yes we are still alive and doing well, just keeping very busy and having a great summer. will try to post pics soon!
caleb has been listening repeated to this cd. it has the worship music for camp this week! he choose the discovery science track. he has been doing experiments all week and loving it. hopefully he will blog about it soon :o)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
fun pics of kids this summer
it's so fun living close to family
no sure who's idea this was?
but it is a BEARS helmet!
this is at a park near our home, with a new friend in the neighborhood who is just a week younger than elijah!
i am embarassed to say, this is hereditary!!! i did the same thing! YUCK!
no sure who's idea this was?
but it is a BEARS helmet!
this is at a park near our home, with a new friend in the neighborhood who is just a week younger than elijah!
i am embarassed to say, this is hereditary!!! i did the same thing! YUCK!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Great day of serve!
friday and saturday our church had it's big serve event! we participated in feed my starving children, as we had done before. though this was elijah's first time. then on saturday we visited a nursing home, planted a garden, visited with the residents and put on a little church service for them. they adored the kids. someone commented they thought baby and micaiah looked so much alike, which they do have a strong resemblence. i commented they are not even the same nationality! but both beautiful girls!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
brookfield zoo
we had a day with no appointments and nothing we had to do, so we went to the zoo!!
here we are...
baby at the zoo, snoozing in the stroller
what size bear are you?
auntie amy, if we stay in this kanga will he takes us to see you in australia?
petting sting rays! elijah pet 6! (c & e weren't quite as daring)
time for a treat to cool off!
our older foster kiddo didn't want to be in the pic (she is not a fan of pictures)
boys and the gorilla
here we are...
baby at the zoo, snoozing in the stroller
what size bear are you?
auntie amy, if we stay in this kanga will he takes us to see you in australia?
petting sting rays! elijah pet 6! (c & e weren't quite as daring)
time for a treat to cool off!
our older foster kiddo didn't want to be in the pic (she is not a fan of pictures)
boys and the gorilla
Friday, June 06, 2008
take a deep breath in....let it out.... now you can read on
WE HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!
i couldn't gradually tell the story without first blirting out the exciting news!
so here is the cool God story to go along with this foster kiddo!
may 28, wednesday, Elijah's birtday. we get a call asking if we want a 4 week old little girl with special needs. we investigated further, prayed about it, and said YES! by the way, this was concurrent planning, meaning they were setting up everything to place this baby, but they had not yet determined whether she would go home with mom or into foster care. this was preparation to be ready if they did pull her. the rollercoaster was officially on the go!
thursday they came to our home to explain the details of being licensed to take a special needs kid. 3 full days of training, 90 miles away from home, on set days. and only someone who went through this training could be left along with the baby! we a little overwhelmed as we found this out!!! the caseworker for this baby never had a special needs kis before and was unaware as well. ok God, if this is what you want of us, we can make it work. thursday night they call and say they have decided not to pull baby. ok God, bittersweet. bummed, yet a bit relieved!
friday am they call, they changed there minds, baby will not be released from hospital they are waiting until monday, would we still be willing to take her? i call peter, we don't feel a really strong peace about, so we say no because of the amount of training and no one to watch child, although ashlei graciously agreed to train with us and be the sitter, it still seemed we were not on the same page. we said no. this might be too much for us.
saturday am the supervisor calls back to clarify what we have been told, see if we have questions, and let us know we might be able to meet 1/2 for training or possibly even have training here. i told her we had made our decision and if something changed we would let her know. late saturday night peter and i prayed and discussed taking her and felt maybe this was God's way of saying He wants her here. we decided to pray for a sign. tomorrow at church we wanted to see a special needs baby if God wanted us to say yes. i made a comment that special needs babies are very hard to see, since most disablities are not visually oriented, particularly in babies.
sunday am, we have a huge auditorium at church with 3 large screens, where a picture of a baby with a cleft pallet and hair lip (sp?) appear on the screen!
ok God, we will tell them yes.
monday am, we say yes, they say we have found another family, thanks anyway. an hour later they call back and say, our supervisor wants this baby with you, since you can speak to her in spanish (she is mexican).
tuesday afternoon, i pick her up from the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital, spend 3 hours there speaking with all those who have been caring for her, and bring her home. these pics are from her first few days home!
sorry no super great pics of her, i am not alowwed to post pics of the kiddos on here.
elijah wanted to hold her first
everyone went goo goo over this precious little girl...they still are, 2 weeks later!
caleb made her a card!
i couldn't gradually tell the story without first blirting out the exciting news!
so here is the cool God story to go along with this foster kiddo!
may 28, wednesday, Elijah's birtday. we get a call asking if we want a 4 week old little girl with special needs. we investigated further, prayed about it, and said YES! by the way, this was concurrent planning, meaning they were setting up everything to place this baby, but they had not yet determined whether she would go home with mom or into foster care. this was preparation to be ready if they did pull her. the rollercoaster was officially on the go!
thursday they came to our home to explain the details of being licensed to take a special needs kid. 3 full days of training, 90 miles away from home, on set days. and only someone who went through this training could be left along with the baby! we a little overwhelmed as we found this out!!! the caseworker for this baby never had a special needs kis before and was unaware as well. ok God, if this is what you want of us, we can make it work. thursday night they call and say they have decided not to pull baby. ok God, bittersweet. bummed, yet a bit relieved!
friday am they call, they changed there minds, baby will not be released from hospital they are waiting until monday, would we still be willing to take her? i call peter, we don't feel a really strong peace about, so we say no because of the amount of training and no one to watch child, although ashlei graciously agreed to train with us and be the sitter, it still seemed we were not on the same page. we said no. this might be too much for us.
saturday am the supervisor calls back to clarify what we have been told, see if we have questions, and let us know we might be able to meet 1/2 for training or possibly even have training here. i told her we had made our decision and if something changed we would let her know. late saturday night peter and i prayed and discussed taking her and felt maybe this was God's way of saying He wants her here. we decided to pray for a sign. tomorrow at church we wanted to see a special needs baby if God wanted us to say yes. i made a comment that special needs babies are very hard to see, since most disablities are not visually oriented, particularly in babies.
sunday am, we have a huge auditorium at church with 3 large screens, where a picture of a baby with a cleft pallet and hair lip (sp?) appear on the screen!
ok God, we will tell them yes.
monday am, we say yes, they say we have found another family, thanks anyway. an hour later they call back and say, our supervisor wants this baby with you, since you can speak to her in spanish (she is mexican).
tuesday afternoon, i pick her up from the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital, spend 3 hours there speaking with all those who have been caring for her, and bring her home. these pics are from her first few days home!
sorry no super great pics of her, i am not alowwed to post pics of the kiddos on here.
elijah wanted to hold her first
everyone went goo goo over this precious little girl...they still are, 2 weeks later!
caleb made her a card!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
update: 2 weeks later...
so A has now been with us for 2 weeks.
just a glimpse of her...
on wednesday, april 30 she quietly walked into our home for the first time. she timidly came into the family room, politely said hello, and cautiously sat forward on the chair. she answered questions and gently spoke only a few things with a smile on her face. she was meek, shy, and nervous about us and her new home...
2 weeks later, on wednesday night, may 14...
A is listening to her favorite music video in the family room at the very same time she had entered just 2 weeks earlier. she is dancing as if no one else is in the room and having a grand time! and yes, we were in the room!
i think she is enjoying it here and we are certainly enjoying having her. we have our bumps but they are just that, bumps. we work through and communicate when things go bump and we are all learning and adjusting well to our new living situation.
we feel so very blessed for the opportunity to have her in our home. the kids adore her. micaiah LOVES sharing a room with her, elijah found another set of ears willing to listen to his imagination (gone wild) and caleb has found a new wrestling buddy. she is willing to help around the house and is even getting involved in our middle school youth group at church. she is fun to hang out with, i am teaching her the little piano i know, and her and ashlei have begun a friendship too.
just a glimpse of her...
on wednesday, april 30 she quietly walked into our home for the first time. she timidly came into the family room, politely said hello, and cautiously sat forward on the chair. she answered questions and gently spoke only a few things with a smile on her face. she was meek, shy, and nervous about us and her new home...
2 weeks later, on wednesday night, may 14...
A is listening to her favorite music video in the family room at the very same time she had entered just 2 weeks earlier. she is dancing as if no one else is in the room and having a grand time! and yes, we were in the room!
i think she is enjoying it here and we are certainly enjoying having her. we have our bumps but they are just that, bumps. we work through and communicate when things go bump and we are all learning and adjusting well to our new living situation.
we feel so very blessed for the opportunity to have her in our home. the kids adore her. micaiah LOVES sharing a room with her, elijah found another set of ears willing to listen to his imagination (gone wild) and caleb has found a new wrestling buddy. she is willing to help around the house and is even getting involved in our middle school youth group at church. she is fun to hang out with, i am teaching her the little piano i know, and her and ashlei have begun a friendship too.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
foster kid #2
friday night, we got a call at 9:30 p.m.
will you take a 4 year old boy? he was a precautionary placement. he only speaks spanish. his sister is is the hospital with some untreated fractors in her legs and abdominal trauma.
so after A spent 4ours in ER waiting for his check up, this is required by DCFS, he came to our home at nearly 2AM!
He fit right in to the family, played well with all the kids, was very well behaved, played on Elijah's soccer team, went with us to visit friends for the day, attended church (one of Peter's students volunteered in his class to interpret for him) and went with us to Amy's for mother's day. i even managed 2 days alone (no interpreters!) FK #1, A was at school and peter at work.
he was a joy to have and acted as if he had played at our home often. today at about 1:30 we got the call that the judge order him back home, no probable cause for removing him from the home.
we said our good byes around 5:30. the kids were sad and wanted him to stay. caleb made him a card.
i think it was a great first opportunity to loose a child as he was only here for a short stay but long enough for the kids to get attached and see what this will be like.
i was so proud of them, they treated him like a brother, shared with him, included him and elijah even gave up his bed to him.
we will miss A and always remember him.
and...my spanish is continuing to improve! A (fk# 1) is helping me a ton! and i am teaching her sign language!
wish i could post pics, but not allowed :o(
will you take a 4 year old boy? he was a precautionary placement. he only speaks spanish. his sister is is the hospital with some untreated fractors in her legs and abdominal trauma.
so after A spent 4ours in ER waiting for his check up, this is required by DCFS, he came to our home at nearly 2AM!
He fit right in to the family, played well with all the kids, was very well behaved, played on Elijah's soccer team, went with us to visit friends for the day, attended church (one of Peter's students volunteered in his class to interpret for him) and went with us to Amy's for mother's day. i even managed 2 days alone (no interpreters!) FK #1, A was at school and peter at work.
he was a joy to have and acted as if he had played at our home often. today at about 1:30 we got the call that the judge order him back home, no probable cause for removing him from the home.
we said our good byes around 5:30. the kids were sad and wanted him to stay. caleb made him a card.
i think it was a great first opportunity to loose a child as he was only here for a short stay but long enough for the kids to get attached and see what this will be like.
i was so proud of them, they treated him like a brother, shared with him, included him and elijah even gave up his bed to him.
we will miss A and always remember him.
and...my spanish is continuing to improve! A (fk# 1) is helping me a ton! and i am teaching her sign language!
wish i could post pics, but not allowed :o(
Monday, May 12, 2008
our first foster kid
she arrived wed, april 30 about 9pm. sat quietly and a bit timid in the chair as we briefly got aquainted and then went to bed. thurs am she had school and then friday the day off.
A has now been with us for 2 weeks on wednesday!!! she has moved into micaiah's room, which has become the "girl's room". she is a sweet heart, is teaching us all spanish, is awesome with the kiddos and has taught me so much in just this short time. all those things i have been praying about and wanting God to show me how to be a better mom, He has given me A as an answer to how He will stretch me and teach me, and refine me to be the mom and women He wants me to be.
It has been a good start, with a few minor bumps in the road. we are so greatful for the privaledge we have to take care of A and the way God has graciously blessed us by opening our hearts to her.
oh yeah, if they would have called us one day later or one day earlier we would not have been able to accept A since she did not fit into our criteria of 0-3.
yeah GOD! in His perfect timing.
i will keep you posted, as my schedule allows!
A has now been with us for 2 weeks on wednesday!!! she has moved into micaiah's room, which has become the "girl's room". she is a sweet heart, is teaching us all spanish, is awesome with the kiddos and has taught me so much in just this short time. all those things i have been praying about and wanting God to show me how to be a better mom, He has given me A as an answer to how He will stretch me and teach me, and refine me to be the mom and women He wants me to be.
It has been a good start, with a few minor bumps in the road. we are so greatful for the privaledge we have to take care of A and the way God has graciously blessed us by opening our hearts to her.
oh yeah, if they would have called us one day later or one day earlier we would not have been able to accept A since she did not fit into our criteria of 0-3.
yeah GOD! in His perfect timing.
i will keep you posted, as my schedule allows!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
my life has drastically changed!!
i don't know where to begin...
our foster care classes were to end on April 29 and technically we could be licensed by the end of the week and get a phone call to place a child. we met with the licensing worker on 4/24 and stated we would be open to having up to 2 children, ages 0-3 years old.
on tuesday, april 29, the day before we were even licensed we got a phone call for a possible placement. our licensing worker said i know it is not what you had in mind, she is 14, hispanic girl whose needs a place to stay. her mother is undergoing chemotherapy, has exhausted all her resources, and needs a home for her. her father had recently died of cancer. she is columbian. this is all we knew.
after hearing this much information, i called peter and told him what i knew. as i was at work at the time. he called her case worker to find out more about her.
she is a sweet girl, adopted from columbia 2 years ago, her adopted father was the one who died of cancer, she gets good grades, and is a fairly typical 14 year old and in 7th grade.
peter prayed with our kiddos, called me back, we briefly spoke as i was at work. we decided to say yes. as so many of you know, so many things seemed to match up, despite our criteria of 2 kiddos, 0-3 years. she is 14, we took in ashlei when she was 14 and had some experience with that, she was adopted internationally, just lost her father (got lots of experience there) and she was dealing with cancer (lots of experience there too).
a side note: before my car accident we wondered how we would fit foster kids in our van, God took care of that! our new van is bigger! also, caleb was concerned where the foster kid would sit when we have the 2 extra kids i babysit (even in the bigger van this is a concern). i told him i didn't know but God would take care of it. he said, mommy i think we should wait until i am 8 then i can sit in the front seat, then we don't have to worry about where the kid will sit. let's ask God if He can wait until i am 8. i told him i didn't want to wait that long.
so we said yes, but our licensing needed to be complete. this would not happen until wednesday, april 30
and so this is where our journey begins...
our foster care classes were to end on April 29 and technically we could be licensed by the end of the week and get a phone call to place a child. we met with the licensing worker on 4/24 and stated we would be open to having up to 2 children, ages 0-3 years old.
on tuesday, april 29, the day before we were even licensed we got a phone call for a possible placement. our licensing worker said i know it is not what you had in mind, she is 14, hispanic girl whose needs a place to stay. her mother is undergoing chemotherapy, has exhausted all her resources, and needs a home for her. her father had recently died of cancer. she is columbian. this is all we knew.
after hearing this much information, i called peter and told him what i knew. as i was at work at the time. he called her case worker to find out more about her.
she is a sweet girl, adopted from columbia 2 years ago, her adopted father was the one who died of cancer, she gets good grades, and is a fairly typical 14 year old and in 7th grade.
peter prayed with our kiddos, called me back, we briefly spoke as i was at work. we decided to say yes. as so many of you know, so many things seemed to match up, despite our criteria of 2 kiddos, 0-3 years. she is 14, we took in ashlei when she was 14 and had some experience with that, she was adopted internationally, just lost her father (got lots of experience there) and she was dealing with cancer (lots of experience there too).
a side note: before my car accident we wondered how we would fit foster kids in our van, God took care of that! our new van is bigger! also, caleb was concerned where the foster kid would sit when we have the 2 extra kids i babysit (even in the bigger van this is a concern). i told him i didn't know but God would take care of it. he said, mommy i think we should wait until i am 8 then i can sit in the front seat, then we don't have to worry about where the kid will sit. let's ask God if He can wait until i am 8. i told him i didn't want to wait that long.
so we said yes, but our licensing needed to be complete. this would not happen until wednesday, april 30
and so this is where our journey begins...
Monday, April 14, 2008
pics from our spring break trip to cinciy
(the trip we were coming home from when we got into our accident!)
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