My Family blog!!

Well, my plan was to switch to this blog and eliminate my family blog, however, in light of everything going on.....

It is going to be the other way around.... You can continue to follow my family on my other blog....http://grumpyjax.blogspot.com/

I plan to keep this blog open for a time.... Possibly soon my heart will be healed enough to advocate for all these sweet little one's still needing homes!!

I hope to see you on my other blog!

Thank You all for your love and prayers.... my heart is slowly healing!

The reason We cannot adopt our Son

As you all know I have been having some issues with my heart.

The stress and anxiety of adoption has made this problem worse.... 

After speaking with several doctors and another trip to the ER 2 nights ago, we determined that we would not be able to proceed. 

It broke my heart that we would not be able to get our son, and it was my fault!!!

I held a little bit of hope in the back of my mind that I could get my health in order and still bring him home.

I woke up this morning being told that he was taken to a new orphanage by a priest over there. This priest has several hundred kids in his  orphanage. Apparently this is a very nice place with caregiver that can love and teach the kids and give the kids more individual attention. There is a catch though..... The kids that live there are not available for adoption! 

So all hope was gone!!!

Now, there is a rumor saying that kids may be adoptable from there after a year.... As far as I am concerned that is a rumor. There are no records of kids being adopted from there. So I doubt I would be able to adopt even if that is the case.

Please pray for this sweet boy!!! Pray that regardless of what happens he will loved!! Pray that he will be taught, loved and cherished the way he should be!!!!

If you could also pray for my heart, I would appreciate it!

Love this boy Forever!!!
First picture I ever saw of him.... Can you see Why I fell in love??

 This was my hubby's favorite of the first ones we saw!

I will always have a place in my heart for him!!

Getting your donation back

If you have donated to our adoption please inbox me to let me know what to do with your money.... I can return it to you, I can donate it to another adopting family or I can save it for the child we planned to adopt when he becomes available to help him find a family!!!

She may be 2, but she is right!

I was a little shocked at what my 2 year old daughter said to me today.

She is 2, but some times the thinks she says make this mommy think!!

We had just finished prayers and we were giving hugs and kisses goodnight 

when she turned me into a pile of mush!

 You see, I was wearing the shirt we had designed to bring our son home. She looked down at my shirt then back up at me. She slowly ran her finger along the line of heart leading from the U.S. to Ukraine.

What she asked next..... caused me to cry!!

She asked me (pointing to the hearts) "Are these for brother?" 

Me: Yes.

Her: Which one can I be?

It may seem simple to you, but for this mom aching to get over to Ukraine to meet her son, it hit home!!!

I am not doing this alone!!!!

YOU all are those hearts!!! Each one belongs to you!!!!

Will you be my heart?!?

There are 23 hearts on this shirt...... Our short term goal is to make at LEAST $1000.00 (so we can get at least part of the match grant....) With 23 people that is $30 each....

For each of these 23 people, I will send you a shirt or necklace (your choice) and 2 bracelets and 2 hair bows!!

Great deal right?!?!

Wanna see more of these smiles??

So, here is the break down.... click the chip in on the right hand side of this blog. Donate $30, and I will send you 5 things!!! This over is only good for the first 23 people so act fast.... I will be adding the names of those 23 as they donate :)

No love like the love of parents.

My sweet little 2 year old daughter woke up screaming around 1 am a few nights ago.

Generally, I would be a little frustrated that she was up in the middle of the night, but when I walked in her room, it all changed.

I looked down at her sweet face, and all she did was reach her arms up to me for a hug. 

She wrapped her little arms around me and held me close.

What mom wouldn't love that? Even at 1am.

Then Daddy came in to see what was wrong. She looked over at her daddy and let go of me to grab a hold of him. He bent down with a great big smile and got his loves from his princess.

She held his neck for a long time. Then she went back and forth several times between hugging me, daddy, me , daddy... you get the idea. After about 20 minutes or so, she said she loved us, we tucked her in and she went back to sleep. These are the moments I cherish.

Tonight my same sweet girl fell asleep being held by her Poppy. Daddy went and carried her up stairs. She woke up when we put in her in her bed. She was scared and crying. She had fallen asleep in one place and was now somewhere else. She looked up and saw our faces and she knew she was ok. I held her and I rocked her to sleep. Something I had not done in a LONG time.

Adoption, although in the early stages, has changed me!

When I looked down at my sweet girl during both of the incidents, I pictured my sons face.

I wondered who came to him if he cried in the middle of the night. 

Has he even been rocked to sleep or has he been force to fall asleep in a crowded room feeling alone every night of his life?

Does anyone tell them they love them every night before he goes to sleep?

Has he ever been told Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas?

Does he know what a present is?

Oh, the things I have taken for granted in my life..... My sweet son is teaching me so much already!!

All my kids teach me everyday!! 

Please join me in praying for all the orphans in our world today.

Please pray for our family as we struggle to raise the money needed to being our son home.

Please pray for our son!!

Thank You for all the love and support you have offered through this journey!

January, February and March 2011

I will be doing a recap of our year over the next 4 weeks.... I am putting it on here instead of my family blog because it is too hard to keep up with 2 blogs. I think I will start only using this blog for everything :)

This year started out a little rough. We had to move unexpectedly after my mom got hurt and was wheelchair bound. Since she lived with me, we were all uprooted. We finished moving into our house on New Years Day.... This was her bedroom before me moved.... My living room. This makes me sad to see how miserable she was.

Of course with moving, the kids had to start new schools :( Kaitlyn did NOT like it.
After a few weeks she came home and said "Mom, Am I not smart enough for you?" Me: Why?
Kait: Because you put me back in preschool.
After waiting a month we decided to talk to the principal to see if they had an advanced placement program. He said and I quote "Kindergarten is more of a social experience. Not an academic one."
I was a touch distraught.
Brittany cried for weeks because she missed her preschool teacher and her best friend (I am happy to say that we are still in touch with her best friend :)

This was her last day at her other preschool....She is in the black dress.... Her best friend is in red next to her.

Kaitlyn got jazz tickets to see a Jazz game because she was on the junior Jazz team. Her and Daddy had lots of fun!

 I think she liked it!

Of course we had to buy Britt some tickets too because every little girl deserves a daddy daughter date

The girls started Gymnastics

Kaitlyn had her birthday party..... It was a HUGE success!!!! I have never seen so many kids in such a small place before!

 And lots of adults too!!!!

Kaitlyn rode a bus for the first time on her way to her first field trip. They went to a museum and celebrated Dr. Suess' birthday :)

 We bought 4 hampsters for the kids! They love them.... me not so much!

My sister finally made it down for her visit in March.
Her kids finally got their Christmas from Grandma and Poppy.
And my kids got their presents from them :)

 My sister.

 My brother.

 Hey look I can just bite these things open.

 Or use this hatchet..... We laughed soooo hard at this one!!!

 Grandma enjoying her youngest grandson and granddaughter.

 Yay some of our favorite people came to visit.

 Best Friends!!!

 We bought a new van..... much needed since our other one was costing like $500 a month in repairs :(

Great Grandma with 6 of her youngest great grandkids..... We did not know at the time that this would be the last time my sister and her kids would see her alive :(

 A quick trip to Vegas.... for some reason this pic with Maamo is one of the only ones I took

 Kaitlyn was queen for a week!

 More fun time with cousins!

 A trip to the Air Force Museum.

 Our family :)

We had a pretty good start to this year!!
I can't wait until this family photo has our son in it :)