Miss Marissa and Best Homeschool Mom Award

Tomorrow we celebrate Marissa's 10th Gotcha Day!  I let her pick the meal she wanted and a treat, so we will spend the morning getting 2 crockpots full of chili going, and the afternoon making/cutting out/decorating sugar cookies.  (Two pots of chili means I don't  have to cook Tuesday night!)  Somewhere in there we need to work in taking her flowergirl dress to the alterations lady.  If you've never read Marissa's adoption story, you can read it and see photos HERE.  We love you to pieces Miss Marissa.

  In other news, I stand amazed and dumbfounded to be nominated for the Best Homeschool Mom Blog Award.  Thank you!!  
                                              
When I started this blog I never expected to find some great friends, much less to receive an honor for writing about our lives.   Even if no one out there votes for me (except my kids--you'd better vote for me! ), it was a thrill just to be nominated.  There are a lot of great moms, dads, and teens nominated for awards, so please take time to GO VOTE for your favorites and make some new friends.   Voting starts Dec. 3, and I think goes through about the 17th. 
You know, when Ashley and Briana were little, I thought being a mom was about the only thing I was pretty good at.  Then we adopted 2 little ones, and they (and God) challenged everything I had ever done or believed about parenting and homeschooling!  I've been on a journey for several years to learn all over how to be a good mom for them.  We all do different things, have different ideas, and different styles, but the thing most of us have in common is the burning desire to do what is best for our children.  We change math curriculums 14 times, we have pet frogs when we hate anything remotely amphibian, we do what it takes to help that child be the child God intended~~to follow their God given dreams and desires, to learn the way they need to learn, to go off the beaten path and maybe take flack, even from other homeschoolers, because we're doing it different, we read and reread their favorite books until our eyes cross (insert Billy and Blaze and Woof stories), we provide as many of the learning opportunities as we are able, and the list goes on.  That's what being the Best Homeschool Mom is, and I am so proud to know so many of the best!! 
This week Heidi gave me the Blog Friend Forever award.  Thank you so much!  You are my biggest encourager and fan! LOL!  You have blessed my life more than you realize. 

I have lots of friends here, some I'm just getting to know, but when I think of this award, three names come to mind.  One would be to pass it right back to Heidi.  If you don't know this lady, she is a faithful forever friend.  When ARE you coming to the mountains so we can hang out??  The 2nd would be Denise.  I have felt a connected friendship with Denise almost from the start.  It's funny that these 2 ladies only live about an hour apart, so Denise hitch a ride with Heidi!  The third person is Jonatha.  She has been a faithful blog friend since I first started blogging.  She is such a sweet lady and has a house full of beautiful girls. 
Okay, it's time for me to get busy doing some internet Christmas shopping.  All of you who have those countdown tickers for Christmas really make me mad! 

Letitia