Plan for the Day

Callie: "Mom, what are we going to do today?"

Me: "Well, we are going to wash some clothes, clean your room, blend you some food and eat lunch."

Callie: "Then what are we going to do? Adopt a baby?"

Well, sweet girl, it is not quite that easy. We are not able to adopt a baby today. For now we wait.

What a Fantastic Weekend!

We've had an absolutely wonderful weekend! Actually, we've had a great week and a half or so, with Jason's parents in town for Sadie's birthday, Wyatt's birthday, and Easter. It's been one full day after another, and the kids are sure to sleep for hours on end now that Moms and Pops are back in Alabama. (The kids tend to stay up late and wake up early while they're here. Wonder why?)

Wyatt's birthday was on Saturday, so we celebrated all day long. It started with a trip to Sandy's Donuts. The grownups chose rather sophisiticated fried dough, such as dark-chocolate glazed ones or crullers, but Wyatt selected a giant Easter basket monstrosity. An enormous creme filled, frosted thing, with grass, a Peep, chocolate eggs, and a licorice handle made a highly non-nutritious breakfast for the boy. Good thing birthdays only come once per year. Here he is posing with his breakfast delicacy.

We went to Papa and Grannas for the afternoon and grilled out. Wyatt asked for a lemon birthday cake with Peeps on top. Kelli obliged. When he saw it late that afternoon, he was rather pleased.

Like Sadie's birthday, we as parents didn't really go overboard with gifts. Although we didn't recycle gifts like we did with Sadie, we did get him a set of Nerf dart guns that he (and his father!) like a lot. By the time grandparents, aunts, uncles, and an assortment of other family members added their wrapped items, he made quite a haul. Thankfully, they're mostly educational toys (except for the one from his parents - go figure). Here is he concentrating on trying out his new art kit. He couldn't decide whether to wear a traditional birthday party hat or his birthday "crown" he got at school, so he went for both.

Later that afternoon, we also spent some time dying eggs for Easter. If you've not tried to dye eggs with a six year old, a three year old, a one year old, and a dog, all wanting to help at once, you should give it a try some time.

This morning we got up and, although we don't typically dress up for church, we got a little extra spiffy. Wyatt and Jason received matching homemade bowties, so they dressed alike this morning. The sun was quite bright this morning, so it was difficult for the kids to look toward the camera. Right behind us is a new Ohio Buckeye that was set out on our boulevard to replace the Elm that had to be cut down last year. We thought it would be fun to get a family picture in front of the tree each year to see how it and our family grow. Here's the first. Stay tuned over the next several years to see the rest. :)

Wyatt was pretty happy to have a tie like his dad typically wears. It took a little while to get it tied this morning, but we're not a clip-on tie kind of family, you know.

Callie, Sadie, and Wyatt at Papa and Granna's this afternoon.

Callie in her Easter dress.

This afternoon may have been the prettiest day we've had so far this spring. One week ago, this was the scene in our back yard as Jason and Pops pulled up a hedge row.

Compare that to today, with Papa and Wyatt having a Nerf gun war in Papa and Granna's back yard. It was a beautiful, beautiful day!

1st Birthday

Miss Sadie Rose celebrated her first birthday last week. We had a fantastic family celebration, complete with a shrimp boil for her birthday dinner. She didn't partake in it but also didn't seem to mind watching us eat it. Sadie's first cake was homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing. She didn't eat much but had a GREAT time playing in it. Sadie received many fun gifts (some were "pre-owned" by her siblings but she doesn't know the difference). We are excited about seeing Little Miss Personality blossom even more her second year of life!

Family Circus!

Yes, it's true that it often feels like a circus in our family, with an almost-six year old, a three year old, an almost-one year old, and planning to adopt another in the coming months. However, last Sunday we actually went to the Circus. Papa and Granna were kind enough to offer us four tickets, so Kelli and I took Wyatt and Callie, while Granna hung out with Sadie.

Many of you know that our church meets at the Fargodome. We utilize the conference room upstairs and the meeting spaces downstairs. (Even though the church is growing significantly, we're not quite to the size yet that we need all the coliseum seating in the main arena.) The main arena of the Fargodome often hosts large events like Monster Trucks or the El Zagel Shrine Circus. This can sometimes be confusing for kids. We went to church as usual, ran home and ate lunch, and returned to the Fargodome for the 1 PM circus. Although excited to return to church, Callie kept asking why we were going back to church instead of going to the circus as promised. It wasn't until we walked past the escalators (the ones we ride upstairs on Sunday morning) and into the arena that it started to all make more sense for her.

Getting there early, we got some pretty good seats near the center ring. Here I am with the kids, waiting on the show to start.

Prior to the show, folks had an opportunity to see some of the animals - up close and personal. Wyatt decided he thought it would be cool to ride the elephant. That's him sitting in the front seat below.

They didn't go very far, of course - just around in a circle a couple of times. For Wyatt, though, you'd have thought he rode clear across the African plains.

Callie thought the elephants were a bit much. The ponies, however, seemed to really draw her interest. So I took her down to try her hand at riding while I walked around in a circle a half dozen times with all the other parents holding their children in the saddle.

The circus itself was quite entertaining. It had all the typical circus attractions - tight rope walkers, a human cannonball, tigers jumping through hoops, and clowns that always came across as a bit more creepy than funny.

Kelli and I got cracked up at the tiger trainer. He was in a cage with the tigers and had to move all the equipment around each time before the tigers would do their tricks. So he spent most of his time hooking and unhooking ladders and replacing ramps and moving pedestals and what not, and very little time actually letting the tigers do their thing. In fact, when he set up the ring of fire for them to jump through, he pulled a bic lighter out of his pocket and had to strike it about seventeen times to get it to light. Kelli and I decided he needed a leggy blonde in a rediculous sequined outfit to be his assistant. Well, maybe I decided that and Kelli just frowned when I told her. Either way, he needed some help.

We did get a sweet treat to share - a giant serving of cotton candy. It was about the size of Callie, but she didn't care for it. I think the texture threw her for a loop. Wyatt, however, would've eaten the entire thing if we'd have let him.

When we got home and asked them to tell Granna about the circus, Callie's most vivid memory was that the elephant pooped a lot. I guess the showman on the high wire wearing a shiny vest and no shirt just didn't do it for her.

I've got to hand it to her though, "pooped a lot" is not an exaggeration. It makes perfect sense that an elephant would poop a pile about the size of a Volkswagen, but until you see it in real life, I don't think you can really appreciate it.

And once again, I am back...

We are really still here. It has just been a crazy, full couple of months for our family. Jason and I have been quite busy with doing fun responsible adult stuff in our free time - the kind of stuff that requires stacks and stacks of paperwork. But I think we are almost finished with that. The kids have been doing well.


Wyatt is still enjoying kindergarten and is becoming quite the reader. He seems to now enjoy reading, which I was afraid he wasn't going to do.


Callie is still thriving. She just started her second session of parent/child gymnastics which she loves. I was hoping we could graduate to a non-parent-involved class, but she is still learning about social interactions and listening and following directions so we will take it slow and I will be right there to help her along. Since she is the smallest kid in the class no one knows she is the oldest! Gymnastics has been great for her to work on her gross motor skills and strenghten her muscles.


Callie is still making small gains in eating. We still have speech therapy twice a week and she is slowly becoming more consistent with foods she will eat. She really enjoys crackers and baked veggie chips. She can now drink a measurable amount of liquid (imagine a medicine cup with water). So we are getting there.


Sadie is still our happy, laid back child. Although lately she has started finding her temper - particularly when it comes to removing non-edible items from her mouth. Boy, does that ever set her off. She might be my child with the biggest tantrums. It should be interesting.


A couple of weeks ago was quite fun with every member of the family being sick. And no one had the same thing. That was festive. I was sick but moms can never really get sick so I guess my illness doesn't count. Wyatt had some yucky sounding lung crud with a cough but thankfully, he was still able to go to school. Sadie sounded like she had croup for a little while but quickly recovered and then just had a snotty nose. Jason and Callie had to up the ante though. Jason decided it would be fun to bring a stomach bug into our house and then strep throat after that. Thankfully, he gave in and saw a doctor and managed to not pass it on to anyone else in the house.


Callie had a really crummy day (while I was dealing with Jason) but could not tell me anything that was bothering her. We went through every part of the body and she promised everything felt fine. After five days of non-stop whining, one night of a fever, blood leaking from her ear, and two doctors, we discovered she had an ear infection with a ruptured eardrum. I don't know why doctor #1 didn't catch that on day 2 when I specifically asked about it, but he didn't. Thankfully, her pediatrician was able to identify the cause of all of her irratibility. It was a very eye-opening experience for me, though. It made me remember that also Callie might seem "normal" to the rest of the world, she still has issues that make her distinctly different. I believe that due to her early start on life, she doesn't feel and/or process pain like most everyone else. That is why I knew something was bothering her but she could not tell us what it was or how bad it hurt. I only had a few pieces of the puzzle to try to put it all together and her doctor helped with that so we could figure out what was going on. Hopefully as Callie becomes more proficient with words, she can better describe what she is feeling, especially when she doesn't feel well.


So that pretty much sums up our last many weeks except for one other bit of news. Jason and I have just had our homestudy approved to adopt a child.


Adoption is something Jason has brought up since we have been together, but I have never really been on board with the idea. In the last few months through Jason's prompting, it is something we started to seriously consider and pray about. It was very definately a matter of seeking God's will for our lives and our family. It is quite possible that I was very hesitant to the idea, mainly due to the roller coaster ride I know the process can be. I have already been on an emotionally/mentally/spiritually/physically draining ride with Callie and the girls and I wasn't really eager to do that again, though in a different way. However, time after time, prayer after prayer, God showed us individually, in very clear ways that adoption was in His plan for us.


Jason makes fun of me and tells people I was just like Gideon throwing out the fleece multiple times and changing the rules just to see how God would respond. And just like Gideon, God made his intentions very clear. (If you're not familiar with that story, you can find it in the book of Judges in the Bible.) It came to the point where for our family, refusing to adopt would be a sin. It would be saying "no" to God and what he was calling us to. So, in faith, we are proceeding with the process of domestic infant adoption.


We have a wonderful Christian agency we are working with, and we have almost completed everything required before our family profiles can be sent to other agencies to be matched with a birthmom and baby. I think the hours spent on paperwork, adoption training, and the homestudy were nothing compared to what is going to happen now. I feel like I am strapping on my seatbelt and preparing to ride a wild and crazy roller coaster that I know nothing about.


That is pretty much what I have to share for now. We really didn't know at what point to share this news. I opted for after the baby is placed in our home, but Jason thought that might be a little late! In some ways we are sharing it for some of the same reasons we started blogging with the girls. We need prayers. We don't know what is going to happen or how long the process will take. That is all in God's hands. But we firmly believe that this is what God wants for our family and we would love for those of you who still check up on us to once again pray us through this life-changing decision for our family. I still have moments of terror where I wonder how it is all going to work out - both in the immediate future and longterm, but those are the times I have to remind myself that God is in control and He knows what is best for our family. With Callie and the girls, I shared very intense, very personal feelings for everyone to see. We will probably not be doing much of that with this situation. There might be times when we ask for specific prayers but with adoption, there are more people involved and we don't feel it is right to post all details for everyone to see. We hope you are understanding about that. Also, we don't know how long the process from here on out will take, because it is out of our hands. If we don't say much it is probably because we don't know much.


So that summarizes my novel for the evening. If I got in the habit of writing more often, I wouldn't have to arrange my posts in chapters. In all my free time, I should probably work on that. Thanks for sticking with this until the end and thanks for still caring about us and our lives. Oh, and I might let Jason share more about his thoughts and his side of the story later. It will probably be less wordy.

The Belt

Thank you to everyone who offered tips on how to keep the little girl's pants up. I did some internet research and found a belt I wanted to buy. Then I came across an even better belt, one I thought I could replicate. So with items I already had on hand, Velcro and grosgrain ribbon, I fashioned Callie's new belt. It is working wonderfully. It holds her pants up and doesn't require her to unfasten anything before using the potty. The only down side is the pants have to have belt loops.

And, just for the fun of it, Callie is wearing a her first piece of 3T clothing - the shirt. It might be a little big still but she is well over 3, and I was tired of 18 and 24 month clothes.

Potty Training Success

I am happy to announce that 32 stickers and 3 accidents later, Callie is potty trained! It was actually a relatively easy process. I definitely think she was ready. She is very excited to be a big girl and wear big girl undies. The only problem now is that she has the new name "Miss No-Bum-At-All." She is wearing 24 month jeans with adjustable elastic pulled as tight as it will go and her pants still fall down. Actually, her training pants fall down, too. So now I need to figure out a way to gather all of her pants so they won't fall down. I have also given some thought to making her tiny belts. Since she still needs assistance to use the potty anyway, I thought belts might be an option.