The Andy and Jenelle Morris Family

Happy Birthday to Me!

Andy Morris — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:21:55 +0000

I took this video on my birthday morning yesterday. The kids like to build towers and break them so I helped them build one to the ceiling.

I had a productive day and we all went to the Hibachi Steak House in Fairview park. They love the big flames and enjoyed it. We all enjoyed the food and then went to Coldstone creamery afterwords for “Birthday Ice Cream.” Gabriel had asked about birthday cake but we said we would have birthday ice cream.

God is bigger

Andy Morris — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:34:42 +0000

There is nothing like looking into a child’s eyes filled with tears… but closed desparately hard. Seeing his body wracked with the deepest pain possible as he sobs and sobs and sobs… I try to comfort him but am mostly unable to reach into his heart. I moan with him to let him know I care. I hold him but he pushes me away. I see his face contorted. His lips twisted in knots. I will not forget this moment! I promise you I will not forget this moment! I will let these feelings… this experience now be a like a painful brand on my soul… an everlasting reminder so that I will not forget. I vow as I live and God empowers me… to be your advocate… and to speak up in the face of great personal loss.

I wish I could say everything is going to be all right when I really have no idea how things are going to be. Even so I trust in God. He will be my strength. He will have to be my strength because I am all ready all tired out and we haven’t even started.

Esther 4

¹²And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. ¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for^(I) three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law,^(J) and if I perish, I perish.” ¹⁷Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

There are bigger forces at work in our case. We feel like it’s the 1 against 100 or 2 against 1000. We are overwhelmed yet know that this is our “for such a time is this.” For us our backs up against the wall and it is all or nothing. As God calls we will step forward. As the Jews prayed and fasted… we beg that those of you who love us… would cry out earnestly to our Lord and Saviour and God… That he would sustain us and see us through all that he has for us. We have allready been very blessed from everyone’s care.

Happy New Year… ya’ll!

Andy Morris — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:03:13 +0000

Cuddled up writing our new years eve blog post

Jenelle just told me (Andy) that I should write that my new years resolution is to put the kids to bed every night at 7pm so that I can have a date with my wife… hmm… but that wasn’t something I decided to do so I don’t suppose it is my resolution. I do think we will seek to make extra sure we get some more dates though… maybe we can get back into baby sitting trading.

Andy: Gabriel… What is your new years goal…

Gabriel: Gabriel momy daddie joey watchit…

Andy: Well that’s not much help… Joey what is your new years resolution

Joey: Resution…

Andy: Resolution?

Joey: Yes…

Jenelle: What you going to do?

Joey: Hot dog…

Jenelle: Eat hot dog?

Joey: Yes

So I am afraid the the people living in our home have not made unbelievable progress on resolutions. We will have to work on it. However our resolutions come out… We are all certain of one thing. That our Lord will pile on blessings… more than we ever expected or hoped for this year! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Morris Family Christmas Greetings video!

Andy Morris — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:35:43 +0000

I haven’t really posted to this blog in the last week and a half. It seems like there are fewer lights out… not sure if I am right about that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we are all a little less jolly. I wrote the following on a Christmas Card:

“It’s that time of year again. Tinsel and holly. But with all of the busyness we have to try extra hard to act as if we are jolly.

Certainly as we parent the little ones we learn lessons for our selves in how to “be thankful in all things” as we seek to teach them important life habits.”

We wish you a wonderful Holiday season! - click to enlarge

Things may be difficult or seem like they aren’t perfect. Or they might be great but you are so busy you don’t know it. Either way it’s important to take some time to reflect one what is good and what you are thankful for. The following video was our attempt at this. Enjoy!

Push the four arrows button on the control bar to maximize…

If your connection is slow see this on youtube.com.

AndyandJenelle.com moves to wordpress from blogger

Andy Morris — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:59:02 +0000

O.K. since I have done plenty of wordpress sites lately I finally convinced Jenelle to let me move our blog to a wordpress platform. It is currently a bit bare as far as design goes but hopefully we will have a suitably festive theme before the holidays.

June

Jenelle Morris — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Many awesome things happened this month. Highlights of the month are:

-sand volleyball season

-Indians games

-dinner at the Mahon’s

-my birthday dinner

-whiskey island picnic & cornhole

-when cleaning service happens

-cluster group meeting

-a new niece… the 1st one on the Morris side

-a wedding

-graduation parties

O Me O My O May

Jenelle Morris — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:37:00 +0000

Wow. What a roller coaster ride this month has been. Ups and downs and in betweens. We had 2 funerals we attended. Andy’s paternal grandma and Aunt Nancy. We traveled to Illinois on the weekend of the 15th for Grandma’s. And then on the weekend of the 29th we traveled to Canada for Aunt Nancy’s. We took in a new boy on May 21st. His name is Joseph but goes by Joey and he is almost 18 mos. It is pretty cool that he is exactly 1 year and 3 days younger than Gabe. Boy o boy is that time of year busy with birthdays, anniversaries, and Thanksgiving already. He fits in real well and sleeps through the night already. On the 27th we had a permanency planning meeting for Gabe with CFS. It left a lot of unknowns. I dread this now in-between time period we are in when a decision has to be made and it is just on hold. It hasn’t been this way the whole time with Gabe until then. I pray that Gabe doesn’t become emotionally scared from all of this that may happen. I wonder if he knows what is going on? Andy seems to think that he may understand a little what is happening because he seems a bit stressed out when we are too, and extra clingy. He knows us as mommy and daddy. We take care of him in all aspects. He loves us and we love him. For some reason this all came about only 6 days after we took in Joey. I don’t understand. Praise the Lord for our strong marriage! I can’t imagine most people staying together with the amounts of crazy circumstances we have had. We are grateful for our family in the Lord and the many prayer warriers there are out there praying for us.

Relax

Jenelle Morris — Sat, 02 May 2009 14:30:00 +0000

This week was all around an awesome week. On Wednesday Gabe & I met my mom at the Lodi Prime Outlet mall. From there we headed down to the Amish Country. It has been a long time coming. Gabe really enjoyed seeing the “horseeeees“. And then after we shopped the entire outlet mall at the end of the day, we all rode on the train. This is the only outlet mall in the country that has a hop-on hop-off train that goes all thru and around the mall for the shopper’s convenience. Trains and horses were on his mind all the next day too. I got some great buys. There was only one item on my list that I didn’t get. A butter crock. I will have to keep looking. The one I saw only held one stick and that won’t work for my family. I will continue to look elsewhere and look online as well too.
And the next, and very exciting other happening of this week is that we hired a house cleaner! Andy told me long ago that when we have kids that he wanted to hire someone to keep up the house. At first I was not okay with the idea of it. It is anti-me. Or should I say it is quite contrary to my family of origin’s way of life. Mom does those things. Having hired help for this seems foreign. But I sure am already warmed up to the idea and actuality of it already. No more bathrooms or kitchens to do for me. She even will do special projects if requested. It is a priority to de-stress our lives as much as possible.
And now… we’re getting ready to leave for someones 40th surprise birthday party at BW3’s. Don’t worry, it isn’t ruined since I’m positive this person doesn’t read this. It is a colleague of Andy’s. I know, I know… I also have a relative turning 40 this month too. But this is not concerning him.

Our very own support group

Jenelle Morris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:03:00 +0000

This evening we attended a cluster group for foster-adoptive parents. Sadly, we regret that it is the first time ever attending. We should’ve went a long time ago. It was such a tremendous help having people who share experiences with us to eat, talk, and discuss the “system”. We got to meet new people and people who are great contacts if we ever have a need for a babysitter. That need is coming soon too! We’re going back next month too and the month after etc. It starts with a potluck and you bring your kids and they have planned activities for them after dinner so the adult can have the meeting. Good stuff!

Kid Swap

Jenelle Morris — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Tomorrow we get the Morris boys. A while ago we started our very own kid swap with Andy’s brother and SIL. It is always a joy to have Gabe’s little cousins over. And of course, he loves going over to their house when it is our turn. It is worked out so one week we have their boys and the next week they have Gabe. So far it has worked out great! Every time we get in the car Gabe asks if we’re going to their house actually. He has his family lists in his head for sure and theirs is at the top.
It is definitely a good break for the kids and the parents