2012 Blessings cont…..

Part 2 July-December

July - several birthdays this month too. Tawny turned 9. Jaime turned 17 and Tyler turned 10. Brandy and Robert also had their 12th anniversary. Has it been that long already!!!

Travis and family left Washington headed to Alabama. They spent a few days here saying bye to family and friends knowing it would be harder for most of us to make it down that way in the next 18 months or so.

Cousins and friends. 4th of July.

Lots of hurry up and wait concerning the boys. Interstate paperwork takes forever it seems.

By the end of the month, Tawny is pretty bald except for her bangs. She is still in good spirits about it all.

This was the before look….April 2012. Such a huge change in 3 months isn’t it?

August – Jason turned 32. Hailey turned 9. My birthday too, of course. The best birthday present….the phone call I got saying the last of the paperwork came in, and we could finally setup a timeframe to travel to Texas and bring our boys home!!!

Miss Bridgett introduced the boys to us via our photo album three days later. She called us within an hour of them getting the albums and we got to talk to the boys. That was pretty great!

We left for Texas on the 31st with the 4th being the big day. So nervous and excited too!

Travis and Kendra celebrated their 10th anniversary.

September – We spent the first 2 weeks in Texas or on the road between here and there. Thankful for the reminder as to why I prefer living up north.

Met the boys on the 4th as scheduled. Originally we were told we’d visit with the boys for about an hour in their foster home, then we’d leave and come back the next day. Visit some more and possibly take them to lunch. Leave and come back the next day. Maybe the 3rd day we’d take them out for the day and if they were ready, they could spend the night with us in the hotel.

Well…the boys were ready to spend the night the first night. They already had their bags packed. Within an hour of getting there, we were loading them up to go to lunch. They’ve been with us ever since.

 The first night all of us together.

Two days later we had to take them back to their foster home so she could take them to a final Dr.’s appointment and clearance to leave the state (had to have a TB test).

When we got back to the house a couple of hours later to get them, they were sitting on the front porch with their blankets and stuffed animals in 104* temps. Foster mom couldn’t convince them to wait inside. They ran to us and we had to remind them to go tell her bye.

Three days later, we took them back there to load up the rest of their belongings. Final good-byes were said but the boys were in a hurry to load up and leave.

They wanted a final picture at the Texas border with the sign that says “Thanks for visiting Texas” but we didn’t find any such sign. They never want to go back to Texas, even for a visit. They want us to adopt one of their foster brothers, but “we’ll stay here while just you and dad go get him”.

We visited Rhonda and the kids. Stopped in Colorado to see some old friends.

Got back home on a Thursday.The boys’ caseworker flew up that following Sunday. Attended church with us. Then came out here for lunch and doing the official “placement” of the boys. Our caseworker came out too. Miss Bridgett actually stayed for dinner as well. Brandy and family were here too. She was totally amazed to watch how we ran the kitchen and the serving of 12 kids and 5 adults.

First day of church together and official placement day.

Before the end of the month we had several birthdays. Austin turned 14. Megan turned 8. Donald had his sweet 16 birthday.

What a fun busy month.

October – Tragedy strikes. The week after Cody turned 12, he got an eye injury. He and Austin were playing fetch with the dogs. Cody stepped in front of the flying stick or something, but he got a 10mm laceration on his left cornea. Surgery that night.

Cody the morning after surgery.

Appointments every week.Eye drops every day. He missed two weeks of school due to the surgery and recovery.

Therapy / counseling begins and they want every week. No appointments available after school.

No PE. No recess. No running, jumping, bending over, carrying more than 5 lbs.

The positive in all this…..the biggest blessing…..it gave Cody some bonding time especially with Dave. He had plenty of time to talk with us. Watch us. Learned to rely on us to tend to him and his needs. Bonded more with Austin too.

Blessings in disguise.

November – Dave’s 54th birthday. When did he get “old”??? LOL

Thanksgiving was lots of fun.

Experiencing the whole holiday season from the eyes and hearts of kids who’ve spent most of their lives in foster care. Now in a forever home. What a treasure.

November is National Adoption Month. We went to a Homecoming Dance our adoption agency held for this honor. While there, Tawny was invited to join the Miss Amazing Pageant being held in February. Tawny has decided she wants to sing. She wants a “church song”. We really need to get to work on that.

Tawny and 2 of the nieces. They were the hit of the Ball.

December – No immediate family birthdays. Several in the extended family including my mom.

Advent Season. The build up towards the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Candlelight service (the boys were just in awe). Christmas Day. Holding up the traditions the other kids have come to look forward to. Watching the new boys in wonder. Watching their faces light up even when others were opening their gifts. Seeing the joy shine in their eyes when someone opened a gift they gave…especially those that were homemade.

Cody had to have another surgery for a detached retina. Missing more school.

All in all, Cody missed 24 days of school from the 3rd week of September til Christmas break. I think it is time to begin homeschooling him. He’s getting too far behind.

By the end of the month, Tawny’s hair is covering her ears and touching her collar in the back. Cute little pixie look.

You can see how long it is on the back of her head there on the right, or her left..

So, that’s our year in a nutshell, or two. For 2013….we look forward to finalizing our adoption of our boys. Possibly traveling to Alabama to see Travis and family and along the way…coming or going…visiting with Jason and family in Texas. We’ll be having our first homeschool graduate. We’ll go on several camping trips. Have a large garden. We’ll also see what the Lord says about any more kids (we can’t actively submit on more until after we finalize).

What was your biggest blessing of 2012? What do you look forward to the most in 2013?

God’s Blessings,

Vickie