DREAM A LITTLE DREAM...

This little farm is next to the MIL. For some reason it looks like a good place to raise a boy.

I just love to look at it...and dream.

LAST OF A DIEING BREED...

Where else can you find 1 cent pony & fire engine rides?

They are now 1.50-2.00 in our local mall. But if you ever find yourself in Shelbyville, KY at Kroger*, it is there you will find this amazing thing! 2 amazing things, as a matter of fact. The ride of a life time for a 2 yr old. Worth every penny.

WE GOT IT!

la-la-la-la-lalaaaaaa! We got it, we got it.

Oh, you want to know WHAT we got....

The Boys Birth Certificate! We were told by the Atty. not to expect anything for 9-12 months.

It's only been about 2 months. Finally, a government agency that did their job in a timely manner. I'm sure it was a mistake!

Very strange birth cert. from this particular state, (he was not born in the state we live in)

They put my maiden name on there. Looks like we weren't married! No married name for me.

Do they do that in the state where you live? Just curious.

(The picture above was taken at my MIL house, just a boy and his daddy looking for bunnies)

I HAD TO SMACK A DUCK!

I had to Y'all. I had to!
I am not a person to around smacking ducks and stuff, but do you see those ducks/geese, whatever they are?
I took The Boy to a local pond with 3 bags of stale bread in tow. We sit down to feed them and all the sudden honking duck-geese swarm us! Pecking & biting! The Boy had a piece of bread in his hand to throw and a duck-goose pecked him. What's a mama to do? I did the first thing a mama thinks to do when her baby is being threatened, of course. I reached over and smacked the duck-goose across the mouth and said "NO BITING"! I realized I had just smacked a duck and looked around to see if the duck police had seen me. We were alone. Thank God! Then I gave the duck a talking to about biting other people's kids. I think he understood

MY BOY

He's a thinker............
or watching Backyardigans.
Yes, that's 2 sippy cups you see. One for milk & one for juice. A boy just never knows
what he might want.

CICADAS

Are cicadas out of their 17 year hibernation in your area?

It seems like they were out in our neck of the woods just a few years ago. So none here, in our drought ensconced state. However when we went on our trip to Ky. They were out in all their ear splitting glory. We stopped the van somewhere between Tn & Ky because we thought there was something wrong with the car. A horrible noise that sounded like air being sucked from the van. When my husband got out, we realized it was cicadas.

We got to my MIL place and you couldn't hear yourself think the trees were so invested with them. After awhile it became a nice sound. I miss it ,,kinda.

Here are a few pictures of our nice friends. The trees were literally covered. The bushes looked like they were moving from the sheer number of the noise makers. And when one got on you and you happened to going into the house or car, the noise would scare you to death it was so loud.

Click on the photos if your want to see them in all their red eyed, buggie glory!

I AM HOME NOW!

Please feel free to roam about the cabin. Or adopt, or have your home studies complete.
Anything you wish to do is fine. As long as you blog about it.
Our trip was wonderful. KY. had beautiful weather. A good 20 degrees cooler than here. Or maybe it was all the shade trees my MIL has in her yard. AND GET THIS.....IT RAINED!
We haven't seen real rain in ages in this neck of the woods! Rain in the right amounts is a beautiful thing.
I promise to have pictures in the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are off to Ikea* to buy a bedroom suite for The Boy. He officially climbed out of his crib tonight and we can't have that. So my husband will be mumbling bad words while putting together ALL the "some Assembly required" furniture from Ikea*. and since we are getting the whole shebang from there I expect a lot of repenting going on around here. Thus, leaving me in a picture posting limbo, since he's the only one that can download the pix.
So post away my friends. I thought of each and everyone of you, whilst gazing at cows all week!
(not a bad way to spend a few days by the way)

I must insist....

Already Kellie and Nita are doing stuff I told them not to do!
I can NOT MISS one post of the good stuff! I will be sitting in the middle of the cows wondering
how Nita's visit went with the S.W. and if Kellie's home study will go thru so fast she will have been a mama for days before I find out about it.
Just wait, when you guys go on vacation, I'm gonna do something all crazy, like take in 3 sets of twins and post all kinds of crazy stuff while your gone and you'll miss it all! That'll learn ya.

Things That Happen In Life

Have you seen the potty training book : It's Potty Time!? It's has a little button to push. It makes a toilet flushing sound & a child laughing manically! VERY LOUDLY! If you've never seen the book, please go to your local book store, find it, and push the button repeatedly. You really need to do it in a confined space that echos, like a small half bathroom to really know my agony. The Boy has NO interest in the potty. When I can get him to sit on the potty, he wants me sit with him in the bathroom with the door shut and he-pushes-the -button-over-and 0ver-and OVER. It drives me crazy. I dislike this book greatly. AND he still doesn't go potty.
We are going to Ky to visit my MIL, who is 93! A remarkable woman. Still mows her own yard, puts in "a little garden" that I can only dream of doing. The drive will drive me insane. Nothing like being in the car with a 2 yr old for 12 hours, who wants nothing more than to be out. My only consulation is maybe it will be cooler there.
So with that being said. Nobody do anything while I'm gone. No computer out in the middle of the cows.

My Day in Court H**L

Have you ever had to go to court to testify for a foster child?
This was my first time actually making it to the stand. The other 150 times it was always continued & continued til the child was no long in my home. Thereby causing them not to want to hear anything I had to say. Which in these cases were just fine by me. But I still wasted hours or a half a day hanging out at the court house overhearing conversations best left in private!
So last Friday @ 5:00pm I received a call from the state's atty. asking me what day of my life would I like to waste. So I choose Tuesday. They wanted to make real SURE I made it, so they subpoenaed me.
This was the case for the 6 yr old that left a couple months back. THE most messed up case I have seen to date. And hope never to see another one like it. There is NO reason for a child that young to be in care for 3 yrs. NONE.
I had to be there at 9:00am, they did not call me till 5:00pm! All witnesses had to stay out of the court room & wait to be called in. OHH, the insanity of it all!
When I finally got up there, the first question they asked is, how would he react when told he had a birth parent visit. Typical question, I would think. OHH, but no! The other atty. actually said, if I answered that question, it was HEARSAY??? I could not say/tell anything the boy had said to me. How can I testify when I can't tell you 95% of the interactions that went on in my house? Why did you bother calling me to testify? It lasted a whole 15 minutes, half of which was taken up with telling me to speak UP. I feel like I did absolutely nothing to help this boy. No wonder it's been 3 yrs. Does this huge waste of time & effort really happen in our American judicial system?
May God be with the children waiting in our *foster* system for an adoptive home

Now, For how I got so *pretty*

OK, they are down for a nap. For how long is anybody's guess. So I'll get in as much as I can.
Remember I told you in my Stay AT Home post, I spent way too much time, clicking from one great blog to another. Well Thursday or so it paid off, so to speak. I cam across an adoption web site where people were trying to raise money to bring home their children from other countries.
and this very nice lady....
-- Verna Anderson
aka The Blog Fairy
www.blogfairytemplates.blogspot.com
www.nevertoomany.blogspot.com
was doing blog makeovers for a 25.00 donation to the Starfish Foster Home in China. She patiently worked with me, because I had no idea what I wanted or how to make it work either. She did both for me! And in only a matter of days, like 2 days. It takes me that long to sweep my kitchen!
Do you want to know the best part? other than Verna's genius. When you donate that 25.00, or more if you want a fancy-schmansy one. You donate to help the babies in China waiting to come home. You get a REALLY cool custom blog makeover.....AND, it's tax deductible! Tell me where is your loss? They even email you the tax deductible receipt immediately.
If you want to look all pretty and twirl-y, go visit Verna. Her web & links will tell you more about the Starfish Foster Home & you can see the other really pretty blogs she has remodeled!
Plus if you look on my hand dandy side bar, there is a link to her page too.
I think Verna is way too smart & very nice. GO visit Verna!
Twirl* Twirl* Ain't I Purdy? :)

LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME*twirl twirl* LOOK AT ME!

OK! Do you just love the new "me" or what?
It just got up and running this morning. So I just wanting to show off
for a minute.
I've got 3 under 2 yrs here this morning, so at naptime, I will sit down and tell
you about the most wonderful person I "met" and how and why she made me
so pretty *twirl*twirl . Be sure and come back for how it all happened!
*twirl * twirl*

STAYING HOME

It's been 2 weeks now....
AND it's not as bad as I thought it would be. We play, & watch pablo (Backyardigans) and I see him grow in vocabulary, and his imagination everyday. Something I wasn't really aware of before. And a real biggie, no more melt downs 3 times a week for no reason after we picked him up from daycare.
Time flies at home, where at work I thought I'd lose my mind, the time dragged most days.
It's nice to know too that we can plan to go somewhere and I don't have to worry if someone else has it off, or I've used all my days or just flat out can't afford to be short handed, NO. I think that is the most freeing part. I can do what I want and it's none of anybody else's business.
I was feeling a cold coming on last week, and felt yucky. I thought, dang I don't feel like going in feeling like this, but I have to. My dear husband reminded me, NO, I didn't. He said to put The Boy in bed with me & watch cartoons all day! What a guy! Now that felt good. Not having to go into work when I felt like crud.
Of course there is that pesky drawback of not having a little extra paycheck. So now I have to
COOK more often. I'm not a cooking kind of person. I get in a cooking rut. I need to work on that. The husband deserves that much at least for working so hard, so I can stay home and watch cartoons!

COMPASSION

After being in this big, bad world for so long, you forget we started out as semi-good, kind beings. Yesterday I watched David & the 18 month old girl play. She's been here about a year, so they are not strangers, but for some reason they just realized the other exists in their little world.
The Girl is given to unknown fits. She will just lie down and start to scream. When she pitches one of her little fits & I know there is nothing wrong with her, I just let her lay there and have it out. So yesterday when she did this, David walked over to her and started patting her head & saying, "no cry, it's OK, no cry". Then he got down on his knees & patted her back saying it's OK.
Then he offered her his pacifier. It made my heart swell knowing the Boy had compassion at 2 yrs old. It's times like this you want to remember when they are 13 & seem not to care.
I do love that boy!
______________________________
Next I will tell you how he beaned said 18 month old with a nerf ball for trying to take his portable DVD player with Backyardagans in it! I still love him.

Is It Guilt?

I have found since being a stay at home mom with the boy now, has turned me into a blog junkie!
Of course I am drawn to foster care/adoption blogs. I love reading blogs. As a matter of fact I find most of my day I read blog after blog. Link from this good blog to another good blog on their blog, ect, ect.
Since I read alot of foster or adoption type blogs, I have started to feel We got David just a little too easily. Does that make sence?
I read over and over the heart ache/break of foster to adopt and the endless tales of horrible SW. And God knows we have had our share. (and still do with the foster babies)
But over and over in my mind after reading some of these blogs, I wonder how & why we got a perfectly healthy 7 month old baby boy, that we were not even looking for! As most of you know, we were foster ONLY. Our girls were grown and mostly gone. But we fell in love with him, birth mom never showed back up to work a case plan, TPR was done and then it was a waiting game.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. I think I feel guilty & undeserving, because in the beginning we didn't want to adopt him. All the wonderful women who read my blog, they deserve a David of their own too.
But I feel blessed beyond measure too. I need to remember God gave us this boy for a reason & a purpose. I want to raise a man after God's own heart, just like his name sake.
Please know, God's timing is the best timing. Even when your not expecting it.
I hope this doesn't ramble or sound crazed. It's just something I've been thinking about.

* IT * has happened

Friday our subdivision had a community yard sale.
Me & the boy went to a neighbor a few streets over to have a look around.
Now I'll be honest. Like most people who live in subdivisions I don't know my neighbors. (a disgrace, I know) But with work & kids and life in general, this happens.
Anyway...a new family had moved in, it was to their house we went.
I sure hope it was their teenage daughter & not the mom who made me pout all day. SURELY, a grown woman would never have uttered these words!
The Boy, he is a shy one around people he does not know. So when we went for our little walk he was holding onto my hand for dear life. And if you try to talk to him, he'll be wrapped around my leg so tight, you'll need a crowbar to get him off.
So the nice girl was trying to talk to him, and the more she talked the harder he wrapped around me. AND THEN SHE SAID:
"Boy, you sure must love your grandma, your holding on awfully tight to her."
*insert cricket sounds here*
I gathered my composure and said,"No, I'm his mom, but I feel like his grandma most days." It was all I could come up with on such short notice!
I expected this a little later on. I'M 42 for heaven's sake, not 70!
Yes, I know I'm a MEME (grandma, if you must) But HEY, I started young, I'm from Tn.
I actually came home, looked in the mirror & thought dang, do I really look like this boy's grandma? Then I began to rationalize...I didn't have on any makeup, I just woke up, my hair wasn't looking too great. Then I thought, " oh well, none of it changes the fact, I AM HIS MAMA. Just as no one thought I was old enough to have his older sister, so many years ago. Now they think I'm too old for this one.
I think I want a tshirt that says, NO, I'm his mama!
I'm sure the worst is yet to come.

HELP DAVID WIN!

David is in the Parents magazine baby contest to be on the cover of Parents magazine.
Go visit! Help David win! Remember the vote on all 6 pictures.


Gallery Link: http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=163600183

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

This was my present this year. Ain't he cute. I lost the receipt, so I guess I got to keep him!

Some good Questions..

Jill ask some good questions. I don't really think some of the things I think about are blog worthy or you just don't want to know my opinions on some things.....but since she asked.

"Jill said: How have your older children handled David joining the family,has this stirred up any feelings with your daughter who was adopted?And how has this adoption differed from your other one?Im so nosey."

My older girls (not at home) think I'm crazy. We're out of the house, cranky girl can take care of herself. You had us young. Enjoy life kinda thinking! But they love & except David as their brother. But because they don't live at home, they do not have day to day interactions with him. My older daughter who has my 2 perfect grand babies (if you knew how young I am, you'd laugh at that) my grandson is 6 months older than my son. We try to get them together once a week to play.
As far as adoption issues, the one that is adopted wanted a baby *whatever* since she was little. But we told her, too bad, you ARE the baby. But low & behold 18 yrs later she gets her wish. She loves him to death. And was the one talking fast & hard when we were undecided if we were going to adopt him or not. So her issues, whatever they may have been,are, I think resolved for her. Adoption to her is the same as being born into a family, two paths that lead to the same parents. (her words)
This adoption was completely different from the last one. The first was private and cost an arm, leg & 2 hearts and took place in 3 states with 4 lawyers. It took 8 yrs to complete. And if I may be so bold. I think God got tired of me living at the foot of His throne. I'm sure on more than one occasion He said, "D, go away, I've heard this already." There's more to this story. But I've tried to put it down in words before, many times before, and well, I just can't. (sorry, Mindy.) Words fail me. Tears over take me. Emotions for some reason are as fresh as they were 19 yrs ago. I can say I've never been closer in my walk with God as I was during this time...Because I lived at the foot of His throne.
This adoption was done thru "the system". Compared to the last one, this was a cake walk. It was just a matter of waiting. We didn't put our emotions out there til TPR had been done & we knew it was just a waiting game, and jumping through *DFACS* hoops. And it only cost 3 months worth of StarBucks coffee, instead of a house & used car.
Our Sw asked, "which do you think was best, private or system." After I fought the urge to smack her. I said, " I don't know. Depends,would I rather be run over by a semi-truck or just a SUV.
Nothing is too nosey. Just be prepared for the answer. :)

ABOUT THIS NEW HEADER....

The Boy likes to help! He will, as a matter of fact "help" you to death at times.
Please note the "bear hat". You may remember it from our January "blizzard".
However, it is now 80 degrees. Nice and toasty here. He insisted on wearing the hat while he helped me in the yard. I think the gardening gloves add a nice touch. He can't quite put his fingers in the right holes, so they just kind of hang there off his hands most of the time.
AND yes, I know, he should not have a bobbi (pacifier) at 2.5. But IIII am a wuss. I am trying to only give it to him at naps & bedtime. But let's just say that ain't working out just the way I planned it. (any ideas??)
It took about 3 hours for him to help pull 1 clump of grass. By that time, I was so tired I needed a nap. Staying at home may not be so bad after all.