1 month left of summer

Todd is almost done with his summer classes, it can't come fast enough! It feels like my kids haven't even gotten a summer! They've been cooped up in the house all day every day! It's not Todd's fault, he has to get his work done but it ends up being a lot of hours in the house (plus it's been too hot to go outside!) as soon as he is done with school though, it is ON! I mean seriously, the rest of our summer will be crazy! We have football from here on, the only week we have off is for fair! Next week is fair, the week after I'm taking the week off and we are going to Tennessee! Woot Woot! As soon as we get home from vacation, the girls have their 2nd birthday! The next weekend is Ryan's birthday but since Todd has drill that weekend, we will celebrate on the 25th! The week after that the boys go back to school! Todd has a lot of summer catch up to do!

Life Changes In Just One Month

What hasn't changed since this time last month. I started my new position at work! On June 28, 2006 I started as the investigator for the County Veterans Service Commission. On July 1, 2012 I started as the director for the County Veterans Service Commission. Back in December my boss retired and they replaced him with someone who just wasn't right for the job. He resigned in April. They brought Doug back in as the temp director until they were able to figure out a direction they were going to move in. Todd and I were out on a grown up date to the Japanese steak house when the president of my board called and asked if I was interested in the directors position. um YES! Since then they brought on a new guy as the investigator. I really like him! He has more potential than anyone I've seen in a long time! He's motivated, nice, funny and he WANTS to do well! That's HUGE! Our family size has...well you know, jumped from 5 to 7! Nothing is like it was! Not one thing in our life wasn't turned upside down by this! These little people are amamzing! Ryan is taking it all in stride and loves having the girls around. Although he does struggle with the idea of them going home. Lane and Ethan are being such good boys and are SO mature all of a sudden! It seems having the girls around has really helped them to mature. We also started football this week! The boys are so excited and are playing hard! The coach has already commented on their passion and drive and said he's excited to see what they can do this year. I'm so excited for them! Life is good. We're in a great place right now but we also know that at any moment everything could change.

Ready to Slow Down

I think we'll wait forever to slow down...and be sad when we do. Last night was our last baseball game until tournaments. Thank goodness! And Todd will finish this semester in about a month...and then he'll be off for 2 months. When he does go back, his schedule will be nearly the same as a school schedule (out at 3) It will be so nice to have a co-parent again! Right now we're each solo parenting...Todd through the days and me through the evenings. It's not bad...just busy. SO much to do, laundry, dishes, yardwork, etc and only a few hours to do it in. As soon as we get a chance to slow down though, things will pick right up again with football and other summer activities. I am glad though that we only have 2 big kids to keep up with instead of 5 in sports and activities and friends...I think I'll go make a chore chart so that we can better stay on top of things!

A Family of 7

We've officially been a temporary family of 9 since last Friday...nearly a fully week and we've loved every minute of it! Our big boys have been such a huge blessing and such big helpers! They've been helpful and loving, and shown nearly no jealousy for all the little kids. Ryan has taken to the role of big brother like he was made for it! He's so in love with these 2 little girls and has started (without our encouragement) calling them his sisters. And the girls? They're amazing! To have been through so much and to be such beautiful and well behaved little girls...amazing! They have so much potential and love a good routine! Mouse has really taken to me, she's adorable, rough and tumble, out going and just a good girl all around, while Girlfriend is definitely Todd's little girl! She's sweet and shy, but seems to be drawn to men. A funny side story, the girls are bi-racial, and saw a friend's son (who happens to also be bi-racial and probably the first bi-racial person they'd seen since coming to our home) and Girlfriend just couldn't take her eyes off him when she finally got to him she wouldn't let him put her down. He was such a good boy and held her for a good 15 minutes but never left my side with her. It was so sweet! We're having a great time with these girls, for as long as they're here! and Todd seemed to really like their Mom when he met her today! which is amazing! No one gets this lucky for their first placement! We're truly blessed!

A Placement. or TWO

Respite care must have gone well. Well enough for them to have called us again today with a placement for 2 little girls. Twins. They are a year old, will be 2 in a few months. I can't give many details here but Todd will be picking them up tomorrow morning at Next County Agency.

I should rename this blog!

The title of my blog (Diabetes, Loss and Adoption) no longer fits what I write about. I rarely mention Lane's diabetes...mainly because it's such a small aspect of our every day life. To put that much thought into it is exhausting and instead of focusing on that, I choose to focus on other things...better things. Loss...? well I don't believe we've "lost" Braden...we know right where he is, waiting for us in glory! And Adoption...well adoption is no longer the goal and foster care is no longer a means to an end. We don't know where we're headed. We have no "goal", no desired end result...just a path, and right now our path is raising 3 incredible men and listening for God's call. That being said, he is pushing us out of our comfort zone! You see, we just got a call to do respite care...for 2 boys...one of these boys is older than I agreed to be licensed for. The only reason I'm agreeing to this placement is because Todd is home full time with them and it is short term. We will set up rules and a schedule so that there is no opportunity for funny business but I am nervous that our caseworker will continue to push us out of our comfort zone. I must stand my ground though for long term placements.

Now We Wait

We are DONE! Right now we're waiting for Next County to get our license done. They'll send it to the state after they're done, our licensing worker said they work quickly and then we go on the "real" waiting list. BUT we know it will be some time before we get a call, and we're ok with that. We know we are happy with our family as it is right now. Well...most of us are. Ryan however is rather confused by the whole process. He has asked several times if we can just go get baby K (a little dude at the babysitters) or baby R (my cousin's new baby). Ryan is definitely ready to play the big brother role. Last night he told me to "go get a baby" and since he brought it up, I thought it might be a good time to talk about it. This is how that went: Me: Ryan do you want a girl baby or a boy baby? Ryan: a baby Me: Who will hold the baby? Ryan: Momma will hold baby Me: Who will feed the baby? Ryan: Me...Ryan will feed baby Me: Do you think I could feed the baby? Ryan: No Momma. Ryan feed baby, Momma hold baby. Go get my baby. Go get bottles. Me: What will we feed the baby? Ryan: Bottles...baby bottles. Not nuggets. Not apples. Go get bottles. I love the way his little mind works. Obviously he has been talk to J (babysitter) about what not to feed the babies.