, including a call to prayer and fasting, over at A Place Called Simplicity. Would you please take a few moments to hop over and read what Linny has shared from her heart? And will you consider committing to pray for these families? I know that if I were in this desperate situation, I would covet every single prayer God's people could lift up.

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." Proverbs 31:8

Please pray.

Blessings from my nest ~

Tina

Wordless Wednesday . . . kinda

The wedding came and went, and we didn't get one single picture of my babies dressed up together. I had big plans to do this after the dust settled, but one week later it was time for Ted's surgery . . . then recovery . . . another surgery . . . then school started. I actually made an appointment along in there somewhere for a portrait sitting, and then one of them got sick . . . you get the picture. (Oh that's funny, there were no pictures). Finally this past weekend The Newlys helped me do a photo shoot of The Littles, and here are the results.

As you will see, we had a "little" bit of fun . . .

NO kisses Flit!

Some monkeys . . .

and last, but not least, The Newlys!

~ Thank you Newlys, for helping with

the photography, and the coaching.

Blessings from my smile yourself silly nest ~

Tina

Memorial Box Monday ~ The Leaves

It's time to share another story, and place another treasure in our Memorial Box. For my full scoop on what a Memorial Box is see this post, which will also link you to my friend Linny's blog . . . which is where Memorial Box Monday got it's start!

The Leaves

About three weeks ago Brogan and Teddi were both doing a unit about fall at school. Brogan needed to go on a leaf walk and bring his findings to school to share. Now having grown up in Michigan I know what fall looks like, and what it doesn't look like! This is what you find on the ground in my Texas backyard in the fall . . .

. . . in my book, not exactly what fall looks like!

(For any Texans out there, I know there are spots in Texas that are beautiful in the fall, but at my place in Texas . . . um, not so much.)

I shared (whined) on the phone to my sister about our lack of fall foliage, and about our disappointing "leaf walk", which had given us two choices, green or brown. My sweet sister, who lives in Michigan, in turn shared with me about the absolute beauty surrounding her! She also promised to send some leaves quickly, so the kids could take them to school. We decided that it might be wise to send them in a ziploc, with a damp paper towel, so that they wouldn't curl up and get crunchy!

She soon called to say that the leaves were in the mail. I began to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to send them damp, as they might mildew and turn black while journeying from north to south. Being one to pray about anything that is on my mind, I asked the Lord to please get the leaves here quickly before they had a chance to get mildewy. Two different times while driving down the road, I prayed my leaf prayer . . .

My sister had mailed the leaves on a Saturday afternoon right before her Post Office closed. She sent them First Class mail . . . no Priority, no Express, true snail mail. On Monday morning, less than 48 hours later, my mailman handed me a manilla envelope. It contained the leaves! They were damp and beautiful, and they smelled like my Michigan! Ahhhh!

Oh how God delights in the tiny details of our lives!

When I called my sister on Monday morning to tell her the leaves had arrived, her response was, "They can't be, I just mailed them!"

To which I replied, "Well they can be, because I prayed, and they're here!"

"No way!"

"Yep, they're here!"

God truly had answered my prayer to bring the leaves quickly! No doubt about it!

An interesting side note . . . the following week I mailed a package to my sister for my seven year old nephew's birthday. I thought since the leaves were so speedy, I'd skip the extra money for Priority and just send my little padded bag First Class-- after all it was making the same journey, only in reverse. Seven days later my little package arrived in Michigan. Seven days.

God had put "wings" on that little bag of leaves!

One of our beautiful little Michigan leaves will now have a place in our Memorial Box. A reminder that God does give us the desires of our heart, no matter how silly they may seem. Fall leaves in a little manila envelope-- quite unimportant in the "big scheme of things", yet they were important to our God!

He is faithful!

Blessings from my tickled nest ~

Tina

Thankful Thursday . . . Friday Edition

This thankful Friday there are so many things on my mind . . .

~ First, I am thankful for my daddy, whose birthday is today! Happy Birthday Daddy. It is because of your unconditional love for me--that I truly understand my Heavenly Father's love! I couldn't ask for a better dad, or a better papa for my babies! I love you!

Cousins-- Landon, Teddi, and Brogan, get some Papa

snuggles in!

~ I am thankful for my husband, who I have been married to for 25 years, and madly in love with for 29 years-- since high school. Wow. That was a long time ago. Bry has been asked to take on a new (bigger) job at a nearby base. We will be allowed to remain in our base house here, but Bry will now drive 40 minutes (or so), each way, to work. A big switch from walking to work, and coming home for lunch. He packs up at his old job today, and will officially begin the new job on Monday. I am thankful for job security, and for Bry who does pretty much everything in life without complaining. I love you babe, and I'm so grateful for all you do for us, and for the US Air Forc*e!

Still the tough guy I fell in love with!

~ I am thankful for these birds that take time to gather above my blessed nest. Randomness, I know . . .

~ I am thankful that a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to meet my blogger friend Joy, up close and in person! Joy and Eddie and their three girls -- Sarah, Allison, and Quinn, were in our area camping, and we got to join them for a bit! Good friends, quesadillas, s'mores and a wonderful campfire on a cool Texas night, it doesn't get any better than that!

Quinn, Teddi, and Allison digging in!

Sarah snuggled up!

~ I am thankful to finally meet beautiful Sarah (sorry for the tiny pic). If you remember we prayed for Sarah last January, as Joy and Eddie and their girls headed to China for her --just before she turned fourteen! I'm so thankful that the Lord put Sarah in a family, just as her hope was running out. Joy and Eddie, it was great spending time with you and your girls!

Another first for Teddi, s'mores, YUM!

~ I am thankful that I also had the opportunity a few weeks ago to meet up with my blogger friend Jenn. Jenn and I met last year at the Orphan's Ticket Home Gala, right before Jenn and Karl traveled to China for Karleigh Mei. She hadn't met Teddi yet, and I hadn't met her Karleigh Mei. The four of us girls enjoyed a wonderful lunch together, afterwards Teddi and Karleigh Mei played, as Jenn and I talked . . . and talked . . . and talked! Such a good time.

Our girls together--

Karleigh Mei is "Miss Personality Plus"! Too sweet!

~ I am thankful for a fun Fall Festival, hosted by Brogan and Teddi's school. This provided another first for Teddi, and for Brogie, too . . .

Pony rides . . .

the smiles tell all!

Hello goat! How are you?

~ I'm thankful for big sister who took pictures at the festival, while I worked the cake walk!

~ I am thankful for the things the Newlys continue to amaze me with! Here in their "iPak" shirts--as in "I pack boxes" for the Children's Hunger Fund. Taye and Frankie are continuing to blog their adventures. They have posted some wonderful Christmas ideas (think serving others) you can check them out here!

~ I am thankful for my littles. They wear me out, and they make me laugh! They make me stop to smell the roses . . . and squish the Play dough . . . read the books . . . build the blocks . . . sing the songs. Oh what would my life be like without them? I love being a mama (and a mother-in-law, too)!

~ I am thankful for my big boys, Bryce and Brady, who spent a really, really long time talking (and laughing) on the phone with one another last night. That does my mamas heart much good!

~ I am thankful for the chance I had last night to catch up, by phone, with an old high school friend --who just happens to be one of my faithful blog readers. Karen, it was wonderful to visit with you!

~ I am thankful that we had word today that maybe, just maybe, our property manager may have found renters for our home in Georgia. (We bought the home when we were stationed there, and were unable to sell it when it was time to move.) Thankfully, for the past eight or so years we have always had someone in it. But, last January we lost out tenants, and we've been paying for two homes since then. Ouch! God has provided, and has made our money stretch some how, and we are so very thankful to Him for that, but renters would be really, REALLY good news! Please pray with us that our Georgia home will soon have people in it again.

~ I am also thankful today for big news, about a little man (and I hope it is okay that I snagged this picture from my friend Robin's, Thankful Thursday post). The Haines Gang (our neighbors, and our buddy Claire who moved away. Boohoo) has recieved word that the cutest two year old boy in Korea is officially their son! A bit more paperwork, and they will be bringing him home. Without further ado, meet . . .

Caleb!

Is he cute or what?

~ Lastly, I am thankful for quiet late nights, for blogging, and for a warm comfy bed to crawl into when all is said and done . . . and I'm off to crawl in . . .

Blessings from my thankful (yawwwwwning) nest ~

Tina

I bet you just yawned, didn't you?