I'm still here

Hello everyone
I am still here. Just not alot to post lately. Which around here is a good thing. I do have a request though. In May, Jay and I have to got to a dinner where he must wear a coat and tie. Let me tell you, he can't wait!!:) I am in need of a dress I can wear. I will be 32 weeks pregnant and I really don't want to spend the benjamin's on a dress I will never wear again. So if any of you blogging friends out there have had to do this in the past and wouldn't mind lending it out, I would really appreciate it. It will be sort of like a wedding type event, without the wedding part. Let me know. Oh by the way, you should probably be over 5'2" tall at least, seeing as I am 5'10" and modesty is always an issue. Sorry 5 in a row, that leaves you out!! Thank you for considering my request and I look forward to hearing from you.

The case of the missing blankey

My children have all had blankeys. They love their blankeys and they have all had just one that was good enough. We could not substitute a decoy, oh no they knew better. They would not be fooled by that trick. So maintaining a location on the blankey has always been a high priority for me.
About 6 months ago, I sat in my kitchen with a CPS caseworker and watched my adorable 3 year old stand on the picnic table outside of my open kitchen window and sing "I like big butts" while dancing with his blankey. You know, one of those moments of pride!! After my subtle suggestions of a new song, he finally lost interest in his "show" and proceeded to play outside for a little while longer. Flash forward to later on that evening, it is bed time and the blankey is nowhere to be found. I knew that I hadn't left the house since I had last seen blankey, due to the memorable moment that had occurred. So I began to search. We looked all over the house, in every conceivable and inconceivable location. I took a flashlight and searched all over the backyard. I walked the perimeter of our privacy fence to see if it had by chance flown the coup. I even knocked on my neighbors door and asked them to check their yard in case it had gone south for the night. NO BLANKEY!!
I was baffled. After a lot of tears, he finally passed out with out a blankey. I woke up the next morning on a mission to find the missing family member. I even went as far as to offer large sums of money to the one who found the blankey. Meanwhile, my mom had a blanket at her house that he would occasionally use in addition to blankey, so I hightailed it to moms to pick up that one. Begrudgingly he accepted the substitute, but continued to pray for the return of his best friend for weeks. Eventually we resigned. Where ever it was, it would remain. Maybe it ended up in the garbage and we missed it, maybe it fell in the neighbors yard and their dog at it and they were too embarrassed to fess up. So blankey was gone. He slowly adjusted to the new blankey and over time talked less and less about the "other blankey" Life goes on. Tough lesson for a 3 year old, but one of natural consequences since I have always told them not to take them outside.
Today, 6 months later, I look outside where my boys were playing and I hear Sam screaming. He is standing in the yard holding BLANKEY!!!! I stand in awe in the kitchen for a moment. thinking I am seeing a ghost. Sam comes running in the house and sure enough it is the real thing. Of course, I immediately ask, "where the heck did you find that!!???!@!!!" He takes me outside to show me and I can't help but crack up. On the side of our house is our hose reel. It is a plastic thing attached to the house and in the front of it is a small door for holding attachments. There, protected from the elements of a NWI winter, is precious blankey. Looking exactly the same as the day we lost him. Sam is beside himself and I can't believe I never checked there. Actually I didn't even know there was a "there" to check. So mystery solved, blankey in washer, Samuel ecstatic, and mom still scratching her head wondering how in the world that even happened!!!

Thanks, Happy Birthday Tressa, What did you say??

After a difficult week, we are doing well. Thank you so much for your prayers! On Wednesday morning, the caseworker came and picked up Marcus and Brandon. It was, to say the least, a very difficult day. But Gods grace is amazing and his mercies new every morning, so each day has gotten a little bit better. I miss them like crazy, but I cry a little less with each new morning.

On to other news, tomorrow is Tressa's birthday. She is 8 and such a joy to us. She is, by far, the princess of this house ( right beneath me the queen:). We love you so much Tressa!!!

Yesterday we had Tressa's birthday party at Odyssey fun world in Tinley Park. The kids had a blast. Jay and I were exhausted!!! During the party, I was listening to the kids talk. There were 8 total kids there, 4 of which were ours. This is the exchange I heard:
Jacob: Somebody pinch me
Tyler: OK ( here he proceeds to pinch Jacob)
Jacob: OOOWWW Tyler, Metaphorically speaking!!! ( here he rolls his eyes and looks to the other party guests for a laugh)
Now, mind you, they are all under 8, so nobody, but me, laughed! I don't even know where he heard that before. It sounded awfully funny coming out of the mouth of a 7 year old!!!
Well that is all for now. Have a great week and enjoy the beautiful weather!

a change of life

Hello everyone. Today I write with a heavier heart than usual. We found out yesterday that we will be saying goodbye to our foster kids, Marcus and Brandon, on Wednesday of this week. After a year together, they will be moving to their permanent family. I knew this day was approaching for months now, but the reality of it is both exciting and sad. I know the Lord is entirely in control, even where they are going is an example of that. I do know these people and will be able to maintain contact with them to check on the kids. But we cannot see the kids again after Wednesday for a long time. I am so excited that this will be their last move and they are leaving us to be a part of the family God has chosen for them. I can't wait to hear the adoption is final and they can begin to be normal kids again and not "foster" kids anymore!! Saying goodbye is the hardest part, hard for Jay and I and hard for the kids. We would appreciate your prayers as we go through this time of change in our family. Our kids are sad and really don't understand why they are leaving. They have done such a great job of accepting these kids and making them a part of their family. I am proud of the way they have handled sharing their house and parents for the last year. Please pray for Marcus and Brandon that they will soon feel at home in their new family and pray that we can all move on, in confidence, that we have done the will of God this year and it is time to move into that which He has for us next.

Its a....

Well blogger friends the verdict is in. It is a big, healthy, active baby BOY!!! But really what else could it be. Apparently girls are very difficult to produce. But that is just fine with me. I am so excited to have a house full of boys. Every thing looks good with the baby and he is currently larger than he should be so my due date may get adjusted. I got some great pictures, but I don't have a scanner to put them up. But I am sure you can picture him. Totally adorable in an alien like way:) The kids are excited as well, except for Tyler who apparently wanted a sister. Well like I always say to the kids, " you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!!"

ideas needed

Does anyone know how to get red burger king Icee out of light beige burber carpet????

I need a vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have I mentioned that February is the longest month?? It may only have 28 days, but that is God's grace to us. Even 28 days seems like 57!! It is too cold to do much, too snowy to do anything, and its been too long since we could do anything. It is simply a tough month to get through. The winter always seems to sink in in February. And I am ready for warm weather!!! I am ready to go somewhere without 45 minutes of dressing and searching for hats and gloves, ready to let my children out in the yard to run off some steam without said 45 minutes of dressing and searching, and darn it ready to wear flip-flops!!

Anyhow, enough of that. Today my kitchen window go broken. I won't even go into how that happened, but as you can imagine I am not a happy mommy today! My kitchen is cold and I have had to remove tiny, minuscule pieces of glass out of 3 different feet already today. I swept and vacuumed, but there are still renegade pieces remaining. SO I have cried, been on my knees, and have decided to get myself off the floor, pull up my maternity pants that fall down every 4 seconds, and move about my day with a smile on my face. Forced as it is, I am trying to avoid doing some sort of permanent psychological damage to my children who are home for like the 15th day this month!! Plus today is Brandons 2nd birthday and I really try not to be a royal crab on birthdays. So party on we will.

I apologize for this most NOT uplifting blog. I would post a picture of my puffy-eyed, not happy but smiling face but I still cannot post pictures so a word picture will have to do. Till tomorrow.