Fall Family Fun

Even thought it is still 90 degrees outside we have been having a blast these first few weeks of fall!

   James Henry went on his first kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch. He had a great time on the hayride..

Shooting the corn canyon

And completely surprised me when he did the zip-line!

James and Christopher saw Jack Hanna's adventure show last weekend and loved it!

Friday night James and I went to our Sunday School class' Halloween party themed "Puttin on the Ritz". It is always a fun party and this year did not disappoint!

Yesterday was "Fall Family Fun Day".

We started at the fun farm. 

The boys played in the corn box.

The kids jumped on the giant trampoline.

The boys slid down the hay slides.

Christopher on the zip line..

James Henry on the zip line...

James on the zip line

The boys rode in the pumpkin car...

We had fun getting lost in the corn maze..

Then the boys shot the pumpkin blaster!

After the pumpkin farm, James' mom aka GG came over. Chili was in the crock pot and we started our pumpkin carving party!

We made caramel apples & watched The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Everyone's pumpkins turned out so great!

James did an amazing job on our big pumpkin! It's awesome! 

The completed projects....

We have really been enjoying the start of fall!

It's blog makeover day!

I am so thrilled with my blog makeover by Tales From A Blog Designer! She came up with a design that was perfect for me. She used our new family pictures taken by Ashley Gladman at Portraits by Ashley G. These are my favorites....

Buckner's Featured Family

Meet the Lis Family!

October 2, 2014 | cjbrister | Make A Comment | Foster Care, Foster To Adopt

 This post is part of our Meet a Foster Family series. Each month we are featuring one of our Buckner foster families and asking them a series of questions. We hope our readers will get a glimpse into their lives and see them as real people who are simply following God’s call to care for children from hard places.

Let us introduce you to Allison & James Lis!

How long have you been with Buckner?

We started with Buckner in February 2013 as a Waiting Texas Children family, then became a licensed foster home in May 2014.

Why did you choose to foster? 

We originally wanted to adopt only, but after reading the case files from the children and hearing the stories that brought them into CPS care, we decided that someone needed to be there to love these children and give them stability at the moment they come into care.

What has been the hardest part of fostering? 

Allison: Having love and compassion for the biological family, and having a foster placement leave your home.

James: Expecting things to go the way everyone says they normally go, and understanding that every case is different.

What has been the best part of fostering? 

Allison: Seeing how in just a short amount of time and with the correct amount of love and understanding, these children can excel in areas they were previously really struggling in.

James: Knowing that for the time you have these kids, however long or short that may be, you are making a huge difference in their lives.

What would you tell someone who is considering being a foster parent? 

Allison: PRAY!!!! Seek out other foster families in your community and consider your current family dynamic when deciding on age and gender of potential foster placements.

James: You have to love these kids. The system is not perfect, but your job is not to change the system. Your job is to assure these kids that someone does love them.

Both: Before becoming a foster family, we never knew we could love someone so much who wasn’t biologically connected to us. Foster parenting is the hardest yet most rewarding thing we have ever had the privilege to be a part of.

Disney Jr. Live

A few weeks ago I was able to take James Henry and his best bud Matthew to see Disney Jr. Live! It was a pirate & princess show and featured Jake and The Neverland Pirates & Sophia the First.

The boys had a blast!

They had great treats & great fun!

You can't go to a pirate show and not purchase swords! 

A week later, we were so surprised when James Henry and Matthew were featured in the paper! 

Our little stars already posing for the paparazzi! 

Our little yellow belt

We have a new yellow belt in Jiu Jitsu in The Lis Family!

James Henry took his belt test on Saturday and since his dad was teaching that day, his new belt was placed on by his dad!!

It was a special day for both of them and we enjoyed celebrating James Henry's newest accomplishment.

James Henry and Chief Garrett. 

Albuquerque getaway

Last weekend, the kids and I had the opportunity to travel to Albuquerque to see James while he is at a school for work. We were so glad to see him and we has a blast! It was a much needed break!

James had dinner with the legend, Pat Miletich earlier in the week along with the producers of HDNet!

Pat was so kind to give us tickets to the RFA fights on Friday night at a VIP ringside table, it was an incredible night!

It was a late night for some of us....

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the zoo.

Then we took the train to the aquarium,

After we finished there we did some shopping in Uptown and had dessert at The Melting Pot. Yumm!

Sunday we had lunch at ITZ pizza and enjoyed the arcade!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and I had to head home with some very tired kiddos!

It was a great weekend, it was busy but we still managed some relaxing time in the hotel just us and a good movie.

We made some memories for sure!

A sweet baby boy..

After our last foster placement left in July, we took about a two month break. 

It's marvelous how God works! On Thursday night August 21st, James and I stood in our kitchen and talked about our future in foster care. Truthfully, I was having a hard time, I was still recovering from some surgery I had over the summer and I was coming to grips with our baby going to kindergarten and being alone all day. I was an emotional mess! 

We talked for a while and decided that God had a plan and we just needed to wait and let him show it to us.

  The following morning around 11am our case worker called, there was a 10 day old baby boy in the NICU that needed a foster family. Before she even finished telling us about his case James and I were both saying yes! We have a wonderful agency and they had already said yes on our behalf, because they know and love us! So 10 minutes later they called back to confirm we had gotten the placement.

   We already had a busy afternoon planned with haircuts, meet the teacher and a few other things. So we hurried and got everything done and dropped the big kids off at James' mom's and headed to Wal-Mart. Yes, we were the people putting the infant seat & stroller together in the parking lot!! After getting all the supplies we thought would get us through the night we headed to the hospital. Although, we didn't yet have a discharge time we were allowed to go see & hold him.

   Walking into the NICU is intimidating but when we looked into that bed, it was love at first sight. The NICU nurses were amazing, they allowed us to feed him and hold him and gave us a lot of information. Two hours and some paperwork later we left the hospital with a beautiful blessing!

  Life has been different for sure, we are lacking a lot of sleep but we are enjoying every minute. I forgot how good a baby smells after a bath and how cute all the little squeaks are. He is adored by our older kids and he is fitting right in. God certainly had perfect timing and this baby boy is filling my empty nest void. He has lifted my spirits and filled this house with unmeasurable joy! 

   I don't have a crystal ball and only God knows the future but we are honored and blessed by the privilege to have him in our home and our lives. We loved him the moment we peaked into that cradle. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy not knowing how long we will have him or how his case will turn out but right now he needs a loving family, and we will fill that role as long as God allows us too. We have to live in the day to day, worrying about the future would rob us of so much joy. We love our life and find the biggest blessings in the smallest moments of the day. 

  We are thankful for the huge community of foster and adoptive families in our lives and those that support our choice. We are blessed by all the prayers and friendship we have.