The big day is coming!

Our family will officially grow on September 6th! Carlie Rose Camacho will be ours. We are so blessed to have family and friends who have supported us, and loved us. The kids are so happy that we don't have to "give her back". I must say... I agree.

She is growing up

I don't want her to grow up. I like her little. She needs me more this way. She is 6 months, has a tooth, said her first word "Da-da" and is crawling all over. Here she is playing in her basket of toys. I love how her little feet are tucked under her bottom, and how she will pull one thing at a time from the basket to see if she wants to play with it. Time sure flies when you are having fun, that is for sure.

Mother's Day

This is what it is all about.

Evi the CFO

Today Evi had a field trip at school called Biz Town. All the kids get assigned a job, ranging from fast food, to photographer for the paper, to CEO. Evi was chosen as Chief Financial Officer. So we hit the Goodwill, got her a dress, and off she went. This is a time for the kids to see what having a real job is like, and they have to work in teams like co-workers. We will see how it goes. She was so excited! I mentioned to her that the CFO has to be really good at math, and she said "Mom, they give you a calculator". So she has a little help.

The real Mia

I got permission to put her picture up, so here is one of the real Mia, and not the back of her head.

"Mia"

Introducing.... Mia. This isn't her real name, but it is one of the many things we call her. Sebastian calls her "Sweetheart", Evi calls her "Sissy", Juan calls her "Hey girl", and I call her everything in between. She was 5 weeks old when she first arrived in early January. She is petite, doesn't like poopy diapers, loves to snuggle and hang out with however will hold her. We are loving that she looks at us and smiles. Friends have stepped up and donated clothes since she is the first infant girl that we have had. Evi is always saying that she prayed for a sister, and she finally got one. We are blessed. Please keep this little gal in your prayers. God has an amazing plan for her life!

A new year

On New Year's Day, we went to visit my Grandma Rovenstine. She is a special lady. There have been times when we like to make fun of the way she only orders water when we go out to eat, or how she isn't a very good cook, or how she is always trying to make dolls pretty after spending some time in the Goodwill. But I was thinking about the things she is really good at. She is good at showing love. As Sebastian was rubbing lotion into her hands, I noticed them. Really noticed them. These hands are amazing! The tears she must have wiped, the babies she has held, or the meals she has tried to make. The lives that she has touched with these hands over the 96 years of her life. She talked of being on her Daddy's shoulders, holding on, and these hands that made herself baby dolls to play with since she had no siblings. I am amazed.
I was telling Juan that I would love to be more like her. The eagerness to go meet the Lord, the wanting everyone in her family to "just get along", the simplicity of her life, the loving hands, the ability to love without judging. This year I will strive to be more like my Grandma, just not the part about making dolls, or just ordering water. Hope you have a great New Year!

I am thankful

What can I say? I am thankful to have 3 amazing kids, a husband who loves me unconditionally, my health, my home, my family and friends. I am thankful that I get to help mommas have babies, and for the ability to stay home and take care of my kids. I am thankful that God has blessed me, and continues to amaze me with His love. I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving, and don't forget to give thanks!

A hole in the arm

I got a little bite a week ago Sunday. It was getting worse and worse, so I finally went in to have it checked out. Juan was doing a ride at the time, so I had the three kids with me. The doctor asked if I wanted to lay down while he numbed the spot, and used a scalpel to open and drain the wound. I told him I had my kids at home, and I thought I would be okay. Sebastian made me promise to not scream, and he proceeded to do the nasty deed. After some happy painkillers, and a double dose of antibiotics, I hope this thing clears up.

My Dice

Our church has a little function every year as an alternative to trick or treating. We roast marshmallows, and hot dogs, have a hay ride and games and such for the kids. Every year Evi and Sebastian end up with a prize for their costumes. This year they came in 3rd. Not too shabby for some boxes painted white with big black dots. I think this was our cheapest costume yet!

Frustrating week

I am reliving all the times when Evi's 4th grade teacher said "5th grade will be hard". We had a situation that has caused quite a stir in our home. After attending the same school for 7 years, never having detention before, this is what happened.
Evi has a teacher who is new to teaching. At the beginning of the school year, the teachers said that if a child gets a D or F, that the parent must sign and return the test. Also, it was mentioned that for 'Discipline" there would be 1) a verbal warning, 2) e-mail or note sent home, 3) phone call home, 4) meeting with the principal, 5) detention, 6) suspension.
Evi took a science test last week (that apparently she forgot to mention) so she flunked it, along with 16 of her fellow 24 classmates. I never saw the test, needed to sign it, or any of the above mentioned methods of "discipline". So last Friday when Evi gets in the car, she informs me that she has detention, and what she is most upset about, is now she no longer be a part of Select Choir or Safety Patrol. When I asked what had happened, she said she flunked a test, and that for the past 3 days she had been going into class during recess, to correct the answers. When she asked for help, the teacher was not helpful, and that the teacher said they needed to come in for recess to do the work (Evi didn't know she could bring it home, since she kept saying to come in for recess to do it). So when I got home on Friday, I called the school to talk to the teacher, to see what was going on. She had left for the day, so I asked the secretary who I could talk to about this. She passed me to the principal.
The principal said to come in Monday morning to meet with her and the teacher. When I got there, Evi's teacher could not find one positive thing to say about her. She said that it is not her responsibility to let me know of Evi's grades, and that if Evi paid more attention in class she just might "get it". I asked " what about the parent signature that is suppose to be on there, the teacher said that since that didn't work last time, that she didn't think it would work this time. After 1 1/2 hours of talking, the principal called Evi in, asked her to tell her about what happened. Evi explained it, then said the teacher made all the kids that flunked the test stand up in front of the rest of the class while she called parents. That is a low blow in my opinion.
That night the principal called me back, and said that the kids would not lose select choir or safety patrol from this, and that she felt that she needed to back the teacher, but could also see my point, she said that I could have Evi do the detention or not, it was up to me, and that she told the teacher that she needed to clear detentions with her before doing it. I told her how I felt that the teacher was very defensive during our meeting and she agreed. I told her it may be a good idea to give her some pointers before she has another parent meeting.
So Evi has served her detention, and now I am frustrated at the lack of communication that is going on. I still haven't seen the test she took Friday, or know that score. What is a mom to do?? Any advice?

Lost

While running an errand tonight, we saw a car with a picture of a dog that said "Lost- Reward" and a phone number. Evi asked me if Frankie (our pug) were to get lost, if I would do that to our car. I told her that I would put signs up, but not tint my car windows with that information.
Sebastian asks if the baby were to get lost, if I would put up signs for him. I told him that I didn't think that I would lose the baby, and Evi says "Lost, black baby who is constipated, if found call ...."
My kids always have a way to make me laugh.

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.

One of my biggest blessings

Juan and I prayed and prayed for this little guy. We thought that we were supposed to adopt, and as soon as all the paperwork was in place, I found out we were expecting. We decided to have another home birth, but this time we decided on a water birth. I loved it! There is something very relaxing about birthing in water.
Today is my little man turns five. I have this sappy thing about watching my kids' birth video on their birthdays, and I still cry. The miracle of birth is an amazing thing.
Last night we had a little pirate party for the birthday boy, and had fun with friends and family. I think no one else remembers the nights I cried for over 3 years, pleading to God to give me another child. Thank you Lord for answering my prayer. Thank you, thank you.
Happy Birthday Sebastian!