Choo-Choo

Our sweet boy had his follow up appointment at the allergy/asthma doctor and they said he sounded like he had a new set of lungs! This was exactly what we wanted to hear. We are hoping the antibiotic that we just finished is exactly what he needed to clear out the nasty infection. If the infection returns within the next week we will have to schedule an appointment with the ENT to get cultures of the infection. We are hopeful that it is cleared and we will not need to do this.

We also met with both of our workers yesterday Neither one had any new information which is good. We are still anxiously waiting a date for TPR but as with everything else, we know it is in God's time. We asked a timeline for adoption to be completed and they said end of spring. This is way longer than we had hoped for but are beyond thankful to even be discussing adoption. Soon enough he will be ours forever!

After having appointments all day yesterday we had a family day today. Our sweet boy absolutely loves trains! He can hear a "choo-choo-" from miles away and gets so excited. His room is decorated in choo-choos, he has tons of choo-choo- toys, and loves his choo-choo shirts so we decided we would go see choo-choos today. We enjoyed the day at Entertainment Junction and our sweet boy was absolutely amazed. He loved looking at the train displays, riding the train, and playing in the play area. There is nothing like watching our sweet boy's eyes widen with wonder and excitement. We were so thankful to have the opportunity to take him to do something that he loves!

 Playing with the gears on the choo-choo

 Putting the coal in the engine.

Picking his pumpkin from the small pumpkin patch

So Long Sweet Summer

Tomorrow officially marks the end of summer and beginning of fall. Tomorrow also brings another court date. We know this court date will be a review but we are praying things will progress quickly after we attend. We ask for prayers for our sweet boy's future and all of those who have a hand in it. I will update more after we are there.
Thank you in advance for the prayers!

Someone is already missing summer and the pool!

Praises and Prayers

Our new worker came to the house today for a home visit. Normally, I am a mess on these days even though they are routine. My heart races and my stomach is in knots all day but today I was extremely calm. She told us what we have been waiting to hear for so long, the termination paperwork has been filed! Now we wait for a court date for termination and then we can proceed with adoption. We still have several months until all of this can occur but we are one step closer to FOREVER!

We are asking for prayers for our sweet boy. He has been having lots of breathing problems with the weather changing and we were referred to an allergy/asthma doctor. We go tomorrow for a consultation and allergy testing.

As always, please continue to pray for everyone involved in the case. We are getting there!!

 We spent some family time at the zoo and I captured this beautiful picture while on our train ride.

 Sweet boy of course enjoyed his carousel ride.

He would have sat here all day if we would have let him!

Shew! Mondays are rough! He was worn out at nap time while at daycare.

I Pray For You

I pray for you. I pray for you daily. This day has been weighing on my heart heavily for the past few weeks. I wonder if you even know what today is. Surely you know what today is. One year ago today you told our sweet boy goodbye. I often wonder what went through your mind that day. Did you know that would be the last time you would see him? Did you kiss him extra and hold him a little closer? I am so angry with you, I am so disappointed in you, I am so sad for you, and my heart breaks for you. I am also grateful for you. I wish you knew that you gave us joy, happiness, laughter, patience, understanding and an indescribable love. You gave us all of those things and we find all of them daily in our sweet boy. He is beyond perfect in every single way. I pray that you know he is our world and we love him more than we ever knew possible. I pray that you know we will give him the best life that we can possibly give. I pray that you have a peace about the situation although your heart breaks. I hugged him a little tighter today, I snuggled him a little longer, I kissed him extra, I told him I loved him more than usual and I prayed for you.

Transition

As we are preparing for school to start we started transitioning back to daycare last week. Overall, he did really well. It's never easy leaving when he is crying and reaching for you but I take comfort in knowing he stops as soon as I leave and has fun playing with his friends. As a nice welcome back gift to daycare, I picked him up on Friday and made a trip to the doctor to find out he has hand, foot, and mouth, quite the gift huh?! So far he is doing pretty good. I can tell he is in some pain but we are trying to keep him as comfortable as we can. I hate that he is sick but have enjoyed all of the extra snuggles and hugs. We are praying it passes quickly and that it is not an extreme case.
As rough as it was to find out he was already sick I am so grateful we are not in the situation we were in one year ago today. Last year on this day we dropped our sweet boy off for his first overnight visit. My heart still races, my stomach flips, and my eyes fill with tears as I think back on what a terribly long night it was. I have never worried as much as I did on that night. We tried to have "date night" but were very unsuccessful. We were constantly checking our email to see if they had emailed us, could not stop talking about him, and were unable to relax. Trying to sleep was impossible. We tossed and turned all night. I kept looking at the monitor and panicking because I didn't see him and had to remind myself that he wasn't with us.
I know with our sweet boy not feeling well that we will not get much sleep tonight either but I am beyond thankful he is in our house, I can be the one to comfort him when he cries, and that I don't have to worry because he is safe with us.
On a much more positive note, I received an email from the ongoing worker this week and we will be moving to a permanency case which means one step closer to adoption! We pray this truly happens when they say it does and there are not any more hiccups along the way! When I read the email I was immediately brought to tears. It was such a relief to know we are finally getting there!
We ask that you please pray for him to start feeling better soon and for our case. We know we will still have several months before anything actually occurs but knowing we are moving to a permanency case is a step in the right direction!

Waiting Game

I have been waiting to update the blog in hopes of having more information to share.
When we showed up for our meeting we found out that our ongoing worker had quit and a new one had been assigned. The new worker was unaware of the meeting so did not have many answers. I have been waiting for her to get back to me after meeting with her supervisor. We found out they have to continue to pursue the potential father which was a disappointment to us. He has not responded to any contact thus far so we are hoping he will not be interested. We do know it could be approximately 60 days until the court interjects and then once that occurs we could have an additional 2 months for a termination date. Although we had hoped for a termination date by the end of summer we would be thrilled if this happens by the end of the year. I am constantly reminding myself that it is out of our control and God's plan is more perfect than we can even imagine.

 Our sweet boy had his well check last week and he is more than perfect! 30 pounds of goodness who was ahead of everything the doctor asked. The only thing she suggested was that we get rid of the binky which we knew was coming. We decided we would just take it away like we did the bottle and see what happened. Our sweet boy put himself to sleep with no problems and has not asked or cried for a binky. We are so lucky!
We are trying to soak up ever last second of summer. We have been swimming, going to the zoo, snuggling and reading lots of books! We had a great morning and the zoo where our sweet boy and niece got to feed the giraffe, ride the train, and see our favorite Africa exhibit.

Our sweet boy loves to read books and we had to purchase another book shelf to put them on. This small bookshelf is light enough for him to move it around. When it was time to get ready for bed he pushed it to where he was blocked in and could read without us bothering him :)  

We are praying that our sweet boy gets to stay with us forever and that things start to move forward. We are so blessed to have this boy in our life and I never knew I could love someone as much as I love him. My heart feels like it could explode! I am so blessed to be his momma and could have not have picked a better boy if I would have been given the chance.

Family Get Away

A few days after I finished up with school we loaded the car for vacation. We were so excited to get away and this was the first trip we had taken where it was just the 3 of us. We were heading to Florida to see friends get married and also have a nice relaxing week at the beach. This wasn't the first time our sweet boy had been to the beach but it was the first time he would be old enough to play. He absolutely loved it! He played in the sand, loved the waves, and played in the pool. By the end of the week,  he would scoot off the edge into the pool, blow bubbles in the water, and kick his legs when he was on his belly. The only problem with our beach trip was keeping the sand out of sweet boy's mouth! He would have eaten it all day every day if we would have let him! Rotten!

After our week at the beach, we were ready to head to Disney with my sister, brother in law, and niece. Before we checked in there we stopped for a little more beach time with them. Sweet boy loved having Gracey to play with.

Then off to Disney! We weren't sure how sweet boy would do. It was extremely hot and we were worried he would be fussy but he was wonderful! I was amazed how great he did! As we walked through Magic Kingdom it was such a special time. There were several times throughout the day that I would get teary. We both love Disney but sharing that special time with our sweet boy was incredible. We talked about when we were growing up and our parents would always say "I just enjoy watching you." We agreed that we fully understand that after being with him at Disney. His smile and his bright eyes just made everything perfect. He loved the rides and he would giggle as we went up and down on Dumbo, he waved and said hi throughout It's A Small World, smiled while we rode the Teacups, and loved the carousel and the Peter Pan ride. He also got his first hair cut while we were at Disney. He was the best boy ever! He sat so still and never said a word. 

Amazed watching Dumbo for the first time! Last time for his wispy hair!

First haircut complete with special Mickey ears!

The whole vacation was extra special because we didn't have to worry about visitation when we got back. We had the opportunity to fully enjoy time with our sweet boy without worrying. Of course, there is never a day I don't wonder what is to come or if he will go home but for those 2 weeks we pushed those thoughts to the back and just soaked it all in. My heart yearns for the day that I no longer have to have those thoughts. 

When we arrived home we received a letter regarding a meeting that will be taking place on July 13th. We ask for special prayers on this day. I am not sure what to expect but we are hoping for positive news and to hopefully hear we will be moving forward. We have had our boy for almost 18 months and we are ready for permanency!