Adoption Announcement

This is a copy of our adoption announcement! For those of you that I haven't had a chance to tell the significance of the side pictures. Here it is...

• The top and bottom are the most recent Ab shots when she is 9
• The Second picture is last Christmas when she is 8
• The middle picture is when Ab came to us for the first time as a respite. She is only 5 in that picture.
• The fourth is a photo of her when she came to us this last time in February of 2007
• Of course the big picture is of the whole brood

An Email that hit home Merry Christmas

Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children On demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold Sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on The school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over Several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red Crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and Who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, Which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, But are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle In the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month Of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint Resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television That doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a Refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can Hide to talk on the phone. On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't Fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the Use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting 'Don't eat in the Living room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice Seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be Heard by the dog. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough Time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the Luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being Served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten The holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a Vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if You could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding Payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family. Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet Under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a Safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in And dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave Crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always,
MOM.

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my Children young enough to believe in Santa.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well they are not exactly "turkeys" but they are "stuffed"!

(with balloons that is)

Aren't they cute...I just had to share!

A Tearful Goodbye

Today we went to court for Teag. The decision was to reunify him with his parents. So after many hugs and kisses and many tears we sent him home. Please continue to keep our little one in your prayers as his home life seems uncertain. Also please keep us in your prayers. Saying goodbye to a baby after 14 months is a very hard thing to do. We are all missing him already!

Thank you all for your love and support!

I am so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends!

Adoption Day-Family and Friends

Here we all are on Adoption day at court! We were all so excited!

Here we are with Grandma Phyllis and Great-Grandma Lucy!

They were so happy to be there for the ceremony!

Aunt Jeannie was able to join us too...It was special to share this with her,

she's been so supportive of us all!
Here is Ab with Jamie...
how sweet she was to come and celebrate with us!
Here we are...the whole clan with our two awesome caseworkers Dail and Beth!
They worked so hard to make today a reality!!! They are wonderful!

Adoption Day!!

November 12th 2008~Gotcha Day!
We all gathered at the court house to sign papers and make Ab a permanent part of our family!
It was such a wonderful day, and we all were so happy to know that we are a forever family!

Here is Ab with Judge Bender and her new teddy bear given to her at court!

(She named him Bender to remind her of this day)
Here Ab gets to sign saying that she's agreeing to be our daughter
and that we can be her parents!

Ben signs the official papers making Abigail our daughter on paper, even though she has felt like our daughter in our heart for such a long time!

Heather has her chance to sign the official papers.

The Family with Judge Bender after the official signing of the

Adoption Certificate!

Adoption Day~Pretty Ears

One of the main things that Abigail wanted to do on

Adoption day was to get her ears pierced.

She got a little nervous, and she hugged the teddy bear tight
She was so brave!

She was lucky to have both ears done at once!

She picked out the pretty gold balls...just like I had when I was a little girl!

Adoption Date!!!

We finally have an adoption date for Ab!!!

NOVEMBER 12TH 2008

Please keep your fingers crossed and your prayers coming-

it's going to be a roller-coaster of a week.

We have court for Ab's adoption Wednesday and

Teag's departure Thursday!

SMILE...God has a plan!

(not sure what it is yet...but I'm sure he'll let us know soon)

Baby meets Lizard

This morning Teag was playing in the living room when he went over to the lizard tank. He always loves to watch them play and jump, but this morning Jerry (Or maybe Tom) came to the glass and started jumping up at Teag.

Well this was so exciting to him that he was engrossed in the tank for a long time. Here are a few snap shots I was able to get.

(If you can see through the sand and finger smudged glass)

Happy 13th Birthday Meg!!

I can NOT believe that our little girl is now officially a teenager! It doesn't see possible! We had a family party on Sunday and here a a couple pictures from that.

Meg thought she was funny and asked for Dora plates...I found this balloon instead!

Feel the love...I guess you will only see this in the presence of gifts and sugar!

Meg wanted Cheesecake for her birthday....
Can you read the candle?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Fall Fun

I thought I'd share a couple pictures of the kids and their scarecrows. As you can see the first one was assembled by Jay and Ab...Isn't he...interesting! The second was put together by Julz (with assembly help from mom)-The kids had lots of fun. It didn't rid our yard of leaves (as I had hoped) but it did keep them busy for over an hour! Now you can't complain about that!

Soccer pictures

It's been a bit since I posted any pictures.

Here are a few from Julianna and Abigail's soccer game.

Ab played hard even through the rain~

We were all a little (a lot) wet by the end!

(look close you can see the rain!)

Check out her moves!

We were amazed to find that Julz has a kick like her big sister Meg...
look out for that boot!

As you can see...Julz was Goalie

(doesn't she look cute?...I mean TOUGH!)

You can see other pictures of the kids soccer at http://www.cafotos.com/

There are lots of action shots of Meg playing modified-(she's # 13.) and the formal soccer pictures of Jay, Ab, and Julz.

God's Choice

It seems that once again God has shown us that he is in control of our lives and not us. We went to court this morning expecting to say goodbye to Teag and we left with a chance to have him a bit longer. The judge decided to have him stay in care at least another month. We will go to court again on November 13th .

At this time we do not know what the plan is, but I trust that God will show us in his time. Please keep us in your prayers-they are working!

Saying goodbye

I know that I have spoken with many of you, but time flies quickly and we are almost at the end of our time with Teagan. We are scheduled to go to court on Wednesday the 15Th. Please keep us all in your prayers as this is proving to be a very difficult goodbye.

Pray especially for my children-they are taking this very hard and for Teagan whom is still confused as to why I am not with him all the time.

I know that children are resilient, but it makes my heart ache to see them suffer.

I thank all of you that have been a part of this little one's life!

Too Many smiles to count!

A Day at the Lake...

We spent the day at the lake a week or so ago. I wanted to get some fun pictures of the kids, and so I started clicking away. These are just a few of my favorites! ENJOY!

First Day of School

It was a happy day in our house today...School Started!!!

The kids were happy that they got to see their friends and show off their new clothes. Mom was happy because I got some peace and quite!

No one yelled about someone touching them or looking at them. In fact even the dogs were well behaved for me today! With the kids at school and Teag at a visit, I had the house all to my self.

SO what do you think I did?

(Nothing fun at all-I cleaned! UHHHGGGG!)

But I should be able to have more fun soon!

Here are the kids...

Ab as a first day 3rd grader

Jay as a first day 5th grader
Julz as a first day 2nd grader
Meg as a first day 8th grader

New Hair Cuts

It's back to school next week...and new hair cuts for all!

Julz and Ab decided to make a drastic change and as you can see...it worked!

They will be donating their pony tails to "Locks of Love"...following the example of big sister Meg when she was their age!

WOW~Do you recognize them?

Julz had about 14 inches to donate

Ab had about 12 inches to donate

Answered Prayers!!!

I know we've asked for prayers many times and I thought we should give you some of the news that I know is a result of your prayers.

Today Ben and I signed Adoptive Placement papers for Ab!

This is the first step in the adoption process, which is now underway! We can hardly believe we are finally here. The court date this past Wednesday went off without a hitch and her parents signed the papers they needed to,

allowing this to happen.

So, sometime in the next month or two we will be able to announce the addition permanently of our sweet Ab. It is amazing how God works in our lives everyday! We are so blessed!

Thank you for all your prayers~they worked!!

Visitor from Planet Family?

Uncle Jim came into town to visit this week! Here is the traditional family picture taken every year when all of grandma's kids are in town.

Aren't they a beautiful bunch?

Uncle Jim brought his bike...which is better than candy to my kids!

Here he is with Julz~she's so excited!

Now it's AB's turn...She just loves the bike!

(future motorcycle mama!)

Here is a picture of Grandma with her grand kids all looking lovely after a long day of play! Oh well what better way to remember the kids than dirty and messy from a good day at grandma's?