BIG news!

It's been a crazy few weeks around here! For awhile, we were just rollin' along with the babies, watching them achieve milestones and grow up, with a few looming dates in our minds, some more specific than others. The updates, in date order...

1. "sometime in October" Josie was supposed to go to live with family. We've now been told that could be several more months--like 6 to 9! We are thrilled to have her as long as possible, but knowing that we won't get to keep her, that is pretty hard on us, and on family and friends who really love her dearly. This is an expectation we knew about, though, so we are prepared. In the meantime, what fun the holidays will be with the two of them around!

2. October 16th--Derion's 4 month birthday and also court to find out if his parent's rights were terminated, and they were! Finally, something has happened the way we expected it to! This means we are a big step closer to the adoption process, and we couldn't be happier! He is such a sweetie, growing well, with less health problems than were expected in the beginning. He's really quite a normal little guy, even a little ahead on some developmental milestones.

3. December 31st--Our apartment lease terminates. We had to decide what to do, extend it a little while or try to buy a house. We started hunting in September, and really hadn't found anything, so we decided to wait until Spring. Of course, soon after that, things fell into place and we found THE PERFECT HOUSE! It's exactly what we wanted and right now, if everything goes right, we are set to close December 10th. So maybe if any of you far-awayers are in town over Christmas or New Years, you'll come visit!

We included some pics below of the little ones, so you can see how much they've grown!

My grown up babies!

So, over the labor day weekend, we loaded up the car and headed to Wichita. Miss Buchi had to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's this time because there simply wasn't room for her. Two babies=lots of stuff to pack. Here's the run down: Swing, playgym, portacrib, babies suitcase, mommies suitcase, two backpacks, diaper bag, auxillury tote bag for baby supplies that didn't fit in other bags, plus 2 babies in carseats. Buchi was probably glad to be at camp Hayden! We were worried about how hard it would be to keep the lil' ones happy in the car, but suprisingly, they both slept the entire way...they'd stir when we went slower to pay a toll, etc--we were kind of like the Speed bus--"don't slow down! They'll wake up!" but we made it.

Molly put us up for the weekend--it was great to see her and celebrate her birthday. We also caught up with Wichita friends and family. It was truly amazing to see C.C.'s niece, little Grace at two weeks old--it just doesn't seem like hardly any time ago that Josie and Derion were that little. They're so old and interactive now. They totally know when it's daytime and they want to interact with everyone!

Here's a picture of big boy Derion--almost 3 months old!

the future

We've been watching the Olympics just like everyone else and it got me thinking about the future of these babies and the role we have in their lives. We may not get to watch most of them grow up, but it's amazing to think that in a few years we could be watching the Olympics and hear one of their names and know we had a small part in getting them to where they are. We just hope that after they leave they'll still have the kind of support and nurturing they had at our homes

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...