Our Big News

Well............... we have some pretty exciting things that will be happening for our family in the next six months or so and we wanted to share them with our friends. We have decided to persue adoption through foster care. We will not be doing foster care, but finding a sibling group to adopt through the foster care system. Yes, I did say sibling group. We would like very young children and we would also like to help keep a set of 2-3 children together. There isn't a need for adoptions of one-child families, but because it's a much more difficult a job trying to place a multi-child family, there are many children in the foster care system. This is something that has always pulled at my heart strings. Before Aaron and I were married, we talked about doing foster care, so this isn't anything new for us. It's just a big descion to finally start the adoption classes, which total 30 hours and get the paper work done, which will take six months. People have asked us what the girls think and they are thrilled. Bella wants me to tell you guys that she is super duper happy! She wants at least one baby boy. I told her, that if that happens, that baby most likely won't be an infant, but more like nine months to a year. We are looking for at least two boys under the age of five. I just ask that you all will pray for our family as we begin this new journey in our lives. Depending on what family we go with, the kids will have some set backs and some emotional issues to work through. It may be a lifetime of challenge, but we our up for the challenge and are excited to see what family God has chosen to become part of our own. Thanks, and God bless!

School Has Begun And One More Birthday

I can't believe that it has been less than two weeks ago that Bella started first grade. It feels like a month ago at least. Bella is my good sleeper and I've always enjoyed her allowing me to sleep in, but now that she has to go to school all day, it's pretty rough on her. I have to wake her up everyday - I was hoping that her internal clock would click in by now. She's getting faster everyday, but she's still walking around the house like a zombie and still has circles under her eyes. She's one of those kids who needs a full night's sleep to not be emotional, so I'm dealing with a lot of melt downs. It's hard on us to get used to our easy going kid acting like someone else. She's also making new friends, so it's interesting to watch some of her mannerisms morph into someone else. She loves her teacher and gets to see her kindergarten pals on the playground, so I think that's her favorite part of her day. Today is her birthday and she just turned six. She was our lunch time baby. She came into the world at exactly 12:00. This is the most significant day of my life, because this is the day that turned us into parents. It's a very profound day for me because of the difficult road we had to take to get her. No matter what happens in the rest of my life, I will never be more thankful than the day that Bella was born. She had a Curious George birthday party on Saturday and the kids had a blast. They were so cute! Tonight we are heading to the circus and the kids can barely contain themselves. They have been bouncing off the walls with excitement. Natalie and I are going to get Bella from school and take her to lunch for her big day. It's really rough being away from her all day now. I don't think I'll ever get comfortable with that. I miss her so much! Last week, Natalie Jane kept asking me to go pick Bell up because she missed her too much:( "We need to go get her!", she kept saying. This time alone with me has been really great for her though and she's doing great. She's behaving herself and hardly ever tells me no! I never thought I would see this day. I have to keep her busy, because she's used to Bella entertaining her, but she's actually letting me teach her sometimes, so I am excited to see what she is capable of. We are thinking of doing gymnastics preschool two days a week starting next week. It has lots of openings, so we are still thinking this over. She would love it! I hope everyone who has kids has survived the start of another school year!