Happy Birthday 1 Month Old!

Princess Josie is one month old today! Yay! Mommies celebrated with dinner--Chili's Takeout--ok--we didn't have time to cook...both kiddos had visits today, and Josie had court--we probably won't have her more than a month or two more, but we're having fun while it lasts!

We're loving that people are voting--we'll have to keep this poll thing going. Thanks for participating in our lives!

TWINS! (sort of)

Many of you already know what's been going on at our house, but for those of you who didn't, I really apologize for not keeping everyone more up to date. It was...really hard losing Jake and I just couldn't make myself send those emails and make those calls over and over again. To everyone local, it was obvious we didn't have a noisy 1 year old with us, but we knew everyone was heartbroken for us, and the nice things that were said just made us cry--and our people just don't like to cry in public...(right...) Just yesterday we got a card and some pictures from Jake's father and grandma. I can't even begin to express the thankfulness and relief that I feel in my heart. If this man cares enough to send us a note and pics, I feel like Jake is in a good place--that kind of kindness just speaks well for him, and if we can't have him, I'm glad that someone like that will be raising him. I cried and cried when we opened the letter, but I feel an ENORMOUS sense of relief and finally some closure to the whole thing. So, thanks to Jimmie and Jean, and to all our friends and family for your love and support. We couldn't do this without you!!!

So anyway, we'll try to keep more up to date with this venue (and calls and stuff too, if you don't mind the sounds of crying baby in your ear...check back often!

So, ON TO THE TWINS! What? Are we CRAZY?!?!? The answer is...YES. But we'd already decided that if a baby came along that we thought we could maybe (CAUTIOUSLY) think we could adopt...we'd take them. I just didn't think it would be two weeks after we got Josie!

I was at work when I got the "call me now" text that I figured meant that Josie was leaving us, and C.C. told me "they called about a little two week old boy...I said 'yes'" I was shocked, and finished the day again in a haze...excited, but feeling a little "What the heck have we gotten ourselves into?" Derion is a sweet little guy, 1 week younger than Josie and very active and alert. We're getting a little less sleep, but we're doing ok, working out a rhythm slowly and it gets better each day.

The kids are doing well, they seem to get comfort from being near each other most of the time. At the doctors yesterday, they switched formula for both of them and that already seems to be clearing up a whole host of problems for both of them. (I won't go into details...trust me, you don't want me to!) They are both good babies, really only crying when they're hungry, so we've been pretty blessed so far. Here are some pics of the two of them!

New Arrival

So, Jake had been gone a couple of weeks, and we were really, really, REALLY ready for a new little one. Obviously, we didn't want something bad to happen to a child, but if one had to come into care, we wanted him or her to come to us. (I was voting for a "her" since I've had a strong need to buy dresses, and they just weren't Jake's thing.) Since we were just kind of hanging around, I volunteered to bake multiple dozens of cookies for a church function, and that's what sealed our fate.

On Friday, June 13, C.C. sent me a text (our preferred method of baby alert notification) and the rest of the day was shot to hell for me. I was in the middle of leaving a voice mail for some poor woman, and I doubt I made any sense at all. I sincerely apologize to anyone who had to talk to me that day.

C.C. picked Miss Josie up from the hospital, five days old. For the vital stats, she was 6 pounds, 14 ounces and 19.5 inches long. She's absolutely beautiful, and I've been buying dresses ever since--thank goodness for the clothing allowance they get! We had to get used to a little one again, and actually, neither of us has spent any significant amount of time with a baby THAT young before, but we were doing pretty well--still working, lots of WONDERFUL volunteer sitters until she's old enough for daycare--routine was re-established, life was--fairly--calm.

We figure she'll go to family sometime in the next couple of months, and we've talked about how empty the house will be again. Abstractly, we discussed if we should say yes if they call about a "permanent" placement--aka an "adoptable" baby (Which by the way is ALWAYS a maybe, I don't count on it until I'm signing papers). Well, God has a funny sense of humor, and plans for us, because...

A busy year...

It's been a very long time since I've posted, but then we've been really busy this year. We finished getting the nusery ready in late July, went on a great vacation in August, and then came home and the madness began!

On August 28th, we got a call that a little baby boy, three months old, was needing a home. We immediately mobilized--craziness began! We were also given our baby showers, one by C.C.'s coworkers, and a kamikazi shower that weekend by our friends.

We had little Keevon for about a month before he was able to go to live with extended family, and had a great time. We were really getting into the groove of being Mommies!

After Keevon, we had a couple of weeks of quiet until one Friday, Jacob arrived. We fell in love from the start! From all reports, he looked just like me as a baby--either way, he was absolutely precious. We had him for almost a year, from 4 to 13 months, and had a wonderful time with him. We had really begun to see him as our son, but, it worked out that there was a home for him with some family members who were late on the scene, and he is now there, playing with the goats on their farm, which we're sure he loves! It was terribly hard for us to say goodbye and we weren't at first sure that we could do this again, but after a few days of quiet, we knew that the parenting life was for us and we began to anxiously await a new arrival...