“Circle any words we do really well.” This was the directive for our Hay Happens Meeting this week. Tatum has a Turkey paper she has to complete with the family involved. So…..this was a good brainstorming activity.
Daddy and Tot were pretty generous in their word counts.
This was my paper:
We all agreed that we are definitely a grateful family, we honor God and each other, and we are filled with kindness and grace. We also work hard and try to laugh along the way. Hopefully we are others-centered as well.
Then, we looked at the 6-G and I filled in my turkey with that. I surrounded it with all the things we say in the house. heehee.
We ground all we do in this verse too: the BUTT! Yes, but, God!
Last year, we launched a new tradition. We would celebrate being grateful with some of her friends, and we would model how to be grateful with some rocks! Let’s do it again this year.
Daddy worked extra hard in getting the back and front ready. Just look at our cute entry way! Thanks to a HUUUUUUGE pumpkin from Costco. The seeds from that guy….endless I’m sure.
Tot helped a bit in the back….
Go Tot!
Oh, Daddy and Tot..it looks so good and COZY out here!
Oh, I’m so excited about this party! I’m so full of GRATITUDE, I had to wear it.
The girls started showing up after we got all set up!
Maddy, Isabelle, TotAnd Lilly!
We all got started after Emma showed up.
Look how creative the girls are! Here is Isabelle and then Maddy!
Isabelle and Zoe
Emma, yours is looking great!
Tot and Daddy!
Lilly hard at work
Wow!
Now it is time for our ice cream bar.
Delicious!!
When it was time to go, we snapped a shot of each girl.
Emma wanted to take Coopy home
SO GRATEFUL!
When Kate came to pick up Lilly, she brought Levi. (These are Noah’s siblings)
The Hay family believes in adoption! We also have a heart for kids in Foster Care.
There is a home that Scottsdale Bible supports named Gigi’s House. It houses about eight girls who are in the system. Our small group made baskets for each one of them!
Our mornings always start with our devotion and Bible. Glorious. Then, she surprise me with my yoga setup. She got the TV ready, my mat setup and the furniture all moved. WOW! So thoughtful. (Cooper is ready too).
I love you TOT!
Then….it’s FINALLY cooled off, so we headed on our bikes to Butters.
One mile later…
We made it! We wore our matching shirts, and it made many stare. Hopefully they read the back!
(Living the 6G life!)
She ordered silver dollar pancakes (and crispy bacon) and enjoyed every bite. We shared our hearts about friends, Jesus, our God-centered walks, and the party tomorrow!
The party tomorrow…yes. Our annual “Gratefall” party is here! So, we spent the rest of the day getting ready for it.
We needed to make: Ghost fruit Kabobs, Boo chips with jack-o-lantern hummus, and pretzel, cracker and peanut butter spiders.
Tatum had fun putting on the eyes of the spiders.
Oh, I also made a topping for our ice cream bar. Ghost marshmallows!
It’s a year of success and growth for the Tot. She is experiencing more challenging school work, and she also is learning how to handle and negotiate difficult social situations.
It was great to meet with. Mrs. Denmark and hear how she is doing in the class. She noted that Tatum is a HARD WORKER; she is FOCUSED; she asks a ton of questions and loves to answer questions. She is KIND; GENEROUS (loves to give notes to teacher and gifts to friends)
In her work, she has gotten neater too! We are always working on the neatness factor.
Compare the two: (beginning of year 5.1…now 5.8 (and much neater)
Some more papers: Pretest in grammar…and NOW! WOOHOO!
The one I love is her writing and READING!
See her scores: 7th grade level~
She continues to make me proud in her character and her academics. The fact that she works hard is so good to hear!
There are no such things as coincidences. Nope. God knows that something will happen and He makes things just fit into place.
Take this weekend: First, I wanted to celebrate Tatum’s grades (both character and academic). I also wanted to give her a new sleeping bag for her birthday. Ok..that is one piece.
Next, there was supposed to be a picnic at the school this weekend. Cancelled due to rain. ALSO, Tatum had been home the past couple of days due to her teeth pain…so we had more time available! ALSO…Tatum and I usually go swimming around 4 pm, but this Friday, we decided to just go for a walk. The other thing is that Coti went to heaven a week ago, so he wasn’t a worry for us. All of these “circumstances” allowed for the “inconvenience” of this horrible event. God used it for GOOD!
It was 4:13 on Friday afternoon. Mama calls me crying saying she fell and she needs me NOW! Luckily, I was able to go immediately with Tot (remember we were around). We sped over there, and we found mom on the couch in a lot of pain. She thought she punctured a kidney or lung. We rushed to the hospital (luckily we didn’t have to worry about Coti). We waited for a while and then found out it was a 3 hour wait. Mama was feeling better, so we just brought her back to our home for dinner and sleepover.
NOW….let’s think about this. All of the “circumstances” that surrounded this event made it so much easier to help her! We were completely available AND now we get to see Tatum in action.
She was a COMPLETE helper/servant, constantly making sure mom had ice or help in walking. SERVANT HEARTED> Oh, Doug too! Gosh…so awesome how he helped out at the drop of a hat.
We had wanted to have Mom over for a nice dinner, and this gave me a chance to make her a yummy salmon dinner AND celebrate Tatum’s grades and character grades.
Her “E’s” in social skills and conduct just thrilled us!
THEN, it was a perfect opportunity to give her a present. The DOGGIE sleeping bag! She wanted to give mom her bed so this was great!
You and the doggie are one!
Now mama can sleep in your bed. Tatum checked on her the whole night and sacrificed her own sleep. It was amazing to watch her.
Tatum so loved being with the doggie all night! She’s been sleeping in it ever since.
Well, I did put it away and she had a little breakdown. I said it needed to stay in the closet. She then slipped me this note. The doggie was lonely apparently.
Mama? Oh, we kept her with us all weekend, and I think she is feeling so much better.
God is healing her.
She appreciated us…..
God used all of these circumstances for HIS good. Tatum grew, my Mom got so much love, and my honey got some time to work on the fall lawn. XXOO
