Snowy Monday!

We had 4 inches of snow....in Georgia!!!!   The kids woke to snow and it was like Christmas all over again.  They could hardly handle their excitement and were begging us to please gear up and get outside.  We looked pretty hilarious.  We were layering our kids in pajamas, jeans and whatever else we could find.  We were able to mix and match enough to get everyone covered and out we went.  We didn't even get to have breakfast they were so anxious!!!! 

 (Some of the JeffriesClan in front of the house!)

Jensen was waiting for his turn to get on the inner tube.

 Who can resist this precious face?  Not me!

 Davidson had no problem wearing his sisters hat!

 Johnston loved having Becca's scarf to keep warm!

Becca....I just love her so much!

Holland doing a snow angel.  She did about 100!  She was so excited to make her first snow angels!

 Jameson making even more snow angels.  It was the first thing the kids wanted to do when they got outside.  Snow Angels!!!!!

Jensen making his very first snow angel!

 

Johnston....playing Star Wars...was in the middle of a death scene.

 Our neighbor got out and shoveled his driveway...as you can see our driveway is still covered in snow.  The kids enjoyed the snow on our driveway.  They might not like it when we send them out in the morning to help clear the driveway.  It was fun though!

 Miss Holly lost her hat after rolling down the hill in the front of our house!

 Becca was the first to try out our inner tube on the hill beside our house.  We were so happy to find this inner tube still out.  We usually pack up our inner tubes with our summer camping stuff.  We go tubing alot. This tube some how didn't make it into the garage, but that's okay...the kids were very happy to have the tube instead of cardboard!

 Tim and all the kids rolled down the hill a few times to pack the snow so the tube would go faster!  It worked very well.  It's a bonus having an engineer as a father I think. 

 Holly kept putting her hat on backwards!

 Jensen about to go down the hill for the first time!  This was his first time sledding ever!  When he got to the bottom of the hill he threw his arms in the air...."THAT WAS AWESOME!"

The kids couldn't get enough of the rolling in the snow...or sliding down the hill on their stomachs or bottoms.  They will sleep good tonight for sure! 

We finally took a break.  Tim and the littles took a nap, some of the middles played outside, the oldies and myself enjoyed yummy hot cocoa and a game of Phase 10!

The middles saw our neighbors outside after dinner so they begged to go play.  Becca had a wee accident.  She went tubing on her stomach....her face stopped her!  All was well...she didn't even cry.  

A busy Sunday!

Today was the smoothest Sunday in as far as I can remember.  With the new year we decided to try out some new strategies.  Justice being a boy who only needs 15 minutes to get ready for church, woke up this morning at 6 and made breakfast, then at 6:30 he woke all the kids up and they ate.  This freed Tim and I up to shower and get ourselves ready.  By the time the kids were done eating they got dressed in the outfits that Becca (our fashionista) had helped me lay out the night before.  This way there was no last minute, "I can't find my socks!", "Is this a church shirt?", and the countless questions I get each Sunday when we are running around getting dressed.  By 7:15 I was doing little girls hair and last minute checks on all the little boys hair.  We were in the van by 7:45, which means we made it to church 45 minutes early!!!!!  It was great.  The kids played at the indoor play area with their friends.  Tim and I were able to fill out some paperwork that we have been wanting to get done so that we can start working in the children's ministry and also the junior high youth group.  We got our favorite seats and were able to just sit and talk for at least 15 minutes before church started.  It was so relaxing, which I think Sundays should be.  We will definitely be keeping this as our Sunday schedule. 

Beautiful Girl wearing her new dress!

Morgan our casual girl and Becca our fashion queen!

Since we chose to go to early service we got home around 11am.  Tim and the boys got changed loaded up in the truck and off they went to gather wood that will last us through February.  They brought home about 2 cords of wood.  They are my heroes!!!!  We love having fires every day and it saves us lots of money on our electric bill each month....BONUS!!!  So it was a huge blessings...did I say I have the bestest husband and boys in the entire world?  Well, I do!  Also, since it is snowing...again...in Georgia...we are going to love having the fire going tomorrow with all the sledding and thawing out we will be doing!

We also talked about Gabe (his birthday was today) lots and lots.  We laughed, we cried, we remembered....it was a good day remembering Gabe and his life. 

Today was also the two year anniversary of Josalynd coming to live with us.  We never in a million years dreamed that today Josalynd would be our daughter through adoption.  The past two years have been....wow....that's pretty much the best way to describe what we've been through as parents/daughter.  It's hard having a 19 year old come into your life with (at the time we didn't know this) a train car full of baggage.  God has been good though and through it all we have become strengthened and intertwined.   We are so proud of her and know that God has wonderful things in store for her.  She is an amazing woman who at 21 has overcome so many obstacles and still continues to grow.  I am truly proud to be her momma!  We were able to have dinner tonight just Josalynd, Tim and myself.  She chose Sonny's and had baby back ribs for the first time.  She loved them!

(We really enjoyed it!  Sorry there weren't pictures of us eating...we were talking to much!)

The snow has started and we are snug in our house.  All the littles are tucked in bed, the oldies are watching movies with us.  Drinking cappuccino's made with piles of whip cream and caramel made by the lovely Josalynd.  They are so yummy!  The weather is so bitter cold....but the kids are going to be so excited when they wake up and find out we have a snow day.  A day full of snow, sledding, hot chocolate, playing and best of all daddy, Josalynd, and Jackson will all be here with us.  So much fun!

A tribute to Gabe......

....may our memory of him live forever!



This song was one of Gabe's favorite songs.  He said it summed up his past life with his birth parents/family and the truth he came to know after coming to live with us....that he was treasured, sacred, beautiful, etc.  The lyrics were so encouraging to him.

Days will come when you don't have the strength
And all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart
They'd see too much

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

Praying that you have the heart to fight
Cuz you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
But they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to die!

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
In His eyes
When Gabe came to live with us he didn't truly know how beautiful he was.  How treasured he was.  He felt useless, unloved....unlovable.  He truly didn't think anyone could love someone as worthless as he was. How sad to me that someone as wonderful as Gabe had to live feeling worthless, unloved, unwanted. He said there were days when he would repeat something we had told him over and over to himself all day long...."God has great things in store for you....just you wait and see!".  He said these words kept him from killing himself many times the last (hopeless) months of his life before he came to live with us in 2010.  

Gabe was beautiful!  Even if on the outside he had human flaws....HE WAS BEAUTIFUL!  His heart was beautiful, his smile was beautiful, his desire's in life were beautiful.  God created him beautiful! I can't even begin to say how thankful I am that he left this world knowing he was loved, cherished, wanted, cared for and that above all else GOD LOVED HIM! 

12th Night

Today we had a sleep in day.  Jackson, Justice, Morgan and I stayed up until 3am watching Spies Like Us.  I had never seen it before.  It was hilarious!!!!!  Good laugh!  Anyway...we slept in this morning and got off to a later start then we had anticipated...but we did get up and going.  Today was the annual SCA 12th Night that we go to.  It was great seeing all our friends that we haven't gotten to see in ages.  We also made some new friends.  Homeschooling friends!  That's our first in our 8 years of SCA.  Never met anyone in the SCA that homeschools.  I'm sure they are out there, we've just never met any.  The kids had a blast playing on the playground, sword fighting, learning some new medieval dances, having new foods that they'd never tried before (there was this one soup that literally tasted like soap...gag), and had a blast playing games while the adults tried their hands at dancing. 

(Johnston and his Princess!)

(Morgan got to love on Aaron....he is sooooo little and lovely)

(The teenies playing cards with other teenies!)

(The middles and littles had fun dancing!)

(The brothers getting ready to dance!  They had so much fun!)

(Jackson and Morgan taking a spin around the dance floor...so cute!)

(Justice dancing with a sweet girl he met)

We had such a good time.  The kids are already looking forward to our next event which Morgan and I hope to get some new gowns sewn for.  What fun!

We got home and the middles/littles jumped into bed.  Morgan made fresh chocolate chip cookies for Tim which are his favorite.  They were so good.  Jackson rented Dinner for Schmucks....HILARIOUS!  It was so painfully funny.  I haven't laughed at a movie like that in such a long time.  It was great.    I love hanging out with the best teenagers/young adults in the entire world.  (My humble opinion!)

Gabe's Birthday!

Tonight we went to Outback and celebrated what would have been Gabe's 23rd birthday.  His actual birthday is this Sunday, January 9th, but we will be starting a 21 day fast with our church.  So we celebrated tonight instead.  A wonderful and dear "sister" of mine sent our family a gift card to Outback which was a wonderful blessing! (Thank you Elizabeth!)

The crew were excitedly awaiting their steaks!

Becca and Grandma Jean (Tim's mom)

I was so happy that Jean was able to join us. Jean was a wonderful grandma to Gabe and he loved her so much.  He would drop by her office almost everyday.  Not because he needed anything or she asked....he just enjoyed spending time with her.  Our kids absolutely adore her and she is such a huge part of their lives. She is a great grandma and I'm so glad they are going to have these fond memories of their time with her.

Holly had fun coloring while we waited for dinner.

Morgan and Jameson ~ Best Buds!

Tim waiting anxiously for his Outback Ribeye!

The Three Amigos! (Max, Jackson and Justice)

Someone enjoyed their Outback Cheeseburger and Fries!

Jameson being his normal goofy self while stuffing his mouth with fries.  (All the pictures were taken with my Droid phone this one came out foggy.)

First Sunday of 2011

2011 is off to a wonderful start!  After staying up way to late with Jackson to watch Austin Powers 1 and 2 I slept through my alarm, so it was a little rushed this morning, but we made it with 10 minutes to spare.  I really don't like to be late...much rather be early.  Today we were able to have the pleasure of listening to Perry Stone at church.  Wonderful message!  Can't wait to hear from him again.  Great service to start the year on.

After church we got home and had lunch.  The littles went to play in the girls room with the doll house.  All the school age kids up gathered in our living room to have our first family talk of 2011.  It was great.  We made "bucket lists" for 2011.  The kids came up with great lists full of more hiking, biking, camping and family time then we had in 2010.  It was a lot of fun and great to see what everyone came up with.  After that we talked about our fast that we are starting tomorrow.  The kids all told us what they had chosen to give up for the month of January.  It was so touching to see that the kids really chose things that were big sacrifices for them.

Tim took the kids on their first mountain bike ride after we were done talking.

They got bikes for Christmas and have enjoyed taking trips daily.  Thursday they were gone for over three hours!  Tim took them on a new trail today and they came back covered in mud.

They loved it!  Johnston however won't be hitting the mud trails anymore.  He got a BMX trick bike and it is not trail worthy...but he can go on any of the other biking trips that are on non muddy trails.  We will be looking for a used mountain bike for him to use for the future muddy rides.

Tonight Morgan and I met up with our group of friends for my girl Erin's birthday party.

It was FUN!  We laughed, talked and even cried.  I am just so amazed that God brought such a wonderful person into my life.  She is an amazing friend and I just totally adore her and her family.

We had a wonderful dinner at Mellow Mushroom.  I've never been, but was very impressed with the food.  Morgan had a BLT hoagie and I had a Mediterranean hoagie.  Anything that has mushrooms, feta, red onions, avacado...YUMMO!

 After dinner Morgan and I went with a group of ladies to see Little Fockers.  It was hilarious!  I have to say I can't see them doing anymore in the trilogy.  I think they've taken it as far as they can.  It was very good though and we laughed even more.

Got home and Tim was asleep on the couch so Justice, Morgan and I sat down to watch a couple episodes of Psych.  Good ending to a GREAT Sunday!