Fist Bumps

I wish I could put up pictures of my littlest guy!!! Oh, how I love him so!

And......he is just so adorable right now!

I wish you could see him when we go to school every week for lunch duty. 

Today, several of Jake's friends were calling out for him and he walked around giving out fist bumps. 

It was hilarious and adorable.

He is so loved and enjoyed. 

The last Month

The last month has been FULL!!

We were excited to welcome our new nephew, Joshua David into the world about 4 weeks ago. I just couldn't stand not meeting him right away so we loaded up the big van and headed to St. Louis. We drove during the night and spent the next day visiting with them and drove back that night. So fun! 

The next weekend the girls, my Mom and Aunt flew to Orlando for a quick trip to visit my cousin who is working at WDW for a few months. We had a blast!! We did all things princess starting with dinner at the Grand Floridian meeting Cinderella and her mean step-sisters. 

Thank you to Betsy for getting a job at Disney!!!

We celebrated Jake's birthday on the 4th!!

He turned nine and got a parakeet for his birthday.

He named him Alex and we are enjoying him!

The next weekend was dedicated to the project Fostering Christmas Care! 

This was an idea that popped in my head in October. To say that I was blessed by this project would be an understatement. 

Several of my blogging buddies all posted about this on the same day and we launched a fundraising effort to purchase Christmas gifts for the children in our county foster care. At first we were hoping to raise enough money to buy gifts for 19 children who are placed in homes through our agency. However, it just exploded and we were able to raise enough money in just six days to buy gifts for ALL 93 kids in care in our area.

We had a wrapping party last Sunday and people who donated were able to come a wrap the gifts. 

It was an amazing afternoon! So many people came out to wrap the gifts and it blessed my heart to see so many people care for these children in sad situations. 

My heart aches for these kids and it overwhelmed me in a good way that so many others felt compassion for them and gave. 

One person called me up and said they wanted their entire bonus to go to this project.   

Two days later we headed to court for a PC hearing for our little guy!

The caseworker, myself and B's biological father testified. 

The attorneys asked me to talk about B's bond with our family, how he is treated etc....

It was great to be able to say that he is loved and treated exactly the same as our biological children. 

I actually said to a friend the other day, "When I had b....." Ha!!! 

This makes me so thankful for our families who have fully embraced him.

This sweet baby boy has no idea he is not a biological relative with all the love, attention and care he gets from Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.

He is easy to love with his sweet, affectionate personality!

And, this last weekend, we headed to Knoxville to spend time with our Tennessee family!

We celebrated Jeremy's Grandma's 80th birthday. 

She is a wonderful lady. I love her sweet, happy personality.

It is obvious that people love her. She is funny, talkative, kind hearted and welcoming. 

We've been busy making lots of memories the last month!! 

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and then birthday month :)!

NINE

I have no idea how my baby boy is nine today!! 

Some of our very best friends came for a visit today and I kept it a secret from my kids. I picked them up and we headed to school where I had Jake and Cara called to the office for early dismissal. When they walked in they were shocked to see their buddies had come all they way from Iowa to see them!!! HUGS all around. It was a sweet moment. Jake reached out and hugged his friend and Cara did the same with Reagan.

It was a blast!!!

What an awesome birthday surprise for Jake!! We had lunch and headed to their hotel for some pool time and then back to our house for awhile before having dinner at Marion's. 

We didn't have a party this year for Jake and I think this made up for it!! 

Jake, I love you so much!! 

You are a fun little guy who has had my heart since

before you were born!!!

I am so thankful that I get to be your Mom. 

You are pretty much a carbon copy of your Daddy. He loves you so much too!!!

I can still hear him announce, "It's a BOY!" and see his proud smile. 

Here are a few of my favorites of the two of you. 

I am thankful to have you boys in my life even though sometimes you can 

make me a tiny bit crazy!

You are a joy to us.

I remember some of the phases I thought we just might not make it through, but we did!!

Oh, the Tigger phase. 

That costume was worn everyday for a very, very long time. 

Not only did you wear the costume.....you totally thought you were Tigger and were in character most of the time.

 

This picture of you heading off to preschool seems like yesterday. 

Now you are a big third grader and I can hardly handle it!!! 

Love you so much, Buddy!!

Because I hate being negative....

That previous post was negative. I don't like to be negative. After I posted that, I sat down at my desktop and looked at a post-it that I have taped to the box. I can't figure out where I copied it from.

"We are all capable of making a difference in others. It may be in the words we speak or a smile we give. Giving into negativity within you, fuels the fire to destroy you. Instead foster the strength and support to which greater outcomes can grow and let your light shine." 

This is who I really want to be. Even when it is hard.

My Motto This Week

I want this for my wall. I love it. 

barnowlprimitives

Court is next week. I am feeling a little on edge. It is hard to sit and listen to hard things about someone you love. It is sad. It is depressing, It is frustrating. It is infuriating. It is annoying. It is just overall a great big bummer! I hate it. I hate that bad things happen. I hate that people make really, really bad choices that cause so much pain for other people. I hate that my little guy will probably at some point feel rejected. I hate that no matter how hard I try and no matter how much I love I can not make his history go away. 

I like to be positive and focus on the good. There is good in this situation. I know it and I see it all the time. Just wish we could somehow bypass court hearings.