Dad's home one day in seven.

This one is a crazy week! M'deary is home today and yesterday was his last day at the nursing home and tomorrow is his first day at the hospital. The chillins were going through withdrawal and I don't think today is much of a rest for him. Full-time-daddy-play-mode is what we are in. The kids have really taken to playing "sardines". Even Goosie is getting the hang of it. Loves you daddy :)

Ebenbleb Blahbleb

"Ebenbleb Blahbleb" is Goosie-speak for Heavenly Father. She said the prayer for the first time tonight at the dinner table. The only other distinguishable word was "BOOOOD" (Thank Thee for the food)emitted at a high decibel of delight-the girl loves her food. She indicated her understanding that the prayer was concluding by raising her hands in triumph from where they were "folded" on her belly when I said "In the name..." It was coot!

This is what her folded arms looks like.



Bryguy had such a good time weeding that he offered to do more and this patch needs it! See how happy he is meticulously pulling out one at a time. He really enjoys this type of activity and will spot even weeds that I would overlook. He is really that smiley and didn't even know I had the camera!



Babs was very proud of the weeded corn rows. We made a game out of it. They are the SUPERWEEDERS! whose mission was to save the sad corn plants from the evil villainous weeds who try to choke them and steal their water. Glad to report that cornland was saved again.



For our good work reward we were able to don swimsuits and play in the sand and water and...



we also got to jump on the trampoline with sprinklers while mom made a peach pie. It is certain that not every day is as "peachy" as today was. No whining! Compliant children! Yay for today!

Niblets and lovin's

You should all be aware by now that my Babs has the yummiest niblets around. These are the fat little lobes of her ears that just require a nibble. She informs me that they are in season this time of year and will sometimes allow the momma a nibble. I hate it that as the kiddies get older you get so much less cuddle time. She makes such a present of each little hug that it is so cute to see her condescending to give me one because she knows I want it.

I am also just a little teary to share that spontaneous little affections from my adopted children can just melt my heart. To have Claus play with my hair or Bryguy pat my cheek or Bitty just curl up in my lap is about the best thing ever. Goosie is probably the most affectionate of all now, which is coming so far from her reactive behavior eight months ago. She wouldn't even let me touch her hands or face without jerking away and crying. She wouldn't be held face to face and would arch her body away and there was no eye contact whatsoever. I was so worried. Now she is a hugging machine. She loves to do it and if I am holding her and pretend a sad face when singing "If you chance to meet a frown" she will smack her lips (a kiss) and tenderly whap my back and lean her chubby cheek in for a hug. Sooooo cute. I know most moms may take this for granted. I cherish them so much because there has been such a dearth of affection for so long. I worried and prayed and worked. Thank you for your niblets and lovin's, dear children. They are a big deal.

So we finally have a house, sort of.

We have made an offer and been accepted on this short sale home, but you can see that it is not livable and really, folks, someone needs to invent scent associated photos. It just doesn't do justice to the mess only to view it. You need a little scent of rat poo, never vacuumed carpets, barf on the wall and molding (or not-look at those four month old puff cheetohs! Even the rats didn't eat them!) food. Even though our offer was accepted, we still haven't signed papers. They have to release it from the bankruptcy and other paperwork sillies. Hopefully within a week! We have been allowed to clean it and work in the yard and sadly we have all ready filled two dumpsters and have Mt. Garbage erected in the driveway that will probably fill another two. We can't start any destruction or construction until the paperwork is signed and so we've been working in the yard which could have been cover for any number of corpses. No one would ever know! We found all manner of items to add to the previously mentioned Mt. G which is a double driveway wide and taller than I am. Poor Sis-in-law chose to scoop up seven years of dog poo from the kennel in the back-owe her big-time! I only have pics of the inside, but hopefully more later. I just give you a few, but know that I spent one whole day just bagging garbage from inside the home.

Yes. This is a dead mouse. I reverence him because he freaked out the lady who came through to determine the cost of the house and I am sure made the price come down . Lovely little vermin! I gave him a funeral:)

In the middle of all our home buying, adoption and subsequent going to the temple to be sealed, we thought it would be fun to go camping. Here's the crew. We actually decided to get a different campsite, so this isn't even it. I thought life would be easier if we camped in a trailer, but who knew that those slippery sleeping bags were so noisy. I remember seeing sunrise and thinking "I haven't even fallen asleep yet!" Also, Claus was nauseated, which heralded a nice bout of stomach flu for us and the cousins. I think it will be a while before we camp again. Oh, I am all about the day hikes but this momma needs sleep!

Who has time to fish in the middle of all this? Why M'deary does! It makes him happy as you can see. I just had to get a pic of him in his waders. Looks a little goofy if you ask me, but he's got a nice stance. Look out fishies!

Miracles and Big Stuff

I will just warn you from the beginning that this will be lengthy and probably only interesting to me. I just wanted to look back and document all of the things that show God's hand in my life.

From the beginning of our decision to have more children we have seen a number of miracles. I find it amazing as I look back to see how many ways that our family has been helped and guided. After realizing that having children the conventional way was not working for us, we both researched LDS social services and other adoption places and we both felt guided towards becoming foster parents with the intention of adopting, if possible. Our reasoning was that there were so many couples who hadn't experienced an infant, as we were able to do with Babs, and that there were so many children on Wednesday's Child and other sites that were in such desperate need for a stable family. Don't laugh...we are somewhat stable! Just because I'm crazy and M'deary was in school and we live in my parents basement and were financially tight...still felt guided to do it at that time-so there!

So we attended the classes and were somewhat discouraged. The teacher told us that if we were there with any intention of adopting, that we should just back off and realize that DCFS was there to reunite families and that we should not be there for any other purpose than to foster. We still felt that we should go ahead, but to make our intentions clear to the person selecting families for the children that we would prefer a placement with some likelihood of adoption. We completed coursework for and received our license and....waited. It was about nine months later that we finally heard that a little girl was in Primary Childrens hospital with a NG-tube and they wanted us to foster her because of M'deary's nursing skills.

Long story short-we had Bitty in June just long enough for her to heal and get the NG-tube out, then her brother Claus came. I didn't think I could take the other two siblings at the time and so Bryguy and Goosie were in another foster home. It was actually wonderful to make friends with the other foster mom during this time. We would have the siblings get together and see one another, in addition to visits with their biological parents at DCFS. It was also good to have someone who was home with new, fragile children who understood what I was going through. I had a great desire to love, but that didn't mean that the children wanted to be here. The visits and many factors dragged on for a long time and we had endless rounds of weekly visits with Bio-parents, DCFS meetings, early intervention therapy, WIC, Mountainland Headstart meetings and Driving Claus to school, Bitty's follow ups at Primarys, weekly therapy for both children, foster care license renewal classes and continuing education requirements, carrying on with my demanding calling at the Utah state hospital, dental surgeries for rampant dental caries and needed crowns, developmental testing, catch up on shots and Dr exams, multiple eye appointments and hearing exams for Claus who was a preemie. I could go on, but I only document this because Heavenly Father knew what I was up against and during all of this the other foster family was meeting the same needs of Bryguy and Goosie. I couldn't have done all four of them at once. Especially Goosie. She was hospitalized during this time for cellulitis and all four had many, many visits to the doctor for croup, strep, ear infections, RSV etc. They literally caught everything!

When the case was winding down, and it was becoming apparent that the biological parents were not going to be able to take care of their children, the other foster family were having some issues where it was possible that they weren't going to be able to adopt Bryguy and Goosie. M'deary and I both knew that they would be coming soon. In November we welcomed them to our home as well and I then had five children ages 5,4,3,2, and 1. I potty trained all of them except Goosie in six months and it has been a wild ride. I will be forever grateful to my parents for all of the help that they have given me-reminds me of three more miracles.

1.We had the ability to move out financially long before any of the children came and felt compelled to stay. We were able to save money and right before the call about Bitty-our old red Buick bit the dust. We try to be thrifty and originally thought of buying a fuel efficient compact car, but I had this thought that we should buy a minivan. Yuck, I know. M'deary fought me and questioned me and protested, but to no avail. We were to have a minivan-thanks for listening to me M'deary-it is one of your best traits. Said van is now full-up. Not one seat empty. I know we were guided to do this, even if I now have to pilot a mom-vehicle. (I deny scratching it. How did you hear of that!!?)

2. I had the indispensable help of my mom at home with me because we hadn't moved. I couldn't take five children to a therapy session for just one child. M'deary had to study for and pass his nursing exam and start new, demanding jobs and get various certifications. I was on my own with a five year old as my best helper and I needed a live-in assistant. Props to you momma/gramma!

3. I had been going to send to charity all of Babs baby stuff including crib, double stroller etc. and felt like I should keep it longer. I kept it probably a year and a half and tried to junk it every month. It is all put to daily use now:)

As soon as the children were all in the same home together it became immediately apparent that it was supposed to be that way. They were able to calm one another down and the grief from loss was lessened. Also, some children balanced out or fit needs of other children. It was pretty amazing to see. Babs had a small adjustment period to no longer being an only child and has settled in just fine. She is a good big sister-I should also place that in my list of miracles.

I am doing a lot of rambling, but on May 17, 2010 we went to court for the final time and legally adopted all four children. We were able to have them sealed to us on our anniversary in the Provo temple on June 7, 2010. I am silly and sentimental, but I thought it was cool that all of our children were sealed to us on the same day in the same place as Babs was-just seven years later.

Here's some pics in the van (everyone tired on a road trip) and at our court session.





And here's some of them so happy...

Bryguy

Goosie

Claus

Bitty

Babs

All of us at the Provo temple on our sealing day. Happy!