Happy New Year from the Faulkners!
We had the best intentions of sending out Christmas cards last month. But life happened, and now we have a New Year card! We had a great time taking family portraits last year and wanted to share some of the shots with everyone. Life moves fast…here is an update on what we’ve been doing this last year.
Margo is a proud mom and devoted wife. She is in her fifth year as an educator in Katy ISD. She also joined a book club in 2012 and has made some great new friends and read a few books too. The biggest event in our family last year was our road trip to Florida and week long vacation at Disney World. Margo planned the itinerary with precision and everyone had a great time.
Clayton proudly completed his doctoral degree last year and celebrated his graduation in June. He is done with school (for now). You can even find his thesis on Amazon.com! Clayton kept a busy schedule serving as Director of Worship, Music, and Technology at Faith Lutheran Church in Bellaire. Both Clayton and Margo facilitated a Financial Peace University class there twice last year. The family is working hard to be financially healthy and wise.
Deacon started Kindergarten in 2012. He and Margo travel to the same school together every day. He is not a baby anymore! Deacon has adjusted to the new school (and rules) and has made many new buddies. He did very well on his most recent report card! He is learning to read and already recognizes many words. Deacon also experienced his first year of tee ball last year. He loved playing on a team and took it very seriously.
Masamo is enjoying life as a PreKindergartener. He and Clayton travel to Faith Lutheran together every day where Masamo attends the Day School. Masamo is very friendly and gets along very well with Deacon. He is learning a lot and will be ready for Kindergarten in the Fall. He loves video games, riding bikes, and snuggling with his mom.
Best wishes for a blessed 2013 from the Faulkners!
Happy New Year 2013!
Happy New Year 2013! Clayton and I rang in the new year in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We were honored to be invited to a wedding there and it was a blast! We spent 4 days soaking up the sun and relaxing. It was the first time Clayton and I have left the boys for longer than one night and I’m happy to report that everyone survived 
I was super nervous about leaving the boys, but not because I was worried they’d get hurt or something, but because my boys are a force of nature and I don’t like to inflict that on other people! D and M are high energy, constantly moving, and have no safety sensor in their brains. But now that we’ve done a kid-free vacation and everyone survived, I’m thinking Clayton and I make this a yearly tradition. Who wants my kids next New Years???
The past 2 weeks of vacay have been so super, but I’m ready to tackle the next semester at school and get this new year going. This year we should be looking to buy a house (our lease is up on this rental next December). I am really thinking we should move into the city!!! I’ve been having dreams about moving to big cities and would love to live closer to everything we like (zoo, museums, church, etc…)
So, if anyone has any tips about where to buy in the loop, let me know! I’m looking in the Heights and just south of Bellaire right now…
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second opinion
i removed my last post that was a letter i wrote to my doctor complaining about their ineffectiveness. i took the actual letter with me and meant to send it to them on tuesday, but somehow forgot. i forgot to send it to them every day after that and by friday i was happy i never sent it because i still felt like crap and i called them at 1 and they got me in hours later and gave me way more drugs. i feel better. so i have a second opinion about them and that is that they aren’t that bad.
that being said, i still believe in writing customer/patient feedback letters. but i also think that the angry letter to get out your feelings and the destroying it is also good. i’m still learning what letters to send and what letters to hold.
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my poor blog
facebook, twitter, and instagram killed the blog star… we went to disney! here are just a couple of pictures!
first time to upload a gallery. hope that works
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i suck at blogging
and i blame instagram, facebook, and twitter. i blame all those apps on what has turned into quarterly blogging on this bloggity blog.
happy birthday to clayton! thank god he turned 32 today, because i turned 35 on the 14th and being 4 years apart in age for about a week makes me seem like quite a cougar. 3 years apart is completely respectable. which is good, since clayton is now dr. clayton faulkner. we head to florida in june so he can graduate with his doctorate in worship studies (and spend a week celebrating at disney world).
it finally happened this week. i was driving the boys to tball practice and they were watching despicable me (which is a movie i love) and deacon said, “when you’re adopted you have to go live somewhere else.” i said, “just like y’all used to live in ethiopia and now you live here.” and then he asked, “where is my real mom and dad?” ugh. daggers to my heart.
i will confess that we have not done such a bang up job of explaining the boys’ life stories to them as i wish we had. i had envisioned long, thoughtful talks about first families and special care givers and finding places ending with big family hugs around the fire (i guess i envision these talks on the one cold day in houston)… instead, it happened in the car, while i’m shoving down chicken nuggets and speeding to tball practice… i think i managed to say something like, “i’m your real mom, but your first mom and dad are in ethiopia and they loved you so much that they wanted you to have the best life and so they asked us to love you for them and….” by that part i was rambling and the boys were over the discussion and back to despicable me.
they haven’t asked again. i shared that story this morning at our new learning group at church called ‘family tree’. it’s a group that will look at adoption and orphans in the bible every week and then share our stories and struggles and successes in adoption. we had an amazing group today with so much awesome discussion. the verse was the moses story in exodus 1:15-2:10…we actually didn’t focus on moses as much as his mother (how would she feel putting him in the river, how did she feel when called back into moses’ life as his wet-nurse), the Pharaoh’s daughter (why go take a bath in a river that would have tons of dead babies floating in it, was she looking to rescue babies), and moses’ sister (how quick thinking and brave she must have been to talk to royalty and make a suggestion that would put moses’ mom back in his life)… i can’t wait to meet again next week!
we also shared about our desire to adopt again in the future. right now our agency, gladney, is not accepting ET applications due to the in-country slow downs. i hope that in about 18 months (when i think we will be ready to start again) they open back up. i’m envisioning sisters 0-5. i may or may not have already bought this doll which now lives in my closet. (by the way, dolls in general freak me out, but i love this one!)
ok, so i have to write deacon and masamo’s post placement reports now. masamo’s is late and deacon’s is due in may. i love writing these reports for no other reason than i pray so hard that their first families in ET get to read them.
Categories: Adoption, family
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Kickin’ It for the Gant Girls
My sister, Monica, teaches PE in Galena Park. The other day she sent me an email. It was about a fundraiser she is organizing for some sweet girls.
So, I open the email and read about the girls…”Samantha, three years old, was recently diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Olivia, 17 months old, was born with a main artery malformation that is affecting her brain causing seizures, known as Arteriovenous malformations (AVM’s). She also has an inoperable brain tumor that has affected her sight and her ability to communicate. Both girls are in and out of the medical center and receiving radiation twice each week.”
I thought, awwwww… poor babies! I started thinking about how I can help or what I could do. Then I scroll down and saw their picture. I know all kids are cute. These 2 girls are super cute. But what made me tear up was that I saw my kids in this picture. Not literally of course, but symbolically.
Here are mine tonight at gymnastics.
When I look at the Gant girls the first thing I want to do is cry. That is empathy, or feeling what their family must feel every day when their beloved daughters have serious medical issues. My tears won’t pay for medical treatments or hospital bills or life saving medicine. So my tears are short lived. Empathy that doesn’t move into action is worthless and trite.
So here is the action…
Kickin’ it for the Gant Girls
Benefit Kickball Tournament
Saturday, February 4, 2012
First game starts at 8:00am
Galena Park Middle School football field
$120 per 12 person team (cash, check, or credit)
Registration Deadline: January 25th 2012
Come have some family fun for a good cause!
Yummy Concessions will be sold!
T-Shirts will be available for$10
($5 for Kickball Team Members)
Entry fee
$2 adults
$1 students
For a Team registration form or to inquire about donations
Email forgantgirls@gmail.com or
Call/text Monica: 979-574-1461
Me and the boys will be there to help out! I don’t play sports so well, so maybe I’ll sell shirts
Categories: Friends, parenting, social justice, Uncategorized
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day one
i only made one resolution this year. be in this year. i have a bad habit of continually planning for the future. great when you’re doing international adoptions and house hunting and financial planning, but horrible when you have 2 little kids that won’t be little forever. so my only resolution is to live it up this year with the family and friends and let the future worry about itself.
because let’s face it. these boys aren’t going to be so compliant with my picture taking request for much longer!!!
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Christmas Letter 2011
We hope you are entering the holiday season with pockets of peace and happiness. If not, we can relate. Having preschoolers and full time jobs is a challenge at times, but always worth the toil in the end. We have not been as consistent at updating the family blog for the same reasons. This little note is a peek into our lives as we come to the end of 2011:
Margo is the glue that holds our family together. She is in her fourth year as a 4th grade teacher at an elementary school in Katy. She is growing into her role as an educator and winning the respect of her colleagues and co-workers. This summer she was the lead trainer in instructing other educators how to use KISD’s outdoor learning center. Margo has also been experimenting in the kitchen this year. Thanks to Pinterest she has started trying out new recipes and making some really delicious food.
Clayton’s exciting year included accepting a new ministry position at Faith Lutheran Church in Bellaire, TX as the Director of Worship, Music, and Technology. He continues to amaze those around him by using his gifts to glorify God and be an innovative leader in our church. He also is wrapping up his Doctorate degree in Worship Studies. Clayton goes above and beyond every day as a husband and father from providing for our family to bath time and bedtime stories for the boys.
Deacon is getting taller every day. It is easy to see that he will be a talented athlete as he grows up. He has a pretty solid spiral for a five year old. He loves going to preschool where he has music, religion, computer, and Spanish classes. He is looking forward to starting kindergarten next year. One of the funniest things Deacon does is make up songs and dances. He loves to change into costumes and play memory games.
Masamo is doing extremely well since joining our family in March 2010. He immediately found his place as the little brother. He and Deacon play very well together and usually have a great time. Masamo is also in preschool and is kind of a ladies man. One of greatest blessings this year has been that the boys attend chapel at the preschool once a week where Clayton leads music and shares Bible stories. One of the funniest things Masamo does is talk non-stop (which stops being funny after a point). He loves to try new foods and loves to play with his big brother.
Happy holidays from The Faulkners – and a blessed 2012.
happy birthday deacon
happy birthday deacon! deacon turns 5 today. we celebrated with a big party on sunday and those pics will follow later. to catch you up to speed, here are some birthday pasts.
Birthday #4 at the little gym. theme was batman.
Birthday #3 at home. theme was spiderman, but he wore a batman mask. go figure.
Birthday #2 at home. theme was basketball.
Birthday #1 at home. theme was curious george.
here is a seasonal deacon picture just for fun
and this one was taken on the way home from Ethiopia about 4 years ago. never were truer words written
Categories: deacon
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