Happy Valentine's Day

Abby was ecstatic to go to school today because they were having their Valentine's Party. She worked soooo hard on her cards for her friends. After she signed each one, she organized them by color and worked hard to keep them away from B. :) Both Abby and B have a sweet tooth so that was a difficult task for her.

 

 

Even though these two don't always get along, I am thankful they have each other. At the end of the day, they LOVE each other so much!! 

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

XOXO

It's been awhile...

We have so much going on. My Dad keeps reminding me that I am behind on my blogging :). So, here's what's new...

We are working on getting B adopted! The county was granted PC, noone appealed during the appeals time and we have been matched :). That makes me chuckle. We actually attended an official county pre-match meeting where we were interviewed and it was decided that we will be a good family for him. Good thing since it's almost been two years. We have been assessed by a psychologist and she also thinks we are bonded :))! It is almost comical how the system works. Last week we called the attorney and he got the paperwork started and we did another batch of paperwork with the county. On Saturday I found more documents in my mailbox from our attorney and it was soooo exciting to see his adoptive name on them. It made it almost feel real!

So, about B. He is the sweetest little boy! We have our days, but overall, he is just a little ball of joy, love and happiness. He is so much fun when we are out and about passing around fist bumps and yelling "Hi" to everyone. When I take him to the nursing home to visit Grams he is so comfortable with the elderly and some of them are somewhat scary looking. He runs down that hallway happily and he will even give her a big hug when we leave. He loves his siblings and adores Jeremy. He screams "Daddy" when Jeremy gets home from work and runs in for a big hug. He is often wrapped around my legs giving me hugs and he follows me around. The other day we were working in the basement and it was just he and I. He had crayons and paper and was busy coloring at my desk. A few minutes later I went to the bathroom and he comes walking in, plops himself on the ground with his stuff and starts coloring. He is my little buddy. I can't imagine our family without him. He is just a sweet, sweet boy! I thank God for letting us love him. I feel sad for people missing out on him.

Speaking of that, Jake often worries about his biological family. In his mind, they must be like us because he really doesn't know any different. He will often ask if his parents can come visit him when we adopt him because he assumes they must miss him and that B must miss them too. The other day when we were talking through this he said out of the blue, "Tell me the truth Mom....am I adopted?"

It is hard for little kids to understand situations like these. It seems unimaginable to them that b needs to be in our home forever because our kids know that he does have living parents. We have kept it pretty basic with them that they aren't able to care for him. Heck, it is hard for me to understand. I always thought we would adopt internationally assuming that if you were lucky enough to be born in the US your parents had resources to take care of you. Sadly, this is not always the case.

Even though it does not always end well in foster care and children do go back to horrible situations, I still advocate and encourage people to get involved. There are children who need someone to speak up for them, to take care of them and to love them.

We are so very thankful that God led us in this way because we have learned so much. Jeremy and I have grown deeply in our marriage over the last two years. We have become a team and it is very good. We feel much more our own family unit of 6 than we ever have before.

Happy January

I am becoming a pretty lazy blogger these days. Covering the baby's face in the pictures is getting old :). It will be so nice when we don't have to do that. He has the cutest little smile and I would love to show it to you. Life has just been busy around here and I think about blogging and it just hasn't happened (along with laundry!).

Christmas was wonderful this year! All around good. New Years was equally exciting as we headed to Disney with the family. We drove and it wasn't bad. B enjoyed the characters and was passing out fist bumps all around.

In other news, Jake has started playing basketball. We rushed home from Florida for his first two games. They lost the first and won the second with Jake scoring the winning point in overtime! Very fun and a nice little boost for him. 

I love this picture of Jeremy watching his boy playing!

No idea why I can't rotate it!! 

Abby is FIVE!!!

I am in complete shock that my baby girl turned FIVE years old. I love, love, love that little girl!! 

Jeremy and I were looking over the old blog post and can't believe how her personality has really stayed the same from the time she was little. She still loves to cart all her stuff around. She still makes big messes. She is still independent and she is still super affectionate. 

It has taken me so long to get her birthday post up because things have been busier than usual around here. Abby also still really struggles with her asthma. She has been worse than usual this year and we are so sad about that. She has been on treatments around the clock (even during the night) for over a month now. She sleeps with one of us so we can make sure she is okay during the night. She isn't able to run around much and she can't be out in the cold without a mask and only to hop out of the car to go somewhere. 

It is sad, but it doesn't stop her.

She is doing great in pre-school, but we are planning to homeschool her next year. 

We are both excited about it. 

She enjoys playing with Cara and her buddy from across the street. 

She is a sweet, sweet girl and our world would not be nearly as good without her in it!! 

We are so very thankful for our surprise baby! 

Happy 5th Birthday, Abigail Kate!!!

You are so LOVED!!
XOXO,

Mommy 

Cara is 7 ?!!

Happy birthday (on December 3rd) to our sweet Caraline!!

You are a joy.

You are a breath of fresh air. 

What fun we had celebrating YOU last week with all your little friends. 

You are a precious gift and we find great delight in you just the way you are.

Happy 7th Birthday!!

Love, Mom

We had a friend party at a local skating rink and Cara invited her girlfriends from her class. It was so much fun to see her with her sweet friends. What a blessing to know that your child gets to be with some really great kids everyday.

Daddy had a cluster of little girls attached to him at any given time as most had never been skating before :).

Grandpa came to "help"! HA!! Such a good sport.

We were SO excited that "A" could come hang out even though she is not at your school this year. 

Aunt Joyce and Grandpa had fun skating around together. 

We had pizza....

presents....

and Aunt Joyce made you an awesome rollerskate cake!!!

It was a very fun day!!!

I learned how to add video :)

This isn't great quality, but it is fun and cute! Cara had a friend over and they did a preview of the Chrsistmas program for me! I also LOVE Abby dancing around.

And.....I haven't forgotten. I need to get Cara's birthday post up. We had a blast at her roller skating party with her adorable friends. I have some great pictures, but they are on my Mom's camera. I will upload some this weekend.

Thi 

Catching UP

I don't know where to start!! The last month has been a whirlwind of activites. Maybe bullets would be the best way to format this post :).

 - We went to court on November 8th to testify in B's PC hearing. PC stands for Permanent Custody (of the county). December 8th will be a big day here. If all goes well and no one appeals before that day, we will proceed in adopting our little guy!!! We are hoping to have everything finalized by his 2nd birthday in February. 

- Our foster care license expires in January so we are scurrying around trying to get everything done for recertification. This is a real challenge with Jeremy's current travel schedule.

- Before Thanksgiving I got to be with the kids at their Harvest Parties. I love, love, love being with them at school. This year, Jake's class is bigger and it is a huge blessing because I now have lots of help planning the parties. I didn't have to plan a craft or games this time around. WooHoo!!! Have I mentioned that Jake and Cara's classrooms are directly across the hall from each other. How cool is that?! I really think that knowing how close Jake is has provided Cara with a huge amount of comfort.

- Thanksgiving was exciting because we got to spend time with Allie and our new nephew, Josh! Bothare precious. Allie is hilarious and Josh is just a awesome little bundle!!

 

 

B was not concerned with the baby because he discovered Grandpa's candy jars :)!!!