Here is what is new with us...

So much has happened since my last post on Mother's Day. Where to begin? I guess I will start back in May and do a quick re-cap of all the fun things that have happened with our family.
Juan and I celebrated 11 years of marriage, yay for us! We also decided to take some time off of fostering to spend some much needed time as a family. In June, Evi had a birthday and hit the double digits. We also took care of our niece Ava for several weeks, while her parents were bringing home another niece and nephew for us! July was a just a little crazy, as I had 2 births who delivered within 6 hours of each other, at different hospitals, but I was able to make it for both mommas. My parents took Evi and Sebastian to Mexico for some Grandparent time, then Juan and I flew down and met up with them. We were able to visit Juan's family for a week, then headed back for our family reunion.
At the end of July, I told Juan that we needed to make a decision regarding fostering. We were enjoying having some family time, but I still had on my heart to be a foster parent. So on August 4th we got the call that they had a baby placement for us. We picked Trey up on the 5th. He was 6 weeks old, but he was 2 months early, so he is a tiny baby. Evi and Sebastian have enjoyed having him with us. They had a hard time going to school since they knew there was a baby home. Sebastian started all day Kindergarten, and Evi is in the 5th grade. Evi walks him to his class in the mornings, and picks him up after school, to walk him to the car. She has been an amazing big sister. We see that our kids are growing up. Sorry for taking so long in updating, but maybe now that I have 2 less kids in the house I will have more time for updates.

Mother's Day

I was thinking today about Mother's Day. About how we take one day of the year to celebrate mothers. I was brought to tears today in church when it was mentioned that this can be a hard day for some. Some have already lost their mothers, and there are some who would love to be mothers, but aren't able to. I thought of the mother of the two little boys we are fostering. Of how she must feel to not have her children with her today. I thought of the 94 times I have witnessed someone become a mother.
I was woken this morning bright and early with a card, a coupon booklet, a hand painted bowl and a hand painted mug. So many things I have that I am grateful for.
Something happened this week that has given me insight into motherhood. We had a nest built into the corner of our roof. Two days ago, Sebastian runs into the house saying "Mom, come quick! It's an emergency". So I go out and I see 4 little birds, right under the nest that we discovered a while back. I didn't know what to do. I called my neighbor and we tried putting them in a little box to keep them away from the neighborhood cat, but they kept fluttering away. They aren't big enough to fly, but not small enough either to be given up on. We have enjoyed observing the momma bird coming and going, and checking on her young. We put bread out and crackers and she makes sure that the other birds don't get too close to her little ones. I wonder if she will be relieved when they become of age and move out. I guess technically they already did move out, they are just being co-dependent. I think this is a great example of being a good mom. We let our momma's baby us when we need it, and when the time comes, we will fly off and start new somewhere else. Let's not be like the baby birds, they will probably never tell their mother how glad they are that she saved them from the little boy wanting to build them a nest, and keeping them from being eaten by the neighborhood cat. Tell your mother how much you love and appreciate her all the time, not just once a year. Momma, I love you and am so blessed that God has given me the best example on being a mother. Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's in my life!

It has been a while

Yeah, yeah... I know it has been a while and things have been busier than usual. I will try to sum up the last couple of months:
* Shawn left to be with his brother after being with us 10 months.
* We picked up Kenny the same day we dropped Shawn off.
* We ended up taking Kenny's brother Nick and sister Infinity.
* We saw that this was no short term commitment, and realized that a 1,000 sq ft house with one bathroom didn't really work with 7 people in the house.
* We told DHS to find another placement. They did for one child.
* I missed my first birth after attending 93. Momma didn't realize how close to delivering she was before calling in the troops.
* Evi fell out of a chair and broke a bone, had a cast for 3 weeks, and a brace for 4 weeks. We find out this week if she needs surgery.
* Sebastian realized that girls are pretty, and therefore I get dandelions and other weeds on a daily basis with the words "Your pretty Momma"
* Sebastian learned to pick a lock after we locked our bedroom door since he keeps getting in bed with us during the night. When I asked him how he got in his reply was "I just got a knife out of the kitchen, and unlocked it".
* My folks came for a visit.
* My sister is giving me another nephew this Summer. He is five years old.
* My brother came for a visit.
* Evi got baptized on Easter Sunday. And out of all that, all I got pictures of were her being baptized. Notice her right knee in the second picture. I wonder if that happens a lot. We really do like our pastors though.
* I will try to update more after being told by a few that we need to update our blog. So there it is!

Baby it's Cold Outside

For our family in Mexico, who thinks it would be fun to have snow. The kids are out playing in it right now, wonder how long it will be before they want to come in and warm up with a cup of cocoa. This makes me want to put up my Christmas tree all over again.

Meet Kenny

This is Kenny, and he will be staying with us for a while. He is the happiest baby, and super easy going.
There have been lots of change going on around here, so I will try to sum it all up. The foster child that we had for 6 months, was adopted to an amazing couple. We feel great about him being with his forever family, and have seemed to have a great relationship with his new parents. The 2 year old that we had for 10 months, went to live with is brother since they will soon move back home with mom. We feel very good about how this has all worked out, and the same day that Shawn went to live with his brother was the day we brought Kenny home. So we have stayed busy. The kids love having another baby in the house.

What we did for Christmas

Last night we said goodbye to a sweet little man who is embarking on a new journey with one of the greatest couples we know. I told Juan "It will be easier because we like them so much", but it is still hard. Evi said "Why can't God just answer my prayer and give me a baby brother or sister" I told her that we want the child God has for us, not the child who was meant to be someone else's. We will be keeping busy with Shawn since he is now starting to use the potty and has been moved to a big boy bed!


We were able to spend Christmas with the family that is adopting. My sister was sweet to let us crash her house while they were in New Mexico. We were able to have some good laughs as well as some much needed last minute snuggle time. We got some snow, and weren't able to get out. That is the down side of living on a farm, no one shovels your street. Thanks Charissa for letting us make ourselves at home.


Sebastian fed Buddy the calf, and the chickens.


We decided to decorate sugar cookies to have some sweets for after dinner, and of course to leave some out for Santa. When Sebastian saw that we were adding wood to the fire, he told us not to forget to put it out so Santa could come down the chimney without getting burned.


We made bird feeders just in time for the big snow. We cut out bread with cookie cutters, poured some peanut butter into them, and topped them with nuts, coconut, raisins, and anything else we thought the birds might like. We hung them out by the bird house.

Saying goodbye

This week we will be saying good-bye to one of our family members. We have had the joy of taking care of a little boy since he was 6 weeks old. We are sad to have him go, but joyful that he has found a forever family. We were able to spend Christmas with him, his sister, and new parents, and I must say that we could not have chosen a better family ourselves. We see God's hand all over this situation. We will remember the past 6 months as he has developed his little personality, and gotten teeth, and started sitting up. We hope to stay in touch with the family, as we have felt that we have become good friends.
Thanks to all of our family and friends who have come along for the ride. We have been blessed to have this little man in our lives these past 6 months.