WE MOVED!!

After a fantastically up and down roller coaster ride for the past 6mths we finally moved into our dream home! It was a journey of faith for sure and after having been in the house for a couple weeks now, we can see God's hand prints all over this house, this move, our finances...EVERYTHING! It does leave us a bit humbled by the whole thing, well me especially, since my faith struggled in the complete trust department. To be completely honest there were a few times I thought it was all falling apart. I wake up thankful every day for this gift, and I guess the journey too.

I have pictures to share of course! I have begun to paint and am making good progress on making it feel like home. The space for all of us has been a thing to get used to. The big kids all have their own rooms and the trip to each room to say goodnight is significantly longer, and we chuckle about it. We absolutely LOVE having the master downstairs and it has given the grown ups a chance to talk at night and feel like we too have our own space. (which of course we do in the master, but the whole downstairs is ours after the kiddos go to bed...it is pretty sweet!)

We want to thank all our friends and family who helped us move in...we are blessed!!

Extra Early Release Treat

Our public schools have these random 'extra early release' days sprinkled in to the school year. Of course the kids love them, me not so much. They seem to sneak up on me and I feel unprepared most of the time to have them all here i the middle of my day. Alas, I was prepared for this one! I even baked them a special treat! It was way easier than making individual cookies in my short day at home.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Pre-heat oven 350, I used a 9x13 pan

2 cups + 2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups, or as much as you want, chocolate chips

Cream melted butter, sugar and vanilla pudding mix together.
Add egg and egg yolk
Add dry ingredients
Mix together in a stand up mixer or hand mixer
Fold in chocolate chips

Line 9x13 pan with foil, spray foil with nonstick cooking spray
Add cookie dough to pan, I used my hands to spread it out and make it even across pan
Bake until golden brown, approx 20min...I kept checking on them since this was the first time I have ever done it this way.

ENJOY!!

Spring Break 2014

Once again many, many weeks have gone by without me posting updates to the blog. I had really hoped to do one a week at the first of the year. Not sure if my life is just that boring, OR more likely I am just way too busy these days to sit and put pictures, feelings, etc up on the blog. I used to use this space as a place to really pour my heart out, and I would love to get back to that again, as well as show off my amazing family, (wink wink). Hopefully once we are settled in the Sanger Ave house I can get back to it...

Anyway, this week is Spring Break for my kiddos. Instead of going some where fun this is what we have been doing...

I can say with near certainty that we are 90% packed. I have to be because the U-haul will be here tonight and we are going to be out of this house by Sunday at the latest. CRAZY!! I wish I could have gotten my way and moved from one house to the other, but that would be all too simple for the way we do things. Unfortunately the way closing dates worked out and Brokers being "cautious" we get the privilege of vacationing with my in laws for a week. (God bless them for letting the 9 of us crash their space!)

Soooo, I guess this leads to my main point....WE ARE MOVING!! Ok, that is not new information but I will say this journey has been one I wish to not travel again for a very, very long time. Nothing about this move has been easy, well except signing the papers to build the house I guess. We thought we were wise in waiting until after the holidays to list our Diego house but we missed a huge window where the number of house on the market were significantly less. By the time we listed the first week of January, the homes for sale in Maricopa County nearly doubled. Thanks to an improved housing market, the number of homes saturated the market and forced us to make some hard decisions about the list price. We ended up taking it off the market after 45 days to evaluate our options. We thought about keeping it as a rental, but ugh, that sounds like so much work and was really a heavy burden for my spouse who was then responsible for two mortgages, even though the rental market is so good, we just didn't feel good about that option. A week later we re-listed the house at a significantly lower price than we had hoped for back in Oct when we began this journey. Sadly, we didn't have a choice because the comps, saturated market and our desire to get it sold quickly. God was in it the whole time even though I had some seriously low points  and faithless nights. (Those who I spoke with directly about my struggles...I appreciate you so much! It is a blessing to shed a few tears in the safety of friendship). Long long story short we had an offer after 6 days! Praise Jesus!

We moved in this house 10.5 years ago. I was 8mths pregnant with Samantha. Leaving has been bittersweet. We loved this house!! We loved living down the street from our beloved church. We started our foster care/adoption journey in this house. We have swimming memories with the kids, family, friends...ok, time for a tissue. It has been an amazing gift to live in these walls. Fortunately Shane and I are not huge on being attached to the "things" but rather the experience and we get to take those with us in our hearts. We are indescribably excited about the new house and all the new memories we will create. We dream about holidays, slumber parties, cousins over all the time....the list goes on and on. We are blessed and humbled with this new adventure even though the journey to get there has been very bumpy.

Today I took a break from packing and met up with a friend and he crew at the park...how could i not! The weather is AMAZING right now. Took my camera to what will end up being our last chance to play in our neighborhood park.

Dose of reality

I am sure it is no surprise but I tend to live in my Christian, love everyone, trust everyone, bubble. At my core I truly believe the best in everyone. I believe most people I interact in my life believe only good things about me, because I tend to do that to them. This week I was given yet again another dose of reality in that idea just isn't always true.

Foster care has certainly been an adventure, that is no surprise to any one who read my blog regularly. You go to classes, get 'prepared', and begin the journey. You assume, or at least my upbeat, optimistic self assumes, that the path is basically the same every time. Well, of course that is just not so. Our journey has been unique in the way children have come into our home. Of course Hannah came the traditional way, she was removed by CPS and placed with us while her mom worked to get her life in order. That is the typical path of foster care. But Hannah's mom continues to have babies, and CPS prefers placed siblings together. So we keep growing...and growing...and growing. You get the point. This unique set of circumstances has also meant that I have interacted with a mom in crisis for nearly 6 years. She has in the past been very polite and even opened up to me about her struggles. I made a point of going to just about every court hearing and learn as much as I could about her, her past and how to talk to our now adopted kids about her when they are ready. I have prayed, and prayed for her. I have prayed that she would finally hit bottom and get the help she needs. I have had compassion for her situation growing up, which is tragic in it's own right. I have struggled with her choices and how they affect her children. And, despite those horrific choices we still have felt called by God to take her newest little ones into our home to show them unconditional love, stability and in the cases so far, permanency. We take her children KNOWING there will challenges, some not even known until they are much older...but we see them and love them.

With all this it is even more heartbreaking to find out this mom feels I am the cause of her newest son's seizures. She has told several people, including the caseworker that my care has caused him to have seizures. It is a knife to the heart for sure. I am absolutely confident in the truth, it is not the accusation that gets me it is  rather the false thinking. I cannot not change her thinking, no amount of effort, compassion, prayer can change HER thinking. She of course has no basis for this type of accusation, in fact the caseworker has all the documentation he needs to prove that her drugs use is the direct cause. And I will say he never for a moment believe her, but still, it is just sad. Sad that she cannot take responsibility, heck even acknowledge her role in his issues. I have been hit yet again with the fact that no matter how nice I am to her, give her pictures of her children regularly, do all the things she asks of me in their care, I am yet another person to blame as to why she does not have her kids. So, while I will continue to still be 'me' I know that it is time to set a few boundaries...even if it is just for me. I will be nice and polite, I will still show the light of Jesus, but I will not be going out of my way to accommodate her and the requests she makes. I cannot no longer put more effort into maintaining her relationship with her kids, (the current foster babies, not adopted ones). I am sad to say that she may never change...how heartbreaking. I fully expect that if my adult children choose to seek her out she will most likely be in the same exact place.

If I let it, I could certainly get depressed about it. I mean seriously, from one mama hear to another I have no idea why she wouldn't do everything to change. These are questions that have no answers for. But I have a HOPE that transcends all the icky parts of this life. I have a God who loves me, loves these babes so much more that I ever could and HAS rescued them. He has seen to their future, and has intervened, breaking a cycle, (that is the hope anyway). I will continue to put my hope, my trust, in His plan. I am excited to see the future of these kids...they actually HAVE a future now, and it is good, bright and so full of possibility. Blessed be the name of the Lord!!

SO while the revelation this week about my care has stung, it has not knocked me down or made me falter in why we are walking this path...it has given me a new understanding and focus to go forward.

6 weeks

Hello 2014

Time....that is something I do not seem to have much of these days. My days zoom by and I fall into bed having missed a few things on my list. (Not enough hours in a day!) I guess that is my new normal since the 7th, yes I said 7th child entered our home. Time to play a bit of catch up....

I have shared previously that our girls' mom was yet again pregnant and had not made any significant positive progress in her life. We were asked by CPS to take this new baby. We found ourselves at an interesting cross roads again. We committed to fostering this new baby but long term have not made any decisions. Every one makes sure to tell us this baby will stay forever too just like all the rest but I assure you, we have not made a final decision about that. We are waiting once again on the Lord to reveal Himself. Birth mom was not forth coming with due date, heck any pregnancy information. I did finally find out early November she was having a boy. (Of course this thrilled the men in our home...they say we need more testosterone!) I found myself once again waiting endlessly for 'the phone call'. Little man was born on 11/29. Due to circumstances out of my and the case workers control, he went home from the hospital to another foster family. We surrendered the God would have to put him in our home, we were not going to fight to get him. (After all, I am plenty busy) God worked out all the details and on the evening of Dec 4th I met my caseworker at In and Out to pick up this sweet bundle.

There is nothing like having a newborn again. He was my first newborn boy since Jacob...12 years ago! He is sweet and content and has been a fairly easy baby. He has his challenges however, and just shy of two weeks old we found ourselves in the ER. Poor little man was having seizures. Unfortunately the choices of mom contributed to his medical issues, but after several inconclusive tests he is now on anti-seizure meds and is THRIVING! We will have to have additional follow up appointments through out the year, and most likely repeat several of the tests at one yr. It is unbelievable what a difference I saw in him just two days after starting the meds. Now, he is almost 6 weeks old and this is by far my favorite stage! Cooing, responsive smiles and lovely eye contact fill my mama heart. He has been waking me at 4am this past week, but he more than makes up for it with all the "conversations" we have together. I adore these early mornings...well mostly, by 7pm it does catch up with me.

As if we needed more on our plate, in the midst of this crazy time we have been diligently working on getting our house ready to list it FOR SALE. It is amazing what kind of little things needs to be done with this many people in a home for ten and half years. We spent the week of Thanksgiving replacing flooring up stairs and it is gorgeous! Over Christmas vacation we managed to finish all the things on our list and the sign went up yesterday. It is a bit surreal I will tell you. Now we wait....wait for the Lord to move, to bring a buyer and for all the details to fall in line. We are praying the timing of this house selling and the new house being complete match up and we do not have to find 'temporary' housing. We are overwhelmed...in a good way I guess. I find it horrifying to try and keep this house model home ready every day but I trust that my effort will pay off. We just want to have someone walk in, fall in love and HAVE to have it!!! (Not too much to ask right?)

So, that is the start of our 2014 in a nut shell. We had family photos taken just before Thanksgiving that I have yet to share...so enjoy them...I do!! (Thanks to the amazing Kelly B!)

Blessings to all in this new year!

Merry Christmas...

I am so far behind in posting...so much going on that I haven't had any time to sit and get caught up. Here are a few photos from Christmas...hoping to start 2014 fresh and new and will get caught up.

Blessings to all of our friends and family...Merry CHRISTmas!

 Christmas Pj's

 Christmas Eve

 Christmas babies

 Christmas morning