1,146 Days

1,146 days. 163 weeks and 5 days. 37 months and 19 days. 3 years, 1 month, 19 days. Each of those represent the amount of time that you will spend in foster care. My sweet, sweet boy, as of March 8, you will never be in foster care again, we will be a family forever! March 8 at 11:00 we will be adopting this precious boy and we will become an official family!!!!
March has never been a month that I have particularly enjoyed but that will now change forever. We received the call today that our adopting was being scheduled and the lawyer asked if that day was ok, I wanted to yell, "Are you kidding?! Its perfect!!!" In 11 days we will enter the courtroom as a foster family and leave as a family, just a family. What a glorious day that will be! We serve an amazing God! So many prayers will be answered on that day and for the first time in a long time, we will be able to take a full breath knowing that no one can take him from us!

Happy

When I saw this picture I couldn't help but think of my sweet boy. There is something so special about him and he lights up a room. He is the funniest kid I have ever met and has an incredible imagination. Wherever we go, he makes a new friend and always brightens someone's day. He made a new friend while we were out for breakfast over the weekend and his new friend loved him so much she bought him this cat that he had fallen in love with. He so appropriately named it "Kitty Cardin" and Kitty Cardin has gone everywhere with us. I wish the sweet lady who purchased this for him knew how incredibly happy she has made him.

February has been an incredible month for us! We were able to meet with the attorney and sign our petition to adopt. Within days the guardian ad litem had contacted us to let us know as soon as he received court documents we could schedule a time for him to come to the house. I was able to talk to him today and expected it to be a while before he could come to the house but he is coming on Tuesday! God is so good!!! He told me he will have his report submitted within a week and as soon as it is signed by the judge we will be able to get an adoption date! It is SO close!!! We are praying it goes smoothly and the rest of the process moves quickly! Soon enough I will be able to show his sweet face and we will be a legal family!!!

Forever and Ever, My Sweet Boy

February 2 will forever be marked in our memory as one of the greatest days of our lives! We signed our intent to adopt! We are praying and so hopeful the next portion will go by quickly so we can receive our adoption date.

As we rushed home to meet our social worker I told our sweet boy that we were going to sign papers so he could stay with us forever. He looked at me with his big brown eyes and said, "Forever and ever, all day long?" With tears in my eyes I could make a promise that I have spent every night praying for and a promise that I was unsure if I would ever be able to make. Forever and ever, all day long, you will always be our sweet boy.

You've Got Mail

Today, we opened one of the most exciting pieces of mail we have ever received. Our approval to adopt!!! We have waited so long to see those words! We still have several steps to go through before we will receive our adoption date but we are getting there! We will sign our intent to adopt this week and then be able to move forward with the remaining steps. Please keep praying that everything goes smoothly and happens in a timely manner. We are ready for this sweet boy to be ours forever!!!

Enjoying the warm weather last weekend 😃

Just Like That

One of your favorite phrases right now is "just like that." You say it about a million times a day when you show us how to do something or you accomplish something new. "Just like that" is exactly how your Mommy and Daddy feel. Just like that you are three years old. You turned three on Friday and we started your birthday with your favorite, a donut with icing and sprinkles. You blew out the three candles that were on your donut and loved your birthday tree. We decorated the Christmas tree with balloons and streamers and you thought it was the funniest thing. You were so proud of your special birthday certificate from school. You got a special birthday milkshake after school with your cousin Gracey. Today, we celebrated your birthday with friends and family. You are one loved little boy, there were lots of people here to celebrate with you. Of course all of the decorations were Mickey and you were in heaven. It was so fun watching your eyes light up when you saw the Mickey balloons, the Mickey tablecloths and your Mickey cake.

You are growing up so fast and I hope you know what a true blessing you are. You are the most loving, caring, silly boy ever. You are so curious and love to know how things work. You went to the dentist for the first time this week and loved everything about it! You were such a big boy and sat perfectly with your mouth open. You constantly amaze us and we love you more than you will ever know.

In three short days, we will celebrate 3 wonderful years together as a family. We pray this is the last birthday and "gotcha day" without being a legal family.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy! I love you so!

Christmas Through Your Eyes

As Christmas comes to a close my heart is filled with so much joy. We have had the best holiday season and have gotten to do so many fun things. Your Daddy and I are so thankful to be your parents and love getting to experience so many things with you. You have had the best time experiencing everything this Christmas has had to offer. We were blessed to be able to take a Polar Express train ride, go to the Festival of Lights and Southern Lights, seeing Santa 4 different times, and spending so much time with our families. The excitement on your face and the pure happiness you experience makes your Mommy and Daddy happier than you will ever know. As we sat tonight watching you play we said Christmas as a parent is so special. We could never open another gift on Christmas but be so excited and happy just watching you. You are a true blessing and we pray you know how special you are. 

We are hoping this is the last Christmas where we have to hide your face and the last Christmas without you being an "official" member of the family. As we prepare for 2017, we are praying for a finalized adoption. All paperwork has been signed and will be sent off for approval. We are praying for a quick and smooth approval and everyone after completes their part quickly so we can be a forever family as soon as possible. 

We hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas and enjoys the remainder of 2016. We are blessed beyond belief and know 2017 is going to hold great things for our family!

Busy, Busy!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted an update. We had a very fun and exciting October that did not leave much time for updates. We do not have any new information regarding the adoption but we are praying the social worker gets paperwork completed quickly so we can hopefully adopt right after the new year. We are so thankful that we have made it past such a big hurdle and he cannot be taken from us now! The end is in sight and we are beyond thankful!

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with the family! Our sweet boy loved everything about the day. He had so much fun going down the slide, feeding the animals, and riding on the hay ride.

We were able to spend a weekend in Tennessee with family which was wonderful. Our sweet boy was able to ride on his first open air train ride and he was amazed. His face would light up when the train whistle would blow and his excitement was contagious. There were also horses next to the cabin we stayed in and our sweet boy liked walking over to visit with them.

 Halloween was a big hit this year! He was able to dress up for a Halloween party, Hallzooween, school, and trick or treating. Of course, he had to be Mickey Mouse this year and he loved his costume so much! Mommy even carved our sweet boy a Mickey pumpkin.

We had a very busy October but we are beyond blessed. We are so blessed to be able to take him to so many things and to be able to experience them with him. His eyes light up and the best smile spreads across his face and it makes every moment so incredibly special. He fills our hearts with more than love than we could have ever imagined.

Time's Up!

Appeal time is officially up! We are now one step closer to adoption! We will still have a few more months to wait but we have made it through one more huge hurdle. We decided to celebrate by spending our morning at the zoo, one of our favorite places. 

He loves the new Hippo Exhibit!

He thought it was so cool to stand this close to the hippo!

This little guy was quite fond of our sweet boy!

We cannot wait to be able to share pictures of our sweet boy's face! He is growing so quickly and becoming a little boy. He loves to read books, sing songs, play hide and seek and play with anything that goes! He is becoming even more independent and he is constantly saying "I did it!" He is so proud of himself and loves to try new things. He has such a fun personality and is quite the chatter box. He has been very specific about things that he wants and last weekend while we were outside swinging he said, "I want a chochit nonut with frinkles" and that is what he got! Apparently it tastes better when you don't use your hands to eat it!

This sweet boy has changed our world more than we could have ever dreamed. After all of this time, it is such a relief to know we are in the final stretch of becoming a forever family. You can't see his sweet face yet but I wanted to share his sweet voice. This boy melts his momma's heart!

What Faith Can Do

After 2.5 years of court dates you would think that I would be a pro but I am definitely not. I was up all night, sick all morning, bit all of my finger nails off and counted down the seconds of my morning. I worked a half day to try to keep my mind off of our 1:30 appointment but time seemed to be at a standstill. When I was finally able to leave I got in the car and turned on the radio. The first song that played was "What Faith Can Do" by Kutlass. There could not have been a more perfect song to be playing.

When we arrived at court I was even more of a hot mess than I had been all morning. We briefly talked to the social worker and then waited to go in. When we went into the court room I was shaking uncontrollably. We listened to the attorneys present their evidence and listened to the judge and could not get a read for what was happening. We would think it was going in our favor and then something would be said and our hearts would sink. As the trial concluded, the judge said "We will terminate parental rights." I fell to pieces and the tears started pouring down my face. I have never felt such relief and been so thankful. Those are words that I have been waiting to hear since January 17, 2014 and finally we were able to hear them! We appreciate everyone who has prayed for us and sent us encouraging messages today. We ask that you continue to pray as we will now enter a 30 day appeal time. If we can make it through 30 days without an appeal, our next step will be adoption! God is good!

Trust in His Plan

We have had lots of exciting things happening in our family and are excited about the changes that will be coming in the next few months.
We recently decided that we were going to put our house up for sale and a week later we had a signed contract. We felt like it was the right time and quickly made the decision to list the house and we definitely made the right choice. We are currently searching for a new house for our family and should probably be more stressed than we are but we are trusting in His plan.
We also have court next Monday for termination of parental rights. We are praying the judge grants the termination and that we can move forward with pursuing adoption. This date has been a long time in coming and has seemed like we would never actually get here.
Tomorrow, I will begin my seventh year of teaching and I'm excited for the year to begin but also sad to leave my sweet boy each day. I am thankful for wonderful teachers that love our sweet boy as much as we do and spoil him rotten, it makes it a little easier to leave him. I'm also thankful for all of the hugs that I will get from my twenty classroom babies that make my days better.
We have so many new and exciting things happening in our life and we know it's because we have put our complete faith and trust in Him.

Tough Cookie

Thank you so much for praying for our sweet boy's procedure today. He is one tough cookie and he did excellent. We are hoping this helps him to feel better. He was the charming, sweet boy that he normally is and made lots of people smile this morning. One nurse told him that he set the standard very high for all of the other kids they would see today. We are beyond thankful for such a great little boy.
When he woke up form anesthesia he was quite mad and nothing was making him happy. He was ready to leave right at that instant but of course that could not happen so he made sure everyone knew he was not happy about that. The nurse said that when he was crying she asked if he was cute and he immediately stopped crying, looked her in the eye and said "Yes, I cute" then started crying again. He sure is rotten but makes us laugh. He did the same thing when we were able to see him and pitched an awful fit until the nurse said we could go for a walk and he immediately stopped fussing and was talking up a storm. He was promised a popsicle when he woke up and did not let the nurse forget. When she said she would be back with his popsicle he said "Mmmm... I want a blue popsicle." Of course they didn't have blue but he was just as satisfied with a purple one. He definitely knows what he wants and makes sure we know too :) We are blessed to be his parents and we are thankful that he shares his wonderful smile and personality with all those around us. He sure knows how to light up a room and make everyone around him happy. He is definitely a special boy!
Since we arrived home it has been all about making him happy and keeping him comfortable. That has meant snuggling up in Mommy and Daddy's bed, eating dinner inside of his tent that is set up in the middle of our living room while watching Mickey Mouse, and wearing Christmas pajamas to bed. He has had a good day and we are hoping for a good night. Again, thank you for all of your prayers and for everyone that has checked on him today!

He was quite relaxed while waiting to be taken back. He made himself right at home on the couch while we waited.

 My big boy going for a "ride" as he said

 Sometimes you just need to know Mommy is there when you don't feel so great.

 Snuggles make you feel even better.

 Dinner in his tent :)

All smiles in his Christmas pajamas tonight :)

Feet In The Sand

We were blessed with another week away at the beach. Our sweet boy absolutely loved building "houses" in the sand, playing in the water, looking for "frabs" (crabs), and going for a "fwim" in the pool. He recently finished swim lessons and liked showing off his skills in the pool. He is such a silly boy and is full of personality. He is becoming very aware of his skills and what he is able to do and was constantly saying "Mommy/Daddy look!" He is very proud of himself and loves when he accomplishes something new.
We had to buy new shoes when we returned home because our sweet boy is growing so quickly. He picked out the shoes he liked and when he tried him on he said "Oh so pretty!" Mommy thought they were very pretty but had a hard time because not only did he go up a size, we had to move to the preschool section. I'm not really sure where my itty bitty baby went but I know he disappeared in what seems like a blink of an eye.
Our sweet boy has another procedure on Thursday and we are asking for your prayers. We are hoping this will take care of all of the congestion and breathing issues he has had. It should be a quick procedure with a quick recovery but Tyler and I are still very nervous. He is tough so I am sure he will be back to his spunky, active self very soon.

It was such a boring car ride he had to blow raspberries on his own leg :)

We made it! His dry clothes did not last long after this picture.

Flying a kite with Daddy

Luau night and looking at a beach sculpture.

Someone is a tad bit spoiled.

Running to the beach for pictures.

So thankful God chose us to be his parents

 The beach is hard work!

Raspberries weren't as entertaining on the way home, he decided to chew on his toes :)