Just Stroll-ing Along . . .

thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes my way --- we had a great weekend!

as soon as i get the camera cord, i'll upload some photos of the kids -- probably tomorrow night.

keep us (specifically me) in your prayers ... i had a meltdown on sunday night and while i'm feeling better, i am still very overwhelmed. there are a lot of things i'm not sure about, mostly what seem to be selfish things. for example, not having the alone time that brian & i are used to, feeling like i should never want to try to have a biological child (which is a big thing for me since i'm currently taking medication to help with that & i don't want to feel that the last few months of medication have been for nothing), not being able to just pick up and go whenever we want (which is rare, anyway), and so many more things. it's a big adjustment, not just for the kids, but for us. a lot of my concerns have been validated by loving, supportive people, but i am still feeling very stressed -- i think especially because they are moving in so soon (friday), and i have not had time to work through all of my issues.

tomorrow i'll be waking up and having coffee & egg souffles with my sweetie, then spending the rest of the day with our kids, maybe at the zoo, maybe at the park, maybe at home. most definitely eating cupcakes.








(happy 35th anniversary to my darling parents, on sunday!)

yesterday, my husband and i walked into a strange home to visit our children whom we'd never met before. i was greeted with an exuberant "hi, mommy!" and a bear hug from a tiny child. little hands cupped my face, ran their fingers through my hair and patted my arms, my shoulders, as though she thought i were unreal.
i watched my husband play with his new son who was sick, putting a silly hat on his head, making noises, to get him to laugh. i watched him scoot cars across the floor and play horsey.
these new little people in our lives already make us want to be better people. isn't it funny how people so small bring out the absolute best in us?


yesterday was a good day.

brian found this at meijer over the weekend for $100 -- it regularly retails for $379.99. look how fun!

This is my brother in law, Frank, and two of his kids, Bayleigh (who is as sweet as she looks), and Joey, who turned two this past Saturday. I miss these kids so much!! (And Frankie, too!)

we are seeing the kids on TUESDAY!

the b and i are going to spend most of the weekend painting (except for when he's working) -- we have josh's room to paint, and 2 dressers. we're taking this color combo --and tweaking it a bit. the blue for walls & ceiling, the same white for trim & clouds, and substituting the taupe for chocolate brown for the dresser & shelves. the tree will be either the white or chocolate brown. mar & dad got us the bird wall cards (so cute!) from our land of nod registry and we're going to hang those somehow on the wall, or attach them to a cornice for the windows. not sure yet about that. anyway, should be a busy weekend!
have fun!
xoxo

i love these plates over at pop ink -- i think they'd be perfect for the kids -- durable melamine in an adorable pattern!

brian and i both have what we think is food poisoning. (i think we are finally done with taco bell) it's horrible. much better than yesterday, but still not great. we're just thankful that it happened after our respite weekend was over.
our time with the kids was nice, but honestly, 3 kids is too much for us right now. it was easier with 2. we had fun, but we were exhausted by the end of sunday!

we've decided to proceed with the adoption of kayla & joshy. it will take some time --- since the biological parents filed an appeal, we have to wait for the court's answer on that. we're 99.9% sure that it will be rejected, because of all the problems the parents had/have. once the appeal is rejected, the biological parents have two choices - file a motion with the supreme court or leave it alone. we were told they would most likely do the latter. in that case, all we have to do is sign adoptive agreement papers and then once the kids have been in our home for 6 mos, we can go to the family court and sign the adoptive papers.

crazy. we're terrified, worried, but so excited and we know God certainly has a plan for us. i spoke with their foster mom yesterday and heard josh in the background and i thought to myself, "that's my future son!!" hopefully we can get things rolling and will be able to start pre-placement visits really soon.

i spoke with my sister in law on saturday night and she helped calm my fears and got me even more excited ... we talked about homeschooling stuff, going to the zoo together with our kids, etc. she's a wonderful, organized mother of 4 and i'm glad she's here to lend support!!

yesterday, my sweet baby niece went home after a 6 day stay in the hospital after her open heart surgery.
in two days we may be making the decision to become parents.
in three days we will be playing parents to a 4 1/2 yr old, a 3 1/2 yr old and a 2 yr old for 48 hours.
in seventeen days i'll turn 24.
in eighteen days my parents will celebrate 35 years of marriage.