Adoption Journey: Daily pictures

Here is where we are at in our adoption journey:

photo by Esther Havens

1) WE ARE OFFICIALLY LICENSED!! Yippppeeeee Which means at any moment we could get a call from our agent with information on a child who needs placement. We could have just hours notice before a CPS worker comes to drop him or her off.

2) Daily I'm receiving emails about legal-risk children (kids who are almost ready to be adopted) and straight adoption children. Our agency sends them out to families who they think will be a good fit. We've currently been submitted for 4 little kiddos. (a 4 month old girl, 6 month old boy, 16 month old girl, and a 14 month old boy) This part is difficult because everytime I open an email I see a picture of our potential son or daughter (we just have NO IDEA what God has planned). I also get heartbreaking emails of kids we don't feel like we can care for or specilized cases. In most cases it's little girls or guys with special needs or extreme physcial and medical needs. We are just not in a place to care for a child like that (as of now). It is really HARD to see these smiling faces day in and day out. I keep a hopeful attitude knowing that soon we will have a little girl or guy to love on. But I can't help but think "There is so much more we can do". And I don't just mean my family. I pray that you continue to pray about how you can help love the widow, the orphan, and the helpless.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

If anyone is interested in learning more about adoption (even if it means you can't adopt) Please look into this conference. (We'll be there!!) Together for Adoption 2010

While Daddy is away....

Adam was out of town all week for a conference. So here's some of my thoughts on single mom hood and my week over all.

1) Single Moms are super hero's

2) My strategy for the week was distraction! I always had something planned so that kids never got bored and I never felt overwhelmed. We filled our week with VBS, karate, evening at the pool, chick-fil-a, movies, McDonald's, a picinic, and surprises.

3) VBS was awesome. The boys had a blast and they each had friends in their class. I got 1 not-so-great report on Monday because Bryce wanted to play and didn't understand the VBS schedule. He firgured it out by day 2 and did great the rest of the week even though he was the youngest in his class.

4) Alexis got robbed. Poor little sister got no morning naps this week, unless you count a 5-10 minute one here and there while I drove around. By the time I was done with the gym each day we had a hour to kill and then had to get the boys, she did great considering she was probably exhausted. (ah the life of the baby)

5) My boys are growing up. Karate this week made me so proud, my Con-man is rocking it and I love watching him enjoy something so much. Bryce is really coming out of his shell (Last year at this time I was afraid that he'd never talk and he was really REALLY shy) He is a little clown, which gets him in trouble sometimes. On Thursday night the boys had a VBS program and each had to stand up on the stage and sing a song. Bryce stood up in the very front and sang and laughed and did the motions. (It did help that Eva was there with him)

6) McDonalds: I HATE IT! But my boys have been asking for those stinkin Shrek watches for weeks now. So I made a deal and told them if they were my good helpers all week that I'd take them to McDonalds. YUCK! They were so excited though.

7) I DID NOT VACCUUM EVERYDAY! Yup you heard me right. I was just too tired and only vaccuumed every other day. I never mopped the kitchen either. So there to all my friends who make fun of me!!!

8) We missed our Daddy and are VERY glad he is home.

Here are some pics from the week. I didn't do great remembering to take pictures all the time, but I got a few great shots.





My Karate Kid. Here he is practicing his roundhouse kick. Stay tuned for video soon!

VBS, Here we come!

Connor is showing off one of his surprises, shaped colored rubber bands. Yes that sounds lame! BUT they are the new COOL thing. And my son being all cool HAD to have some. I spotted them while out running errands so I surprised him. We made a deal that everytime he shared one and gave it away to a friend he got a new one. Everyday he came home excited that he had made new friends with his "friend braclets". That made me feel better since I spend $3 on those stupid rubber bands. (Dude the guy that invented those is a freakin millionaire now)

I moved Alexis into her forward facing car seat this week. She was so excited (this picture might not show it, cause well she is exhausted). I decided to do it after pulling her out of the rear facing one and discovering that she was soaking wet from sweat. She gets little to NO air conditioning in the rear facing one and I felt soo sorry for her. So she's riding like a big kid now and loving it!

Here's Bryce and Eva stealing the show at the VBS program. They were such little hams and had the whole crowd crackin' up.

Connor singing his song and actually doing the motions. A lot of the times Connor is TOO cool to do motions, but it helped that the teens were doing it too.

Bryce and Connor with their teachers from the week. It really was a fantastic VBS.

Father's Day Weekend

I have to brag for a moment because I happen to think that my husband is the best Daddy. Not only does he have to put up with me 24/7 but he genuinely loves our kids. I know that most Dads do but Adam goes out of his way to play with, teach, love on, and disciple Connor, Bryce, and Alexis. I love Adam more and more everyday and part of the reason is because I get to see him be the best Dad all the while teaching our children how to be a Godly man and well.....it freakin' rocks. The kids think that their Dad is the coolest person in the world and I couldn't agree more. I love you, Adam.

We celebrated Dad this weekend. So we filled the days with hours at the pool, new bike gloves for Daddy, Torchy's tacos, church, Toy Story 3, the park, and a BBQ at friend's house. It was a fun weekend especially since we have to go 5 WHOLE DAYS WITHOUT DAD (he has a trip to California this week).

The boys made "Star Wars" cards for Daddy this year

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy

When you have young kiddos, you feel like you have double duty when it comes to Father's Day. We will celebrate this special day with the kiddos and Daddy tomorrow. BUT I had to find a way to make it a special day for MY Daddy way over in Oregon.

SO.....

Here's the video I made for him this year. I love you, Daddy!



What did you do for your Daddy on Father's Day this year?

To Uganda he goes...

Tomorrow my little brother leaves for Uganda. He'll be there until July 6th and is going with Eternal Impact Ministries. They will be serving alongside university students from United Faith Chapel at Kampala International University. Together, the team and the East African students will share and demonstrate the gospel in schools, orphanages, prisons, and slums around Kampala.

When asked why he was going, here is what Mark said; "I am going on this trip simply out of obedience. 'Jesus said, If you love Me, you will obey what I command (John 14:15). Jesus didn't say, If you love Me you will obey Me when you feel called or good about doing so... If we love we obey. Period.' -Frances Chan (Crazy Love) We have been called as a church to go, and that is what I am doing. I am going."

I love my brother's heart to love others even if it means traveling around the world to do so. He's been all over this world doing mission work and I love bragging about him. Here is the team's blog, they will be updating it while in Uganda; http://eternalimpact.org/blog/impact-team-blog


We love you Uncle Sparky! We are praying for you, your team, and the great things God is going to do!

Adoption Journey: Waiting for our license

We are officially just WAITING AGAIN! This time we are waiting for a little piece of paper from the state of Texas saying we are certified foster parents. It could be any day now and then guess what???? WE WAIT SOME MORE. I'm actually in a good place right now, probably because I've had a lot of practice waiting on God.

And the waiting in this journey is only gonna get harder.

Waiting on a placement
Waiting on finding out if this little girl or boy will be going up for adoption (this can take over a year)
Waiting on a court hearing
Waiting on a judge decision
WAITING WAITING WAITING

If you know ANYTHING about me you know that I like things my way, so this journey is going to be SUPER hard for me. During the training and certification wait I have poured myself into the Word and a couple of books that have reminded me that I need to continue to trust that God is in control and my job is to love and glorify Him. This journey is not about me, but about loving a little boy or girl no matter how long they are a part of our family. This journey is about showing others that because God loved us we can open our home and hearts to love a child like a son or daughter. Even if that son or daughter did not become a part of our family a traditional way.

Pray for us:

Continue to pray for our family as we take steps closer to welcoming a new member to it
Pray for the little boy or girl God has already chosen to be placed with us
Pray for his/her family
Pray for the state system and that our journey is as smooth as possible

Time to party...

Her birthday present; a new friend named Violet. She loves hugging the little dog and dancing because Violet sings songs about Alexis. It's a cute little toy and special because the boys picked it out.

We had fun celebrating Alexis' big day. We spent the morning playin with friends at the gym, going to Costco, and playin with her brothers. Then we took naps and got ready to PARTY. The Gowalla gang and some families from our community group came over to eat dinner and CAKE. It was a great time.

Time for CAKE!

Connor and Bryce decided to show her how delicious cake was. They feed her a couple of bites until their cake was ready and then they were off. It was cute while it lasted.
Eating cake with 1 hand.
"Yum this is good"
"Really good"
"Cheese"
Eating cake with 2 hands. She loved that cake. She was so tired before we started the cake, but after she had a total sugar rush and stayed up another 30 minutes. She went straight to bed before everyone left, she was a tired little birthday girl!

Happy 1st Birthday Alexis

Today my baby turns 1 and I'm in shock. Has it really been a year since that day you decided to surprise us all and come almost a MONTH early?! You were so tiny. Those first days while you chilled in the NICU were hard on your Mommy. But then you came home and have blessed this family ever since. I know every parent says this, but seriously you were an easy baby. You were so chill and relaxed. It took you a long time to learn how to cry and even when you did you really didn't. You were and still are absolutely a Mommy's girl (and I love that) and are always content just being held by Mommy. You were a good little traveler and went on many adventures: Oregon, Austin, zoo trips, moving, San Antonio, etc... I love how much your brothers love you and love watching them trying to teach you new things. You are holding out on walking and I think it's because you love it when Connor picks you up. You hate it when Bryce tries to pick you up and that makes me giggle. You have already learned how to smack him away. Some of my favorite moments are the ones you spend with your Daddy. You melt his heart and put a sweet sparkle in his eyes. I can't wait to see that special relationship grow. Then there's those sweet moments I get with you. You love your Mommy very much and sometimes I think you cry JUST because you know that I will come (you even try to do it at night every once and awhile so I'll come get you and rock you. You are sneaky)!!! You have not started walking but could do it if you just tried. You can stand up by yourself and sit down without falling, but no walking. Instead you've decided that walking on your knees works just fine. That's how you dance too. You get up on your knees and kind of hop up and down. It's hilarious. You are still SMALL. You could start sitting forward facing in a carseat, but you haven't outgrown your little infant car seat yet, which is weird considering your brothers did at 6 months. Daddy thinks you look like a little elf. He's right you do!
We love you Alexis and are so blessed to have you in our lives. I can't wait to continue watching you grow up, it has been such a fun year full or pink, bows, dresses, and sweet little girl giggles!!

That is a VERY Alexis face. And I love it. (very elf like huh?)
Giggling on the floor.

Peek-a-boo


Here you are a year ago in your little tiny preemie dress:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ALEXIS

A sneak peek

Someone is having a special birthday in a week! I CAN'T believe my baby is going to be 1 years old. Watch out I might actually start to cry. Until then have fun enjoying a little peek at one of her birthday photos Daniel took for us.