ANNUAL FOGAS FAMILY LIGHTING OF THE GREENS

Nov. 27th, 2007 was the date set for the annual Fogas Family Lighting of the Greens. Maggie and I spent the day decorating the house, hanging garland both inside and outside of the house, and hanging all of our window wreaths. As is typical for Maggie, she experienced Joy Bursts all day long. Sometimes her joy, wonder and excitement just can't be contained. Today was one of those days. Since Maggie has been home, we have had the gift of seeing the wonder of Christmas (and birthdays) through the eyes of a child. We didn't decorate the tree until 8:00 in the evening, so by then, she was so full of energy and anticipation that she could have taken out the Energizer Bunny out in one fell swoop. Of course, the night was not complete without the Fogas "men" throwing their hats in the ring for a little Fogas Family "Tuesday Night Smack-Down" wrestling tournment...A day in the life of the Fogas Family.

SHE DID IT

Maggie sang with her class in chapel yesterday. This was a first. In the past she has either sat down on the stage with her back to the audience, or she has broken down in a fit of tears, truly inconsolable. But, as with so many other things, Maggie has found new confidence with turning five. She told us a few days before the BIG DAY that she wasn't afraid because she was five now. She was true to her word, she made it through both songs and even had a little bit of rhythmic groove going on, ever so slight.

BUT, we were supposed to go with friends today to hear a reading of Elf on the Shelf, and then we were going to buy our own little elf. (It is a Christmas tradition where this little elf "hides" somewhere and when the children go to bed, he reports to Santa on the children's' behaviour. Then next morning he is hiding somewhere else, and the children find him). Maggie wanted NO PART of hiding elves. She is afraid of elves for some reason. When I tried the "you are five now...." she told me in no uncertain terms, "You can be afraid of some things until you are six." So maybe we will tackle elves next year.

HOLY COW FARM

Yesterday our playgroup went to Holy Cow Farm, which is essentially a petting farm. Our neighbor, Michael, spent the day and night with us last night, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to spend time with friends, get some fresh air and exercise, and have some fun. I was correct on points one and two...point three was true for Michael, but not Mag...no matter how you look at it, Maggie does not like animals when they are up in her grill. She spent most of the time asking me to hold her, which I would not because there was animal "waste" everywhere, including shoes, which I didn't want to get rubbed off onto my clothes. I was lamenting the fact that it was "dirty", and one of the moms pointed out that it WAS a farm...farms are dirty...Good point.

After the farm, we joined our friends for lunch, and then went to Sam's where we had a little five year old drama. I put the kids in the grocery cart, where Maggie promptly turned on her fake cry. It roughly sounds like a bellowing baby whale. Hence, the pix of Maggie and Michael in the grocery cart...I just couldn't resist and I still had the camera with me. Oh, the drama was a result of the fact that "five year olds are big girls, and big girls WALK"!!!!

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!!!!!

Nov. 9th 2003 is a day that will live in my heart and mind with the strongest feelings of love and hope attached to it for all eternity. It was the day that little Yuan Xiao Guo was placed into my arms. There are no words that can adequately express the joy that is associated with the adoption of a child. The waiting, and wanting, the yearning and the despair are erased, and in their place is the most incredible, uncontainable love....so 4 years ago this day, Maggie came into our hearts and our lives. We thank God for her everyday, our beautiful, and very much longed-for daughter.


The Wait
You first came in an envelope
With letters, forms, and such.
Just a tiny little picture
With nothing warm to touch

You grew in our imaginations,
In our hearts, and in our minds.
You’ve brought us even greater joy
Than we thought we’d ever find.

A phone call started labor pains
Which lasted ‘til we met.
Strangers brought together,
A day we won’t forget.

Our wanting and our waiting
Are finally at an end.
Our precious child is home to stay…
A gift that God surely did send.

MAGGIE IS FIVE

Maggie celebrated her 5th Birthday on Saturday with 9 of her closest little friends. When all was said and done, the party was a hit. The preparation for the party was another story all together. It started when Maggie announced months before her birthday that she wanted to have a My Little Pony party. I immediately began to brainstorm about what we could do to keep the games and craft centered around the My Little Pony theme. Idea Number 1: Make beautiful horseshoes decorated with gems, glitter, etc. for the girls to take home and hang on their doors. Great idea, however, it did entail calling several horse supply stores to see if I could get discarded horseshoes. The supply stores referred me to some local stables, and the stable hands, in turn, put me in contact with several farriers. In the end, I drove out to a local stable, met the farrier, dug through his discarded horseshoes, selected a dozen, and off we went. They then had to be cleaned (which, Praise the Lord, Mark did for me), and spray painted. With that done, I was on to Idea Number 2: Pin the tail on the horse. In my mind, I envisioned a beautiful horse with a flowing mane for the girls to pin their tails on to. This entailed copying a template that I found on the Internet (Thank God for the Internet), onto a transparency, and then, using and overhead projector, tracing the horse onto a large piece of poster board....oh, but we don't have an overhead projector. Necessity is the mother of invention. I had to enlist the help of the boys who held flashlights up to the transparency while I traced. Idea number 3: Perhaps this was my most grandiose idea yet. I thought that my mom and I could make each of the girls her own little hobby horse. We could have a little relay race using the horses and then each girl could take her own horse home. I won't even go into the all the details of the fiasco that surrounded the making of these little gems, but to suffice it to say, my mom pulled through, and made all the horses. She even enlisted the help of her husband. His job was to stuff the ears. I don't know what I would have done without her help in all of this. In the end, we had 10 of the cutest pink hobby horses that you ever wanted to see. And the girls were elated to take home their own horse. It was a great party. The preparation was killer, but the end result was worth it. The things we do for our children......but I would have it no other way.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MAYBERRY RFD!!!!

I love our neighborhood. It is the kind of neighborhood that people who are my age used to grow up in. We can ride our bikes to Mag's school, the store, or Starbucks, so we have the amenities of the city and the feel of a small-town neighborhood. The other thing I love is that it is a generationally-mixed neighborhood. Many of the home owners are the original builders who have raised their children and are now grandparents. But then there are families, like ours, who have moved into the neighborhood more recently and have young children. The older neighbors are blessed by getting to see a new generation growing up in the neighborhood, and the little ones are blessed to be under the ever-watchful eyes of their caring "elderly" neighbors. It is truly the best of both worlds.

So in that vein, we had our annual neighborhood Halloween party last night. The kids played games, ate, and just generally had fun. Once it is dark, the party disperses and everyone heads out to trick or treat. Maggie is growing up, this year she didn't even ride in the wagon once. She walked (or ran) the whole way.

In case you are wondering why Mag is crying in some of the pix. Mark dressed up as Garth Algar (from Wayne's World) dressed as a Satanic Friar, or something to that effect. Needless to say, the skeleton head accessories really freaked Maggie out. Once he took them off, she was good to go again.