He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

 Well we have made it to the end of October.  A beautiful month in a fabulous season comes to an end.  I was able to successfully avoid all of the demons and spooks and zombies.  It was a memorable month of fall colors and temperatures....crunchy leaves and huge sunsets...God showed up and He showed off.  He is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.  In October: 1.  We did some remodelling that makes our home feel fresh and beautiful thanks to my sis Jen Sanbulte. 2.  Roger got the hot tub fixed after a year...and almost has the in ground pool closed. 3.  Extra Kredits have moved on to family placement. 4.  We had family photos taken for the first time in a long time and we got them back and I love them. 5.  I watched "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" twice.....the best and only redeeming part of Halloween for me.   6.  I discoverd Honey Nut squash at Costco....seriously a fall game-changer. 7....

 In case you are checking back in....the transition went so well Friday.  If you prayed then thank you.  It was kind of a crazy deal....because that's how things often happen here.  I had taken a couple car loads of the xK stuff to the relatives already and had some things on the table yet.  xK kids never came home from school.  For some reason the bus dropped them off at their new home!  I got a text that they were there...and we had a mad scramble for random other reasons ( a mom and baby needed a ride to the clinic so I was out driving around trying to find them because she wasn't sure of her house number...and there was a language barrier....and some guy with a flat tire who wouldn't pull over that was slowing down traffic).  Kids stopped by and grabbed a few things and took off again with their family and I never did say good-bye.  I took a few more loads of their stuff to their new home in the dark and quietly left them in the back....t...

 Tonight is our last night with our extra kredit kiddos.  Tomorrow they transition out of foster care placement and they will live with family.  This is a good, good thing!  They are loved and wanted and will be well cared-for.  But they don't know that.  They are just 5 and 7 years old and they have been here in our home with us for 8 months.  8 months is a lifetime for a 5 year old.  My heart is heavy tonight for them because they just do not know what they cannot know.....that even though everything changes tomorrow, it will be ok.  It will all be ok.  They will be safe and loved and delighted in and treated with respect and goodness.....tonight I had to tell little miss that I promised they would be ok....that I would not let them go if I didn't think it would be ok (nevermind I have no actual power in any of this but its ok if she thinks that I do).   Foster care is a strange and shifty beast.....the first night with a new...

 Well here we are again....October first.  October is a beautiful, magical month of fall.  If only we didn't have to deal with all the Halloween spooks and witches and darkness.  Why must we ruin a perfectly good month with all of this scary stuff?  Nevermind.  I know why.  Sorry if Halloween happens to be your favorite holiday.  It's not mine and it's my blog so I can write what I want.  My kids don't do scary because I don't do scary.  I spend all of my parenting energy making a safe and nurturing world for the kids I love and then October tries to ruin it all with all this terror and zombie and undead haunting.  Good grief.   Today our pastor preached about God bringing light to the darkness, order to the chaos and life unto death.  I guess that's what I need to do for the 31 days of October..... For today, we began the month going to church, taking family pictures, watching football on tv and going out for pizza....