Restored: December 2008

Joy #1: In true "Christmas Story" fashion, Brendan stuck his tongue to a frozen pole the other day. And yes, it stuck. He ripped it off, losing part of the top layer of his tongue. He didn't tell his teacher. In fact, he may not have planned on telling me, if it wasn't for Seth running through the door, yelling, "Brendan stuck his tongue to a pole!" He slowly stuck out his sore and bloody tongue and all I could do was sigh. They never believed me that it would stick. I guess now they know.

Joy #2: Our infamously "fixed" dog, Belle, has managed to get pregnant again. I came home from running errands yesterday to find three tiny babies curled up next to her. At least there are only three, I thought. We can handle that. When I came home later in the evening, there were two more. As I sat there thinking how we are going to handle having five puppies in the house, I heard a splooshing sound, and sure enough, out came another one. I am happy to say that is where it stopped. We now have six adorable puppies in our house, in addition to the two full grown dogs, three adults, three children and one baby. I don't think our house could get any fuller. If anyone wants any adorable African-American puppies in about 6 weeks, let me know.

Joy #3: We got a great big box from Amazon the other day with a beautiful globe that someone ordered off my amazon Christmas wish list, but it had no name on it. If you are the kind soul who bought my boys a globe for Christmas, please let me know so I can thank you.

Joy #4: Most of you know of our friends, Darla and Kelly, who are pregnant with triplets. Well, the other day I signed them up for "Cars for Christmas," a contest where needy families can win a free car. I got a call from the contest and they told me that Darla and Kelly were one of the few finalists out of tens of thousands of applicants. They asked me a few questions about the family, and told me that the committee would be deciding the winner in the morning. And if you can believe it, they actually won! Darla and Kelly, who a couple of weeks ago were living in a Salvation Army shelter with absolutely nothing, now have a place to live, a job, and a free car (not to mention the tons of household stuff and gift cards you guys have donated)! Praise God! And thank you all!