I think I say this every year, but where do I begin with all the amazing things God has done for us and through us this year! 2009 has by far been the best and we are so thankful that God chose this unbelievable path for our family! A great verse to summarize our year is Deuteronomy 28:2 “All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God.” If you don’t follow the blog or either of us on Facebook, here is the brief summary of our blessings.
The two main events of our year were our big move in late September and our decision to become foster parents. We now have a much bigger house which at first seems crazy, but of course fits right into God’s big plan for us to be foster parents. We were asked to do an immediate placement for a child in September and now we will finish the process to be “official” foster parents after the first of the year! We are so excited to see what children and families God will allow us to minister to in the coming year!
Cole Jackson turned 1 on August 29th. He is by far the happiest little boy around. Everyone will tell you that he always has a smile on his face! He is really laid back, like his Daddy, and eats a TON!!! He is so easy to have around! He is such a joy to our lives as he grows and interacts more and more each day with the older boys! Cole loves to play with the older boys and thinks he is really their size and can do what they do!
Carter Andrew is about to celebrate his 3rd birthday the day after Christmas. Carter has done lots of growing up this year! He talks much more now, but is developing more and more of his Daddy's quiet, introverted, personality. Sometimes while there are lots of other kids at the house playing, you will find Carter alone is his room, playing with his toys. He is adjusting to Caden doing to school every day and growing into his big brother role with Cole. We still haven't mastered the potty, but he assures me that he will when he is 3! Cater is becoming more and more like his Daddy every day! He is quiet, a little ornery and sneaky, but very caring!
Caden Montgomery is now 5, also on August 29th. He didn’t mind sharing his party with Cole this year, because he also got to have a friend party all to himself. Caden is at Westwood Early Childhood Center this year and is doing extremely well. He is very bright, reading lots of sight words and writing his letters well. We had to work a little on following instructions and ways to behave during down time at school, but he is having a great year so far. Caden was able to play soccer this fall, with Cory as his coach, and loved it! We might have an athlete on our hands! He definitely acts a lot like his Momma, but on most days that is a good thing! He is such a big boy and great help around here!
Cory is doing some great things at SPC Office Products and in our community this year. He has come up with some great ideas to try and beat the economy and has led our family on quite the journey this year with God’s guidance. Cory led us to “adopt” a family this year and help them in so many ways! It has been such a blessing to watch those relationships form. He was instrumental in several mission projects to help this family and others! God is using him in awesome ways, and I am so thankful for Cory’s obedience! He still teaches our Sunday School class but this year has added the bus ministry at church! He drives a church van and picks up our “adopted” family and their extended family (around 20 people) each week for church. He also does this for the AWANA program on Wednesdays. Caden told him a few weeks ago, we just need to buy a van of our own so we don’t have to borrow the church’s van each week! I think Caden might be on to something!
I still keep busy taking care of the boys as well as other kids at times! I am so blessed to get to be at home and raise our little men! They keep me on my toes and there is never a dull moment around here. I was asked once by a friend this year, “what do you do Kara?” I was not really sure how to answer that, what don’t we do? We always have some sort of activity going on, be it Mom Connection, AWANA, volunteering in Caden’s class at school, or just helping out friends! We are so blessed by God this year! It has been amazing. I haven’t had much time to blog, but I will do better in the coming year, so check it out www.sahm22boys.blogspot.com
We pray you take time to remember the best gift this Christmas, Jesus Christ. Also take time to share Him with others; it will change your life!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas!
*Our Christmas Card picture was taken this year by Katie Karn, she did a great job, go check her out!
Carter has his eyes shut in almost all the pics, but he does love his new bike!
Caden loves his bike too, although he was ticked at first that it had training wheels but we convinced him that it is so much bigger that it needed them. Now he wants them to stay on and we had to convince him to let us remove them!
Cole wasn't sure what to think!
Crazy Santa - or Grammie thought these would be so funny! I think those teeth are gross, but I have to admit this picture cracks me up!
Caden is so well trained! He posed like this and got my attention each time he opened a gift! Here he is with his Lego Combine/Harvester.
Cole had a great time too!
Papa got the boys a battery powered Razor for the back! It is awesome!
