Teaching and Stitching

Here's a sweet photo of us in Wilmington, NC last month - enjoying the waterfront shopping. I'll try to add more photos of our time in NC in some of the upcoming posts.

So, you may be wondering what is happening here since S left. Well we have certainly had more time on our hands. Nothing keeps you on your toes like a busy little boy. But we have taken this opportunity to do several things.

First, and foremost, since Thomas spends so much time on the computer -- reading, writing, etc -- we figured it best to get P started early. She has taken to the keyboard ... it has lots of buttons and things to press. Typing and learning to use a mouse are part of her weekly schedule. Don't you think she is doing quite well for herself? =)






We also have been teaching P how to swim. After swimming this week I took this photo. We were reviewing the lesson. In this picture she wanted to demonstrate how you are suppose to move your arms about to stay afloat.



And when she is sleeping, I have plenty of time to sew. (she likes all the space in the crib). This is her napping on Saturday.




She is a good sleeper, which means I've had plenty of time to put a few projects together, including bibs and burb cloths, blankies, baby pants, and a tag blanket. Here are just a few pictures of some things I've done. Although, I've done much more. I was trying to sew tonight. I actually sewed a roman shade earlier today for the dining room ... and need to do one for the kitchen. But my fingers are literally bruised and hurt from picking up straight needles. So, I decided to post on the blog instead. OK, enough with that, here are some photos of what I've been up to.








I also put this quilt top together during P's afternoon nap on Saturday. I was absolutely amazed to have it done so quickly. One thing that sped it along was that I bought a pack of 5" charm squares - so they were already cut. I got this pack of charms in Gatlinburg, TN last summer. The sashing and smaller squares came from my stash of fabric. It is not a good picture, I will have to get a better picture later. The fabric collection is Moda's Fall back in Time. I still hope to add a border or two, I just don't have the fabric yet for that part.



Oh, and I can't forget Thomas. He installed a ceiling fan in his study this weekend. Which is working great! There was a short in the overhead light in this room - it hasn't worked for probably a year. Plus, it was always hot in here. So voila! It's done!

Summer Stitchin

Things keep moving around here ... except for the computer which seems to be at a crawling speed these days. Arrgh.

Speaking of crawling, P. is getting closer and closer to moving forward. So, I figure that without much time left, I should try my best to get everything organized before she's on the go.

We got a quick email from S's grandmother on Sunday. He is doing well and seemed to enjoy the plane ride very much. He also has been fine - she said no crying or any worries. I was so glad to hear that. I hope it continues to go so smoothly. Thomas and I are doing really well the transition. We know that is was a blessing for all of us, and only good came from the situation. We were truly blessed to have S with us for 8 months, and now others will be blessed to have him. We truly see this situation as an opportunity for him to bless others. I was reading Acts 15:22-41 this weekend, a story of several of the prophets traveling for the purpose of encouraging others and strengthening churches. In this passage Paul, Silas, Barnabas and others are traveling around quite a bit; it reinforced my opinion that S. has left to encourage, strengthen and bless others.

Besides trying to get some things organized; I've also spent some time sewing in the last month. I recently finished a very large quilt - I'll have to find the photo to post. And also, at the top of this post is a picture of some crazy pants I made P. My hope was to make some wacky pants and I wanted to practice making ruffles. So they are pretty wild.

Missing S

We got back from NC on Monday ... the trip was great. More on that later.

Tuesday afternoon, P. had a court date. Or, rather her parents did. Her mom did not show. However, a guy did show up that possibly may be the father. I was very shocked. I nearly fell out of the chair. We have not heard from a dad before or seen one. He wants a paternity test, so the hearing this week was postponed until Sept. 2nd. The trial was also set for Sept. 15th -- my birthday - hopefully I will get some good news that day. We have no idea if he is interested in custody. It is my understanding that he showed up because they found him and served him papers ... I have no idea what his desires are.

Yesterday was a tough day; after nearly 8 months .... S. left. It was very hard to imagine him gone and now that he is, I feel so bad for him. I can not even imagine what he must be thinking, wondering where we are and why we left him. It's hard to imagine that this is the best option for him. It seems so cruel to let him be so happy and have a family, and then strip him of it. I keep reminding myself he is with family, and that he is young enough to adjust and forget us. I figure the faster he forgets us, the happier he will be.

Not having S. around has made things here much quieter. He was full of life, energy, happiness, and kept things hopping. Here is a stream of some of favorite photos of his time with us.

Pending trip to NC

I figured I better post real quick. Tomorrow early in the morning we are leaving for NC for 12 days. Wow. Do you realize how difficult it is to pack for two babies and both of us for 12 days? I am so tired and ready for bed, but still have more to do.

Not much happening here. Our plan to fatten up S. with homemade cookies failed - he had a rash all week, we think it might have been from the cocoa. And P. had some eye gook that is still unexplained.

Both of them were very demanding this afternoon ... wanting to be held most of the time. It made it difficult to pack. Plus Thomas had to leave to take the dogs out to the kennel.

I guess the big news is that S. said a few more words - ball, snack, and wow.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful man. This household is truly blessed to have Thomas as its head and leader. He exceeds my expectations nearly everyday, and gives so much of himself to all of us. He is more interested in seeing myself and the children happy, than he is about meeting is own desires. Regardless of how busy he may be with work and school, every day he makes each of us a priority in his life. I can not thank him enough for all he does.

This weekend we spent time relaxing and enjoying our lives. Both of the photos above are from this weekend. We went to the park for a foster care event on Saturday morning. And this afternoon we shared some time eating hamburgers after church. We also made some of Thomas' favorite cookies recently - no bake chocolate cookies. Our hope was to 1) have good food in the house and 2) fatten S. up. So due to food allergies, the cookies were made with soy milk and vegan butter. The first batch didn't quite turn out right, but the second batch was perfect.

Loving Life

This week has been such a joy and blessing in so many ways. Things are going really well. The children are growing and are such a delight to have. Both of them are extremely happy children, laughing and smiling ALL THE TIME, and we are truly blessed to share our lives with them. They are learning new things each day. This week I've had some time to sit around and read, quilt, and work on other projects. And Thomas and I have been spending quality time together each night.

These last few days have been wonderful. S. has been especially funny, interesting, and more obedient (yeah!). I switched how I was managing his behaviors about 2 weeks ago, plus I'm home more, and I think those two things combined are really helping the situation. On top of that he has been in speech therapy twice a week for more than a month now, and his teachers are also reinforcing sign language at school. He is trying to repeat us more each day, he is talking more (up to 9 words), and he is signing more. He still has a long way to go verbally, but there has been marked improvement in just the last few days. It's so interesting how well he can communicate without speaking. Oh, and he is growing. I swear it looks like the child sprouted legs overnight.

I feel like things are really starting to work perfectly ... and we got the phone call that his grandmother has been officially approved and she can come get him. OK. We knew this was coming, and we know it will be good for him to be with family. And she is more than capable of raising him. But we are going to miss him dearly. A larger part of us just wants her to show up tomorrow and have this done with because it is too dreadful to drag out. However, he has a hernia on his stomach and the caseworker will not let him leave until we have a surgeon evaluate it and fix it if need be. That on top with pending vacation plans, equals probably one more month with our beloved S. It will be sometime in July that he leaves and it is going to be hard.

I have to share a story with you. I just about fell off the sofa laughing at S. this week. He brought me a book, not just any book, but Thomas' political science journal, for me to read to him. (I'm sure Thomas is glad to know we seem to be raising a child prodigy) Well, he opened it up and there was a full-page black and white photo of a man wearing a hat and smoking a cigar. My first thought - "good heavens there are still ads with people smoking in them ... its a good thing he doesn't see this on a normal basis." So I TRY to emphasize the hat. Look, I say, he has a hat on his head. Well, S. was more interested in the cigar. He was pointing at it with this real confused look on his face and I could tell he wanted to know what it was. So I said, that is a cigar. And he pointed again, and looked at it strangely. And then .... he looked and me and signed "dirty." Oh yes, that is dirty, I said. I can't tell you how happy I was to see him tell me the cigar was dirty. I can only imagine that he probably thought it looked like the guy had poop in his mouth or something of the sort. Oh, I fell out laughing. I still can't stop.

Other good things happened this week. We took the children to the beach for the first time! Yeah. One of my coworkers has a beach house at St. Teresa, its a little over an hour away. The picture up above was taken on the golf cart riding to the beach. S. loved the ocean. He crawled around on his hands and knees, walked, fell in it, and did not want Thomas to hold him in the water. P. sat some in the sand and played as much as she can, and then sat with me in the chair and watched. Here are some photos.








I also had the chance to sew quite a bit this week. One night, I made this cute little bag for P. Basically, we needed a smaller bag to use for daycare because our regular diaper bag was too big for the few things we take for her each day.



I'm sure I had a lot more I wanted to say, but I can't remember right now. So there is always tomorrow. Be sure to check back.

Pool Bash

Things used to be pretty simple. But, hey, things change. This is what life used to be like around our house. Mercy was Thomas' main girl. Now he has his hands full with a new girl and boy, luckily Mercy seems to be Ok with it.


Last week, I spoke too soon about us all being healthy. S. was sick with a fever for on Sunday and Monday this past week. And was up a lot at night coughing. So, on Memorial Day we sat around, did some housework and stayed home. For some reason, both Thomas and I decided to make something ... I made a blackberry pie, and he made homemade butter. (he has no idea that I took this photo, I wanted to be sure everyone knew he was obsessed about making some homemade butter for weeks =)




S. is better now, but P. has a cold. She looks absolutely pitiful at certain points. But, today was a lot of fun for all of us. Well, Thomas probably did the most work of any of us, between school and yard work. But we also watched our friend's daughter play softball, and then they came over for a swim. S. LOVED having so many friends to play in the pool with. We all swam for an hour or more ... it was nonstop excitement. Our friend's have a 12 year old daughter, a foster daughter, and then another friend was also with them. P.watched from the sidelines and then slept through most it. Mercy and Forge also had a blast chasing the ball.




Notice in the photo below, S. sleeps with his head under the covers. This is an every day, the moment he is laid down in the bed thing ... the covers have to go over the head. Yes, he is actually asleep in this photo. Also, he thinks he is ready to drive.





Here are a few photos of P. from this week. She is sitting up now by herself (complete unassisted) for several minutes at a time. She is such a good baby. Everyone asks if she is always this good ... and she is.









And just in case you were wondering how fat her cheeks are ...