Well, hello.......

I have been so bad, not posting any blogs!
Things have been great! Marvel has spent every weekend with us, including a week during Thanksgiving break and a week during Christmas break. We have been to all of his basketball games, which his team has won every one of! That is a fun and different experience for us. He continues to bring more and more of his things to our house, to stay. It is so cute to see him arranging his room the way he wants it. We usually just hang out at home, and he seems fine with that-he just watches TV, jumps on our new trampoline, listens to his Ipod or plays on the Wii......typical teenager. He also got a guitar for Christmas,which he plays on, but on Christmas he was playing my sister's bass guitar, which he really loved. So she let him borrow it. Our theme song of Christmas was Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, his favorite thing to play on the bass! But, he actually likes to hang out with all the kids, too- even plays silly games with them. He is just such a joy to us. He was having some behavior issues at his foster home, probably due to the stress of transitioning into a new family, but we talked with him about it, and he seems to be doing better now. He still wants to move in after basketball season-which his last game will be Jan 28th, so it could be that weekend that he moves in. That will be such a blessing! No more driving an hour each way to pick him up and drop him off, no more packing and un-packing, no more planning our weekends around picking him up and dropping him off, and best of all.....no more good-byes!
It gets harder and harder each time to say good-bye-for all of us! I almost lost it when Kevin had to take him home after Christmas break....it was awful! The kids keep saying "I miss Marvel", and Bryson just wants him to "stay for 90 days" -because after 90 days of living with us, we can finalize the adoption-so I guess he just wants it done! I won't lie-this part is hard! We all feel like something is missing when he's not here, but we know it won't be long until he's with us forever! I can't imagine how hard it is for him!
 Oh-I got a "new" car! We knew we would need a bigger car soon,  the mini-van sat 7, but with a lap belt only in the middle of the back seat-which I wasn't comfortable with. So we researched and looked, and ended up with a 2006 Ford Expedition-red! I love it! And it has a DVD player in it-which is a lifesaver on our hour-long drives to get/drop-off Marvel!
The kids are getting back into the swing of school again, but I so loved having them home. It's always after long breaks that I start dreaming of homeschooling again-I really don't like them gone from home all day, but I still don't think I could handle it. I try to remember how stressed I was for the semester that we tried to homeschool. If only school was just a half day, that would be perfect! I really could care less that my children are "educated"-at least in the world's sense. I think it is far more important for them to have good character and integrity, to learn to love others and serve God, than it is to have all A's or a degree. I know, people will argue that they need a degree to succeed ,and need to succeed to make it in this world-but I disagree. Not that I want my children to be homeless, jobless and irresponsible-not at all, just aware of what's important and humble. Well, ok.....sorry to go off on a rant, there!
It is freezing here in central Florida today-freezing meaning 48 degrees. But compared to the low 80's last week, pretty darn cold! I don't like cold! It's funny, I dream of living in the mountains, but I don't think I'd survive a winter! Guess I'll just have to visit more, which I hope to do this year. I don't do resolutions, but I LOVE to plan vacations! I'll be working on that soon......Spring break will be here before we know it! Until next time!