Sick Days of Winter!

We've been trying to make the best of our days while we are rotating some lovely form of sickness through our house.  Not much exciting to tell. . . . but if you know us. . . you know that this is not Jada's normal state.

You have to view the above picture very carefully. . . .Jada is sleeping while standing up!
And then, pretty much all they will eat is Popsicles!  Remember those days?  Jakob's mouth was blue for a whole day--I had one too--they were yummy!  We do keep them stocked in our house since it is pretty much the only way I can get Jada to sit still long enough to comb through her hair.  

Jada decided to empty out the silverware drawer. . . so when I actually saw how dirty it was in there with all the silverware out, we decided to make it a family activity.  Who would have thought the kids would have so much fun cleaning silverware?

Then Jada got herself dressed up with her beads, went shopping and collected all the potatoes in her bag--she is a strong one!

Then, she fed one of her babies.  She is going to be such an adoring big sister!

And then there is Jakob, always making funny faces and trying to show off the food in his mouth--total boy.  This time it was a banana.  At least my kids like fruit!  Today, we caught him helping Jada undress to go potty on the potty chair.  It was in his room since our bathroom is so small and we moved the stool back in there so the kids could wash their hands by themselves since we've all been sick.  He was trying to get Jada's diaper back on and she was cooperating more for him than she does for us.  It was so very cute.  I wish I had a photo!

Things seem to be getting better.  We have cancelled all of our outings just so we can all get some much needed rest and just get back to being 100% healthy.  It is interesting that this round of sickness started after the kids finally got their 2nd H1N1 vaccinations.  They were finally well enough to get it and BINGO--they are sick again.  There is no preschool on Tuesday. . . so that should help.  Craig and I have been running errands solo--it's weird to be in a store without the kids.  They usually go EVERYWHERE with me.  I sure do dink around more when I'm by myself!  haha!  I have found some fantabulous deals at Target this weekend because I have been able to dig through the clearance without any outside disturbances!  :0)   I hope to get out for a walk tomorrow.  Being cooped up has also meant I've been eating way too much junk!  I hope you are all staying well!!!!

For the LOVE OF CUTENESS!

 

This is what I found when I came home from my training session Tuesday night.  With Daddy being sick. . . I guess nobody had any energy to make it to bed.  Who needs a bed anyway?  They can't wait to sleep in the same room together--but with their bedtimes so different lately, and the fact that they would probably cause trouble rather than sleep, we haven't made the switch yet.  They were O. U. T.!  They did not even wake up when we finally took them to bed!  My little angels!  :0)

Match Meeting Update

We have just heard from our social worker and have found out that this young woman is going to try to parent.  After telling her family, she was receiving a much greater amount of support than she thought she would.  We feel relieved that she has this support.  So, back to the book for us.  We, of course, feel a little sadness, but who wouldn't?  We cannot express enough how much we believe that it is all in God's hands and that He will only hand us what we can handle.  We pray that all of her hopes and dreams come true!

Now, totally switching gears. . . we are finally online with LSS.  Something more to look forward too.  I hope that everyone remembers to thank God tonight for all of their blessings! 

Match Meeting

I have forgotten how emotionally intense and emotionally draining a match meeting is.  You go into it with great anticipation and excitement and face the reality that this is one of the most difficult decisions a parent will probably have to make in their lives for their child.  You grieve for their potential loss and the pain they are experiencing.  You hurt for their hearts.  You wonder how they even had the strength to show up to meet you.  You wonder what they thought of you.  My husband and I hope that this young woman and her mother left feeling like all their questions were answered.  We hope they felt supported and loved by us.  We hope we have helped them to know in their hearts what their decision will be--even if it isn't to place her baby with us.  We do truly believe that God brings people into our lives for a reason.  He felt they needed us (or we needed them) and that we needed to meet.  Even though this will be our third child, the process has not been any easier (except for maybe the wait for the match meeting).  It still is as emotionally intense as I remember when me met Jakob's birthmom and her mother for the first time.  (We didn't have a match meeting with Jada's birthmom--she just chose us and we came and picked up Jada--that was "easy"--so to speak.)  We have no idea what to expect--none--nada--zippo.  I pray that she feels at peace with whatever decision she makes and that we will always be here to support her, no matter what.  She really is amazing--really!

We have been talking about our match meeting with the kids.  We said we were going to meet with someone like Kaiti and Carmen who wanted to find a family for their baby and that she wanted to meet us to see if she wanted her baby to come to our family.  Evidently Jakob thought we were bringing a baby home and was severely disappointed when we got home.  He asked where the baby was.  The look on his face was so heart breaking.  I really didn't think he was processing what we were saying to that level.  He surprises me every day.  It is just a reminder how important it is to keep talking about our children's adoption stories to them.  They are listening and they want to know.  It was a treat to actually have Kaiti be able to watch Jakob and Jada while we were at our match meeting.  The kids love her to death!!!  Oh, we are so blessed already it is impossible to think that it could really happen again.  It's in God's hands!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!   

We went to Jakob's school dance tonight and had a lot of fun!  Jada took awhile to warm up.  Classic photo below--does that feel familiar from back in the day?  Once she was comfortable--off she went--running! 

Jakob danced with a lot of encouragement, but really enjoyed the light show and spent most of his time trying to catch them.  He has been so goofy lately that we just can't stop laughing!  I can't upload video, but here is his goofy Valentine sticker picture.  Too bad his undies don't have hearts on them!  haha!

I've been trying to make some changes to my blog and somehow changed things a bit too much.  I have managed to delete all my blog links (but you can still view my complete file to find most of them there) and I have no clue how to upload videos now.  It's been a slow process for me as I've been trying to spend more of my time working on our photo album for LSS.  I had a goal to get it done before the outreach training--and that didn't happen.  Then, my second goal was to have it done in time to hand it in at the "waiting" family meeting at the end of March.  Well, I thought Jada's story was unbelievable, but I guess crazier things can happen!  We got "a call" on Thursday, Feb 11th at approximately 5:01pm from our social worker and we will be having a match meeting sometime early next week with an expectant parent!  Ummmmm. . . I really shouldn't be blogging right now--but working on that photo album!  Like we got any sleep last night! :0)  We still don't know exactly when our meeting is going to be, but we pray it all works out as it should.  We simply CAN NOT WAIT to meet her!  We were bummed that we had to wait so long.  There have been a lot of emotions flowing through our household!  I will certainly keep you updated with anything that I can. . . but in the meantime. . . we ask everyone to pray for this young woman.  Give her strength, love, support and peace.  I hope she likes us.  I wonder if I should go get my hair cut. . . . I wonder what she is wondering about us.  I wonder if she is as nervous as we are.  From what I already know--she has done some pretty amazing things--I wonder if she knows that.  I wonder if she knows how much we already love her--even if she doesn't choose us.  I wonder if she is as anxious as we are to meet.  I am definitely not going to get any sleep this weekend!  I better go get started on our photo album!  It is generally used for a conversation piece, but if you know Craig and me. . . we really don't have any problems talking--do we?  :0)

This is why. . . .

I am behind on my blog, behind on uploading photos to facebook, behind on anything that may require leaving Jada unsupervised for just 2 seconds. She is quick, she is fast and she is capable of doing anything you would think a 19 month old could never do. (I should also mention that I have been behind since we have all been fighting sickness essentially since Thanksgiving! I've been going to bed early and resting every possible moment to get well. I'm happy to say after a long road of antibiotics, inhaler, and a treatment of prednisone, I am seemingly almost back to normal. Now, hopefully I won't catch the kids' sickness again!)

This is why my daughter amazes me every day. How the heck can she get there in 2 seconds and balance?

This is why we keep getting sick. . . Jada loves to brush her teeth and grabs whatever toothbrush she can get her hands on. This one is Jakob's and he is currently fighting a cough!

This is probably why our bathroom appears to be clean. . . with all the water I've been having to clean up! Remember. . . she is doing all of this while holding herself up with one toe on the drawer knob.

This is why I better go get something of importance done while Jada sleeps! :0)