2nd Post Placement Visit

Stomach flu....dizzy spells....broken vacuum belts. Preparing for the 2nd and final post placement visit.....priceless.

I know I was worried. I am not sure why now, but I was. The bare floor, the cracked tiles maybe? How does that reflect my love for our brown eyed girl any more or less. All the wonderfully gracious social worker saw was a house with lots of love and a happy baby. Thank you Jesus and thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! I can not say enough how awed I am at the big and little blessings I see in our E process. I shouldn't have worried....I know. So, long story short, it went great! We made a follow up call to the attorney to see how things look on their end and they said we should be getting a court date within the next couple weeks. A court date?!! Yes, a court date. Isn't God good? All the time (Lincoln Brewster fans)-:)!!

Monkey Jammies

If you are a mom I think you can relate to this. Every baby we've had, there's been one outfit or piece of clothing that looked so good on them, embraced their spirit, brought the wow factor to their eyes. For Chloe, it was the forest green Old Navy flannel pants, perfect for a December baby, worn every time they were clean to show off her bright blue eyes and cute little toes. For Rory it was this purple outfit, I can't remember where it was from (she is the 2nd child-poor girl), but it made her white fuzzy head and huge blue eyes pop like twinkling stars. Since they were pre-blog babies, I now have the opportunity to post what the outfit is for E. It's these silly little pink and brown monkey jammies from Gymboree. They have a matching blanket and they make me giggle when she's in them and she's giggling. As she was squirming out of them during a PJP just now, I thought wow, she's almost outgrown these things and I had to take a picture. So, here they are, kiddo number 3 and the outfit that captures her silly squeal-the monkey jammies!

5 Months Old!

So, we passed our 5 month mark and thankfully they have no shots scheduled for this milestone, so we are tear free on that (all of us:))! We are having our 2nd and final post placement visit next week though. If you think of us, it's Wednesday the 24th at 12:30pm mst, we'd appreciate prayer that it all goes well. I'm just going to list out what I'm thinking right now, some concerns...it may be jagged, but it's authentic. Great title for another blog, Jagged, but Authentic...Authentically Jagged....Jagged Authentically.....Jaggedly Authentic......I totally digress.

So, here's the deal, if you are following Something Unexpected, you know we've bought a repo that needs work and I am VERY concerned we won't have it ready before our post placement visit. All the girls rooms are done, we did Esther's in a cute pink with one brown wall-it turned out great! BUT the flooded area(s) may not have the new flooring on them. I need to let that go and am trying to do so!

Another thing weighing heavily on my heart is Esther's birth mom was in the Houston area and as we've been watching the news, Ike did a dandy down there, so again, if you think of that, please pray for her and her safety/well being.

FINALIZATION......I can see it as a speck on a dirty window. It's coming...we hope. My hopes, my fears, my insecurities, are all being displayed like a fireworks show, and I am trying to hold true to what I know is true and not let satan destroy my spirit in the journey. I don't even want to type the fears that go along with this, but please pray that His will, not mine, not anyone else's, is carried out in the most joyous experience of love in the adoption of E.

Finally, the older girls. They have adjusted so easily, but they have been spectators of the fireworks show and oohed and aahed, but also been jarred a little by the boom. We have been hearing complaints that they feel left out with the move and the demands that a new baby brings. It's great to show them how much work a baby is and how it takes a FAMILY to raise an infant and they need to wait for that to have their own, so we are trying to take these moments and make them teachable ones that they will remember for a lifetime. It's also great to see them concerned for E's birthmom, her safety in the hurricane, and how to love someone we've never met and the act of love, charity, and God's amazing love and grace being displayed in this process. Please keep their little spirits in prayer that they feel loved beyond measure and a spirit of partnership is formed in the caring of baby E.

This is a picture of Esther during our BFFF (see Something Unexpected) and Chloe wanted to be sure her birth mom was a part of the foundation of this new home, this is what she wrote.

Thank you for continuing to be a part of our journey, your continued prayers, love, and support mean more than a blog post could ever say.

Here I Am

Prune Juice Poops

I know nothing good that began with this title. PJP's are running rampant in our house and getting the balance between not enough and too much is harder than anticipated. Our little E screamed for a solid 45 minutes after a failed trip to Target (I apologize to whomever had to take care of my cart that I hastily left in the middle of the aisle) last night that I almost called the dr on. Thankfully my husband, a renowned gas expert, took one look at her, asked me if she pooped today (the answer was no) and he diagnosed her instantly with gas painaramo (official term). We have been giving her the pj in her morning bottle and the pediatrician said to play with how many times a day, etc. So, apparently once isn't enough. BUT last week while my mom was here (I had backup, so I felt brave) I did the 2 pj bottles and the results reeked of messy...literally. Blowouts each time...up the back, to the shoulder blades blowouts. The second time James got it right through the clothes and car seat cover (btw, whoever invented that thing needs to be more sensitive to the process of the getting it on/off for cleaning....it's a beast). Both times were throw the clothes away blowouts, you get the drift. So, as I heard E push and grunt and then cry as I awaited my $12 coffee in the Starbucks drive thru this morning, I just knew we were having some kind of explosion. I finally get her home (thanks to the end of construction season, there was a backup...didn't they know we were having a car seat explosion? Moms should get dispersed sirens for these types of things!), undid the velcro and bam! What I thought was going to be an up the backer, turned out to be a rock. THE biggest rock a LUVS diaper can hold. If I could not take 5 hours to upload pictures, I would have posted it. Thankfully, I am sparing you. So, needless to say, we are out of whack on the pooper and she's a fussy trooper. PJP's.....another gift that keeps on giving.