We are a Noble Crew

So we got our tree. My husband and I get a real tree, someday maybe we will go fake, as we are pretty frugal. But for now we get a real tree. It is always a noble. I know they tend to cost more than other types of Christmas trees, but we only like NOBLES.
Decorating the past couple of years has been a bit of a chore. We, Joe and I, had to do most everything while managing the kids. This year was so sweetly different. Since our two oldest are five now they actually help, and really want to help, and are careful enough to help. So it was so much more fun.

They kept asking

Is this breakable?
Yes
OK I will put it up top so the babies don't get it
Is this breakable
NO
Is this breakable
NO
Is this breakable
Yes
Did you make this one?
Yes
At reunion
Yes
Is this breakable
NO
When did we get this one
last year you made it
I knew that, I did a great job
Yes it is nice

The whole time we were decorating Christmas music was blaring we were happy and dancing and it was just so cosy. We also went out and put up the decorations and lights outside so we are officially ready for the holiday season.

Even though we have a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old we still put ornaments on the bottom of our tree. But we put the ones that can be played with. The kids love it, hey toys on a tree, that mom lets you play with, what could be cooler. Trenton woke up from his nap just after the tree was decorated and was so giddy. You could tell he wanted to touch it but was wary that he might get into trouble.


He finally approached and pulled off an ornament, a cute little wooden candy cane. He loved it. He has torn almost all the ornaments off what ever section he is working on. Do I care, no way, because I have five year old girls, who are so happy that I gave them the job of putting all the ornaments back on that the kids pull off. They love that Job, even fighting over who gets to put them back up.

It has gotten better each year the kids get older, I don't want the magic to ever end.

Black Friday

So my husband loves Black Friday, he reads the paper, figures out where the best sales are and what he wants to get then out he goes as early in the morning as he can. This year he decided to go with his new BFF, Micheal. So he headed out later, as I guess Micheal is a late riser.

So, as my husband does not work today, I was so happy to get a tree and get started on the Christmas Decorating. He is usually home by 10 on black Friday so I have him the whole day. But not this year. He said he would be back by noon, so the kids and I played Christmas music really loud danced around, got decorations out, Can you say lots of boxes of stuff. And waited. And Waited. He was a no show.

So we began the calling. Each kid would call and ask when he was coming home. We would hang up after he said he was hurrying but did not know when he would be home. Then the next kid would call. At 2:00 I had to put the babies down for a nap. He got home at 2:30. So then we had to wait until they woke up to get our tree. So we waited. I got sick of waiting and went down to the tree lot by myself to pick out a tree. I came back and told Hubby which one to buy. He could not trust himself to go alone, we still had sleeping kids.

Finally we got to go and when we got there.... they were closed. At five thirty on black Friday. Seriously. We were bumbed out. The kids are mad at dad for shopping all day and ruining our plans. Dad reminds them we have all day tomorrow to decorate. I mean who closes their tree lot at five? Crazy. Anyways still no tree, and all the decorations are out in the living room and all over the kitchen table. It is a mess that I will have to endure until tomorrow when we will put it all up. Till then ta ta.

Thanksgiving Post 2008

So we had the most fun on Thanks giving. We ate so much food and were with wonderful friends. The kids made Christmas ornaments, and we played pin the hat on the turkey. I was a a super fun day.

Thanks giving We had Costco pumpkin pies... Yummy, better than homemade.

Taking a Poll, Cut or NO?

So I have been thinking about getting my hair cut. I am not sure and pretty ambivalent about it so I thought I would leave it up to my blogging friends and family and take a poll. Please let me know your opinion.



Thanks and I will let you know how things turn out.

Birth mother

So the birth mother of our girls called us and wanted to a family picture for her Christmas cards. Since she considers us her family she wanted all of us in it so here it is.


We have a great relationship with her and when she calls and asks to see us and the kids we always make plans to meet. I figure that you cant have too much family and people who love you in your life. It may get hard when they are teens but for now they see her as kind of an Aunt type of figure in their lives. They know she is their birth mother but hey call her by her name and don't have a desire to live with her.

We are still waiting to adopt her baby, Tyler, but she is really fighting to keep him so keep us in your prayers.

Doesn't it look like we are polygamists? So funny. I know you were thinking it, it has to be said.
Also the outfit that Birth Mom was wearing was very revealing, showing her bosom and bra so I took a sharpie pen and added a cute little black camisole to all the pictures. It loos great don't you think. I bet you did not even notice.

What really happened....

If you did not read the last post this one wont make sense, so read it first then come back.

Ok, now, for those who know me you know that I did end up cleaning. Hey, I just like things to be clean before relaxing. It really only takes a short while to clean when we all work together. So the play room got clean. It will be messy in a couple of hours I am sure but for now it is clean.

We did stay in our pajamas. I did not last all day and got dressed after my shower when the boys are in bed around 1:00. I did not tell the kids they could stay in their pj's all day but I never told them to go get dressed. So when I mentioned they were still in their night gowns, Jerika said, "that's cus I am sick" Her stomach hurt this morning and she did not want breakfast but she is actually fine now. Then Jacqueline chimed in saying that she was not sick but had been climbing and fell and hurt her stomach so she needed to stay in her night gown too.

We did watch a movie and have hot chocolate, I also made a picnic lunch to eat while we watched Fairytopia. The Barbie movies are so pretty. My girls love them. So Do I.

I also did the girls hair in the 80's style look wit high pony tails. They loved it. See below.

What I want to do...

There is no school today and I want to....
Stay in our pajamas all day. What is the point of getting dressed if you don't go out right. We could stay in the our PJs, watch a movie, and drink hot cocoa.

But my house is a mess, you should see the play room. Hey you can, I will take some pictures.



So I should really clean that up with my kids.
I know what I want to do, and what I should do... but what will I do?

Thankful

It is Thanksgiving and I am thankful, really thankful for so many things...

1. My sweet and loving husband. He is so kind, I knew when I married him that he was the one who would make me happy for the rest of my life, and he does. I am so grateful that he is a worthy priesthood holder and wants to live all the teachings of the gospel. He and I are the perfect match, he compliments me and I him. We belong together.



2. My children. I ended up with five and only had to endure 2 pregnancies. The lord blessed our family. He knew I wanted many children to unite in love and he gave them to me in his own special way. I have truly special wonderfully diverse children. Plus they make me laugh every day. There is nothing like the love I feel from and for these little beings that Heavenly father entrusted me with.

3. My Testimony. I really know. It is not just a belief I know. The Gospel is true, Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know where I came from, why I am here and Where I am going after this life. There is truly no greater gift than this knowledge in my life. Click here to learn more.

4. My family. I think I may have come from the greatest family of all time. I love them all dearly. My parents are so amazing. They have shaped me and made me into the person I am today. My mom is my best friend, I feel so much love from my dad and know how much he cherishes me. My siblings are so neat. Sibling number 1 is an amazing dad. Number 3 is so pretty and funny and nice to everyone. My middle Brothers are rock stars and so talented. 4 is so good to his body, keeping it healthy. 5 is so smart, he has the intelligence of a genius in my estimation. 6 is so funny, he can make anyone laugh. 7, my baby sister who passed away was kind and giving. 8, my baby brother is the epitome of awesomeness, he is so strong and so good to everyone. I miss and love all of my wonderful family.

We're Going Green

Well we put in a solar water heater. It is so cool. I know it rains a lot where I live and there is not much sun but we are part of a pilot program to see if having a solar water heater was cost effective. So we got it for free. So cool. (It normally costs 7500.00) We feel so blessed.

We applied for it and out of a thousand applicants they narrowed it down to large families. Then they came and inspected the house and we had to have enough space to add another water heater by our other one. We had to have a new roof that had constant sunshine on big enough spot. We did, in fact our house was perfect and only 2 homes in the whole area were selected and we were one of the two. So cool.

It is fun to hear the pump running(it runs on solar too) when it is sunny out. It will heat the water to 180 degrees, then when our gas water heater drains, instead of it getting water from the city that is under 60 degrees it gets water from the solar heater that is already heated up from 80-180 degrees. This way we use a lot less gas. It has a monitor on it that you can go on the internet and see the data in real time.

So it is Awesome and we are doing are part to decrease our carbon footprint.

Ah kids!

Jennedy is really a true blue two year old. She is defiant, and into everything. She says NO constantly and when ever you ask her something she says WHY. If you answer her you get more WHYS. So she also loves to get into my make up. She sneaks into my room and eats all my chocolate M&M flavored chap stick. It does taste good but she has been told numerous times not to do it. She knows it is wrong.


Today she came up to me with her hand over her mouth. Then after a while took it off her mouth, I could smell the chocolate and asked if she had been into my make-up. She quickly put her hand over her mouth. She then walked to time out as she knows that is what happens next. The pictures above are when she found a different princess chap stick tube, it is the flavored yummy kind so who can blame her really. She was cracking me up posing for these pictures.


On the other hand, Trenton is still a climin' He hears the bathroom door open and comes from anywhere in the house to climb. I catch him in the sink twice a day, even with vigilant door closing. He turns the water on too, thus He is soaking wet and has to be changed a lot.

Today I went in the bathroom to hang up towels and -boom- there he was. So I watched him, wondering how he did it. First, He put a step stool in front of the toilet, the lid was up, but he still climbed up there carefully balancing on the edge, yep he did not even step, or fall in. I could not believe it. Then he climbed up on the tank edged his way over and pulled himself onto the counter then into the sink. So funny.

Twilight - Spoiler alert

Ok, Here is my review of Twilight. For those of you who are not into the hype, just skip this post.
(also if you have not seen it and don't want anything spoiled, do not read this until after.)

First of all, Nothing compares to our own imaginations. That's is why reading is so super great (I love to read!!!!) still.... I liked it, it was good, not great or super awesome, but good. The beginning was funny, cheesy, but funny. People were laughing in our audience so much. Perhaps because we had read the books and knew what Edward was thinking. Hubby Joe wondered why people were laughing so I am sure it had to do with knowing the undercurrent that made it funny. I have to say I liked how cheesy it was. They really had to show quickly the relationships, and the Cheesy way was really the fastest way to do that. Especially with the other high school kid relationships with Bella.

I loved that Stephanie, the Author, was in the film briefly, it was a fun surprise for me. She is so talented and I think she deserves to be in the film. When I saw her, I turned to the stranger next to me and Said "That is Stephanie Meyers." There was a great deal of excitement in the theater.




I thought both the actors that played Edward and Bella did a fine job. (Edward had some crazy expressions. Tee hee hee) Bella's hair was so pretty.
The make up on Carlise was so fake. Loved the bad Vampire Characters, they did so great.

I hated how Edward looked when he was sucking the venom out of Bella, it looked so weird. Bella did awesome acting during that part.
The kissing scene was so much better in my mind than the movie, they should of at least done a shot of her clawing his hair, to see the passion that he evokes in her. I did love how slow that first kiss was. I think all first kisses should be like that.
I wish Alice had been a bigger part of setting up the Prom scene as she was in the book. And a bigger part in the movie if possible. I love Alice.
There was much slowness in the movie, I mean what was up with the scene where they are laying in the field staring at each other for like five min. Ok, we get it, you wont touch, but did we have to watch all that staring. Lets get on to the action.

For example, I loved the Baseball scene and the fight scene. Especially when Alice ripped off the head of the bad vampire guy. So cool. They were the very best parts of the movie. Ok, I gotta include the part where they are up in the tree. It was majestic. So overall a GOOD movie. You will enjoy it if you go in knowing nothing compares with our own imaginations.

Twilight

Tonight is the night. I am going to see the movie Twilight.
I know that I have never posted anything about the fact that I love the Twilight series but I do. It is true. I was told by a many friends about the series and finally one friend loaned me all Four books to read. I read all Four in about a week. They are so interesting and great reads. So they made a movie and I am stoked to see it. So my friends and I invited our husbands on a date night and we are going to see Twilight. Needless to say I can not wait until tonight.

Climb High

So Trenton is a climber. He loves to get up high and see the world. He climbs up on tables, and boxes and even toilets. He carries around a step stool to help in his climbing adventures. It is funny to watch him carry this stool that is about as big as him, especially since he still walks like Frankenstein. He looks like he will fall over at any moment but then he carry's round a stool and you can not figure out how he stays upright. Well today was funny, I was downstairs briefly to put some laundry in the machine as Jennedy had flooded her diaper int the middle of the night (yes another sleepless night for me) and I was washing the sheets and blankets. When I came upstairs the house was quiet. I went to the bathroom, the door was closed so I opened it and here is how I found Trenton. In the sink...

Well at least he is brushing his teeth. When I went to pick him up He was soaked. He had been turning on the faucet as he sat there and getting his Jammies wet. He just loves to climb, I amazed that he got up there. He took his step stool and put it by the toilet, then climbed on that then from there onto the counter and into the sink. He often gets stuck at the end of his climbs and yells for mom to get him down. Which I do, Hey I am a awesome mom that way. Rescue mom, coming to the rescue.

Fourteen

Here is picture fourteen in folder fourteen....

Awe cute.
That is me in the middle.
My older brother is behind me and my little sister is in front. This is when our family was only 3 kids. Who knew that five more were on the way.

Look at those cute little sailor outfits. How cute are we.

Thirteen

Here is the thirteenth picture in the thirteenth folder....

This is me When I was in 6th grade. My mother made the dress, she made many of my clothes and is a sewing genius.

I was really into the Dorothy Hamill haircuts in those days. It was a major cool thing in the Early 80's. Dorothy Hamil was a famous figure skater in case you are too young to remember or were not even born when she was a popular ice skater.





Here is a picture of Dorothy. See how adorable she was. I also put in a clip of her doing her thing, she was a wonderful skater and She inspired many a young girl, Including myself.

I still cry.

I went out to my garage today to put some pictures away that I found of Emma, Tammys daughter. (Tammy, my little sis that passed away this summer.) I picked up one of her photo albums to put the pictures in and started looking though it briefly. It was a baby book that she had started for Emma, there were cute little comments and memories of her birth written, but the book was unfinished. I put the pictures in and closed it up and put it away.

It was then that I was struck by a great sadness. I knew that this book would never be finished for Emma, that her mother had tried to do it all, but her life was cut too short. She probably thought she had all the time in the world to do it for her daughter. Now she cant.

I cried breifly, pulled myself together and went inside.
I think that is one of the things that is so hard about her dying. She left so much unfinished and left her little 6 year old here. I am sad, It is just so sad. I worry about Emma and pray that she is doing ok. I think she, is but I want her to be doing super, have all the happiness in the world. I cry for her sadness and loss, for mine too. I am overwhelmed by these waves of grief and pain.

I have found that writing this blog has helped me in this process of grief. I get to lay my feelings and thoughts out and put words to all the emotions, this helps me heal, I cry as I write, ball my head off, tears fall on my hands as I type. It is good for me, so therapetutic to get it out there and start to heal. Thanks for reading and trying to understand the sadness I feel.

Mourning is hard.

I am so happy though, I really am, I love my life, my family, the way my world is going. This is just something I go through, it was makes me a stronger more appreciative mother.

This picture is of me, Tammy and my grandmother who passed away last year.
I bet they are hanging out in Heaven together.

Twelve

Here is picture twelve in folder twelve.... What will it be... the anticipation....

That is me!!! I spent some time a couple of years ago scanning all my baby pics and they are all in folder number 12.

Is that not the cutest crib? My daddy made if for me (right dad). It has cute heart shaped head and foot boards. So precious. Plus check out my adorable mobile. Did my mom make that for me? I can't remember, I was pretty young back then.

Back in those days they did not have the "back to sleep" rules as they did not know that it could have something to do with SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.) So here I am sleeping on my tummy which is how I always slept, good thing I did not suffocate.

Sometimes I wonder how anyone survived without all the rules we have as parents today to help keep our children safe. We never rode in car seats or for that matter, seat belts , in fact our mothers held us on their laps, as infants, while driving. We would cram all kids in the car and take off with not a worry about safety. I amazed that I am still alive.

My kids now have to be in car seats or boosters until they are 8 yrs old or 4 feet tall. I think that is one reason that people have smaller families these days. Loading my 5 kids in car seats anytime I go anywhere is not so fun.

Oh well, Safety first, I always say.

Slanted Sleeping

I sure got very little sleep last night. Why?

Well for several reasons,

#1 Tyler seems to be teething, he was crying at all different times last night. He does have a tooth coming in so that could be why he woke me up 4 times last night. Also, he now can turn over, as he is out of his bassinet, and he gets stuck there and I don't think he likes sleeping on his stomach, so when he cries I turn him over and give him his Binky. He then goes easily back to sleep, then he cries about 2 hours later and it is the same thing over again. Do you have any ideas about how to keep him on his back? I don't.

#2 Trenton seems to like to yelp whenever Tyler is crying. So last night he was up often as well. If we don't go in his room he will go back to sleep sooner than later. So we endured that as well last night too.




#3 Jerika is a sleep talker and walker. Last night as I was walking by her room during one of my Tyler turn overs, I looked in her room. She was sitting up in bed, rocking and bouncing. But she was sound asleep. Joe came and laid her down. (I am scared of sleepwalkers) later Jerika was screaming as she ran down the hall. It woke us up and Joe went out to help her, she needed to use the bathroom, was sleep walking in the wrong direction, once again I let Joe handle it. He is a sleep talker/walker too, so he does not have my fear of them.

#4 My bed broke. Not major or anything. But I was sleeping all slanted, I felt like I was going to roll out of bed all night. In the morning I inspected the bed and sure enough it was slanted. Joe and I had been goofing around the evening before and heard a weird sound, like breaking wood but thought nothing of it. Well, the box spring had been forced down on my the corner where my head is. It was off the frame and jammed down, making the corner lower. In the morning, I showed Joe and we fixed the problem.

So I am tired.
Its OK though cuz.....
I love my life and
all the craziness that comes with it.

Silly sleeper

So the other day I took a picture of Tyler sleeping. He sleeps with his face pushed up against the side of any bed he sleeps in. His dark skin and even hair rub off on the white bassinet it one spot that he really likes that has a bar across it. I guess he likes the bar across his upper head. I am sure it has something to do with being in the womb and having his faced pressed up against the inside of the Uterus. Maybe the bar represents a rib he had been pressing against. It is so funny. In the pic it actually looks like he is stretching and awake. But no, he is solidly sleeping. He also sleeps with his mouth and eyes halfway open. Such a silly thing to do.

I finally moved him out the bassinet yesterday because I came up to find him on his tummy griping on the top peering out. I guess he is too big now for that bassinet. So into the garage it went. I pulled out a port a crib and set him up. Later when I checked on him, he had found his way over to corner and his little face was jammed up to the side. I guess he found the sweet spot.

Eleven

Here is the 11th picture in folder 11...

So here is a bonsai I have been working on for a couple of years. All of folder 11 is filled with other folders one for each Bonsai. When I get a tree, or plant a seed, I name them all. Then I take pictures, and every time I do something major to them I take a picture and put it in their folder. This is a pic of "Hemi" he is a hemlock. This is when I first got him before I worked to make him a bonsai. I should put up a pic of him now. That might be interesting.



So here is a picture of him when I was done with pruning before wiring.







And here is a pic of him when he was done and in his pot. This was about 2 years ago so he looks a bit different now. I would go take a picture of him now but it is so stormy outside right now that I don't really want to go out, sorry.

Ten

Here is the tenth picture in my tenth folder...
This was a picture I saved that my dad sent me, that is what is in folder number 10, the ones people send me.
This of my cute nephew, with my niece in the background.

My dad was taking a picture because he is so skinny and little that he can fit his whole body including head through the banisters there.

You would think that they would be safe by looking at them, but apparently if you have small ones they are able to get through.

Nine

It is amazing how many folders I have with thousands of pictures. So today I will pick picture nine in folder number 9. Now I wait with anticipation to see what the pic will be....

Fun, this is a picture from my wedding. It is of my mom and my Nieces and Nephew. This was 7 years ago and they are all so small. They grew up so much. I miss having them close.

My parents are in China teaching English right now. They are having a great time and doing a blog, to read it click here. China Blog.

I miss talking on the phone to my mom (dad too) but my mom and I are so close and she has such great perspective on life and she has always been my best friend. We used to talk at least weekly and now I only get to email, it is not the same as hearing her voice. Oh well, we all have our trials and this is one of mine.

Still mom, when you get home I am going to talk your ear off.
I love my parents.

Eight

So here I go, grabbing the 8th picture in the eight folder.

I am waiting patiently for it to upload, what will it be this time, and what tangent will it send me on. The suspense is intense.

It just popped up.
Oh does this one have a story.

When our family grew we needed a new van to hold all the kids we were getting, so we went on Craigslist and found this van to buy.

We had been saving money because we dont like to have a car payment and found this one in our price range. We met the guy, or rather Jerk, his name was Jodi Patanjo. He scammed us. See he owed money on the van and said we should pay him the 10 grand and he would pay off his loan and give us the title when he got it from the bank. We never got the title.

Well months and months went by and he gave us so many excuses, never actually talking to us, just sending emails. Still not title. The tags expired and we started getting tickets for expired tags, usually when parked, he paid for those because they were in his name. He then met my husband at the DMV and registered it, in his name, so we stopped getting tickets.

Time passed, we really believed what he was telling us, that it was the banks fault, that they kept switching the person in charge of his case, that he would have it the very next month. After a year and a half he stopped communicating entirely with us and left the state.

Then one day we got a call from a private investigator for the bank, they had found him and he had not paid his loan off, or made the payments, they were coming to repossess the van. That is what that picture is from, Joe went out to take pictures for if we ever had to go to court. We sued and won of course, but he was impossible to find.

Still,the investigators talked to our Lawyer. Our lawyer knows where he works, the Jerk moved to Utah. So hopefully we will get some money someday. We got scammed big time. We learned our lesson and were able to go out the next day and buy our newer van with money that we had been saving (yeah! no car loan.)
We are still out the 10 grand we gave him. So if anyone knows him, Jodi Patanjo, or meet him, beware and also let me know. He still owes us.

Jerika Singing

Jerika was singing this song all Halloween and It cracks me up so I did a video. I thought you might want a good chuckle so here she is.

Picture 7 in folder 7

Funny picture with a terrible flash problem.

In this picture we took Joe bowling for his 28th birthday.
We had the bumpers up in one lane and the other one was bumper less. The kids and I played on one lane and used this metal thing that you see in the background. The metal thing is cool for kids, see you put your ball on it at the top, push it and it rolls down a ramp with enough speed to get down the lane. The kids could not help but hit pins with the bumpers up and the ramp. They had a great time and my score was way higher than Joes. His team was made up of people in his family who came with us to celebrate.

One time I took my Grandma, who had a stroke, bowling with me at this place. She was in a wheelchair and this place even had a little wheelchair elevator for her to get down to the lanes. She thought she was coming to watch, but when we showed her the ramp she was so excited to get to bowl. She would put her ball on her lap, wheel out there, stick her fingers in the hole and shove it down. She was very determined. My mother was there too and we were so happy to take Grandma Donna out bowling.

This picture was when Jerika was blessed It has four generations of first daughters. My grandma was a dear friend of mine and she died a couple of years ago, I miss her and am so happy that I made so many speical memories with her before she took her Journey to Heaven.

How we got our kids.

.
This was taken on March 28th 2006.
This was on a great trip we took to Canada when we only had one kid. It was actually on this trip where we noticed how much our only daughter, Jerika, needed a sibling. We had been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant, had tired infertility treatments and 2 years had gone by with no success. We kept saying that she needed a sibling whenever she would come to us asking us to play dolls again and again and again, now we both love playing dolls but we knew she would have so much more fun with a sister or brother.

So when we got home we started the process to get foster kids. 2 months later on May 19th our first foster child came to our home. She arrived at 4 in the morning, her mother had been caught shoplifting at Walmart with her two children and was going to jail. The kids had no place to go. So B who was six came to our home and her 18th month old sister went somewhere else. It was a Friday night and we had her all weekend. Her mom had her hearing on Monday and the judge let her kids go back to her. We said good bye to B.

It was sad, she lived in a hotel with her mother and from what she told us they were homeless and it was scary there. On B's fist day with us she asked if she could call us Mom and Dad. We said she could call us what ever she felt comfortable with. So she started to call us Mom and Dad. She cried when she left, she did not want to go back to her family, she wanted to stay and be in our family. Joe was emotional when she left because he had gotten attached very quickly to her and felt so worried for her life and upset by her sadness.

We got our next foster child the very next day, she was 10 months old. The police brought her about 8 pm and said she only needed a place for about 24 hours and was being brought back to her grandmother. Her mom had run away with her and had just been captured. R was tired when she got to us and Joe was setting up a crib right after we got the call. I held this beautiful little girl in my arms, she could lay her head on me, then sit up and look right in my eyes, she would grin, then lay her head down on me again.

She was very dirty and smelled like cigarettes so she got a bath and went to sleep so happy to be in a crib. When I laid her in the crib all clean and cute, she smiled laid her head down on the soft sheet and promptly fell asleep. The next day Jerika and I played with her and she was delightful. We then drove her down to the workers in Salem where she was given back to her grandparents.

We did not have a placement for 3 weeks, then one day in the late morning I got a call saying would we be able to take a 2 and a half year old. Yes of course. When could they bring her? She was at the McDonald's with her case worker while DHS searched to find her a home. I said bring her on over.

When Jacqueline arrived I walked out the car to meet her. I kneeled down next to her and she said, "Jacqueline's mommy?" pointing to me. I said "Yes I am going to be your mommy." We showed her her room, she was only 5 months younger than Jerika and they hit it off, they have been best friends ever since.

We had set up a crib in the bedroom because we were supposed to get a 4 month old the day before but the judge had her go to her father. The case worker noticed the crib and said that Jacqueline's mom was pregnant and due in 3 months, she said perhaps we could take her baby too.

Three months later, August 12, we went to the hospital and picked up Jennedy. We now had three girls and thought we were done.

When Jennedy was 6 months old, I got Pregnant!!!!! Amazing but true. They say that often happens when you are adopting. Your body decides it can relax and you end up prego. So along came the first of two boys. See posts Trenton

When Trenton was just 8 months old the birth mother of our children had another baby and we got little baby Tyler. We are still waiting to adopt him, and are unsure if it will happen this time because the birth mother is doing well and some dumb caseworker might send him back even though he has been with us his whole life and it would be better for him to be with us. We are trying to have faith and keep our hope alive so keep us in your prayers.