Giving Thanks

My blessings are multiple. Health, family, love, life. All chocked full of blessings.

The day to day can makes those blessing hazy, getting out of focus as the latest accident needs to be cleaned up, or the same warning of getting off the counter has been issued 12 times in a row.

One of the things that I like best about Thanksgiving is that the important thing comes back into focus and those daily annoyances fade to the background where they belong. A entire day to think about your blessings, the be thankful for those who are around you. While so much bad seems to be happening, there is always, always good. Roofs over heads, clothes on bodies, smiles, laughter, food in the fridge. All worthwhile blessings to count today and every day.

Since I could write for hours about the things I am thankful for, I decide to just pick the main 4 reasons of my life. The reasons that my world spins round and that makes all that daily grind more than worth it.

I am thankful for my husband. He is my best friend and partner in life. His integrity is true and deep. Maybe I was naive, but the longer my husband has been in the business world, the more shocking the lack of integrity and lack of basic honesty abides in business, even businesses run by people of faith. Regardless of what was said, promises or how he was treated, Ryan has remained true and faithful, never wavering in his integrity. I love many, many things about him, but this is one of my favorites. I am so proud to have my children watch their dad and how he deals with life and work. Ryan is showing them what it means to be honest and true to your word, regardless of if it is the easiest or fastest path in life.

I am so thankful for my oldest baby, my Jack. His love for learning and discovering is inspiring. He is thriving in school, eager to lead his peers and excited about any academic challenge. His teachers speak highly of his bright and fun personality and we couldn't agree more. He likes to tell jokes, dance, and entertain those around him. I love my little book worm who asks for biographies on inventors for Christmas and eagerly anticipates Monday morning's new list of spelling words. He is a friend to all and we love that just as much!

I am so thankful for my Colin, lovingly nicknamed Boo Boo by his sister. My middle man is kind and sweet, shy to those he first meets but fiercely loyal to his friends. He is navigating Kindergarten well, leaning to engage with those around him and growing in confidence.  His natural intuition with sports has been fascinating to watch. He is a coach at heart. Colin understands how a sport should work and controls the field or the court. He always looks for the open player, directs teammates to the best place and competes fully. He is the only 5 year old I know who can look at a full field or court and than decides what is the best thing to do. Put him in a large room with a lot of people and he will be quiet and shy, playing only with those he knows. Put him on a soccer field or basketball court and he comes alive, engaging with everyone. Most importantly, he laughs and has the most fun. We love our silly, emotional Boo Boo. He does everything at 100%.

I am so thankful for my only girl, my little momma on the go. Macy is loud and funny and determined to never, ever be left out. She is talking up a storm these days. There is never a doubt about what she does or does not want. She loves to sing and will sometimes answer her dad and brothers by singing a motivational or instructional little jingle from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. They really appreciate that, especially when it involves eating their dinner.  ("You gotta try new foods, cause it might taste gooooood. Gooo ooo ood!") She is sassy and definitely TWO. She asks where we are going every day and always takes either a bag, a baby and some sort of accessories. She loves to play with kids and every child she sees is her "friend". She gives great hugs and kisses. We are so happy to have a little lady in our life. We love our Macy so.

So, count your blessings, big or small today. I know that holidays can be hard, especially when there is a loss in the year. We lost my Grandma Andrew on my birthday this year. It is hard. It can be difficult to see past the pain and to see any good at all. But know that you are never truly alone, it is never truly hopeless.  There is Hope in the One that sacrificed it all for you. (John 3:16-17)

Happiest Thanksgiving, friends!

For the Mommas

This crazy crew made me a Momma.

I am so thankful.

They are my greatest joy, my greatest gifts and my greatest responsibility.

Raising them is awe inspiring, gravely serious and overwhelmingly fun.

I am so thankful for my Jack, my Colin and my Macy.

I would never be able to do even half a decent job at this thing called Motherhood, if it were not taught, reflected and shown to my by these amazing women. Each and everyone of these ladies have been an inspiration to me. Thank you for being such a great example of Godly, loving Mothers.

From Left to Right: My Grandma, my Mom, baby Jack, me, my Mother -in- law and Ryan's Grandma

So, Happy Mother's day to all the mommas, whether biological or adopted in one form or another.
May your day be filled with Love and Laughter!

Scenes of Summer

 View at my Grandparent's house.

While stores may be heralding "Back to School" and the fall roll out has begun to pop up, there is a still a good solid month or more of summer. Good, hot, summer.

Let's not get too carried away here, folks.

So, in honor of summer and enjoying it until it's last heated breathe... here are some scenes of our summer thus far.

 Popsicles and silly faces.

 

Too big sun hats.

Very first boat rides, in super cool shades.

 Pokemon birthdays!

Babies on blankets, always wanting the same toy.

 

Sharing puffs with Great Grandpa.

Trekking down to the river, off on boat ride.

Ever-present visitors of the avian variety.

Smiles for cousins who grow and graduate so soon.

Very first frappacinos on a date with mom. Strawberries and cream, of course.

Fishy umbrellas that help accessorize our Sunday best.

And, finally, brother's taking a watermelon and strawberry popsicle break, talking away.

Here's to many more summer memories to be made.

Have a great week!

So This Is Love

 Daddy and Jack.

2008

Daddy and Colin

2010

Daddy and Macy

2013

Happy Father's Day to my Love.

Thanks for being such a great Dad.

Our kids are lucky to have you.

I am lucky to have you.

You are a shining example of love, patience, grace and selflessness.

Your efforts to provide and keep us happy and provided for, while still investing your time, does not go unnoticed.

Our boys idolize you and thankfully, want to be just like you.

Our daughter adores you and her happy squeals of joy when you come home from work are proof of that.

Thank you for showing us what Love is.

And a very Happy Father's Day to my own Dad.  

You set a great for me.

Love you.

Museum

One of the biggest blessing that came from our move to the Detroit Metro area is finding Jack's school. It is a wonderful, small co-op school that insists on heavy parental involvement, the only one of it's kind in the state of Michigan. It has been running for 40 years and has a very unique teaching system that I just adore.

One of the things that the whole school participate in is a called Museum. The school bases a lot of it's ideals off of Jean Piaget's style of learning. So, each student will pick a subject that they are interested in and would like to study and they do a complete research project and presentation about it. It can be anything that they are interested in, no matter what they are studying in school at the moment. Pre-K through 8th graders all participate.

The day of Museum, all of the kids will either present their studies or sit by their presentations and answer questions, like the kindergarteners did.

Jack chose to study Fire Safety.

He is my old soul, and wanted to learn how to be safe, how to get out of fires, and so forth.

He created his board on his own, he did all the paper mache on his firetruck and painted it. He created his own survey, asked his classmates and the elementary students and than created a chart.

His question?

"Do you think a house fire is more than 100 degrees?"

The majority voted yes, fyi.

He than researched and found out that house fires reach up to 15,000 degrees.

All of the kids did such a great job. There are 10 students in Jack's kindergarten class and the topics varied from Fire Safety to Dinosaurs, Lemonade Stands to Octonauts the Disney Jr. cartoon.

Math, reading and writing were all involved in their projects. They had to go to the library to get books to support their project.

Not too shabby for Kindergartners.

Ryan made sure that Jack had at least 10 books. He wanted to make sure his works cited was complete and accurate ;)

It was such a great way for the kids to be able to learn about what they are interested in, all the while learning how to present, create and process information.

The Kindergarten room  was bustling!

Jack was very serious about his topic. He wanted to make sure that people know how to Stop. Drop. And Roll.

 

We just adore Jack's teacher, Miss Venee. She has helped him come out of his shell, while not forcing him into activities till he is ready.

Here he is talking with her.

He just adores her, as do we.

I feel so blessed to be able to send him to school each day, and be excited to hear about what he is learning.

I didn't think I would ever feel confident and o.k with his schooling being done by strangers, but I have not had one moments doubt.

Jack is perfectly placed, and they let him flourish in his own way.

It was a fun afternoon, full of learning and knowledge. The kids were SO proud of their work and the parents were excited to learn from everyone.

I look forward to going again next year. Jack will be in 1st grade and will have to do an actual presentation before his peers and the parents. I wonder what his topic will be next year?

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

 Wishing your family a Merry Christmas, filled with peace and love.

Many Blessings,

The Fedell's