Happy Thanksgiving!! Gratitude is my attitude.....

Look at these boys!! How sweet is this?

Drew and Seth are only 14 months apart and already best buds!!

Our little Pilgrims had their Thanksgiving Feast and performance at school today. This is Ella's 3rd year so she is an old pro! Drew had a case of stage fright and didn't do as well, but he sure looked cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This weekend at church Pastor Ron spoke about having gratitude in all that we do. Even when we are frustrated and anxious we should find gratitude and thankfullness. Sometimes that is very hard to do. He even recommended starting a journal and keeping track of what we are thankful for. I also get daily devotional emails and this morning I got the exact same message in my email. It was basically saying the exact same thing and quoting statistics from the exact same survey that Pastor Ron used. How crazy?? It's seems that God is really speaking to me to be more grateful and less complaining. We started the journal last night with the whole family. Ella was thankful for horses (crazy since we don't have horses and are never around horses), Drew is thankful for The Wiggles (which is now playing 24/7 in our house), Riley was thankful for her new digital camera that she just bought off of Ebay. It's pretty easy to find gratitude in these things. But I think the big challenge will be in finding gratitude in the hard times and during times of frustration.

This morning I took Seth for his 6 month check up and he had to get his vaccines. Of course for any parent this is a terrible thing to have to experience. But in the moment I thanked God for allowing us to have access to vaccines. There are millions of children throughout the world that do not have access to these life saving vaccines. So even though it is absolutely horrible to hear your baby scream and look at you like 'why are you letting this happen to me'? I am very grateful at the same time. This was my first lesson this week in finding gratitude in a stressful time. Ron said a great quote this weekend "Gratitude is the attitude that allows you to see all of life as a gift" Wow, I love it!

Have you considered sponsoring a child?

Do you sponsor a child?

Do you sponsor a child? Have you ever conisdered sponsoring a child in need? What better time of the year to give back? Thanksgiving is right around the corner and then Christmas will follow. This is usually the time of year when we are trying to pick out that 'perfect' gift for our loved ones. How about this year we pick out that 'perfect' child and sponor them on a monthly basis. We sponsor a child through Compassion International, the cost is only $32 month. Can you believe that only $32 gives a child the chance to get an education, clothing, food?? I can easily spend that a month on Peppermint Mocha Twist Lattes from Starbucks (my latest addiction)! There are many creditable organizations out there or click on the link above for more info.
We currently sponsor a 5 year old girl from Haiti named Roody. The first letter we got from Roody was so special. She told us how thankful she was that we are her sponosor family and that she prays for us. On her letter she had colored a small picture for us. I just ran my fingers over her drawing and imagined her coloring this. It was really special for me to stop and realize that this was actually in her hands and that she had colored it just for us. Miles away this little 5 year old knew that someone she has never met loves and cares about her. Ella and Riley love to send her letters and drawings. We keep Roody's picture out so we can keep her in our thoughts and prayers. We are thankful for Roody and who knows maybe one day we will visit her in Haiti?? You never know what us crazy Ferguson's may do...

Fall Photos.

Here we are.. The Ferguson Family of Six!!

It's pretty hard to get everybody looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. But I think we did pretty good.

Thank you to our good friend Danea Johnson for taking all these great pictures for us!!

I decided to put our photo in black and white. Jeremy and I are pretty pale people and we tend to look a little better in b/w photos!! (haha)

Fall Photos!!

Little sweetie pie Seth is now 6 months old!

Riley couldn't stop smiling!! We've always called her 'smiley riley'!

Ella has always LOVED her picture taken!!

Drew has those big brown eyes!

Here they are.. Our four amazing kiddos!!

Feeding the Ducks...

Check out Ella's Hannah Montana boots. She only takes them off to sleep!!!
Riley almost had the ducks eating out of her hand.

Drew had a little problem.....he kept eating the stale bread that was meant for the ducks! yuck!!

The Forgotten Beauty of Fall..

Aren't the colors of fall just awesome? I think all the orange, browns and red colors feel so warm and cozy. Over the years I've taken for granted the amazing beauty that the turning trees and falling leaves offer.
Recently my aunt was in town from Houston and she said she just wanted to go driving around to see the trees and colors. She also made a comment about hearing the wind. Hearing the wind? I've never stopped and thought about hearing the wind blowing through the trees. Once I stopped and listened it's is a beautiful and relaxing sound. If you stop and close your eyes and listen to the rustle of the trees it almost sounds like waves in the ocean. (Now that's something I can relate to, I LOVE the ocean!) My aunt lives in the city so she doesn't get hear that sound of the trees rustling. It made me thankful for our changing of seasons. We do get to experience a beautiful season of fall here.
Over the weekend our good friend Danea took some really fun and cute fall photos of our family at the the park. (I will be posting them soon) And we also had time to take the kids to the park and feed the ducks. Feeding the ducks is always a special treat the kids love!
So take time and enjoy the colors or close your eyes and listen to the wind. Unfortunately it will all pass too soon and winter will set in. (You won't find me saying as many nice things about the winter. I do not like cold weather!) Yeah for the beauty of fall!!!

It's Not Ok With Me!

I just finished reading one of the best book I've ever read (and I tend to read alot). It was given to me by a friend and it's called 'It's Not Ok With Me" by Janine Maxwell her website is http://www.heartforafrica.org/. It has completely changed by life. Her story is an amazing story of sacrifice and love! She gave everything up to love and care for suffering Africans. Her organization, Heart For Africa is doing amazing things in Africa. If you like a good challenge or if you feel God leading you to get out of your comfort zone or even if you have been down or depressed you MUST read this book!

I am almost at a lost for words to describe how I've felt over the last few days. The smallest things like giving my 20 month old a bath has forever changed in my mind. The thought that these children have never had a bath in their life, they have no food and eat from garbage, they are basically left to die. I can't even think of the words to write, you just need to read for yourself..

I've added a video clip at the top of the blog about one of the orphanges that Heart For Africa supports. It's just 3 minutes long and it's a story of a 2 year old left under a tree to die. Amazingly this little girl was rescued and now is being loved and cared for in one of the orphanages.

Check out: http://www.itsnotokwithme.com/

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Double Trouble!! Our totally adorable cowboy and cowgirl!

Seth enjoyed his first Halloween as a tiger!

We celebrated Haloween this year with our 2nd annual Trunk R Treat. Our small group heads up the Trunk R Treat at LaCroix south Cape outreach center called The Bridge. We serve chili, have games, balloons and hand out tons of candy to all the kids and families in south Cape. We have a blast doing and the kids love it!!

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Jeremy's Sumo Wrestler outfit is always a huge hit with the kids!

Ella and her BFF Svea!

Svea is a refrigerator how funny is that??