Thanksgiving Project

Feeling in an artistic mood, and taking a clue from a far more creative friend, we embarked on a Thanksgiving-table-centerpiece-making-project.  

Here are some sneak peaks at the process and the product.  

Qui Transtulit Sustinet

At a lovely ceremony at the CT Capitol, our children received their Certificates of Citizenship from CT Secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz.  The ceremony was just for children adopted in the last year or so, and was planned for November to coincide with National Adoption Awareness Month.  It was beautiful to see 20-30 other children who God placed in families in our small state.  There were children from China, Ethiopia, Colombia, Russia, Korea and probably other countries.  As we looked around the ornate room, we were struck by the power of God to save, and his grace in placing the fatherless in families.  

Connecticut's state motto, printed on the state flag is Qui Transtulit Sustinet, meaning "God, who transplanted us hither, will support us."  The secretary of state commented on the motto as appropriate for the occasion, though she translated it, "He who is transplanted, will be sustained."  Either way you translate the Latin, the motto is truly fitting for the ceremony and for our family.  

What changes in a year?

This could be a long post, but it's bedtime and time to stop and reflect is not as common as it once was.  Perhaps I'll have time to come back and mull over the few things that have changed in the last year.  In the meantime, here are some photos of then and now.  

Family Anniversary

4 November 2009--the day six lives changed forever.

4 November 2010--a day to spent together celebrating the most miraculously challenging year of our lives.  

The day our family became a family--a year ago!

Celebrating our Family Anniversary in NYC!

A cozy train ride to the city.

Holding each other close in the rain.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

It's Fall!

And that means pumpkins!  

These pumpkin patch photos were from October 24, when we finally got ourselves out to Lyman Orchards again for the pumpkin picking ritual.  It was a cloudy and somewhat drizzly day, so we had the patch all to ourselves as each of our precious gems scoured the fields for the perfect pumpkin.  They all found one they were happy with, and we carved them up as soon as we could.  

I love the fall.  The air is cold, the sun is warm, the colors turn from the bright greens and pinks of summer to crisp yellows and golds and oranges.  The air is fresh and the sun sets earlier and more colorfully.  Sweaters can scarves come out from a long rest in the closets, and adventures are around every corner.  Today was our first frost, and the winter coats came out of hiding amidst squeaks and screeches of joy from children excited about bundling up.  (I think they are dreaming of snow already.)  

Even though we know that the turning colors and cooling air mean the first beginnings of a long chilly winer, we are savoring the beauty and enjoying the outdoors as though it were spring.  

Should that remind me to savor more frosty moments and find the miraculous color and beauty in them?  Should I focus on the warm sun when the cold air has me shivering?  Should the way the seasons and years slide by so quickly remind me to never miss an opportunity to hug or kiss or joke or laugh or smile?  Should I fret that the leaves aren't picked up neatly or should I jump in piles of them and throw them all about?  I should surely focus on the beauty in front of me, and let the dry leaves fall where the autumn wind may take them as my family and I laugh and play together.  

May it be so for our family and yours.