My baby boy...

 

Can you say LOVED???

 

Oh how I LOVE my sweet baby boy.

I think I ask him every day,

"How did we get chosen to have you?

Of all the babies in the whole wide world

how did we get so lucky to have you?"

He is so PRECIOUS.

We are so BLESSED!

His CASA came out on Wednesday

and she said that she received the paper work

from the state and it had been signed

off by our judge stating that

parents had surrendered and foster parents

have planned to adopt.

So now we just wait on

our big adoption day

better known by some as

Gotcha day!

This was great news!!!!

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 Days Of Thankful...

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #30

Today, I am thankful that this is Friday. This has been a tough week, but thankfully I see the light at the end of the tunnel and the weekend is here!!!!!

This week I've survived 4 kids with strep, two grown kids with tummy bug, six therapy sessions, one PINES for the deaf session, 1 team meeting , 1 visitation with family, 1 state inspection/ home study, 2 days with a migraine, a trip to the urgent care, A meeting with CASA, a phone call from the school principal (grrr), a trip to the OB/GYN with Katie, Katie's sonogram, a visit by the nursing supervisor, 1 failed date night, 1 missing medical supply box, numerous trips to the pharmacy, and a broken dryer.

Needless to say, I survived this crazy week of mine. I no longer wake up with planned out days. I simply wake up and ask God to help me through what ever comes my way AND HE DOES!!!!

Now, I'm hoping for a nice calm weekend. I hope we will be able to go pick out a tree & decorate it this weekend. We may go watch the Dallas parade, but if not, we may just set home and enjoy the weekend ,because who knows what may be tossed at us next week.

I am thankful for this crazy life of mine, but I really do enjoy our weekends best.

.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 days Of Thankful...

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #29

Today,I am thankful that we got a great report

 on our newest grandaughter "Kaylan".

 

 

We have had quite a few scary moments with this sweet baby, but today it was all good news!!!!! Katie's placenta had grew over her cervix which put her & the baby at risk, but today they said it had moved away from the cervix. She should be able to deliver naturally. Yay!!!!
Everything looked great and our lil peanut is about 4 lbs & 12ozs now which puts her in the 48% which is perfect. She's a thumb sucker as you can tell in all her sono pics. We can't wait to hold our sweet baby girl and cover her in kisses & hugs.


Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 Days Of Thankful...

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #28

Today, I am thankful that all of my kids are feeling better! Strep throat went through our home and 4 of the kids ended up with it. Then Katie & Dylan ended up with the tummy bug. Things are looking up today & everyone seems to be better ....hip hip hooray!!!!! Thank you Lord for restored health.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 Days Of Thankful...

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #27

Today, I am thankful that our yearly foster re-certification is DONE! It went great!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! So glad to have that behind us for another year. Our state lady came out today and done our home study. She was pleased with everything and didn't tell us to change or do anything different. The only thing I changed myself is the openings in our home. We are approved for 5 foster kids, but I told her that I want to close our home to any calls for new kids at least for now (possibly from now on), so that I can focus all of my time & attention on the fosters that we have and on my own kids/grandkids.

I'm thankful that today went easier & better than ever. So glad to finally be able to just relax & enjoy the holidays instead of trying to do the re-cert right at Christmas...like usual.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 days Of Thankful...

 

30 days Of Thankful Day #26

Today I am thankful for the clothes on my back, food on my table, water in my sink, wood in the fireplace, lights when I flip a switch, a nice van to drive, shoes on my feet, and a roof over my head. So many don't have these things. I am blessed beyond measure. God has provided every single thing I need.Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 Days...

 

BB & Addy Bug

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #25

Today, I am thankful for family times. I enjoy having my children & grandchildren here. We seldom all get together, but when we do we always have a good time. We may be busy or we may just lay around the house, but nomatter what we do we enjoy being together. I love my family. Thank you God for my family, the days you've given us, the memories we've made, and the love we share.

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Katie's sweet family...

 

 

 

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Our Elf On The Shelf...

 

He's Back!!!!!

"Elfie" our Elf on the shelf friend is back!!!

He showed up a wee bit earlier this year

and surprised the kids.

You can tell he came from the North Pole

because he tracked in the snow and left

snow prints on the floor & wall:)

This is our third year

and we are excited that he came back again.

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Just rambling & such...

I don't even know where I'm going to start with this post. It's probably just going to be another of those rambling on & on posts with all it's typos and bad punctuations, etc. I never claimed to be a writer. It for sure wasn't my best subject in school and most likely never will be and that's ok. Honestly, it really is. It just amazes me that people actually read my blog. It was really just meant for myself as a diary of my days, but I'm glad that people like following our crazy life.

First off, I want to say that I love my Lord Savior Jesus Christ. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. My heart is full tonight. A few weeks ago my hubby was called out of town, I was alone for weeks with the kids, my little girl foster seemed to be getting sick again, nothing seemed to be going right, and my heart was just heavy. Really heavy. As I look back now I realize just how low I had gotten. One night, I just laid in my den and prayed. I lifted my hands to Heaven and told God that I couldn't do it by myself. I had to have His help. I needed to feel His presence.The next morning a new nurse walked through my door. She wasn't my nurse, but a fill in nurse. She said, "God has sent me to tell you that you've been in the valley for a while now and you are headed for the mountain top". Now, you may think that's silly, but It's the truth. It blew my mind. How did she know? This lady didn't know me or anything about me. That very day things started looking up.  Since then God has really been working in our home. It seems He just keeps pouring His love down on us and I've almost been overwhelmed with all He is doing. Why did I share this? To give all the praise and glory to God. If He can do this for me then He can do it for you too. If you need something. He is just a prayer away.  Just look up and ask Him.  Everything I am, everything I have, everything I do is because of God and God alone. By myself I'm a mess...I'm not kidding. A simple minded mess. Without Him I'm nothing. Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

My baby girl is doing so good. The new meds are keeping her stable for the first time since her accident in March. She still struggles with using her hands, setting up by herself, and walking in her walker, but we will NOT give up. We will NEVER give up on her. She is two years old. She wants to be like other two year olds. She once ran around and played, but now she has to have help with everything and at times she gets very frustrated. Sometimes she cries for hours on end. It's just hard for her to understand all that is happening in her life. Please keep her in your prayers. She is going to get better. It may take a while but she will. I know she will.

It really hit me the other day while out shopping for Christmas that there really is not a lot out there for special needs babies. It's so hard to buy toys for them. You can find things online but they are always way to expensive. I should be looking at toys to push & learn to walk for BB, but he is no where near walking yet. He can't even set up by himself. His doctors & therapist all seem to think he will be able to set up, crawl, and walk one day. I sure hope so.  For Brylee I should be looking at riding toys, but she can't even set alone much less walk or ride on toys.  It made me realize once more just how blessed I am that my birth children were all healthy. However, I'm still blessed with these two babies just in different ways. They truly are gifts from above and they came to remind me how fragile & precious life really is and they do every single day.

All three of my guys have killed deer over the last week. My Hubby got a nine pointer. My youngest son got his first deer a doe. My oldest son got his very first deer too, a spike. They have been soooo excited. I'm happy too because we will have a freezer full of meat. I'm proud of my boys.

Our little foster JJ will start the transition this week into his forever home. He will be leaving us. He's been with us 15 months. He was matched with a waiting family. He will have a Christian Daddy and Mommy & 2 older sisters. That's what I wanted for him. I will get to meet them this week and then he will get to meet them and slowly he will make his way home. This is an exciting time for him. Please keep him & his new family in your prayers.

Every day brings us a little closer to the birth of Katie's first baby and our new granddaughter. Katie goes back this week to have another checkup.Please keep them in your prayers.


It's that dreaded time of the year again. Time for re-certification for fostering. I really didn't think we would still be fostering. This will be our 8th year. 8 years! That just blows my mind. We usually wait until the end of December, but this year I've decided to get it over with so that I can set back and just enjoy Christmas. If all goes well we will be in for another year, but we will be closing our home  to any new kids so that we can focus all of our time & attention on the ones we have.

hmmm....what else?!?!....

We have 29 days until Christmas!!!!
I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I just started 2 weeks ago, but I made myself a list and found mostly everything online. Then on the day after Thanksgiving I went with my mom and finished off almost everything I lacked. I'm happy for that. I just wanted to get everything out of the way before December, because December is such a busy month for us.

Well that's it. My hubby is about to walk in the door with some pizza farm pizza & salads. Have a great weekend everyone!


Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

30 Days Of Thankful...

 

30 Days Of Thankful Day #24

 

Today, I am thankful that Bailey has spent her school break with us & she was here for Thanksgiving! She hasn't been with us on Thanksgiving since she lived with us as a baby. I've enjoyed having her here. We've watched almost every Christmas movie we own and we've been listening to Christmas songs & just singing our little hearts out.  She is very special to us. I remember when we gave her back & how heart broken we were. She was our very first failed adoption. However, we've maintained our relationship with her & we've had her almost every other weekend for over 4 years now. I am thankful for that. We love our sweet Bailey. She will ALWAYS be our baby girl.

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

A few more pics from Thanksgiving...

 

This was BB's very first Thanksgiving!

 

On our way to MeMaw & PawPaw's house....

 

 

Brotherly love

Jon & BB (Joshua)

 

 

MeMaw kisses are the best!

 

Corey, Anna, and Brookelyn

 

 

Dylan,Katie, and Adalyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking through the sales papers...lol

It's a Thanksgiving tradition

 

Starting young.

Notice what they are looking at?

It was the jewelry section. Such girly girls.

 

 

Daddy & his lil buddy

 

 

 

 

 

Jon & Addy Grace

 

I just realized that Jacob & PawPaw aren't in any of the pics:(

Jacob was sick and didn't care to have his pics made

and PawPaw was just to busy I guess.

\
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Thanksgiving 2012...

 

 All My babies
 (just missing Carter)
Carter was with his daddy's family this year.

You can't imagine what we went through to get that pic above. I bet I took that pic 20 times and this is as good as it gets...lol

 

More pics coming soon!

 

My two little turkeys on Thanksgiving 2012

 

We had a great Thanksgiving!

I hope yours was just as great:)

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6