Pictures of Conner

So, since everyone has been asking for pictures of Conner, I thought I'd post a couple. I hope they work ok. They were just some we were taking yesterday when he was here again.

Announcemnt -- Conner

I finally feel like we are at the point where we can make an announcement.  We have talked to very few people about this because it is just one of those things that you can never count on.

Back in August we made the decision to be foster parents.  Part of it came from Luke desperately wanting a brother, and part of it came from us wanting to do some good.  I'm not exactly sure what our reasons were other than that we knew it was what the Lord directed us.

I spent many months taking training classes, filling out paperwork, and making the changes in our house that are required for a foster home.  There were many problems with the county, though, and after a couple of situations, I withdrew our application.  I was discouraged and couldn't understand why we had felt it was right, but didn't even get through the application process.

The weekend before I withdrew our application, I met a woman who is a social worker at a foster family agency.  I called her when we were done working with the county and decided to work to be a foster family through the Legacy agency.  What a blessing that has been! They are positive and kind.  It has been a much better experience.

I procrastinated turning in my application to Legacy for quite a long time because I was scared.  Mostly, I was scared about the home inspection.  But, I finally got up the courage and turned in the application. We had very limited attributes of what we felt would be best in our home -- a little boy between the ages of 3 and 5.  When I turned in the application, the social worker reminded me that with such limits, it would most likely take a very long time to get a child. But, while I was at the office talking with her, a fax came in about a little boy that was 5.  She was as surprised as I was.  It felt like God was speaking right to us.

So, with a little boy in mind, we got to work on the process even more seriously.  It has been a long roller coaster.  We are having to do some remodelling on our home; another round of fingerprints, paperwork, and classes; and a whole lot more praying. However, it is all paying off and Conner should be joining our family soon.

Conner is 5 years old.  He is already completely adoptable.  He has had a tough life already, but we are looking forward to being able to help him and love him and have him join our family.  It should only be a few more weeks until then and hopefully no longer than  year until the adoption is final. Although it will be quite a change to have four kids in our family, we are very excited!!! 

Family Picture/Christmas Letter

We had our family pictures taken by a sweet lady in our ward. I thought I would at least write some of our family's happenings in 2013 since we did not get around to sending out a Christmas letter.

Violatte  turned eight this past year and was baptized by her dad in April.  She had the opportunity to bear her testimony in Primary about her baptism and she also born one in a Fast and Testimony Sacrament meeting. She has a powerful, sweet testimony, especially of baptism.  Violatte is in the third grade, and has such a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Thompson.  She is excelling in all of her work.  She is also taking ballet and piano lessons, and enjoys both.

Annalee is now 7 (as of January 1, 2014).  She is still as beautiful as always.  She has lost many teeth and looks forward to her visits from the tooth fairy.  Annee is in the first grade and also has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hogg.  Annalee LOVES her ballet class and has the heart of a dancer!  She is learning to read better every day and especially enjoys reading to her little brother. 

Luke is 4 now.  He is such an energetic little boy!  He loves to tell stories, and makes up some incredibly fantastic adventures that he shares with us!  Luke is in a Montessori preschool and enjoys it for the most part.  His favorite thing at school are the gymnastics classes and playing outside.  He is very looking forward to going to Kindergarten.  He is learning to read, and improving quite a bit.

Jimmy has been very busy working at his job as well as serving on the city council.  He enjoys it for the most part.  And, I just have to add that I am very proud of him.  He stands up for things that he feels are right, even if he stands alone.  He is a good man, and I am grateful for the service he gives, even if it is difficult.  Jim has been learning the guitar, and has gotten good at it.  I love to hear him play!  Probably the most exciting thing for Jim this year was that he got to go on a glider ride for his birthday gift.  He absolutely enjoyed that, and now has an even greater desire to fly.

As for me, I've been keeping busy with lots of things. (Probably a few too many things.) I am on the board of the United Way.  I am also the PTO treasurer at the school (which has been an insanely busy job.)  I am also on the board of the Ridgecrest Opera Guild and a performer with them.  Singing has become my new passion.  I have been so blessed to have quite a few performance opportunities with different groups.  I have an amazing teacher who is helping me improve in leaps and bounds.  I have not written much for the newspaper, but I am hoping that I can increase my writing this coming year.

We hope you are all doing well.  We love and miss each of you and would love to hear from you.  If you ever are in Southern California, let us know. We'd love to meet up and see you!
May God bless you,
The Sanders family

Mothers' Day Card from Violatte

I know Mothers' Day was seven or so months ago, but I still wanted to post this cute card that Violatte made me for me on here so I could always remember it.

This is the front and back of the card.  It says "I love you" on it.  And the title of the card is "All About the World's Best Mom"

 "My mom's name is        Celese Sanders  
She is     27    years old and has    green     eyes and    brown    hair.  Her birthday is    June tenth   .  The is what she looked like when she was a baby."
"Here is a picture of my mom having fun" 
(Just to clarify, my birthday is July tenth, but she was close enough. Also, I LOVED  that she drew me dancing ballet with her for the having fun picture.)

 "My mom is very smart.  She knows all about    writing, music, and cooking   .
I really like my mom because she is    the best mom   .
This is what I like most about her:    she provides me everything I need   .
Whenever we're together, this is what I like to do best:   play Imaginiff   .
Here is a picture of me with my mom:"
(Aww, she is so sweet. I love how in the picture we are dressed exactly alike and walking our dogs!)

 "My mom likes to eat b   brownies   .
Her favorite toys are    a piano   .
She spends most of her time doing these things:    playing the piano and work   .
I think my mom knows how to    cook breads    better than anyone in the world.
I think she likes to spend her time    playing games, the piano, and cutle (cuddle)
The nicest thing my mom ever did for me was:    provide me everything I need.  
I wish I could do something nice for my mom like    bake her a very special bake good.  
My mom makes me feel proud.  I feel proud of her when she    makes very good smoothies.  

 "This is what she looks like today!!!
Once when I was sad my mom made me feel better by c   cuttling (cuddling).   
I like to hug my mom because    she's the best!   
Here is a picture of me hugging my mom:"

 "If I could give my mom a medal, it would look like this: (It says 'You're the best!'
I think my mom and I are like in these ways:    we are a like, we like sleeping, and we both like swimming.   
When I grow up I want to be like my mom because    I get to bake a lot.   
I think my mom is the best in the world because    she is the kindest mom.   "
 

"Here is my special message to my mom:
   You are the best mom I ever know.  YOu are very specil.  I love you and god loves you.  Always Remember you are very specil
Love, Violatte"   


I LOVE THAT GIRL!!!

Fourth of July Children's Program

I think I will forever be behind with this blog, but I did want to post some things that have happened.

This past July Violatte and Annalee participated in a Children's Fourth of July program.  They had an amazing experience, and learned so much!!! (They still sing many of the songs.)

At the performance a friend of mine (Karen M.) took some incredible pictures of my girls.

Here is Violatte in her costume, hair, and makeup done for the performance.

 Here is Annalee in her costume, hair, and makeup for the performance.

 This is Beryer M. and Annalee.  Breyer is one of my girls' favorite friends.

 Here you can see more of Violatte's costume. So cute!

 I worked with these girls to teach them the Military Dance.  We all really struggled and had a lot to figure out with the dance.  But they did so great, and I LOVED working with them.  From left to right they are Diana, Donna Rose, Victoria, Mia, Kylie, and Lydia.  (I'm in the back.)

 Violatte with another shot of her costume.

 I really loved watching my girls dance and sing.  I have more pictures of the event that I will (hopefully) post later.

 

More Blessings -- A Vacuum and a VCR

The topic of blessings has been on my quite a bit lately (as I'm sure everyone has guessed).  Part of it probably comes from needing a positive outlook with the furlough looming over our heads.  The other part of it most likely comes from actively watching for blessings in my life.  After all, that which ye seek, ye shall surely find.  So, if I look for my blessings, I will be able to more easily recognize all that the Lord does for me in my life.

One of the biggest blessings that I saw actually happened a while ago.  At the time we had a very old, horrible vacuum.  I was always frustrated with it.  Well, one day, a Kirby vacuum salesman came to the door and did his little presentation. I wanted one SO badly.  I wanted a vacuum that I could use and make it really feel clean.  I was terribly tempted to buy it for $1100.  But, then, I thought about how it was more debt.  It would be another monthly payment and it would be more interest.  It was one of the more difficult things to do to turn that offer down.  I was very disappointed.  I really wanted a vacuum that would do a good job.

The very next day I saw that a friend of mine was selling her very nice Kirby with most of the attachments for $100.  A lot of people asked for it, but I was the lucky one that got it.  I truly felt that the Lord has blessed us because I did not go into debt and followed the counsel of the prophet.

A couple of months after that our DVD player died.  We didn't have the money to get one so we waited and waited for months until we could save up enough money.  It never happened, though, and I was wondering what to do.  Then, a friend of ours offered their DVD player in return for something.  We were so happy to have one that we didn't have to buy, and it works beautifully.  The man was happy to get it out of his garage, and overall, it worked out more perfectly than I could have pictures.

The Lord is so good. I love how He is always finding way to show us how much He loves us, and I am so grateful.

Blessings of Living Far Away from a Temple

One of the most difficult things for me about the town we live in is that our temple is about three and a half hours away.  Until now, the furthest that I've ever lived from a temple was an hour.  Now, it is an all-day trip if we want to go there.  I've complained about it and been frustrated by it many times.  But, something that a sister in our ward said once really has changed my perspective on this, and I thought I would share some of the blessings we have of living so far away from a temple.

1. A temple trip is an all-day experience.
When we go to the temple, it is an all-day experience rather than something that is done and over in a couple of hours.  What a blessing it is to be able to focus on something so spiritual and wonderful for an entire day!

2. We get to share the experience with our children.
Because it is such a long trip to the temple, we often take them with us.  Sometimes we will stay overnight in the temple apartments, and sometimes we'll go down and Jim and I will take turns doing a session while the other one watches the kids.  Either way, we our taking our children with us, so they get to share in the feelings and blessings of the temple grounds.

3. Our children witness our sacrifice.
Our children know that it is a sacrifice to take the entire day and spend the gas money and the money for apartments if we stay there.  They know that for us, taking that time away from projects we need to do, or other activities that we would like to do is a sacrifice.  But, when we sacrifice to go to the temple, it shows them how important it is to us.  That is a wonderful thing for a child to know.  Plus, it opens up the opportunity to talk about the temple.

4. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the blessing.
I truly believe that the Lord blesses us for each sacrifice that we make .  And if our sacrifice is great, then I believe that the blessing will be great.  The Lord is good, and if we follow the commandments and direction that He gives us, then he will happily bless us.

I am grateful for the better understanding that I received about the blessings of it being so far away. But, mostly, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to go to the temple.  I dearly love being there.