As of lately

Hey y'all! 

I'm taking a moment from laundry and the Olympics to pause and write this post. I tell myself after every post I write that I am going to keep up with my blog and am going to write regularly. Well, if you read my blog, you know I've not exactly succeeded at keeping you all updated. To be honest, once I stopped constantly talking about infertility and embraced this foster care journey, I've not found where I belong in the social media world. I began to notice that fewer people were responding to my tweets, I was not getting as many comments as I used to recieve on my blog, and I did not feel as though I fit in with the other bloggers I've been following over the last (almost) four years. Frankly, I did not (and still do not) feel as though people want to hear about our foster care journey. Granted, I'm not allowed to give details about our case, I just do not feel the kind of support I had with infertility. 

So, here I am. Here's my attempt at giving you an update of some of the things we've been going through recently.

After celebrating my boy's birthday in November, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Luke's extended family. He had an aunt and uncle, cousins, and grandparents that came into Branson from the Chicago area. We had a wonderful meal, and it was SO nice to have children this year to show off. Obviously everyone was curious how this whole foster care thing works. It was hard to explain without giving too much detail. 

After thanksgiving we celebrated Christmas with the kids' grandma, grandpa and aunt here in town the morning before we left for Arkansas. This Christmas was probably one of the most anticipated holidays I've ever experienced. I counted down the days until we could finally be able show the kids off to my family who has anxiously been waiting to meet them. We had three different Christmases with my family. First we spent Christmas Eve with my grandma, dad's brother and his wife, my parents and sister. Then we woke the kids up at 5am and celebrated Christmas with my parents and sister. A few days later, we had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. The kids were so blessed (or spoiled?) this year and made out with a lot of loot! After spending 7 days in Arkansas, we packed our van (literally) to the brim and headed home to Springfield. 

On New Year's Day we had a late Christmas with Luke's mom, brother and his wife, and our nieces and nephew. 

We were sure that with as much teething Baby M had been doing that we would return from Arkansas and she would have teeth, but here we are in February and she has yet to cut a tooth! Two and a half weeks ago, Baby M crawled for the first time, and ever since then she has not stopped moving. The day after she crawled for the first time, she pulled herself up on furniture, too. We just celebrated her half birthday a few weeks ago. I can't believe she's 6 months already. Where did my 6lb 8oz baby that I brought home from the hospital go? Her favorite thing to do is squeal with joy and say "Da Da" over and over again and laugh when I try to get her to say "mama". 

My boy is becoming (and has been for a while) a very helpful, caring, and kind little man. He surprises us with his detailed stories about dinosaurs and monsters eating trees at daycare when we pick him up every day. He has quite the imagination, and he makes us laugh a lot. Yesterday I picked the kids up from daycare and after we arrived home, I helped the kids take their coats and shoes off. I sat down on the couch for a moment and out of nowhere, my boy came up to me, hugged me and said, "mommy I missed you." He then kissed me and walked away. Talk about a sweet moment. All of the tears I cry over infertility seem to fade away in moments like that. My mommy heart was definitely full. 

My oldest girl has suddenly blossomed into an opinionated, sassy, beautiful girl. She's not quite two, but some days I feel that we are living through the terrible twos, and other days it feels so easy and fun to play and interact with her. She is using more words rather than screaming these days, and it has been so cool to see her start to grow up and express herself more. This is a huge thing for her. 

Every day with the kids isn't perfect, and it's not always fun, but they make it so easy to love them. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect sibling group to fit into our family. 

They are the reason I get out of bed every morning. They make me want to be the best person I can be, and I hope that I can bring out the best in them, as well. 

We have court in April that needs to be covered in prayer. This will be their permanency hearing, so we will find out what the judge has to say about the future of our case and where it might be heading in the future.

As always I appreciate those of you who have stayed with me after all this time to read my blog. Your comments and emails are always appreciated, as are your prayers.