Overheard...

Elijah: I miss {our foster brothers}... do you?
Seth: Ya.
Elijah: we should pray that they come back.
Seth: Ya, we should. Mom said God always hears my prayers.
Elijah: God always hears my prayers too. Like before we adopted you, I prayed & prayed & prayed that we could adopt you and WE DID.
Seth: oh. God hears both of us.
Elijah: MmHmm. I think He hears everybody.

Ripped...

we had just got home from a special day at our foster sons preschool.
he beamed with pride as he told his class i was his mom. we got home. happy. hearts full.

they {the Tribe} said our foster boys were going to visit a family member for the weekend.

 i packed a little weekend bag.

 i don't know what happened. if it was planned. they called and said they aren't coming back.

13 months. they have been a part of our family.

we watched the baby learn to walk. talk. love. laugh. yell. play. watched the 5 year old learn to be a brother. to care. to thrive in school.

 we didn't even get to sat goodbye...

You know you're from the Midwest when...

It hits 65 degrees AND the sun is out... You run and grab your bathing suits, fill up the kiddie pool and have a SUN day!

And Then He Was Eleven...

He brought his eleventh year in with a house FULL, FULL, FULL of boys! {and some little princess girls} For 5 days we had 13 boys & 4 girls (that was just us & Brittany's family) here and for Malachi's party we had 18 boys & 7 girls here! THATSALOTOFKIDS. {pictured : Vance & Malachi)

Malachi loves people. He feels deeply, cares deeply and is much more sensitive than most people realize since he is always the life of the party. He's our adventurer and has taught me to take many deep breaths and just "go with it" {even when other people might be shaking their heads} :)  

We are so thankful for our tenderhearted boy. The excitement he brings our family, the love.

Happy Birthday Malachi!! 

ps. here is a video Malachi & CO. made during his party...

Four Little Princesses...

These girls live in a {mostly} boy world... 12 brothers between them.  They were in this amazing world of princesses and pink & purple & babies & blankets & pretty shoes & dresses... I only saw my girls when they got hungry.  

{with Brittany :: 5 Little Men & Girly Twins}

One Year...

Today our Foster Son, Jumping Bean, {as he is known here on the blog} turned 5 years old. Which means he and his baby brother have lived with us for one year.  It's been a really hard year as far as this fostercare case has gone... a year of ups and downs, heartache & disappointment & hope.  We pray for a better future for these boys... one with a forever family. It's hard because that's all we can do. Hope & pray & comfort the boys.

Today, Jumping Bean asked for a party with our neighbors {who are also some of his closest friends}, cheesecake strawberries {we put cheesecake IN the strawberries & dipped them in chocolate} & "pasttegghetti" {spaghetti}.  We all wrote down our favorite things about him, played musical pillows {just like musical chairs, but with pillows} and he opened presents.

It was fun & normal... but I long for something more for him. For his brother. One without heartbreaking visits with his birth family, one without court dates & social workers driving them to & fro.

Just normal.

As he was going to bed tonight I taped all the words his friends & family had written about him on his wall.  I read each one...

"I like talking to him, he likes talking to me." "I like his smile" "he is tenderhearted" "he is friendly" ... 

He had a huge smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

You are loved, Jumping Bean. No matter what.

Easter Sunday...

We had our lovely friends over for Easter and worked together to have a seriously amazing Greek meal. Seriously. I am still dreaming about it. I managed to snap ONE picture of all my kids together. Wish I could have got a better one, but it was cold and cold and I had food cooking in the kitchen.  Oh well.

I just really love this one of Seth & Keziah during our egg hunt...


   





















Thankful for Easter. What it means. Thankful for Jesus. His Death. And His Resurrection. We have hope & we have life.