20 Years Later

This year was my 20th college reunion.  It's shocking to all of you that I could possibly be that old, I'm sure.  I loved Bryan College and cherish the friendships that I had made there.  The last time I had been to my college homecoming was at my 10 year reunion when I had 3 kids and was pregnant with number 4. Just walking the campus was very sentimental to me, although so much of it has changed over the years.  I found a lump in my throat several times just thinking of the impact of my years there.

We came for the Saturday picnic in the very familiar spot known as the Triangle.  They had inflatables set up for the kids and face painting which the Fish Sticks enjoyed.

I found my sweet group of girls and we toured the campus, checking out our old dorms and looking through the new ones.  It's still hard to grasp the fact that my college roommate (center above) just sent her firstborn daughter to Bryan (whom she was pregnant with  in my wedding 19 years ago!).

I was having so much fun that I forgot to take photos and so did my friends so there were only a few, but there was a glow run, soccer game in the rain, lots of time at the ping-pong table and foosball table with the alumni and their kids and dinner out at the local Mexican restaurant.  Our competitions showed that some of us still have not lost the touch of foosball and ping pong!

I am so thankful to God for leading me to Bryan College 24 years ago!  That school left a huge mark on my life and was very instrumental in shaping me into who I am in Christ today!  It was so good to be back.

Cousins Comin'

Last time the boys had seen their cousins from Memphis, they had only been home for 3 days.  My brother and his family wanted to make a trip to come visit and see how much the boys had changed, to hear them talking in English and to get to know them better.

Cousins are lots of fun - and can be smothering sometimes, right Conner?

Sacred Assembly

On October 5, our church hosted a Nashville-wide event calling all area churches and believers to join together in prayer for our city, state, and nation based on 2 Chronicle 7:14.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

It was a beautiful event crossing over denominations, cultural and racial boundaries and we were so glad to be a part of it on the steps of our state capital building.

May God be glorified.

Student of the Week

Josiah has loved his first year at GCA.  He is still the sweet, smiley boy that he has been since birth and loves sharing his day with me when he comes home.  His teacher is as sweet as she can be and we are so glad Josiah is in her class.  Josiah could not wait until his week to be student of the week came along.  He talked about it weeks in advance.  When the week came, we planned what special things he wanted to do.  

Monday he brought in a box with his special sock monkey in it and we made clues for the teacher to read throughout the day until the kids could guess what was in his box.  He loves monkeys!  

Tuesday I brought Micah, our lab, to school and the class came out and played with Micah before dismissal.  

Wednesday I made cinnamon rolls and brought them to his class as a treat.  

Thursday I came to the class and recited "Caps for Sale" to the class.  We had been reading that book quite a bit at home....so much that Jeshua, Jedidiah and Lydia had it memorized.  When it got to their favorite monkey part, I had 3 little Fish Sticks in the back of the classroom quoting the book with me and doing all their motions.  The class couldn't decide if they should be watching me or all the Fish Stick animation in the back of the class. 

 Jeshua and Jedidiah have shown no signs of public shyness so far BTW.  :)

I love his list of favorites.  Some of his answers show clearly that his roommate is a teenage boy....all except his favorite clothes!!  I doubt they share that love of school uniforms!

Grandparents Day

Leah, bottom center, during her performance.

We love Grandparents Day at school.  I don't ever remember having Grandparents Day at my elementary school, but if we had it didn't matter because my grandparents lived so far away.  My Fish Sticks are so blessed to have their grandparents close by, so we love getting to honor all 5 of them on Grandparents Day at school.

Josiah, center, quoting his poem with first grade.

Ruth, center, singing her song with the 4th grade.

The high school boys made posters for each grandparent couple about what they liked to do together.  Caleb and this friend to the left were the only ones who had 3 posters because they had 2 sets of living grandparents and a great grandparent too.  What a blessing.

Anna Blair doing her dance with the 8th grade Bible class.

We enjoyed hosting the grands over for lunch and taking a family photo!

So blessed!!!

Run for Teal

Our sweet kindergarten teacher at school, who is also a fellow football mom and friend, was diagnosed this past summer with ovarian cancer.  She's a wonderful person who shines Jesus through the joy and pain.  Teal is the color for ovarian cancer fighting.  Our school has "tealed out" for several football games and even ordered teal ribbon shirts for the kids and families to purchase and wear during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.  A school family organized and sponsored a team for a local 5K and our team decided to dedicate our running for sweet Mrs. Michelle.  Can't wait for her to be cancer free!

Anna Blair and her friend

Selfie before the run

Fun at Football

Our Fish Sticks go to lots of sporting events every year.  Sometimes they whine and complain but most of the time they use it to socialize and play.  We hosted lots of football games on our home field this year, which we LOVED, so it felt like home to the kids.  Most games we got to "our spot" on the home side, set up "camp," and the Fish Sticks took off....to the playground, to concessions, to find their friends, etc.  Jeshua loves to play with the big kids so I usually found him running around with boys 5 years older than he is.  Jedidiah and Lydia liked to hang back and sit in Mommy's lap, play on the quilt on the grass or bug the stew out of me while I'm trying to watch the game.  HA!

During half time, My Man started this game with the kids where they would start on the white line and race to him to see who was the fastest.  They loved it and couldn't wait for halftime.

Our friends' daughter, originally from Ethiopia, loved to join in the races too.  They were cute as can be.

With 5 grandparents so close by, they often liked to join us at the field to watch the games.  Once Jeshua decided to give Grandaddy a hair make-over.  Poor Grandaddy!

One of our new coaches this year used to be a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans.  We were so glad to have him coaching our boys' football team!

Coach Rusty coaching Caleb (23)

Here's my little buddy

AB couldn't resist letting our friends' daughter "help" her with homework.  She's a doll!  She's the one with the same Gotcha Day as J and J!  The boys adore her.

Ready to catch

Run, Caleb, Run!

Line up....one your mark.....get set....

GO!

Getting ready....

Another catch for Caleb.

taking it down the field

We love our GCA Lions football!

Adoption Complete!

Adoption requires tons of paperwork....nothing compares to the amount of paper work.  If applying to

 college with grant and loan applications seemed like paperwork to you, it doesn't even compare.  Once the boys came home, our next stage of paperwork was re-adoption.  We hired a local lawyer, filled out all the necessary forms to obtain US birth certificates and have their name changed legally and waited for our court date.

On September 15, we got all 5 Fish Sticks out of school and the 10 of us headed downtown to the courthouse.  I struggled explaining to the boys what we were doing.  I just told them it was an important meeting with a judge (as if they knew who a judge was) who would sign a paper saying that their names would be Jeshua and Jedidiah Fish forever.  They overheard me calling it their re-adoption and to this day when we drive by the courthouse, they will say, "Look Mom!  That's our adoption!" 

Brothers being silly as we wait outside our court room.

Getting settled in our seats.

Waiting on the judge

Being called before the judge

Another family was there with a slew of family and friends to witness their special day.  They brought a photographer with them who offered to use my camera and take photos for our special event.

The Honorable Joseph A. Woodruff was presiding that day and it was his first ever re-adoption case.  He kept telling us what a special day this was for him and how honored he was to get to sign for our re-adoption.  He asked us to tell him a bit about ourselves and then he asked for copies of our photos also.

It's official!

Oh Happy Day!

Next paperwork step, social security numbers and US citizenship